“Our kids?” Jazzmyn almost laughed out loud.
Kyle tossed his arms about her. “Yeah, the ones we better get started on ASAP. You’re not getting any younger.”
“Maybe we should just concentrate on us for the time being.”
Kyle kissed her again and Jazzmyn’s body hummed with happiness.
Remembering the restaurant beyond her office door, she quickly pulled away. “Don’t you have dinner orders to get out?”
“Not many left to do. It’s almost ten and the dining room is thinning out.” He kissed her once more. “I’ll just go and check on things, and then I’ll start closing up the kitchen.” He let her go and went to the door. When he opened it, Julian was standing in the small hallway, his hand raised in midair as if he was about to knock on the door.
Jazzmyn trembled, and then her body stirred with another more captivating feeling as his eyes took in her face. She was helpless against her desire for him. Even the sight of him made her mind race with thoughts of their entwined naked bodies.
When Julian saw Kyle, his eyes became as black as night.
“You’re back,” Julian grumbled, scowling at Kyle.
Kyle puffed out his chest and Jazzmyn saw the cocky grin slowly spread over his thin lips.
“Kyle.” She turned to him. “Perhaps you should see to those dinner orders.”
Kyle’s features flashed with anger, but Jazzmyn said nothing. She could not afford to have them going after each other in her restaurant.
“Please. Kyle. I need to speak with Julian.”
He gave her a knowing glance and slowly nodded his head. As Kyle departed the small room, he brushed by Julian with a glint of seething hatred in his blue eyes.
After he was gone, Julian stepped inside and closed the door. “Was that wise bringing him back, Jazzmyn?”
She took a deep breath before she spoke, trying to fortify her resolve. “Yes, it was necessary, Julian. I have a business to run and Kyle is important part of that business. People come to eat his food, and when he isn’t around to cook, my business suffers.”
Julian came up to her and wrapped her in his arms. “I told you I have plenty of money for both of us. You don’t need this headache anymore.”
“But I want it. Don’t ask me to give it up, at least not yet.”
“All right. Whatever makes you happy.” He leaned forward to kiss her but stopped inches from her lips. He took in a whiff of her skin and she saw his countenance change.
“You reek of him,” he growled.
She tilted her head back from him. “It’s a restaurant, Julian. I smell like the kitchen.”
He smelled the skin on her neck and then he stood back from her. His black eyes seared into her. “You’ve been with him,” he hissed.
Julian’s muscular body loomed before her. He seemed to arch over her like a hunter about to pounce on its prey.
“I have not been with him. We’ve been working side by side in the kitchen all afternoon and evening. That’s what you smell,” she explained.
Julian studied her face. She could see the internal debate raging beneath his eyes. He wanted to trust her, but his instincts were telling him not to.
He tilted his head to the side. “Maybe I should ask Kyle about this.” He turned to the door.
“Julian, please. Don’t go into my kitchen and create a fuss. I’ve just gotten everyone settled since Kyle came back. I don’t need you creating more havoc for me.”
Julian faced her. “It’s a good thing we are marrying tonight. From now on I’ll know you are completely mine.” He looked down at her left hand. “Where’s your ring?”
Jazzmyn quickly reached into the front pocket of her black pants where she had placed the ring earlier that day. She pulled it out and showed it to him. Julian took the ring from her and placed it on the third finger of her left hand.
“We need to go,” he declared, clutching her hand.
Jazzmyn thought of Kyle waiting in the kitchen for her. She knew if she went out there and said she was leaving, he would go after Julian. But Jazzmyn needed to slip away and buy some time. She hoped she could talk Julian out of this ceremony, and find some way to convince him that this ritual was not going to work, but to do that she had to come up with a plan. She would also have to find a way to keep Kyle away from Julian while she developed her plan. Jazzmyn sighed as her head swarmed with unsettling questions, and as Julian led her from her office, she realized what she really needed, more than anything, was a miracle.
