Kiss Me, Curse Me

D Street was slow in the mornings with the odd man sauntering along after the long night. Roy had searched pretty much every side street and entered as many buildings as he could without seeming too obvious. His explanation he gave was that he was looking for his friend, and all assumed he meant a male friend.

After he’d stopped in for a spot of coffee and a pastry in a small unremarkable corner dig, he took to the outskirts, systematically poking through the grasses till he hit the forested area. That’s where he stopped as he noticed something odd. It was as if someone had tried to hide their tracks, but they had missed one foot print, the rest roughed out.

Roy had had his fair share of hunting down South and had spent many a weekend in the woods alone. He preferred it actually—how he’d been directed to medicine was merely a fluke. His frugal aunt had left him all her money when she passed. He was the only male heir left in a long line of women—women who’d had plenty of bad luck with men.

There was his mother, who’d taken up residence with Aunt May after his father had abandoned them for a pretty little thing from Alabama. His older sister had never married and had taken to teaching at the local school in the outskirts of his home town, Savannah. She was happy there in that little school and never much had the looks for a man to even take slight interest in her. Maybe if she’d popped a little rouge on her cheeks she’d have lured someone in.

His aunt, well, he hadn’t the slightest idea why she’d never married. She had plenty of money passed down to her from her father, who’d sold his plantation decades before. He made quite a profit on the sale, was tired of dealing with cotton, pecans, and brick-making, so he sold the property and built a nice townhome in the heart of Georgia’s first city. The nightlife was good along the river, and his aunt had enjoyed it. That was about all he knew of her, since he and his mother had lived more countryside in a very small house, supported by the very woman that ended up dealing him his lot in life.

Aunt May died alone in her bed before the Depression hit, with her only request being that he enroll in the university to seek his doctorate of medicine. Money would be paid out to him by her lawyer. Luckily for Roy, he finished his degree before the wealth was lost in 1929. He’d spent the rest of his time in this hospital, interning for little money. His experience had shown him that he didn’t want to be in the hospital, and so he set out to the Northwest in search of an internship that fit his style—anywhere but the places folks go to die.

Dying was too much for him to handle at most times, knowing that the Dear Lord took the sickest ones anyway, even after all the medical treatments. No—Roy wanted a nice, simple clinic, treating an injured ankle or assisting with a birth. Doc had found him while in Seattle on a trip for supplies. They had both waited in line at the apothecary at the Seattle waterfront on a terribly rainy day. Roy was stocking up in an effort to start up his own clinic some place. The conversation had been simple, really. Doc needed a hand, and Roy agreed to the proposition. They both took their loot and set forth, back across the pass.

The memories cascaded away as Roy noticed the little sleep shelter tucked away as the trees thickened. The fire had only been out an hour or so; he made sure not to disturb anything. There was just a simple blanket, hand-woven, and space for one sleeper. He sat there in the spot where he figured Coreen had just been, looking for any other clues for guidance. The tracks unfortunately led out in many directions. This was a hub of some kind for the one who built it. He picked the route that led farther into the woods as the odd footprint he found looked deeper, as if it carried weight on the step.

“Ah, Ahanu, you took her” Roy said out loud to the tall pine trees. “I’ll find you both yet.”



***



In the exact center of the room lay a pale Coreen. She remained motionless there on that stone table, so cool to the touch—just like the hard surface she lay upon. Ahanu examined her petite features, her little nose and high cheekbones. Her lips were a soft pink, a little fuller than his mother’s. Her skin was so perfect, just a thin smile line coming from each corner of her closed lids, her light tan not doing her any justice. Her breath escaped her as slowly as his sister’s had that dark, terrible day many months ago.

How many hours had he spent with his dear Coreen? Not enough. He took hold of her hand knowing what he had to do. This was love, and there was nothing that was going to take her away. No man could take her from this earth, no being, no wolf, for that matter. This earth he hadn’t known long, but she was it for him, and he knew he’d spend the rest of his days with this girl. He watched his father pour the now-warm liquid into the same snake-skull cup Ahanu had drunk from the day before. The boy set the long, blessed blade on the stone table next to his girl, keeping it near to his belly.

“Lift her head for me.”

Ahanu complied, holding her like a doll.

“Tilt her head back just a little; open her up so this can slip down.” The liquid was poured, and Kanti rubbed her neck to stimulate her swallow reflex. “That’s it, that’s it. There, there, swallow, swallow. Little bird, swallow.”

Coreen swallowed. They lay her flat again, making sure not to drop her dead-weight cranium, each taking their stance at her side, each watching the other with golden eyes in the fire-lit room.

“Now what?” Ahanu asked, taking hold of her hand. The anticipation in his stomach was almost unbearable at the thought that she could wake up, that he could talk with her, have her just make eye contact—something, anything.

