by Debra Dunbar
I closed her wounds. She turned to me, lust dark in her eyes. She pulled me close and kissed me deep. Her own flavor mixing between us as her tongue wove through us. Her hand went to my breasts, finding the nerve endings and playing with them until I was nothing but an instrument to her desire. We rubbed against each other until even the feel of the think cotton between us was too much. She opened my dress, and the feel of her skin on mine alone nearly brought me over. She gazed up at me, her eyes begging for more. I smiled. Pulling a dagger from my boot, I opened a clean gash on my left breast. She slipped on top of me, one leg wrapped around mine. Just as her mouth found my open breast and her body pulled its need from me, her fingers glided into me. I gasped and grasped the sand for support, as the world exploded in pleasure. Energy raced back and forth. From her to me and back from me to her. It ran between our most intimate of spots until we could do no more but reach out to feel and taste more of each other. Her fingers curled, finding my spot of pleasure. I cried out into the night. Alive again and nothing but desire for her. I reached down and pulled her to me, needing her lips on mine. Our hands raced over each other, finding and teasing all the most sensitive spots we knew so well, while our tongues danced and mixed the taste of us both together. It was a heady wine I’d couldn’t get enough of. The feeding was done, but our need was just starting.
While we drew from each other greater and greater pleasure and connection, our energy tendrilled out until the beach became united in giving and bringing life back from where death had only been. The sounds became a symphony of desire and celebration. I could feel the spirit of the land join with us and rejoice in her own rebirth as each duppy and person was fed with love. There was nothing left to be done but to ride it out together. And the night sang with it.
When the ceremony was over and we could move again, the bonfire was restoked. People redressed and greeted each other anew. Groups took to butchering the sacrificial animals to cook for the humans in attendance. The music took up a joyous tune. Tonight would be a time of celebration for all. The pirates whooped rudely from their ships and set off fireworks, but we ignored their antics. Their presence could not lessen who we were or what we accomplished. And the proof of that was before us as the Obeah priest closest opened the metal cage and one-by-one the vampires stepped out from their prison, once again in control of their duppy. I walked over with Chloe, and we embraced each one to welcome them back and to let them know that all was forgiven. We could not continue if anyone worried about what could not be changed.
Katie was the last to emerge. I gave her a long, strong hug and whispered, “Next time yah get dem here, or yah get me. No more of dis stupid Irish stubbornness.”
Her laughter in my ear was like chimes in the breeze. I turned her over to the waiting priest to enjoy the rest of the night.
“That was…I have no word,” Corsair said as he approached with his people in tow. He motioned to Katie’s back as she disappeared into the crowd mingling in the night. “And they are now fixed.”
“For now,” I cautioned. “We do dis every three months. De energy keeps us all going right.”
“Then you have the answer.”
I squeezed Chloe’s hand to get her to go on ahead and motioned that his folks should do the same. Her eyes drew together at him in sadness, then she gave me a quick kiss before leading the group away from us and toward the festivities.
When I tore my eyes from her, regretting not being able to enter the party with her, I caught Corsair looking at the ground away from us. “Do we make you uncomfortable?” I accused.
He cleared his throat. “Such things are difficult in Brazil.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It was outlawed here too until I took over after de Reclamation. Backward thinking. Blocking love only promotes apathy and hatred.”
He put his hands up. “I meant nothing. You have done so much.”
A half-smirk spread. “Sorry. Old defenses are a hard shoe to put away.” I stepped around an area of bloodied sand. “What did yah think of de ceremony? Was it what yah thought it would be?”
“Not at all,” but he quickly followed with, “but that is not problem. You make the scion bond and make the insane sane again. This we need.”
We had reached the fountain center to the city edge. I sat down on a bench and drew small shapes in the sand with my toes. I wasn’t sure what to say. How do you break someone’s hope?
“Our ways are our ways, Corsair. Dey work for us. I learned long ago de English ways didn’t fit us right. Dis is the same here for yah. We are Obeah. Obeah makes a connection to our land and energy here through our priests. Dey call de weather when we need it. Bring the spirits to make the crops plentiful. And dey calm the duppy when dey get too strong.”
He knelt down on one knee in front of me. Someone must have spent the day washing and ironing his clothes as I realized he was wearing his clothes he’d crawled to shore in. They were clean and smelled slightly of the lemon soap the house workers were fond of. He gazed into my eyes and took my hand into his. “But you do it. You can teach, and we learn.”
I wrapped my other hand around his, hoping he’d understand. “Our Obeah is not something to be learned. It’s something yah are. Chloe could be nothing else, and no one else could be her. She was born to dis.”
“Please, Senhora. Save us.”
A frustrated sigh escaped before I could stop it. “It is tied to dis island, Corsair. Yah would have to bring every vampire in South America here, and we’d have to maintain it every quarter or the duppy slip back down. I cannot have all of South America here. We’re too small.”
I saw the moment he realized the heaviness of my words. “So we are done?”
Gripping his hands tighter, I held onto him until he met my eyes again. “No, child, yah are not done. Yah won’t be done until yah find de answer for yah people.”
“But we are stuck.”
