by Reid, Terri
“I should thank you my dear,” the woman said, “By killing me you set me free. I’m no longer trapped in that sickened body – now I am free to fulfill all that I was promised.”
She laughed and glided in a circle around Louisa.
“You know, I wasn’t going to harm the man, but since he was connected to you, he had to die too.”
Somewhere a memory flashed in Louisa’s mind. She had seen the woman before, on a beach.
The woman smiled at her, as if she could read her mind.
“Even in your dreams you are not safe,” she repeated, “And those you love are never safe.”
The woman raised a large knife up and thrust it down.
Louisa screamed.
Paul woke immediately and grabbed Eloise to him. Eloise lifted tear-stained and frightened eyes to him.
“Jean-Paul, you’re alive,” she cried and drew his face down to hers for a hungry kiss.
She ran her hands across his chest, delighting in the hard, secure feel of him. She wound her hands around his neck and thrust her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss. She pressed against him and felt him tremble.
Finally strong arms gently took hold of her shoulders and pushed her back, she continued kissing him on his neck, chest and arms.
“Eloise, you’re killing me,” Paul moaned, “Please, darling, wake up. It was only a bad dream.”
Eloise stilled and Paul heard her groan as she buried her head against his chest. Paul grinned and laughed quietly.
“I can feel you laughing, so just knock it off,” her muffled voice warned.
“Baby, if I don’t release this tension by laughing, I’m afraid I won’t be responsible for what happens next.”
There was a moment of dead silence and then a meek voice responded, “Oh. Okay.”
Paul chuckled and then cleared his throat.
“Okay, so who the hell is Jean-Paul?”
Paul could feel Eloise tense for a moment, and then he could have sworn he heard her giggle.
He sat up in the bed, slipped his hands beneath her arms and dragged her up to sit in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her place. “Just keeping you secure,” he said when she looked questioningly at him.
She folded her arms across her chest and faced him.
“So tell me about your dream,” he requested.
“Do you want to know about the dream or about Jean-Paul?” she asked.
Paul sighed. “The dream, tell me about the dream,” he replied.
Eloise told him briefly about the dream, going into detail towards the end.
“So, was this just a dream or was it a warning?”
Eloise shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean it could have been only a result of too much stress and …” she stopped, looked at Paul and turned away.
“Or being in my arms again,” he said softly, “Damn it, Eloise, I am not intentionally trying to cause you pain. I just don’t know what to do. Right now, it seems that I am the only person who can keep you safe, but by doing it, I open you up to all kinds of bad experiences.
“Okay, I’m not asking for any reason of my own – but this Jean-Paul that you dreamed about, is he a real person?”
Eloise turned and looked at Paul, the same gentle eyes as the lover in her dream, the same voice, and the same goodness.
Eloise nodded. “Yes, he is a real person.’
Paul nodded stiffly and turned away. “I see.”
He inhaled deeply and looked back at Eloise, staring into her eyes.
“Okay, this time it is for me,” he said, “Do you - are you in love with him?”
Eloise waited a moment for the fear, the tension to surface, but instead all she felt was an overwhelming sense of elation. The fear was gone, replaced by joy and strength and surety. She looked at Paul in wonder and amazement.
“Yes, yes I am,” she replied.
She saw the pain flash through Paul’s eyes and moved to reassure him that Jean-Paul was he. But then a voice passed through her mind, “You know, I wasn’t going to harm the man, but since he was connected to you, he had to die too.”
In her mind’s eye she relived the scene of the burned carriage house and she realized that the dream was indeed a warning.
She turned to Paul but couldn’t think of anything to say.
Paul shook his head and gave her a half-smile.
“Hey, it’s okay, he’s a lucky guy,” he leaned over, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and then slid them both down onto the bed, “Let’s get a little more sleep; I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a big day.”
She nodded and nestled herself against his body. He tightened his arms around her and she thought she heard him mutter, “Tonight, you’re mine.”
She allowed a small tear to escape before quickly dashing it away. Tonight she could be his – but tomorrow, she would have to find another way.
Chapter Ten
The next morning Paul and Eloise recounted the previous night’s experience to Sally. After a quick cup of coffee, Paul excused himself to take a shower.
“I never thought that I would say this, but you’re an idiot,” Sally said, mixing up her green goop shake in the kitchen and wagging her finger at Eloise, “You got this guy, tall, dark and military, who is head over heels for you and you tell him that you’re in love with someone else. What, do you have some sort of masochistic tendencies?’
“Will you please be quiet?’ Eloise whispered harshly, “He might hear you.”
“Oh, so you can take his heart, rip it into pieces, throw it on the floor and step on it, but you don’t want me to hurt his feelings?” Sally shook her head, “You are an idiot.”
“Okay, I’m an idiot, I agree,” Eloise said, finishing off the last of her protein shake, “Too much time working with dead people. I don’t have a heart anymore.”
Sally took a large gulp of her drink and fixed her eyes on Eloise as she contemplated the situation. Her eyes widened when she finally came to a new theory and, her mouth full of drink, madly pointed her finger at Eloise. Finally, her mouth clear, she nodded and spoke.