“We wait. She’s in her sick sleep now. They call it a coma, but it is not a coma. It is the transition from this world to the next. It is not a dream. It is the pathway; it is real. In dreams, we access a part of it; in sick sleep, you are there. She can move in between, but she will not remember anything that happened there. As the tonic takes effect, she’ll move into dream state, the state in which you embraced the wolf. She will remember. He knows to stay away till we proceed, but he may visit her there. He’s like that sometimes. They have met before.”

“I know. I saw him in the woods.” Ahanu glanced down at the knife.

“She was ready then, but you saved her . . . interrupted.”

Saved her . . . saved her . . . ? Red, Ahanu saw red as his hate swelled. He closed his red, glowing eyes to hide them, but it was too late. Kanti knew his mind. Ahanu reached for the knife and swung it hard. But, his father was gone.

Searching the room, he found no sight of the Shaman. Kanti was too quick, too advanced in his powers. A laugh echoed around him. It wasn’t cruel, it was in pity almost, like Ahanu had picked a grander target and he was but a mere mouse scattering about with a tail too ready for the lopping.

“You can’t have her,” said Ahanu, knife up, circling his Coreen in protection.

“Did you think I didn’t know what you were up to, my son? Did you think you could hide from me? I know your thoughts. The wolf reveals all. You want to kill me, do you?”

“Yes,” said Ahanu. “I don’t just want to kill you. I will kill you.”





The blackness became a soft, billowing grey. There was a hint of light, enough to see just an arm’s length ahead. In a thick, cool mist, Coreen stood in her stolen, wine-colored, whore’s dress. Sounds of a waterfall boomed in the background. She walked on silt, looking for the source of the water, desperately parched, like she hadn’t had a real drink in years. It’s all she could think of to reach that sanctity—water. If she could find the waterfall, she would be saved, as water is life.

Continuing through the mist, it was if she was just circling in some grey oblivion, but she continued to saunter. There was will in her still. The will to keep going, to keep fighting for something, for a memory. She tried to think, tried to reason about the unknown choices that lay ahead of her—water. It was the key to it all. It must be found.

Ages passed in mere seconds. The search led to nothing, even though the sound was mounting in intensity. She called out, but she had no voice. Then came a deafening silence, as if she’d lost her hearing for good, as if invisible hands cupped her ears. She shook her head to try to rid herself of the horrible ringing, losing her sense of direction, becoming lost in a sense of vertigo. She blankly cried out again for help. She needed help.

It was then a single sound resonated around her—that familiar, deep howl.

AHHHHHHOOOOOO.

“Help me, please?” Coreen fell to her knees, arms out before her, open for all to see. “Let me go. Set me free.”

The mist lifted to reveal a single waterfall. Coreen sat back at the very top of the falls. The current was bright, as if the sun flowed through it, from within. She held up an arm to protect her eyes; it was almost blinding her. Standing now at the edge, she knew what she had to do. Across the other side, she saw the wolf on its hind legs and it smirked at her. She jumped into the light, into the warm water, and rode the torrent rapids over the falls.



Startled by her vicious onslaught of coughing, Ahanu stopped his circling to aid Coreen, helped her sit up, and hopped up on the table so she could lean back against him and wake to some comfort. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here now.” He swept her hair back off her face, so she could see, noticing her weakness—hands trembling, sucking air in hard and fast, as if she was drowning.

“Sit me forward,” she said in amongst the coughing. “I can’t breathe.”

“You’re okay. You’re fine. You’re here with me.”

A wicked laugh mixed in amongst their panicky chatter.

“Don’t you come near us. You back away wherever you are,” said Ahanu, holding up the knife to the nothingness before them.

There was a hiss next.

“What is that?” asked Coreen in her fluster.

“Don’t worry about it. You just rest on me. That’s all you need to worry about right now. Come on now.” He pulled her back onto him.

Whatever approached, whatever crept out from the dark, Ahanu was never going to let her go, wrapping an arm around her frail frame and holding firm his only weapon in the other hand. He kept his eye on the room, darting back from the fire to each corner and to the only apparent exit out. He saw nothing, even though it felt as if there was a presence in the room with them. Closing his eyes for just a second, he tried to use some other sense to get a grasp on the situation.

It was difficult to dig deep with the imminent threat, but Ahanu focused, listened to his own pulse far out in his limbs bringing his thoughts back up to his chest, to his heart then back up to his mind’s eye, sensing an energy welling there. It was clean and pure: it was him, but it was wolf too. He could feel it, could smell it, touch it. He threw this energy out into the room only to have it thrown back at him. It slammed him off the table. He hit the ground hard, holding Coreen tight as she went down with him. The Shaman was in another form, surrounding them on all sides, everywhere. His laugh echoed about. It was awful. It was evil.

