Black Magic: Book 3 of The Black Butterfly Series

by Nika Michelle

  Honestly, I felt like I was already losing it as I buried my head in my hands. “Oh my God,” I whimpered. “Okay, what has to be done to ensure that that doesn’t happen?” I asked looking up. Regardless of what was going on, I had to find some way to be strong.

  “We’ll get started with all of that in the morning honey. Right now we just want to make sure that we know what we are dealing with. You need to get lots of rest tonight and just let us handle everything. This house is anointed from top to bottom, so you don’t have to worry about any bad dreams tonight. Okay?” She smiled at me and patted my hand.

  “I’m just ready to get this all over with!” I yelled out in frustration. Tears welled up in my eyes and poured out against my will. “I don’t even know what to believe any more. This all sounds so…so far-fetched and ridiculous. It’s like I’m stuck in a nightmare. All I was doing was following my heart and boom! Why can’t I just be happy?” I sobbed as my Grandmother wrapped her arms around me. As she slowly rubbed my hair I started to calm down.

  “Hush child, shhhhh. It’s going to be okay. We are going to fix this. With lots of prayer and the cleansing of your aura this will all finally be over. It’s just very important that we take our time and not overwhelm you. This is a delicate situation and as far-fetched as it may seem, it is real. Now, I don’t know much about the young lady who did this to you, or how she did it. For some reason I think she has someone very knowledgeable who helped her, being that she is originally from Louisiana.”

  I wiped the tears from my face after my grandmother pulled away from me. “Where’s Renell?” I asked trying to lighten the mood. I was sick of talking about curses and dark spirits. I knew that Seantay was with Raheem. She hadn’t given us the details, but I assumed they’d made up.

  “She went with your Aunts to the mall earlier. I’m surprised that they’re not back yet,” she said glancing at her watch.

  Louise was the first to stand. “Well Gwendolyn, give me a call tomorrow. I will look into what herbs can be used in the reversal.”

  “Thanks so much for coming over ladies. I will give you both a ring tomorrow morning.” Grandmother walked them to the door and then returned to the sofa where I was still sitting.

  I sighed heavily as I thought about what could possibly be happening to me. Why was I being punished simply for loving someone who loved me back?

  “I didn’t have an affair with Ahmad grandma. He and his wife were already separated. It’s like she blames me for the failure of her marriage and I had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

  Grandmother softly rubbed my back as she spoke. “Some women are okay with ending a relationship with a man until she sees him with someone else. The same thing goes for men. We’ll never understand the logic or reasoning for other people’s actions. We can only understand, or at least account for our own. You didn’t do anything wrong sweetheart and you don’t deserve any of this. If that man loves you and you love him back then that’s all that matters.”

  I nodded in agreement, but I couldn’t help but wonder if love was even worth it. Did I want to have to deal with Kristie’s wrath for the rest of my life? What if her anger and thirst for revenge actually lasted that long? How many times would I have to run to New Orleans so that my Grandmother and her Shaman descendant friends could cure me?

  “I just want to go to sleep,” I whispered feeling a sudden weight fall upon my shoulders. It was like I had suddenly aged physically by a few decades. “My body is aching and I don’t feel well.”

  “Alright sweetheart, go on upstairs. I’ll be up in a minute to give you something to help you sleep.”

  My body suddenly felt feverish and when I stood up I felt dizzy. As I held on to the sofa my grandmother got up to help steady me. “Let me help you,” she said softly.

  Protesting wasn’t in the cards for me as my seventy something year old grandmother literally carried my limp body up the stairs. All I could think was, what the hell had that bitch done to me?

  Chapter 7

  Seantay

  I woke up to the sound of Raheem’s loud snoring. He must’ve really been tired from the night before. My smile could not be contained as I thought about the fact that we were still together. Whatever plan that had been put into motion to destroy our relationship had fallen through. The thought of coming out victorious once again made me ignore the annoying sound of my man’s snoring. As I pushed the covers back, my phone vibrated on the cherry wood bureau. Glancing at the clock, I wondered who could be calling me at six fourteen am. The anxiety I felt was due to the fact that only bad shit had been happening lately.