“So, what did the big bad demon lady do to Jean-Paul that you don’t want to have happen to Paul?” she asked.
Eloise choked and then turned away from Sally.
“Sally just because you have an IQ of 195 does not mean that you have all the insight to human nature,” Eloise responded, “I’m just not interested in Paul.”
“Hah!” Sally scoffed, “I may be brilliant but I’m not stupid.”
Eloise turned back to Sally, “What?”
“Okay, you look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t love Paul.”
Eloise tried to envision the charred remains of the carriage house.
“Oh, no, no fair justifying in your mind,” Sally said, “Tell me now!”
She grabbed Eloise’s shoulders and stared into her eyes.
Eloise pulled away and shook her head.
“He will be killed if he’s connected to me,” Eloise finally whispered through tears, “I can’t have him die.”
Sally rolled her eyes.
“You are an idiot,” she said, this time softly with sympathy, “Isn’t this guy Special Forces or something like that?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Don’t you think that someone with that kind of training could take care of one crazy demon lady?”
Eloise shook her head. “I can’t take that risk.”
“Don’t you think that it should be his decision to make?”
“Whose decision to make?” Paul asked, wearing only a pair of jeans and toweling off his hair.
“Dang,” said Sally, eyeing his chest, “Tall, dark and military works out.”
Paul grinned and winked at Sally.
“So whose decision is what?” he asked again.
“Well, I guess you can decide whether you want to drive or if I should,” Eloise said, “I have to go back to Marie Laveau’s tomb
.”
Paul shrugged and Eloise, watching the muscles ripple in his shoulders, enjoyed the view as much as Sally. “I can drive, no problem,” he said, “Why are we going there?”
“I want to ask a Voodoo Queen about an amulet,” she replied.
Much to his credit, Paul simply nodded. “Let me check in with my division, and then I can be ready to go in about 15 minutes.”
The drive to New Orleans was painful, painfully polite. Paul asked her about the history of Marie Laveau and she responded. She asked him about some of the things he had done in the service since their time in Turkey and he responded. They spoke about the weather and about any other topic that was not personal.
Finally, Paul asked, “So, um, where did you meet this Jean-Paul guy?”
Eloise stiffened, “I’d really rather not talk about it.”
Paul shrugged. “Okay, I can understand that.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes.
“So, when he held you in his arms, did those same things happen to you as they did when we were in Istanbul?”
Eloise rolled her eyes. “I would really rather not talk about him.”
Paul turned to her, taking his eyes off the road for a moment. “Eloise, I’ve got to know if it was me that caused those things to happen to you.”
Then he turned his attention back to the highway.
Eloise sighed, chose her words carefully and then replied.
“The only man who has ever had his arms around me has been you.”
Paul turned to her, shock registering in his eyes. “Eloise, have you fallen for a guy who’s gay?”
For the second time that day, Eloise had to choke back a smile. “No, he just doesn’t feel the need to hold me.”
The Humvee swerved to the side of the road and screeched to a halt.
“You can’t expect me to believe that,” Paul said, turning to her.
“Paul, what are you doing? We have to get to New Orleans.”
Paul shook his head, turned the vehicle off and unhooked his seat belt. He opened the door and walked around to the other side of the vehicle. He opened Eloise’s door and took her hand in his. “Feel what you do to me,” he said, placing her hand on his heart.
She could feel his heart beating strong and steady.
She shook her head. “I don’t understand, what?”
With his other hand he cradled the side of her head and stepped closer to her. “Feel,” he said, as he lowered his lips to hers.
For a moment, Eloise felt the acceleration of his heart beneath her hand, after that she lost the ability to think clearly. He deepened the kiss and moved his arm around her waist to pull her closer. She slipped her hand from his heart and circled his neck. He nibbled on her lower lip and she opened her lips to him. He feasted on her taste, as he slipped his hand from the side of her head to delve into the depths of her hair, pulling her even closer. Finally, he drew away, his breathing labored. He placed his forehead against hers and they both struggled to catch their breath.
“Eloise,” he said slowly, “If he can resist pulling you into his arms, if he can sit in a room with you and think of anything other than the silkiness of your hair and the warmth of your smile, if he can survive a day without the sound of your laughter , then he is not in love with you enough, not nearly enough.”
Eloise felt her heart overflow and burst. She cradled his face in her hands and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you, Paul, I will always remember that.”
They drove the rest of the way to New Orleans in silence. Paul pulled up at the same spot Eloise had parked the day before. Eloise turned to Paul. “I’m going to walk over to Maria’s tomb, but I don’t know if she’ll appear to me if you are there,” she said, “Are you willing to stay here and wait for me?”
Paul sighed. “You think you’ll be safe?”
Eloise nodded. “Yes, Maria is very powerful. I think I’ll be safe in the cemetery.”
Paul agreed. “Call me if…”
Eloise smiled. “I will.”
