"Oh come now, Mister Campbell," a woman said, approaching him from behind. She was a pretty woman. A Black woman in a long dress. She grabbed Henry by the arm and pulled him back. "You're under duress. Allow me to deal with our visitor. No sense getting all worked up over a young lady."
Henry grunted as he turned and stomped his way back to his house.
The woman approached me and looked me directly in the eye. "La Sirene... you've heard to my plea and received my sacrifice?"
I cocked my head. "How do you know... what sacrifice? Are you... Odette?"
The woman nodded. "Of course I am. My apologies for summoning you so far inland from the sea...."
"You... summoned me?" I asked. "I came here of my own accord... I was..."
Odette smiled. "Disoriented, perhaps, from being drawn from the sea. But come, La Sirene. I must show you the requisite hospitalities."
Chapter Sixteen
Nico was going to be pissed. I got too close, too involved with the Campbells. And I met Odette before he had a chance to explain our purposes.
"Sweet tea?" Odette asked. "I mean, I know you enjoy pink champagnes and white wine..."
I cocked my head. In truth, I was a fan of those beverages... I mean... whenever I'd had a chance or cause to drink when my father had allowed it. But I hadn't had many occasions to drink beyond that. And while I'd spent enough time in ancient Fomoria and in the void to likely be of drinking age, in terms of my actual birthdate relative to my own time, I was still a year shy.
"Sweet tea will be fine," I said. "I'd prefer not to drink so early."
The small quarters Odette brought me to were not unlike the slave quarters where Nico was staying. Except this place was not in such disrepair. Odette had taken good care of the place.
"Sweet tea, you say?" Odette asked. "I'm not sure I know of it. I mean, I could pour some regular tea, I suppose. And offer you some sugar cane?"
I nodded. It hadn't occurred to me sweet tea might not yet be a staple in the south. I wasn't totally sure when it became a thing. But it must've been at some point later. "That will be fine," I said.
I looked around the room as Odette grabbed a jug from beneath her counter, a small cup, and poured a golden brown liquid from it. It must've been tea, already prepared. No longer hot. Not cold, or "iced" like I enjoyed my tea, either. But it would do. I surveyed the room a little more. A small table, an altar perhaps not unlike the ones Marie had at her place, was situated against the wall.
On the altar... seashells and a glass of white wine...
"Was this for me?" I asked.
"Of course, La Sirene," Odette said. "You may help yourself."
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. All this is new to me. I mean, I came here for reasons of my own. I didn't expect you'd summoned me."
Odette smiled. "Such is how it appears, I suppose, for some of the younger Loa."
I cocked my head. "And how do you know who I am? I wasn't even born as a human yet in this time. And I didn't become... you know... La Sirene until much later."
"There is no time in Guinee," Odette said. "It matters not when you became what you are! For us, for we who honor you, you always have been and always will be."
I nodded. "Well, it might matter not to you. Matters a whole lot to me. I mean, I came here for my own reasons."
Odette smiled wide and laughed. "The ways of Bondye are beyond us all... including you, La Sirene."
I pressed my lips together. "Supposing you did summon me. Why would you do that? I mean, if I'm supposed to be the Queen of the Sea..."
"It is the power of the sea I require, La Sirene! This is why you have come."
I shook my head. "I've come seeking Marinette."
"Of course you did, La Sirene," Odette said. "For this aligns with my petition to you."
I scrunched my brow. I was still confused. "It does?"
"You come in the company of the undead, do you not? Seeking to harness the power of the undead who haunt your seas?"
I cocked my head. "How do you know all this? Yes, I'm here with a vampire... and I'm looking for a way to stop a bunch of zombie sharks from spreading."
Odette laughed. She sure laughed a lot. "You see, La Sirene! This is why I require your aid! Marinette is the one I seek! But I cannot retrieve her myself."
"But you know where I can find her?" I asked.
"Of course I do, La Sirene! Of course, I do!"
"And she'll help us with our... zombie shark problem?" I asked.
