by Unknown
Chapter ELEVEN
While All Deception Requires Secrecy, All Secrecy is Not Meant to Deceive
Rhys hadn’t returned since his unannounced trip to New Orleans for a booty call and I tried to convince myself daily that I didn’t actually care. It almost worked. But then I would remember how heartbroken I felt and I would get really pissed off all over again. It was a never ending cycle, so I decided to use it to my advantage. The rage fueled my dedication and I thought the magic was feeding off of it, because I felt powerful all of the time.
Mama said nothing about my sudden change in disposition and she didn’t mentioned Rhys at all. I thought she understood that it was a topic that was off-limits for the time being. I understood that I couldn’t just leave so I threw myself into training. We worked from sun up to sun down every day. Turned out, I had absolutely no problems conducting any kind of magic that I could think up, anything that I could imagine could be conjured. Illusions became my go to trick. Tinctures, potions, and herbal blends became child’s play that I could master in my sleep. I felt unstoppable. There was only one problem. Being able to temper my magical flow evaded my understanding. Everything was still running at one hundred percent. By the end of the second day, I was convinced that it would never be a useful tool in my belt.
On the third day, a raven came with a letter tied to its leg for Mama Yansa. We were in the middle of another history lesson when it interrupted the day’s lessons. I didn’t read the letter, though whatever it was visibly upset her. She ended our daily history lesson and went to lay down, leaving me to work on trying to restrain my powers alone. I found myself actually disappointed by the early end to the day’s lessons. At least that one had been interesting and held my attention. She had been informing me on the vast expanse of the world that had just been opened to me. Apparently, all of those mythical creatures that I had always thought were the things of nightmares did in fact exist amongst humans. Most got along splendidly without any disruptions and left the rest of mankind to be blissfully ignorant of their existence, however a few caused some problems. From what I understood, those vampires that went a bit insane tended to go on feeding sprees like binge eaters. Drinking so much blood would make them become even more crazed. The mayhem would continue until hunters would put the creature out of its misery. Rarely did a shifter go rabid and there were occasional coven wars between the witch factions, for the most part, they were peaceful, unlike the human world they lived in. As it turned out, despite what many thought, voodoo practitioners and those who wielded white magic like myself were not technically witches. We were much, much older. It was a hybridization of Loas and humans that had created our race. We had the ability to manipulate the natural world around us and interact with the spirit realm but were much more human than spirit.
New Orleans was the supernatural capital of the United States and had been for many hundreds of years even, before the city had even stood. The natives didn’t venture on to the hotspot for that very reason. When the city began to grow up from the swamps, stories of the vampires, witches, and shape shifters who inhabited this land, emerged. The fact that all of these creatures were out there completely blew my mind; I wondered if I had ever met any personally.
I walked outside the house to the back clearing. It was one of the only places I could find some peace even though I’d been attacked in that very space. Out there, I didn’t have to deal with the anxiety associated with being around that infernal snake. Ayida made my skin crawl with her reptilian eyes and shifty tendencies. It set me on edge.
Yansa’s lands held a special place in my heart. I knew I was safe. The Bacalou hadn’t been able to enter the clearing because it was protected by Mama’s magical barriers, so it had gotten into my head to lure me outside of the wards. It waited until I was outside of the protective barriers to spring. Not knowing how it worked or what it was capable of had left me a goner. If not for the guiding help of my ancestors, I wouldn’t be here now. Taking a deep breath, I started a short meditation to cleanse my mind of any distractions. I took in the sounds around me and then focused on eliminating them from my consciousness. My body began to relax deeper and deeper. In my mind I thought of my magic, trying to make it a physical being, one that could be melded into whatever I needed it to be. It needed to be something that could flow, be flexible, and still extremely powerful at the same time. Water, it was all of those things and one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It would be a perfect model for what I was trying to accomplish.
A faucet formed at the forefront of my consciousness. I turned the handle and it began to flow easily. Its knobs could be adjusted, but I was having a hard time moving them. I wanted to pull together a ball of light. It would be something easy and it wouldn’t drain my energy the way more complicated incantations would. This was a trick that only those with the gift of white magic could create.
“Grandi,” I said aloud forcefully.
A mass the size of a basketball formed between my hands. The heat was like a ray of sunshine, mildly warm, however it could become intense if given the opportunity. Within my mind, I tried to turn the knob next to the faucet to no avail. It wouldn’t budge. The harder I tried to move it to tone down the light’s intensity and make the ball a bit smaller, the more stuck the knob seemed to become.
“Ugh! Why the hell wont this work?” I yelled to myself, frustrated and letting the light ball disintegrate into the air.
Moonbeam meowed in the distance. She had to be coming from the front porch. Several moments later, she trotted up next to me and rubbed her body all along me. She settled down in front of me and watched my failing attempts at control. I felt like she was a human trapped in a cat’s body, someone I could confide in. She meowed at me again and propped her front feet on my leg, bringing her face closer to mine.
She was my familiar, sent to aid in my practices. Maybe she was trying to tell me something. One thing I still had a hard time understanding was how she was supposed to help me. Moonbeam was trying to tell me something, I just knew it but I wasn’t picking up what she was laying down.