  “Hello,” I answered the phone in a hurry when I saw Seandra’s number.

  “Tay, where are you?” Her voice was filled with panic.

  Suddenly my heartbeat increased. “I’m with Rah. What’s up?”

  She cleared her throat. “Nell’s in the hospital.”

  My heart sounded like a drum as it beat erratically against my rib cage. “What? What happened?”

  I rushed over to wake Raheem up. As I shook him his eyes flew open and he focused on me.

  “She’s hemorrhaging and they don’t know why. You have to hurry. We’re at the hospital now,” she explained.

  “You okay baby?” Rah asked after I hung up.

  “No, Nell’s in the hospital,” I said as I hurried to pull clothes from my bag. At that moment my fashion conscience ass didn’t give a damn what I wore.

  He dashed out of the bed in a hurry. “Why?”

  “Seandra said that she’s hemorrhaging and that’s all they know right now. I have to get to the hospital.”

  Raheem slowly made his way over to me and grabbed me just as I started to break down. “I don’t understand this Rah. It’s like my family is under attack or something.” I sobbed

  “Shhh, everything is going to be okay baby. Nell’s going to be just fine and the baby is too.”

  I had filled him in about Nell’s pregnancy and upcoming nuptials the night before, but I still hadn’t explained why we were in New Orleans. For one I didn’t want him to think we were all crazy. Although, at the moment what he thought about me and my sisters didn’t matter, I still didn’t say anything.

  After pulling myself together, I managed to get dressed and we headed to St. Charles General. When we finally found my grandmother and grandfather in the waiting room, I looked around for Seandra.

  “Is everything okay? Where’s Seandra?” I asked.

  “The doctor just filled us in. He said that they finally stopped the bleeding, but they are still trying to find out what caused it. As far as they can tell the baby is fine, but they will be keeping her overnight to run some tests,” Grandmother said glancing at her watch. “Seandra wasn’t feeling well, so she left after the doctor gave us the news.”

  Rah gave me a confused look. “Wasn’t this the best place for her to be if she’s not feeling well?”

  Grandfather spoke up. “I think she was just a little tired.”

  “Have you all been able to see Renell yet?” I grabbed Raheem’s hand and squeezed it.

  “Not yet. We’re waiting for the word to go in. After we see her, I have to go see about Seandra. Will you two stay here until Ricky gets here? He’s actually on a flight here now. He should be arriving shortly,” Grandmother added.

  “Sure, we don’t mind at all,” Rah spoke up without hesitation. “I’m just glad that she and the baby are okay. Whatever we can do to help.”

  With a huge, smile on her face, my grandma patted Raheem on his broad shoulder. “Something tells me that my grandbaby has found her a catch.” She winked at him before walking off toward my grandfather. “Don’t you agree Sammy?”

  He looked at Raheem and nodded his approval slowly. “I think very highly of the young man.”

  Despite the situation at hand we all couldn’t help but smile.

  When the nurse returned she told us that it was okay for us to see Nell. I was ready to see my sister, but of course my gran
dparents went first. They had to see her before returning to check up on Seandra. According to them she’d had a rough day and they hadn’t even begun reversing the so called “curse”. Being that we were in a hospital, I couldn’t really get more details than that.

  Just as I was about to call daddy to fill him in, grandmother walked over to me. “Renell told me to tell you not to tell your father about this. She doesn’t want him to worry, or tell your mom since they don’t even know that she’s pregnant yet.”

  I sighed and put the phone in my purse. “Okay. How is she?”

  “She’s fine, but I can tell that she is stressing about a lot of things. It’s putting a strain on the baby, so they’re trying to get her to relax.” She pulled me into her warm body for a hug. “Both of your sisters are strong and they will be okay.”

  I nodded in agreement, but would I be okay? I was so worried about the both of them that I couldn’t even think straight. “So, have you talked to Seandra?”