"That I cannot say," Odette said. "But you and I both require her assistance."
"What do you need her for?" I asked.
"Misses Campbell is with child. And Mister Campbell seeks to destroy their daughter from the womb."
I grunted. "Yeah. I surmised that. Are you certain the child they'll have is a girl?"
"All the signs suggest it so," Odette said. "But the fates have thwarted him, at least for now. Until last night, all the signs portended he would end his daughter's life. But then, suddenly, something changed. This is why I summoned you, La Sirene."
"What do I have to do with all that?" I asked, biting my lip. In truth, I had everything to do with it. So far, though, it seemed Odette didn't suspect I was either the one who confounded Henry's efforts to abort his daughter or that I was actually, in my human life, a Campbell myself.
"Marinette's host is failing, La Sirene, and I fear she is at sea in the company of some who would not dare deliver her to our ports."
"Wouldn't dare?" I asked. "Are the enemies or something? Yankee boats?"
"She's aborded a ship of pirates, La Sirene."
"Pirates?" I asked. "I wasn't aware you still had pirates... weren't they a thing like a century ago?"
"Yes and no," Odette said. "Most of the last have not seen the Caribbean in fifty years or more. But these are not... today's pirates."
I cocked my head. "What do you mean, Odette?"
"A sunken ship, it's former captain and mates raised from the deep, under Marinette's command."
I snorted. "Zombie pirates? You can't be serious..."
"Says the one who has a problem with undead sharks?"
I chuckled. "I suppose I see your point. But why in the world would she do something like that?"
"To return to Haiti," Odette said. "Marinette is honored there. She served her purpose here, I should say, in sparking our own revolution. Even as she did once in her human life."
"Marinette was behind the Civil War?" I asked, cocking my head.
"She played her role," Odette said. "I would not say she caused the war. And the rebellion she's sparked has persisted beyond emancipation. She was brought here to help us fight for more than this."
"They why did she go back?" I asked.
"The one who summoned her here has died. Without the bidding of the Voodoo Queen, we lack the capacity to retain her presence here."
"Marie Laveau was the one who summoned Marinette?" I asked, furrowing my brow. If Marie had done that, why the hell didn't she just say so. Why tell me to seek Odette? It didn't make sense.
"But you wield the power of the sea. You must bring her back to us lest her frail host dies at sea."
"What would happen if she did?" I asked. "I mean, to the pirates who are under her compulsion?"
Odette shook her head. "When the undead are unfettered by the will of the one who summoned them, they revert to instinct."
I bit my lip. "So they start looking for brains, right?"
Odette sighed. "I suppose you could put it that way. If we cannot get to Marinette before her host dies and Marinette returns to Guinea, we will have a problem on our hands rivaling your own."
Chapter Seventeen
How many potential apocalypses would I have to try and thwart? First, the voidbringer. Then, not one but two zombie outbreaks?
This wasn't what I signed up for when I thought I would find a new home in Fomoria. It was a place, I thought, where the dragon's essence inside of me would be pacified. A problem, frankl
y, that was starting to become an issue.
I mean, ever since I became the Wyrmrider, I had more peace with the dragon inside of me. We understood each other. I mean, technically, it wasn't a dragon separate from myself. It was me, a part of me, bound to my soul that was every bit as much of who I was now as my human or mermaid natures.
Going back to the sea might not be the end of the world. Perhaps, I could stop by Fomoria... or not... no telling the political situation at the time. I mean, King Conand was centuries old before he died, before I took his place...
Even if he wasn't the reigning monarch, he'd be there. If interfering with my own family was bound to cause problems, I could only wonder what I might screw up if I encountered Conand. I mean, if he suspected I'd usurped him in the future...
I couldn't go to Fomoria. Maybe not a huge loss. I mean, they didn't have wyrms yet. Would the merlegion even be willing to help subdue a zombie pirate ship?
I wasn't in any position to ask them for help, anyway. We'd have to handle this ourselves.
