Possessed (16 page)

“
I will, I promise,” I said,
as I stepped into the hall.

Chapter 21

Confrontation

As I walked down the infinite hall, the
fresh white doors started to bleed again. Warm drops of blood
crawled towards my feet and coated them in an appalling shade of
deep red. The only thing I could think of doing was closing my eyes
and darting through the hallway as fast as I possibly
could.

Rooms full of blood. Queen, after what
you saw tonight how can you still be here? How can you choose to
fight for someone who’s taken so much from others? What does that
say about you? Now, you’re willing to sacrifice Barbie? How far are
you willing to go? How much are you willing to
sacrifice?

Shut the hell up, Ivan. You’re a coward
for doing this to me. If you had one ounce of courage within your
bones you would stop this and tell Lucus who you really are. Why
don’t you tell him how you feel? You keep on saying that violence
is never the answer but you had the nerve to whip me! What the
hell!

Oh please, that will ease some of the
guilt he feels. Why would I want to do that? Just because you’re in
love with him, doesn’t mean that everyone else has to be too. As
for the whipping, that was your brain’s fault.

For some reason the overwhelming urge
to rip off Ivan’s head returned and a surge of adrenaline coursed
through my veins. I stopped walking and found myself outside of his
door. Without even thinking about what I was going to do if he
actually answered, I started to knock on it. After the fourth knock
he answered.

Still clad in black boxer briefs he
arrogantly leaned against the door frame and sipped from a bottle
of vodka. “Queen, so nice to see that you’re alive and well. What
can I do for you on this lovely…”

The very sight of him disgusted me.
I’ll be the first to admit that what I did next was vastly childish
and not very suave, but I couldn’t control myself. I grabbed the
bottle out of his hand and gave him a hard shove which took him by
surprise and knocked him a few steps back. I entered the room and
closed the door behind me. I was furious, embarrassed, worried and
humiliated. How it was possible to feel all of those emotions at
once, I had no idea. I shoved him again and again but this time his
feet remained firmly planted on the ground and he was totally
unfazed and unimpressed. Wanting nothing more than to get some sort
of reaction out of him, I stood on my toes and poured the entire
bottle of vodka over his head. Watching the clear liquid soak his
hair and torso was beyond satisfying. Then, I handed the bottle
back to him.

He remained totally composed, which
further infuriated me.

“
You’re nauseating! If
you’re trying to win some kind of award for being vile and
repulsive, it’s working. Congratulations. How is what you’re doing
any better than what happened in the past? You claim that the world
hasn’t ever shown you any kindness, well, I’m trying but it’s still
not good enough for you! How dare you bring Sabrina into this! How
dare you! Why are you trying to possess her? What possible reason
can you have? You can do whatever you want with me but don’t you
dare hurt anyone I love!”

His eyes remained distant and detached.
He tapped his fingers against his sculpted jaw then gave me a large
grin and shrugged. “Who says I want your kindness? Whatever happens
to Barbie is your fault, not mine. Whatever happens to you is your
own fault. I don’t need your pity masqueraded as kindness. The only
reason you’re here is to help him, not me. You don’t give a damn
about me or what happened to my mother or any of the others. You
have no idea so please don’t be all noble and pretend that you do.
People who do that make me sick.”

“
No. Louis. No. Why is it so
hard for you to believe that I actually care for you? Why is it so
hard to believe that not everyone is an enemy?” I couldn’t believe
I pulled a Lucus line, but I did. I guess those words didn’t seem
so corny anymore. They made sense. In the short time I had been
with Louis, he had somehow managed to get under my skin and that
terrified me.

He let out bored groan. “My name is
Ivan. Now, if you don’t mind, can you please get out of my room?
I’m about to hit the sack, unless, of course, you’d like to join
me?”

“
This isn’t over,” I warned,
as I turned my back on him.

“
You’re right, queen. It’ll
never be over.”

I shuddered, as I slammed the door
behind me. Even though I was drained and exhausted, I needed to
make that gris-gris and find that trick.

