“I don’t want to be here anymore,” she said, and stepped off the bridge. I jumped too, reaching out for her and taking her in my arms. I brought her back up to the top of the bridge. She lay there in my arms for a moment. Her body felt so frail.
“Then she opened her eyes, looking up at me with no remorse.
“Let me die, please.” I just shook my head, and that’s when I decided to offer her the choice.”
He went somber for a second, and then continued.
“Anyway, it wasn’t like Charlotte. They all had a choice.”
I parked the car close to a river pier. We sat there for a moment in silence. What could I say? He had saved her.
“Come on, lets go swimming,” I said, opening the car door.
“Yeah, let’s go.” We walked hand and hand down to the water, going under the pier. I said. “Turn around.” He stood there. “Hey, I mean it.”
“Geez,” he said, turning around with a smirk. I slipped completely out of my clothes and walked into the river. I just stood there, moving my arms in the water, feeling the tranquil effect of small waves washing over my skin. I looked up to the sound of fireworks going off in the distance, and then I felt Marcus’s arms wrap around my waist. He kissed me softly.
“Alixia, I can’t help myself. You feel so good against me,” he said seductively, turning me toward him. He kissed me deeply as his hands moved slowly over my body. It was so sensuous.
“No, you don’t,” I said pushing him away. “Behave yourself. We’re only here to swim, remember?”
I moved away, splashing him teasingly. I swam out further, enjoying the cool water around me. I turned and couldn’t see Marcus, so I started to swim back.
And then he was beneath me, pulling me down under the water and into his arms, kissing me cravingly. Our bodies entangled passionately, wanting more of each other, moving slowly through the water, then free floating back up to the moonlit surface. Holding on to each other, he leaned me back, kissing my neck softly, and then he began to move down.
“Marcus,” I said, as his eyes met mine.
“Yes?” He didn’t slow down. I put my hand on his chest.
“Okay, I think we’d better stop before…”
Suddenly rage set in as I sensed her. I looked back at the shoreline and there she was, standing on the pier. Her dark silhouette stared directly at us.
“Lucida!” I yelled out her name. Marcus and I accelerated toward her. We watched her jump from the pier, escaping us again. Marcus slammed the water with his fist.
“Dammit, she’s in the river. We won’t be able to pick up her scent!”
“It’s alright,” I said treading water and looking at the pier. “She’ll come looking for us again.”
After getting dressed quickly, we drove by the girls’ homes, checking on them to make sure they were safe. We stayed at each house and kept watch for a while, and then headed back to my house once we sensed they would be safe for the rest of the night.
Stopping the car in the driveway and getting out. Marcus closed the car door.
“Are you sure Madame Cecilia isn’t coming back tonight?” he asked.
“Yes, she’s in New Orleans on Family business”.
I turned my head toward the porch as I heard the slam of the screen door.
“What is he doing here?” Anna asked, coming out onto the porch with her hands on her hips. “He shouldn’t be here, Alixia.”
“Anna, you know Marcus has been helping us.“
“I will never understand why we have these… creatures helping us, or even near us. You heed my warning Alixia; you are going to put us all in danger with this evilness.”
She pointed at Marcus and spat on the ground.
”Votre âme sera toujours mauvaise,” she said. And then she walked back into the house, slamming the screen door.
“I’m sorry, Marcus. She’s just very protective of me and the Family.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, looking down at the ground and controlling his feelings. “It will just take time for them to understand that we’re not all like Marcel. Very soon now, they will see that.”
I walked over to him, putting my arms around his neck. “I’ll talk to Anna.“
“Well, she’d better get used to me being in your life,” he said, wrapping me up in his arms.
“She will,” I said. “Now, are you going to kiss me, or what?”
“Or what sounds pretty good,” he smiled, roguishly.
Fatality
I was glad to see the girls get on that plane.
I hoped they would be safe, far away from Baton Rouge. However, saying goodbye to them was hard. They had been the only normalcy in my life, and now that chapter had ended.
I turned on the car radio, hoping a little music might distract me. Instead, the local news came on, talking about the disappearances. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, hearing the appeals of a couple of college kids on the radio. They were begging for any information about their missing friends. Sadly, all I could think was, which one has them, Marcus or Marcel?
I switched the radio to another station, not wanting to hear any more. A Beatles song was playing. I didn’t care too much for the Beatles, but it was better than the heartbreak on the news, knowing as I did that these people would never get their friends back.
Driving a few more miles, I saw dark clouds moving toward me. I rolled up the window as the first raindrops hit the windshield. The rain came down in gray sheets that I could barely see through. The car started rocking back forth in the wind, making it hard to stay on the road.
“Enough of this,” I said, pulling to the side of the road and surfing radio stations, trying to find some information on the storm. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blackbird hit my windshield hard, cracking the glass into a spiral shape. I watched as the bird slid down, leaving a trail of blood, and then getting caught in the wiper.
