All of their jaws dropped, and Belladonna knew instantly that she should have given them a little more background information.
“Pray?” The question rose up from the group and started a wave of murmurs.
“Yes. Whatever that means to you. I need you to focus your energy and love on Reverend Midnight. We need him to fight the entity inside of him. And, we want to offer hope and love to that entity as well. I’m pretty sure it was once a person based on the things I’ve seen tonight, and we want to help them too.”
Individuals in the crowd started to nod their heads. They understood what she meant, and they began to pray. Some of them got down on their knees. Some of them looked up at the sky and chanted. Belladonna and her family started casting spells of love and forgiveness.
The sound and the sights coming from the square were sincere but chaotic. Their energy was flowing, but it wasn’t focused because they weren’t in sync.
Zoe watched the whole scene in awe, but she knew she had to do something. This was why she was here. Her job was to bring their prayers together. So, she did the first thing that came to mind.
Zoe stepped into the middle of the crowd and started singing her favorite song. It was the one she could remember singing to herself as a child whenever she was scared or feeling alone.
She only got through the first few notes of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” before the entire group stood around her in a circle and started to sing too.
“She’s doing it,” Murielle whispered to Belladonna.
“She really is! Now sing. Give it everything you’ve got!”
Belladonna was normally a terrible singer, but with Zoe leading the group, she hit every note. Everyone did. Their voices ascended into the night sky, and people started to pour out of their houses and join them.
“We’re doing it. Look!” Ben exclaimed as the people of Winterfield were set free.
Then Sister Oshun appeared. She walked down the road that led from the cemetery towards the town square. There was a fury in her face that looked like it could rip open the sky and rain fire down on them, but they kept singing.
As more people joined, the sound of the singing began to sound like thunder. The earth shook beneath their feet, and no one knew if that was from their collective energy or if the Voodoo Queen was trying to open a hole in the earth to swallow them.
They kept singing.
“Stop, all of you, or I will wipe this little town of yours off the face of the earth.”
The entity inside of Sister Oshun knew that wasn’t true, but she was desperate. If they kept this up, heaven itself would open. They would draw down the angels upstairs, the ancestors from the other side and warriors from the eternal hunting grounds to protect them.
The soldiers of light would also destroy Sister Oshun. She would either be sent below for punishment or drawn upstairs. She would never see her mate again. She had to see him again because she loved him.
Sister Oshun gasped. Had she really just thought that. It was this singing. The entity could feel the real Sister Oshun fighting to the surface.
It wasn’t painful but was more like a gentle push. There was a warmth to it that the entity hadn’t experienced since…
With that, the entity was pushed completely out of Sister Oshun’s body. It was hovering next to her as the real Voodoo Queen’s voice joined the rest of the chorus.
Off in the distance, the entity could see a dark hole opening up in the earth. She could smell the sulfur and knew it was the way home. Sure she’d face punishment and re-education, but she’d be fine. Right?
That was the moment the entity realized she didn’t want to go back. Standing there looking at the hole to down below and the crowd of singing, faithful friends, it was evident where real happiness existed. When she turned her back on the entrance to down below, the warmth of the love pouring out of the people of Winterfield started to reach her.
She allowed herself to feel it while she watched the body of Reverend Midnight start to move. The one called Belladonna had laid him out on the ground and surrounded him with flowers. The singing had finally reached her mate, and he stood up.
There was a peculiar look on his face as he observed her standing next to Sister Oshun. He was confused and scared. The female entity took on the form she remembered from her life.
Emily.
She reached out for the entity inside Reverend Midnight. “Take my hand. We don’t have to be this way anymore.”
He shook his head no.
“Please David. Come with me. We can be forgiven. We can see Amelia again.” the entity named Emily said.
At the sound of the name, Amelia, the demon inside the Reverend Midnight left him. Amazingly, Midnight stayed upright. He did stumble, though, and Sister Oshun rushed to his side and helped him to a nearby bench.
Everyone watched at the entity called David took the form of a man, and took Emily’s hand. A light opened up above them, and Joe’s mother appeared in the sky. She extended her arms to the couple who nodded their heads yes in unison.
At their acceptance of love and forgiveness, the couple started to rise with Joe’s mother. Just as quickly as it began, the whole incident was over. The whole town turned to look at Sister Oshun and Reverend Midnight who were sitting on the bench whispering to each other.
When the couple realized that they were the center of attention, Reverend Midnight addressed the crowd.
“Boy, do we have a story for you. Anybody got a kitchen I can use? Who wants some jambalaya?”
Fifteen
Sister Oshun made jambalaya, gumbo, and biscuits for the whole town using the diner’s kitchen. They had a little help from Belladonna making the huge amount of food they needed quickly.
