by Donna Grant
She swallowed loudly and gathered the sheet in her hand. Vincent looked at her as if she might shatter at any moment. And she just might after everything she had witnessed and learned that night.
How could she not believe it though? The stories of strange sightings had made their rounds through the small town often. Olivia herself had heard peculiar sounds late at night, but her grandmother had told her it was just the animals of the bayou.
Olivia leaned into Vincent’s hand when he cupped her cheek. She wished they had all night to themselves, but there was something dark and dangerous after her.
“I wish my life was different,” he said, a small frown marring his forehead. “I wish I had asked you out years ago. I wish...for so many things.”
He was telling her that they didn’t have a future, that what happened between them wouldn’t happen again. Olivia hadn’t been looking for a relationship, but she had never expected to end up in Vincent Chiasson’s arms.
She pulled his hand from her face and smiled. “I’ve been out in the world, and I’ve seen what it had to offer. I thought I had found the man who would be my husband, but it turns out what I was looking for was right here at home.”
“Olivia, no,” he said and rose from the bed. “Don’t do this. I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t be in any kind of relationship.”
It took her a minute to realize why he was pulling away. “You’re afraid.”
He paused in the process of pulling on his jeans. “I’m not scared to give my heart to someone.”
“No. You’re scared of losing someone.” How could she not have seen it before? He kept a wall between himself and the world, a protection from the wickedness that invaded his life.
Vincent fastened his jeans and grabbed a shirt from his closet before he pulled it on over his head. “I care about you. Because of that, I won’t subject you to what every Chiasson woman endures.”
“The love of their men.”
His face hardened. “Death. Most by the hands of the creatures we hunt.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but he left the room before she could. For several seconds, Olivia stared at the doorway hoping he would return.
When he didn’t, she dressed and ran her hands through her hair before she stepped into the hallway. Only to draw up short when she spotted Lincoln nonchalantly leaning against the wall.
He pushed away and slowly walked to her. “Vincent is a complicated person. He’s stubborn as hell, and he thinks he has to shoulder everything himself.”
“He won’t ever let me in, will he?”
“That’s the thing, Olivia. He did let you in. That’s why he’s pushing you away so hard. Vincent hides many things, but the one thing he could never hide was his fascination with you. He got drunk the night you left Lyons Point.”
Olivia’s mind reeled with the news. “He never even looked at me before tonight.”
“Oh, he looked. Always. We followed you home many late nights just to make sure you arrived safely.”
Was that why she had never been afraid in the bayou? Did she know that someone watched over her? Thinking back, she remembered her grandmother often looking into the trees after Olivia got home.
“Did my grandmother know what y’all did?”
Lincoln nodded and gathered his long dark hair at the nape of his neck to tie it off. “She knew it was Vincent who looked out for you.”
“Why didn’t he ever say anything? If he only knew the outrageous things I did to get his attention.”
“Our parents died on the same day, but the hours between when our father found our mother and his own death has stayed with Vin. We were both there, but he saw much more than I did. Though I can still remember the sound of our father’s yell of grief. That’s what keeps Vincent from telling you of his love.”
That drew Olivia up short. Lincoln smiled sadly as she gawked at him.
“You didn’t expect that, did you? Vincent won’t admit it to anyone, but he does love you. Why else would he look in on Maria every week and ask about you? Why else would he follow you home every night before you left town? Why else would he think to save you first, rather than kill the creature we’ve been hunting? Why else would he bring a woman to our home – and his bed – for the first time?”
With each of Lincoln’s questions, more arose in her head. She remained in the hallway long after he walked away. Vincent had admitted to her that he cared, but love?
Then again, who was she to think she knew Vincent? Lincoln knew him better than anyone.
Olivia made her way back downstairs. She glanced in a doorway as she passed and halted when she saw Vincent with his back to her. He stared at a picture of his parents that hung over the mantel.
There was only one light on, and it came from a large desk off to his right piled with books and papers. To his left were bookshelves stuffed to the brim with books.
Movement caught her eye, and she spotted Lincoln as he came to stand next to Vincent. Olivia knew she should let them know she was there, but she wasn’t sure what to say to Vincent, especially after the bombshell Lincoln had dropped.
She was deciding on whether to stay or go to the kitchen when Lincoln said, “You’re a fool if you let her go.”
“Leave it alone,” Vincent said dangerously.
Olivia stepped to the side against the wall so they wouldn’t see her. Eavesdropping was bad, and yet, she couldn’t make her feet move away.
“Olivia has finally returned, and you’ve given in to your desire for her,” Lincoln stated. “If you let her walk out of your life, you’ll spend the rest of it miserable.”
Vincent blew out a long breath. “You don’t know that.”
“You’ve had a taste of her. Tell me that you could forget her, and I’ll drop the issue now.”
Olivia squeezed her eyes closed hoping that she had made some kind of impression on Vincent. She strained her ears to hear.
“I couldn’t forget her if I tried,” he admitted, his voice low and full of pain.
“Then hold on to her, Vin.”
“I can’t.”
