Emile turned to a bookmarked page and pointed to an entry. “They used a lock of Antoine’s hair in the ritual when they created L’Acallemon. The Spirit is tied to the beast, they share energy, so he should be able to defeat it.”
The warmth returned to Odette’s fingers, so he laced his own through hers and swallowed the thickness from his throat. “And why haven’t I tried this before in any of my past lives?” Besides the fact that he’d be facing certain death, because death was coming for him either way.
Flipping a few pages, Emile scanned the documents. “I don’t think you knew what was happening before. Normally, when the Rougarou wakes up, he finds his target the same night and returns to the swamp where L’Acallemon puts him back to sleep.”
It made sense. Baron Samedi said James had been second-born in every life since the cycle started. He wouldn’t have been involved with hunting the demons that preceded the attack. He’d never had a clue…until now.
Odette’s fingers tightened on his hand as she slowly shook her head. “You can’t do this, James; I can’t lose you. There has to be another way.” Her eyes were wide with fear.
“I’m open to ideas.”
“We can move away. Go to London or Australia. Somewhere the Rougarou could never get to us.” Her brow pinched, the reality that the idea would never work draining the hope from her voice.
“He’ll never stop killing.”
“Until we’re dead.” Her expression blanked, a mask of resolve covering her fear as she looked into his eyes. “We have to stop him. People are dying because of our love.”
“Not our love, sweetheart.” He trailed his fingers down her cheek. “Because of the ridiculous standards of an outdated society and one man’s hunger for power. Hate and greed created this monster. Love will take it down.”
Emile handed Brooke the volume, and she took it to the other room, returning with a small yellow suitcase. “I’ll be back in the morning, love.” She blew a kiss to Emile, and he rose and hugged her. “Be careful.”
“Always.”
“It was nice meeting you two.” She waved and shuffled out the door.
Emile took the tea glasses to the sink. “She’s been spending the night with her sister two hours away since it started. The beast is looking for couples, and I’ve been casting locator spells and begging the loa for help. If I’d known who he was after…” He shook his head.
“We’ll stop him.” James rose and cracked his knuckles. No one else would die because of his twisted fate. “Tell me what to do.”
Emile nodded. “Come with me. We’ll need to perform a lavé tet.”
“It’s a head-washing ceremony.” Odette took James’s hand and guided him into another room. “A spiritual cleansing to make you ready to receive a loa in possession.”
He sat in the chair Odette gestured to. A row of cabinets with shelves full of herbs lined one wall, and a table holding equipment similar to what he’d seen in Natasha’s temple sat next to it. “But the Gator Man isn’t a loa.”
“Which is why the short version of this ceremony should be enough to make the possession tolerable for you.” Emile filled a bucket with water and sprinkled in herbs from the jars. Pressing his palms together, he said a prayer over the mixture, blessing it.
Odette sat next to James, her death grip on his hand letting him know how much she disliked what he was doing. Hell, he didn’t like it any more than she did, but what choice did he have?
Emile set the bucket on the floor and pulled up a chair. “Take off your shirt and tilt your head back.”
James tugged his shirt over his head, and Odette put her hand on his chest.
Her fingers felt like icicles again. “Wait. What if I carry L’Acallemon? You can subdue the creature, and the Gator Man can use me to kill him. Then at least you’ll have a chance to survive.”
Her lips paled as she spoke, her fear of relinquishing all control causing her shoulders to draw up toward her ears. No way would he let her go through something so traumatic to spare his life.
Holding her hand to his chest, he kissed her temple. “I don’t want to survive if it means living without you.”
Tears collected on her lower lids. “That sentiment works both ways, you know.”
He draped his shirt across his knee and took her face in his hands. “I’m not afraid of being possessed. I’m not afraid of death or of dying. I was made for this.”
“The only thing that scares me is losing you.” A tear dripped down her cheek, and he wiped it away with his thumb.
“I’ve got this.”
