Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1)

by Margo Bond Collins

  Henry warned the servants that if anyone was caught helping her they would be punished. She had on one of her favorite lounge dresses but no shoes as they had fallen off when he’d dragged her down the stairs. She had learned to keep clothes around the house for when he decided to humiliate her, but never once had she thought of the cellar.

  Stubborn Jina came every day to sneak some food through a hole she made when Henry was away so Odara wouldn’t starve to death.

  “No, Jina, he’s going to kill you,” Odara would protest even as weak and tired as she was.

  “Then let him. You already gonna catch a world of cold or worse, a snake bite. Now here,” Jina said, handing Odara food wrapped in a napkin. Odara didn’t want to take it, but it smelled good and she was starving. Jina would sit with her and they would talk whenever Henry left the house but that was never for too long. He always seemed to be around. It felt like Jina was her only friend.

  Surrounded only by wine racks and a few odds and ends, Odara had no other choice but to take refuge on the counter with a piece of plywood in her hand to ward off the animals. Odara was afraid of snakes and didn’t care for rats, either. She tried not to cry but the tears came anyway in between fighting sleep for fear of what else would crawl through in the middle of the night.

  After three days he finally allowed Jina and one of the male gardeners to carry her out, only after she screamed from being bitten by a snake. As Jina had predicted, she was sick for about a month after that but, worst of all, she lost the baby she didn’t even know she had in her womb. Odara cried for an entire month.

  Henry didn’t touch her during that time but once that month was over he beat her senseless. He claimed she should’ve known she was pregnant. She never could do anything right.

  Chapter 3

  Finally, after their first six months of marriage, he took her on a ride but wouldn’t tell her where they were going. Arriving at a house that was similar to hers but grander she figured they were finally attending one of the dinners he always talked about being given by his business partner.

  A woman she had never met before stood on the steps, not looking pleased at their arrival. She was a homely, round woman who seemed old enough to be Henry’s mother. Henry introduced her to Odara as his wife, his legal white wife. Odara nearly fainted right there on the steps. Henry had never told her he had another wife. He was always around so she assumed she was the only one he loved.

  She knew the Louisiana law but after all this time she thought she was the only one. Did Papa know?

  Henry smiled at Odara as if he hadn’t just dropped the weight of the world on her shoulders. His wife said nothing, only walked back inside. The house looked just like hers, down to the colors and paintings. How could I have been so naive?

  They were forced to have dinner together at the same table along with his two sons: five-year-old Jake and Thomas, aged three, of whom she also knew nothing. Throughout the dinner Odara received displeased glances from the wife as well as the servants.

  As if sitting there wasn’t unbearable enough, he made her sit next to him so he could lean over and whisper disgusting things in her ear, smiling as if he spoke pleasantries.

  He said things such as, “All three of us are going to engage in sexual activity later,” and “You better not get fat and disgusting like her.” Throughout the meal Odara could barely eat. All she really wanted to do was throw up. Never once during the dinner did he acknowledge the mother of his children.

  Later that night he confessed to Odara that today was his and Mrs. Nicolas’ anniversary, their marriage was an arranged one and he had brought her there as a reminder to his legal wife that he had never loved her.

  Odara was waiting for him to say something about never mentioning his legal wife before but he did not. She figured he didn’t love her either or he would never force her to play a part in such an activity. He only wanted to remind both women who was in charge. Him.

  ***

  Shortly after that dinner, Odara took it upon herself to visit his other wife when Henry was away on business to ask for her aid. It took all that Odara had inside her to go to this woman, but she was desperate and felt her life depended on it. She remembered how to get there from the previous visit.

  After she knocked on the door she stepped back, waiting for it to open. An older man answered. At first he appeared shaken but remembered his manners. “May I help you?”

  “I’m here to see Mrs. Nicolas,” Odara said, knowing full well that she must have thought highly of herself for a Creole woman, showing up alone and unannounced.

  “Will you come in and wait in the parlor room?” he asked, giving a slight bow and backing up. Something he probably did often.

  “Thank you.” She walked in and followed him to the room. She was already nervous traveling on her own so late in the day but she was even more apprehensive, having never spoken to his wife before, not even the day she came on their anniversary. She could only imagine how much the woman hated her.

  “I will tell her you’re here. Wait right here,” he said, bowing again as he left the room, unable to keep his eyes off of her.

  Soon she heard rushed footsteps approaching. The door swung open so fast Odara stepped back even though she was ten feet away. “What in God’s name are you doing here, you whore?” were the first words out of Mrs. Nicolas’ mouth.

  Odara had been aware that this wasn’t going to be easy but she hadn’t expected that. “I have come for your help,” Odara said. She stood proudly though she would rather have skulked away in regret at her decision.

  “Help? Help? Why on earth would I help you?” the woman said, closing the door and walking towards her.

  “I know you don’t care for your husband having another wife so I’m here to tell you I don’t want to be with him anymore. I want out and being his legal wife you can contest this. I know who your father is. He just about owns all of New Orleans so he can end this agreement.”

