The dim room was washed in flickering candlelight. Open balcony doors there as well introduced the summer night breeze to her tingling skin and her body threatened to come undone from only being carried in his strong arms.
With a feral growl, Auréle laid her on his bed. He stood for one brief moment, admiring her glistening body in the candlelight. She writhed on the bed, hips already moving with just the imagined rhythm they might establish. Still not understanding what was happening to her, she spread her legs and touched her own wetness, inviting him. She could barely stand the dance they were doing anymore.
"Dear Lord," Auréle whispered. He lunged onto the bed, straddling her as he bent to kiss her neck while kneading her heaving breasts. He pinched than tasted her nipples, biting with a deliciously perfect level of pain and desire. She cried out, and each of her cries provoked another nip. As he nipped his hands explored her mid-section until they found her own hands. He massaged her clit causing her to arch into him. He reared back slightly to bestow upon her the most devilish of smiles right before covering her small hand with his big one and guiding both their fingers into her. He moaned as her slippery wetness warmed their fingers both at once and then he resumed massaging her clit with his thumb. He stared into her eyes and watched her nearing the brink and just as she was ready to tumble over, he dropped to his knees on the floor next to bed and buried his face in the apex between her thighs. He relentlessly plunged his tongue in and out over her and Danielle screamed as she released. He moaned as he tasted her sweet orgasm.
Danielle was momentarily incoherent from the other worldly orgasm that was still shaking her, so she was fully compliant as Auréle dropped his pants and unsheathed his ten inches of throbbing desire. He pulled her trim body to the edge of the bed. Roughly grabbing each of her ankles, he spread her legs farther than she'd ever imagined possible. "Yesssss, pleeeease," she begged, still staring into his smoldering eyes. He looked down at the beauty of her wet wanting and then plunged into her. She accepted him with a desirous scream. Never had she screamed before during sex, but her body was on fire. Every nerve ending ran wild and another orgasm ran in on the heels of the one that was only just subsiding.
Auréle cradled her bottom in his hard hands and rocked her hips against him. She screamed so much with his thrusts and her dramatically spread legs, he feared he was hurting her. So he repositioned her legs by bending her knees, rocking her hips back into her stomach and tucking her legs under his arms.
"Oh my God, Auréle," she breathed raggedly. She could feel his length deep inside, touching every tender part of her. "Oh my God," she said again, slightly louder. An uncanny feeling began to mount inside her and she could feel him growing harder and bigger. "OH MY GOD," she cried. He thrust slightly harder and slightly faster each time until he was pounding her, both of them slick with sweat. "Oh fuck, please, please fuck me," she begged breathlessly, the first dirty phrase that had ever escaped her lips. It was enough to shatter them both. His warmth catapulted inside her like a firework and she spiraled again into explosive oblivion.
***
"You keep away from her."
Danielle woke from delirium at the sound of Auréle harshly whispering voice coming from someplace else. She bolted up in the bed and pulled the sheets around her.
"She'll not have this place," came the whispered reply. Danielle's heart accelerated at the sound of Toinette's unmistakable Creole lilt.
"It's hers, Toinette."
"I think we both know that's not true, Auréle," Toinette said wickedly.
"Well if you think it's yours, you're crazy old woman. There's always been one little thing standing in your way from having it all, hasn't there?"
Danielle nimbly climbed out of the bed and tip toed to the door, unable to believe what she was hearing. She peaked around the doorframe and saw them standing in the hall. The beautiful Voodoo witch stood nose to nose with Auréle, both their eyes blazing with contempt. Danielle watched as Toinette slowly reached up and caressed Auréle's cheek.
"You'll join me. I believe the last bargaining chip I've been waiting for is sleeping in your bed," she drawled with a wicked smile.
Auréle gave Toinette a dark stare. "Never," he snarled. "I will free them. Free us all. I'll see you in Hell before I see you victorious."
