Possessed (2 page)

I felt my cheeks turn hot and my eyes
narrow. Calm, Arelia. Calm. I had to keep reminding myself that.
“You’re such a hypocrite,” I said. “You claim that the world loves
putting people into boxes, but obviously you like doing the same.
You never call anyone by their real names. Lucus is not Prince
Charming and Sabrina is not Barbie. They have names because they
are real people, not cartoon characters. If you want people to
treat you differently then maybe you can try to be a little less
repulsive.”

Ivan peeled his eyes off of the
ceiling. His gaze rested on my face and there was a moment of
silence before he spoke. “You don’t get it, queen, do you? I
thought you would, but maybe Barbie’s vapidness is rubbing off on
you. I choose to be repulsive and vile because it’s the box I
select. No one else can put me in it.”

As much as I wanted to get what he was
saying, I didn’t. Ivan was as enigmatic and puzzling as the loa. I
had a horrible feeling that trying to understand him was going to
be more trouble than I was ready for. “If you don’t want me to help
you, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to buy you a white
cat so you can sit around and stroke it while you come up with evil
plans for eternity?” I asked. “Will that make it all better? I
think it’s sad that you’ve written off the entire world. Not
everyone and everything is as horrible as you think.”

Ivan didn’t say anything or even crack
a smile. He got up from the bed and tossed the cigarette butt into
a nearby trash can. I took a step back and reached for the
doorknob. Before I could budge another inch, Ivan grabbed my hand
and pulled me close to him. The smell of his sweat mixed with
cigarettes and John the Conqueror root was semi-sweet, smoky and
unbelievably overpowering.

“
The world is as messed up
as I think because it’s never shown me otherwise. How am I supposed
to believe something I’ve never seen? Now, I’m going to ask you
again, queen. Leave. Get out of here and let me and Prince Charming
wallow in the misery that we’ve both come to love,” he said, as he
arched one eyebrow slightly and gave me an ultimatum.

I stood on my toes and pushed him back.
“I already said no. Just because you keep asking, it doesn’t mean
my answer is going to be any different. You’re going to stay bitter
forever just because some girl chose Lucus over you? Well, to be
honest, I don’t blame her for picking him.” There was no way in
hell I was going to let Ivan threaten me.

He closed his eyes and let out a soft,
miserable sigh. Slowly, he ran his coarse fingers through my hair.
“Your little brain can be so shallow sometimes. You really ought to
stop spending so much time with the princess. This is not about
some girl; it’s about everything he represents: entitlement,
supremacy, and oppression. Do you realize that these rooms are
filled with blood? My blood, the blood of my mother, my father, and
the blood of thousands of others forced to work against their will?
The way I see it, he should sit here and rot for eternity in
blood-filled rooms. It’s clearly my mother’s revenge on him and his
family. So, I’m asking you for the last time. Leave. There are
plenty of others like him roaming the city. I’m sure you’ll make a
lovely placée for any one of them.”

“
Screw you!” I screamed, as
I slapped him across the face hard. “Who says that anymore? Who
thinks like that?” Little by little the pity I had for him was
starting to erode. I pressed myself up against the door and tried
my best to distance myself from him.

“
Tsk, tsk. Violence is not
the answer, but I am a sucker for pain, baby. Slap me all you want.
Besides, you’re only getting so worked up because you know it’s
true.” Ivan’s eyes gleamed in delight and the corners of his mouth
curled. Apparently, he loved getting slapped and making people
upset. There was a short silence and then suddenly he was serious,
quiet and reflective. He stroked my cheek softly and stared at me
with his strange, haunting eyes. “It’s okay; you’re so young, you
still have your illusions about the world.”

“
Oh, I have no illusions,” I
said firmly. Who was he to tell me how I saw the world?

