Punished Arelia LaRue Book #2

by Kira Saito

  Lively laughter and entrancing piano music flooded the night air. It was so carefree and oblivious. I was horrified that none of the guests were exactly sympathetic to the pitiful lives of the slaves that resided just a few feet away. I felt like an unworthy intruder as I watched all the happy and incredibly wealthy guests. Their conversations reeked of entitlement and consisted of stocks, slaves and the latest European fashions. Strangely, it wasn’t much different from the lives of the wealthy in present time except for the slave part.

  To distract myself from my horrid state, I wondered if Lucus was at that party and if he was, would he recognize or even bother to acknowledge me? Would I be another meaningless slave to him? I wanted to find out; I was morbidly curious to see what would happen if I crashed the ball. Would he laugh at the sight of my mud-stained face with streaks of blood on it, or would a piece of him remember me? I was beginning to sound like one of those Nicholas Sparks characters that grand-mere swooned over and realized that I had to stop it. Next I would be saying stupid things like heaven forefend and sugar.

  “You don’t have time, Arelia. Come here,” beckoned a deep voice from within the forest.

  I recognized the voice as Brise’s and let out a giant sigh of relief when I saw him perched on an oak branch. Today, he had decided to take the form of a brown owl instead of his usual grey color. He was a lovable spirit regardless of his self-esteem issues, and I was lucky he was near rather than someone like Sousson Pannan.

  “Brise? You remember me? I told Erzulie about you. I kept my promise,” I said, as I blindly stumbled into the thick maze of oak trees. “I didn’t forget. Please help me get out of this mess alive. I just want to go home.”

  “Thank you Arelia LaRue,” replied Brise. “She thinks I’m beautiful. She called an ugly spirit like me beautiful.” His voice was filled with rapture. “You’ve done well Arelia. You kept your promise. You didn’t abandon me, and now, I won’t abandon you. I know who can help you.”

  “Who?” I asked confused.

  “The one you love.”

  I let out an exhausted sigh. “Brise, please don’t speak in riddles and puzzles. No one I love is here. I’m all alone, only you can help me. I’m begging you, please.” I was on the brink of insanity.

  “Arelia if a beautiful spirit like Erzulie can find an ugly spirit like me beautiful, why don’t you think the one you love finds you beautiful?”

  I felt like screaming, but I had to be respectful. Yes, be respectful to spirits. I had to keep reminding myself that.

  “Brise, can you please speak, so I can better understand what you’re trying to tell me?”

  “Lucus,” he replied.

  “Lucus?” I asked, confused, yet strangely thrilled. Why was Lucus here? How did he get here? “But how?”

  “Silly Arelia, you leave a little piece of your soul behind everywhere you go and in every year you live.”

  “Hold on, are you saying that Lucus, as in 1852, Lucus is here?”’

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he replied.

  “Are you a spirit?” asked a familiar voice.

  I stood frozen, as my eyes adjusted, and the figure became visible. My stomach filled with waves of unexpected joy. It was Lucus. He was a striking and beautiful figure dressed in a dark coat, crisp white shirt and a black bowtie. He slumped against an enormous oak and sipped from a bottle of whiskey.

  My face flushed as I suddenly realized that I was drenched in sweat, mud and blood and probably smelled like crap. I took a step towards him and was shocked to see how different he looked. Although he was the same age, this Lucus had no sadness behind his eyes. He was surrounded by an air of exhilaration and careless freedom.

  “Are you a spirit?” he asked again, as he took another swig from the bottle. “You have to be a spirit, that dress isn’t from this world, and I haven’t ever seen you around the city before. I would remember a face as beautiful as yours.”

  So, this Lucus was a smooth operator. Surprisingly, I kind of liked it, and was thankful that he wasn’t horrified by my grimy appearance. Since he was drunk and I was supposedly a spirit, I didn’t feel awkward accepting his cheesy compliment.

  I had no idea how I could explain the bizarre situation to him, so I just went along with it. “Yes, I’m a spirit. I’m lost; I need to find my way back to the swamp. Can you help me?” My instinct told me that if I got caught by another slave driver, Lucus would protect me.