“But I can—”
“No, Odette. You can’t.” Emile dipped a wooden spoon into the bucket and stirred the contents.
“Yes, I can.” She shot to her feet. “Voodoo created the curse, so a vodouisant should be sacrificed to end it. I won’t let James die over something my ancestor caused.”
While James admired her determination, there was no way in hell he would let her die. “Odette.” He reached for her hand, but she jerked away.
“Put your shirt back on. I’m hosting L’Acallemon.”
Emile carried the bucket to James’s chair. “You’ve put up a block; I can feel it in your aura. Baron Samedi himself couldn’t ride you in this condition, much less a home-grown Spirit like L’Acallemon.”
“I can handle it, Emile. I’ll do whatever needs to be done.”
James reached for her hand again, and this time she let him take it. He pried her fingers from her palm and gave her hand a squeeze. She relaxed a little with his touch, but she was riled up and ready to fight. God, he loved this woman.
“Regardless of what you can or can’t handle, it has to be James. You said yourself that Baron Samedi told you only a shifting wolf can kill the Rougarou, and I understand why.” Emile dropped the spoon into the bucket and glanced at James, hesitating to continue. “L’Acallemon was conjured using werewolf blood.”
“Son of a bitch.” No wonder this situation was so royally fucked. Blood magic, especially the kind involving werewolf blood, was extremely volatile and always came with a price.
Emile raised his hands. “I didn’t write the spell. I read about it in the family journals.” He laughed dryly and looked at Odette. “I’ve been studying this for the past sixteen years, trying to figure out the secret, and then you come along, chat with your met tet, and suddenly you’ve got all the answers. Loa don’t lie. If the Baron said it has to be a werewolf, then it has to be a werewolf.”
“You have no idea what it took to get Baron Samedi to help me. It sure as hell wasn’t a simple chat.”
Her cousin raised his hands. “Whatever it took, you got the answers. Unless your dad is secretly a werewolf, you know as well as I do that you can’t be the host for L’Acallemon.”
Her breath released in a hiss as she lowered into the chair, the expression on her face one of pure determination. She wasn’t going to let L’Acallemon take him without a fight.
James leaned back in the chair, and Emile dumped cup after cup of seasoned water over his head, saying both Catholic prayers and Haitian Creole chants. He wiped at the room-temperature liquid to stop it from getting in his eyes, but it ran in rivulets down the back of his neck, soaking his shoulders and half his torso.
The magic in the room intensified, the vibration of the air increasing, raising the hairs on his arms. When Emile used up the last of the water, he wrapped James’s head in a white towel and took the bucket to the sink.
Odette clutched her hands in her lap and smiled weakly. “Normally we’d dress you in all white and have you lie down for the rest of the day.” She glanced at her watch. “But we’ve got to get going if we’re going to make it home before dark.”
“We’re not doing this at your house. You’ve got neighbors.” He took the towel Emile offered, and he patted himself dry. Bits of crushed rosemary and sage clung to his skin, making him smell like a Thanksgiving turkey waiting to go in the oven.
“The neighbors won’t see a thing. I’ll
lift the charm; the Rougarou will come inside to find us.” She took the white towel from his head and gave it to Emile.
“We’ll tear the place apart.” He pulled his shirt over his head, slipping his arms through the sleeves and running a hand through his wet hair.
She straightened her spine. “It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. If you’re going to…” Her voice hitched, and she swallowed. “If you’re going to die, it needs to happen in the house. I think I can…” She dropped her gaze to the floor, and a sob caused her shoulders to bounce.
James pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, his heart breaking at the sadness in her voice.
“If you die, I think I can make Nicolas cross over with you. If he sees his brother pay for his crimes, he’ll be able to move on too. You’ll be whole again.”
Emile handed him a preserved alligator head, its snout nearly the length of his entire arm. “L’Acallemon is tied to this. It’s the gator that was sacrificed to create the Spirit, preserved with magic and formaldehyde. For the Spirit to possess you, you’ll have to put it on your head. L’Acallemon will travel down through your crown and into your body.”
