“How do you know?”
“We know,” Everett said, with a forcefulness to his words that left no room for further questions. “We took ten out, last night. It was the largest group. They were intent on making it though the Aldon we have stationed here in the neighborhood. It seems they were planning to storm the house and try to take the girls by sheer numbers. But our people took them out before they could even get here. Unfortunately, there were a couple of witnesses, and the police were called. It turned out to be a wild goose chase, but now we have to deal with stepped up patrols as well. That only complicates our defense efforts.” Everett sighed, and I heard a chair creak. Then Mr. Philippe spoke. “Banton, Dr. Renault is coming over this afternoon, and he needs to talk with you and Ty about Chandler and Constance. There have been some developments, and you need to know what you’re up against. We have some decisions to make.”
Decisions? What decisions could he be talking about? Dr. Renault must have found something out about our tests… I hurried to finish rolling my hair, and then pulled the door open completely, and moved to the top of the stairs. They began to talk in lower voices, and it was almost impossible to make out what they were saying.
“Bebe, are you ready for Mr. Philippe and I to come up?” Everett chirped from below. Drat, he’d heard me on the stairs. Darn Aldon hearing…
“Yep, come and work your magic, Obi-wan.” I heard Banton chuckle.
After spending thirty more minutes on just the right hair, Brie, Constance and I drifted down the staircase with our masques and gloves. All the SEALs were lounged around the living room, watching Ty and Ben battle it out on the video game on the television. A loud whistle broke the silence in the hallway as the game was paused.
“Damn, if you aren’t the three most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen!” Ben exclaimed as they all stood and came into the foyer.
“Down, boy, they’re taken,” Ty warned. He took Constance by the hands and pulled her over to the living room doorway.
“Brie, that dress…” John didn’t even finish his sentence. She peeked at him from behind her masque.
I glanced up at Banton when I’d finished putting the elbow length gloves on. “Well?” I asked, waiting as he looked the gown over. He walked over and leaned down, placing a kiss on my bare shoulder.
“I didn’t think there was any possible way you could be more beautiful than you were on our wedding day in the white dress. I was wrong.” He stared deeply into my eyes. “You’re the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you approve,” I whispered. When he looked at me so intensely, he made me feel beautiful. I placed the delicate masque over my eyes, and glanced at him from behind it. He drew his breath in as he watched me.
“Come on, ladies. My photographer is here.” Mr. Philippe ushered us out the front door. I looked up, finding Olivia on the porch in a stunning yellow gown. Her skin glowed against the buttery texture of the gown, and she truly resembled Princess Jasmine with her hair pulled to the side in the long braid she usually wore. Her exotic eyes twinkled out from long, thick lashes, and her tiny frame was accentuated by the beautiful dress.
“Oh, wow!” Sam exclaimed as he came out on the porch behind Banton. I could tell he was mesmerized by Olivia’s transformation and the beautiful gown. I glanced at Constance, and she smiled as she watched all the SEALs pour out of the front door, circling the yard as if guarding us as the photo session began. Everett dragged some old wicker furniture out of his suburban, and then placed some rented ferns around on the porch as they began to suggest different poses for us, the photographer snapping away. As we began to wrap up, Banton strolled over, having put a white t-shirt on before he came outside. He leaned over my shoulder, and placed a kiss on my cheek as he stroked my upper arms. I lay my head back against his chest, and then realized the camera was clicking away.
“That’s beautiful, I love the twist, with the guys all mussed, in their jeans…Get them all out here, and do the same with the other girls,” Mr. Philippe directed John’s head snapped up.
“You want us to do what? Oh, no, I’m not going to be a model,” John warned as he held his hands up.
“Oh, yes you are. Get over here, Cowboy,” Everett commanded, grabbing John by the arm and placing him behind Brie. “Now, just look at her as you did in the entry hall a few minutes ago.”
John relaxed, and the photographer snapped away. Then he took a few of Sam, lounging on the bottom step, gazing up at Olivia as she swung on a porch post.
