“You’re crazy.”
“Like a fucking fox.” Her hand slammed onto the glass of the cylindrical tank.
Lisa flinched.
“It’s alright. He can’t get out.” Jovan pulled from her cigarette. “Lisa, this man right here teased me every day of my life by calling me weak. He did it so that I wouldn’t rise to the occasion, but I flipped the script. I used it to fuel my fire. You see, as a woman-child in an Amazon tribe, you worshiped your mother, for she was the strength before you, and you were her strength plus some. You took what you knew from her, mixed that with what you learned on your own, and you made a better warrior than the Most High—your mother. Our fathers? Pffst. They were just an extreme warrior from a different tribe who had to combat our mothers hand to hand or else they were raped for their semen, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make, Lisa. You have a chance to honor your father, and I heard you utterly disrespect yours like he didn’t die multiple times just to create you. That’s some very selfish shit.” She shrugged, pulling from her cigarette again. “Hell, I took my daddy’s heart out and ate it, but that ain’t the point I’m trying to make either.
“Lisa, your parents went through brimstone just to be together; and I should know because I’m the person to tutor your daddy to make sure he rose above the occasion to win your mama’s affection. Yet, you stand before me like a cowardess who can’t confess to her own wrong doings, when I can confess the continents of bloodshed I have. You shiver in fear when your mother’s hips spread and cracked, and she damn near bled to death just to bring you into this world. What’s her thanks, Lisa? Being cussed out in front of her own home like some goddamn streetwalker who’s not even worthy of two dollars for some ding-a-ling. You got some nerve.”
“Jo, I—”
“Are useless because you’ve lost your way. Pitiful because you’d rather shame others for your own downfalls. Stupid and ignorant because you can’t open your mouth and declare whose fault it is that you’re in the position you’re in.” Jovan pulled one last time from her cigarette and thumped it. “You let somebody inside your body who didn’t deserve you, girl.”
Lisa’s eyes clamped tight at the thought of Dossier. A lump formed in her throat.
“What you runnin’ from, Little Lisa?”
“Jo—”
“What are you runnin’ from?”
“I would like to kindly return to my quarters—”
“Answer me. What are you—”
“Me!” she shouted.
Triton’s hand smashed against the glass, causing Lisa to make a run for it, but tripped over her own feet and fell.
Jovan banged on the glass. “Nobody’s talking to you! Sleep.”
At her highest speed on sore legs, Annalissa galloped the best she could down the corridor, but was somehow face to face with Jovan when she reached the door.
“We’re all faced with burdens, Lisa,” she promised. “Now, tell me why you’re running away from yourself… and not Triton.”
“You-you-you—”
“Would you like to see my crown room?”
“What?” Her face squished.
“My crown room,” Jovan said excitedly. “I’ve collected plenty of crowns in my day. There’s a story behind them all. All you need is just one.”
Against her will and better judgement, Lisa hobbled to a room at the back of the house, wondering just how big it was when it wasn’t busy changing to confuse visitors.
Finally reaching the right door, Jovan pushed it open.
Lisa wasn’t so sure about going inside. She held Jovan’s gaze in the moonlit hall.
“Go in.” Jovan chuckled. “There are no bodies in there. I promise.”
Lisa gulped, taking a rickety step inside the darkness. When the room was lit up, she had to shield her eyes from the gold, the silver, the gems and jewels covering the walls and high ceiling. Jovan had even made a chandelier out of a few, and gallery lights out of others. Rusted and shiny swords crossed shields in intricate spaces along the walls, and Lisa noticed a few spears. Just like her father, Jo was a collector of things most wouldn’t believe existed.
Lisa reached the tips of her fingers to one crown in particular but quickly drew back her hand as her head whipped to find Jovan propped against the pane of the door.
“It’s alright. Go on and touch. If you knock it down, you better put it back where you found it.”
“All of these are yours?”
