Authors: Terri Reid
“Well, I’m not much compared to
her,” he said.
“You can see her?” Eloise asked in
amazement.
“Well, she’d be pretty hard to
miss,” he replied.
They both turned to look at Maria. She
presented an awesome sight – her eyes blazing and her long hair waving around
her head. Her voice seemed to echo from the monuments that surrounded them.
“You dare assault the friend of
Maria Leveau?” Maria asked the thug, her voice sparking with anger, “You are
brave enough to seek the anger of the Queen of Voodoo?”
The man, shaking and blubbering,
fell to his knees. “No, no, I did not realize…”
Maria lifted her arms and the
clouds blocked the sun. A deathly chill fell over the area. Eloise shivered
despite knowing that Maria was her ally.
“You did not realize she was my
friend? You did not realize she is not someone you can victimize?
Maria hovered closer to the
trembling thug.
“Or perhaps you did not realize
that Maria Leveau does not like when men use force on women?”
“I did not realize…” he babbled.
Tears streamed down his face and
his body shook with fear. The tough thug was now a trembling coward. “Please,
please let me live,” he begged.
“I will let you live, this time,”
she stated, “But, you cannot cross Maria Leveau without making some payment to
the Voodoo Queen.”
“Please whatever you want, I will
give you,” he promised, clasping his hands in front of him.
Maria smiled malevolently.
“There is something I want from
you,” she said, “When you wake in the morning, you will find that your manhood
has shriveled and died.”
The thug looked up in shock.
“No, no,” he responded, “Not that.”
“You would rather I take your
life?”
He shook his head and cried. “No!
No!”
“Now go!” she commanded, lifting
her arm and pointing out of the cemetery.
The man stumbled over his
unconscious friend and darted away through the monuments.
Eloise turned to Maria Leveau and
smiled, “Thank you.”
“Eloise,” Paul requested, “Could
you please introduce us, I wish to add my gratitude.”
Eloise smiled, “Maria Leveau, this
is Major Paul Grimes. Paul, may I introduce Maria Leveau, Queen of Voodoo.”
Paul nodded, “Thank you for your
assistance. You saved her life.”
Maria smiled at Paul. “No, no thanks
for me. You were ready, you would have saved Eloise. And I must apologize for
taking away your quarry,” then she grinned, “But I too wanted to vent my
anger.”
Paul laughed. “Nothing I could have
done to him would have ever equaled the punishment that you were able to
serve.”
Maria laughed, “The punishment must
fit the crime, no?”
Paul nodded, “Exactly.”
“Now, I will take your Eloise for a
few moments as she explains what she desires of me,” Maria stated, looking at
Eloise for affirmation.
“Yes, thank you,” Eloise said,
seeing the concern in Paul’s face, “Paul, I will only be a few minutes.”
Maria turned back to Paul. “And
perhaps you can call the local authorities to deal with this one.”
She pointed to the assailant still
unconscious from his failed attempt.
“You may tell them that the other
one will be found at the other side of cemetery. Unfortunately, a rather large
tree limb has just…,” she paused for a moment, “Fallen on him and rendered him
unconscious.”
Paul chuckled. “I will be more than
happy to oblige. I can see that Eloise is in excellent hands,” he bowed his
head, “It was an honor to meet you.”
Eloise and Maria walked slowly down
the path away from Paul. When they had gone beyond hearing distance, Maria
whispered, “He is so like my beloved, Louis Christophe. It is a wonder to love
a man such as that one.”
Eloise agreed sadly.
“So, love is not easy for you?”
Maria asked.
Eloise told Maria about the dream
and the warning.
“And, you do not believe this man
of yours would be willing to give his life for you?”
“Oh, no,” Eloise replied, “In a
moment he would risk all for me.”
“But this is not a risk you would
allow him to take,” Maria stated.
“Is there anything that can
guarantee she could not kill him?” Eloise asked.
Marie shook her head. “No, in this
life, there is no such guarantee.”
“Then I would ask for two things to
help me fight Lalaurie,” Eloise said, “First, I would like an amulet to protect
me so she cannot snatch my spirit at her whim.”