Banton chuckled. “This is a first,” he said as he followed me back inside the house. Beau bounded up and down the stairs, aggravating the photographer, and managing to get in more than one or two pictures. After the photographer was satisfied he had more than enough shots for an ad layout, Everett herded everyone back inside the house, and the Aldon resumed their normal positions outside.
“Just put your dresses back in the dress bags, and I’ll give them a final steaming at the shop before we take them down to N’awlins. I’ll bring them to the Gastaneau’s for you all,” Mr. Philippe called up the stairs.
I’d just reached back to unzip my dress when Banton slipped in our room, closed the door, and then flipped the lock. I smiled as he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.
“Thought you might need some help, with the dress and all, I mean,” he murmured as he placed his lips on my neck. He slid the zipper down, and I turned in his arms as the dress slid down into the floor. It was an hour or so before my dress found its way back on the hanger and to the settee in the foyer downstairs.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Where have you two been? I thought we were going to have to send out a search upstairs!” Constance joked as we finally came down the staircase. I placed my dress bag with the other two, and then glanced out the front door and straightened as Everett came back into the house.
“Ev, I forgot, how did your visit with Mr. Jackson go this morning?” I asked.
“Oh, it went well, Bebe. He understands now. I think he’ll be a little more discriminating about his targets. I’m a little worried about him, though. He seems to have quite a cough, and he looked as though he might be running a fever.”
“Hmm, it might not be a bad idea to go down and check on him this evening, and maybe take him some supper. I haven’t visited with him in a couple of weeks, and I miss talking to him.”
“Mind if I go with you? You don’t need to go down there alone. Everett and I should go too,” Banton offered as he pulled me over to the sofa and onto his lap. Everyone settled in to watch a basketball game while Everett and Colin sat in their usual corner, chess game on a coffee table in front of them. John started a fire in the fireplace, and a real sense of peace came over me. I was suddenly emotional--I felt so happy, everyone was relaxed, the friendships seeming to strengthen with every passing moment. I snuggled down into the sofa, my feet propped on Banton’s lap. He threw a quilt over us, and before I knew it I was dozing.
At halftime, an empty solo cup bounced off my arm and into my lap, startling me awake.
John whispered, “Sorry, Chandler. I was aiming for sleeping beauty with the buzz-saw down there.” I sat up to check, and found Constance in the floor beneath me, propped against the sofa with her head over on Ty’s shoulder. She looked sweet and peaceful, except for the resonating snore coming from her lips every few seconds. Brie giggled as John took aim again, striking his target full on, this time with a throw pillow from the chair.
“Hey, what the hell!” she exclaimed as she came off the floor.
“Um, I just wanted to make sure it was you snoring, and not a hedgehog wedged under the sofa beneath you. That’s quite a set of adenoids you have there, Diva-Doll.”
“You’re a jackass, John, and for your information, I DON’T snore.” She glared at him. Ty suppressed a chuckle, and then dropped the grin as she turned to glare at him.
“Beg to differ, Doll. You definitely snore.” John glared back at he
r with a mock challenge.
She turned back to look at Ty, and he flipped his hands over and stated, “But you have the most gorgeous set of adenoids I ever laid eyes on, Darlin.” He grinned at her.
I checked my watch. It was a little past three already. Banton left at halftime to run an errand, so I decided to make some homemade chicken and dumplings to take down to Mr. Jackson. I hurried to the kitchen to get it started. As I put the chicken to boil on the stove, Everett slipped in the kitchen behind me.
“Can I help you out, Bebe? Is that for Mr. Jackson?”
“Yeah, I thought it might sound good to him if he’s sick. It always makes me feel better. I’m going to make him some cornbread too, he loves it.” I grinned at him and I took the eggs out of the fridge.
“Let me do it. My cornbread is better than yours, anyway. Move over, Sister,” he commanded as he pulled the cornmeal from the cabinet. After we had the cornbread in the oven to bake and the dumplings in the chicken to simmer, we sat down at the table to wait on everything to finish cooking.
