“Mr. Jackson, have you been to the doctor?” I inquired.
“Yesum, I went yestaday mornin’ to da clinic down de road here. I has a touch of pneumonias, but he said if I started dis here antibiotic, and it didn’t get no worse, I could avoid de hospital. I hates de hospital,” he chuckled, and continued, “Dey don’t let you have no fried food at dat hospital.”
Banton nodded and then offered, “If you need anything at all, you call us. I’ll be more than glad to drive you back to the clinic if you need to go. I want to thank you for all the help you’ve been to Chandler and Constance while we were away. They enjoy your stories.”
“Dey sho is sweet girls. You young mens is lucky…I hope you knows dat.” He shook his finger at Ty, and he laughed.
“I assure you, Mr. Jackson, I know how lucky I am.” Ty stated as he grinned down at Constance.
“How is dem dreams, Mrs. Chandler? Is dey any change?” Mr. Jackson asked as he leaned forward.
“Yes, the last one I had, my mother was there. She woke me. I haven’t had one since.” I glanced over to Banton as he took my hand.
“I told you, chile, yo beloved will keeps you safe. Dey is no better protection dan yo beloved. You prays to de almighty, and asks fo his help. Dat night visitor, he will give up, when he can’t git around yo loved ones. And I will do what I cans to help yo mens here.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t come down sooner and warn you about the neighborhood watch. We didn’t mean to frighten you,” Banton apologized as Mr. Jackson paused.
“Well, Mr. Everett, he explained things to me. I sho was shook up. I knowed dat dem mens I seen a’hangin around was da loogaroo too. I just didn’t know dat dey was good ones, and bad ones. Mr. Everett, he be one, too. Dat one sho did throw dis ole man for a loop, it sho did.” He chuckled at the apparently comical way Everett must have shown him he was an Aldon. “You never is too old to learn something new!” He grinned his toothy grin at us, and I smiled at him and patted his hand.
“We just want to make sure you’re safe, Mr. Jackson. I feel guilty, the way we are drawing them all in.”
“You sho is, Missy. You have to be careful. Deys gonna want dem twin babies, when dey find out about dem. You gots to keep dem safe, Mr. Banton. You gots to find a way.”
“Wait, what did you…How did you know Chandler is carrying twins?” Banton asked, incredulous.
“Oh, I knows it for a while now. It be de way she be a-carrying dem, and her showing so fast…Ole Creoles like me, we have our ways.”
“What do you mean, they will want the babies?” Constance asked warily. She glanced at me.
“I knows, dese here Loogaroo, dey ones dat seek you out, dey is of de voodoo way. In de old African Voodoo, dey is superstitious ‘bout de twin babies. De old ones say dat dey believe de twins are halves of one soul. Each one, just half. Dat evil can take de other half, and can use dem babies. Dey also believe dat dem babies, dey can be used fo de good, and can be strong wid de good voodoo. Dey can be powerful, wid de good. If dey is good, de Loogaroo will want to destroy dem, dey is a threat. De babies, dey be powerful, being Sange-Mele. Dat dey is twins Sange-Mele, just make dem more powerful, and more of a threat. You needs to know what you is up against, and my auntie, she be worried for you. She says to warn you, and fo you to be careful.
“We will,” I whispered. Banton put his arm around me protectively. Mr. Jackson had been right about so many things, I was frightened.
“Um, Mr. Jackson, when you’re feeling better, we want to ask you what you remember about Chandler’s house. About the plantation that was here once. Do you know any history, or stories? I know you told me, when I walked you home a couple of weeks ago, you have lived around here your whole life.” Constance commented. Banton leaned forward, seeming to be fascinated by the revelation.