Maria nodded and pulled from her
pocket the same amulet that Louisa had been given by Sophie. “The world is a
strange place, no?” she asked, with a slight lift of her eyebrows, “And your
second request.”
Eloise took a moment to voice her
request.
“I need to have Paul sent away, some
place safe,” she finally said, “I need to finish this alone.”
Maria shook her head. “I do not
think this is a wise thing to do. Love has a power all its own.”
Eloise folded her arms across her
chest and disagreed, “I know she will kill him only because he is connected to
me. I would die if he were hurt.”
Maria shook her head once again.
“And how does your Major feel about this?”
Eloise shrugged. “He believes I
love another.”
Maria rolled her eyes. “He believes
you love another? Can he not see with his own eyes the love that is in front
of him?”
She paused for a moment and looked
suspiciously at Eloise. “He believes you love another because you have told
him this lie. Is this not true?”
Eloise nodded.
Maria glared at Eloise and started
to fade before her eyes.
“Wait!” Eloise called. “I need your
help.”
Maria disappeared and Eloise closed
her eyes and bowed her head. She had pushed Maria too far, she had asked too
much. What was she going to do?
Suddenly she heard Maria’s voice
float around her. “I will do what you ask, but I warn you this is not the
answer.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, “Thank
you so much.”
“This is crap,” Paul yelled into
the phone while pounding his fist on the kitchen counter, “There is nothing
more important than the assignment I am on. Yeah, get the General to call me,
personally, because I’m not going anywhere! Someone there screwed up and I’m
not risking this operation because of some paper-pushing idiot.
“Great. Great. Fine,” he finished,
“I’m looking forward to it.”
He slammed the phone down and ran
his hand over his forehead before turning to face Eloise and Sally who were
sitting at the computer desks.
“So, are they going to send those
black helicopters for you in the middle of the night?” Sally asked, spinning
her chair to face him.
“If they do, they’d better send
reinforcements,” Paul muttered.
“Paul, you really don’t have to
stay,” Eloise said, slowly moving her chair around to face him.
Paul glared at her. “Excuse me?” he
asked quietly.
“I said that you really don’t have
to stay any longer,” Eloise said, glancing down at her lap for a moment, before
lifting her head and facing him.
“The amulet Maria gave me will
protect me from Delphine,” she said, fingering the small packet tied around her
neck.
Paul grabbed her hand and pulled
her out of the chair. “Come on, we have to take a walk.”
Without waiting for a response, he
pulled her out the door and down the steps of the motor home. They walked
wordlessly past the parked vehicles, down a sandy embankment and over to a
grassy knoll where a lone tree overlooked a small river.
“Okay, talk,” Paul demanded,
placing Eloise against the tree and surrounding her with an arm on either side.
Eloise shrugged. “I don’t want you
to get in trouble with you superiors,” she said, “They need you and, quite
frankly, I don’t.”
Paul stepped back as if she had
slapped him.
“Okay, so you don’t need me to
protect you from Delphine while you are here, but what happens when you go to
confront her? What happens if you have to go into New Orleans again? What
happens if she comes looking for you?”
Eloise took a deep breath and
looked him in the eye.
“Well, Jean-Paul is on his way
here,” she lied, averting her gaze at the last moment, “If you want to send
some protection until he gets here I would appreciate it.”
Paul swore and turned away from
Eloise. She quickly wiped away the tears that formed in the corners of her
eyes.
“Well, Eloise, you’re right,” he
said, his voice taut, his body still turned away from her, “There’s no reason
for me to stay under the circumstances. I’ll call and make arrangements
immediately. It was good to see you again.”
Without a glance, he marched back
to the motor home and slammed the door behind him. Eloise waited under the
tree until, fifteen minutes later, she heard the door slam again and his vehicle
pull away.
Suddenly Eloise couldn’t seem to
catch her breath. An anguished sob broke through. She doubled over from the
ache in her heart. Sliding down the trunk of the tree, she wrapped her arms
around her legs and sobbed.
“Sucks to be you,” Sally said,
kneeling down next to Eloise a few minutes later. “I thought that some of my
special Mood Mender Herb Tea would help.”