***
Danielle woke with sun on her face. She reached for Auréle and found herself alone in the bed. Still groggy from sleep, she momentarily forgot the odd transaction she'd witnessed in the night. But as the memory returned, she climbed out of bed, donning a nightgown, and went to look for him.
She found him in the kitchen, sprinkling a strange red powder across the back door. "What are you doing?" she asked.
Auréle started and turned to look at her. He gave her one of his slow smiles and stood to kiss her forehead. "Brick dust," he said certainly, as if this should make perfect sense.
"Um, ooookkk…" she answered as she moved to the coffee maker and poured them both a cup.
"Brick dust sprinkled across a doorway will keep your enemies out," he explained.
Danielle nodded skeptically, regarding him with a perplexed expression. "Auréle, don't you think after… Last night… You should tell me what you're hiding?"
Auréle pondered her for a long silent moment. Then he took a seat across from her at the table. With a deep sigh, he began. "Danielle, your great great grandmother, Pascaline Mantagne, she was an abolitionist. A true hero of her time. She managed to purchase slaves as soon as they arrived on ships and bring them here. She made this a safe haven. Here, the Africans were given freedom, and were never referred to as slaves. They were employed for wages, given wonderful living quarters and she worked individually with them to educate them and give them religion. Yet in public, when necessary, she concealed their freedom so that they would be safe. The Africans here adored Pascaline. We all did."
Danielle gasped. "We all did?" she whispered, shocked. Her head spun with the knowledge she was about to learn a secret, one that somehow, deep down she'd already known.
Auréle never looked away from her eyes, which were filling with tears. "I worked here as well, then. As I said, I was the grounds keeper."
"You mean… You're a…"
He nodded, reaching to caress her cheek as a tear fell. "I'm sorry Danielle. But I think in your heart you knew." Danielle put her face in her hands and cried pitifully. He moved to embrace her. "I'm sorry, Danielle. I never meant for what happened last night… To happen. I don't know what it is, I'm drawn to you. Somehow, I knew that you were coming. I knew when you'd arrived."
He stroked her hair and kissed her, desperate to sooth her, terrified she was slipping away. But also knowing, he must convince her to leave.
"Danielle, you need to return to where you came from. You don't belong here, and you're not safe," Auréle said firmly.
Finally her sobs subsided and she looked into his eyes. "I don't think it's that easy, Auréle. You're wrong, I DO belong here. It’s the first place I've ever belonged. I don't know why, but I feel I'm meant to be here. I'm drawn to you too! Why? Why am I in danger? Tell me everything, please!" Danielle implored.
Auréle wove a tale for her of dangerous times, and a land divided. On this plantation, there were no slaves, only happy employees, humans, counterparts. All of them were loyal and loving to their employer, except for one. Toinette Chaput was the only one among them who'd worked enslaved on another plantation before coming to live with Pascaline. She'd been scarred, abused, tormented by everything she'd been through. So many were able to rise above adversity and make themselves better, but not Toinette. She became entrenched in a world of Voodoo and black magic, a powerful witch. By the time Toinette came to live on Pascaline's plantation, she had grandiose visions of darkness.
Toinette competed with Pascaline for the loyalty of the Africans. She convinced them she could provide them total freedom, riches, fine homes, and eternal life, in exchange for their souls. She fooled them; they did not know th
ey would only be enslaved once again, for eternity, to Toinette. At that time there had been another out building behind the plantation, another grand living quarters for the freed slaves. There, Pascaline caught Toinette and the others engaged in a ritual. Pascaline knew then that Toinette was in a league with the Devil. Desperate to save the people she loved from being enslaved once again, she tried to stop Toinette.
"We all perished in a fire," Auréle sadly revealed. "I also tried to help Pascaline. I was the only hold out, the only one who wouldn't join Toinette. And so we all remain here, locked by Toinette's curse. She cannot finish her task until she wins every soul, including mine. And so we are trapped here. Her slaves do her bidding under the cloak of night, and I… I try to avoid her."
Danielle stared at Auréle in complete disbelief. She took a moment to absorb everything he'd told her. "And my grandmother? Pascaline? Is she here too?"