  Mrs. Nicolas held her chest and laughed. “Oh, you silly girl, who do you think pushed him into your arms? I was even the one who pointed you out to him. When his first whore couldn’t satisfy him after only a year he got rid of her. See, he likes them young and spirited. You must be doing something right because I hardly ever see him and I couldn’t be happier.”

  Odara was shocked at this bluntness from a woman of such wealth and status but, even more than this, she was confused as to why any wife would want their husband in the arms of another. “What, why?”

  “Don’t look so confused, girl. I don’t dislike you because you are his mistress. I dislike you because you are a Creole whore,” Mrs. Nicolas said.

  “I’m not a whore, I’m his wife too. I have a house and land like you and from what he tells me yours was an arranged marriage just like mine. Just ‘cause my skin color is darker than yours don’t make you any better.” Odara’s blood was boiling hot. This so-called woman was obviously going to be no help to her. “How can you be content with this?” Odara asked, having to take a seat when her legs gave out.

  “Please . . . whatever you want to call yourself, I don’t care. Haven’t you figured it out? I was once young, thin and nice to look at too. I fattened myself up when our second child was born so he wouldn’t want me any longer but that didn’t always work. Only two years of marriage and I couldn’t stand him any longer, as I’m sure you appreciate, knowing of his needs. So I decided to let him have free will outside this house. I swore to him I would never contest it or complain to my father as long as he never touched me again. ”

  Sadly, Odara knew of his needs all too well. “So you pushed him off onto another woman. You’re just about as sick as he is.”

  Odara walked over to Mrs. Nicolas who backed up suddenly, holding up her hands in defense. She was so close to the woman she could feel her breath on her face. “That’s right, be afraid of me. One day you will pay for this. If anybody is the whore it’s you. You gave your soul away to the devil while I fight every day
to keep mine, you evil wench.” Odara stormed out of the house vowing never to return.

  Although she still blamed Mr. Nicolas for his bad ways, Mrs. Nicolas’ behavior was worse. A person could not help their nature and Mr. Nicolas’ nature was certainly rotten but she, that woman in there, knew better.

  The next anniversary she begged Henry not to go back to that house but she was forced to go back—for the last time if Odara had her way. On this particular visit she cursed and pushed Henry away when he leaned in to whisper something crude in her ear at the dinner table. She knew what was going to happen later on that night and that she accepted, but entering that woman’s house again she could not. He never made her go back again after that.

  Chapter 4

  Ever since Odara had refused to go back to his other house he barely let her leave her own house or even have company at all. She would sneak a friend in from time to time when he was away and the servants never told on her. They knew what she suffered.

  One particular day, he came home early reeking of alcohol, which he never had done before, and broke up her tea party. He destroyed everything in the room and choked Odara as the other women hid in the corner. He threatened Odara in front of everybody, shouting that the next time she disobeyed him he would kill her.

  Those women never came back again unless their common-law husbands were with them. Odara couldn’t blame them. Those same women attended their next dinner party with their husbands, each staring at her with pity in their eyes realizing what she went through.

  Most of the men worked for Henry, so even though they themselves had money, they would never say anything to him. Henry had too many connections and money interests for them to risk getting on his bad side. Not one of them would speak up for her—or even for their wives—about what Henry put them through. They were cowards.

  Instead she had received offers of protection from a few of them if she were willing to become their mistress. Of course she refused, disgusted by the offers.

  Over the next nine and a half years she acted her part, pretending to be happy to see him. She tried not to fight back, which was what he wanted, but something inside of her always did until he got the better of her. At other times she tried avoiding him until he tracked her down and found her hiding in a room. Jina helped prevent her from getting pregnant through different herbs, for which she was thankful.

  On their eleventh anniversary, Henry finally broke Odara. She had forgotten to take the herbs when she was laid up from one his tirades, and became pregnant. She tried to hide it as long as possible since she wanted this child so badly. She was older and needed something good to come from this living hell. She figured if she was far enough along he would leave her alone and let the child be born.

  Four months into the pregnancy she finally told Henry she was pregnant. She explained how she wanted, no, needed this child since her mother had died a few months before. She pleaded for him to understand but all Henry did was walk out the room. Odara took that as a sign of good faith.

  Henry left to have a drink elsewhere to get away from Odara and her constant nagging but the more he thought about the pregnancy the more he came to hate it.

  Later on that night she dreamed of what a wonderful life she and her baby were going to have. She knew in her heart she was meant to have a child and that Henry would soon leave her be.

  As Odara drifted off to sleep that night with sweet dreams of what their child would look like it was Henry who woke her to the bitterness of reality. Enraged, Henry dragged her out of bed by her hair, accusing her of having another man’s child. In only a gown and with bare feet she was dragged through the house yelling the whole way. Jina jumped in, trying to stop him, but he practically knocked her down the stairs and held a gun ready for any male who dared to block him.

