Wicked Unveiled

by J. N. Colon

  Chapter 14

  Etie snatched the blanket off the end of the bed, tossing it to me. A snarl slithered out of his mouth as he jumped to the floor. “Get the hell out!” The walls vibrated with the force of power behind his voice.

  The baron only clapped louder. “Now, now, pouvior bokor, I didn’t see anything.” He winked, and a bottle of rum appeared in his hand. “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

  Oh my gawd. I wanted to hide under the bed and die of embarrassment. Could this jerk just pop up whenever he wanted? Had he ever watched me in the shower?

  “I’ll banish you from this entire club if you don’t get your sorry ass out right now.” The snake began to rattle on Etie’s back, ready to bring more power.

  The voodoo king tsked. “As if you could. Besides, my kind of party was happening downstairs. I couldn’t help myself. I had to come see what all the fuss was about.”

  Oh great. I’d helped entice Baron Samedi to Le Revenant.

  His dark eyes landed on me trembling beneath the blanket. “Eve-angel-ine, looks like you were having fun tonight.” He blew me a kiss.

  A deep growl rippled out of Etie. The koulèvkay shimmered to life, crawling over his back as a solid snake. He settled around Etie’s neck, his luminescent eyes boring into Baron Samedi. “Don’t test me right now.”

  The voodoo loa gave Etie a smile. “I like you so much better than your father.” A cigar appeared in his fingers, and he took a pull, blowing the smoke toward me.

  “Great. Now get out.” Etie’s fists curled by his sides, and his back muscles flexed. The rattle of the koulèvkay’s tail intensified.

  Was it weird to think my boyfriend looked damn fine even with the snake wrapped around him?

  Baron Samedi’s eyes settled on me again. “I guess I did interrupt your fun.”

  “What do you want with me?” I blurted, holding the blanket up to my neck.

  His smile broadened, and those deep obsidian eyes flashed crimson. But no answer came.

  Etie’s hand swept over the head of the koulèvkay, petting him. “Do you want to close the gate to the spirit world? Is that your endgame?”

  My brows dipped. Was that even possible? What would happen to all the people who died afterwards? Where would they go?

  Baron Samedi’s head tilted back as laughter pealed out. “Close the gates? Why would I want to do a thing like that?” He wiped tears from his eyes. “I like it here and there.” A pair of sunglasses appeared on his face, one of the lenses missing. “Above and below. Life and death.” He opened his arms wide. “I like anywhere there’s a party.” He took a swig of rum and disappeared in a puff of cigar smoke. Ominous laughter echoed in his wake.

  “Ugh!” I punched the mattress. “Why does he have to be so cryptic?”

  Etie’s gaze ran over me as he crawled on the bed, deep worry lines forming over his forehead. “Are you okay, cher?”

  My eyes widened as he drew closer. The solid koulèvkay was still coiled around his neck.

  “Oh.” A smile tipped his lips. “I thought you wanted to pet my snake.”

  “Cute.” I shot him a wry look. “Sorry, but the visit from Baron Samedi has kind of ruined the moment.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” The koulèvkay stared at me for several moments, his tongue tasting the air. My hand tingled where he bit me.

  After a few seconds, the snake slithered toward Etie’s back, sinking into his skin as a tattoo.

  I was never going to get used to that.

  Etie settled beside me, running his knuckles over my cheek. “The right moment will come. We have plenty of…” His words fell off, his gaze darkening.

  He was going to say time. Before I made the second deal with the voodoo king, we would have had plenty of time to spend with each other. Now, the clock was ticking down to Fete Gede. Soon, we’d have to face off with the voodoo king again. We may never have that perfect moment.

  Chilling laughter seeped from the shadows, slithering toward me like snakes. Lightning flashed, lighting up my bedroom and outlining the figure crouched in the corner. Ice sped through my veins instead of blood.

  Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I knew this was a dream. I wasn’t really in my bedroom at home in Carrefour but with Etie at Le Revenant. And yet the familiar sage walls surrounded me. The soft covers on my bed did little to keep the cold air at bay. I knew what was in that corner laughing.

  The baka. The demon.

