Wicked Love

by Lisa Manifold

  My phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Where are you?” Lavinia’s voice rang through my car.

  “I’m in Arkansas.”

  “Do I want to know?” Lavinia asked. “Wait, no, I don’t want to know. Here’s the thing. Melasina Cormier, you know, the one I had you question?”

  “Yes,” I said slowly.

  “She’s asked for a full coven elders meeting tomorrow night. So whatever it is you’re doing, and I trust you, even with your ass backwards magic, get yourself back here. I want the entire library staff on deck.”

  “You should bring Talia,” I said.

  “Are you serious?” Lavinia asked.

  “Completely.” One way or the other, I was going to drag this into the light.

  I hoped I was doing the right thing. I thought I was, but sometimes it was hard to see when you were in the middle of things. Regardless, this was something that had to be fixed. It fell to me, and I didn’t have a choice. I would fix this.

  And let the chips fall where they may.

  Chapter Eleven

  Melasina

  I jiggled my foot as I sat in the kitchen, trying to finish my coffee.

  “Stop,” Zelda said. “You’re making me nervous.”

  “I can’t help it,” I said. “I’m so scared I think I might throw up.”

  “Well, please do so now. You will not help your case if you cast up your accounts all over the feet of the coven leadership.”

  “You’re so helpful,” I snarled at Zelda.

  “Yes, I am. You just can’t see it.”

  “What if this doesn’t work?” I asked for what felt like the millionth time.

  “It will,” she said.

  “You’ve been out of the loop for a while.”

  “That doesn’t take away what I know,” Zelda was calm.

  Which made me want to throw her box across the room.

  But instead, I stood, and placed the box in the biggest bag I had, which was a beach bag made of brightly colored straw. I walked to the door, stopping to check my hair once more. I’d pulled it back in a sleek chignon, and I was dressed in cute flats, a black skirt, and a black button up shirt.

  I wore my mother’s gold earrings, and the pendant that Jasper had brought back to me. Other than that, I was plain. Almost severe.

  But the less attention I called to myself, the better, I felt.

  I put the bag carefully in the car, and buckled it in.

  “Much safer than when you brought me home,” Zelda said.

  “You think this is home?” I asked.

  “You think the crypt was home?” She gave a laugh that sounded a lot like a hoot. “Come on, girl. You’ve only lost your magic, not your wits.”

  “Oh, Jasper didn’t steal that, too?” I teased.

  “He’s stolen something,” she muttered.

  I ignored her as I pulled up to the gate at Magnolia House. I’d asked Delphine if I could drive here, because I really wasn’t trying to trot all the way over with Zelda in my arms. She’d agreed, more out of curiosity, I thought. I didn’t care.

  As I got out of the car, and moved around to take out Zelda, I could feel the eyes watching from the house. I went to the door, and Delphine herself opened it.

  “Welcome,” she said. She narrowed her eyes as she looked me over, stopping at the beach bag. “Interesting choice of bag.”

  “Yes, it is,” I said.

  “Come in. We’re waiting for you.” She closed the door behind me, and then led me off to the right. Beyond the kitchen, there was a room that had been built onto the back of the house, and it was here that all the leaders of my coven were gathered.

  Delphine walked in and I stopped, taking a deep breath. Then I followed her.

  Delphine took a seat at the head of the ring of chairs. “You have asked to see us, Melasina Cormier. We are here. We will always be here for our members. So tell us, why have you called us?”

  I looked around. It looked like all the librarians were here—my eyes narrowed as I saw Talia Dumond, the woman who had pursued my mother mercilessly. She’d visited our home, and I remembered her arguing with my mother. When my mother was exiled before the entire coven, Talia had stood watching, not saying a world, a smile upon her face.

  Now she was blind. I hoped she choked on what I had to say.

  Jasper was in the second row of chairs that lined the left and right of the room. He smiled at me, the white of his teeth gleaming momentarily. I felt heartened seeing him, even though I was probably shooting any hope of us in the foot. That was all right—well, it wasn’t, not really, but I had to do this.

