by Unknown
A very tall, slender, black man stepped out from the forest and into the clearing. The man’s face was very distinctive. It was painted white but cracking everywhere, except for his chin and around his mouth. Dark yellow eyes peered out from the light surface of his face, making them much more intense and sinister than any I had ever seen before. They were predatory to be sure. He wore a long black feathered trench coat-like covering over his bare chest. His hair in dreadlocks reached down past his shoulders. I slowly moved closer to get a better look and stayed far enough away that I could make a run for it should he try anything. He said nothing more for a moment, content to simply take me in. His eyes were filled with unfiltered lust, despite him appearing to be at least twenty years older than me. I decided to overlook and ignore it. Gross. Around his neck hung a long necklace of cord and bones.
“Just as delectable as I have heard. I wonder, does the mind match the beauty? Will you be as great as it has been foretold? Or will you fail once faced with trials and sacrifice?”
I wasn’t sure he was actually talking to me.
“Who are you?” I demanded, trying to change the line of questioning; he was making me incredibly uncomfortable.
“I think you already know the answer to that question. I’ve brought someone who has been very eager to meet you, girl. Someone other than myself, of course.”
“Papa Legba.” I knew as soon as it left my lips that I was correct in my guess.
“Very good. It would appear that you are not merely ornamental.”
“What do you want?”
Papa Legba started walking towards me, closing the gap between us quickly. Once he reached me, he walked around me, sizing me up before coming to a halt directly in front of me. I couldn’t take my eyes off him for a second in fear that he would try something and catch me unaware.
“You have greatness in your destiny, girl. But fates can change in an instant. Whether you will be able to prevent what’s coming is not for me to say, but you will change everything. For better or worse has yet to be decided,” he said, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.
“You said someone wanted to see me?” I didn’t have the patience to analyze the meaning behind his words. Puzzling the meaning out would be a task for a later date.
“Impatience doesn’t suit you, girl. Heed my words and remember that.” Had he read my mind? I didn’t remember that being part of my Loa lessons, although how could he have known otherwise?
He straightened himself and adjusted his jacket before waving his hand to the side and whispering something completely unintelligible. My gaze followed his hand to watch the veil between the lighted clearing and the dark abyss of the swamp beyond flicker like the surface of disturbed waters.
Another black man, just as tall and even more regal than Papa Legba, stepped through into the clearing. A ribbon and bone embossed top hat adorned his head, which he kept held high like a king would to meet his subjects. This man was built, all lithe muscle and sharply cut edges. His face was painted white like Papa Legba’s, but resembled a skull. Despite the paint covering his face, it was very clear to make out that he was incredibly handsome and seemingly much closer to my age. He appeared to be about forty-five years old, although these were Loas, they were ageless and timeless. Immortal even.
He dipped his head to acknowledge Papa Legba as he strode towards me. He came to a stop several yards away with a cat-like grin upon his face. The gleam in his eye reminded me of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
I glanced back to Papa Legba for a formal introduction, but he had disappeared, leaving me to tread into unknown waters alone. When I turned my head back to the man, he was no longer standing there.
“You are a real gem, my sweet.” His hot breath fanned the back of my neck. This man’s voice was every bit as deep as Papa Legba’s, but it had a seductive quality to it that paired well with his heavy accented words. I stood there frozen. I felt his nose trace over the side of my neck as he breathed my scent in deeply while his hand traced my neck on the other side. Too close. I stepped away quickly, and turned to face him.
“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. We have not been formally introduced. I am Maya Thibodeau, and you are?”
“Precious. How very sweet. Darling, please don’t pretend to be so very innocent. I can smell the sex all over you. And the power.” He licked his lips and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
“Back off, buddy. I don’t know you and you don’t know me.” Thinking back to the day’s lessons, I tried to remember who this man was.
“King of the dead. At your service madam.” He bowed deeply, taking his top hat off and sweeping it out to the side before popping back up and resituating it on his head. Beneath the top hat, he had no hair. He snapped his fingers and a long wooden staff materialized out of thin air. It had a small, discolored skull upon its crowning peak. I peered from the staff back to the man who was taking a sip from a glass filled with an amber colored liquid. Great. He was drinking. The man felt familiar, like I had met him somewhere before, yet I couldn’t quite grasp from where.
“You must be Baron Samedi, am I correct?” I inquired.
He nodded. “I can see this will be very fun indeed.”
He walked several feet away and took a seat upon the stump Mama had been seated on earlier that day.
“I have waited so very long for you, my dear. I assure you, we will do great things together should you so choose. But you must choose first.” As if noticing his absence for the first time, Baron looked around and behind me and asked, “Where is your play thing, darling?”
“Play thing?”
“Yes, the one whose stench you reek of.”
“His name is Rhys! And…” I said, letting my anger seep through into my words. “And I don’t know where he is. I’ve been trying to look for him, but I don’t know where to start.”