Auréle cast a wistful look out the window. "No, thankfully. She knew nothing of Toinette's treachery until that fateful night. So her soul passed on, to a better place. Where she belonged."
"What about the baby that I heard crying, Auréle? Who was that?"
Auréle shook his head. "I don't know. I know nothing of a baby, and I've never heard a baby's cry here. Perhaps it was just an apparition that Toinette conjured to lure you out of the house. Let you know you weren't wanted here."
Danielle took a deep, shuddering breath as she gazed into his beautiful eyes. "There must be a way to break the curse, right?" she whispered emotionally. "Surely there must be a way to free you?"
Again the wistfulness passed over his face. "There is only one way, Danielle. I must find true love. And for a ghost, that is not very likely."
Danielle shifted out of her chair and onto Auréle's lap. "Of course it is, Auréle," she pleaded. She kissed him fervently but he gently pushed her back.
"No, Danielle. This must not happen. A spirit can't experience true love with one who is still living. You belong in the land of the living. I should never have let this go as far as it did. I could not help myself… But I won't let it go further, I mustn’t. You must pack your bags, and flee. Get as far away, as fast as you can!" Auréle demanded.
But Danielle kissed him once more. He still attempted to gently pull away from her, but she persisted. Fighting an ageless force that was far beyond his comprehension was futile and finally he relented. He took her face in his hands and pushed his tongue into her mouth, fervently exploring her, tears of his own spilling down his cheeks. He stood and lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist. She sighed as he backed her against a wall, grappling to lift the hem of her nightgown and drop his pants. He effortlessly held her under her thighs and spread her tenderly. She accepted him easily and he began a passionate rhythm of thrusts, sending electric thrills throughout her. He groaned and she felt the familiar velvet sensation unfurling in the deepest hidden parts of her.
"We will find a way," she whispered desperately as they came explosively together.
Part 3: Conjure
When darkness fell again, the land came alive with spirits of the damned.
Auréle spent the day begging Danielle to pack and leave and she spent the day lovingly refusing and repeatedly putting him under her spell. Never for even a moment had Danielle felt a fraction of what she felt for Auréle. He was her counterpart, her soul mate. She was determined to be with him, come Hell or high water.
Even in death, Auréle brought her to life.
Though her resolve did not waver, as soon as the last sliver of day faded away, she knew she was in for a night of terror. A young girl came to the back door at sunset. She looked about sixteen with old-fashioned plain shift dress and an outdated hairstyle. Her haunted eyes chilled Danielle.
"Please, ma'am," the girl said in a hollow voice. "My brother's been hurt, out in the trees. I need your help," she pleaded.
"Danielle," Auréle growled behind her, "don't open the door. Don't speak to her. She can't come in, just ignore her."
Danielle glanced down at the brick dust in the doorway and back at the girl for a brief second before walking away from the door.
"Ma'am, please!" the child implored. "She'll hurt him! She'll HURT HIM! AND IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT! ALL YOUR FAULT!"
The child's voice rose until she was in a shrieking psychosis. From somewhere out in the trees, another scream mingled with the girl's scream. A male scream. Of terror and agony. The girl screamed and threw herself violently into the door and Auréle ushered Danielle from the room.
"We need to get out of here," Danielle said, "together. We'll get in my car and go, Auréle."
He regarded her skeptically. "I'd love to darlin'. But if it were that easy for me to leave don't you think I would've by now? You can't leave now either. You can't leave the house. Not now that you know her secrets. She'll never let you go alive."
His words chilled her to the bone.
"Fine, I wouldn't leave you anyway," Danielle resolved. She stared into Auréle's handsome face, shadowed by the mounting gloom. "I do love you. Why isn't the spell broken? Don't you love me too?"
Pain flickered in his dark eyes. With a pitiful sigh, he took her into his arms and owned her lips with his. He did love her, and in truth, he didn't really know what exactly it would take to break the spell. He ran his fingers through her hair and gently pulled her head back to better accommodate his greedy tongue. Her hands snaked under his shirt and through the hair on his chest. Everywhere her hands explored, his body responded with rock hard tension that was so real, so poignantly alive; she could've cried at the irony.