“What is it, girl?”
She meowed back at me, pawing my leg.
It was time to buckle down and I needed to figure it out, so I focused on my feline friend, trying to meditate and bring us into synch with each other. Surprisingly, I found that her mind was completely open to me. She was just waiting for me to tell her what I was trying to do.
Pushing the image of the ball of light into her mind, I began. I gathered the energy and heat between my two hands, right in front of Moonbeam’s face as she sat back on her haunches. Within seconds, the illuminated ball was the size of a bowling ball and glowing as intensely as the sun. It began to heat my hands almost instantly. I would have to be quick about it so as not to burn myself to a crisp.
Envisioning that same faucet, I opened it to allow the magic to freely flow again, pooling between my hands. The mass grew ever larger and brighter. I could no longer look at it as it neared the size of a beach ball. The palms of my hands began to burn, blisters began forming. My eyes were screwed shut and tears were beginning to fall, sweat began to bead up along my forehead with the exertion. Focusing on the handle, I tried to turn it. Nothing. It refused to budge from its current position.
Something nudged the edge of my consciousness. It was Moonbeam. She was trying to push her assistance into my mind, lending me her strength and determination to dim down the light. Her paw on top of my own hand, we tried gently at first to move the handle.
It moved, just barely, but it did. It wasn’t enough to staunch the flow yet though. Was that the key? Gentle restraint as opposed to trying to manhandle and force it with brute strength? Moonbeam withdrew her assistance, leaving me to attempt it alone. Trying again, lightly, to move the handle with a feather touch. It began to turn. The ball of luminescence began to shrink and dim itself. I continued until it flowed with just the smallest of trickles, leaving a just barely glowing mass about the size of a
baseball hovering above the palms of my cupped hands. I let it fade into nothing, cutting off my magic.
I’d done it! But I needed to master this, so I tried again with the same results. Moonbeam had done her part in helping me find my way and, after watching me do it a few times, she wandered off back towards the house. I repeated the process over and over again until I could do it at the drop of a hat. Different spells required much more concentration to finally accomplish the desired end result. Who would have thought that my magic worked like a Chinese finger trap once it really got going; The more you tried to force it, the tighter it held to its current state.
The sun had set over an hour ago by the time I called it a night and made my way back inside. Mama had a hot plate of biscuits with red beans and rice waiting for me on the table. While I sat in an old rocking chair, I stared off absently into the glowing fire. Without hesitation, I tore into my meal with the enthusiasm of a ravenous dog to a steak.
I was worried. Though I didn’t know her all that well, I knew that this melancholy state she was in was highly unusual for her. Something was wrong, and I was afraid to ask what it was for fear of it being about Rhys, or worse. I ate in silence, contemplating how to bring up the elephant in the room.
“Are you all right, Mama?” I asked. There was no immediate reply.
Just as I was about to repeat the question and approach her she said, “It has begun, Maya.”
I walked over to her and pulled up a small foot stool to sit upon. Whatever it was that had Mama so upset was going to require me to be seated.
“What’s begun?” I asked hesitantly.
Mama wiped her weary eyes of the moisture that had begun to collect there and took a deep breath.
“There are things that Rhys and I didn’t agree on as far as what you were told about all of this, although I fear it is time to tell you all of it. You see, many, many years ago, our mambo, or high priestess, was in a deep possession by several Loas. Da Loas prophesized that a woman of da Great One’s line would lead da coming battle. They said that if you should lose, da world would once again live in da darkness of da shadow world. Da dark ages would be reborn.” Mama gestured to the cup of water on the table next to me. I passed her the cup and waited for her to continue with the story. Taking a deep drink of water, she sighed. She handed me back the cup. “All of this hangs on the completion of a ritual called the Sacrifice. Should da practitioner have da support of da Loas, they will provide da hearts of thirteen human sacrifices. Da thirteenth sacrifice requires the lifeblood of one with da light magic in addition to their heart.”
I gulped. “And you think I am the one that’s been prophesized?”
Mama nodded. “You are.” I wasn’t sure exactly how I should feel about this revelation. Mama patted my hand. “Your ancestors went to great lengths to hide you from those who would seek to bring about this prophecy. It is your destiny to fight this. That is why we have protected and watched over you for your entire life and the lives of your ancestors.”
My head shot up. “What did you say?”
“We have always known who you were meant to become, Maya. We tried to keep you safe for as long as we could.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I shot up from the chair, not exactly sure what to do with myself or how to feel.
“Did Rhys know?”
“He has been training to be your protector since he was a boy. Rhys has known you for years, but you could never have met him until very recently. That was the way it had to be to keep you safe. If he had approached you any sooner, he could have given away who you were and gotten you killed.”
In that moment, I saw red. Briefly, I contemplated getting the hell out of that house. It was a habit of mine, leaving when things got too tough to handle. I wish I could’ve right then. Walking out wasn’t an option anymore. It wouldn’t do me any good. I could run to the ends of the earth and they would still find me. My problems would always be just that. Mine.
“So that’s it. I was just an assignment to him. Some sad, little girl who can’t take care of herself.” I paced the width of the kitchen.
