Gator Boyfriend 3 (special preview)

I furrow my brow. “How many did they sacrifice?” I turn towards him, taking my amulet between my fingers.

“Everyone,” he replies. “They were attempting to put a curse on everyone in the bayou. They did it in a spot in the swamp, everyone was too afraid to go near it, so they were left there until the swamp took them.”

I swallow back a nervous lump in my throat. “Did the curse work?”

“I used to be a little blonde girl,” Marv replies.

I stare up at him as my jaw goes slack. Marv then grins at me. 

“No,” he laughs. “It didn’t work,” he is trying his best to hold back his laughter to spare me. “Mama Tomi protected us with her magic. She’s the most powerful Queen in the bayou. She also used to make beignets I’d go blind for.”

“If it was a ritual sacrifice to summon something, then what?” I whisper, shaking my head.

“That toxic magic was unlike anything I had ever sensed before, and I’ve felt pure evil at its core when I was young. Mama Tomi taught us dumbass kids a lesson.” He grunts and looks out the window. “Perhaps it was that they summoned.”

I look at the slightly crumpled business card in my hand. “Well, for starters, Lazarus Bean is out only lead.”

Marv and I leave the apartment, heading downtown and into a narrow alleyway that Marv barely fit into. At the dead end, I placed my amulet on the wall. As the glyphs shimmered, the bricks folded into themselves, revealing a gateway. We walked through, stepping into the Goblin Market. 

A black cat saunters up to us, gazing up at me with brigth yellow eyes. “Magnus,” she replies with a purr.

“Jemima,” I murmur back to her as she starts to weave herself between Marv’s ankles. 

“I see you brought the crocodile with you,” she sighs. “That’s a good show of faith.” She walks back out in front of me. “State your business.”

“Why must we explain ourselves to a cat?” Marv’s impatience is rising from him like a swealtering heat.

“Jemima isn’t a cat,” I warn him.