“A lesson that you should learn quickly is that the only person you can trust is yourself. I fear you may not like the boy should you learn a few interesting tidbits about him.” Baron sounded like he was bored and uninterested in our conversation, I was sure that he was pretending to get my hackles up. He wanted me riled up so that I would make a rash decision. I was determined not to let that happen. “You see, I, as well as all other Loas, cannot interfere with the lives of humans. You all must be left to make your own choices and live with the consequences of those choices” he continued on with his rant.
“You have a rather big decision awaiting your attention, my sweet. Sinister plans have been made for the citizens of New Orleans, as well as the rest of Louisiana. There is a man there trying to seize power and declare the region his. His name is Drake.” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, it was useful information… whenever I found Rhys. “What happens in New Orleans isn’t really your concern or yours to save.” I opened my mouth to object when he held a hand up, cutting me off. “Your big decision will decide the fate of New Orleans, my dear. Walk away. Live with me and we can rule over the dead together. Be my Queen. We will have power far surpassing even your wildest dreams. You will want for nothing. Or you can go after your little play thing and perish with the rest of them.” He let his proposition hang in the air.
“I will never be yours.” It wasn’t a hard decision. I was afraid I’d already given my heart away to Rhys and I couldn’t betray that. I couldn’t walk away from him or Angie. She needed me.
“Do not be so hasty in your decision, love. You’re much like your mother in that regard. Think it over. Those strangers, are they really worth your life?”
My jaw popped open and it felt like the air had been punched from my lungs.
“Like my mother? You knew my mom?” I asked, thinking about her was still a very painful subject and the idea that this man had known her just didn’t make sense. My mother hadn’t practiced voodoo and I doubted that she had any knowledge of our family history.
“Yes, I knew your mother. She was a wild one, far too go
od for the likes of your father.”
“How did you know her?”
I have known all of the women in your family as far back as the last great one.”
“Great one?” I asked.
“Mistress Laveau, of course.”
Of course.
“So why have you known all of the women of my family? Some kind of sick obsession or something?”
“A deal was struck,” he said simply, not bothering to elaborate further. But I wasn’t in the mood for Loas to be vague with me when I needed information.
“What deal?” I demanded impatiently.
“A deal was struck with Madam Laveau to look over the women of her family and guide the next great one to her rightful place of power.”
I couldn’t just take this man at his word. He was a Loa and not to be trusted. They would all have their own agendas that they were working towards leaving the rest of human kind to be the pawns in their games between each other.
“That sounds sketchy.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Decisions, decisions, my dear.”
“Can you please quit calling me that? I’m not your dear, love, or any other ridiculous pet name you want to throw my way. My name is Maya. Please use it.”
He studied me for a few seconds, head tilted slightly.
“As you wish, Maya.” He rose from his seat and adjusted his jacket, brushing off seemingly nonexistent debris. “I suppose I must be going,” he said in a faux reluctant tone. Baron began walking back across the clearing.
“Wait!” I yelled. He stopped his progress and turned to face me. “Do you know where he is? I need to find Rhys!”
“Yes, my…Maya.”
“Will you tell me? Please?” My voice filled with desperation.
He said nothing for a moment, his eyes shifted back and forth like he was weighing his options.
“I will. But I will do better, I will show you where he is.” He brought the staff in front of him and lowered it until it stood erectly with its end ground in the earth. The eyes of the skull began to glow with a white light that enraptured me. It kept growing brighter until it flashed, lighting up the entire clearing and temporarily blinding me. All I saw were bright spots blurring my vision. When they finally cleared and I could see everything again, I wasn’t standing in the clearing anymore.
I was in New Orleans. I was in the Spotted Cat.
The bar was crowded and rowdy much more so than on a usual business night. I slowly made my way through the bar, trying to squeeze between tightly packed shoulders and failing when I bumped into a middle aged man who appeared not to have noticed me. I waved my hand in front of the much younger and more attractive girl’s face that he was busy trying to chat up. Nothing. Okay, so I couldn’t be seen. This could work to my advantage.
Eyeing the doorway of the bar, I spotted Baron casually leaning against the wall listening to the night’s jazz band. He might have been taking in the entertainment, although his eyes followed me. He was making a point to keep tabs on me as I moved about. He’d brought me there for a reason. He said he’d show me where Rhys was but I couldn’t understand why Rhys would be here of all places. Why had he come back to New Orleans alone?
I made my way to the outside wall of the building and followed it around the perimeter trying to spot Rhys. Just as I was nearing my starting point, I found him by the side wall near the back of the bar. He wasn’t alone.
My stomach dropped as I took in the tall, leggy blonde clad in a skin tight mini dress, who was wrapping herself around Rhys, right there in plain view of the rest of the bar. Tramp. Moving closer, I could better judge his body language. It was too loud to hear what they were whispering into each other’s ears, but I could tell that he was pouring on the charm. Just as he’d done the night I’d met him, here, in this very bar where he offered to buy me a drink. I felt like I was going to be sick.