“No.” She sighed, stuffing her hands inside her dark red, silk pajama bottoms. She slowly strolled into the room, feasting her eyes upon her work over the years. “These head pieces were worn by men who thought women were weaker. Men who thought they could take from us, so we took from them. Ooh!” Jo suddenly dashed to a red and blue double crown of a pharaoh. “This one,” she said in a sultry voice as she raised it gently from a mannequin head. “I don’t remember his name, but I can tell you that the son of a bitch wanted to wage war on Moors.”
“Aren’t you from the Amazon Rainforest or something? Or are you ancient Roman?”
Jovan’s head slowly turned to her with the corner of her top lip raised. “I’m a Moor. Through and through until the day I somehow die.”
“Oh,” Lisa returned quietly.
Jovan replaced the crown and whisked across the room to fetch another from the wall. She held it with pride, approaching Lisa with a grin. “This Gaelic bastard wouldn’t kneel. He thought that a little over a hundred women couldn’t seize his land.” She shrugged, handing the crown to Lisa. “Dior took his head off in battle which made all the other soldiers drop their swords. I just kept his crown because it was pretty.”
She scanned the rusted gold of Celtic crosses and the polished sapphires closely.
“Besides that, I didn’t really want his land. I was just trying to prove a point at the moment. I was flexing my power. So stupid to, actually. We sparred for ten whole years because their king was murdered. They sent Vikings and mountain people at us throughout that decade that I could’ve sworn we’d gotten rid of everyone in Europe.” She sighed. “Sometimes, Lisa, just because you can doesn’t mean you do.”
“Jo—”
“We carry burdens, but we don’t lash out. We have great power, but it doesn’t mean we have to flex. That will bring on very grave consequences. Lastly, we are to always remain in tune with one’s self.”
“Jo.” Finally, Lisa’s eyes pooled. To mask it, she found the empty space where her tutor snagged the crown and replaced it.
“Girl, you are standing in a room full of people who have fallen to my sword for one reason or another, and that one time… That one when I sparked a war, should be a lesson to you. Even the greats make mistakes. Your job is to never make that mistake.”
“I don’t have a king to slay.”
“Oh, yes, you do, honey. One of the reasons you have people like me to help you is because I can see beyond what’s separated by water or emotional ties. Lisa, your family needs you for something much bigger and better. You can’t reach your potential when you have a blockage.”
“Wait a second. What?”
“That boy who was trying to make up with you?” Jovan pulled a box of cigarettes out of the pocket of her pajamas, fetched a square, and lit it with no lighter. She took a nice, long pull before letting the smoke seep out of her nostrils. “You were right about him, honey. He was just using you.”
“F-F-For what?” There was a pang in her heart when hearing what she’d always suspected of being true.
“Because he’s an evil little shit who believes he has something to prove to so many others. One was that he could get a Pharaoh. Two was that he could open an underworld and flood this one and he’d become victorious one way or another.”
Her face crumpled. “What? Jo, I have to—”
“Sit your ass here until you’re ready. Annalissa, you can’t give your family something you ain’t got.”
“What the fuck are you—”
“Cuss
at me one more time like I’m not your elder and I’ll make sure you go home to your parents whistlin’ my goddamn name, because I’m going to knock out your fronts.”
“Jo! Please! Speak English to me! Just out and tell me instead of being so dramatic!”
Jovan rolled her eyes. “Fine. First, come and feed Eddie.”
“Who?”
Jovan pulled the girl by her arm out to a barn behind the house that Lisa could’ve sworn wasn’t there when they were Spartan sprinting. Jovan pulled back the heavy door, pointing inside to a bucket full of glowing carrots. “You only need one. Don’t let him eat it all at once, either. He can be a greedy fucker. You feed, I brush and let you know what you need to know.”
Lisa rolled her eyes and hobbled inside the barn. She almost fell backward when she came face to face to with a black horse with a wide wingspan.
“There’s my big boy!” Jovan cheered as she approached a two-foot tall wooden fence.
“What the… You have a Pegasus!”
“No,” Jovan returned in disgust. “I have an Eddie.”
“But-But-But he’s a—”
“Eddie. Now, bring his carrot. He won’t bite unless you tease.”