  As if realizing he’d been made, he stood and slowly stalked toward me. His form melted, taking on my father’s appearance as he had that night months ago. “Hola, little muñeca.” He winked one of his dark eyes. “I’ve missed you.”

  The baka looked so much like my dad it was unsettling. Except for the smile. It was just a touch darker. Sinister.

  “You’re not him,” I spat. “Get out. You don’t belong here.” I spun around, searching my pillows for a gris-gris bag to tear apart and send him on his way.

  His chuckle deepened, turning to a smooth cadence that made my insides quiver. “Oh, Angeline, you’re so brave now.”

  Dread filled my gut as I slowly turned, coming face to face with Etie.

  Not Etie.

  The edges of his lips tipped up in that familiar smile. “We going to have some fun tonight, no?” His mismatched eyes sparkled, but a murky shadow swirled in them. “I come join you under those covers?”

  “Get out!” I hated the tremor in my voice. I wanted to be brave. I wanted to banish the demon like Etie had done to Baron Samedi in Marcus’s alter room, but I didn’t know how. Instead, I clutched the covers to my chin, praying that thing didn’t touch me.

  “You’re so fun to play with.” His smile stretched—and stretched until half of Etie’s face cracked.

  My stomach rolled as the skin split, dripping crimson.

  Then the demon’s form shifted again, growing into the seven-foot, horned monster. My neck craned back to look into its red, hell-fire eyes.

  “Eve-angel-ine…” he taunted. “I’ll have so much fun slicing your skin off piece by piece as I eat it.

  I shivered beneath the blankets.

  “Don’t even think about touching me.” I reached for my powers, but I was greeted with cold emptiness.

  His head tilted back as he laughed, the ugly sound slamming against my skull. “You can’t even fight a couple of witches. What makes you think you can fight me, a demon?”

  My lids clamped shut. This wasn’t happening. This was a nightmare.

  Wake up, wake up, wake up…

  I repeated the mantra over and over again, expecting to wake up next to Etie.

  That didn’t happen.

  Something skittered across my thigh beneath the blankets.

  Oh God.

  I tossed the covers aside. A horde of insects crawled around me.

  A scream tore from my mouth, mixing with the baka’s laughter. I tried to scramble out of the bed, but invisible binds held me down.

  Bugs. Were. Everywhere.

  My arms flailed, trying to slap the creepy crawlers off, smacking into something warm and solid.

  “Angeline! Angeline!” Thick bands of steel encircled me, pinning my limbs to my body. “Stop it. It’s me. It’s Etie.”

  The tingle in my toujou told me this was my soul mate.

  I slumped against his chest, breathing erratically. I was back in our room at Le Revenant.

  “It was only a nightmare, cher,” Etie murmured, pressing a kiss to my temple. “It’s over. You’re with me now. I got you.”

  I curled into him, my body trembling. “It was awful. There were bugs.” My skin puckered just thinking about their sticky legs scuttling over me.

  His hand massaged my back. “No bugs here. I promise.”

  I nuzzled his neck, breathing in his comforting scent. It washed away the cold terror. Most of it anyway. The image of the demon still lingered. “I was dreaming about the baka that attacked me,” I muttered against his neck. “He was in my room again.�
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  Etie’s arms tightened. “I’d never let that happen, cher. Baron Samedi won’t ever send another demon after you.”

  His words gave me pause. We never actually confirmed whether or not the baron had sent the demon after me. Or the vivankò in Monroe either. It didn’t make sense. Why would he have sent those creatures when he and his spirits were having a good time haunting me themselves?

  “What’s going on in that head, cher?” Etie asked, brushing his fingertips over my forehead. “I can feel you thinking about something.”

  I drew back. It was hard to ignore how ridiculously hot he looked shirtless and his hair wild from sleep. His abs were seriously lickable.

  I shook the smut from my mind before I acted on the urges flooding my body. “I’m not sure Baron Samedi sent the baka after me in the first place.”

  His lips pursed. “Why do you think that?”

  I shrugged and sat up, reluctantly pulling out of his warm embrace. “What would be the point? He already had my soul at the time. He only had to wait until my eighteenth birthday.”

