VooDoo Follies

by Butler, Christine M.

  "I cast a spell." She finally spoke, but she still seemed far away in her thoughts.

  "Okay, you want to be a little more specific?"

  "I met him at a party last night. I thought... I..." I was loosing her, she was drifting off into some dark oblivion, her eyes were doing some wonky dance in her skull now, and I couldn't think of anything else to do. So, I slapped her. Her eyes returned to their normal places and she cocked her head towards me, looking at me for the first time since I arrived. I continued bandaging her neck. "What was that for?" She asked.

  "You were loosing it and your eyes were going all wonky."

  "Oh."

  "Oh? You need to finish telling me what happened. You met some guy at a party, you cast a spell, and now here you are with two holes in your neck and me asking a lot of questions, so fill in the blanks!"

  "Seraphine?" Tina looked genuinely shocked to see me.

  "Yeah, Tina."

  "Get me some juice or something with sugar, please. I've lost a lot of blood."

  "No, there was only a little."

  "He took the rest," she said as she looked over my shoulder. I turned to look, but there was no one there.

  "Who took the rest?"

  "David. He's a..." she didn't seem to want to finish the sentence, and I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the word I thought was about to come out of her mouth. I stood and turned towards the stairs.

  "Do you have coke or juice in the fridge?" She nodded and off I went to go get some for her. While I was there I also found some cookies and brought those too. When I volunteered as a helper at the blood drive my mom's work hosted I watched them give people cookies. I figured it couldn't hurt. I took it all back up to Tina and helped her get to the bed.

  "Maybe I should just call 911 and have an ambulance come. I mean, we don't know how much blood you lost."

  "No, I will be fine. Thanks for helping me Seraphine." Tina looked down at the cookies that were now in her hands. "Sera, could you bless the cookies?"

  "Huh?"

  "You know, put a blessing of protection on them or something, so when I eat them I am protected."

  "Um, I've never blessed food before, Tina. I..."

  "Please."

  "Okay." I thought back on all my classes with my Auntie Perrine and I remembered her teaching me how to bless a house to keep evil spirits away. I decided that would work. I didn't have everything I needed to perform a full out ritual, but I could work around that. "Do you have any sage, by any chance?"

  "Yeah, top drawer over there in the dresser. It's in the box."

  "Okay," I got up and grabbed the sage and the lighter that was there with it. I plucked a few sprigs out of the bunch and lit them, waited for them to catch fire and then gently blew it out to the point that the sprigs were merely smoldering a billowing white smoke up into the air. I walked back over to Tina and her cookies, and began to do the protection chant. I chanted for the cookies, as I was asked, but I extended my 'blessing' out to Tina as well. I'm pretty sure she meant for herself to be protected and not just the cookies. And I wasn't sure if eating blessed food would be enough in itself. When I was finished I placed the remainder of the smoldering sage on the saucer by Tina's bed and let them burn out on their own. "All blessed and protected."

  "Thank you," she whispered and then began nibbling on her be-spelled cookies. She still looked as though she were in shock, but I needed answers and it was time she started supplying them.

  "What happened, Tina."

  She continued nibbling her cookie and then she looked at me and sighed. "It was stupid." She looked down at the rest of the cookies sitting in her lap. "I shouldn't have done it, but I thought I learned my lesson from messing around with you and the love spell, and with what happened to Trevor." Sadness swept across her face. "So, instead of love I performed a lust spell on a guy I met at a party. I mean he was smokin' hot and I just wanted to go make out with him a bit, maybe see if it lead to more dates in the future."

  I couldn't help it, I was rolling my eyes. I had warned her about those kind of spells. I spent most of my childhood watching my mom fowl things up while dabbling in the love/lust arts. "Tina," I started.

  "I know," she said, and then she put the remains of her cookie down with the rest. "I wasn't thinking. I should have known better." She looked up at me now, in all seriousness. "Remember when you said your magical screw ups lead you to chasing down zombies in the city?"