Everett took my hands in his. “Bebe, how are you holdin up? I know this is stressful. I wish I could make this all easier for you.”
“Are you kidding? I feel so guilty, all of this time that you, Mr. Philippe, Grant, and the other Aldon are spending here! Most of them don’t even know us personally. You’re all sacrificing so much time to keep us safe. You have made it easier on us! I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“You repay me every minute you spend with me, Darlin’. There is no place I’d rather be than here with you and your little family. That’s what you’ve all become, you know…to me, anyway. I feel as close to you, Banton, John, Constance…as I do to my own mother and grandmother.” He raised my hand to kiss it. “I just worry about you and those two babies…I want to make everything all right for you again.” He reached out and caressed my cheek.
“Everything is all right with you here. And now Banton’s home I couldn’t be happier. There just has to be a way to work through this.” I gazed out the back door, into the yard where an Aldon stood watch, pacing around the house.
“Darlin’, I don’t want to upset you, but I think everything is more complicated than we thought.” He frowned.
“How do you mean?” Banton’s voice came from the doorway. He crossed to the table, and pulled a chair up next to mine.
“Dr. Renault and Dr. Lane will be here in a little while. He texted me while you were napping. I’ll warn you, we need to have a talk and we need to include Constance and Ty as well. If his suspicions are correct, we have our answers as to why the Orco want our girls.”
“What do you mean?” I asked apprehensively. Banton pulled me in close to his side.
“All I know is he had us to take samples, blood and tissues, from the Orcos we killed in your house last week during the attack. He also had some other Aldon take samples from some of them the SEALs killed in N’awlins while they were there.” He glanced up at Banton.
“How did you…How did they know where we were?” he asked disbelievingly.
“We know so much more than you think…The Aldon have been waiting in the shadows, watching your operations…your every move. Your success is vital to our future. The Orcos have become a threat to our way of life. Their recklessness and blatant disregard for human life puts all of our kind at risk of being discovered. We can’t let that happen. We’ve tried not to step in, because being closely involved puts us in more danger of being discovered by the Navy. But this direct assault on you, your SEAL team, and on Chandler and Constance, has mobilized us to work together like we’ve never done before. We watched your operations in N’awlins, and our operatives took some of the bodies as you dealt with them.”
“We thought the Orcos were disposing of their dead, we never thought…” Banton watched Everett closely.
“Dr. Renault and others have been studying them extensively. There is a new mutation, a characteristic of sorts, which these Orcos tied in with the Somalis seem to possess, and none of us Aldon have it. We have been quite puzzled about it.”
“What characteristic?” I’d been quiet throughout his explanation to Banton, but then found my voice.
Everett turned to me. “Bebe, remember when Mr. Philippe and I came with Grant the morning Banton was missing…we came to get you and take you to him?” he paused as I nodded. “It was the first time we encountered an Orco who could fade. We smelled him immediately when you opened the door, but were shocked when he materialized on the stairway behind you.”
“You mean, you can’t fade? I thought all vamp…I mean Aldon could.”
“No, that was a first for us. Since then, we have seen more of them do it. We are quite puzzled. It doesn’t help their defenses with us. We can smell them and are alerted to their presence. And we can make out the haze of their form. It is more readily apparent to our eyes than it is to a Sange-Mele, or a simple human.”
“A what? What did you call us?” Banton asked curiously.
“Sange-Mele. It means half-blood, or mixed blood. It’s an old Creole term Mr. Jackson used to describe us.” I answered as he turned to me. “There’s a lot Mr. Jackson has told us. I need to fill you in,” I continued.
“Evidently. You’ll have to catch me up,” he replied, grinning at me lopsidedly.
“When you see them, Chandler, can you make out their form, before they fade in?” Everett asked me.
“Yes. I didn’t see the one on the stairs until he faded in, after you saw him. But the two in here with me last week, before you got here, I saw their forms and their outlines, and sensed them before they materialized.” I glanced at Banton, and the muscle had begun to tick at the base of his cheekbone, a sign I’d learned meant he was agitated at my having been in danger.