I got out, rain pelting my skin, and reached over the hood. I grabbed the dead bird and pulled it out of the windshield wiper. The smell penetrated my nostrils. It had a vile odor, as if had already rotted. I threw it away, and then heard thuds as two more birds fell out of the sky and landed on my hood.
“What is going on here?” I said, reaching for the other birds. And then I sensed it: something evil had taken place. I grabbed the last dead bird, throwing it into the ditch, and got back into my car. I needed to talk to Marguerite. Somehow, I felt that she was connected with this.
I parked the car in the back alley behind Marguerite’s shop and banged on the back door. Olitha answered.
“Alixia, come in. What’s the problem?”
“Something’s not right. Where’s Marguerite?”
“She’s at the mansion,” she said, closing the door. She looked at me with concern. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry.” I told her about the dead birds, and the evil that I sensed in them.
“What species were the birds?” She asked, going over to a table and lighting a candle.
“They were blackbirds.”
She dropped candle wax in a stone bowl with a black feather.
“Give me your finger.”
I reached my hand out to her. She sliced into it, letting a few drops of blood drip into the bowl.
“Why did you want my blood?” I asked, looking down at my finger and watching it heal.
“To see if you are part of this, and evidently you are not, which is good.”
She took the knife and, cutting her own finger, let her blood drip into the bowl. It turned black and then bubbled up, as if someone had touched fire to it. The contents of the bowl turned into ash, leaving the same vile smell that the birds had.
Her face registered panic and so did mine, after reading her thoughts. She was going to die, along with two others.
“Olitha, what’s going on?” She moved to the curtain door.
“I’ve been cursed,” she said. “Wait here. I’ll lock up and we can go see Marguerite
together.” I stood there, looking down at the stone bowl and wondering, who are the other two?
“Okay, let’s go.” She blew out the candle on the table and stepped out the back door. She looked over at my car and then walked over to it, reaching out to touch the broken windshield.
“Come, we’ll drive my car.”
“Olitha,” I said, getting into the passenger seat and moving a jacket that was lying there. “Why have you been cursed?”
“ I don’t know yet. But those three blackbirds that hit your car? Well, they represent three Pure Ones that will die. And as you know now, one of them is me.”
“I don’t get it,” I said, watching her back the car into the street. “I was told that no one is allowed to harm Pure Ones, that your deaths are supposed to be natural, like the Outsiders. And if anyone does harm you, the others use some powerful black magic on them.”
“Yes, that’s the belief. However, beliefs can be changed, and someone must have betrayed us.”
“Is this happening because of Marcus?”
“I don’t know, but we will find out.”
Walking into Marguerite’s, we found her in the solarium, cutting flowers. She looked up as we entered. Olitha walked over to her, speaking in French.
”Il y a une malediction.”
Marguerite dropped her flowers to the ground.
“You saw?”
Olitha looked toward me.
“No, Alixia was the one they chose to send the message to us.” She bent down and picked up the flowers. Marguerite looked over at me with fear. “What happened, Alixia?” I told her the story.
“Where are the birds, Alixia?”
“In a ditch. Should I have brought them to you?”
She looked back at Olitha, worried.
“This is not good.”
“Hey, if you need them, I know where there are. I’ll go get them.”
“No, sit down. The birds are not there.” She said with a deep sigh. “They’re just envoys, they turn to ash.”
I sat down nervously.
“So, now what?”
“I don’t know, but right now I need to get hold of Henry.”
We followed her into the hall. She picked up the phone and dialed, and then we listened to a one-sided conversation.
“Henry, you need to come now.
“Bring Millie and the baby.
“No, you have to come now! Birds have died.
“Yes, I know, be here before nightfall. Good-bye.”
She hung up the phone.
“Come, Olitha, I need to know.” We walked down the hall to the study. She went over to the far wall, looking at a gold-framed mirror. She reached her hand up, pushed on the frame and revealed a secret room.
“Let’s go.”
The room was dark and Marguerite walked over to a table to light a candle.
“Sit down over there, Alixia,” she said, as Olitha went to a shelf and brought a bowl and knife to the table. Marguerite picked up the candle, dropping wax in the bowl, and took her leather pouch from around her neck. She took out one single feather and dropped it into the bowl as Olitha had done earlier. Then taking the knife, she made a cut into her hand, letting the blood drip into the bowl. Her eyes widened as she looked down. Her blood was heating up too, just like Olitha’s. It turned black and then became ash, leaving the same vile smell as Olitha’s.
Marguerite closed her eyes for a few seconds, sitting down across from me. I sensed the worry and fear in her.
“Whoever’s doing this is very powerful!”
“I know,” Olitha said, looking at her intently. “And I think someone from our realm is part of it.”
“We don’t know that for sure, yet,” Marguerite said with a warning glance, not wanting her to say any more. Olitha lowered her eyes and spoke in French.
“Vous savez que j'ai raison"
“Enough,” she said, raising her hand. “Right now we need to find the third, and quickly.”
”Marguerite,” I asked, staring at the stone bowl. “Can you stop the curse?”