  A hooded figure sat next to him. I smiled briefly, and turned my attention back to Delphine.

  “I know that the curse has affected all of us differently. But we all need to face our fears, and I have figured out that this is my greatest fear. I must accept who I am, and do so publicly.” I took another deep breath. “I am the daughter of Sariah Cormier. She was exiled for necromancy from this coven. I never saw any sign of such a practice during my life with her, but I cannot change the past. I’ve always been careful, ever since Talia Dumond insured my mother’s exile.”

  A hiss of whispers followed my words. Talia herself stared straight ahead.

  “Because I didn’t want to suffer the same fate. I felt that if I did everything right, I’d be seen for myself.” I sighed. “That hasn’t happened. I am, and will always be, Sariah Cormier’s daughter. She was a necromancer. A little over a month ago, I began to experience strange things. And three weeks ago, I woke up to scratches on my hands and dirt under my fingers.”

  There was an audible gasp.

  “Like mother, like daughter, indeed,” Talia spoke, her voice dripping with anger. “We’ve heard enough. I call for an exile of Melasina Cormier.”

  “No,” another voice spoke up. It was Jasper. “Delphine, I ask that you listen to what Melasina has to say, and then that I be allowed to speak before you make a decision.”

  “What is there to discuss?” Talia scoffed.

  I was watching Jasper, and the hooded figure next to him stirred.

  “She has admitted that she is continuing her mother’s evil ways. Let us be done,” Talia continued.

  “Please,” I said. “I’ll accept your decision, but I want to be allowed to finish.”

  The room went silent as all eyes turned to Delphine. “Melasina, you may continue. After you are done, we will hear you, Jasper Thibodeaux.”

  Talia made a dismissive noise.

  “I didn’t know why this was happening, because I couldn’t remember anything,” I said. “I went to clean my nails, and I heard shouting out in my shed. I went into the garden, and there were two bodies on the floor.”

  More gasps. Delphine held up a hand.

  “And sitting on the washer was this,” I bent down and took Zelda and her reliquary out of my beach bag.

  There were shouts, and people stood up, hands waving. Delphine stood, and held out her hands. “Enough,” she thundered. “Melasina, how did you come to have our founder in your possession?”

  “I’m not just a box,” Zelda said. “And I would appreciate it if you would hear the girl out.” Her words carried a ring of power that silenced a lot of the whispering.

  Talia was staring at the reliquary, her face taut and angry.

  “I am not sure,” I said. “I had a dream one night where I was walking into the crypt, and I was behind a beautiful man. He opened the doors, and took something of glass, and then ran away. But he left the doors open, and I went in. Zelda called out to me, and I brought her home with me.”

  “Is this true?” Delphine asked Zelda.

  “It is. The handsome man did come in, and steal a vial from a red pillow. Then Mel came in, and I told her to take me.”

  “Why would you do that?” Delphine asked.

  “My reasons are my own,” Zelda said with the manner of a queen. “The point is, I concur with the girl’s story.�
��

  Delphine stared at Zelda for a long moment, and then turned her gaze back to me. I couldn’t read her face. “Do you have more to say?” she asked me.

  “I do, if you don’t mind.”

  She gestured at me to continue.

  “I have been trying to figure out why I was walking in my sleep. Why I came to the crypt. Why I had bodies in my laundry shed. Once I found the bodies and Zelda, she helped me to get the bodies back to St. Louis No. 1 the night of the ball. And I tried to work out how to bring her back. In that, she wasn’t very helpful.” I glared down at Zelda.

  “No, I was not,” Zelda sniffed.

  One of the witches to the left of Delphine covered her mouth with her hand, making a choking sound. Which suggested that she was familiar with Zelda.

  “So I am returning her to where she belongs. I am asking for your forgiveness for not doing so before. I am confessing that I was the person who removed and returned the bodies. And I am asking for help to discover why it is I have been doing these things.” I stopped, and let the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding out.