Olivia frowned as Lincoln let out a slew of curses. She might be hurt by Vincent’s words, but all it did was make her want to fight for him. She had dreamt of finding the perfect man, but it wasn’t until she had been held in his arms, kissed by his lips, and loved so tenderly that Olivia knew her perfect man was none other than Vincent Chiasson.
“You figured something out,” Lincoln said, drawing her out of her thoughts.
“The creature that killed our parents simply vanished once they were dead. Now, eleven years later it’s returned and has been focusing on any woman connected to us. I do believe someone has a vendetta against our family, and they won’t be happy until all of us are dead.”
“Then why haven’t they attacked us directly? Why kill people we know?”
“Because they want to hurt us first.”
“Shit,” Lincoln cursed. “And once we’re dead, Riley will return home and be an easy target.”
“The Chiasson’s will be wiped out. Leaving the parish open to all sorts of evil.”
Olivia had heard enough. She darted into the kitchen and found the phone. It might be almost two in the morning, but she knew her grandmother would answer her cell phone.
Her grandmother answered on the second ring, “Hello?”
“Maman,” Olivia said and faced the doorway so she could see when someone walked in. “I’m sorry to wake you, but it’s an emergency.”
“Olivia?” she asked, her voice rising. “I thought you might be occupied with Vincent. What are you doing calling me?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later. Suffice it to say that they saved me tonight.”
“Lincoln phoned earlier to tell me. I still can’t believe something came after you.”
She sighed wearily. “Maman, you know everyone in this parish. Who do you know that would have a grudge against the Chiassons?”
“Sha, you shouldn’t
get mixed up in that.”
“I wasn’t given a choice, since I was attacked simply because I happened to speak to Beau at the store.”
Her grandmother let loose a string of Cajun French that was mumbled too low for Olivia to comprehend. “Once you start digging, sha, you’re liable not to like what you find.”
“You mean like the Hoodoo symbols on the house?”
“Exactly like that,” her grandmother grumbled. “I know the things that are out there, Olivia. I did what I had to do to protect you and myself.”
Olivia rubbed her neck. “I can understand that. Right now we need to stop whoever is after Vincent and his brothers. They’ve already killed three girls. I was almost the fourth, and I seriously doubt they’ll give up so easily on seeing me dead.”
“I won’t lose you,” her grandmother vowed solemnly through the phone.
“Then tell me what you know.”
There was a long pause, and then her grandmother said, “When Vincent’s father chose Yvonne as his wife, she wasn’t the only woman he had been dating. Once married, however, he was faithful, no matter how many times others tried to lure him away from Yvonne.”
“Who was the other woman he dated?”
“Years went by, and no matter the rumors, Yvonne and Bran remained happy and devoted to each other. They brought four sons and a daughter into the world, all while keeping the parish safe.”
Olivia drew in a calming breath. “Who was the woman?”
Instead of answering, her grandmother asked, “Did Vincent tell you about your parents?”
“Yes.”
“I should’ve done that years ago, but when you moved away I didn’t see the point.”
Olivia looked down at her thumb to see her nail broken to the quick. She pulled off the rest of the nail and toyed with it. “Did you know that Vincent –”
“Followed you home all the time? Yes. I’ve also known of his love for you. Whether you’ve known it or not, you’ve held a good man’s heart in your hands.”
Olivia let the nail drop to the floor. “I know it now.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Well, I’m not walking away if that’s what you’re asking.”
She could practically see her grandmother’s smile through the phone as she said, “That’s my girl. We Breaux’s are fighters.”
“Yes, we are.”
“The woman you need to look for is Patricia Hebert.”
Olivia nearly dropped the phone.
“Listen to me carefully, sha,” her grandmother said. “There have been stories of Pat practicing a mixture of Voodoo and witchcraft for a long time. She’s powerful, powerful enough to call forth a golem. The boys are going to have their hands full.”
Her eyes grew wide as understanding dawned, just as Vincent and Lincoln walked into the kitchen.
CHAPTER NINE
Vincent saw the shocked look on Olivia’s face and was at her side in an instant. “What is it?”
She held the phone out to him. “My grandmother wants to talk to you.”
He took the receiver and put it to his ear. “Maria?”
“My granddaughter is in your hands,” Maria said. “You’ve always watched over her. Don’t stop now. I can’t lose her as I lost my son and daughter-in-law. Do I have your word, Vincent Chiasson?”
“You do,” he answered without hesitation.
“I knew I could count on you. Olivia called looking for information. I think you’re going to be interested. All I’ll tell you is to be careful, and try your best to keep Olivia out of it.”
The line went dead before he could respond. Vincent replaced the receiver in its holder.
“Did she give you an earful?” Lincoln asked with a smirk.
Vincent looked from his brother to Olivia. Beau and Christian were still patrolling the edge of their property. He ran a hand over his jaw as he thought of Maria’s words. “Linc, get Beau and Christian. They need to be here.”
Lincoln immediately turned on his heel and opened the back door where he let out a shrill whistle to get their brothers back to the house.