“I sho knows a lot to tell, dat be fo sho. I tells you what I remembers. I’d be happy to.” He grinned, and then continued. “And I will talk to my Auntie, she remembers more dan me. My great grandmamma, she was a maid to de old mistress, afore she died. She told a lot of stories, and dey was passed down to me. My granddaddy, he was a sharecropper on dat dere land, out past de ole cemetery. Den when my daddy took dey land over, dey started to build houses, out to where de cemetery started. I was de first in my family dat learned a trade, I worked on de railroad, and den later as a mechanic. I weren’t no farmer.” He chuckled. “Yep, my grandmamma, she tole me dat her mamma, she loved de ole mistress, de one dat lived in her daughter’s house, de house dat be yo house now. She was frail, but a real sweet lady. My great-grandmamma, she lived wid her, till she passed. My grandmamma, she remembered playing in yo house as a small chile. She loved dat ole house, said dat it was full of love dat never got to be,” he said sadly.
“Chandler has found some old documents, and papers and history about the original plantation owners. Could you look at them with us?” Constance asked excitedly.
“I know Mr. Jackson probably needs to eat and rest. We’ll come back next week, when he’s feeling better.” I rose to leave, still shaken by his early revelation about the twins.
“Yes, we’ve taken up enough of Mr. Jackson’s time.” Banton placed my coat around my shoulders, and reached for the front door.
“I sho is glad you all came down here to sees me, it just does an old man’s heart good to see young-uns like you all dat cares about neighbors. And I sho is a-thankin you for de dumplings, dey sho will hit de spot.” He grinned again as he rose from his chair.
“We’ll come back and check on you, and you call us, if you need anything.” Banton commented as Mr. Jackson shut the door.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Chandler, Dr. Renault will be here in about an hour to see us.” Constance rapped lightly on our bedroom door as her voice carried through to us.
“Okay, we’ll be down in a little while,” I called out. Banton tried to hold me down, my giggles probably giving us away. I’d dragged him back upstairs to look over the documents I’d found at the Parish records office, but once we were alone he had other ideas.
“I thought you wanted to know more about our house,” I giggled again as he ran his hands up my back, tickling me as he went.
“I do, but you’re so much of a distraction, I can’t concentrate!” His lips caught mine, and I shivered. It never ceased to amaze me how much of an effect just his kiss, his touch had on me.
As he pulled away, he searched in his pocket. “Here, I bought you something today.” He grinned and produced one of those smart-looking touch screen phones.
“Another gift? Banton, you’re spoiling me,” I admonished him as I took it from him.
“Consider it an early Valentine’s Day present, then. You need to upgrade and get rid of your ancient flip-phone. Look, this one takes pictures, video…you even have internet access.” He went over all the features of the phone, resembling a kid with a new toy.
“I like my old phone. I know how to use it,” I argued.
“But it doesn’t like you, Andie. The battery is worn out, and it’s never charged. Humor me, please? Look, I’ve already programmed all your numbers in it…mine, John’s, Constance’s, and Mrs. Sue’s.” He showed me the contact list, the video function and the camera. “Mine is the same. We’ll play with it, and you’ll be as familiar with it as your old phone in no time.”
“Okay. You win.” I took the phone and played with the video camera function. “I like anything I can use to record pictures of you. Now, smile…you’re on candid camera!” I held the phone up as I started videotaping him.
“Okay, this could be fun, and X-rated!” He grinned, his dimple peeking through as he pulled his t-shirt slowly off, and then unbuttoned his jeans, hooking his finger at me to motion me to him. I moved in closer, and just when I zeroed in on his abs, he turned and asked, “Is this a pimple on my back…could you pop it for me?” He laughed as I turned the camera phone off, slapping his shoulder.
“Really sexy, stud.” I said sarcastically.<
br />
“Here, give it to me. I want to take a picture of you. Lay back on the pillows,” he commanded. I fell back onto the bed.
“Yeah, just like that.” He snapped my picture before I could even smile. He flipped the phone around, to show me my image. “You’re the sexiest girl I’ve ever seen.” He dropped the phone, and at once, we forgot about the cell-phone lesson.
“Knock, knock…Chandler? Dr. Renault is here,” Constance called through the door.
“We’ll be right there,” Banton called out, his voice muffled under my sweater.
Giggling, I pulled my sweater back down, and then pulled him to his feet. “Come on, Dr. Renault is waiting for us.” I tugged at his hand as he ran his fingers through his hair with the other.
