Possessed

by Kira Saito

  “No,” I replied somewhat bitterly.

  “You’ve come a long way, my dear, but you still have a long way to go. In order to be a great Voodoo Queen, you need to examine situations from all perspectives and understand how the human heart and soul works.”

  “I have no idea what that means. Why can’t you at least point me in the right direction? Why are you letting Ivan mess with me?”

  “You failed to bind Louis’ powers and now you have to face the consequences,” she replied simply. “You will come out of this stronger and it will lead you to where you need to be.”

  I was tempted to roll my eyes, bang my head against the toilet seat and say I’m out of here, but instead nodded. “Okay.”

  She smiled sweetly and her soft face lit up. “Have faith. Understanding is power. Louis and Lucus need you. You need them.”

  I nodded numbly and watched her as she slowly disappeared.

  I wrapped a towel around myself and brushed my teeth as fast as I could. All I wanted to do was run to my bedroom before Ivan had the chance to get anywhere near me. I gathered my clothes while firmly clutching the lock of hair I had stolen from Ivan.

  A depressing silence greeted me when I stepped foot into the hallway. At least that meant Sabrina had stopped crying. When I got to my bedroom, the door was slightly ajar and even before I had the chance to step inside the scent of cinnamon, rue and cayenne pepper filled my nostrils. Inside, I was greeted by the sight of Sabrina peacefully snoring away in Grand-mere’s arms while Aunt Mae was busy passing Fiery Wall of Protection Oil in the corners of the room.

  “Arelia, what took you so long?” asked Aunt Mae, as she focused her green eyes on me. Dressed in blush pink nightgown, clearly, she was ready to go to bed.

  “I…”

  Don’t say a word.

  “The bath was really relaxing.” The words involuntarily slipped out.

  “Is Sabrina okay? Did she take a bath?” I asked, as I leaned over her and Grand-mere to take a closer look. She seemed normal. Her blond hair had been brushed to death, I could smell the rich acidic scent of her favorite nighttime moisturizer and her thin lips were coated with a baby pink overnight plumper.

  I glanced around the room and tried to think of all the possible places where Ivan could have laid a trick.

  You’ll never know.

  “She’s fine for now. Lucus was able to get her to stop crying and I convinced her to take a bath. Child, are you alright?” asked Aunt Mae, as she turned her attention away from the oil and onto me.

  I nodded wearily, as I opened my suitcase and carefully tucked Ivan’s hair into a pocket. I pulled out my favorite Oscar the Grouch t-shirt with exactly one arm-pit hole under the left sleeve. Oscar had always been my favorite Muppet because, to me, he was the most relatable and realistic character out of them all. For some reason, after everything that had happened tonight, I wanted comfort and Oscar gave me that. He reminded me of a simpler time when the only thing I had to worry about was school, work and money. Considering what I had seen tonight, I now realized that my life had always been pretty wonderful, I just never realized it.

  “Come here, my child,” said Aunt Mae, as she opened her arms wide. She knew something was up even though I hadn’t said anything.

  I sank into her arms and let out a huge sigh. I was too tired and confused to cry so the only thing I could do was keep letting out big dramatic sighs. When I finally stopped sighing, I spoke. “What lured Sabrina to the graveyard, and why did she go there? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Aunt Mae took a reflective pause before she spoke. Even though her skin was impossibly smooth, tonight she looked old and weary. “Sabrina was terribly upset. I take it you girls had a disagreement?”

  “She saw me kiss Lucus. The fact that she walked in on us was horrible and totally uncomfortable because she’s been drooling over him since the first time she laid eyes on him. She made it very clear that he was off limits but I was weak and stupid… I didn’t stay away. I didn’t tell her what was going on between us because I didn’t understand it myself. Now, everything feels broken beyond repair. If anything happens to her it’s my fault. Papa Ghede said I had to give her peace, and the only reason Sabrina is alive is because I agreed to give her peace. Whatever that means.”

  Plus I’ve got stones in my passway and a very, very psycho and angry Ivan is determined to drive me insane.

