by J. N. Colon
Going anywhere outside of Carrefour was enough of a reason to be happy. Add Etie, and I was on cloud nine. “I can’t wait.”
“Me neither.” He kissed me again, slow and deep, sending my world spinning. He pulled back too quickly, a groan slipping out. “I’m supposed to go back to work.”
“No.” I bit my lip, unwilling to let him go that easily.
He growled and tugged my lip from my teeth. “What did I tell you about doing that?”
I shrugged. “Can you stay for just a few more minutes?” My fingers delved into his thick hair, gently pulling on the roots. “Please.”
“You’re killing me, Angeline.” His voice was husky, warm breath blowing over my cheeks. His chest rapidly rose and fell. He cursed. “A few more minutes, cher.”
“Okay.” He wasn’t leaving anytime soon. My other hand flicked through the air. The door shut, and the lock clicked in place.
Etie blinked. “That was impressive. And sexy as hell.” His gaze lowered, zeroing in on my mouth. “I’ll have to stay a little longer for that.” Etie lowered me to the bed, covering my body with his.
My pulse skyrocketed, and every nerve ending came alive. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
He shook his head. “You tricked me, you little witch. Guess I’ll have to punish you.”
My body went up in flames. “Do your worst.”
Chapter 17
Etie clasped my hand tightly, and my whole body hummed with pleasure. His wild herbal scent washed over me, soaking into my clothes. It was my favorite fragrance in the world. I could have bathed in it.
As if feeling my blissful mood, Etie’s lips lifted into a sleepy smile. “Want to walk around for a bit, cher? Or you ready to go home?”
I’d been to Shreveport before with my grandmother years ago. It was so much bigger than Carrefour. The people ambling down the sidewalk didn’t know who I was. Rumors weren’t swirling about me and the dangerous young man beside me.
“Let’s walk.” I wasn’t ready to go home—back to the real world and our magical problems.
Etie had taken me to this small restaurant in a quiet part of town. I’d almost missed it until he opened the nearly hidden door in the brick wall. The inside was decorated to look like a swamp at night. String lights and candles dimly lit the rustic décor. Faux Spanish moss hung from the rafters and down the walls. Sounds I always heard at Etie’s house mixed with soft music.
I could see why he liked the place. It also had the best Cajun food I’d ever tasted.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Etie asked when he caught sight of the lazy grin on my face.
I shrugged. “No reason.”
He made a humming sound as if he didn’t believe me. “Could it be that you’re happy?”
I tapped my chin with my free hand. “Maybe.”
He pulled me to a stop and scoffed. “Maybe? I take you to my secret place, and all you can say is maybe?” His mismatched eyes twinkled. “What do I have to do to make that smile bigger?”
My heart fluttered, and I suddenly found it hard to speak. The Cajun Casanova was really laying it on thick and sweet tonight. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
That sexy, crooked grin pulled at his lips. “I think I know.” Without warning, Etie yanked me into the nearest alley, away from the bright lights and people. His lips crashed on mine, stealing my breath and my sanity.
This wasn’t like me. Not at all. I wasn’t the girl who tried to tame the bad boy. I also wasn’t the type to stow away in a dark alley to make out with that bad boy either.
And yet here I was, letting Étienne Benoit unravel me beneath the hazy moonlight.
His mouth did things to me that shouldn’t have been legal. Hell, nothing about this guy was legal. And those hands? One of his rough palms slipped under my shirt, burning the skin on my back. I’d already been branded by his addicting touch earlier that day, but it was never enough. No matter how much it burned me, I still wanted—needed—more and the soulbind wasn’t solely responsible for the craving.
“Come to my house tonight, yeah?” he whispered, his breath hot against my neck as he covered it in more kisses.
I shivered, my knees so weak they threatened to give out. The thought of staying in his bed thrilled me. We wouldn’t get much sleep though. The images crossing my mind were going to send me into cardiac arrest.