“I just hope this isn’t more bad news.” He followed me down the stairs. Everyone else had settled in the living room to watch a movie, leaving Banton and me, Ty, and Constance to visit with Dr. Renault. They were already seated in the dining room as we came down. After we were seated, Everett joined us, pulling up a chair.
Dr. Renault got right to the point. “Kids, I have two things I want to discuss with you. I want to start with the tests I ran on the girls’ blood. I already told Constance over the phone, she appears to be a carrier of the same gene – the one that blocks transformation. This means her mother and brothers are carriers too. It explains why Everett had already sensed her father was not. It runs on the mother’s side of their family.”
“So…this is good news, right Doc?” Ty asked as he pulled Constance close to him.
“It depends on how you look at it; from your standpoint, yes. She is much safer, from death or transformation, than a normal human. But she does draw them. Although in her case, Everett and I both are puzzled. We don’t sense it as strongly as we did Chandler. We don’t know why.”
“Is that a problem?” Banton interjected.
“Well, no, but it made me want to run more tests. I ran another test on Chandler’s blood, this time checking for the same gene, because we never tested her blood, we knew she was a carrier. Her gene has the same mutation Constance’s does, a mutation we didn’t know anything about until the last couple of days.”
“And what did you find out?” Banton asked.
“I’ve been running all kinds of tests, on the Orcos you killed here, Everett, and on the ones you brought us from the SEAL raids in N’awlins. Of particular interest were the ones you told us could fade. I’ve found they have the same mutated gene.”
“What are you saying? That Chandler and Constance…resemble those Orcos somehow?” Ty asked skeptically.
“No, not necessarily what I’m saying. I want to run some more tests, but I’m wondering if it might be why the terrorists want them so badly they keep coming after the girls. Didn’t you say one of them gave instructions the night they came here, you were not to be harmed, but just captured?” Dr. Renault turned to me.
“Yes.” I answered quietly as I glanced up at Banton. The muscle ticked tightly in his jaw.
“So there is something, about this gene we have, which makes the Orcos want us? Why…they can’t transform us, so what purpose…” She asked as she glanced back and forth at Dr. Renault and Everett. Everett had been strangely silent through his whole explanation, but then he cleared his throat.
“I have a theory, but I don’t think you’re going to be happy about it,” he began, looking straight at Banton. “This gene would only be useful to them, if they were…able to breed with a human who was a carrier,” he finished slowly.
“Oh my God,” Ty muttered as he looked at Constance. I didn’t turn to look at Banton, I didn’t have to. I could feel his heart racing, his pulse beating behind me. The fury which came off of him and Ty almost made it hard to breathe in the room.
“So, they want us to breed little camouflage Orcos?” Constance asked, and then laughed. “You can’t be serious!” Her smile faded as Everett’s face remained serious.
“I wish I wasn’t serious.”
“But you told Chandler it was hard for any of us carrying the gene to conceive, and almost impossible if we were bitten.” As she said the words, Ty looked down at her and rubbed her arms as he kissed the back of her head. I could tell they’d already had this conversation.
“That didn’t seem to be the case with Chandler. It may be part of the variant of the gene. And, it is much easier to conceive with an Aldon, or Orco partner. We don’t know why.” Dr. Renault added. “I just thought you needed to know as much as I’ve been able to find out, not that you weren’t protecting the girls already. I’ve got more research to do, and I’ll let you know if I find anything else.”
“Doc, you said there were two things you wanted to talk to us about. What was the other?” Constance asked.
“It concerns Chandler and the twins. I’ve been doing research for some time now with Aldon blood. A multitude of viruses and cancers can be cured with it, but no form of it, no variant of any kind can be introduced to the normal human body unless they carry the gene.”
“Because they would transform as if they were bitten, right?” I asked, and Dr. Renault nodded at me.
“Exactly. It poisons the blood; infects the body of the human you’re trying to treat. We’ve tried it only in the lab of course, in test tubes. We would never use a human subject, for obvious reasons.”
“What about the Sange-Mele’s…the half-breeds like Banton and Ty?” Everett asked.