  “Oh child, you can’t blame yourself for having feelings for Lucus. Sometimes it’s hard to understand exactly how you feel and why you feel that way. That’s what makes us human. Sabrina has every right to be upset, because I believe she genuinely loves Lucus, but she’ll come around eventually. You two have been friends for this long because you need one another. Sure, your relationship may be dysfunctional at times, but show me one that’s perfect.”

  “I guess.” I could only hope that she was right. “But why would she run off to the cemetery?”

  “When a person is truly upset or angry their body makes an excellent gateway into which demons, ghosts and evil spirits can enter and manipulate. The act of possession becomes much easier because the soul is vulnerable, fragile and unaware of the amount of negative energy it’s giving off. Essentially, the body becomes a vessel that can be manipulated and dominated to do the bidding of the spirit that enters it. Other times a powerful Voodoo King or Queen can will a spirit to enter a human body; that way the human can be controlled to carry out the will of the king or queen.”

  My blood froze. Ivan, that stupid bastard! He was the one who lured Sabrina to the cemetery.

  You’ll never know, queen. If you leave now you won’t have to stick around and see…

  “Do you think Louis is behind this? Do you think he’s trying to possess Sabrina and use her?”

  Aunt Mae sighed heavily. “I don’t think it’s Louis considering he didn’t show up tonight.”

  No. I didn’t, did I?

  “Sometimes it’s simply a ghost that has unfinished business and is determined to reveal something important to a loved one or settle a score. But more often unruly spirits love to enter human bodies and cause chaos because it gives them a sense of power and control that they don’t have on the other side. However, if a King or Queen is responsible for allowing a spirit to enter a body, getting rid of the spirit can be quite tricky.”

  “How do we know Sabrina is okay? How do we know that she’s safe? What did Papa Ghede mean? How do we know it’s not Louis?” I pulled away from her and ran over to the bed again.

  “Arelia, please calm down. She’s taken a spiritual bath and I placed Fiery Wall of Protection Oil all around the room and anointed three white candles to reverse any negativity that may have attached itself to her. ”

  Calm down? Was she really asking me to calm down at a time like this? If only she knew what I knew. Ivan could mess with me all he wanted but there was no way in hell he would be able to mess with Sabrina.

  “How do you know that’s enough?” I demanded. “What if it’s not enough? Gris-gris. I can make a gris-gris charm for her. It can’t do any harm to load up on protection, right? I could make her a charm like mine.” I looked at my wrist and realized that my own gris-gris wasn’t there. Of course, it wasn’t.

  Missing something, queen?

  I ignored Ivan’s voice and plucked out a string of Sabrina’s hair. “I’m going to go downstairs and make gris-gris for her. Please go to bed, Aunt Mae. You’ve helped enough already.”

  She nodded. “Nothing I say will make you relax, will it?”

  I shook my head. “No it won’t.”

  She let out a low chuckle. “Very well then. Go ahead but you need to get some rest. You’ve had a long day.”

  “I will, I promise,” I said, as I stepped into the hall.

  Chapter 21

  Confrontation

  As I walked down the infinite hall, the fresh white doors started to bleed again. Warm drops of blood crawled towards my feet and coated them in an appalling shade of deep
red. The only thing I could think of doing was closing my eyes and darting through the hallway as fast as I possibly could.

  Rooms full of blood. Queen, after what you saw tonight how can you still be here? How can you choose to fight for someone who’s taken so much from others? What does that say about you? Now, you’re willing to sacrifice Barbie? How far are you willing to go? How much are you willing to sacrifice?

  Shut the hell up, Ivan. You’re a coward for doing this to me. If you had one ounce of courage within your bones you would stop this and tell Lucus who you really are. Why don’t you tell him how you feel? You keep on saying that violence is never the answer but you had the nerve to whip me! What the hell!

  Oh please, that will ease some of the guilt he feels. Why would I want to do that? Just because you’re in love with him, doesn’t mean that everyone else has to be too. As for the whipping, that was your brain’s fault.