  “This is rubbish!” Talia got up, pointing at me. “This is—”

  “Talia, sit down,” Delphine said.

  Talia stopped in mid-rant, and sank back into her chair.

  I managed not to smirk. She couldn’t see me anyway.

  “How long have you been sleep walking?” Delphine asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But I woke up with dirty hands and dressed in my clothes and with shoes from time to time a little over a month ago to when Zelda came to my home.”

  “Has she sleep walked since you’ve been there?” Delphine asked Zelda.

  “No,” Zelda said. “I watched, each night. I also put a ward over her home, so that might have stopped someone or something that was affecting her.”

  Delphine nodded, and reached out her hands to the witches on either side of her. There were four on each side who clasped hands. They all closed their eyes.

  The room was completely silent. I risked a glance at Jasper. He was smiling, almost as if he was proud of me. As I turned my gaze back to Delphine, I saw Talia. She was glaring in a manner that would have killed me if her eyes had daggers.

  Delphine opened her eyes. “We have discussed your situation. You have come to us to seek help, to your sisters and brothers, as you should. I do not sense untruth in your words. And the founder, Zelda Dupuis, stands with your account. So my decision is thus: We will help you discover why you’re walking in your sleep, and you have our thanks for your care of Zelda.” Delphine nodded to a witch off to the right, and the man hurried over, bending down and reaching for Zelda.

  “No!” Zelda shouted. “I have more I wish to say.”

  The witch stopped, his hands outstretched, and he looked to Delphine. Her eyebrow went up, and she nodded to the witch, who returned to his seat. “You are always free to speak, Zelda.”

  “I want to stay with Melasina Cormier,” Zelda said clearly. “I prefer to be with the members of our coven rather than locked away in a crypt. I am always available to the leadership for anything they might need but I request that my resting place be one that I find more pleasing.”

  “No,” Talia rose again. “This is not right! She’s a necromancer! The daughter of a filthy necromancer! How do none of you see it?” She threw her hands in the air.

  “I would like to speak,” Jasper said.

  Delphine frowned. “Is there anyone who doesn’t wish to speak at this very moment?”

  Wisely, everyone remained silent.

  She sighed. “What is it you feel you must say, Jasper?”

  “I would like to refute Talia’s claims,” Jasper strode to the center of the room, standing about a foot from me. “We did, as she says, see Sariah Cormier seeking a corpse from a grave. And Sariah was exiled. But she is not dead. And Talia knows it.”

  “He is mad,” Talia spat, crossing her arms.

  Jasper looked to the left, and the hooded figure that was sitting next to him stood, and drew back the hood.

  “I am Sariah Cormier,” my mother said in a soft voice. “And I’m very much alive.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then the room burst into noise so loud that I wanted to cover my ears. But I only had eyes for my mother.

  She stepped out from the second row of seats and came over to me. “Is it really you, Mellie?” she asked softly.

  I took her outstretched hands in my own. “Is it really you?”

  Tears fell down her cheeks as she nodded.

  “How?” I asked.

  “Jasper found me,” she said, turning to smile at Jasper.

  “Jasper, explain yourself,” Delphine said loudly.

  I pulled my mother close, putting my arm around her waist and standing over Zelda’s reliquary. The feeling in the room was high, and I didn’t want her getting knocked around or stepped on.

  “Well, I didn’t see that coming,” Zelda said. “Is that really Momma Grave Digger?”

  “Zelda!” I said. “Not the time!” I looked up to see Delphine watching me, rather than Jasper. I smiled, hoping I wasn’t making my situation worse.

  “I found notes in the Cormier file,” Jasper was saying. “Initially, I had no doubts of Sariah’s guilt. I followed her that night. I saw her,” he looked over to me, and I could see the apology in his eyes.

  He’d seen her? He followed her? He’d said that before, but his words sunk in now.

  “But in the last three years, there have been two reports of witches in our coven who felt they saw Sariah in Arkansas. Both were dismissed, with no reports of follow-up. I also found an address in the back of the file. In Arkansas.” The room went still.

