{"author":"Suzanne Johnson","author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson","total_quotes":33,"quotes":[{"text":"He pulled out handcuffs and snapped them around my wrists. 'Where's your bag? You didn't bring your staff?'I have it. It's hidden.' Charlie was currently tucked inside the leg of my Harry Potter pajama bottoms, which were beneath my jeans, but that fell under the category of TMI.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["elders","magic","new orleans","pirates","shifters","wizards"],"id":6133,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"We walked the length of Jackson Square, stopping to look at the work of a couple of artists who'd set up their sidewalk shops for the day.'Look.' Eugenie stopped in front of an acrylic painting of a mustached man with curly dark hair, hooded eyes, and a big hooked nose. He looked like he'd steal the hubcaps off your grandmother's Cadillac.'It's Jean Lafitte, our most famous pirate,' the artist said. 'He was quite a character.'She had no idea. She also had badly missed the mark on his looks. His hair wasn't that curly, he'd been clean-shaven the whole time I'd known him, his nose was straight and in perfect proportion to the rest of his features, and he didn't have hooded black eyes. Still, he might find it entertaining. 'How much?' I asked.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["elves","fae","magic","new orleans","shape shifters","shifters","vampires","wizards"],"id":29655,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"An iron? Was he kidding? God.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["magic","new-orleans","pirates","wizards"],"id":41063,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"Strong hands slipped over her shoulders as Alex joined us, standing so close, I could feel his body heat radiating up my back….He squeezed my shoulders a little hard for it to be a show of solidarity. I’d probably have bruises. He was marking his territory.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["fae","magic","new-orleans","pirates","wizards"],"id":43074,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"This is beautiful.' Eugenie ran her fingers along a massive mahogany sideboard, on the top of which rested a red velvet sash with fine embroidery on it and, on top of the sash, a silver dagger. That little vignette was Jean Lafitte in a nutshell. Refined gentleman and renegade. Velvet and violence.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["elves","fae","faeries","magic","shape-shifters","shifters","vampires","wizards"],"id":52985,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"The fight wasn’t over,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’d have won it.”  Probably. “Right,” he said. “And something just flew past your window. It was oinking.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["magic","new-orleans","pirates"],"id":66762,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"I always hated it when TV reporters stuck a microphone in the faces of people who'd just lost a home or a loved one, wanting to know how they felt. They felt like shit. They hurt, and they didn't know how they were going to get through the night. They wanted to scream and cry and hit the guy with the microphone.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["magic","new-orleans","pirates"],"id":70112,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"I suggest you stand slowly and walk out with my men,” Zrakovi said, tapping a napkin against his lying, two-faced mouth and putting a twenty on the table to cover the drinks. “If you make a scene, innocent humans will be injured. I have a Blue Congress cleanup team in place, however, so if you want to fight in public and damage a few humans, knock yourself out. It will only add to your list of crimes.” I stood slowly, gritting my teeth when Squirrel Chin patted me down while feeling me up and making it look like a romantic moment. He’d been so busy feeling the naughty bits that he missed both Charlie, sitting in my bag next to my foot, and the dagger attached to my inner forearm.Idiot. Alex would never have been so sloppy. If Alex had patted me down, he’d have found not only the weapons but also the portable magic kit. From the corner of my eye, I saw a tourist taking mobile phone shots of us. He’d no doubt email them to all his friends back home with stories of those crazy New Orleanians and their public displays of affection. I considered pretending to faint, but I was too badly outnumbered for it to work. Like my friend JeanLafitte, whose help I could use about now, I didn’t want to try something unless it had a reasonable chance at succeeding. I also didn’t want to pull Charlie out and risk humans getting hurt. “Walk out the door onto Chartres and turn straight toward the cathedral.” Zrakovi pulled his jacket aside enough for me to see a shoulder holster. I hadn’t even known the man could hold a gun, although for all I knew about guns it could be a water pistol. The walk to the cathedral transport was three very long city blocks. My best escape opportunity would be near Jackson Square. When the muscular goons tried to turn me left toward the cathedral, I’d try to break and run right toward the river, where I could get lost among the wharves and docks long enough to draw and power a transport. Of course in order to run, I’d have to get away from the clinch of Dreadlocks and Squirrel Chin. Charlie could take care of that. I slipped the messenger bag over my head slowly, and not even Zrakovi noticed the stick of wood protruding from the top by a couple of inches.Not to be redundant, but . . . Idiots.None of us spoke as we proceeded down Chartres Street, where, to our south, the clouds continued to build. The wind had grown stronger and drier. The hurricane was sucking all the humidity out of the air, all the better to gain intensity. I hoped Zrakovi, a Bostonian, would enjoy his first storm. I hoped a live oak landed on his head.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["urban-fantasy"],"id":104167,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"I narrowed my eyes. Jean stayed awfully well informed about prete politics, and often told me things the Elders hadn't yet learned. I suspected this might be one of those things. 'How do you know all this?'He shrugged. 'A wise man watches as if her were un aigle and listens as if here were un faucon.'Eagles and falcons. Both predators. Appropriate.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["elves","fae","new-orleans","pirates","shifters","vampires","wizards"],"id":137161,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"},{"text":"Jean Laffite was a sexy bad boy with a gentleman's manners and an air of barely suppressed danger. Every girl's secret dreamboat in other words. We always say we want a nice, hardworking, decent guy but we're lying to ourselves. - DJ Jaco.","author":"Suzanne Johnson","tags":["fae","magic","new-orleans"],"id":141030,"author_id":"Suzanne+Johnson"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":33,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}