Never mind where Jovan wandered off too. On shaking knees with trembling hands, Lisa slowly drew closer to the fence with the carrot in her hand. One single bite from the mythical creature caused her to flinch.
“Steady hands, Young Pharaoh. You don’t want to be bitten.”
Lisa gulped, stiffening her wrist so that she could feed the winged creature.
Jovan brushed Eddie’s mane with a smile as she explained. “Some things in this life we don’t believe is real. Some things we don’t want to believe is real. Lies, hurt, disappointments… Eddie and his cousins. But they are. When I was your age, I was a damn hot commodity. You wouldn’t believe how many other women from different tribes had gotten scalped by my Angel just because they cut their eyes at me. Shit, you wouldn’t even believe how many male warlords I laid on their asses, just because I knew I could.” Jovan chuckled. “Your daddy? Lisa, when he was your age, I tried to my best to tame him. Nooo, you couldn’t tell David Pharaoh a damn thing. He was handsome, he was powerful, and he could walk beyond realms. Cocky sonofabitch, too. Got himself into plenty of trouble along the way. The lives we lived, some would say is exciting. But it’s something about becoming a parent that changes your views on things.
“Things like how we wouldn’t want our kids acting like us. You think your daddy called me to punish you? Hell naw. I punish you because you need some character, some respect. He called me because he saw a lot of his old self in you. That’s not what’s okay for you. And as far as that little motherfucker who opened up a whole ass gate? He knew what he was doing. At first, he did it to prove something to you; that he could contain it and show you that he was worthy of you. After you hurt him, he opened it to punish you. To unleash something on this earth to make your family look bad.”
“Jo—”
“Not while I’m brushing. Keep feeding.” She cut her eyes at Lisa before she continued. “Lisa, you aren’t ready to go to war. It ain’t even started yet. My duty as your elder is to make you stronger; as I would my own little ego maniac who should be somewhere in Europe on tour. My mama wouldn’t even let me so much as have my trials at sixteen because she didn’t think I was ready. As patient as she wanted to be, we trained clean on up until it was time for me to head on out to prove myself. And your mama? Let me tell you something.” Jovan put her brush down and grabbed Annalissa by her sore jaws. “I ever hear you disrespect the woman who sacrificed her own life and livelihood for you again, I’m going to turn your ass inside out and put you in my dungeon to make you tap dance like you’re Mr. Bo Jangles for all eternity. You hear me? I have enough Ambrosia to make it so.”
Frightfully, Lisa nodded.
“Now, there will be pain and there will be tears, but when I’m done with you, you will not only love yourself, but you’ll appreciate what you have. That’s a family that loves you, and a gift a lot of people will kill for.”
Tears pooled in Lisa’s eyes. The woman was crazy, but the only way out for Lisa was to go through whatever course Jovan was about to put her through.
Chapter
Six
Kirko slammed the door to his old, rusted pick-up truck, taking his hat off when he saw what appeared to be a shooting black mass darting from each and every angle of the large cemetery. “What’n the hell?” he mumbled.
“I told you, big daddy.” Fairest folded her arms over her chest with confidence. “I can’t calm that thing. It’ll jump inside me and eat me alive.”
Pharaoh, sitting on the hood of his old Lincoln, pulled his thin cigar from between his lips. “Some friends of mine told me where I could find the gate, supposedly. White witches have been fainting like crazy close to Cooper’s Bayou.”
“What’n the hell are we standing here for, then, Raoh?” Kirko asked with his eyes still on the mass.
“Because the wife and a few of her colleagues are studying it. Those damn demons can’t consume them. They’re blessed. We go out there unprepared, they’ll jump us all.”
“And what of Moses?”
Pharaoh dropped his head. “I’ll call on him if we can’t contain it ourselves. First, we have to know if it’s in fact where the gate is. That’s another reason I needed y’all out here.”