Eloise walked down the asphalt covered path, thinking about all that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours. She hoped that Maria would be able to give her some kind of protection from Delphine, only then would she be able to work without Paul’s presence. And she really needed to make sure that Paul was safe and away from New Orleans.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she missed the shadowy figures that followed her, using the tall monuments for cover. She had walked about a quarter mile into the cemetery when suddenly a tall, black man stepped out into the path in front of her.
He was dressed in tattered and stained clothing, and from the marks on his pants, she could see that he had traveled some distance through the high flood waters. His eyes were confidant and he smiled with a mouthful of gold capped teeth.
She quickly glanced around for an escape route. As she turned, another man, this one burly and white, stepped out from behind the monument she had just passed. He was shorter than Eloise, but he looked like a small Brahma bull. His eyes held a vacant look and she could tell that the other fellow was definitely the leader.
“Hey, baby,” the man in front mocked, “You look pretty lonely walking all by yourself. Looks to me like you could use some company. Looks to me like we could have a party together. Don’t you think we could have a party with her, Dread?”
The hulk behind chuckled. “Yeah, dude, we could play all kinds of games with her.”
Eloise took a deep calming breath.
“It is my duty to inform you that I am an officer of the United States government and that any interference you perpetrate during a government sanctioned investigation will result in federal charges,” she said severely.
“Yeah, I noticed the uniform, looks hot,” said the first thug.
“Yeah, real hot,” said the other one.
Eloise turned sideways, so they were both in front of her. She slowly moved backwards, assuming a defensive stance.
“You got one more chance to walk away,” she said.
The two laughed. “We ain’t walking away from this, and baby, you won’t be doing much walking after we’re done with you,” the first one sneered.
As the first one lunged, Eloise screamed at the top of her lungs, and then caught him in the gut with a well-placed kick. He was knocked off balance and fell against a monument, cutting his face.
“You bitch,” he snarled, rubbing his face and finding blood on his hands.
The other guy went down in a football-like stance and charged. Eloise braced herself and then feinted to the right at the last moment. He crashed, head first, into the monument behind Eloise and dropped.
“They make them big here, but they don’t make them very smart.”
Eloise turned to see Paul running up the walkway, gun extended. “You okay?”
Distracted, she didn’t see the first gangster move. He grabbed her arm and pulled her against his body. She heard a click and felt the press of cold steel against her neck. The switchblade was long, sharp and deadly. One turn of his wrist and Eloise’s jugular vein would be severed.
“Hey, you got yourself a pretty-boy officer,” he mocked as he pulled Eloise closer to his body. “Hey, pretty-boy, too bad you gotta share her. Maybe when Dread wakes up, I’ll let him hold you and you can watch us play with your bitch.”
Paul’s eyes narrowed and he leveled the gun at the thug’s head. “You harm her in any way and I will hunt you down and kill you.”
“Yeah, go ahead and shoot me, pretty boy. Even falling down dead, I still can slit her neck,” he taunted.
He leaned forward and whispered into Eloise’s ear, his fetid breath nearly making her sick, “So, bitch, you cut me. How’d you like if I cut you the same?”
Eloise considered the situation. Once Dread woke up Paul would be forced to turn over his weapon. Right now, at least there was a little bit of a stand-off. Eloise decided that if she was going to try something, she had to do it now.
She felt him stiffen. “What you talking about, bitch?”
She smiled inwardly. Good, he did believe in spirits.
As Eloise kept her captor’s attention, Paul slowly started to move towards them.
“I was here to meet with Maria Leveau, I am trying to help her,” she explained. “I don’t think she will appreciate your actions.”
“I don’t believe you,” he snarled, though she could feel the perspiration on the hand that held her waist.
“Here, let me call for her and she can tell you herself,” Eloise suggested.
The thug clasped her tighter, Eloise felt the blade prick her skin and she gasped. “No, you don’t want to do that,” he said.
Paul had been able to get close enough to jump and knock the assailant to the ground. Hearing Eloise’s gasp and seeing blood trickle down her neck, he saw red. He started to pounce, but a massive micro-burst of wind held him back.
The burst threw the assailant and Eloise back against a monument, knocking the switchblade to the ground. Eloise spun around and positioned herself for a karate kick, when the look on his face stopped her. He was staring over her shoulder, his eyes wide with fear, his mouth hanging open. Eloise turned and saw the spirit of Maria Leveau hovering behind her.
Instantly, Paul was at her side, pulling her from between Maria and the thug. He placed his arms around her and held her close.
“Are you alright?” he asked, touching the scratch on her neck.
She nodded. “Yes, yes I’m fine,” she smiled, “Thank you for coming to the rescue.”
“Well, I’m not much compared to her,” he said.
“You can see her?” Eloise asked in amazement.
“Well, she’d be pretty hard to miss,” he replied.
They both turned to look at Maria. She presented an awesome sight – her eyes blazing and her long hair waving around her head. Her voice seemed to echo from the monuments that surrounded them.
“You dare assault the friend of Maria Leveau?” Maria asked the thug, her voice sparking with anger, “You are brave enough to seek the anger of the Queen of Voodoo?”