***
Once they had returned to her Garden District home, Julian kept Jazzmyn occupied with preparing for the ceremony. She listened attentively as he talked excitedly about the preparations he had made for the coming festivities. But when he pointed to the cold bath he had prepared for her with saltwater and rosemary, Jazzmyn felt her patience waning.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Jazzmyn griped as she stared into the bathtub swirling with green twigs of fresh rosemary.
“I know it looks bad, but you have to immerse your entire body in the water as part of a ritual cleansing before the ceremony takes place. You cannot use a blow dryer on your hair, or put on deodorant, makeup, or perfume. Your body must be pure. Keep your hair down as well. No modern plastic clips or barrettes. Lucinda’s orders,” Julian instructed in a firm tone.
“I think your voodoo priestess is making this up.”
“I know it sounds silly, but do it for me.” He fingered the small gold satyr figurine around her neck. “You won’t have to wear this anymore after tonight.”
She placed her hand over the gold charm. “Do I have to take off all my jewelry, too?”
He smiled for her and shook his head. “No, you can leave your necklace and engagement ring on. They’re not modern inventions.” He took a step back from her. “I’ll be in the bathroom down the hall having my own ritual bath in Jimsonweed and garlic,” he added with an exaggerated frown.
Jazzmyn laughed at his humorous expression. “Well, then I won’t complain anymore.”
Julian darted out of the bathroom looking as giddy as a little boy on Christmas Day. Ever since they had left the restaurant, he had been different. The darkness in his eyes had diminished and he appeared almost happy. She figured after years of waiting, his goal of returning to mortality was finally within his grasp. Maybe being human becomes a gift to those who lose their humanity. Julian had finally learned that the art of living outshines the brilliance of an unending existence. Then her thoughts strayed back to Kyle. She feared what Julian would do to him if he ever suspected her feelings for Kyle. Convinced that he would never give her up, Jazzmyn knew Julian would kill anyone who stood between them.
Casting her eyes to the contents in her bathtub, she cursed her predicament. When she began removing her clothes, a tear scampered down her cheek as an uncomfortable heaviness settled over her heart.
A few minutes later, after she had immersed herself in the freezing water, she went into her bedroom where Julian had laid out white pants, a white T-shirt, and white tennis shoes on her bed.
“Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse,” she muttered as she lifted the white T-shirt in her hand.
Once she had changed into her white clothes, she walked into the hall outside of her bedroom and immediately saw Julian coming toward her, dressed all in black.
“You get to dress like Johnny Cash and I’m the one who gets to look like a bride at a barbeque.”
“I’m the one who is cursed.” He waved his hand down his outfit. “Hence the black. You’re the light who is to free me. That’s why you get to wear the white.” He took her by the elbow and ushered her to the staircase.
“What else do we have to do?” Jazzmyn questioned as they started down the steps.
“Just pick up the duffel bag I left by the door and we are on our way.”
“What’s in the duffel bag?”
Julian motioned to the bottom of the steps. “A few things Lucinda wanted me to bring. A
roll of silver pennies, a jar of pure olive oil, preferably organic, the miniature portrait of me from your dining room, and a knife.”
Jazzmyn stopped on the stairs and turned to Julian. “Why a knife?”
“To symbolically cut my bonds from the curse.” His dark eyes scanned her face. “What did you think it was for?”
“I…I thought you might have to kill something, or someone.”
He lightly chuckled as he made his way to the first floor. “I assure you, Jazzmyn, nothing and no one will be killed during the ceremony.”
“But what about the sacrifice?” she asked behind him.
When Julian reached the bottom of the stairs, he glanced up at her. “What sacrifice?”
“Ms. Helen said there must be a sacrifice to supply the power needed to change you back. Something that is dear to you; something you love.”
Julian angrily rubbed his hand across his chin. “Is that why you’ve been acting so funny this evening, because you think I’m going to kill you in order to be human again?”
“It had crossed my mind.”