  Etie dragged his hand through his hair, the strands sticking up everywhere. “Maybe he just wanted to screw with you.”

  “And the vivankò?” I shook my head, dismissing the idea. “He’s the type of creature that likes to be involved in the fun stuff. And seeing me scared shitless, he liked doing himself.” If Baron Samedi had done it out of pure evilness, did that mean he was as out of balance as Maman Brigitte claimed?

  I kept my thoughts to myself. Etie was so determined to weaken the voodoo loa to save me. He thought going another direction was only wasting our time or lack thereof. Maybe it was my turn to do a little digging on the baron. Etie wouldn’t have to know. What was the harm in educating myself on my enemies? Nothing bad was going to happen from reading up on him.

  Chapter 15

  A gris-gris bag and a voodoo doll sporting black yarn for hair sat in the window display of the shop. The afternoon sun glinted off metal talismans. Black candles and other ritual items were placed sporadically around the table.

  I bit my lip and glanced at the sign swaying gently in the autumn breeze. Snakes & Bones. It sounded voodoo enough, but no magic lingered near the area. Not even a hint of anything. It was barren.

  Was this even a real voodoo shop?

  My head swiveled up and down the street, a few pedestrians trekking along the sidewalk. Etie told me there were tons of tourist traps in Louisiana selling fake voodoo trinkets. This had to be one of them.

  I crossed my arms against my chest and cursed. I couldn’t ask Etie where the real shops were. He didn’t even know I’d left Le Revenant. My stomach tightened. He would kill me if he found out I’d slipped away when he was occupied by Bastien and Mama CeCe.

  The shifty voodoo priestess wouldn’t confirm or deny whether she knew what would happen when I went on that dance floor. The dark twinkle in her eyes told me she knew damn well Rafe would offer me Delirium, and I would amp up her little energy sucking spell.

  I ran my fingers through my hair, fighting off the naughty images flooding me. If I kept thinking about last night, I was going to turn around and hunt Etie down. My body ached to finish what we’d started.

  “Looking for some voodoo?”

  My heart lurched. A stranger was reflected behind me in the store window. Memories of Ramsey’s coven stalking me in Carrefour sped through my mind. I spun around, facing the young woman. She was around my age or a little older. Wavy blonde hair dusted her waspy waist as she flicked it over her shoulder.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” Being hunted by others hadn’t left me very trusting.

  Her hands lifted in surrender. “Relax.” She jerked her pointed chin toward the window. “I saw you looking at that stuff. I figured you were searching for voodoo.” She gave a quick shrug. “Snakes & Bones is fake. It’s for the tourists.”

  Exactly what I suspected.

  “What makes you think I’m not a regular tourist?” I asked, my body still as rigid as stone.

  A crooked smile curled her lips, and her hands dropped back to her sides. “I’m a voodoo caster. I can sense the Wiccan magic in you.”

  My brow arched. Could she also sense I was a conduit?

  Her bright-green doe eyes fell to the swirling black symbol on my neck. “You got yourself a gwo-bon lyen. That sort of makes you voodoo too.”

  I shifted my feet, my toes suffocating inside the sneakers. Sadly, the air had too much of a chill for flip flops.

  “The name’s Mel.” She stuck her hand out for me to shake.

  I gingerly took it in mine, her skin soft and warm. “I’m Angel.” The girl didn’t seem evil, but I wasn’t always the best judge of character.

  Mel dropped my hand and hitched her thumb over her shoulder. “If you’re looking for a real voodoo shop, try the laundromat on Third and Wilson.”

  My head cocked to the side. “A laundromat?”

  She nodded. “Go through the red door in the back. It’s the best shop in Monroe.”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised. Marcus’s place was in the back of a pharmacy. “Does it have books?”

  “Sure. Anything in particular?”

  “I’m looking for information on Baron Samedi.” The obvious place for me to go was Mama CeCe’s office. Too bad Etie and Bastien were currently there. I couldn’t sneak in any other time either. The priestess had spells around her office and ritual room, preventing entrance.

  “There’s a ton of books about the baron, especially now that Fete Gede is approaching.” Her smile was sweet. She was completely oblivious to the sour taste the mention of that day gave me. “Do you know what that is?”