Chapter 22

Temptation

Downstairs, a serene darkness met me
and the sound of oak trees clawing against Aunt Mae’s office window
was unnerving. I was determined to make Sabrina’s gris-gris as
effective as possible so I took forever picking out what I thought
were the right ingredients. I was the first to admit that my
gris-gris making skills were less than stellar. I was super slow
and clearly hadn’t gotten into the flow of things yet, but I needed
to get this right. Hopefully, it would give Sabrina some of the
protection she needed.

“
Arelia. Arelia,” beckoned a
familiar voice. “Open the window. I can help you. I have a very
attractive solution to your little problem.”

My body went stiff as I identified the
voice. It belonged to Mait Carrefour who was not only a super-hot
spirit but also super powerful. Considering how helpful he had been
in helping me get away from that slave driver, I decided to listen
to whatever his proposal was.

“
Hello,” I said, as I opened
the window. The scent of strong pipe smoke surrounded me, but I
couldn’t see Mait Carrefour anywhere. “Where are you?”

“
Over here. Under the tree,
silly little one.”

My cheeks flushed as I focused on him
standing tall and proud against a nearby tree trunk. His absurdly
muscular torso shimmered as raindrops bounced off of it and his
plump lips were pursed in a vastly arrogant manner. His dark eyes
rested on me and immediately I felt like a little school girl who
had a massive crush on her teacher.

“
With all due respect, Mait
Carrefour, what is your proposal?” Good girl, that was a very
respectful and mature way of speaking. I gave myself a mental pat
on the back and tried to avert my eyes from his chest.

He turned his square jaw upwards and
exhaled a large cloud of smoke before speaking. “I’ve noticed that
you’re having a hard time with Louis Beau. He’s being quite the
pest, isn’t he?”

“
How do you know?” I asked
cautiously.

He laughed a deep throaty laugh that
made the trees shake and the ground vibrate. “We see everything,
Arelia. We know all. You know that. Don’t worry, he can’t hear
us.”

“
You saw what he did to me
tonight?”

Mait Carrefour moved away from the tree
and strutted to the window while cracking his whip in the air. He
was so full of himself, but then again he kind of had good reason
to be. I’d be full of myself too if I looked like him and had the
type of power he did. “Yes. So vile. Poor Arelia, don’t you feel
absolutely humiliated and violated?” he asked, as he
sympathetically patted my head.

I nodded. Honestly, I didn’t even want
to think about the whole incident. It made me feel so powerless,
but above all, confused. I wasn’t sure what I felt for Ivan anymore
and a large part of me didn’t even want to help him. But what would
that mean for Lucus?

“
I know how you feel,
Arelia. You’re angry. So angry that the only thing you can think of
is revenge. This Louis is relentlessly tormenting you and now he
may be getting your best friend involved too. You want to leave,
yet your heart is conflicted. Am I correct?” He stared at me as a
mischievous smile played on his lips. “Conflict is so hard for most
people to deal with. Most humans want a black or white answer. Why
should you put up with this constant feeling of conflict, hmmm? Why
not make a decision to end it all?”

“
I don’t want him to hurt
Sabrina. What can I do to stop him? How can you help me?” I tried
to be all cool, but in reality Mait Carrefour had pulled the
thoughts right out of my head and that freaked me out.

“
Give him to me, Arelia.
I’ll take care of Louis. I’ll take him to the other side where he
can live in eternal misery. That is what he desires. Sometimes it’s
too late for a soul and there is no hope or redemption left for it.
They are so blinded with anger and pain that they simply refuse to
see the good in anything. Life gives them no pleasure and they are
no more than animated corpses. I’ll take him where there are
millions of others just like him. He truly belongs
there.”

“
But there’s always a price
to pay. A sacrifice always needs to be made. If I give you Louis,
what do you ask for in return?” I couldn’t believe that I was
actually interested in hearing him out. Was I really ready to
completely give up on Ivan? On Louis? True, I was beyond furious at
him right now but…was I capable of sending him to God knows where?
Where was the other side anyways? How many other sides were there
exactly?

