by S. M. Butler
He frowned. “A little confused.”
“I don’t doubt it. I had no idea they would do that to you. Are you sure you’re okay?” She said in a way that made him think he shouldn’t be okay. Maybe he should be dead.
“Yeah.” At least, he thought so.
She nodded slowly as if her head was nearly too heavy for her neck. Her posture looked different, like she’d aged. “That was the worst I’ve ever experienced. What do you think it all meant?”
“Ysabeau.” He exhaled through his nose. “What are you talking about?”
“Back there during the ceremony.” Studying him, surprise lit her face. “You really don’t know what happened, do you?”
“Bonswa!” Grann threw the door open and climbed into the passenger seat. “Are we’s ready to go?”
“I know I am,” Luke muttered, feeling a whole tangle of emotions wrangling around in his gut.
Grann asked something quietly in Kreyòl. Ysabeau caught his gaze in the mirror. Her eyes widened and she forced a smile. A fake smile. If he didn’t know better, Luke would think she was keeping something from him.
His temperature was on the rise. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
Grann spoke first, “Why don’t you tell us, Mr. Carter?”
“I have no idea. I was dancing with Ysabeau back at the center of the universe…” The memory stirred up the heat, the wanting. He reached under her headrest and rubbed the nape of her neck with the pad of his thumb. “Really good dancing, by the way. I wouldn’t mind practicing some of those moves later. And then? I don’t know. I woke up with a bad headache.”
Deolina opened the door and flounced in beside him. “You better start talkin’ Guardian. What’s coming?”
Luke dropped his hand. “Excuse me?”
“Der is no excuse,” Deolina said.
Ysabeau spun around to face the black magic priestess. “It’s not his fault!”
“What isn’t my—” he started.
Grann interrupted. “Your spirit, Mr. Carter, de one protecting you knows somet’ing, but won’t tell us. Did she tell you?” She stared at him as if she was reading his every pore.
This was insane. “My spirit? How many times do I have to say it? I wasn’t mounted!”
“Yes, you were. I was der and heard her as well as you did!” Grann said.
It was like ice was dumped down his shorts. His mouth went dry and fell open. Sweat ran down his sides. “What do you mean you were there?”
“Umm-hmm. He was mounted.” Deolina flashed an astounding number of metal-filled molars at him. A show of triumph.
“Time is running short,” Grann demanded. “Tell us.”
Luke shook his pounding head.
Deolina made a tsking sound. “I saw dat comin’. He is no help to us.”
Grann and Deolina both turned away from him and jabbered to the woman he loved in a language he had no hopes of ever understanding.
Chapter Eighteen
‡
When she parked in her driveway, she moved the driver’s seat forward so Luke could get out. Their faces were almost touching. Their eyes met. What she saw in his shockingly blue eyes was bewilderment and a touch of anger. She didn’t blame him. Grann had no right barging into his thoughts like that, none at all.
“What’s going on?” Luke asked.
The blue aura flashed brilliantly about his head. Ysabeau took it as a warning to not hurt Luke again. Ysabeau stepped back. Sadly, she agreed with the spirit. All of Luke’s trauma and suffering over the past few days had been her fault. Gran, Deo, and Tico wouldn’t have bothered him if it weren’t for her.
“Nothing,” she whispered, sadly. “I’m just sorry.”
“Ysabeau, you need to stop saying that.” He cupped her cheek and the warmth from his hand flooded through her skin.
She turned her head and kissed his palm. If she’d known what the Great Mambo Priestess of Light had planned, she would never have taken Luke to the Rec Centre. She’d have told him to go home and never come back. He could’ve been killed.
Gran’s voice came up behind them. “Mr. Carter, your body is tired. Go inside and give it de rest it needs.”
“Dat’s right, keep moving, Guardian man. Give our girl some fresh air.” Deolina was suddenly next to them, her nose dangerously close to Luke’s face.
Anger flushed Luke’s cheeks. “Ysabeau is my only dance partner, Deolina. I suggest you find someone else to go toe-to-toe with.”