  He immediately straightened up and extended his arm. “I have no choice, but to help a lovely spirit who happens to be lost on my family’s property, now do I?” His eyes gleamed in drunken delight.

  I latched on to his arm and gave him a bright smile, and tried my best to act all otherworldly and graceful.

  “But hold on a minute.” He squinted and focused his eyes on the gash that marked my cheek. “I never knew that spirits could bleed.”

  “Of course we can.”

  “That’s not right, a beautiful spirit like you shouldn’t be allowed to shed one drop of blood.” He took of his jacket and poured some whiskey on it and used it to pat away the blood.

  I bit my tongue in an attempt to suppress the blinding pain.

  “It’s okay to scream spirit,” he said, as he gently stroked my cheek. “What have you done to your hand?” he asked, as he saw the sight of the seven dagger stab wounds.

  “I…” I was out of lies.

  He sighed dramatically. “You shouldn’t be so clumsy beautiful spirit.” He tore off the sleeve from his shirt and poured some whiskey on it, then covered my palm. “You’re going to be okay,” he said soothingly.

  “Why aren’t you at the party?” I asked.

  “She’s not there. Can you believe she said she was too busy to see me tonight? So, I’ve decided to drink her away.”

  God, he was probably talking about the girl he had been in love with. I didn’t want to hear him talk about it, but I was supposed to be a spirit. Sprits were theoretically supposed to be above things like jealousy. Although given my experiences, I knew that they weren’t.

  “I can’t believe that,” I said. It was true why would anyone stand him up?

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Maybe she’s in love with someone else. All of a sudden, I can’t even remember her name now that you’re here. Where can I take you tonight?”

  “Take me?”

  “Yes!” He grabbed my non-wounded hand and twirled me around. “Look up at the sky, the stars are out, and the night is just beginning, can’t you smell the jasmine in the air? You’ve magically appeared before me, and now I can’t imagine my life without you. Beautiful spirit, I need to show you the glory and blissful chaos that is New Orleans.”

  “Are you insane?” Geez, this Lucus was pretty hyper. He wasn’t guarded at all.

  He placed his arm around me, and pulled me close to him. “Not insane, I simply know what I want, and I want you.” He brought his lips close to mine, but I pushed him away. He gave me a carefree smile. “I see that you’re not only beautiful, but extremely stubborn, as well. Not ready to admit that we belong together, are you?”

  This had to be a dream. This Lucus was so happy and untroubled. His energy almost made me forget the horrific experiences that I been through. I actually wanted to go. I wanted to see New Orleans with Lucus by my side, but I knew that it was impossible unless I wanted to stay here forever.

  “You can’t go with him,” Brise warned. “You don’t have time. Ask him to guide you back to the swamp. He’ll make sure you’ll get there safely.”

  “I’m not stubborn, I need to get back to the swamp and find my way back to where I belong.”

  He took another swig of whiskey. “Why do you want to go back to the swamp when you can go out there? We can go to the Common Street Gallery; my favorite rat is racing tonight.”

  “Your favorite rat?”

  “Yes.” He leaned against a tree and pulled me close to him again. He smelled exactly the same, enchanting. “Dotty is my fav
orite rat, and she never loses a bet. The chicken races and bull-fights are alright I suppose, but they’re nothing compared to the rat races. I swear Dotty will double our money, she always does.”

  He examined by bewildered expression and let out a deep laugh. “My beautiful spirit doesn’t like rats? How about I take you to the Cafe de Quatre Saisons or the finest drinking house in town, the Gem on Royal Street? Maybe the Opera House?” He nuzzled my neck softly, and I closed my eyes, as his soft breath met my skin. “We can take in a show, go gambling and drink ourselves silly. What do spirits like to drink?” he asked.

  “Blood,” I whispered, half-joking. I wanted to get a reaction out of him, see if he would freak or something.

  “Then I’ll let you drain me dry,” he said, not all bothered.

  “But, if you let me drain you dry, you’ll die.”

  He laughed as he gently grazed my neck with his lips. “But then I’ll be a spirit too, and we’ll live happily ever after. I’d live anywhere with you even if it meant suffering in that great big old swamp.”