The betrayal burned deeper than any superficial injury ever could. It scarred my very soul. Rhys had seen an emotionally vulnerable girl who was in over her head and taken advantage of me. He had charmed his way into my heart, but the only thing he wanted into was my pants. I felt sick. Used. The night we met at the Spotted Cat had to have been a set up. He wasn’t just there by chance. He’d been there for me. And again at my house when I was first attacked.
“I wouldn’t say that. I saw da way he looked at you, girl. He cares for you. He just might not know how to show it very well.”
I rolled my eyes at that. Yeah, he looked at me the way a wolf looked at a sheep. The issue was that I had been the sheep that was too dumb to see him coming for what he really was. I had to give it to him, he was a good actor.
“I don’t want to hear about his feelings. I don’t want to hear about him. Can we just keep this on track?” I sounded like a petulant child, then again I was so mad that I couldn’t exactly help myself.
“What has caused your sudden change of heart? A few days ago, you two couldn’t stop making eyes at each other and now you hate him? What happened?” Mama inquired, the concern was genuine but he was her adopted son and I doubted that she would be wholly sympathetic towards my plight in this situation.
“I guess I just saw something I shouldn’t have,” I said quietly. Bringing back up what I had seen in the Spotted Cat caused more pain than I wanted to admit. I rubbed at my chest like physically massaging it would lessen the hurt inside.
“What could you have seen that you weren’t meant to? He’s been gone almost four days! Working on collecting information for you, I might add.” Mama was getting irritated.
“Have you forgotten that I can see things when I dream? And yes! He’s been gone, back in New Orleans doing God knows what! But whatever it is that he’s doing there, let’s not pretend that it’s for me. He’s there for him and that was made very clear,” I shouted, my cheeks were burning and were probably red.
Mama didn’t know about my dreamscape or what I’d seen. I know they say not to shoot the messenger and I was trying really hard not to, but everything had whittled my patience and understanding down to a nub and I was pissed. The old woman knew exactly which buttons to push too, which wasn’t helping matters.
Mama’s mouth popped open. I doubt she even realized that I could use astral projection for things like seeing the current happenings in far off places. She closed it but it popped open again like a fish out of water.
“Maya, I don’t know what you saw, but that boy has been following every lead he could to find your friend. He was successful, too, if you could calm down and listen to what I got to say.” Mama put a finger under my chin and lifted my face to meet hers. She raised an eyebrow when I said nothing, and just looked back at her. I nodded.
“The letter I received was from Rhys. He found a lot out when he went back but it’s worse than we feared. The man’s name is Drake. He’s the one collecting sacrifices for the ritual.”
Baron had been right. He had said that our mystery man was named Drake. What else did he know? What else had he said that was true?
“Okay, so we have a name. We can work with that. It shouldn’t be that hard to find one guy named Drake that’s magically inclined and making waves in the paranormal world. A guy like that would have enemies, right? And an enemy of my enemy is my friend, so just find our friends,” I reasoned out mostly to myself. The sooner it was over, the sooner I would get Angie back and we could get on with our lives.
“There’s more,” Mama said, interrupting me from my thoughts. “He can’t be working alone. There’s more going on than we know. Da good news is that there is a very small window of time in which da ritual can be performed. It has to coincide with da first harvest moon of da autumn season. That’s in two days’ time,” Mama explained.
“That inf
ormation would have been useful a week ago,” I said.
“I understand that, as I said before, Rhys and I had a disagreement on what to tell ya.”
“And I suppose you were in favor of telling me everything?” Mama nodded. “You said that was the good news. Is there bad news or was that it?” I inquired.
“There is, although ya must understand that these things are not set in stone. They can change. Rhys discovered that Drake is much closer to reaching the thirteenth sacrifice than we thought. We thought that we had more time, however time has run out.”
Mama was hesitant to tell me more. My mouth went dry thinking of Rhys, and him putting himself so close to a serial killer. I would have liked to cause him considerable pain myself, maybe knee him in the balls, but I didn’t want him dead. Rhys was a light magic practitioner. He could easily be a target for this Drake fellow.
“How many are dead? Does he have any news about Angie?”
“There has been eleven bodies found in da city. They have implemented a curfew in da Vieux Carré to try to stop the murders. Newspapers are reporting that these are da most horrific crimes since da Axeman murders of before da nineteen twenties.”
“So he hasn’t reached the thirteenth yet. We still have time. I don’t understand why we wouldn’t have time.”
“Rhys suspects that Drake is waiting for a very specific person to use for da thirteenth sacrifice. And da twelfth for that matter.” All of the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit together and I didn’t like the picture that they were painting.
“It’s me, isn’t it? He wants to use me as the thirteenth sacrifice,” I stated.
“I am sorry, Maya. I know it’s a lot to take in.” The breath rushed out of me all at once. I didn’t know what to think. Not really. It had been pretty cut and dried that the Bacalou wanted to kill me. I even understood that it was sent to do a job and it had tried to. That, of course, was assuming that it was sent to kill me. Now, knowing that it was because some sadistic prick wanted to cut me up just to reach some kind of power high made me sick.