Before a brawl broke out on her driveway, Ysabeau said, “Gran’s right, Luke. Go inside and rest. I need to talk to the priestesses before they leave.” She gave Deolina a pointed look. She and Grann had some explaining to do.
He searched her face for answers. “We will talk about this later.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. I promise,” she said.
They all watched him walk into the house.
“We are not leavin’ you two alone. No way, no how. Dat’s like askin’ de devil into your home and feedin’ him supper.” Deolina plopped back against the car. “Grann and I are not feedin’ no devil white man spicy-Ysabeau soup. Right, Gran?”
Grann looked scared. And something Ysabeau hadn’t noticed before—she looked old. “We can’t leave you two alone, Ysa.”
Ysabeau paced her driveway. “You forced your way into his thoughts, Gran! You told me you’d never do that again!”
Deolina cupped her mouth and spoke conspiratorially, “She means after what we did to de bad man.”
“I know what she means. We had no choice, sweet girl. Something horrible is coming.” Grann bit her lip. “None of us, not Gochi, Deo, nor I can see it. We’re too close. Whatever it is, affects us all.”
Ysabeau stopped walking and faced her grandmother. “You think Luke’s wife knows what the horrible thing is? How is that possible?”
“In my vision, I see a woman, a bald-headed woman, with dark wounded eyes. Dead eyes. When I look at your American, I see dat woman hoverin’ over his shoulder, watchin’ me like a vulture.” Deolina shivered. “A hungry vulture.”
Ysabeau gasped. “She won’t hurt Luke, will she? Please tell me he’ll be okay.”
Deolina’s long braids danced in the wind. “She’s de protector who is keepin’ lover man safe from harm. Never mind dat his harm rubs off on us.”
“The horrible thing?” Ysabeau whispered. “What is it?”
Grann took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry, child. We’re figuring it out.”
But Ysabeau saw nothing but fear in Grann’s face. Nothing but fear.
*
Luke went to the refrigerator for a cold beer. Twisting off the lid, he tried to piece together what had happened in the Rec Centre. It was all a big screwed-up haze. The drums, the chanting, the confusion, getting all hot and bothered dancing with Ysabeau, and boom! Hitting the floor. Damn, it was the second time in less than a week he’d been knocked unconscious. He couldn’t remember what happened, but knew it had something to do with Gran. Every time he thought about her, he got pissed all over again. Really, really, pissed.
Why can’t I remember?
He pressed the cold bottle to his forehead and opened another.
*
Ysabeau came into the kitchen and found Luke sitting at the kitchenette, a beer in his hand, another pressed to his head. The blue aura flashed brightly as she came closer. She decided to ignore it.
“Do you have a headache?” she asked.
He didn’t lift his head. “No. I have World War III in my brain.”
“Oww. Let me see if this helps.” She rubbed his shoulders, slowly, intimately.
He leaned into her. “Definitely helping.”
She kept going, massaging up his neck and into his scalp. Her fingers worked to ease away his tension and stress. His hair was so thick, soft. It was all she could do to keep herself from tightening her grip, tipping his head back and kissing him silly.
“Oh, sweetheart, that feels goo
d.” His soft moan of pleasure made her legs weak.
She kneaded his tight, muscular shoulders, while trying to block out how wonderful his arms would feel around her. Sweet mother, she wanted him to hold her, but now was not the time. She shook her head and forced herself to do what she had to do.
Bracing herself, she said, “I’m ready to answer your questions.”
He swiveled in the chair toward her. Putting his hands on her waist, he pulled her closer and rested his head on her belly. He breathed in deeply, as if inhaling her fragrance. “Questions can wait.” His voice was deep, sexy. “I can think of other things I’d rather do.”
So could she. Running her fingers through his hair, she memorized everything…the feel of his big, warm hands around her waist, his lips pressing into her stomach, the need burning inside her. Closing her eyes, she tipped her head to the ceiling and imagined him taking her on the kitchen table. Pounding into her, making her cry his name.