  “I don’t believe in happily ever after,” I said, as I suddenly realized that it was absurd that I was actually enjoying this moment. He would never remember it.

  His eyes met mine, and for a second, his expression was serious. I saw a flash of the present day Lucus, the Lucus who had unwavering belief in things that could never be fully explained by logic. “I’ll believe enough for the both of us, so you won’t ever have to worry about running out of faith. If things get troubling and you feel like screaming, you can scream at me if you need to.”

  I usually openly snickered at girls that turned to mush over corny lines, but to my horror, at that moment, I was one of those girls. As much as I tried to fight back the smile that threatened to give me away, I couldn’t help it. “You’d live in a big old swamp with me and let me scream at you? That doesn’t sound like such a fun life. How would we pass the time aside from listening to my screams?”

  His eyes brightened as he took my hand and pulled me away from the tree. “Do you hear that music?” he asked, referring to the piano music coming from the main house. “We’d dance,” he swirled me around. “We’d sing, and we’d love each other without rhyme, reason or condition. We could also hold the occasional rat race or two.”

  “I’m not great at any of those things,” I admitted, as I tried not to trip over my feet in an attempt to keep up with his superior dance moves.

  “I can teach you,” he said easily.

  “Arelia,” warned Bade.

  “I have to go now,” I said quickly. I knew that I had already spent too much time lost in Lucus’ world “You have to show me the way to the swamp now.”

  “No, you don’t. You have to go back to that insufferable party with me.”

  “I’m not really in any shape to go to party.” I drew his attention to my distorted state.

  “Of course you are.” Lucus insisted. “We can laugh at Mr. Doran together. He’s vastly wealthy, but he has a peculiar habit of stealing pralines.”

  “He steals pralines?”

  “Yes. It’s the most hilarious thing. He waits until he thinks everyone is out of sight and starts to stuff them in his jacket pocket. More than often, he runs out of room. Then, he starts stuffing them down his pants. I have to show you. It’ll be fun.”

  Watching this Mr. Doran guy did seem kind of tempting. “I can’t…”

  “Of course, you can, there’s a hidden back entrance, if you’re shy. We can watch everyone and no one will be able to see us. The guards are probably drunk by now, so they’re pretty much inoperable.”

  “Arelia, you can’t go.” Insisted Bade.

  After a twisted day of unspeakable brutality, strangely all I wanted to do was watch Mr. Doran stuff pralines down his pants.

  “I want to see Mr. Doran stuff pralines down his pants,” I said, as I grabbed the whiskey bottle out of his hand and took a large swig. “But we have to take the back entrance.”

  Lucus gave me a huge smile and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”

  We ran until we reached the side of Darkwood house. Soft snores greeted us. “Shh.” Lucus alerted me to the fat guard who sloppily lazed against a wall. “Albert is the most unreliable guard in New Orleans. I swear my father keeps him around out of pity. That’s the hidden back entrance to the ballroom,” he said, as he pointed to a vine covered door. “Everytime my mother insists that I act presentable around guests, I sneak out and go to the city.”

  “Why don’t want to act presentable around guests?” I asked, as we approached the door.

  He gave me a wide grin. “I’m polite enough, I suppose, but she expects me to smile, nod and blindly agree with everything they say. It gets infinitely tiresome,” he said, as he quietly opened the door.

  Inside, the ballroom was exactly like it was in present day. Crystal chandeliers blazed, and guests enjoyed fine alcohol and food, as they merrily chatted amongst themselves. Soft candlelight from long rows of tables bathed their faces in an almost ghostly and completely serene light. They were completely oblivious to the ferocious pain and hunger that lurked around the corner. For the first time, I could see why Lucus felt so guilty. If I were in his shoes, I would have been overcome with crippling shame as well.

  Lucus placed his arm around my waist, as we watched the guests. “What’s your name beautiful spirit?” he asked.

  “Spirits don’t have names,” I lied.

  “Yes they do. Come on, I promise I’ll keep it a secret.”

  Our eyes met. “It’s Arelia.”