  “I asked Talia about it, and she claimed no knowledge. So I went to Arkansas, and found Sariah Cormier, living at the address listed in the file. When I found Sariah, she didn’t recognize her name. I convinced her to come back with me, since my magic is still not working correctly and asked a friend to search her memory, to see if she’d been living under a spell. And she was. A spell put on her by Talia Dumond.”

  “What? You’d believe that filthy woman over me?” Talia shouted. “What in the world would I gain by casting a spell over her?”

  “It wasn’t what you gained,” Mom said. “It was about taking away from me. You wanted Marshall. But he chose me. And even after ten years, after we’d built a life, had a child together, you couldn’t let it go.”

  “What are you inferring, Sariah?” Delphine asked.

  “I’m not inferring anything. I’m stating a fact. Talia Dumond used magic against me. She enchanted me so that I would behave in a manner that would insure my exile. And then she took my memory, and let my husband and daughter believe that I was dead.”

  “What proof do you have?” Delphine asked.

  “The woman who found her memory,” Jasper spoke up.

  “She is willing to speak?” Delphine asked.

  “She is waiting outside,” Jasper said.

  “This is madness,” Talia shouted.

  Delphine waved a hand. Talia went completely still. “Remove her,” Delphine said. “Make sure she is well bound, so that there is no chance of escape. She has much to answer for.”

  The witch who’d reached for Zelda and another woman walked to Talia, and took her arms. Using magic, they lifted her from the ground and towed her away.

  As she left, I turned from her. I’d never think about that bitch again. Ever. I hugged my mother. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “Neither can I, Mellie-bean.”

  “Melasina and Sariah Cormier,” Delphine said. We both looked at her. “You may both go home, to Melasina’s home. You will not leave New Orleans. There is more to be said, much more more. We will need to speak again. But for now, you may leave. Is that acceptable to you?”

  I nodded, tears forming in my eyes. I didn’t see this happening, ever. It seemed like a dream. I didn’t want to wake up.

  M
y mom was here. Alive. Jasper had found her.

  After he helped to send her away.

  “We will also be speaking with you about your sleep walking, Melasina. Although I venture to say that Talia may be able to offer some insight into that matter, after a time,” Delphine continued. “If all that has been said is accurate.”

  “And Zelda?” I asked. My bony friend had been very quiet, and I could tell that she was worried she wouldn’t be allowed to do what she wanted. So I had to speak for her. As she’d spoken for me.

  Delphine sighed, leaning back in her chair. “I will allow Zelda Dupuis to reside with you. The elders of this coven are to have access to her as needed, as long as we are considerate of the fact that she is in your home.”

  “We won’t see much of them,” I heard Zelda mutter. I nudged the reliquary with my toe. She needed to shut the hell up right now.

  “I can agree to that,” I said, smiling.

  “Then you may leave,” Delphine said.

  I put Zelda back in the bag, and carefully hitched it over my shoulder. Holding hands with my mother, I turned.

  “Mel,” Jasper spoke behind me. I turned slowly. I didn’t want to jostle Zelda, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say to him, if I wanted to say anything at all.

  “Delphine, I want to be clear that if this coven decides, in the end, to ask the Cormiers to leave, that I be allowed to leave with them.” Jasper’s voice rang out through the room.

  “Why?” Delphine asked.

  “Because I’m supposed to be with Melasina. And I am facing my fear of not doing the right thing, of doing the wrong thing, and being honest with myself rather than what I think I’m supposed to do. Had I spoke up earlier, some of this current suffering might have been avoided. Maybe not, but I didn’t speak up.” He took a step toward me and lowered his voice. “I’m doing what I want to do, the right thing, without any other concern.” He held out his hand.

  “You helped send her away,” I whispered. I looked away from him.

  “Jasper?” Delphine asked.

  “My wishes still stand. Regardless of what happens between Melasina and I, if you exile them again, I will be exiled as well.”