No! She yelled at herself. Don’t get lost in the moment, not yet. “Luke, we need to talk about the Voodoo ceremony. Tell me what you remember. What happened after the dancing?”
He rubbed her back. “It’s a screwed up mess. Did I pass out?”
“You probably did, most people do during a ceremony as intense as that one was. Especially when Gran…did what she did.”
“Good news, I guess. That doesn’t explain what I heard.” When he looked up at her, she saw worry in his blue eyes. “Listen, you aren’t going to believe this but during the ceremony I heard voices in my head. Real voices. Two women yelling at each other. Inside my brain! Please tell me that’s a side effect of being kicked in the head by Tico’s boot.”
Her fingers froze in his scalp. “Um, no. That was Gran. I can’t believe she forced her way into your thoughts. It’s very dangerous.”
“Gran.”
She nodded.
“And the other?”
“I would guess it was your wife.”
“Bullshit.”
She wished it was. “Soli was there.”
“That’s not possible. I watched them bury her. I shoveled in the last bit of dirt. She’s gone, Ysabeau.”
She rubbed his cheeks. “You know the truth in your heart. She can’t leave you.”
The change occurred before her eyes. The darkness in his face lifted, his eyes widened, his lips turned up, and little by little he started to believe.
“Soli was at the ceremony? In my drugged dreams, I understand, but I was awake. How is that possible?”
His wife was in his dreams? Her heart sank. The connection between them was stronger than she wanted to believe.
She noticed his hands on her back were gripping harder, holding on as if she was his only link to the truth. He wasn’t the only one who needed the truth. “Gran’s very powerful. Not many Voduns can do what she does. Please Luke, tell me what Soli said to you. Is she moving on?”
“A piece of her…” His smile was euphoric. “…lives? My Soli?”
Her heart tore. “As long as you hold on and love her as much as you do, her spirit is bound to you.”
“This is…strange shit. I can’t wrap my brain around it. Soli was protecting me and I was the man on the ground.” He shook his head. “Mind-blowing. Would Grann perform another ceremony and let me talk to her this time? Just the two of us?”
Her jaw dropped. “After what happened today? What Grann did to you was very dangerous. People have gone insane and worse during that sort of ceremony. I won’t allow her to do it again.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist again. “I’m too tough for insanity, otherwise, I’d already be there.”
Resting her arms on his strong shoulders, she gazed into those deep blue eyes. She swallowed hard. “What would you say to her? Soli?”
“I don’t know. But I’d give anything for the chance to talk to her one last time. Will Grann do it?”
Anything? Would he give me away in the process? Ysabeau sighed. “I’ll ask her.”
He shook his head and stared at the floor. “I thought I’d lost her forever. Soli was really here?”
“Yes.” She is always here. The blue aura pulsing around him was a constant reminder. Would he ever let Soli go? “Relax, Luke. You need to rest.” As she pressed her lips to his temple she lifted up a silent prayer.
Lord help me. Keep me from falling for a man who still loves his wife.
*
Grann stood in the driveway and watched Ysabeau disappear inside her house. “She’s not happy with me.”
Deolina grinned. “You do have a way of tickin’ folks off.”
“You deserved it,” Grann snapped.
“Me? Okay, maybe I did a little. Well, I’ve got to get on home. Baywatch is about to start and I love my Hasselhoff.” Deolina hugged herself. “Yummy, yummy man. And you’d better get yourself inside. You know what dat spirit said. We’ve got to keep dem two apart.”
“Before you go, tell me. Did you have another vision during the ceremony?” Grann asked.
Deolina shivered in the steamy night air. “It’s de same. Blood. Destruction. Babies cryin’. De air reekin’ up to Heaven’s gate of dead, rottin’ bodies—”
“Deo! What about Ysa?”
Deolina shook her head. “I still see him, de American devil, carrying her lifeless body through the streets. Swearin’ he’s never lettin’ her go.”