  "Yeah," I agreed and gulped as I remembered having to do it.

  "You were serious weren't you?" I nodded. "I never believed in stuff like that. I mean, I'm not even sure I believed my magic worked. I wanted to, but I never saw results until you came around." She picked up a different cookie and nibbled on it a bit, oblivious to the crumbs that fell down into her lap. I just sat there waiting to hear the rest. "Do you believe there are other monsters in this world? Ghosts, vampires, who knows what else?"

  "I believe there are ghosts, though I wouldn't exactly call them monsters. As for vampires, I don't know, Tina. I mean, I've raised a zombie, I've seen them with my own two eyes. Vampires, well they always seemed a bit far fetched." I shook a little as a chill swept through me. "I suppose at this point, though, I would be ready to believe in just about anything that showed itself to me."

  "The lust spell. It worked, but..." She just stopped talking mid-sentence and stared off at the black wall in front of her.

  "But what?" I asked gently.

  "David is a vampire. I didn't know when I cast the spell. Seraphine..." fear was plastered all over Tina's face now. "Seraphine, do you know what vampires lust after?"

  "Blood," I said nonchalantly and I laughed a little as I said it because it just sounded so silly to me.

  "Exactly." Tina grabbed hold of my arm in a vice-like grip. "Seraphine, vampires don't lust after sex like people do, they have blood lust. When I cast the spell to enhance his lust for me..." The horrible truth she was trying to convey hit me all at once.

  "Oh, Tina, no."

  "He wants my blood in a wicked bad way." Tina was shaking violently now. "I tried reversing the spell. It didn't work. I need your help, before he tries to come back.

  "I don't know what I can do, Tina."

  "You blessed the cookies." Her voice was far away and she was back to staring at the black wall. Her eyes were getting heavy with sleep and I grabbed the can of coke from her hand just before she let go of it. I tucked the comforter up around Tina, moved her raven-haired locks out of her face and cleaned up the cookie mess she had made. Then I pulled out my cell and called my mom.

  "Hey mom, is it okay for me to stay with Tina tonight? She's having guy trouble and needs a shoulder to cry on." I paused listening to my mom rant and rave about guy trouble and how she's had her share, like I didn't already know that. Then finally, she gave me permission and told me to check in tomorrow morning. "Yes, ma'am. I love you too." I hung up, grabbed the extra blanket that was folded across the end of Tina's bed and plunked myself into her black fuzzy chair. I couldn't leave her alone. I didn't know what kind of defense I would be against a vampire, but I thought as long as I was here, maybe he wouldn't show up again.

  ***

  Talking to the Dead

  "Seraphine," I heard a faint voice and felt my shoulder being touched, but I didn't want to let go of the dream I was having. Stephen was with me, and he was cupping my face with his hands, only it wasn't Stephen anymore, now it was Trevor. "Seraphine!" I was jolted out of my dream by Tina yelping my name and shaking me awake.

  "What?" I jumped up out of the chair so fast that the kink in my neck didn't register until I felt the pain run down my back and shoulder like an electric shock. "Oww!" I was howling in pain now, trying to slowly rotate my neck and shoulders to work the kink out. Only then did I look around and realize I was still in Tina's room. "Well, I guess I fell asleep on guard duty." I said with a shrug, sending another jolt through my neck and right shoulder.

  Tina smiled at me, "It's okay, he didn't co
me back." She started folding the blanket I had curled up with last night and tossed it across the bottom of her already made bed.

  "What time is it?"

  "It's 11."

  "Are you serious? I slept until 11? My mom is going to kill me."

  "Don't worry," Tina waved my phone at me, "she already called and I told her we had a late night and that you were still sleeping. You might want to call her and say hi though. She sounded skeptical."

  "That's my mom." I took the phone from her and called home, putting it on speaker so Tina could chime in. I had a feeling my mom didn't believe I had actually stayed there last night. Once we convinced her that everything was okay and that I would be home later I hung up and sat back down. "Do you have some Motrin or something? Sleeping in your chair was not the brightest idea I have ever had."