My fingers curled in his shirt, and I tugged him closer, so close his ragged heartbeat pounded against my chest as if it were my own. My mouth opened to take him up on his offer when a high-pitched whine echoed deep in the alley.
Etie pulled back, peering through the darkness. Another meow sounded, and the silvery eyes of an animal appeared.
My brow puckered. “Is that a cat?”
A slinky gray feline emerged from the shadows, staring up at us with an unsettling human expression.
“No.” Etie stiffened, and an otherworldly glow entered his eyes. “That’s not a cat.”
Magic bled through the air. I slammed my barriers into place before my conduit powers had a chance to reach out and suck it up. “A loogaroo?”
Etie gave a curt nod.
I’d only met one voodoo caster capable of shifting into an animal, and this wasn’t him. Marcus changed into a black wolf.
The cat let out a loud meow and anxiously flicked her tail back and forth.
“She wants us to follow,” Etie said, his head tilting as he continued to examine the small animal.
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m not in the business of helping people.” His voice was directed at the cat.
She meowed again, a long, torturous sound.
“Maybe we should see what she wants.” I’d volunteered at my mother’s vet clinic plenty of times over the years, and the distress of any animal always got to me.
Etie shot me an incredulous expression. “We know nothing about her. I’m not putting you in danger.”
“I can handle myself,” I hissed. What did he think? She was going to call Baron Samedi? News flash, the loa could get to me any time he wanted. He didn’t need some random voodoo caster to do his dirty work.
Etie leaned toward me so only I could hear him. “That’s also another reason to stay out of this.”
I couldn’t hide forever. That was the whole point of Lucas teaching me.
It involves a child.
The feminine voice floated through the air, light and wispy. It came from the cat, but her mouth didn’t move. It was more like she’d projected her thought into the atmosphere.
Etie’s jaw clenched. He was no stranger to bad voodoo and children. He grumbled a long string of French under his breath. “Fine.” His eyes narrowed on the feline voodoo caster. “If this turns out to be a trick, you’re going to find out exactly what I’m capable of.”
A chill ran over my spine at his threat. I sure as hell didn’t want to know what he would do if she crossed him.
We followed the cat down the alley, her paws silent on the concrete. Etie’s hand was secured around mine, his body taut with tension. The tendons in his jaw flexed repeatedly. We exited and turned down a quiet street and then another, the city giving way to a small, worn neighborhood. The houses were cramped and most of them needed repair.
She finally hopped on the sagging porch of a faded blue house, halting at the dull red door. Her tiny shape shimmered and blurred, growing larger. Within moments, a shapely woman stood before us. Her emerald dress flowed gently around her curves, brushing the top of her knees. Wild blonde waves hung past her shoulders and framed her soft features. Creamy skin gleamed beneath the dim light in front of the door.
She was the first female voodoo caster I’d met. Were they all as beautiful as her?
A knot formed in my stomach and, my eyes shifted toward Etie to gauge his reaction. His expression held no attraction, just unease and agitation.
“Please, come this way.” She opened the door and motioned us in, her red lips forming a sad smile.
The air was filled with honey and chamomile mixed with tobacco smoke. At least it wasn’t rum and cigars. A woman in her late twenties was slumped on a threadbare couch, a cigarette dangling from her trembling fingers. Tears stained her dark cheeks. Despair seemed to choke every corner of the small room.
The female voodoo caster kneeled by the crying woman. “Carolina, this is who can help us.”
A man leaning against the wall scoffed. “This can’t be the voodoo caster Papa Legba meant for you to find, Selena.” His dark eyes ran over Etie, his scowl deepening. “He’s barely a man.”
Etie’s brows knit, taking in the half-eaten box of pralines. “You called Papa Legba?”
The one and only time I’d met the serene voodoo deity, Baron Samedi showed up and stabbed him. At least now I knew he’d made a full recovery.
Selena stood, crossing her arms against her chest. “Yes, it is. Papa Legba said I’d find him close by with a bruja. He’s a bokor, James.”
