Big Gator: A BBW shape shifter paranormal romance (23 page)

             “
I
just thought of something,” Rachel said. “I'll be back.”

             
She
needed to go somewhere and figure this out on her own.

Chapter 24

             
Brandy
showed up at Animal Sphere the next morning for work.  Jake had
called her late the night before, but she already was asleep. 
When he saw her on the bridge overlooking the gator pit as he was in
the middle of a show, he gave her a big smile, and then turned back
to the audience.

             
They
managed to keep their hands off each other during the rest of the
day, surrounded by visitors and staff. But as soon as things quieted
down, Jake took slight advantage of her – not
full
advantage
– during an afternoon break.

             
After
Brandy left to go home, Jake had some paperwork to go over before he
promised to meet her for dinner at a restaurant one town over from
Escala. That's when he got the call from Rachel. She told him he
needed to come over to her place and pick up some things he had left
behind.  Since they were broken up, she didn't want to have to
look at them anymore.  She wanted a fresh start, she said,
without his old T-shirt and CDs lying around.

             
When
Jake arrived at his ex-girlfriend’s, he had no idea she had set a
trap for him.

             
The
voice of Eve LaBelle had been speaking to her great-great-great
granddaughter from the grimoire and from the great beyond.  The
Alligator Curse – the real curse – was so shockingly simple that
Rachel was surprised more angry women hadn't been using it. It's
simplicity was what made it necessary to be kept hidden.

             
The
voice of Eve LaBelle told Rachel there was more to learn – more
that she would teach her – if she could prove herself by pulling
this off.

             
Rachel
called her mother and told her she had a lead on the spell, and that
she wouldn't be back in Key West until the next day. 

             
That
will give my mother some time to go try and pick up some old rich
retiree,
Rachel
mused sarcastically.

             
Rachel
collected the ingredients as Eve instructed her and mashed them
together in a heavy duty mortar with a large pestle. Then she set the
mortar out so the ingredients would dry in the sun.

             
Eve
had given her the directions to a swamp, and she went hunting for
alligator eggs.  Even though it wasn't mating season, Eve told
her they would be there. She snatched some eggs without alerting the
mother, and brought them back to the apartment.

             
Cracking
the eggs, the alligator fetuses were identifiable in form, but
nowhere near hatching. Rachel clipped off the jaws and the tail from
the rest of the body.  This was easy to do, since they were so
soft and fragile. Then she doused them with whiskey and lit them
afire with a match.  She added the ashes to the rest of the
ingredients.  Another splash of whiskey, and another strike of a
match.

             
By
the time she was done, she had a fine charcoal grey powder with
flecks of red.  She lit a couple of candles in the kitchen
alcove where she kept her altar, and she waited for McEvans.

             
In
the dim light of the kitchen, she turned to face a mirror.
And
there instead of her own image was the face of an even more beautiful
woman.
 
This
woman was proud and sharp-eyed, with milk chocolate skin and topaz
eyes. Around her head was a blue silken
gele
–
the
head wrap worn by Creole women back in the day.

             
Eve
LaBelle stared back at Rachel with more fondness than her own mother
had ever shown her.

             
When
McEvans arrived, she invited him in.  She had a fistful of the
powder hidden in her hand.  When he followed her into the
kitchen, she orchestrated things so that his back was to the alcove. 
Then she raised her hand, and with a quick exhalation, she blew the
powder into his face, so that McEvans had no choice but to breath it
in.

             
Then
she waited.

             “
What
the hell was that?” McEvans asked her.  He sneezed, then
rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

             
He
stared at Rachel.  And then he immediately forgot what happened.

             
Rachel
smiled wanly at him.

             “
I'll
get your stuff – wait here.”

             
McEvans
sat down at the kitchen table.  Within a couple of minutes,
Rachel reappeared with a cardboard box.  He stood and and took
the box without checking it.

             “
Thanks,”
he said.

             “
I'll
show you out,” Rachel said.

             
She
walked him to the door, and watched him get into his truck and drive
away.  How she had managed to pull that off so smoothly without
showing her emotions, she had no idea.