Julian placed his hands on his hips. “You need to tell that old woman at the restaurant to stop filling your head with such nonsense. I can’t have a ceremony without you, Jazzmyn. I can’t become human if I kill you.” He shook his head and waved her down the stairs. “Now, come on.” He looked at the gold Rolex on his wrist. “We need to get going.”
She came down the steps to his side and nodded to the watch. “Why do you get to wear a modern watch and I can’t pull my hair back or put on deodorant?”
He picked up a black duffel bag from the table by the front door. “Because I’m not the one who was chosen. My aura is already black so modern conveniences, like my watch, won’t change anything.”
He opened the double front doors and headed outside. As Jazzmyn stood at the entrance to her home, a sudden feeling of dread gripped her. It was like a thousand cold icicles shooting into her body at once. She knew if she crossed that threshold, something bad was going to happen.
Julian held out his hand to her. “Come, Jazzmyn.”
“Jazzmyn, don’t do it,” a man’s voice pleaded from the side of her front porch.
When Kyle stepped from the darkness and into the porch light, an excruciating anguish sliced through Jazzmyn’s heart.
“What are you doing here?” Julian shouted.
“I came for her.” Kyle pointed at Jazzmyn. “You can’t have her, Julian.”
Jazzmyn swerved to Julian. She could see the change beginning in him. The darkness of the night surrounding them seemed to seep into him. His eyes became large, black orbs and his body appeared to grow in height and width.
“You bitch!” he screamed at Jazzmyn. “You gave yourself to him. What I smelled was not the restaurant, it was his seed, inside you.”
Julian’s physique almost doubled in size before her. His muscles bulged beneath the fabric of his black shirt and pants. Little white horns began protruding from the top of his head and his face contorted into a demonic expression.
“What the hell?” Kyle moved toward Jazzmyn.
Julian held out his arms and glowered at Jazzmyn. “This is what I am. This is what I become,” he cried out in an unearthly voice.
“Get inside!” Kyle yelled, pushing her into the house.
But Julian was much too fast for him and within seconds he was on top of Kyle, pinning him beneath his massive body in the doorway. Julian kneeled before her as he placed his powerful hands around Kyle’s throat.
“I can rip his head off with one twist of my hands,” Julian’s deep voice asserted as his black eyes glared at Jazzmyn. “You have a choice. Come with me, or I will kill him.”
“Jazzmyn—” Kyle cried out, but Julian tightened his grip around his throat, cutting off his words.
“No, Julian, don’t.” Jazzmyn stepped outside the front doors. “I will go with you. I will commit to you, just don’t hurt him.”
Julian leaned over Kyle’s face and sniffed his breath. “I can smell the fear in you, boy.”
“Julian, please, let him go!”
“How do I know you won’t betray me again with him?” Julian snarled.
“I will do whatever you want. I will stay with you always, but you must promise never to harm Kyle.”
Kyle’s eyes pleaded with her not to do it, but she had no choice. They could never be together as long as Julian lived. She had become just as cursed as the monster kneeling before her.
“You will stay with me, be my wife in every way for the rest of our lives?” Julian demanded, letting his hands slacken ever so slightly around Kyle’s throat.
“Whatever you want, but you must let Kyle go. Promise me he will always be safe.”
Julian nodded his head. “Once you have committed to me, I promise to never lay a hand on him.” Julian released Kyle.
Kyle rolled over to his side, gagging and grabbing at his throat.
His watery blue eyes connected with her when he felt her hand on his arm. “What just happened?” he whispered to her.
She helped him to his feet. “My unicorn just tried to kill you.”
Kyle stood up next to her. “Thanks for not saying I told you so,” he mumbled.
When they turned to Julian, he appeared normal. His eyes were dark brown again, not black, and his body had returned to its former shape and size. The horns protruding from his head had completely disappeared.
“She loves me,” Kyle proclaimed in a hoarse voice. “Your stupid ceremony won’t work because she loves me, not you.”