James lifted the mummified head toward his own.
“Not yet.” Emile put his hand on the gator. “The possession will happen quickly. Wait until the Rougarou is in sight.”
“Thank you.” James shook his hand.
“Yes, thank you, Emile.” Odette clasped her hands together. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about everything that happened. I didn’t use any black magic that day. It was the power Baron Samedi gifted me, but I abused it. I am so, so sorry.”
Emile pressed his lips together and nodded. “You saved my life, and you kept my father’s secret. I should have thanked you a long time ago.” He held out his hand, and Odette accepted it. “Good luck. I hope you can end this cycle.”
“We will.” James shook his hand once more and led Odette out the back door.
Odette sat quietly in the passenger seat as James maneuvered along the bumpy dirt road and back out onto the highway. A tornado of emotions swirled through her body, and she focused on them one at a time, so they didn’t overwhelm her.
The easiest emotion to pluck from the storm was her relief that Emile didn’t hold a grudge. She’d hoped for forgiveness, but to receive his thanks after all these years of turmoil was like opening a pressure valve on her soul.
She’d made right by her met tet and made amends with her last living relative on her mother’s side. If not for the impending death of the man sitting next to her, she’d have said things were looking up.
The despair of losing her soulmate tore open her chest, fracturing her heart, and causing a sob to bubble up from her throat. James glanced at her, and she coughed to cover it up. He was the one about to die, and no tears streamed from his eyes. If he could be strong, so could she.
She stared out the window as the blur of trees made way for buildings as they approached the city. Who was she kidding? Her strength was a façade. It always had been. Ritual possession was nothing for a seasoned vodouisant like herself to be afraid of. She’d seen it happen to her friends countless times, and none of them were harmed in the process.
Now the one Spirit that would harm its host was about to possess her boyfriend, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Or maybe there was…
She remained silent as he spoke with his alpha on the phone. Her attempt at protesting his desire to ask the pack for help fell flat when he reminded her that wolves were pack animals. If he was going to die in this fight, she’d let it happen on his terms.
If she let it happen at all.
He tossed his phone into a cupholder and reached across the console to rub the back of her neck. “Luke’s gathering a few weres to meet us at the house. If I fight the Rougarou with the pack’s help, it will be over faster. Less damage to your home.”
She nodded and fought the tremble in her voice. “You didn’t tell him you wouldn’t be surviving the fight.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “If he knew that, he’d never agree to the plan. You and I both know this is the only way to end the cycle. Sacrificing my life will stop anyone else from dying at the hands of the Rougarou.”
“Sometimes I wish you weren’t so damn noble.”
James chuckled. “You wouldn’t have me any other way.”
He stopped in the driveway, and they both watched in silence as the sun sank behind the house. The orange and pink of the sky morphed into a deep purply-blue, and an early cricket chirped, its ominous song a harbinger of tragedy.
A ten-ton weight pressed into Odette’s chest, squeezing the air from her lungs. She held her eyes wide, but try as she might, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Turning her head, she slid out of the truck and paced toward the front door.
James caught up to her on the porch, and balancing the gator head on the railing, he pulled her into his arms, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Hey.” He hooked a finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “This isn’t goodbye, you know. I’ll find you in our next life, and then we’ll have our happily ever after, okay? I promise.”
She nuzzled her face into his chest, breathing in his woodsy, masculine scent. A scent she’d come to associate with comfort. With home. James had done more than restore this old house; he’d restored her. He had chipped away the plaster of her carefully constructed façade and found the woman beneath, bringing her to the surface and reminding her how to live.
James was right; this wasn’t goodbye. Emile had said the Gator Man would drain James’s life force and probably sever his soul. That qualifier was her ray of hope, and she planned to hold onto it until the end.