  For some reason the overwhelming urge to rip off Ivan’s head returned and a surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins. I stopped walking and found myself outside of his door. Without even thinking about what I was going to do if he actually answered, I started to knock on it. After the fourth knock he answered.

  Still clad in black boxer briefs he arrogantly leaned against the door frame and sipped from a bottle of vodka. “Queen, so nice to see that you’re alive and well. What can I do for you on this lovely…”

  The very sight of him disgusted me. I’ll be the first to admit that what I did next was vastly childish and not very suave, but I couldn’t control myself. I grabbed the bottle out of his hand and gave him a hard shove which took him by surprise and knocked him a few steps back. I entered the room and closed the door behind me. I was furious, embarrassed, worried and humiliated. How it was possible to feel all of those emotions at once, I had no idea. I shoved him again and again but this time his feet remained firmly planted on the ground and he was totally unfazed and unimpressed. Wanting nothing more than to get some sort of reaction out of him, I stood on my toes and poured the entire bottle of vodka over his head. Watching the clear liquid soak his hair and torso was beyond satisfying. Then, I handed the bottle back to him.

  He remained totally composed, which further infuriated me.

  “You’re nauseating! If you’re trying to win some kind of award for being vile and repulsive, it’s working. Congratulations. How is what you’re doing any better than what happened in the past? You claim that the world hasn’t ever shown you any kindness, well, I’m trying but it’s still not good enough for you! How dare you bring Sabrina into this! How dare you! Why are you trying to possess her? What possible reason can you have? You can do whatever you want with me but don’t you dare hurt anyone I love!”

  His eyes remained distant and detached. He tapped his fingers against his sculpted jaw then gave me a large grin and shrugged. “Who says I want your kindness? Whatever happens to Barbie is your fault, not mine. Whatever happens to you is your own fault. I don’t need your pity masqueraded as kindness. The only reason you’re here is to help him, not me. You don’t give a damn about me or what happened to my mother or any of the others. You have no idea so please don’t be all noble and pretend that you do. People who do that make me sick.”

  “No. Louis. No. Why is it so hard for you to believe that I actually care for you? Why is it so hard to believe that not everyone is an enemy?” I couldn’t believe I pulled a Lucus line, but I did. I guess those words didn’t seem so corny anymore. They made sense. In the short time I had been with Louis, he had somehow managed to get under my skin and that terrified me.

  He let out bored groan. “My name is Ivan. Now, if you don’t mind, can you please get out of my room? I’m about to hit the sack, unless, of course, you’d like to join me?”

  “This isn’t over,” I warned, as I turned my back on him.

  “You’re right, queen. It’ll never be over.”

  I shuddered, as I slammed the door behind me. Even though I was drained and exhausted, I needed to make that gris-gris and find that trick.

  Chapter 22

  Temptation

  Downstairs, a serene darkness met me and the sound of oak trees clawing against Aunt Mae’s office window was unnerving. I was determined to make Sabrina’s gris-gris as effective as possible so I took forever picking out what I thought were the right ingredients. I was the first to admit that my gris-gris making skills were less than stellar. I was super slow and clearly hadn’t gotten into the flow of things yet, but I needed to get this right. Hopefully, it would give Sabrina some of the protection she needed.

  “Arelia. Arelia,” beckoned a familiar voice. “Open the window. I can help you. I have a very attractive solution to your little problem.”

  My body went stiff as I identified the voice. It belonged to Mait Carrefour who was not only a super-hot spirit but also super powerful. Considering how helpful he had been in helping me get away from that slave driver, I decided to listen to whatever his proposal was.

  “Hello,” I said, as I opened the window. The scent of strong pipe smoke surrounded me, but I couldn’t see Mait Carrefour anywhere. “Where are you?”

  “Over here. Under the tree, silly little one.”

  My cheeks flushed as I focused on him standing tall and proud against a nearby tree trunk. His absurdly muscular torso shimmered as raindrops bounced off of it and his plump lips were pursed in a vastly arrogant manner. His dark eyes rested on me and immediately I felt like a little school girl who had a massive crush on her teacher.

