Opal stepped from her car, adjusting her large Gucci shades as she scanned the trailer park. "Remind me again why you come to me for aid and not your snobby shifter friend. I thought he wanted the evil genie put back in his bottle."

"After what happened to Vanida he wants Dark Dorian dead. But right now Danny's not too happy with me either. So I figured, between the both of you, you probably hate me less."

She shrugged. "It's a tie."

"I saved your life, remember?"

Opal yawned, patting her mouth in reply. 

"Next time, I'm leaving you in the painting." Turning on my ankle boots, I strode towards the teeny blue and white trailer ahead, Opal falling into step beside me.

The narrow walkway was lined with the same ugly purple flowers that were posted in pots along the trailer's window sills. Opal plucked a small one from the soil and stuck it behind her ear.

"Verbena--keeps the vampires away."

"Vampires?" Now I'd heard everything. 

"The world isn't butterflies and roses, it's bats and thorns." Opal lifted her shades. "I track things for a living, chérie, and then I destroy them. Now that you have found your big bad, are you sure you can kill your darling?"

"He's not my..." I cleared my throat. My cheeks were warm as we climbed the steps to the trailer. "I'll do what it takes. That's why we're here, remember?"

Opal smirked and shrugged, letting her shades fall back in place as I knocked on the trailer's front door.

Leo Akachi had short, bleached curls and glowing mahogany skin, his striking features accented by makeup skills I could never hope to achieve. He answered the door in baggy jeans and a v-neck, a black choker peeking beneath his plaid shawl. 

"Ma'am, you are late," he drawled in Southern tones, giving Opal air kisses anyway. 

Opal's voice was a condescending purr. "I thought you were clairvoyant, sir."

"Bitch, I read cards and have visions. That don't mean I see everything." He waved us inside the trailer.

Candles of different shapes and sizes flickered throughout the small space, which was mostly occupied by mismatched, shabby-chic furniture. The air was warm, heavy with the scent of incense and spices. Opal and I followed Leo to the couch where he shewed away a black cat with large emerald eyes. We took a seat as Leo pulled up a rocking chair, watching us from across a glass coffee table littered with books about the occult. 

"After last time's visit, I assume you found what you were looking for?" Smug as his cat, Leo produced a joint, placing it an aesthetic holder he wore like a ring. 

Opal cleared her throat, a guilty hand at the back of her neck. "Obviously."

"And?"

"And she bit off more than she could chew," I finished, answering Leo's question for her. "Opal told me how you used a spell, with my hair, to find a painting. Now the painting's destroyed and we have even bigger problems."

Leo's silver-ringed fingers stroked from his chin down to his throat as he mused. "If I'm right--and I always am--you've got a demon on your hands."

"How do you know?"

"My dreams--I've seen him. And he is-s-s a force. Word is spreading in our little community. You created a monster, now you need to stop him."

The cat mewed from the corner.

Leo bristled, scoffing at his pet. "You think I can't handle a demon?"

The cat growled back.

"Missy, if I can handle your triflin' ass I can handle him too. Now hush." 

I turned to Opal, mouth open.

"Don't ask," she whispered back.

"Missy says the demon is powerful," said Leo. "She ain't lyin'. Taking him don't won't be easy--if that's even possible. The painting was his prison and you two simpletons destroyed it. I can't tell you how to stop the demon, but I can open a door and peek into the future. Except these answers will cost you. And they might not be the answers you want, but I always give the answers you need." Legs crossed, he sat back in his seat, puffing his joint as he waited. "Well? What's it gonna be? Momma needs a new pair of heels, honey."

Brows raised, I looked to Opal. "You brought your checkbook, right?"

My heart beat faster and faster as Leo dimmed the lights and set up the card table. Placing a black satin sheet over the table, he produced a tarot deck and took the seat opposite.

"You get one question," he said, shuffling the cards in his hands. "Keep it open-ended."

"Ok, um..." I chewed my lip in thought. "This path I'm following to defeat Dark Dorian--where does it end?"

"Let's see." Leo drew ten cards from the dark, arranging them in pairs. The eleventh card he placed in the middle. All of them were face-down. "I've spread the cards in the third eye shape. For insight and clarity. Are you sure ready? Some folks can't handle the truth."

Throat dry, heart hammering, palms sweaty, I nodded. "Let's do it."

Eyes closed, his chest expanded as he inhaled. When his eyes opened the whites and pupils were black as night; when he spoke, his voice was not his own. It was deeper, and layered, like many voices spoke through him.

"The first card." Leo reached in the eye's center, tapping the card in the middle. It shimmered, the brightly painted picture revealing itself like a mirror un-fogging. "The Lovers." Leo stared back at me, through expressionless eyes of onyx. "Caught in the midst of a storm, yet through the tests and trials you remain in imperfect harmony. But for how long, no one knows." He tapped two more cards which rippled into view. "The Knight of Wands. The Two of Swords. The one you seek to help has been constantly on the move--a stranger without a home, his arrival has upset the balance. He struggles with himself, caught between loyalty and dishonor. He is two parts split in half, trying to be whole."

"That definitely sounds like Dorian."

"More like Jekyll and Hyde," Opal chimed, petting the purring cat that sprang into her lap.

Leo tapped another set of cards. "The Tower. The Seven of Swords. The Tower represents rivalry, a rift between the halves, one that could destroy everything in their path. One half was trapped. Now they are both free, in search of new beginnings."

"That must be what Dark Dorian wants," I mused. "A new beginning." 

Isn't that what we all want?

"The Seven of Swords represents escape--and treachery," continued Leo. "The demon was born when his other half was punished for his pride and vanity. But the demon found a way from his prison; his treachery is upfront. He has already been exposed. This new danger remains hidden. Close to you, but unseen by the naked eye."

Leo didn't have to spell it out--someone I knew was a traitor. 

Leo revealed two more cards. "The Two of Wands. The Moon."

"What do those represent?"

"The Two of Wands means you are restless, you have always sought independence, sometimes at the expense of others. Your path is undecided. It frightens you to leave, but you are terrified to stay."

I inhaled sharply. "And The Moon?" 

"The Moon represents your fears. Danger is upon you and everyone you know. Trust your feelings."

Only two pairs of cards remained.

"The Hanged Man... Death."

A chill ran down my spine.

"The Hanged Man represents sacrifice--and betrayal. The Death card represents transformation--and disaster. You will grieve. You will suffer greatly and lose much. It remains your choice to rise." 

The breath I released was long and shaky. It was scary, imagining all the things, all the people, I could lose in the fight against Dark Dorian.

"Are you sure you can do this?" said Opal. "The Tarot is no joke. Not in the hands of the real deal."

"Dorian's the real deal too." I had to do this. He would do it for me. Still shaking, I nodded at Leo. "Keep going."

Leo tapped the second to last card. "The Chariot. You are on a journey. The stakes are high and the odds are against you. You are ambitious; you seek victory but must be prepared for defeat."

"And the last card?"

The final card revealed itself with no assistance from Leo. I read the title, filled with dread at the sight of the red, winged beast leering back at me.

"No." I shook my head. "That-that can't be right."

"The Devil," said Leo. "You face temptation and deadly sins. Your loyalty will be tested, your fate will be sealed. You will become your own slave. Your curse, your downfall awaits."

The dark truth revealed, the cards went up in flames, burning in the shape of an eye opened.

Hey, everyone! If you're enjoying the story please VOTE and don't forget to add Immortal Sin to your reading list! More Amelia and Dorian ahead! ⚔️🌙💀