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RAYNE SIMONEAUD FOUND herself in a difficult situation. She had been having an affair with a married man for several months and now she was pregnant. When she played around with a love potion that would make him attracted to her, she never once believed that it would work, but no sooner than she said the spell, he came to her.
She was not ready to have a child, but could not find it in herself to abort the child. Killing a child, born or unborn, was not in her nature.
She had to tell the father. She would not be able to hide the fact she was pregnant any longer. She was already showing. She planned to tell him he had nothing to worry about; that she would give the child up for adoption. At first she’d found her lover intriguing, but lately she sensed a dark side to him. She met him while working at the hotel and felt the attraction to him instantly. Shy as she was, she still attracted the bad boys and never someone she could build a life with. As it stood, she needed to go away and hide out for a while until the baby came. Even though New Orleans was a big town, her family was still tight knit. They would ask questions, questions she didn’t want to answer. Her family would want her to keep the baby, offering to help raise it, but that was not what she wanted. She was still young and hadn’t accomplished any of the goals she set for herself. No, this baby would be better off with a family that could provide for it, someone who would love it unconditionally. This child growing inside of her needed a mother and father to love it. That was not something she could give it now. She had planned to break it off with her lover, but since she hadn’t seen him in a few weeks, she hadn’t had a chance to end it and now this. This wasn’t something she could write in a letter and send to him. No, she should tell him in person.
***
RAYNE BOLTED UPRIGHT in bed; unsure of exactly what woke her. She let out a scream when she saw the man. “Please, please don’t hurt me. Take whatever you want from the house, but don’t hurt me.”
Instead of listening to her, he moved closer to the bed, ready to pounce. She pleaded with him one more time, “Please, I am pregnant. Don’t hurt my baby.”
He sneered at her, “Lady, that baby is the whole reason I am here.”
Dread seeped into her bones. Why would he do this to her? She told him he didn’t have to worry about the baby, that she didn’t want him to leave his wife for her. She’d talked to several adoption agencies and found one she was comfortable with. The agency already had a family in mind, one that didn’t care that the baby was of a mixed race. Besides, you had to look close to see that she came from a biracial family. Her hazel eyes, which had a tendency to be more green than anything else, tended to throw people off. She was always being told that she had voodoo eyes, which were in her blood. That was what made her a good traiteur. Now, she would never be able to show the world that she was just as good of a traiteur as her mother and her child would never see the light of day.
When the man went to reach for her, she fought back with all of her strength. She was determined not to go down without a fight. She scratched and bit at him as he tried to restrain her. She managed to rake her nails across his face, leaving a gouge mark. He picked up his revolver and struck her against her head with the butt of his gun.
With blood running down her face, she glared at him, “I will not forget this. He did not have to send someone to hurt me or my baby.”
***
A SHUDDER MADE ITS way down his spine as she continued to glare at him. He hoped his Boss knew what he was doing. This woman looked as if she could put a spell on them. He had never believed in all that hocus pocus until his dealings with the voodoo priestess. Now, since he knew for sure this stuff existed, he preferred to observe it from behind the scenes.
By the time he had her arms and legs bound with the rope, she was hysterical and muttering to herself. He didn’t know what she was saying, but he had a feeling it was not good. She continued to struggle to free herself from the ropes that securely bound her. When he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, the screams became almost unbearable. He looked over at his partner, “Grab something to cram in this one’s mouth to shut her up.”
The partner looked through her dresser drawers and found a pair of socks to stuff in her mouth. To make sure she didn’t spit them out, he also grabbed a pair of nylon stockings to tie around her mouth to hold the socks in place.
The silver moon was hidden in the starless night. Even the night must know that evil lurked about. The small boat quietly puttered down the bayou on the way to see the voodoo woman as directed by their Boss.
The two men pulled up to the clearing that was made from the frequent stops lately. The bayou was calm tonight and the water gently lapped against the small boat and bayou’s edge. The small gas engine was the only sound out this evening. Even the mosquitoes seemed to leave them alone.
The murky smell of the bayou overpowered their senses in this spot. As soon as the larger one stepped out of the boat, his foot sank into the muddy water. He let out a muttered curse as he tried to shake off the mud from his boots. He listened to make sure no one else was about. All he heard was the semiconscious lady in the boat softly moaning. He looked down at the young woman who had caused so much trouble for him tonight. Her sheer nightgown left nothing to the imagination. The humidity of the night had the fabric clinging to all the right curves. Her pregnant belly was just starting to show. She fought like a banshee when they broke into her house tonight, trying to protect the life growing inside of her. Dried blood crusted over her face where he’d hit her with the butt of his revolver. The Boss told them in no uncertain terms that they must bring the woman alive to the voodoo priestess. He wanted her to deal with this one. This was one time Brian had no problem letting the voodoo woman deal with eliminating the Boss’s problem. This woman was unsettling. Even in the darkness of the night, her green eyes glowed with her hatred for them.
They must hurry and get her to the voodoo priestess. The Boss told them that this was a special request from someone that could help their business immensely. But he wondered if the Boss wasn’t the one who needed this done and he didn’t want to let the voodoo priestess know that he had dipped his wick in someone else. The Boss and voodoo priestess never showed any display of intimacy in front of them, but there was a chemistry there that led him to believe the two were hot and heavy. He had worked for the Boss long enough to know the man couldn’t keep it in his pants. He doubted either the wife or voodoo priestess knew, or the man wouldn’t have a pecker.