Eloise, her head buried on her
knees, didn’t look up. “Sal, I hate that tea.”
“Yeah, I remembered that too, so I
brought you a Diet Pepsi.”
Eloise lifted her tear-stained face
and chuckled. “Thanks, you’re a good friend.”
“I’m an even better friend than you
know,” she said. “While you two were out here I made copies of his
topographical maps.”
Eloise sat up straighter. “I had
forgotten about them.”
“Yeah, well if you want to do any
exploring with them, we need to leave before the dawn breaks tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
“Because Paul called in
reinforcements. Bert and Ernie are showing up at ‘O’ eight hundred hours, which
I suppose is 8 a.m. And according to the instructions I heard from our side of
the phone, their orders are to make sure that we do nothing that will cause us
injury, endanger US government property or break any civil, federal or
governmental laws.”
“We will be pretty much confined to
quarters.”
Sally nodded. “Yep. Oh, one more
thing – he told them when the Frenchy shows up to make sure they tested his
ability to keep us safe.”
Eloise was confused. “What?”
Sally shrugged. “He pretty much
told them to kick the crap out of Jean-Paul when he got here,” Sally paused and
grinned, “How could you not love that man?”
“I hate mornings,” Sally moaned as
they drove down Highway 46 towards the Gulf Coast. The view outside the SUV’s
windows was a repeat of the others, debris and devastation everywhere. As the
sun rose over the southern tip of the St. Bernard Parish, Eloise knew that
things would never be the same again in this portion of Louisiana. The mighty Gulf of Mexico had reclaimed land that it would never give up again.
“How would you know if you hated
mornings or not, you’ve never experienced one,” Eloise said, checking the GPS
monitor.
“Listen, not all of us are Eveready
Bunnies. Drum, drum, drum,” Sally mimicked the popular drumming wind-up toy.
Eloise chuckled. “You can be cruel
when you’re tired.”
Sally took a gulp of her green
drink.
“How can you drink that neon goop
first thing in the morning?”
Sally shrugged her shoulders, “It
almost tastes better when I’m half-asleep. So, what do you think he’s doing
about now?”
Eloise tried to look unconcerned.
“I’m not thinking about him.”
Sally snorted. “Oh, yeah, that was
believable. And, if you’ll notice, I didn’t mention his name.”
Eloise laughed self-consciously,
“Okay, so I did think about him a little. I mean, now that he thinks I’m not
interested, there are so many other women…”
“Yeah, he’s a good looking guy and
so sweet, there have to be hundreds…” Sally stopped herself. “Okay, well that
was not only stupid that was cruel. I am so sorry – I didn’t mean it.”
No, it’s okay,” Eloise said
quietly, “I often ask myself why he was ever interested in me. I mean, really,
there were so many women…”
Sally reached over and laid her
hand on Eloise’s hand. “Simple. He didn’t want so many women, he wanted you.
Still does from the look on his face when he left last night.”
Eloise nodded. “Well, I guess we’ll
see what happens.”
Sally nodded. “Yeah, if we don’t
get killed going after this insane ghost, and if Paul forgives you for lying to
him, and if Maria doesn’t place a curse on you for forcing her to do something
that she didn’t want to do.”
Eloise readjusted her hands on the
steering wheel, nodded her head and focused on the horizon. “Thanks Sally, you
sure know how to cheer a gal up.”
Sally grinned. “Of course, I’ve
always been a firm believer in happily-ever-after.”
Eloise rolled her eyes. “Sure, Sal,
I could tell.”
After finishing her drink, Sally
leaned back in the seat and took a nap. Eloise smiled at the soft snores emanating
from the passenger side of the car.
“Well, I suppose it’s enough noise
to keep random spirits away,” she whispered to a sleeping Sally.
Eloise thought about last night and
the feeling that she had in the pit of her stomach when she heard his car drive
away. She recalled the other time she had experienced a similar feeling.
After her trip to Istanbul, Eloise
had thrown herself into her work, often taking double shifts and only getting a
few hours of rest. She found that she didn’t have much of an appetite and only
ate enough to survive. She was losing weight and she looked not only
exhausted, but troubled. However, for those souls caught between this world
and the next, she gave them all she had.