Awkwardly shifting her over to the stone wall, Ahanu stood up. “Let’s make this fair. Father to son in physical form,” he shouted into the thickening atmosphere.

“No, my son. You must come to me if you want to have this out. You must come to me.”

“I’m not leaving her alone.”

“We can bring her in, too. She can watch you die.”

“Leave her out of this. Let her go. She’s innocent in all this.”

“It’s too late for her. She made her choice. She will be forever marked. Though she has not been delivered yet, the process has already begun. She cannot go back now fully, only forward.”

“What is it he wants? Why her? Why anyone?”

“He’s hungry, my son. He won’t stop till he’s full. He’s been awakened—two people entered his cave. Two young people shared a kiss on a night that was far from ordinary. He’s seen all the new goings on, the disruptions to the land. He’s not going to stop till many are dead.”

“This has happened before?”

“Yes. You saw the bones in the cave. It happened upon the first settling here, the first of our ancestors. It happened when the white man came. It happens when he feels like it, when one enters and disrupts him. He was asleep, but now he knows about the dam, and he wants blood. Sacrifices have to be made if you want to live in his territory. He’s been here long before any man walked these parts.”

“I will not leave her like this. I will not go to where you are. I refuse to fight you among dreams.”

“Have it your way then.” Another sharp, corrosive hiss reverberated around the room. Coreen cover her ears, couldn’t bear the terrifying sound.

Two black-marbled eyes reared from behind the stone sacrificial table and a familiar pink-forked tongue flicked out above the eyes, a slithering sound coming across the stone floor. Ahanu saw the gleam of the knife lying to the left of the table; it had fallen as he had—his choices were slim at this point.

Ahanu lifted Coreen as quickly as he could and made a dash for the carved exit opening, up and out. Hitting the second step, he fell back as he felt the snake, his transformed father, yank him back into the forsaken room. Fearing the worst for her, Ahanu let go of his girl. He didn’t want to leave her there alone on those steps, but he didn’t want the snake near her either. It pained him to do it, feeling physically ill letting go of her—separation after finally being reunited. He heard her moan in pain as he dropped her. Is she hurt?

The python’s grip tightened around his chest. The air escaped him now; he couldn’t breathe in and couldn’t breathe out. Lightheadedness ensued and his stomach contents released across the floor with a splat as the monstrous, light-yellow-and-cream python curled its body around him. Next, he felt his innards being crushed from top to bottom, cracking ribs—an awful, searing pain. Trying to cough out a plea, Ahanu found that he couldn’t utter a single sound. This life was going to end with a complete pulverization of every piece of him. Pain flowed through every inch of his body, excruciating pain. He thought of his mother, saw her beautiful eyes, the green flecks tangled with the brown. He felt nothing but pure love for her. He wanted her to be there for some reason. It was her that he wanted now. She’d held him when he was born; she’d held him whenever he needed her on that rare occasion. When he’d cried for his dead sister, she had soothed him on those endless, dark nights. They had soothed each other in warmth and love. He called out to her now in his anguish, his own father squeezing the life out of him.

“M-O-T-H-E-R.” He squeezed the word out with every last inch of him.

The breathy words hung in the air, and the black-eyed python moved his head up to greet his dying son’s contorted face. The words were almost comprehensible mixed in on the end of a hiss. “Ssssssoooo ssssssong, ssssssyyyyye son.”

“Noooooooo!” Coreen cried out, bringing down the knife as hard as she could, which was hard enough to pierce through the python’s hard scales. She heaved the knife out and went again higher up towards its head, and kept going. “Let him go! Let him go!” she screamed over and over, stabbing over and over with all that she had.

Bright-red blood oozed out of the python, giving him new stripes. He loosened his death hold and dropped his head to the floor with a loud, dull thud.

“Let him go.” She pushed at the body as the snake relaxed, still coiled around Ahanu.

Gasping, Ahanu struggled to move and waited till he recovered his oxygen levels. “I can’t move. I’m injured.”

Coreen collapsed to the floor, sitting. It had taken every ounce of energy out of her to rescue her sweet. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to get you out.”

“I’m stuck here. This thing on me. My father. He’s dead.”

“Your father? What do you mean?”

“It’s not just a snake. He was my father. He was a man—a great Shaman.”

“He’s not so great if he tried to kill you.”

“Ugh.” Ahanu closed his eyes in sadness at the thought of it. Deep down a small part of him wanted to know more about this man. What was he going to do now? His father awakened him to the wolf—this path had already been chosen for him before he was born. He didn’t want this path. Ahanu knew that. He hated whatever it was. He felt his fury well up, basked in the pain, used it to squirm, drew on the hate to move and escape the grips of the python, pushing against the scales, against the cool body, until finally he scooted out from the hole and landed on the floor next to Coreen. “Ohhhhh jeez.” He grabbed her. “Coreen, Coreen. You’re here. I can’t believe it. You’re back . . . with me.”