“We tried, and got the same results. It is introducing pure venom to the average human patient. That is why after you’re bitten, you can’t give blood to a regular human. And why you have to let an Aldon or Sange-Mele Doctor treat you, and not go to a hospital. It would raise too many questions.”
“I see where this is going,” I smirked at him.
“Well, would somebody buy me a vowel?” Ty asked.
“Cord blood.” Banton answered. “The twins, they are an unknown. They were bitten, while they were developing. You want to use their umbilical cord blood.” He seemed to be processing as he was thinking aloud.
“Yes, that is what I want to do.” Dr. Renault nodded at Banton, obviously impressed we’d figured out what he wanted.
“I don’t know, I want to talk this over with Chandler.” Banton put his arms around me, latching his hands together over my abdomen.
“Sure, I’d expect you too. And there is one more concern. I would do my best to keep the fact Chandler is carrying twins a secret,” he said in a quiet tone.
“Everyone already knows, except for Banton’s family.” I frowned at Constance and Ty, not understanding what he meant.
“I mean, with the Orcos. The twins genetic makeup is important to us, and I’m afraid once they find out, it might be important to the Orcos as well. Twins only complicate matters, and the Orcos know too much already. I’m not completely sure but I suspect someone is feeding them information. There have been too many coincidences lately,” he warned as he stood.
Dr. Renault nodded at Everett, and then looked at the rest of us. “Well, I must be off. Please call me when you’ve had time to process what I want to do with my research. I will be waiting to hear from you.” Dr. Renault patted Banton on the back as he left the room.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I’d never seen so much preparation go into a weekend trip. The SEALs went into a sort of stealth mode, mapping out plans for us to weave our travel plans into a maze. They spent a great deal of time after our meal Wednesday night around the dining room table, and I’d long since gone upstairs for bed. It seemed lately, it was all I could do to hold my eyes open past eight-thirty. The pregnancy hormones were definitely setting in, just as I was beginning to show.
Giggles erupted from the nursery, signaling Ty’s arrival upstairs. I knew Banton wouldn’t be far behind. I heard the door open and close softly as Beau’s tail tapped a beat on the floor. A few moments later, warm hands slid around my waist as he pulled me across to his side of the bed.
“Mmm.
Now everything is perfect, and I can go to sleep,” I murmured, placing my hands over his. He slid his hands down to caress my abdomen, and I instinctively tried to suck it in. The past few weeks it didn’t seem to be working.
He chuckled as he whispered, “It’s no use. Those babies aren’t going to hide up in there much longer.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I can see it expanding, day by day. I already can’t button my jeans, and the elastic in some of my tights is stretched to the limit.”
“Would you quit worrying about that!” He turned me over, and smiled at me in the moonlight, his dimple winking at me. “I can’t wait to hold that little basketball every night.”
“You’re being sweet, but no man could possibly find it attractive! It won’t be long before we’ll probably have to leave the lights off…” I trailed off.
“Chandler Ann, you can’t be serious! Don’t you realize?” He pushed up on one elbow, and pulled the covers back, raising my gown up and gazing at my tummy.
“What?” I asked, a little embarrassed.
“I can’t imagine anything sexier to a man than his pregnant wife. Anytime I see you, see your tummy expanding, all I will be able to think about is how much I love you, how much those babies you’re carrying mean to me. I know you won’t understand this, but to me, it’s the ultimate rush. It’s…it’s a caveman thing!” he exclaimed.
“What…caveman?” I whispered incredulously.
“Well, yeah.” He grinned lopsidedly at me. “Your expanding belly says, “This is MY WOMAN.” He grinned even bigger and flashed his dimple.
“Oh, sweet Georgia Brown, next you’ll be clubbing your chest with your fists, and peeing on trees out in the backyard!” I laughed as I drew him back down to kiss his lips.
He pulled back, and smiled, tracing my lips with his finger. “You think I’m kidding, but I’m serious. I want you, when you’re further along, to have one of those photos taken. You know, the ones so in fashion now…in black and white, with your hand across your bare tummy and your wedding ring showing.”
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