Etie stiffened. They knew I was a witch, but she didn’t mention being a conduit. His gaze shifted toward me, and he looked ready to bolt. My other hand reached up, rubbing his arm to soothe him. His nostrils flared, but he remained rooted to the spot.
“Can he help avenge my boy?” the woman spat. “Can he take on those monsters that killed him?”
Acid burned my throat. Oh god. My eyes wandered the room, lingering on pictures of a cute little boy with a sweet smile. The photos varied in ages from a baby to five or six.
Etie’s brows dipped. “What happened?”
Carolina laid her cigarette in the ashtray and brushed tears from her cheeks. “They took my baby. They took him in the middle of the night.”
“Who took him?” I asked, stepping forward.
Etie’s hand tightened, and he pulled me back. “Stay next to me.”
“A man.” She tucked fallen hair back into the silk black-and-silver scarf wrapped around her head. “They used him for a ritual, and they killed him!”
A sinking feeling hit my gut. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing the hardness solidify in Etie’s expression.
“Lounage le Noir.” Etie’s voice was barely more than a growl.
Selena’s lips thinned. “And this ain’t the first time they took a helpless child out of their home to use their energy for a spell. It’s just the first time they killed one.”
“They rolled into town a few weeks ago, staying a couple streets over.” The man—James—leaned off the wall and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the table. “We only practice good voodoo here.” He jerked his chin toward Selena. “We asked them to leave, but they laughed at us.” His voice twisted with disgust. “It wasn’t even two days later we found animals dead on the street.”
I licked my cold, dry lips. “What happened to them?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“They were sacrificed, little bruja.” He took a swig of liquor. “The bodies were mutilated, drained of blood and missing parts.”
A shiver spilled down my back, and I swallowed the bile down.
Etie stepped closer, his body brushing mine and chasing away the chill. “And the children?”
“They went missing in the middle of the night.” James grabbed a cigarette from the table and lit it, taking a deep pull. “They were always found wandering around the next day dazed and weak with no memory of how they got there. And reeking of rum and gunpowder.”
A ripple spilled down Etie’s spine, and I could see the goosebumps spreading over his skin. “You’re not saying…”
“A bull was drawn or even branded on some of the children.” Smoke slowly drifted out of his mouth as his gaze bored into Etie’s.
“Kalfou.” Etie’s lips thinned.
My shoulders tightened. Clearly there was something significant about a bull, rum, and gunpowder. “What’s Kalfou?”
“Not a what, girl, but a who.” James twisted the cigarette between his fingers. “Kalfou is Papa Legba’s twin brother.”
Another loa. And from their grim expressions, I’d say a bad one like Baron Samedi. “But I thought Louange le Noir worshipped Baron Samedi, not this Kalfou guy.”
“As of late, most do.” Etie’s voice was gruff, and I could feel tiny tremors going through his body. “The worst of the worst uphold Kalfou over all other loa. And Kalfou only pays attention to the evil magic. He is darkness and nothing else.”
No wonder this group of Louange le Noir was using kids. How much more evil can you get?
A sob slipped out of Carolina, and she pressed her fingers against her mouth. Fresh tears spilled from her red-rimmed eyes.
Selena folded down on the couch next to her, rubbing her back. “Jeremiah was the first child who was found dead. If we don’t do something, more will meet the same fate.”
Etie’s hand slipped from mine, and he began pacing the small width of the living room, his movements agitated. My toujou tingled as his inner turmoil became my own. He wanted to help. He knew what it was like to be abused in the name of voodoo.
But taking on the dark casters would put him on their radar. And me.
Etie finally stopped and roughly dragged his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. I can’t help.” A flash of pain resonated across his face.
I grabbed his arm. “Etie, you have to do something. Don’t worry about me.”
A rumbling started low in his chest. “I won’t put you in danger.”
“I told you this boy couldn’t help.” Smoke streamed from James’s mouth, swirling angrily in our direction.