  Odara screamed and begged Henry to stop. “I swear, Henry, I haven’t been with another man, please.” She knew the stress would kill the baby but she prayed she could just hold on. Her whole body hurt from being dragged and knocked around. Chunks of her hair lay on the floor as he yanked her up when his grip loosened.

  Down the back stairs into the woods he took her, with the servants wanting to help but unable to for the fear of getting shot. They had seen him lose his temper before but this time he seemed to have gone mad.

  Henry stripped her completely naked and hung her up by her wrists on a big oak tree there in the woods. The others watched, sickened by his behavior. “If you’re going to be a whore then let the world see what you are.”

  Henry told everyone to get back in the house and if he caught them helping her down they would be shot on sight.

  Odara hung, belly and all, by her arms as she begged to be freed. She kept apologizing, but for what she didn’t know. Maybe for the fact that she must have done something wrong in her life to have deserved this. One of the men decided to take a stand and get her down. Henry shot him between the eyes. “I told you if you help her I will kill you. Leave him there to rot,” he told the others, who were too afraid to say anything or move at all.

  After some time of enduring unbearable pain Odara passed out, having gone into shock from internal bleeding. She knew she had already lost the baby and wanted to die with it. As she hung there unconscious she passed over to the other side, but there were voices, whispers calling her back.

  After Henry had had enough of humiliating Odara, he walked past the servants and told them to get her down, then walked into the house to collapse in one of the guest bedrooms.

  After Odara was carried into the house, she had a feeling that she hadn’t just passed out from blood loss, for a moment she had died that night, but whether it was her strong will or just plain fight as to why she came back, she did not know . . . but she did it, although admittedly she left a piece of herself behind. She no longer felt much of anything anymore: no remorse, no love, no heart, just anger. The piece she had left behind was her soul.

  After the loss of their second unborn child she swore to take revenge on him through the old ways, the ones people didn’t mess much with anymore. Voodoo.

  Henry hardly came to visit anymore which was fine with her. Each and every time he left she prayed he’d die a terrible death. When he was around he barely touched her since she had learned to no longer fight. No fight meant no sex, although it didn’t stop him from hitting her for no reason. She knew he was courting another placee to be her successor so her time in the house was limited.

  ***

  A month after the loss of their second child, while Henry was gone a lot, she first visited the Houngan, a male priest. He warned her, “Not anyone can be a priestess, and voodoo religion should be for blessing and not to cause harm. It must be done right, involving many people. Even in blessing rituals, to call on the spirits from the other world there is much to do, involving music, dance, the offering of food, and sacrificing of animals. Having ill will in your heart when practicing this religion brings forth what you put out and cannot be undone. A dark heart will only allow dark and angry spirits, and even evil creatures to arise. The magic is mysterious and the power the Houngan or the Mambo priestess holds is still something we do not understand,” the priest continued.

  All that she had suffered over the past eleven years only to be thrown out, meant she was determined to get her revenge even if she died doing so. Odara already felt she no longer had a soul to be concerned about; it was already damned.

  Being a priestess was no worry to her personally because she already had the gift of sight to see the dead; the challenge was getting others to help. The sacrifice was the problem. She needed a suitable body to complete her retribution.

  The priest went on to tell her that he had known she was coming this day and she should turn away. “I see darkness around you. I know who you are and your spirit is empty inside. Do not do this,” he pleaded with her, but Odara didn’t care.

  Only after she swore to the priest that she would use the religion for purposes of good would he teach her the old
ways. What the Houngan didn’t know was that she planned on visiting a Bokur, a priest that practiced black magic, but she needed to be taught the simpler ways first. That was when Madame Lilly was born, Lilly meaning the loss of one’s soul.

  Yes she lied to get what she wanted. Why not? Men have done it for so long without thinking twice about it. She knew the priest was a careful man but he’d agreed to do it anyway. Maybe out of pity, but his agreement was all that mattered.

  Over the months she picked his mind as he carefully trained her, asking certain questions each time so he would not put all the pieces together. All she had to do was cock her hip or rub up against him and he answered.

  Henry Nicolas had taught her what men really wanted and she knew how to get it. Whenever she went anywhere, men stared at her sometimes too long, or so Henry would say. Even at thirty, which was considered old, she looked young and her curvaceous body was flawless.

  During her training she visited the local Bokur as planned, who asked not one question nor did he judge her. That pleased her. Actually, he had been waiting on her visit as well. He told her they needed to hurry because time was running out sooner than she thought.

  Chapter 5

  After nine months of training, Henry finally came to her with what she had expected. “I have given you to Mr. Norwich, another Creole. Even at your age you are still a thing of beauty. I have a new wife, a younger version of you, and she will be here tomorrow night. So in two days’ time you will be his,” he said, removing his jacket as if this was a normal conversation between the two of them. But that was what he always did. He spoke of harsh things in a calm manner to get a reaction out of her.

  When she didn’t say anything he cupped her face for a brief minute. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll come visit you from time to time. I’ll even visit when he’s away so we can have some time alone.” Then he continued to unbutton his ruffled blouse.