One late afternoon, she had been
forced to take a break by the site supervisor. When she returned, she noticed
that Paul was now working in the area she had been supporting. Rather than
face him, she decided to drive to another site. A large apartment building
that had collapsed, crushing and killing at least fifty occupants.
She was overtired and emotionally exhausted;
a dangerous combination in her line of work.
The small town had been evacuated
by the Red Cross. The afternoon sun still brought waves of heat up from the
parched desert landscape. Eloise walked to the area where the building used to
stand, sat down and waited. For a few moments nothing happened. Then, one by
one, spirits started to slowly walk out of the demolished apartment. From
infants to grandparents, the crowd of spirits assembled in front of Eloise.
She smiled and nodded to them.
They stared at her for a few moments and then exchanged the greeting. Slowly,
in broken Turkish, she explained that she was there to help them relocate to a
better place. She instructed them to look for a light, a gateway that would
lead them to the next place. The crowd grew excited as they all caught sight
of the light, glowing with warmth. They started to rush toward the light and
Eloise could feel their combined power pulling on her spirit. The spirits
could only enter through the gateway one at a time, so they as they ascended,
they formed a circle, like a whirlpool of spirits, waiting for their turn. It
was like standing in an undertow, being pulled along against your will.
She grabbed hold of a large rock,
but could feel her arms slipping as the group moved faster, closer to their
final destination. She tried to hold on, but she was so tired and worn out.
For a moment, she thought she could see the light, the place that would offer
peace and security. All she would have to do is let go and she would be
carried away to the other side. She thought about it for a moment, and her
arms started to slip. But, she decided instantly, she wasn’t a coward. She had
too much to live for to just give up. She scrambled to regain her hold, but by
that time it was too late. The vortex of power from the spirits was pulling
her in. She dug her nails into the rock, but she slipped further. At the last
moment, a strong hand grabbed hers and pulled her back. The hands held her
around her wrists while the rest of her body was pulled sideways and up towards
the departing spirits.
Finally, the last spirit walked
through the gateway and the pull was gone. Slowly her body returned to the
ground. She turned to thank her rescuer and found herself swept up into Paul’s
arms. Grateful and overwhelmed, she could only latch on to him and cry. He sat
on a small outcropping, held her tenderly in his arms and whispered soft words
of encouragement until she gained control of her emotions. Finally, she turned
tear-stained eyes up to him and tried to smile, but her chin trembled.
Paul gathered her up in his arms
and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
“Okay, I just need you to nod, you
don’t have to talk,” he said, “When I arrived, it almost looked like you were
thinking about letting go. Is that true?”
Eloise stilled, she knew that she
owed him the truth. She nodded.
Paul inhaled sharply.
“Was I the reason you came out here
by yourself?”
Once again she nodded.
He swore softly.
“Eloise, I want you to know I will
never hurt you again. Unless you are in danger, I promise I will do my best to
stay out of your life.”
He laid another tender kiss on the
top of her head, stood up and walked away. Before she could respond, call him
back, talk to him, she heard his car door slam and he drove away.
Was he the reason, Eloise wondered
as she drove down the highway? Was it Paul or was it her fear of the unknown?
Her fear of falling in love and getting hurt? She shook her head. She had to set
the thoughts of Paul to the side, until she was able to stop Delphine from
whatever plot she was hatching.
She took the exit for 624,
the Hopedale Highway and continued south as far as she could on paved roads. The
GPS led her down a dirt road that Eloise imagined used to be lined with dense
foliage, like an American Amazon. Now the landscape was open – more like the
plains of Illinois - but instead of rows of corn; brittle, dead marsh reed was
everywhere. Even the early morning sun did nothing to hide the destruction of
the hurricane crossing the land.
A couple of well-placed potholes
jarred Sally enough to wake her from her sleep. She stretched, yawned and
looked out the window.
“It’s not supposed to look like
this, right?” she asked.
Eloise shook her head sadly, “No,
it’s not. It’s supposed to be green and humid. The cicadas are supposed to hum
and the frogs are supposed to sing. The air is supposed to smell like magnolia
trees and verbena.”