  “With all due respect, Mait Carrefour, what is your proposal?” Good girl, that was a very respectful and mature way of speaking. I gave myself a mental pat on the back and tried to avert my eyes from his chest.

  He turned his square jaw upwards and exhaled a large cloud of smoke before speaking. “I’ve noticed that you’re having a hard time with Louis Beau. He’s being quite the pest, isn’t he?”

  “How do you know?” I asked cautiously.

  He laughed a deep throaty laugh that made the trees shake and the ground vibrate. “We see everything, Arelia. We know all. You know that. Don’t worry, he can’t hear us.”

  “You saw what he did to me tonight?”

  Mait Carrefour moved away from the tree and strutted to the window while cracking his whip in the air. He was so full of himself, but then again he kind of had good reason to be. I’d be full of myself too if I looked like him and had the type of power he did. “Yes. So vile. Poor Arelia, don’t you feel absolutely humiliated and violated?” he asked, as he sympathetically patted my head.

  I nodded. Honestly, I didn’t even want to think about the whole incident. It made me feel so powerless, but above all, confused. I wasn’t sure what I felt for Ivan anymore and a large part of me didn’t even want to help him. But what would that mean for Lucus?

  “I know how you feel, Arelia. You’re angry. So angry that the only thing you can think of is revenge. This Louis is relentlessly tormenting you and now he may be getting your best friend involved too. You want to leave, yet your heart is conflicted. Am I correct?” He stared at me as a mischievous smile played on his lips. “Conflict is so hard for most people to deal with. Most humans want a black or white answer. Why should you put up with this constant feeling of conflict, hmmm? Why not make a decision to end it all?”

  “I don’t want him to hurt Sabrina. What can I do to stop him? How can you help me?” I tried to be all cool, but in reality Mait Carrefour had pulled the thoughts right out of my head and that freaked me out.

  “Give him to me, Arelia. I’ll take care of Louis. I’ll take him to the other side where he can live in eternal misery. That is what he desires. Sometimes it’s too late for a soul and there is no hope or redemption left for it. They are so blinded with anger and pain that they simply refuse to see the good in anything. Life gives them no pleasure and they are no more than animated corpses. I’ll take him where there are millions of others just like him. He truly belongs there.”

  �
��But there’s always a price to pay. A sacrifice always needs to be made. If I give you Louis, what do you ask for in return?” I couldn’t believe that I was actually interested in hearing him out. Was I really ready to completely give up on Ivan? On Louis? True, I was beyond furious at him right now but…was I capable of sending him to God knows where? Where was the other side anyways? How many other sides were there exactly?

  “Lucus.”

  “What?”

  “Oh Arelia, you know it’s inevitable. Why not free him of his misery sooner rather than later?”

  “Sooner rather than later?”

  “So innocent. So naïve.” He shook his head and let out another deep laugh. “What do you think is going to happen if you do successfully free him from Darkwood? Do you truly believe that he’ll walk out of here and live out the rest of his life naturally?”

  Truthfully, that is exactly what I had thought. That’s what had to happen. “Yes…”

  “Oh, you’re so silly. Save yourself the heartache and turmoil. You can walk away from here tomorrow with Sabrina and enjoy the rest of your summer. Enjoy the rest of your life. Do you really want to be a part of this world? As you saw, it can be quite savage and unpredictable. Do you want your friend to suffer on account of you? Isn’t that selfish?”

  “But Erzulie said that…She said that we should always give love a chance even if it comes in unexpected forms… And there was a bigger purpose behind it all. And in this world I feel alive…”

  All of a sudden it sounded very Disney and almost fantastical. I felt silly for actually starting to believe what I had just said. What would I start believing in next? That dreams actually came true if I wished upon a star?

  Mait Carrefour lightly cupped my cheek with his giant hand and wiped away the tear that unwillingly fell. “Erzulie can be very fickle. Trust me when I say you’re only delaying the inevitable. Give Louis to me and say good-bye to Lucus. Don’t be selfish. Be brave and give them both what they need. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, but they’ve already lived theirs. Save yourself and save your friend. In the end they are both doomed- why risk your friend’s life?”