I left Odette's quarters and made my way back to Nico. I told her I'd try to convince him to help. I mean, Marie had sent me with Nico for a reason. I wasn't about to leave him behind. Not to mention, Nico knew Voodoo. I mean, Odette was kind enough. But she was a caplata. She wielded Voodoo with "both hands," as they say, embracing both the light and dark sides of the arts. If she was up to any shenanigans, Nico would have a better chance of sniffing it out than I would.
Not to mention, he was my muscle. There are advantages to having the world's oldest vampire in your corner. Plus, he had resources and connections Odette didn't. Somehow we'd have to make it out to sea. And, chances were, if I so much as dipped my toe in the water, the Fomorians would know. I wasn't a hundred percent sure they had beacons at this point or the enchanted map. That might have come later. But with everything that was at stake, using my mermaid form or, even better, shifting into wyrm form by utilizing my dragon essence was a gamble I didn't want to make if it could be avoided.
Now I had to face the music. And by music, I mean the prospect of risking the anger of a super-scary vampire. I mean, he'd been cool to me so far. But I hadn't pissed him off yet.
No sooner did I step through the door of the abandoned slave quarters, and he was standing six inches in front of me, staring me directly in the face.
"Holy shit, Nico!" I said.
Nico smiled. "Sorry. I was sleeping. Heard you coming. I mean, I heard your heartbeat... I couldn't just assume it was you. You don't survive as long as I have by making assumptions."
I nodded. "So, I met Odette."
"You what?" Nico asked.
I bit my lip. "And Henry... briefly..."
"What the hell, Joni!"
"It wasn't on purpose!"
"I told you to be careful. That means, avoid any chance at all..."
"I know," I said. "And I'm sorry. But I don't think if we'd stuck to plan and you went to see Odette, it would have changed anything."
Nico clenched his fist for a moment before taking a deep breath and exhaling. "Alright, what's done is done. What did you find out?"
I chuckled a little-out of pure nervousness. For a second there, I thought Nico was about to bite my head off. Apparently, beyond not making assumptions, Nico had also managed to calm his rage over the centuries.
I told him all that Odette had said. Nico paced back and forth, nodding along as I explained the details-including my trepidation about unintentionally alerting the Fomorians to our presence at sea.
"I have a ship," Nico said. "It isn't much. Doesn't handle rough waters well."
I smiled. "Honey, I'm the queen of the sea. I mean, I haven't done much with it. But I think I can keep the waters calm."
Nico nodded. "Of course you can. You're La Sirene."
I grinned. "Of course, I don't know exactly how to do that. But theoretically..."
Nico rolled his eyes. "Theoretically?"
"Right," I said. "I mean, if push comes to shove and I have a little magic at my disposal..."
Nico shook his head. "Let's just hope we don't have to resort to that. But this time of year, you never know."
"Hurricane season?" I asked.
Nico nodded. "It's possible. Unfortunately, we don't have the advantage of accurate weather forecasting."
"Who does?" I asked. "I mean, even in the twenty-first century, how often do meteorologists get it right?"
Nico laughed. "That is true. But at least they have satellites and radar to track tropical storms. The best we can do is trust the reports of the US Army Signal Corps and the weather bureau."
I cocked my head. "They what?"
Nico laughed. "A priest set up a warning system back in the seventies. The eighteen seventies, I mean. The US Army took it over after he died. If storms are brewing in the region, they send advance warnings to the coasts. Not a perfect system, but it works."
"Pretty smart," I said. "I had no idea."
"Take the horses," Nico said. "You and Odette. Head to the Port of New Orleans. I'll meet you there."
"How are you going to get there?" I asked.
Nico smiled wide. "I can run faster than a horse."
"So you're telling me my ass hurts now for no reason at all? You could've just run here?"
"You needed a ride here, didn't you?"
I laughed. "I could have flown here in dragon form. I mean, I would have had to siphon a little magic first. But yeah, I could have figured it out. I siphoned magic from that Voodoo underworld under the cathedral before."