He feverishly kissed her refusing to let her go. But she unbuckled his belt and reached into his pants, closing her hot fist over his long thick cock. He growled quietly and finally released her lips and she slid down his body onto her knees. Peering up at him with dark teary eyes, she murmured, "I want to bring you to life."
She took him into her mouth and he tossed his head back marveling at the heaven of it. Knowing she couldn't bring him to life. And all he could bring her was death. He was nearly to tears himself, somewhere between Heaven and Hell.
***
The windows and doors began to swing open, slam shut. The thunderous crashing of dozens of windows and doors was deafening, and glass shattered all over the house as ancient windowpanes broke.
"What do we do?" Danielle yelled over the noise.
Toinette appeared in the front doorway. "COME OUT! COME OUT!" she screamed, as if to answer Danielle's question.
"Don't listen, Danielle!" Auréle warned. "She can't get in! If she could pass the brick dust, she'd have done it by now!" Auréle grabbed Danielle's hand and pulled her. "Come on, follow me!"
Together they ran up the stairs and down the dark hallway. He led her to the furthest door on the right, one she had not yet opened or explored. He threw open the door, revealing a pitch dark stairway leading to an unfinished attic area.
"I don't want to go up there, Auréle!" Danielle worried, frightened of the dark and the wave of heat that assaulted them.
"You must trust me," he urged, gently pulling her on.
Once in the attic, Auréle lit a candle. Danielle could see the dingy room was full of hundreds of candles, including a large ring of thick white candles in the center of the room. Quickly, he began lighting the candles in the ring. He turned back to her. "Come on," he said, offering a hand. "Step inside the circle."
Danielle felt terrified, but trusted Auréle. She stepped into the circle amongst the dancing flames. He raced around the attic and she quietly watched him though a dozen questions were busy in her mind. Auréle opened a drawer in a massive armoire, retrieved a bottle, and returned to the circle. He stepped into the circle of flames himself and took the cork out of the small bottle.
Rapidly, Auréle began to whisper. "In the name of the Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity, proceed we to our work in these mysteries to accomplish that which we desire; we therefore, in the names aforesaid, consecrate this piece o
f ground for our defense."
As Auréle quietly prayed, he sprinkled white dust out of the bottle onto the ground in a circle that rimmed the candlelight. "So that no spirit whatsoever shall be able to break these boundaries, neither be able to cause injury nor detriment to any of us here assembled: but that they may be compelled to stand before this Circle, and answer truly our demands, so far as it pleaseth Him who liveth for ever and ever; and who says, I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, which is, and which was and which is to come, the Almight."
When he completed the circle of white powder, he slowly walked around the circle three times while finishing his fervently whispered prayer. " I am the First and the Last, who am living and was dead; and behold I live for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and Hell. Bless O Lord! this creature of earth wherein we stand; confirm O God! Thy strength in us, so that neither the adversary nor any evil thing may cause us to fail, through the merits of Jesus Christ. Amen."
Danielle sat primly in the center of the circle on her knees, peering around the room. It looked much like Toinette's cottage but felt somehow different. "What is this place?" Danielle asked in awe.
Auréle took a seat on the floor next to Danielle, and the awful banging of doors and windows beneath them stopped. "This is my sanctuary. I feared a day like this might come someday, Danielle and I made this place. To protect myself. And I'm glad I did, because now I can protect you."
"What did you just do?"
"I made a consecrated, protected circle. The white candle magic and sea salt protect us. We are safe inside."
Danielle gasped. "What? I thought you said she couldn't get in!"
"Darling, as far as I know, she can't. But in case brick dust falls through, I'd like to think we have a backup plan!"
Danielle stared at him sadly. "Well, what do we do now?"
Auréle sighed. "Wait for day light. Her powers weaken under the light of day."
Sinsperationally Yours Page 23