Jessie, Carly, and Zoe went over to the bakery to bake up some fresh beignets and brew a huge vat of chicory coffee. One of the local bands got their instruments and did their best to play some zydeco and blues music for the people while they waited.
The night had been chilly, but Reverend Midnight and Sister Oshun joined forces with Aunt Sumac and Granny Pepper to raise the temperature a few degrees so that the evening felt like an early summer night in the French Quarter.
“How are you doing?” Belladonna asked Reverend Midnight once they were done serving the food. “You haven’t been yourself for a long time.”
“I feel good, Honey Child. I feel real good. I’m finally free, and we did some good tonight. We helped those people find their way. They’re going to see their daughter again.” Midnight said with a smile. “It’s good to know that I didn’t lose all that time. It was worth it.”
“So, Amelia was their child?” Ben asked before taking a huge bite of another one of Sister Oshun’s homemade biscuits. He’d already eaten four, and Belladonna made a mental note to get the recipe.
“Yeah.” Sister Oshun said.“It was pretty tragic. They all died in a car accident. The mom and dad had been drinking. Emily and David had problems with addiction. Amelia, of course, went straight upstairs. Her parents stayed here and twisted in torment before they finally became demons.”
“So, why did they take over your bodies?” Belladonna asked. “And why did they come back and attack Joe?”
“They were confused.” Reverend Midnight said. “David and Emily weren’t evil at first. Somewhere inside of them, there was always a bit of good. Even when it corroded down to the size of a fleck of dust on a grain of sand, it was still there trying to get out. David was trying to get out. He was trying to get back to his little girl. I guess he thought since Joe’s father trapped him, that he could let him back out too. David and Emily didn’t realize that they could break free and be with Amelia any time they chose it. That place downstairs had twisted them so badly they didn’t know that love and acceptance was always waiting for them.”
“The girl’s song saved them along with the love present in this town,” Sister Oshun said.
“Speaking of love, I think there is a marriage in order, isn’t there
?” Reverend Midnight said jubilantly.
“You mean Ben and me?” Belladonna asked.
“Who else would I mean, Honey” Midnight smiled wide. “They don’t call me Reverend for nothing.”
“We don’t have a marriage license yet,” Ben said sadly.
“Here you go.” Aunt Sumac interrupted. “Here’s a marriage license.”
“How did you do that?” Ben asked in astonishment.
“Oh man. This one has a long way to go.” Sumac cackled. “Witches, Ben. You’re marrying into a family of witches. We don’t let a little thing like paperwork stop us from havin a wedding party.”
“Is it real?” Ben cringed as soon as the question left his lips.
“Belladonna, get your husband. He’s going to be the first groom turned into a goat at his own wedding.”
“Everybody gather round.” Sister Oshun called out to the crowd. “Your friends are about to get hitched.
Epilogue
“Are you going to let me give you a proper wedding, Wife?” Ben asked when the short ceremony was over and they finally got a moment alone.
“You don’t think that was proper?” Belladonna asked with one eyebrow raised.
“Well, your mom wasn’t here. Not that we can guarantee she’ll be at any wedding we have. Oh, and what about Sterling and Olwen. We could have a fancy ceremony, and they could wear little dresses and be the flower dog and cat.”
Ben laughed at the look on Belladonna’s face. She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind completely.
“I’m mostly kidding, Sweetheart.” Ben continued. “But, don’t you want to have a wedding with flowers and cake and all that jazz?”
“I do.” That made her giggle. “I mean, I would like that, but I’m glad that it’s already official.”
“Oh yeah?” Ben smiled at his new bride. “Why is that?”
“Because now I get to plan a honeymoon too.” She laughed and hit him playfully on the arm.
They laughed and kissed as they walked home hand in hand. The newly married couple had big news for their animal friends waiting for them at the house.
All of sudden, Belladonna turned a startling shade of white and stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to look at Ben with wide, frightened eyes.
“What is it, Sweetie?” Ben said and squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Are you okay? You look like you just remembered something horrible. If it’s about Jerry Rice, Nick and Luke are getting him out of Joe’s attic and putting him to rest.”
“It’s not that.” She said as she began to sweat. “I made a wish, and you granted it. You granted my wish, and everything turned out just fine. That can’t be right. We haven’t paid the price for our good fortune yet.”
Just then, Belladonna’s phone rang. She answered it right away.
“Aunt Sumac, what is it?” Belladonna already knew something was wrong.
“Sweetie, I hate to rain on your parade, but I’ve had the most horrible vision.”
Thank you for reading!
Follow me on Facebook!
Sign up for my newsletter to get information on new releases and promotions.
Copyright© 2017 Sara Bourgeois
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
Love Hexed Page 8