  I looked back to see my grandfather and Rah off in a corner deep in conversation.

  “Yeah, your grandpa just checked on her. She’s fine. The ladies are there with her.”

  I wanted to ask who the ladies were, but I knew that it would just draw out her time away from my sister and her wellbeing.

  “Okay, well can I see Nell now?” I asked anxiously wringing my sweaty hands together. I could remember a time when nothing hardly bothered me, but lately everything had me on edge.

  “Yes, sorry sweetheart. We’re going to head on to the house. The jet was sent to pick Ricky up and he should be here in an hour or so.” She air kissed my cheeks and turned to grab Gramps.

  Before they could get to the exit I was in Renell’s room. She looked like a peacefully sleeping angel with her eyes closed, but I knew that she wasn’t at peace. Nell had always been the most sensitive one of the three of us. She held the burdens that Seandra and I had denied with our attitudes of indifference. Since our bond had gotten stronger there was no way that I couldn’t try to empathize and feel for my sisters. I loved them and tears stung my eyes as Nell’s fluttered open.

  “Tay?” She asked in a hoarse whisper. It sounded as if she’d been crying.

  “It’s me.” I wiped my eyes as I made my way over to her.

  She reached out with her arms opened wide and I embraced her. As I squeezed my eyes closed I felt the hot tears spill over. Why were so many crazy things happening lately? It wasn’t like I thought life would be perfect all of the time, but shit had become real as hell. After our intense hug, I pulled away reluctantly.

  “Where’s Raheem?” She asked. I took it that she’d been filled in on his impromptu trip to the N.O.

  “He was in the waiting room talking to Gramps, but…You okay? You look really pale?” Her skin looked unusually light and clammy. She was the darkest of the three of us and her skin usually glowed with radiance.

  “I’m fine. They told me that my iron levels are extremely low, so that may explain why I look pale. I’m also hot as hell, which is odd when your iron is low.” She shook her head. “I’ll be so glad when Rick gets here.”

  I held her hand. “He’ll be here soon and we won’t be leaving until he gets here.”

  Nell nodded and then bit her bottom lip. I assumed she had done that to hold back the tears. “I don’t know if I can carry this baby Tay? The doctors told me that it’s rare, but there is a slim chance that I will miscarry again. My uterus is tilted, which normally doesn’t cause miscarriage because it usually positions itself correctly by the second trimester. When it doesn’t correct itself a miscarriage is possible, but happens to one in every three hundred women. It is rare, but it can happen. In my case it happened to me the first time. Now I am adding extra stress to an already potentially bad situation.”

  “The baby is going to be fine and so are you. Nothing is going to happen to my niece or nephew because we are strong. We are fighters and that baby is going to fight to survive. I for one am going to make sure that the rest of your pregnancy is as stress free as possible. Whatever I have to do to ensure that the munchkin in your belly makes it, I will do.” I held my right hand up. “I promise.”

  She laughed as tears spilled from her eyes down her cheeks. “Okay.” She sniffed and rubbed her still flat abdomen. “Thanks Tay.”

  I laid beside her in the small hospital bed. “Don’t thank me. I’m your sister. I love you. That’s all.”

  Renell rubbed my hair before kissing my cheek. “That’s enough,” she whispered.

  * * *

  Ricky made it there two hours later looking like his nerves had been shot to shit. I had fallen asleep on Raheem’s shoulder in the waiting room and when he nudged me I had forgotten where I was. When my eyes opened and I was reminded of the situation at hand, I wanted to go back to sleep.

  “Rick’s here,” he said. My eyes followed his and I spotted Ricky walking up. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a dark blue sweater. The comfortable look of his clothes didn’t match his demeanor. He was obviously worried to death.

  “She and the baby are okay,” I said before he could even ask.

  A look of relief washed over his face before he spoke. “Any idea what happened?”

  “Stress and her iron is extremely low. They gave her an IV and her stress levels are down. They still want to keep her overnight for observation. If everything’s normal by tomorrow they’ll release her,” I explained.