He sighed. “You’ll learn. I used to be
that way too. Innocent. Naïve. I truly believed in the good in
people. Sadly, none of my beliefs were ever true. The truth is,
people are pathetic and pitiful, and as far as I’m concerned this
whole world should just burn already. I’m pretty sure most people
feel the same way I do, given how trendy dystopian and apocalyptic
movies are. Sure, some things may change in name within our sad
legal system, but they never change where it matters most- in
people’s hearts. And that is why we are all screwed.”

Standing there and listening to Ivan
spout his jaded and bitter world-views was exhausting. I never
thought I’d ever meet anyone more cynical than myself. Clearly, I
had met my superior. How was I supposed to help someone so
horrible? The thing that made it worse was that Ivan knew he was
awful. I was tired of arguing with him. His spectacularly flawed
logic was making me dizzy. All I wanted to do was find Sabrina,
apologize and get back to Lucus. Sigh. Lucus. “We’re not getting
anywhere arguing. Now, since you haven’t decided what you want to
do with me, let me go already.”

Ivan threw his head back and grinned.
“Who says I haven’t decided what to do with you? I can’t just let
you go, can I? You’ve got such a big mouth, if I let you go, you’re
going to go running to Prince Charming and tell him
everything.”

“
No I won’t, I promise.” It
was such a lie, of course; I was going to tell Aunt Mae first and
then Lucus. “I just want to stay here and earn some
money.”

Ivan came closer. The scent of
cigarettes and John the Conqueror root grew stronger. “You’re
lying, queen. Don’t be such a pathetic, self-sacrificing girl with
low self-esteem,” he said, as he tucked a stray hair behind my ear.
“Leave.”

“
No,” I said
firmly.

“
Fine then,” he whispered,
“Go to sleep, little baby. When you wake up nothing will make
sense.”

Before I had a chance to say anything,
he pressed his lips against mine, and the world went
dark.

Chapter 3

I’ve Laid a Passway For
You

My eyes opened and the first thing that
I saw was Ivan. To my horror, I realized that I was in his bed;
fully clothed, thank God. After he kissed me everything had gone
blank and silent. Had I fallen asleep, and for how long?

The room was dark and still except for
a few black candles that burned low. They bathed Ivan’s face in
soft and deceptively angelic light. His grey eyes were wide and
innocent, but the hard expression on his lips gave him
away.

I noticed that the sun had gone down
since my little nap, meaning that I must have been out for at least
an hour. The stale smell of cigarettes had been replaced by an
oddly enticing mixture of musty smoke and… sweet chocolate? I
sniffed the air and tried to take in every ounce of its seductive
aroma.

“
What?” I asked. “How?” I
tried to move, but my limbs were heavy and lifeless. Like a
sluggish idiot, I attempted to sit up, only to have my body fail
me. With every attempt, the squishy mattress would pull me back
down.

My throat was dry, and trying to form
full sentences was proving to be a monumental challenge.

Ivan smiled that smug smile of his and
said nothing as he propped both hands behind his head and leaned
against the heavy headboard. His expression grew increasingly
bright as he watched me struggle.

“
Water,” I
muttered.

“
You don’t need water.
You’re only being dramatic.” He let out a giant bored
sigh.

“
You ass. What have you
done?” My voice was low and screechy, like a demented banshee. It
was unrecognizable even to my own ears.

“
Erzulie?” I begged for her
to answer even though I knew she was determined to make me
understand Ivan. If he wasn’t the enemy, why should she help me
fight him?

After watching me for a few minutes,
Ivan roughly pulled me towards him and rested my damp head on his
lap. He wound a loose curl around his finger. “There’s no point in
trying to fight it, queen. You’ll move eventually.”

“
Let me go,” I whispered.
“Please. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. But I can’t leave. I just
can’t. Please understand.”

Ivan ignored me. Instead, he ran his
fingers lightly down my cheeks and across my mouth. “Do you know
what the best part of hoodoo/voodoo is?”

I shook my head.