Olivia looked everywhere but at Vincent, and yet he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He knew the taste of her kiss, her skin, her essence. He knew what it felt like to have her come apart around him, to be buried deep within her.
He thought he could be content with what he had been given, but he wanted so much more.
Beau and Christian came through the doorway together. “What’s going on,” Christian asked.
Vincent nodded to Olivia. “It seems she may have discovered something.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she hurried to say. “Since Maman knows everyone, I thought she might have an idea of who would want to hurt y’all. So I asked her.”
Vincent’s heart missed a beat. The only way Olivia would know that was if she had been listening to his conversation with Lincoln. Which meant...she had heard everything.
No wonder she couldn’t look at him.
Lincoln threw him a nasty look before he turned to Olivia. “I gather Miss Maria had an answer.”
Olivia woodenly nodded. Whoever Maria said it was shocked her. Vincent wasn’t surprised. She didn’t know the darker side of people. She had seen only the light, only the good. It’s where she belonged.
She blinked her large eyes and fiddled with a broken nail. “Did any of you know that your father had been seeing another woman along with your mother before he finally chose her?”
“This is the first I’ve heard of that,” Beau said.
Lincoln shrugged when Olivia looked at him.
As soon as Olivia’s gaze touched him, Vincent shook his head. “I never heard either of my parents mention it.”
“It seems that the woman wasn’t at all happy when she wasn’t chosen. She made it her mission to try and lure your father away from your mother, and when that didn’t work, she spread rumors that he was unfaithful. Your parents remained together through it all.”
Christian’s rage was palpable as he stood with his hands fisted by his side. “Who is this woman, and why did she wait until after we were grown to take our parents?”
“You’d have to ask her,” Olivia said.
Vincent walked to her side and squatted beside her. “Who is it, Olivia? Who killed my parents and the three girls? Who is trying to kill you?”
“She’s trying to hurt all of you as well,” Olivia said.
He took her hands in his and felt how icy they were. He rubbed his hands over hers to try and warm her. “The sooner we know who it is, the sooner we can confront her.”
“I don’t want you to. Maman believes she’s used a mixture of Voodoo and witchcraft to summon a golem.”
“Fuck!” Lincoln said as he slammed his hand on the table. “A damn golem? Is that what we’ve been chasing?”
Beau pulled their family book over and flipped through the pages. “There was only a vague reference to a golem in here. It’s rare, Vin, and requires a tremendous amount of power, just as Olivia said.”
“Do we even have anything to kill it?” Christian asked.
Lincoln grunted. “You can’t kill a golem. Don’t you ever read, Christian? We have to kill the one who summoned it, the one who controls it.”
Beau nodded as he ran his hand along the passage he was reading. “That’s right. That’s what our great-great-great-great-great grandfather says, anyway.”
Vincent and Olivia didn’t look away from each other all the while his brothers were talking. It was just a short time ago that he had Olivia’s body bared before him, as he learned her curves and kissed her silky skin.
“Who is it?” he asked again.
She licked her lips. “If I tell you, you’ll go after her. You didn’t hear Maman’s voice. There was a thread of fear in it that I’ve never heard before.”
“Olivia. This is what we do. Can’t you understand now why there can’t be anything between us? You wouldn’t want me to do my job, and
I would be too worried about protecting you to do what I need to.”
Her shoulders drooped as if all hope had left her. “Patricia Hebert.”
Vincent thought he had been prepared for whatever name Olivia would give him, but he was stunned. Pat had always gone out of her way to speak to the Chiassons when others wouldn’t. She’d had a rough life after Sean’s father died when he was just two.
Pat had never remarried, preferring to remain in the parish alone and dedicated to Sean.
“We’d know if she was practicing Voodoo or witchcraft,” Beau said into the deafening silence of the kitchen. “That kind of magic calls to the most evil of paranormal creatures.”
Lincoln cracked his knuckles. “I say we go have a little chat with her and clear up a few things. Namely that she call off the golem.”
Vincent looked down at his and Olivia’s hands as his brothers filed out of the house. He stood, and was surprised when Olivia threw herself against him. His arms wrapped around her of their own accord. For several seconds he simply held her, feeling the tremors running through her body.
It was Olivia who pulled back and looked up at him with a solemn black gaze. “I respect what you and your family do. It’s true I don’t want you to go because Patricia and the golem will try to kill you. I can’t live without you in this world, Vincent Chiasson. So, I don’t care what you have to do, but you come back to me.”
His heart pounded in his chest. Never had he dared to hope that she might care for him. He might have planned to live his life alone, but he couldn’t now. “Only if you promise not to leave this house.”
When she eagerly nodded in acceptance, Vincent bent his head for a quick, hard kiss. It was all that he would allow himself.
He started for the door when Olivia called, “Hurry back. We’ve got some talking to do.”
Vincent stepped out of the house and joined his brothers. They knew what they were hunting, and they knew who controlled it.
Christian rested his crossbow on his shoulder. “Let’s get this over with. I’m starving, and Beau promised to cook crawfish etouffee.”
“Yum,” Lincoln said with a lick of his lips. “Incentive enough for me.”