He looked at his partner, “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
He hoisted the woman over his shoulder, mindful of her swollen belly. The partner watched him shift the weight, “I am still not sure about this. I sure hope the Boss knows what he is doing.”
Brian looked back at the man, “Shut up you fool. You don’t want the Boss to know you are questioning his orders, you hear me.”
He waved his hands in the air, “I am not questioning his orders. This whole thing gives me the creeps is all.”
“The voodoo priestess will take care of her. We are just the delivery boys.” Even though Brian spoke the words, he didn’t truly believe them. Usually, the boss let him handle these things on his own, but he’d asked Brian to train this recruit to see if he could indeed be trusted. If this guy were the mole, they would soon know.
As they walked onto the porch of the small shack, the door opened and the voodoo priestess pointed to the couch. “Put her on the couch for now. We will begin soon.”
He dropped the woman on the couch, unceremoniously. The voodoo priestess walked over to the woman and looked her directly in the eyes. They both looked at each other in shock. Even Brian did a double take at the two standing so near. There was definitely a resemblance that he had not noticed before; they both had the same eyes and facial features.
***
THE VOODOO PRIESTESS took a deep breath and instantly knew why he wanted her disposed of. Indignation rippled through her body as his deception became evident.
Rayne looked at the woman with contempt in her eyes. The voodoo priestess murmured something out loud as she continued her scrutiny of the woman. Even with fire in her eyes, hair unkempt, torn and bloody clothes, the voodoo priestess could see the woman’s inner beauty, something she did not have. Suddenly, the young lady started rocking back and forth on the couch and then she began hissing. The voodoo priestess stared at her. How did she know about voodoo and curses? The voodoo priestess reached into her shirt to touch the Gris Gris bag she kept safely hidden near her breast. Let this woman spit out curses; they would do her no harm. She looked at the two men who brought the woman here and walked over to the small altar she had in her home. Grabbing two Gris Gris bags, she informed them, “Keep these on you at all times. They will protect you from what this one is spouting off. Do not let anyone else touch it and keep it near your skin to keep you safe.”
Brian didn’t have to be told twice as he stuck it in the waistband of his jeans. His partner watched in utter confusion, but he did as Brian; he did not want to be the one killed by some vengeful woman’s curse.
The voodoo priestess picked up her zombie potion and applied it to the woman’s exposed skin. The two men watched as the young woman’s ranting became slower until she stopped altogether. She slumped forward, but Brian knew from experience this one wasn’t dead.
The voodoo priestess looked at the two men and informed them, “Bring her to the boat and drown her in the bayou. I don’t want her to join the other workers. No, this one is too strong willed.” Bianca didn’t want this baby born. She knew exactly whose baby it was and she would deal with his betrayal in her own way. He thought he could be devious and tell her it was for someone else. How dare he think he could fool her! When the time was right, she would show him how powerful she really was, but for now she would abide by his wishes.
***
THE TWO MEN LOADED the now comatose young woman back onto the boat. Before heading out, Brian added two concrete bricks to the boat. “I want to make sure this one sinks to the bottom of the bayou. There is no way I want to make either the Boss or that voodoo woman mad. Plus, this one tried to put a hex on us. We don’t want her coming after us.”
His partner shook his head, “I don’t feel right about this. I have never killed a pregnant woman before, much less one that is a voodoo woman.”
Brian informed him, “I don’t think she is a voodoo woman, but she knows enough about the subject to put a hurt on us. I for one don’t plan on taking this Gris Gris bag off.”
As they headed to the bend in the bayou to dump the body, the young woman sat upright and let out a hideous laugh, causing both men to jump up in fear. Brian never had a zombie come back to life before, so he grabbed his gun and shot her. Instead of dying, she glared at the two men and started chanting. Her voice sounded like a snake’s hiss instead of human. She then told the men, “If I can’t have any more children, then neither shall the two of you or your Boss. Tell him that he will never sire a child.”
Brian grabbed the young woman and threw her overboard. Her body made a loud splash as it hit the water. His partner grabbed the concrete blocks that they had secured to her feet earlier and threw them overboard as well. As she met her maker in the muddy waters of the bayou, both men said a prayer that they were rid of her once and for all.
Brian looked at his partner, “Man, she just may be voodoo.”
The other man made sure that his Gris Gris bag was still tucked securely in his waistband. “I am not about to tell the Boss that she put a curse on him.”
Brian nodded in agreement, “Hell no, mon ami.” He turned the boat back around, “Let’s get the hell out of here and never mention this to anyone.”
“That is fine with me. Do you put up with this creepy shit all the time?”
Brian shook his head, “Mais non! Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.” Brian was one of the Boss’s top enforcers and he planned on staying that way. He had no plans of telling him what happened here. Hopefully, this new guy kept his trap shut too. If not, it could cause some serious problems. The Boss didn’t like when things went wrong, and this was about as wrong as one could get as far as he was concerned. Hell, he shot the woman and she kept on chanting. He had seen some weird shit lately, but this one took the cake. He knew he shot her in the heart and she should have died on the spot. Instead, no blood flowed from the gunshot wound and she continued chanting. He hoped she didn’t pick up the heavy bricks and walk out of the bayou.