  "Yeah, I'll run to the bathroom and get it for you."

  I closed my eyes for a minute after she left and opened them to see Stephen standing at her dresser looking at the pictures. "She had a crush on you," I told him.

  Stephen smiled and turned toward me, "I know. I just never liked her that way. I always had my eye on someone else."

  "That's exactly what Tina said."

  "What did I say?" Tina walked back into the room and just missed pushing through Stephen's form as she came to hand me the medicine.

  "Oh, nothing. I was just going over in my head what you told me last night."

  "Oh, about Vampire Dave?" Tina looked at me sheepishly, as if she expected me to no longer believe her. "I know it sounds weird, but I swear it's all true."

  "I believe you, I was here last night - remember?" I looked up at Stephen who now wore a curious expression. "Can you fill me in one more time? I just need to separate what really happened from the crazy dreams I had last night." Stephen listened as Tina rehashed everything that had taken place over the past 48 hours. He was shaking his head in disbelief when Tina's mom called for her.

  "I'll be right back," she said as she left the room.

  "What in the hell was that all about, are you guys serious? Vampires?"

  "Yeah, it's so crazy right?"

  "No crazier than you sitting here talking to me, I guess." Stephen looked around the room one more time. "Seraphine, we need to go to the hospital and try to call Trevor to his body so we can talk to him. I have been going over everything and I think that may be the only way to find him. I looked everywhere he went when I was following him around before the accident. I can't find him."

  "He just moved here from somewhere else. Maybe he went back to his old home?"

  "Maybe, but in the meantime I think it's our best shot."

  "Okay, but I really need to help Tina figure out what to do about this vampire before he comes back and tries to eat her tonight."

  "Let's go to the hospital, we can brainstorm on the way."

  I agreed with Stephen, so I went off to find Tina and let her know what I was doing. I gave her some things to look up and told her to meet me at the hospital later so we could figure out what to do about her vampire problem. Then I was off to go help Stephen with his Trevor solution.

  ~...~

  "Trevor?" I leaned over the bed and looked down at the boy who had won my heart and then trampled on it when he found out who I really am. A part of me was still broken inside over that fact. I wondered how it could be that I could possibly fall in love with two impossible boys, two boys who suffered the same fate. It was mind boggling. As I stared down at him it became even more so, because Trevor looked for all the word as if he were just sleeping. "Trevor, please, if you can hear me..." I paused and looked back at Stephen, "I might have a way to make everyone happy. You could be free to roam as an Unknown Spirit and Stephen could take your place."

  I scanned the room every few minutes, hoping he would come. Stephen stood in the doorway of Trevor's room to warn me if anyone showed up. After about fifteen minutes of trying, I turned to Stephen, "I don't think this is going to work."

  "It was worth a shot." Stephen peeked back out the door and around the corner, "Umm, we should go."

  As I rounded the corner, leaving Trevor's room, a tall blond woman was calling out to me from down the hall. I ignored her and kept on walking, faster until I came to the stairwell. "I guess that was Trevor's mom." Stephen shrugged as we walked down the three flights of stairs together. "I'm sorry, Stephen."

  "No, Seraphine. Don't worry about it. Besides, there's still time."

  "Yeah," I said as my feet continued on their path mechanically. "I was thinking,"

  "Uh oh, that could be dangerous..." the mischievous smile playing across Stephen's face made me laugh in spite of myself.

  "That was cruel!"

  "But you laughed."

  "Yeah, well, I seem to be a sucker for..." I stopped myself from saying any more. What was the point in admitting how you felt for someone you could never be with?

  Stephen, being the perceptive ghost he was, changed the subject for me. "So, about the vampire problem then?"

  "Yes. I saw something when we were upstairs that gave me an idea. You know the bags of blood they had hanging on some of the patient's little medicine pole thingies?" Stephen nodded, but looked skeptical about where this was all going. "Well, suppose we took one of those and then..."