He leaned over the small table top between the two and whispered into her ear. The tramp giggled, actual girly, disgusting giggles. They both stood. Tramp picked up her clutch and Rhys slung an arm over her shoulders as the two of them started towards the exit. I stood there frozen to my spot, shaking. Tears were welling up in my eyes, making it hard to see. I had been played, taken advantage of and used before being tossed aside and forgotten.
As Rhys reached the exit, he passed the spot where Baron was leaning against the wall, but stopped. He turned to leer directly at Baron. He could see him! Nodding his head to Baron, he stopped halfway out the door and turned to peek back inside. His eyes had darkened and he didn’t look too happy when his eyes scanned the bar searching for something, or someone. He passed right over me, never even pausing before he turned and exited.
I now understood why Rhys had come back to the city by himself. He was on the prowl and hoping to get some action and he couldn’t very well do that with me following him around like a lost puppy. I’d been so stupid. They were all the same. Mike had done it so why would I have ever thought Rhys would be different? I should’ve seen it coming as soon as I had laid eyes on him.
Baron walked up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder, his attempt at comfort. I wiped away the tears that had escaped and were making their way down my hot, red cheeks. Sniffling, I turned towards him, twisting my head towards the exit.
“I’m ready to go home, if you’d please.”
“Of course.” He began pulling me through the bar towards the front door as people parted like the red sea in his wake. I don’t believe they could see us or were even conscious that they were doing it, but it was nice to not have to fight our way through. Right then, all I could focus on was the small things, because if I put too much thought into anything of substance I would crumble. I needed to pack away all of these feelings just like I had before. In my head, I packed every feeling I had into a jar and closed the lid, leaving me effectively numb. Was this what being dead felt like? I was just floating through an existence, not really being present and feeling absolutely nothing.
I passed through the doorway of the bar and stepped down on to thick, lush grass. I was back in the clearing behind Mama’s house, which was now in plain view. Baron followed me several feet before I collapsed to the ground, my legs no longer able to support me. I knew as soon as I stepped back into the clearing that all of this had to be a dream, I didn’t think anyone could actually travel like that.
“Think about the decision laying ahead, time is running out,” Baron said, looking down at me. He didn’t offer comfort. He was offering a way out. Baron laid a deep, red rose down next to me. Sliding my hand over it, I felt the tiny nub, of a stem under the bloomed flower. It was the same rose I’d made disappear! How did he have it? How had he known it was mine? I shot my eyes to see him observing me, a small smirk danced on his lips.
“I’ll be seeing you very soon, my dear.” And with that he was gone, leaving me alone in the swamp with nothing, but my broken heart and unanswered questions.
The walls crumbled and I let everything pour out of me, sobbing uncontrollably and at times finding it near impossible to even draw another breath. I had let my walls down some and had let him in. I had given love another chance and it burned me just as it had before. Maybe Baron’s proposition wasn’t so absurd. He didn’t promise love, but comfort and stability. Both things were what I craved most, love was highly overrated and I didn’t intend to let anyone ever get that close again. Sitting there, I cried. I cried until there was nothing left other than dry racking sobs that left me exhausted.
I laid there for a long time, staring up at the moon. We were so much alike. Both insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe and both told that somehow we matter. We were both completely alone, the moon and I. Laying there, watching the sky, I pondered where I went from here. Staying there when he might return at any time wasn’t a feasible option, yet neither was taking off when there were so many unknowns. Weighing my options, paired with sheer exhaustion from crying, I dozed off into a fitful slumber.
&nbs
p; When I awoke, I was back in my bed, exactly how I had been before all of the craziness with Rhys being at the Spotted Cat. Thank God! It had only been a dream! But there was still the nagging sadness and despair telling me that it was something more. If I had learned anything while out there in the middle of nowhere, it was that sometimes dreams were much more than just dreams. Sometimes, they were windows into a reality that we just aren’t prepared to accept.
I rolled over on to my back and tried to stretch the kinks out from sleeping in the same position all night. After a moment, I scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up. There was a slight thud as something hit the floor. I peered at the floor, searching to see what had fallen, however I couldn’t see anything. I lifted the blanket that was just barely skimming the wooden floorboards and got on my hands and knees to peek under the bed. I still couldn’t see anything. It was too dark. So, I grabbed the lantern that had been replacing a bedside lamp and pushed it near the crevice between the bed and floor. There it was. The rose from Mama’s garden, but how?
The Baron Samedi had given me that… But that meant that it hadn’t been just a dream. It had to have been at least partially real. If that was so, that meant that Rhys had been with that girl at the Spotted Cat. A tight knot formed in my throat making it difficult to swallow but I had no more tears to shed for what I’d lost. In fact, I hadn’t lost anything. Rhys had never been mine in the first place.
The clock was ticking. Time was fast approaching for me to make the decision Baron had proposed and Angie’s time would soon be up. Thinking of that, all of my grief and heartbreak turned into something much darker. It turned into hate, anger, and sheer unadulterated rage. Fuck him. I didn’t need him or any man for that matter. I would do what I had to in order to get Angie back and to hell with anyone who was going to stand in the way of accomplishing that goal.
It was time to get to work and I knew exactly what I had to do.