“As I suspected. Since you’ve been bitten, you can sense them, and their camouflage is no longer the useful tool it has been on normal humans. I think it is one of the reasons they seek the SEALs out, trying to either turn you or kill you. We’ve discovered the Somali band of Orcos is led by a Voodoo priest, a medicine man of sorts, one who believes in the dark side of Voodoo and uses it for harm… and used it for evil. He believes anyone who has been bitten can be transformed and turned to their purposes. It’s why they tortured Sam, and tried to turn him instead of just killing him.”
“Is that why they want Chandler and Constance, because they think they can be turned?” he asked warily.
“Not entirely. Dr. Renault said he’s found what he believes is the reason Chandler and Constance are different from you, from John and the other SEALs. There is a mutation so far, only the two of them display. He seems to think he has the answer, and why he is coming over here tonight. He wants to talk to you and Banton, Bebe--and he wants your permission to do some special tests, on you and on the babies,” he said slowly.
“On the babies?” Banton asked, his voice rising. “Everett, I don’t know…”
“Just hear him out, please? Do it for me? I promise you, he would never do anything to put Chandler or the babies at risk.” Everett tried to reassure us.
“We’ll see, after we hear him out.” Banton held me closer as he rested his lips in my hair.
I rose to finish Mr. Jackson’s dumplings, and poured them into a container I could easily carry. Everett wrapped the cornbread up, and I put everything in a box as Banton and Ty brought our jackets to us.
“Constance said she wants to go down with you, so I think I’ll tag along too,” Ty offered as he handed me my jacket.
“I want to help you and check on him. I’m kind of fond of him, myself.” Constance grinned as she came around the doorway. “He’s so interesting, and I can’t wait to hear what he might tell you about this old house and the Johnson Plantation.” Her eyes sparkled. “Do you want me to get the documents to take with us?”
“No, not tonight. I might ask him about it, if he’s not too sick. When he’s better, I’ll get him to take a look at everything.
“What docume
nts…plantation?” Banton asked, looking back and forth at Constance and me.
“Oh, I haven’t had the chance to catch you up on all the history I’ve found on our house. When we get back tonight, I’ll show you everything.” I grinned up at him, and rose on my tiptoes to kiss him.
“You’ve been a busy lady,” Banton quipped.
Stephan and Everett walked us down the sidewalk and up to the staircase leading to Mr. Jackson’s little garage apartment. They stayed behind in the yard to visit with the Aldon guarding the end of the street, while Banton, Constance and Ty went with me up to his door.
Mr. Jackson opened the door before I could knock.
“Well, I’ll be…Hello, Mrs. Chandler, it sho be good to sees you! Yo lookin mighty fine, now young-un. What’s all of you all a’doin out on a night like dis?” he asked as he huddled into his flannel shirt.
It was unseasonably cold, the wind had begun to blow out of the north, and a fine mist was falling, swirling around us in the darkness. “Here, come in here-a, before you catch yo death-o-dampness!” he ushered us in through his front door.
“Mr. Jackson, Everett thought you might be under the weather, so I brought you some home-made chicken and dumplings.”
I handed the bowl to him as Banton reached to take my coat from my shoulders.
“My o my, Chile, but you sho knows how to pick up an ole man’s spirits, yes siree. I’s feelin’ a bit better than I did afore, and dis here will make me right as rain! I’ll jes put it out in de kitchen, I’ll be a right back.”
We all four sat down in the small sitting room. Barely big enough for a sofa and two chairs, it was neat as a pin and homey. I could see through a doorway into a small bedroom with a simple iron bed, made neatly with an old chenille bedspread. The only picture hanging in the small living room was a picture of a young woman, appearing to have been taken around the nineteen forties. A large picture sat on an end table of several children and teenagers at Christmas time…I assumed they were his children. Mr. Jackson shuffled back into the living room, and sat down on the sofa beside me and Banton.
Southern Secrets Page 24