  “Beautiful name. Not as beautiful as your face.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  He pulled me closer. “My spirit doesn’t see how beautiful she is, does she?”

  I turned my head away and focused my attention back on the ballroom.

  “There he is Mr. Doran.” He pointed out a fat man that looked exactly like an 1852 version of Mr. Dumpty except with black hair. He loitered by a corner table full of pralines.

  “Oh my god, he’s actually doing it!” Mr. Doran casted a quick glance around the ballroom to make sure he wasn’t being watched. Afterwards, he shoved a handful of pralines in his jacket, and then a fist full down his pants.

  My stomach let out a powerful growl, as I watched him demolish a praline or two.

  Lucus’ attention immediately focused on me. “Let’s go get some pralines?”

  “No, I can’t go inside.”

  “Of course, you can,” he insisted, as he grabbed my hand and opened the door a bit wider.

  “Arelia, you silly girl! Do you know how much time you’ve wasted?” Bade was furious. “What’s the point of us helping you, if you don’t listen? How many times have we told you that you need to go now!”

  “I have to go back to the swamp now. Please, help me,” I pleaded.

  Lucus picked up on the desperation in my voice. “Alright then I will lead my beautiful spirit to her home, if that is what she asks of me.” The smile from his face vanished, but he extended his arm for me to take.

  We walked in silence for a few minutes, as we fought our way through the thick, damp air and the endless oaks claws that tugged on our clothes. Soon, the shattered cries of birds greeted us, and I knew the swamp was near. I felt the ground turn to mush under my bare feet, as the peculiar outline of Spanish moss dangling from cypress trees became visible. An eerie fog hung over the muddy water, and I was a more than a little disappointed that we had gotten there so fast.

  Lucus looked up at the stars and took another gulp of whiskey. Spontaneously, he placed the bottle on the ground and pulled me towards him. “I would do anything to make you stay,” he said.

  “You would?” I asked. In real life, I would never be brave enough to ask that, but this wasn’t really reality, why couldn’t I have a little fun? It’s not like the present day Lucus would remember any of this.

  The back of his hand stroked my sticky cheek, and I felt my knees weaken.

  “You don’t
have time for games Arelia,” hissed Bade. “You need to go find Gran-Ibo and reunite your soul.”

  Bade was right.

  “I’m a spirit, and I have to go back to where I came from now. There’s no way I could stay here with you.” I told him.

  “You smell so good, you have to stay,” he said, as he ran his fingers through my slimy hair. He tilted his head slightly, as his dark eyes pleaded with mine. His lips twisted in a slight boy-like frown. This Lucus was adorable, a little insecure and obviously crazy if he liked the smell of my sweat. It was comforting to know that he hadn’t been always so rational and composed.

  I observed the murky swamp water and knew I had to go before Louis kept me trapped forever. “I have to go,” I whispered. “I don’t belong here, and you have to go back to the party. She may be waiting there for you.” As much as I hated saying those words, I knew I had to send him away. He was a dangerous distraction.

  “Actually, I’ve already forgotten all about her,” he said, as he cupped my cheeks between his warm hands.

  “You have?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he wrapped me in his arms. I could feel the heat radiating from his chest, as his full lips covered mine in a deep and consuming kiss. I was hopelessly paralyzed in his safe embrace. For a moment I forgot where I was. The kiss lingered on while swamp animals cryptically crooned and serenaded us in the background. I could have stood in his arms forever, as pathetic as that sounded.

  “Arelia, you have to go now! Louis knows you remember. He’s going to make the curse stronger, and you’ll be trapped forever.” Bade’s annoying voice snapped me out of the totally romantic moment. Although I would be eternally grateful to Brise and Bade for helping me out, I wanted them to shut-up for a few more minutes, so I could go on kissing Lucus.

  “Arelia, go,” Brise commanded.

  I reluctantly tore myself away from Lucus’ lips. Who would have thought my first kiss with him would have been under such surreal circumstances. Not that I had thought about kissing him or anything. Well maybe only a couple of times. Okay, a couple thousand. It was way better than I thought it would be. Damn him.