  “Voodoo’s Festival of the Dead.” And my newest doomsday.

  “I guess your alimèt has taught you a few things.” She tucked a wavy lock behind her ear, making it stick out like an elf’s. “I’ll walk you if you like.”

  “Sure.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and watched her from the corner of my eye. If she was with me, she wasn’t running off to other voodoo casters to tell them a juicy conduit was in town.

  “What do you need information on Baron Samedi for?” She casually swayed her arms back and forth, a crocheted bag bouncing against her hip.

  I gave a noncommittal shrug. “Just curious.” Understatement of the year.

  Mel nodded. “Trying to learn more about your alimèt’s culture?”

  “Yep.” I wish it were that simple.

  “Is this like a sibling kind of gwo-bon lyen or more like a romantic thing?” A twinkle of excitement lit her green eyes.

  Memories of Etie and me dancing last night flickered behind my vision. “Definitely not a sibling thing.”

  A long, wistful sigh blew from her mouth. “I want an alimèt like that. It’s like a fairytale or at least a paranormal romance novel.”

  Probably more like a paranormal romance. I wasn’t a princess—despite what Rafe called me—and Etie was way too wicked to be a fairytale hero.

  “My parents would kill me if I came home with a toujou from a gwo-bon lyen.” Her lips puckered as if she’d sucked a lemon. “Unless it was with Theon, but he’s not my idea of soul mate material.”

  I bit back a smile. “My parents actually had this whole arranged marriage thing with another witch, but Etie got to me first.” I gestured toward the unassuming brick building she halted in front of. “Is this it?”

  She nodded and pulled open the door. The scent of soap filled the air. “It’s in the back.”

  My fingers fiddled with the hem of my shirt as I followed her. “Can I ask you something about Baron Samedi?”

  “Sure.” She flashed a smile over her shoulder as we walked through the red door. The bright florescent lights vanished as did the blinding white tile. Incense and herbs wafted through the dimly lit room. Wooden shelves held mysterious merchandise.

  A young man with ginger curls and a smattering of freckles stood behind the counter, an antique register blocking h
im from the neck down. He flashed Mel a wide, toothy grin and wiggled his fingers.

  Mel gave him a tight smile.

  “Theon, I’m guessing?” I asked as we turned the corner, getting lost in rows of merchandise.

  She groaned. “My possible future alimèt.”

  “He might surprise you.” The guy had looked at her like she was a goddess. He couldn’t be that bad.

  “We’ll see.” Mel pointed down a narrow row of towering shelves. “This is where the kind of books you need are.”

  The humor melted from my mood as the ancient tomes reminded me of my voodoo problems. “What happens to the souls Baron Samedi doesn’t let into the spirit world?” That question had plagued me since we summoned Maman Brigitte. Did they wander around as ghosts? Did they go to hell?

  Mel stopped at a small rickety table in the back, dropping her crocheted purse on it. “Some remain in this world as ghosts. Some wander in the place between life and death—a crossroad. Some get their living relatives to make sacrifices to Baron Samedi in their name hoping he’ll let them in.” Her expression tightened. “And others, well, they get caught up in Kalfou’s business.”

  My blood turned to ice. “Kalfou?” That name seemed to come up more and more these days.

  She nodded. “He uses them for dark rituals or has them do his bidding.” A shiver rippled down her spine. “Some even slowly turn into bakas.”

  Horrific images swarmed my vision. The baka that had attacked me in my room was something I tried to forget. Unfortunately after the nightmare last night, the memories kept bubbling up like thick, oily tar.

  Mel left shortly after pulling some old historical books from the shelves. They were for reading only. It was considered polite to put a dollar or two in the donation jar up front. I’d drop every bit of cash in my pocket if I found what I was looking for. Too bad I wasn’t even sure what that was. How did you tell if Baron Samedi was off his voodoo balance?

  I flipped through another page of the leather bound book, the wooden chair creaking beneath my weight. It would probably break if Etie sat in it. The sketch of a flamboyantly dressed man in a top hat, ruffles, long coat tails, and a snake around his neck stared back at me.