Pulling herself together, she faced the front door and whispered a banishing spell, asking Papa Legba for help opening the gateway to her home, breaking the protection charm. Magic vibrated in the air, gathering in front of the door, condensing and expanding until the pressure popped like a bubble and dissipated into the air. “It’s done. The Rougarou, and anything else for that matter, can get inside.” The fact sat heavy in her stomach like a block of dried-up mashed potatoes.
“Then we’d better get ourselves in and get ready.”
As if she could prepare for the impending death of her soulmate. Living the rest of this life without James would be unbearable, and she refused to continue living alone.
A sense of resolve washed over her as she stepped through the threshold. If defeating the Rougarou, breaking the cycle, meant ending James’s life, she knew what she’d have to do. James wasn’t afraid of death. Neither was she.
James paused on the porch as Luke, Cade, Noah, and a woman with a blonde pixie cut and bright-green eyes strode up the walk.
Luke shook James’s hand. “Chase and Bryce are leading a patrol in case your beast tries to make any pitstops on the way.”
James nodded and gestured for them to enter. Odette chewed the inside of her cheek as James set the gator head on a table, and they gathered in the foyer. The woman hesitated to close the door. She looked outside and glanced at Luke before lowering her gaze.
“We need you here.”
At the alpha’s words, she closed the door and nodded.
James rested a hand on Odette’s back and whispered, “Her mate is on patrol. They haven’t been together long.”
Odette recognized the worried expression. Her own face probably looked the same.
“This is Alexis,” Luke said. “She’s our healer.”
“Healer?” Her eyebrows raised as the tiny ray of hope she clung to grew a little brighter, but James rolled his neck, his back stiffening.
“She’ll help us fight, but if anyone gets hurt in the crossfire, she can use her enhanced healing ability on others.” Luke flashed a small smile, focusing on Odette. “We’ll keep you safe.”
James’s tension eased, but she hadn’t been the slightest bit worried about herself. She’d been caught up in the soul-severing fear
and hadn’t stopped to think about how the confrontation had gone down in her previous lives. The Rougarou would come after her first.
Luke held a hand above the gator head, but he didn’t touch it. “There’s a Voodoo Spirit attached to this thing?”
“L’Acallemon.” James picked it up and looked into its glassy eyes. Cocking his head, he squinted, studying the object as if he were looking for the Spirit, but even Odette couldn’t see the Gator Man.
Was it even attached to it? What if Emile hadn’t forgiven her and this was a cruel attempt at getting even? She had killed his father, a man that he loved. Maybe her cousin had infused them with the false hope that they could defeat the Rougarou, when his true intention had been ensuring their timely deaths. Bile crept up the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down. Her cousin’s intent didn’t matter at this point. The beast would be there soon, and the house was unprotected.
Cade shoved his hands first in his front pockets and then his back before crossing his arms. “You’re sure you want to let it possess you?”
“It’s the only way to end this.” James looked at Odette, and pressure built in the back of her eyes again, so she lowered her gaze. She would not cry in front of his pack.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Alexis peered at the head and curled her lip.
“He can handle it.” Noah clapped James on his shoulder. “This’ll be over before midnight, and I’ll buy the first round of beers when we’re through.”
She dared another glance at James, and when his eyes met hers, time seemed to freeze. Her lungs betrayed her, not allowing her breath to pass in nor out, and the force of gravity multiplied, threatening to crumbled her. She would not live a single day without this man, and she had all the ingredients she needed to make sure she wouldn’t have to in her cupboard. Now, she had to convince Baron Samedi to cooperate.
Shaking herself to break the trance James’s gaze had put upon her, she cleared her throat. “We should prepare.”
“She’s right.” James carried the gator head beneath his arm and stood by her side. “Luke, I think it’s best if y’all hide. Odette and I will wait in the bedroom since that’s where it likes to find its victims. Stay in the laundry room across the hall. There are no windows, so it can’t see you, and when you hear the fight starting, then come in. Not before. I don’t want the Rougarou to take off before the Gator Man has a chance to take hold.”
A Deal with Death Page 22