“James,” Selena snapped. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Etie stepped forward, running his hand over the intricate black marks above his collarbone. “You know what this is?”
There was no hiding the surprise in James’s liquid black eyes. “A gwo-bon lyen? That takes strong magic to cast.” His eyes narrowed. “What did you say your name was? Where are you from?”
“That’s not important.” Etie moved my hair aside, showing my matching toujou. “She is my number one priority. I can’t do anything to put her in danger, and getting involved with Lounage le Noir will paint a target on her back.” He swallowed hard. “You have no idea what you’re asking me to do.”
Selena surveyed me, her gaze lowering on the nivum talisman around my neck. Did she know it was to help control my powers? “There must be something…” Her voice trailed off as she rubbed her fingers in the center of her forehead. “Some way to scare them, force them out of here and back to the hell they came from.”
“What about a vivankò?” James crushed his cigarette butt into the ashtray.
Etie’s face darkened. “What about a vivankò?”
Selena perked up. “You’re a bokor. Raise one and send it to destroy their altar so they can’t hurt any more children.”
Etie shook his head. “They’d just rebuild it.”
“No.” Selena stood. “This will send a message, that we won’t stand for their terror.” She nodded as if convincing herself. “Send the vivankò to destroy their ritual place, and I’ll finish the job. They won’t know you were the bokor involved.”
I swallowed hard. The thought of Etie doing something as dark as raising a zombie had my stomach queasy. I’d rather take the risk of them finding out about me.
“Fine.” His voice sent waves of panic through my body, and his eyes were already darker than usual. “I’ll do it.”
Chapter 18
The air was colder than normal, an unnatural chill sifting through the graveyard. Maybe mother nature could sense what Etie was about to do. He stood in front of a tombstone, a circle of ash and salt surrounding him. Other items lay at his feet: a drum, an opaque glass bottle, a clay jar, a bowl of bones, and a pure white dove.
My stomach rolled. What were they going to do with the bird? Images of crimson spilled across its snowy wings made the macabre scenery spin.
James stayed with the grieving mother while Selena led us to a small, rundown cemetery. The gr
ounds were unkempt with overgrown trees twisting along the perimeter. Vines snaked around the crumbling headstones, some of the writing barely visible. The newer plots were crammed too close together.
Etie had tried to convince me to take a cab home. That was out of the question. I told the stubborn bokor he wasn’t shipping me off to deal with this all on his own.
Deep down, I was afraid the darkness would consume him, and no one would be there to bring him back. Like Lucas had anchored me during the astral projection spell, I wanted to secure Etie’s goodness. I needed to hold onto him and keep him from slipping away.
“Angeline.” His rumbling voice pulled me from my worrisome thoughts. “Please, go back to the restaurant at least.”
I crossed my arms against my chest. “I’m not going anywhere, Etie. Stop wasting your breath.”
A string of French flew from his mouth, and I was pretty sure he was cursing me out. “Fine,” he hissed. “You’re too stubborn for your own good. You never do what I say.”
“You’re not my keeper,” I reminded him. “You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
His nostrils flared, and he loomed over me, his fists clenching. The tense moments stretched for several beats until his face unexpectedly softened. “I don’t want you to see this side of me, cher. Please.”
A massive knot tightened in my chest, making it hard to breathe. “Nothing you do will scare me away.” He looked less than convinced, so I stepped forward, my fingers curling in his t-shirt. “I won’t leave you to do this alone.” I brushed my thumb over his toujou. He irritated me to hell and back, but I’d rather be with him at his darkest than leave him to fend for himself.
Realizing his argument was futile, he pulled me close and dropped a kiss on my forehead. Sometimes, he could be as sweet as the candy he ate.
“Are you ready, Etie?” Selena slipped a long necklace of bones over her head and plucked a gourd from the ground.
Etie drew back and pointed at a headstone several yards away. “Stay there no matter what.” When I didn’t make a move, his brows dipped. “I mean it, Angeline. Don’t make me tie you to that thing with a spell.”