Sally turned to Eloise with a
confused look on her face. “I thought that this was your first time to Louisiana,” she said.
Eloise nodded. “It is, but I
remember all of this from my dream.”
They parked the car on the side of
the road and pulled out their equipment. Not only did Eloise carry her
paranormal electronics, she also had a backpack that held a flashlight, a
digital camera and water. Sally carried a backpack that held a small pick-ax,
a flashlight and small containers for collecting samples.
They first walked toward the
water. Their booted feet, protected from debris and snakes, sloshed through
the high water of the marsh, About ten feet ahead of them they spied a small
hill.
“Okay, according to my readings,
the first beach is just over this hill,” Sally said.
Eloise climbed up and stood at the
crest of the hill. She could see how the water had taken over the marsh. The Cyprus tree branches that had probably hung over the water now floated on top. But other
than a tremendous feeling of sadness at the loss, Eloise felt nothing for the
piece of ground she surveyed.
She turned to Sally and shrugged.
“Nope, this isn’t it.”
Sally nodded and checked the map.
“Okay, the next site is about four miles to the west.”
They got back in the SUV and took
dirt roads along the coast to the next site. This site was much the same as
the last, the land was devastated. There were no singing birds or croaking
frogs – only the incessant hum of hoards of mosquitoes.
Eloise followed a small path toward
a rise above the beach. When Eloise reached the top of the hill she felt a knot
in her stomach. She gazed around the area. There was the harbor and over a
little farther was the beginning of the rise. She could see the spot where she
and Delphine had spoken before she was cast out to sea. Yes, she was certain
that this was the beach that she had been on with Delphine.
Eloise nodded, “This is the beach.”
Sally joined Eloise on the top of
the rise and looked around.
“Okay, I say we really don’t need
to go down onto that beach for now. How do you feel about that?”
Eloise nodded. “Yeah, we know we’re
in the right place. Let’s explore the area.”
Walking north, they located a patch
of shrub trees that had not been destroyed by the storm.
“Wow, this is weird,” Sally said,
walking through the wooded area. “It’s like it was protected or something.”
Once again Eloise was feeling that
this area was familiar. She stopped and surveyed the area slowly.
“Sally, this is the place in my
dream,” she said slowly, “This is the plantation.”
“You mean this is the Jean-Paul
meets his doom place?”
Eloise nodded wordlessly.
“Cool, let’s check it out,” said
Sally.
Eloise led Sally through the woods
to a grassy area. The tall grass was knee high and was surrounded by an old
wire and fence posts. They entered the area through a break in the fence and
slowly walked around. Eloise kicked a large rock. She bent down to examine it
further and realized that it was the cornerstone of a foundation.
The memory of the charred carriage
house came rushing back. She stepped away from the rock and took a deep breath.
“Okay,” she called to Sally in a
shaky voice, “We just found the old carriage house.”
“Not much left of it, is there?”
Sally asked as she walked over to Eloise, sipping on a water bottle.
Eloise shook her head. “As I
recall, there wasn’t a whole lot left after that night.”
“So,” said Sally, looking around
the area, “which way to the house?”
Eloise led the way back up the path
from the carriage house. The clear path she had been on during her dream was
now overgrown with bushes and brambles.
Finally, they broke through to the
other side and found themselves in a grove of ancient willow trees.
“This is so weird,” Eloise
whispered, “It’s like being in a bad movie.”
Sally came up behind Eloise and
nodded. “Did I ever tell you that I hated those kinds of movies?”
Eloise chuckled. “For some reason I
figured they would be right up your alley.”
“No, way,” Sally said, moving
around Eloise into the grove, “And once the creepy music starts – I’m outta
here!”
They made their way through the
grove to an old and rotted gazebo.
Sally ran her hand along the rail.
“Okay, this is really cool. I mean can you imagine the clandestine meetings
that took place in here?” she turned to find Eloise looking clearly
embarrassed.
“So, you and Jean-Paul had a little
something going on out in the gazebo that night, eh?” she wagged her eyebrows
suggestively.