I let go of his hands and walked over to where I could see different clusters of celebrations on the shore and in the city. “Yah think I did all this by putting my hand out and asking please? No. I had to fight and sacrifice much to make dis a reality. Often doing what others thought was too far, but my people are safe and fed and sane. Dis is worth every part of me and my morals I had to put aside to make it.”
“There are many counting on us.”
“And yah love is only one of dem, but her need should fan yah fire to do what needs doing. Yah wouldn’t be in dis mess on my island if yah hadn’t gone around on to de pirates asking ‘Can I know de scion secret?” He straightened but kept listening. “I don’t know scions, and I don’t care to. Find what yah need to know, no matter what.”
“No matter what,” he repeated.
I stared out at my people and thought of the things I’d done. The people I’d had to remove. Traditions overrun. Even now with the Irish I was removing their choice, for their own good. The alternative was too costly. Freedom sometimes was too costly. I hadn’t believed it in my youth, but age had taught me different. Corsair would have to learn the same or forget the whole thing. “The weight of leadership drags yah down if yah don’t have the backbone to hold it up.”
“I have backbone to do what Brazil needs. We are so close to losing all.”
I nodded. “Then we’ll do what needs to be done together. I’ll get yah off my island and past the pirates. With provisions, yah lot can make straight for the mainland. New Orleans would be the closest non-contaminated port. Don’t stop at any more islands.”
“You would do this?”
“Yes, it’ll also get yah out of my hair. Best of all worlds,” I added with a wink.
He smiled, then his face tightened and his eyes darkened with determination. “We will not stop until we know. We will not take no. We will do what our people demand.”
I wasn’t sure I believed he had what it took to do what was needed, but he believed so. And more importantly, he knew it was necessary. It was a start. “I’ll find us a plan with Chloe af
ter people have some fun. Pirates or no, tonight’s a good night.” And it was. Nothing could change that.
The plan we put together in the early hours of dawn was simple. Most decent plans are. I and the main defenders would distract keep Terrell and keep his men busy and off the island. Chloe and her people would spread around the beaches and channel the spirits of the water to draw in a fog for the ships to get lost in. Under this cover, Corsair and his group would launch from the western shore and take the long way around, leaving the pirates with no idea if he’d left or which way he went.
If all went well, they’d be off my island before the night was through. If not, we’d have an invasion to fend off.
Chloe had left with the day crew to cart Corsair and his group to the western boat slip. From there, she could convince the water spirits to cover the night. Not a small feat, but she was the best, and I knew how enticing she could be. The spirits wouldn’t stand a chance. However, as I had gone to bed for the day, it had been colder without her.
As planned, I found myself on the shore for the third night in a row facing an opposing force on my water. At ten o’clock, I reached out my hand. Roger placed the walkie in it and stepped back. “May God have mercy on us,” he muttered under his breath.
I clicked on channel seven. “Everyone check in.”
“Ready on the docks,” Katie’s voice lilted.
“Decoy is ready,” Jordi called. He was taking a risk riding out in the waters, but he’d volunteered for it. There was something of a privateer left in that man.
“Archers are ready,” chimed in another male I couldn’t place.
“We’re ready for the fog in all locations.” Chloe’s voice hurt my heart. I took a moment to ask the island to watch over her. At least she couldn’t enter the fight while the spirits rode her.
I pushed the thought away. My thoughts couldn’t be on her if I wanted to get this done right, but as the Obeah closest to me began their chants to entice the water spirits, my mind couldn’t help but miss her. I had to trust her to do her part and stay safe. I took the flare gun from Roger and shot a blue flare into the air. After a moment, Roger lifted a mirror and a light and flashed the boats four times, then paused, and then signaled again.
In a matter of moments, the walkie clicked to life and Terrell’s voice oozed through the line. “So, you come to your senses, woman. Gonna give them to us now?” Smug did not begin to describe his tone.
“Actually, I think it’s time for yah to be leaving my waters, Terrell. Des folk are none of yahs. Let dem pass, and we can all be kind neighbors again.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then we’ll have a problem not seen on our shores in over thirty years. Did yah think I’d be just letting yah take people from me?”
His voice became hard and low over the line. “Think hard on this, Esme. Your island, as fun as it is to watch, is no match.”
“If yah really thought dat, Terrell, yah’d have been here years ago, and we both know it. Now let them pass and give us no cause to defend what is mine.”
As I had the meeting of the minds with Terrell, Jordi and his group had pushed the Brazilian ship off the sand and slipped onto it. Jordi set the small yacht out into water, but angled her just right to sail past the docks. The opposite direction Corsair would be going.
At the same moment, the chanting reached an eerie, harmonized chord, and with it rolled in a thick fog that washed over the ships, obscuring their view.
Rage filled the walkie’s speaker. “Tell your witches to stop, Esme, and stand down. This catch is ours.” Anger was good. Anger would keep him focused on the wrong thing.
“Come and get him if yah have de balls,” I countered.
I couldn’t hear him give the order to attack, but I could see it when the whole cadre of boats and jet skis roared to life. The larger ships moved outward and created a semi-circle barrier around the yacht’s path, ready to fire on them when they got close.