  "We can't take one of those Seraphine, they are hooked up to the patients for a reason."

  "I know that, but I saw a nurse pulling one from her cart earlier. What if we can grab a bag from somewhere in the hospital, and take it to be-spell for the vampire?"

  "Wait, you want to use MORE magic on a vampire?" Stephen's concern bloomed across his face as he swept the golden-brown strands of hair out of his eyes. "Seraphine, if you have learned nothing yet, it's that magic keeps getting you into messes."

  "You're willing to believe in magic to get you out of your mess." I said it quietly, because I knew as soon as I said it he would start having doubts about the process. It didn't matter how quietly I said it, I spoke the words and he heard them. His face contorted in a flurry of emotions that I had come to associate as confusion. He was torn now, where he was sure of things before. "Please, don't do that." I said. "One problem at a time."

  "Yeah," was the only response I got from him.

  "I think my plan will work. Okay, listen, I am going to grab a bag of blood and I need you to be my lookout. I'm going to take the blood, add a couple drops of Tina's blood to it, to make it desirable for Vampire Dave. But it is going to be hexed to make him not want Tina's blood anymore. Once he starts drinking it the spell will make him think it is the most horrid thing he has ever had. It should effectively stop him from lusting after Tina's blood."

  "It sounds good, Seraphine, but I just worry. I mean, this is a vampire you're talking about. What if something goes wrong? I won't be able to help you. I've never even come across a vampire before. I don't know if they can see me, if I can touch them. I mean are they dead or alive? I don't know, do you?"

  "I don't know, but it's the only thing I can think of to save Tina's life. You didn't see her last night." An uncontrollable shiver ran through me and was visible enough because Stephen backed away, thinking he was the cause. "No, it wasn't you. I was remembering last night." We rounded the last set of stairs and came out at the bottom in a part of the hospital I had never been in before. It must have been fate, because just down the hall from where we stood was a delivery guy with coolers from the blood bank. We stood, fixated on the guy who was struggling with the burden he now carried while he tried to open the door. He finally had to give in and sit a cooler down on the floor while he got the other one inside the room.

  "You've got to be kidding me?" Stephen said as he saw what was happening. Not another thought was able to flit through my head before I was running for that cooler. I had it popped open, took a bag, and was running back down the hall towards Stephen before the door to the room re-opened and a man stepped out to pick up the cooler.

  "Fate!" I huffed as we ran for the door.
>
  I stuffed the blood bag in my pocket and called Tina. She was already pulling up at the hospital so I directed her to come around to the back side to get me. I managed to hold the door open a little longer, pretending I saw someone I knew, so that Stephen could climb in too. Then I jumped in the car and we were off. "We need to make a stop at Grandma's Candle Shop for some supplies. I think I have a plan that will work."

  "It would be much more reassuring if you said 'I know I have a plan that will work.'" I had to ignore Stephen, or sound like an idiot arguing with myself.

  "So, what's the plan then?" Tina asked.

  I explained everything to her and showed her the bag of blood. "Brilliant!" She squealed. I stuck my tongue out at Stephen who just rolled his eyes.

  "Brilliant - from the girl who cast a lust spell on a vampire - I don't think you should put too much stock into her response just yet." Now, it was my turn to roll my eyes at Stephen. "I'm going to try to find Trevor again while you two go shopping for whatever it is you need." I just nodded at Stephen, a little upset by his lack of faith in me. "Seraphine, please, be careful." I let him see a small little smile before he disappeared from the car.

  ~...~

  Once we got all the supplies we needed, I had Tina take me back to my house so I could check in with my mom and grab a bag. I explained that Tina was having serious boy trouble and that we were going to do a weekend of chocolate and girly movies to help her through it. For her part, Tina was a great actress, playing the jilted girlfriend down to actual tears and everything. By the time we left to head to Tina's house, I almost believed it myself.

  "Wow, you are good. Maybe you should be a theater major."

  "That's what my mom always says, I don't know why though. I'm not really a big crowd person."