“
You can do all sorts of
things without ever having to actually physically touch someone.
It’s so easy to get someone to behave and do all kinds of bad that
they wouldn’t normally have the guts to do. Let me tell you a
little story.”

“
Obviously I don’t have a
choice, now do I?” I said through clenched teeth.

“
No, not really,” he said,
as he gently stroked my forehead and peered at me with serene but
somewhat menacing eyes. “You see, back in the day, when
voodoo/hoodoo was thought of as no more than wild, naked dancing
that involved a lot of snakes, people were scared. Hell, they were
terrified; yet strangely fascinated. Of course, some of these poor,
conflicted souls were morbidly curious and would often secretly
wander into voodoo ceremonies, where they had no place being. Both
you and I know how moody the loa can be. Anyways, I guess you can’t
blame anyone for being curious, it’s human nature, but you can
blame people for being stupid. Most of these people were smart
enough to keep their mouths shut, but not all.”

“
If you’re going to give me
a boring history lesson, you might as well kill me now. You said I
was a crappy storyteller; well, you’re no better,” I muttered, as I
tried to move his hand away from my forehead.

Ivan laughed a deep, genuine laugh. “So
much fire, queen. You and I could be great friends only if you saw
things my way. Now, quit interrupting and let me finish. So, the
stupid people were the ones who opened their mouths and ran to the
cops. Yeah, even the cops were cracking down on voodoo back then.
Of course, the media, especially The Times Picayune, got its kicks
from reporting voodoo-related arrests. In 1863, a silly little girl
with a big mouth accidently stumbled into the middle of a ceremony.
She must have been a lot like you, because instead of just ignoring
it and getting on with her life, she reported what she saw to the
cops. Around four hundred women were charged with the crime of
dancing naked. I guess whatever loa they were calling on was in the
mood for a good time. These women were put on trial, but strange
things started to happen. Confusing things. The little girl
suddenly couldn’t remember what she saw. When she opened her big
mouth at the trial, no words came out. The judge was inexplicably
charmed by these supposedly evil women and dropped all charges,
citing a lack of evidence.”

“
What does this story have
to do with me?” I asked.

Ivan lowered his head, brought his lips
to my ear and started to gently sing in a mournful tone:

I got stones in my
passway

And my road seem dark as
night

I got stones in my
passway

And my road seem dark as
night

I have pains in my
hearts

They have taken my
appetite

I have a bird to
whistle

“
You don’t have a big mouth,
do you, Arelia?”

I wanted to say yes, but for some
peculiar reason, the word wouldn’t come out. Yes became:
“No.”

“
I didn’t think
so.”

You laid a passway for
me

Now what are you trying to
do

I'm crying
please

Plea-ease let us be
friends

And when you hear me
howling in my passway, rider

Plea-ease open your door
and let me in

“
You’re paranoid and
indecisive, and now my thoughts will become yours,” said
Ivan.

I wanted to scream no they won’t, but
once again the words didn’t come out.

“
My thoughts will become
yours. Soon, you’ll be so confused that all you’ll want to do is
get as far away from here as possible. You’re the silly, stubborn
girl who just can’t seem to keep her mouth shut, so you’re going to
be taught how.”

“
No,” I finally managed to
whisper. “No.”

“
Oh, but yes. You see, I’ve
been watching you, baby; I know your habits, and that gives me
power over you. Maybe you should have been doing the same instead
of constantly calling me a creep and running off to his arms. Now,
we’re going to get up and go back to the party before anyone starts
to really worry, aren’t we?”

“
No. No, we’re not. I have
to go find Sabrina.”

Ivan brought his face close to mine. He
slipped his fingers around the back of my neck and looked me
straight in the eyes. His gaze was deep, forceful, and strangely
dangerous. My hands fell unwillingly onto his chest and I tried to
push him away, but I couldn’t. Cigarettes, chocolate and Louis.
“No, you don’t,” he said afterwards. “We’re going to have some fun
and then you’re going to pack your bags and leave.”