“Hopefully, once we find out who is behind it.”
“Is that possible?”
“If we’re lucky, yes. Sometimes they will show themselves, or even send other envoys.” She paused and looked over at Olitha, who was going toward the door.
“I’m going to find Michael. Where is he? We should see if he’s the third.”
Marguerite stood up.
“Yes, you’re right. Alixia,” she said, reaching her hand out to me. “Let’s go.”
“No, wait.”
“Why, what’s the matter? Are you having a vision?”
“No. But, I was just thinking, would you let me get into your soul? I might be able to see who put this curse on you?”
She looked skeptically at me.
“I don’t know if we should try that. It’s never been done. We should be careful now, we might unleash more consequences here.”
“Okay,” I said, sensing her anxiety. ”I just thought it might work to find out who it is.”
“I will let her do it,” Olitha said.
“I don’t know, Olitha,” I said a little fearfully. “Didn’t you hear what Marguerite just said?”
“It’s my choice, Alixia.”
“It could be dangerous,” Marguerite said sharply, taking a couple steps toward her.
Olitha looked at her deeply, and then spoke to her in French.
“Si je meurs je meurs, mais nous devons savoir!”
Marguerite stared at her for a second, and then moved over to her and kissed her cheek.
“There’s no stopping you?”
“Non,” she said, walking over to me. I looked at Marguerite, and stood up.
“Is it alright?” She nodded.
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I turned to Olitha, took her hands, and asked again.
“Are you sure, Olitha?”
“Alixia, just do it. We need to know who it is, and how strong they are.”
“Okay.”
I closed my eyes, getting deep into her thoughts. As I learned her secrets, she did not pull back. She let me move forward into her mind. And then I sensed a wraith in her, and I could smell the same foul ash scent that had blackened the stone bowls. Its shadowy figure moved toward me. I reached out for it, touching its soul, and then it jumped away from me as Olitha screamed out in agony. Letting go of my hands, she fell to the floor.
“Olitha,” I said kneeling down by her. Marguerite went quickly to the other side of her. I closed my eyes again, getting back into her mind. I was going to help her fight the entity that was trying to take her.
“Alixia, no. Stop!” Marguerite said looking across at me with anguish in her eyes. “It is too late.”
“No,” I said feeling her body going cold while I was still inside her mind. “She can’t be dead!”
“Alixia, please, stop. Let go of her.”
I lowered my head, saying softly: “I have.”
All I saw was darkness as I left her.
I placed my hand lightly on her cheek, touching the blackbird tattoo, and looked down at her. My mind was in torment, not believing what had just happened here.
“Marguerite, why?” She just shook her head, looking down. I heard Michael yell out in agonizing pain.
“No! My Olitha.” I stood up as he approached her. His face was pale and grief-stricken. He must have sensed her death. He kneeled down, taking her in his arms and cradling her, crying out her name.
“I’m so sorry, Michael,” I said, looking down at him with tears in my eyes. I touched his shoulder. “I didn’t know this would happen.”
“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Marguerite said, with sadness in her voice. “She was cursed, and the evil inside her took her life.”
“But I can’t believe this.”
I stumbled over my words. I was in shock that she was actually dead.
“I’m just so sorry.”
“We k
now, Alixia.”
I stood there, watching them mourn her. I wiped the tears from my face, feeling anger rise in me now, as I looked down at Olitha’s lifeless body.
I will make her pay for what she did here.
“Marguerite, I have to go,” I said, walking toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
I looked back at her.
“To take care of the person who did this to Olitha.”
She got up and came over to me anxiously. “You know who it is?”
“Yes, and I will handle it.”
She grabbed hold of my shoulders firmly.
“Tell me who it is!”
“I will, when I get back.”
“No Alixia! I need to know who cursed us.”
“Marguerite please, let me just make sure first, before I accuse her.”
She let me go and stepped back, ashen.
“It’s a woman?”
“Yes.”
I kissed her cheek, and left.
Expendable
Marguerite’s limousine drove me to Madame Cecilia’s, where Phillip met me at the door. I had let him know that I was coming, and he confirmed what I sensed.
“Where is she, Phillip?”
“She’s not here yet.”
“You know that I am going to kill her?”
“Alixia, you can’t. She’s Ambrosine.”
“Do you think I care about that?”
“You don’t mean that.” He took my hand. “Let’s go for a walk. I need to explain this to you.”
I pulled away from him, sensing his involvement. “No! You agreed with her to curse them! ”He stepped back from me and nodded. I slapped him hard, yelling.
“Olitha‘s dead now, because of her!”
“What do you mean she’s dead?” he asked, staring at me in confusion. “Nobody was supposed to die! It was insurance, just to keep Marcus under control.”
“What? Angel put a curse on them to keep Marcus under control. Are you kidding me?”
“No, he’s not.” Madame Cecilia said, coming out of the house. “We need to have leverage against him, now that he can attack us all.”
The Legacy (Ambrosine Book 2) Page 30