             
Very
good,
the
voice of Madame Eve LaBelle told her.
I
was never all that impressed with your mother, by the way.

             
Rachel
felt vindicated. She had no doubt the spell would work.  If Jake
McEvans wanted to be completely obsessed with alligators to the
exclusion of her, then she had ensured that he would no longer just
wrestle alligators.  He would
become
one.

             
He
would become a smarmy reptile. 

             
Subhuman.
             
             

             
Eve
had assured Rachel that the curse came with numerous hidden pitfalls
and booby traps.  The seven cursed families had only figured out
a few of them thus far, even given a hundred years of life
experience.

             
McEvans
would, for example, never again be able to safely travel beyond any
geographic region with a temperate zone.  Rachel felt smug
satisfaction over this particular fact, as she watched his truck pull
out of her driveway. Being the world traveller that he was, that
immediately roped off more than half the planet for McEvans.

             
Oblivious
to what had just befallen him, McEvans headed off to meet up with
Brandy. When he called her on his cellphone, she picked up
immediately.

             “
I'm
running a few minutes late,” he said.

             “
No
problem,” Brandy said.

             “
I
had to go pick up some stuff I left at Rachel's.”

             “
At
Rachel's?”

             “
It
was fine.  It was quick.  We barely even talked.”

             
Brandy's
curiosity rose not because she was worried or jealous, but because
Rachel was supposed to be hiding out somewhere unknown, under the
watchful eye of the Cliburn bounty hunters.  Of course, she
couldn't tell McEvans that.

             
During
dinner, McEvans seemed a little distracted.  He said it was
because he was still trying to get an initial quote on an estimated
budget for Brandy's proposed swamp project at Animal Sphere.  He
was getting annoyed that it was taking so long.

             
It
didn't take much convincing for McEvans to get Brandy to agree to
spend the night at his place.  They were barely two steps
through the door when McEvans caught her off guard and pinned her
against the wall.  Her heart leapt and her knees almost went
weak. His lips went to her throat and she reached up, running her
hands through the hair at the nape of his neck.

             
Suddenly,
McEvans felt a stabbing pain in his gut, and he pulled back, doubling
over.

             “
What's
wrong?” Brandy asked. “Are you okay?”

             
McEvans
dropped to the ground.  He tried to speak, but could barely get
out a whisper.

             “
I
– just give me a second,” he said.

             
The
spasm seemed to subside as quickly as it started.  He
straightened up.

             “
Sorry
– I don't know what happened there,” he said.

             
Brandy
looked worried.

             “
Maybe
you should go lie down?”

             “
Yeah,
okay.”

             
They
made it upstairs without incident.  McEvans pulled back the
covers of his bed and they tried to lie down and relax for a minute. 
McEvans' home was pretty impressive.  It was a ranch in a very
expensive gated community not far from Animal Sphere.  Brandy
had been here before, of course, but as an alligator she had not
gotten a tour of the whole house. His king size bed was heaven,
Brandy thought.

             “
Where
did you get these sheets?” she asked.

             “
They're
1,000 thread-count  Egyptian cotton,” he said. “I brought
them back from Morocco.”

             “
Seriously?”

             
Brandy
snuggled back in the crook of his arm, then turned to face him.

             “
Feeling
better?”

             “
Much,”
he said.

             
And
he proved it to her.

             
Shortly
before daybreak, Brandy awoke first. She looked over at McEvans, who
was fast asleep.  She noticed that he had a hard patch of flaky
dry skin on both his forearms. She hadn't noticed that before on him.

             “
I
can feel you staring at me,” McEvans said, his eyes still closed.

             “
I
was looking at your arms,” she said.  “You have eczema?”

             “
Huh?”
McEvans opened his eyes and looked to where she was pointing.

             
He
scratched at his left arm a bit.

             “
That's
weird,”  he said. He shivered a bit. “I feel chilly for some
reason.”

             “
Why
don't you go take a hot shower,” Brandy said.

             “
Why
don't you join me?”

             
McEvan's
bathroom was as luxurious as his bedroom, and the shower stall had
plenty of room for two. Brandy slipped in first, enjoying the ripple
of steamy hot water cascading down her long hair and back.