  He gripped my hand and squeezed. “Thanks for sticking around Tay. I love that woman like nobody’s business. If something happens to her.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what I’d do.”

  I surprised him with a hug. “I know how you feel. She’s pretty special to me too.”

  “Ah, are visiting hours over?”

  “Yeah, but you have special privileges thanks to the fact that my father was born here and donates enough money to own the place.”

  He grinned. “Great.” As he looked up he spotted Raheem. “Oh, what’s up Raheem? Sorry man. I was…”

  Rah stood up and shook Rick’s hand. “It’s cool Rick. I understand man.”

  He looked from me to Rah and I knew exactly what he was thinking. “I’ll take you to her room.”

  I kissed Rah’s cheek. “I’ll be back baby.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  I walked with Ricky to Renell’s room and gave him another hug before I left. “Tell her I’ll see her tomorrow.” I could tell that she was sound asleep and wanted her to only see him when she woke up. They needed some time alone and I needed some rest.

  “I will.” He walked off and stood beside her bed.

  I headed back to the waiting room to get my man. It was like I hadn’t had any sleep at all. Actually I hadn’t because me and Raheem had been at it all night. My leg wasn’t stopping nothing. I was just happy to know that he hadn’t really cheated one me, but everything else had me uneasy as hell. The email, my paternity, Dean’s involvement in what had happened with that bitch and Rah, Renell’s baby and Seandra’s situation. I shook my head as I thought about it. What the hell could happen next? Shit, I was afraid to get the answer.

  Chapter 8

  Seandra

  The next morning I woke up feeling like my throat was on fire. I literally flew down the stairs to get some water when I tripped over something on the stairs and fell on my ass. As I slid down the last four or five steps I could feel the carpet burning my skin. I was wearing a night gown because I had been feeling so feverish for the past couple days. When I finally landed on the cool, hard wood floor, I just laid there for a minute. After I finally got up, I decided to inspect the stairs, but there was nothing there for me to trip over.

  Tears burned my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. I simply swallowed the lump in my throat and decided that I wouldn’t let that bitch Kristie win. I didn’t believe in roots or any of that bullshit at first, but what I was going through told me otherwise. That heifer had it out for me and she wasn’t going to stop until she destroyed
me. Well, I wasn’t going to let her do it. Hell no. Life had thrown all types of shit my way and I still came out squeaky clean. The shit I was going through now was no different.

  After I sipped on some water, I filled a Ziploc bag with some ice and gripped the banister when I went back up the stairs. I was in pain, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. I found some Neosporin in the medicine cabinet and rubbed it on my carpet burns. My skin felt like my throat had felt earlier. I could see Kristie’s crazy ass standing there with a doll that was supposed to be me. She had probably put a lighter to the throat of the doll to wake me up and then threw the doll down the stairs. The vision in my head was so crazy it made me laugh out loud. Shit, maybe I was going crazy.

  I noticed the light blinking on my phone, so I grabbed it from the nightstand beside the bed I was sleeping in. Ahmad had called me several times, but I didn’t want to talk to him. I thought I loved him, but I resented him at the same time. Maybe that was part of the “curse”. She wanted me to hate him. It was all so damn confusing. If it wasn’t for Ahmad I wouldn’t even be going through all of the bullshit I was experiencing lately. I felt so weak and out of control. It was as if my body was turning on me because someone else hated me so much to put negative energy out there to destroy me.

  I dropped to my knees and let the tears that I’d been holding back escape from my weary eyes. My head was suddenly hurting so bad and I prayed like I’d never prayed before. “God please release this evil that has taken over me and the ones I love. Stop the plan of those who wish to destroy me. Surround me with love and positivity. I don’t seek revenge on those who would like to destroy me, but Lord God strike them with the vengeance that is yours! In Jesus name I pray. Cover me and my family with your blood Jesus. Let no weapon against us prosper! Take away the snakes and the evil spirits that my enemies have thrown upon me and mine! In the name of the father, the spirit and the Holy Ghost! Amen!!”