“Something’s calling to it,” Akiel said. His eyes were white, his head tilted heavenward. “Not something, daddy. Someone. Someone who doesn’t know the powers he’s dealing with. All of them are being called. I-I can’t see where they’re trying to get to, but I know… I know it’s shy of the bayou.”
Pharaoh reached to his left until he was able to connect his palm with Akiel’s shoulder. His neck jerked because of the young man’s strength. Through his own eyes, he saw a caldron, men in robes, and a leader with their hands out, palms up. “Fuck,” he cursed. “I can’t see either.” He pulled his hand away, puffing his cigar again. “It’s a group of people summoning these goddamn things.”
“A cult?” Cinderella asked just behind her husband. “Why in the hell would a cult want to open a mouth like this?”
“Not a cult.” Pharaoh slowly shook his head with his eyes on the toes of his black Doc Martin’s. “A stupid ass person who wants to be a cult leader. They’re the only one’s reciting incantations.”
“Kirko, what are we gonna do?”
He curled his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Well, if the king of voodoo and the demon hunter princess can’t figure out a way to close this gate… Baby, we’ll be moving to New Orleans because business would be booming.”
Peresh stepped forward with his hands in the pockets of his pressed, dark Levi’s, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t so sure that he’d be able to pull something so powerful off, but it was worth a shot.
At first, all he could see was darkness. Then, a face burst into his line of sight. A long, dark brown, gangly face with what looked like melting flesh, exposing bone. Three horns sat atop a head, far beyond a snarling grill of what seemed like a dog. Four hot yellow eyes were trained on his. Fortunately, he’d taught himself long ago to not fear things as such because there was no telling what he might’ve encountered.
Again, Peresh took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He’d never gone to a second level inside a mind or dream before, but this would be worth a shot to save humanity and challenge his abilities.
Peresh found himself in a familiar, dark place surrounded by dark waters. Clear across the infinite space, he saw what looked to be a group of six men on their knees, dressed in dark red robes, circling one man who drew his hood off of his head.
Suddenly, they locked eyes. The man stretched his hand out to Peresh, forcing him backward as if he’d physically pushed him.
Peresh gasped, opening his eyes. It felt as though he was slammed back inside his own body. When he came to, he was on one knee, peering at the grass below, chocking
and gasping for air. His family and Pharaoh were asking if he’d been okay, but all he could do was tear away from them and rush to his father’s truck to fetch his sister’s pen and notepad. It took him almost ten minutes to sketch the face of the man he saw.
“Who is that?” Cinderella asked her son, snaking her arm around his.
Pharaoh looked down at the pad, immediately cursing himself. “Sonofabitch!”
“You know him?”
“He’s the little fucker I had to save a few nights ago from being preyed upon by Lisa. Goddamn it! This motherfucker!”
“Calm down, Raoh,” Kirko coached him. “Where do we find him?”
“He’s a Fifth Ward Hooligan. If he’s smart enough to open the fucking gate, he’s smart enough not to be in the Fifth Ward.”
“He got to be somewhere.”
“Cooper’s,” Peresh said with a heaving chest. “Somewhere in Cooper’s. But he’s strong. I felt it. I couldn’t even get into his head. Whatever he’s done, it’s in him now. From the demon I got that there’s still time. I give it about three days. This guy isn’t strong enough to keep the gate open. It’s in spurts. What he’s calling upon is releasing packs, but they’re coming and going. And every time they go—”
“They close the gate behind them,” Fairest mumbled mindlessly. “The darkness comes out, he calls it, but those who hadn’t nested within a vessel skip out on him, basically, and go back home. He can’t hold the gate open, or at least he hasn’t figured out a way to.”
“Or… He’s waiting for something,” Akiel offered.
Kirko stroked his beard. “Children, what’s today?”
“November fifteenth, daddy.”
Fairest snapped her fingers. “Sonofabitch! He’s waiting for the new Blood Moon.”
“My anniversary,” Pharaoh verbally realized. “This… This is personal for him. This is an attack on my damn family.”
“Now, Raoh, a lot of nut-jobs use the Blood Moons as prophecies—”
Claiming the Voodoo Princess Page 4