“
Lucus.”

“
What?”

“
Oh Arelia, you know it’s
inevitable. Why not free him of his misery sooner rather than
later?”

“
Sooner rather than
later?”

“
So innocent. So naïve.” He
shook his head and let out another deep laugh. “What do you think
is going to happen if you do successfully free him from Darkwood?
Do you truly believe that he’ll walk out of here and live out the
rest of his life naturally?”

Truthfully, that is exactly what I had
thought. That’s what had to happen. “Yes…”

“
Oh, you’re so silly. Save
yourself the heartache and turmoil. You can walk away from here
tomorrow with Sabrina and enjoy the rest of your summer. Enjoy the
rest of your life. Do you really want to be a part of this world?
As you saw, it can be quite savage and unpredictable. Do you want
your friend to suffer on account of you? Isn’t that
selfish?”

“
But Erzulie said that…She
said that we should always give love a chance even if it comes in
unexpected forms… And there was a bigger purpose behind it all. And
in this world I feel alive…”

All of a sudden it sounded very Disney
and almost fantastical. I felt silly for actually starting to
believe what I had just said. What would I start believing in next?
That dreams actually came true if I wished upon a star?

Mait Carrefour lightly cupped my cheek
with his giant hand and wiped away the tear that unwillingly fell.
“Erzulie can be very fickle. Trust me when I say you’re only
delaying the inevitable. Give Louis to me and say good-bye to
Lucus. Don’t be selfish. Be brave and give them both what they
need. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, but they’ve already
lived theirs. Save yourself and save your friend. In the end they
are both doomed- why risk your friend’s life?”

“
No,” I whispered. “No I
don’t believe you. It can’t end like that. Lucus hasn’t been given
a fair chance. His life was cut short.” I was going to say ‘that’s
not fair’ again but stopped myself. I was beginning to realize that
maybe fair had very little to do with anything.

“
It will end like that.
Perhaps you need some time, hmmm? I can give you the time you need
to make your choice, Arelia. The choice I know you’re going to
eventually make. When you’re ready to hand Louis over to me and
give Lucus what he wants. I will come for them when you are ready
to make the mature decision. Don’t give into these childish and
hopeful thoughts that love and redemption are possible for
everyone. Be wise and know when to quit. Sometimes being mature
means knowing when to give up.”

“
No.”

“
Yes. Good-bye for now,
Arelia. I’ll see you soon. I know I’ll see you real
soon.”

“
No. No. No.” Was the only
thing I could say long after Mait Carrefour had made his exit.
“No.”

Chapter 23

Tricks

I paced around Aunt Mae’s office for a
good ten minutes and went over what Mait Carrefour had said. I knew
that I couldn’t completely trust him. He was a very unpredictable
spirit and thrived on collecting miserable souls. If I was
completely honest with myself, Louis was one of the saddest and
most tragic souls I’d ever met, but I couldn’t bring myself to give
up on him.

Erzulie and Bade kept telling me that
Ivan/Louis wasn’t the enemy but tonight he sure felt like one. I
closed my eyes and blocked out the stream of blood that had started
to slide down the office walls. It’s not real. It’s not real. There
is no blood in this room.

Yes, there is. This room is filled with
my blood, queen.

I opened my eyes and even though the
blood was still there, I ignored it. Maybe I was still a masochist,
even though I had vowed not to be anymore, or maybe I was silly and
naïve like the spirits kept reminding me, but I wasn’t ready to
give up just yet. I couldn’t.

I flipped open the LaRue Family spell
book and located the section labeled Tricks. I figured if I found
where Ivan had laid the trick I could at least gain back some of my
control and be in a position where I was able to think clearly and
stop him from hurting Sabrina. Beyond that I had no idea what I was
going to do. How do you help someone who doesn’t want to be
helped?