Several of the smaller vehicles veered off toward the docks. Just as they got into range, our Naval guns we’d long ago moved down from the base in Saint Lucy lit up five of them.
“Surprise,” I whispered as a smile spread across my lips. Without my permission, they wouldn’t step onto this island. I hated to use up our non-renewable ammo, but the point needed to be made.
And it was.
Their ships scattered. Their line was broken as some fled to a safer distance. Others kept on course, but the water was so churned they had trouble making up the distance between them and the yacht. The jet skis that weren’t blown up, sputtered in the pale hope of rejoining the battle, but their engines kept getting flooded by the higher waves.
“Esme, stop this, woman.”
“Call dem off. I don’t want to kill more of yah men.”
I watched as several jet skiers gave up and swam to the docks. Pulling themselves up, they drew their weapons. But they fell with cries of pain as a swarm of arrows pierced their torsos. Another barrage of military grade vengeance took out the next line of close ships. Flames and screams filled the night air.
Pleased with the chaos, I handed Roger the flare gun and took the binoculars. Fog filled the waters, making the main battle hard to see, but I wasn’t looking for the main battle. I upped the magnification, and concentrated to the north. Just outside the fray and fog, I could make out a small boat speeding away from the islands as fast as it could. Surveying the water before me, it was obvious no one noticed as their prey slipped out into open water.
I smiled. A clean getaway. Now it was just the matter of making sure my point was understood. “Terrell? Yah men are fleeing, dead or poisoned by Manchineel toxin. Dey need attention. Call this off and let me send dem to yah for help.”
“Anil won’t be happy.”
“Tell him I’m happy to keep our truce. Yah stay away from my island, and I have no call to hunt yah down. Tell him, next time if he pushes me too hard, I’ll enter the fight myself.”
There was a long pause, then he responded, “You have balls, woman. I’ll give you that. Alright. I’ll tell him. I just hope he doesn’t kill the messenger. Now give me my men.”
“Gladly.” I clicked off the walkie and tossed it to Roger. “Oversee the exchange and get everyone back.” Sometimes plans just come together. It felt good.
I rushed back to my rooms, anxious to take a bath and wait for Chloe to return. I wanted to return to everything we’d had before. Upon entering my chambers, one of the maids came in behind me.
“Mistress,” she said sheepishly, “if the battle was a success, I was to give this to yah.” She held out a note with my name written in beautiful penmanship across the front.
I held out a hand. “Who gave it to you?”
“Mister Jimaverez.”
I laughed took the envelope. How gentile and old world. A thank you for saving my butt note. Humming a bit to myself, I waved the maid away and opened the letter.
Dear Esme,
Thank you for all you have done and all you have taught me. Your actions may have saved an entire continent. South America won’t forget your sacrifice.
You are right. I have to do what must be done. In this light, I am sorry, but I must take Chloe and other priestesses with me. I think you are wrong. They can help us learn what to do. I promise I will return Chloe when we have learned.
Sincerely,
Corsair Jimaverez
Dumbly, I stared at the words. The sounds of the night stopped. Every part of me was numb. My brain just couldn’t make sense of it. What did he mean?
Then it hit me and I couldn’t breathe. Took Chloe and the others. He’d taken them? I thought back to the ship running in the night. There had been no fog to cover it. We’d been winning, so I hadn’t given it much thought. He’d taken her.
I ran to the garage. There wasn’t much gas left on this island, but I always kept my jeep ready to go. With people shouting questions at me, I cranked it on and flew through the night. It was only abou
t fourteen miles to the western coast, but on the winding roads it took forever. Too long. Too late.
I jumped from the vehicle at the docks, but the air already told me my answer. The crisp smell of blood assaulted the night. I followed it to the boat slip. There, laying half off the marina, was one of Chloe’s seconds, her eyes open to the night, blood soaked her white blouse red. Next to her lay Chloe’s turquoise scarf, now spotted in crimson. I brought it to my nose and smelled her spicy scent.
I crumbled into a ball and screamed. After all I’d done, he’d taken her. I couldn’t breathe. My body was fire and frozen all at the same time. Everything shook and still I screamed. I knew better. I never should have let strangers in. I knew better. He’d taken her because of me. My Chloe.
My screams transformed into growls. Rage filled every pore. I got up on all fours and stared into vast waters to the north envisioning him in one of my boats. Running like the thief in the night he was. I’d get her back. I’d make him pay. Then he’d see first-hand what I’d do to protect what was mine.
Pulling my rage like a cloak around me, I gathered my control. Step-by-step, I stalked to the jeep. Every step driven with more purpose. If he thought I was just this small island nothing with no resources, he was about to get a wakeup call. My people couldn’t help me in this. But there were others that could. And because of Corsair Jimaverez, they were close by.
I jerked open the passenger side door and retrieved a walkie. Chloe needed me to think straight no matter how much I wanted to just scream until there was nothing left. Hoping Terrell still had his walkie set to four, I clicked mine on. He’d be angry, obviously, but I was pretty sure how to get his attention fast. “Terrell, yah were right.”