"Well, it's a good thing we brought the horses. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a ride for Odette."
"I suppose that is true," I said, rubbing my butt. "Still not sure I can handle another ride right now."
Nico rolled his eyes. "Your ass will be fine. Just don't make any unnecessary detours. And for the love of God, try to avoid any conversations with Henry Campbell or any of your ancestors this time."
Chapter Eighteen
I hurried back to Odette's quarters. She quickly threw together a knapsack full of oddities. I didn't ask too many questions. A bottle of rum, a few cigars, a collection of herbs and oils. A shrunken head.
Yes, I said a shrunken head.
"Well, that is a little creepy," I said.
Odette smiled as she stuffed it in her knapsack and mounted one of the horses. "It should help us locate Marinette."
"How so?" I asked, climbing onto my horse.
"It belonged to one of Marinette's former hosts," Odette said. "It once belonged to the Voodoo Queen."
"She gave it to you?" I asked as I gave my horse a swift kick and we started riding side-by-side.
"I suppose," Odette said. "It was left here, shortly before she passed. Because Marie Laveau disapproves of my methods, I was mildly surprised to find she'd given it to me."
I laughed. "I would have screamed! Come home to have that thing staring at me! Talk about the hee bee jee bees!"
"I nearly did scream, child! I nearly did! Such a powerful object as this is not easy to come by."
"How does it work?" I asked.
"Every host a Loa has possessed, it maintains a connection to its prior inhabitant. Since I possess Marinette's aspect, it can guide me to her location."
"Guide you how, exactly?"
"Were Marinette still conscious, she could speak to me through it."
I stared at Odette blankly. "That is creepy as hell!
"Marinette has been silent for some time. But worry not, child. If her present host had died, I'd know."
"You'd feel it? If she died, I mean?"
Odette nodded. "As would you. You are a queen. You possess the aspect of Papa Legba, I presume?"
I nodded. "I do. But I don't know that I sense things like that."
"Legba guards the crossroads, child. If you draw on his aspect, you should know if any Loa pass between our world and Guinee."
"If I draw on it... I don't know how... I mean, I did it once to speak to my son in the
void. I used it to speak to the ghost of another caplata. But it wasn't something I actively tried to evoke. It just sort of happened when I encountered her."
"So what happened that allowed you to use it before? When did it awaken within you?"
I shrugged. "When I married Agwe. When I became a queen. Legba started speaking to me. I told him what I needed, and he made it happen."
"And Legba is not speaking to you now?" Odette asked.
I shook my head. "He hasn't said a word to me since."
Odette smiled at me. "Perhaps he hasn't had much to say. I suspect, should the need present itself, he will speak again."
"I hope..."
"Or, I could teach you how to bind him... how to compel him to speak."
I snorted. "That's bokor stuff, right? Manipulating the Loa for power?"
Odette laughed. "Marie has had your ear already. But power is a funny thing. Is it so wrong to wield power if it is to do something necessary? All we do, it is an extension of our power. If we have more power, as we learn as bokors and caplatas, we can do more. We can make a difference."
"I see your point," I said. "But what if it isn't my power to use? Legba's aspect was supposed to be a gift."
"And if it was a gift, it belongs to you, La Sirene. What sort of giver offers a gift only to dictate how it will be used? Such a gift is no gift at all."
"Maybe that is why Legba is stingy with his aspect. Only gives it to queens who will use it to serve her people."
"Or to rule them," Odette said. "To serve. To rule. Is there a great difference between service and dominion if your rule is also for the benefit of your subjects?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I mean, I'm still pretty new to all this queen stuff."
"Like I said, if you'd like to know how..."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said, lightly kicking my horse again to encourage it to pick up the pace.
We needed to get to New Orleans by nightfall. And so long as we trotted slowly, side by side, we weren't making the best time we could.
Wyrmrider Vengeance: An Underwater Magic Urban Fantasy (The Fomorian Wyrmriders Book 2) Page 10