Julian grinned. “All she has to do is speak the words, Kyle. Odette Livaudais never loved me, either. She just pretended to.” Julian slammed his fist into Kyle’s face, sending him hurtling through the front doors of the house and into the foyer.
“Kyle!” Jazzmyn screamed as she made a move to go after him, but Julian held her back.
“He will keep.” Julian shut the doors, took her keys from his pocket, and set the deadbolt. “When we return, I will let him go.”
Jazzmyn grabbed Julian’s thick arm. “You promised not to hurt him.”
He removed her hand from his arm and replaced the keys in his pocket. “I promised not to hurt him once you have committed to me. When you have held up your end of the bargain, I will honor mine.”
“When you become human, Julian, you will be just as vulnerable as the next guy, and then I will leave you,” she growled.
Julian laughed as he picked up the black duffel bag from the ground and swung it over his thick shoulder. “You will never leave me, Jazzmyn. Try to end our relationship in any way, and the curse will return.” He lowered his head to her. “Then, I will hunt Kyle down and rip him apart limb from limb right before your eyes.”
“Ms. Helen was right. You are a demon,” Jazzmyn asserted, feeling the bile rise up the back of her throat.
“One day I have got to meet this, Ms. Helen. It seems I might have a lot to discuss with her.” He grasped her hand. “Come, we’re wasting moonlight.”
He dragged her down the front steps, heading to his dark blue Maserati, just as the full moon appeared from behind a cloud. The eerie light streamed through the tall oaks next to Jazzmyn’s home, illuminating the bricked pathway below her feet. She glanced back at the wide doors of her beloved home and yearned to go to Kyle. Jazzmyn knew the only way she was going to have any chance of saving him was to go with Julian and do whatever he asked. It seemed that her worst nightmare was about to come true.
Chapter 21
Lafayette Cemetery Number One was the oldest cemetery in the Garden District, and a short drive from Jazzmyn’s home. Established in 1833, it was originally part of the city of Lafayette, which was later incorporated into New Orleans.
During the bright light of day, the cemetery was a hub of tourist activity, with tour buses and cabs often seen waiting outside the massive, black wrought iron gates that marked the entrance. With Commander’s Palace Restaurant right across the street, the
re was always a flurry of people about to add an air of normalcy to the graveyard. But by the time the shade of night descended and Commander’s Palace closed its doors, the cemetery took on a unearthly atmosphere.
Julian parked his car before the tall, delicately designed gates that led to the long alleyways of raised graves. The full moon above illuminated the smooth vaulted tombs behind the cemetery’s high-bricked walls with a pale light. Shadows from the statuary of angels and otherwordly figures placed above many of the mini-masoleums filled the streets of the dead, making it appear as if mourners from funeral processions in the past had never left their loved ones behind.
“Every Livaudais from Odette’s father to your father is buried here,” Julian remarked as he looked up at the beautiful gates outside his car window.
Jazzmyn glimpsed her trembling hands. “My father wanted to be buried with his family.”
“When your time comes, will you join him?”
She leveled her dark green eyes on him. “Are you planning for me to join him anytime soon?”
Julian gingerly patted her thigh. “No, my love. I will be watching over you. I can’t afford for anything to happen to you.”
“Or the curse comes back, is that it?”
Julian grabbed the duffel bag from the back seat. “Once you have committed to me in a formal ceremony, I will be bound to you. It does not matter whether the curse returns, or I remain mortal; after tonight, Jazzmyn, you will never be free of me.”
Jazzmyn shook her head. “This just gets better and better. What’s to stop me from putting a bullet in my head after tonight?”
Julian reached for his car door. “You won’t do that. You fear death more than you fear me.” He opened his door and stepped outside.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, asshole,” Jazzmyn muttered, and then noticed the engagment ring on her left hand. She angrily yanked the ring from her finger and dropped it on the floor of the car.
After he opened her door, she stood beside the car and peered through the cemetery gates as a chilly breeze enveloped her.
The Satyr's Curse (The Satyr's Curse Series Book 1) Page 23