“Holy Mother.” Grann let out a little cry.
Deolina grabbed her arm as if to shield her from the pain flooding over her like water from a broken dam. “You never did ask me if I saw you in my vision.”
Grann shook her head. She didn’t care what happened to her, whether the horrible event killed her stone dead, or left her wandering the streets. All she worried about was protecting her grandbaby from the future they couldn’t seem to change.
Deolina said softly, “I don’t see you, Gran. I’m not lyin’, I really don’t. We must be together when disaster strikes. Dat’s de only t’ing I can imagine. I can’t see my future. I can’t see yours.”
“I don’t want to know the future unless it includes sharing a bottle of sherry with Ysabeau when this is all over. I can’t lose another baby, Deo.” She gripped her shoulders with trembling fingers. “I won’t.”
Chapter Nineteen
‡
January 12, 2010. E-day.
The next morning, Ysabeau tiptoed into the living room and kissed Luke on the forehead. “Time to get up sleepy head.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” He reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down on top of him. “Why don’t you lie down with me for a while?”
With her lips so close to his bare chest, it was hard to concentrate. “I’d love to, but I have work to do today.”
“A few minutes. I missed you last night. A lot.” He kissed her.
It was a slow sensuous kiss that warmed her all the way to her toes and made her feel love-drunk. She closed her eyes and gave in, knowing this might be the last time. She wasn’t foolish enough to give her heart to a married man, no matter how much that heart screamed for him. If he couldn’t let Soli go, she’d have to let him go. She wasn’t strong enough to share a man, especially not a man who didn’t belong here. He had a child and a life in another country.
Her life was here—living alone.
“Ysabeau? Where are you, girl?” Grann called from the bedroom.
Ysabeau groaned and answered, “Be there in a minute.”
He grinned. “How does she always know when I am kissing you? Magic ball? Did you ask about doing another ceremony?”
Ysabeau fought to keep the sadness off her face. “Not yet. I will.” He’s in love with another woman. Walk away!
She barely made it to sitting up before he pulled her back down.
“Don’t go. I’m just warming up. Give me a little more time with those lips of yours. Scratch that. A lot more time.”
She backed away, forcing herself to her feet. “Why don’t you come with me to the cli
nic? We’ll check out the lab results together.”
While she lay awake last night, thinking of the sexy man on her couch, she formulated a plan to convince the Guardians to give her more money. It was a sneaky plan, but she was running out of options.
A wave of surprise and what looked like despair rolled over his face. “I gave you a few more days. We don’t have to review the results yet.” He grabbed her hand and locked his fingers with hers. “Let’s wait.”
She tried not to gaze at his bare chest. “Okay, but you could still come to the clinic with me today. I’ll introduce you to some of the patients.”
He frowned. “I don’t meet patients. Guardian Policy. Getting too close to medical subjects could cloud my judgment about medical trials.”
“But Mr. Johnson—?”
“Was a mistake. I shouldn’t have gone with you to talk to him.”
“That’s not right, Luke. You convinced Mr. Johnson to come back. You helped the trial and got me back on track.”
“It’s a violation of policy. It was a mistake I can’t repeat. You understand, right?”
Ysabeau was frantic. She had to convince him. This was her last shot. “Grann says our time together is limited. Stay with me today. Please.”
“Limited? What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” She kissed his fingertips and released his hand. “I better make breakfast.”
On the way to the clinic, Ysabeau tried to not worry about whatever horrible thing was making her grandmother and godmother crazy. Instead, she chose to focus on how she was going to convince Luke to keep funding her clinic. In her heart, she suspected he’d made up his mind already. She sighed.
He put his hand on her leg. “You okay?”
She dipped her head in a short nod, but the only thing okay was that hand on her leg. It would have been exponentially more okay to have both of his hands on her…everything.
“About the clinical trial,” he said softly. “You need to understand that my decision, whatever it will be, is not personal. It has nothing to do with us.”