“I never left,” she said. “I knew I could have left. I could have closed the door to this life. But, I held on in the dark. I knew you were there, for some reason. I couldn’t see you, but I knew something. It was just a feeling—I guess.”

He held her close. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“You were fine. I’m sorry. We’re here now together.”

They sat facing each other. He wrapped his sore, tired arms around her small waist and planted them dead center on her back, which was exposed in the dress. Her skin was so smooth. It excited him. They locked eyes like they had done before, their bodies touching even closer than ever before. He could feel her heart pounding against his, in sync. He pushed her gently down on the warmed stone floor, kept one hand under her head like a pillow, and scooted the other down beneath the curve of her spine.

“I love you,” he whispered. He didn’t care about his pain, his broken ribs—he pushed those sensations away. He was happy finally. She was here with him. “I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you. I knew you would be mine.”

She smiled there in his arms, enjoying those long-awaited words. He’d never said them before. She had waited for those words to have a single moment of completion in her tender heart.

“I want you,” she returned. She could barely speak. It almost hurt to say it, “I love you Ahanu. I want you. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Right now? You don’t want to wait?”

“No. No more waiting. We take this chance, and we take it now, unless—Are you hurting . . . ?”

“I’ll be okay. I already feel better. The pain is easing . . . I don’t know . . . like I’m healing already. I’m not sure.” He examined her face. It was pure of intent. Her blue eyes like a crystal pool, so deep, he could drown in them—innocent, yet not. She’d never said such things. She never spoke like this. It drove him wild thinking about it. He’d certainly thought about it before all the craziness, had wanted her so badly that some nights he just tossed and turned under the trees with the soft moon being the only witness to his burning agony. “I want you, too,” he leaned in closer, pressed his warm lips against hers, and parted her mouth like an open flower. Their tongues danced slowly at first. He pressed against hers, she pressed against his. It was like kissing for the first time, as if they’d never met. They were, after all, two completely new beings embracing in the sensation of their new beginnings. Something deep down in him wanted to bite. He wanted to taste blood, taste her blood—just a little, he told himself. He nipped her top lip, and she squealed.

Coreen broke their passionate seal and tilted her head back, closing her eyes. It was a pleasure she’d never experienced before and she wanted more of it. She wrapped her legs around him, the fire burning low behind them. The room was darker now—just a glow from red and blue embers. She couldn’t see, but Ahanu could. He could see everything in this new light. Everything was a soft yellow. Coreen’s blonde hair looked bright gold against the darker shadows that surrounded them; her blue eyes were bright and sharp. It was on those eyes that he focused. He tossed her undergarments into the fire. The flames flicked alive once more on their own, as if stoked by the passionate tension. She laughed, she couldn’t help it. He looked amazing in the firelight when he tore off his t-shirt, such strong lines and smooth skin. She wanted to sit up to greet him, but was paralyzed with her wanting. He undid his braid slowly, hair falling down over his body.

Their worlds spun and collided as Ahanu took her for the first time. It was painful at first, and she breathed through it. Ahanu was gentle, moving slowly with her, watching a single tear run down her cheek. The connection between them was so intense that realities ceased and became lost deep within each other—two bodies connected in the last place they’d ever be found. Ultimately, their passion peaked, then shyly retreated. Exhausted, they wilted into each other’s arms.

“I’ll never leave you,” he whispered as he brushed the hair from her moist forehead. “I want to marry you. I want you for my own. Be my wife.”

Coreen placed her hand on his hand, which lay upon his beating heart. “I will,” she said, crying happy tears.

He wrapped an arm under his fiancée and pulled her in close to so they could nap in peace.



***



They woke nude, warm bodies entwined in the pitch black now, as the fire had burned out completely. When they moved, they felt stiff and sore. Ahanu rolled about, feeling for his bloody clothes, finding them, and pulling them back on. Coreen still in her dress was slightly regretting the choice of fuel—her undergarments—for the now burned-out fire.

“I feel naked,” she said.

Ahanu chuckled. “We’ll find you something in here. There’s got to be something around. Oh . . . I can’t even think about it, what happened. He tried to kill me—my own father.”

“Coreen reached out for him in the dark, but felt nothing, “You there?”

His voice answered back from across the room. “Oh no . . .” His tone reeked of despair.

“What? What is it?” Her feelings of comfort and safety immediately vanished.

“There’s no body.”

“I can’t see. Help me up.”

Forgetting that his new visual acuity only applied to him, Ahanu rushed over to Coreen who sat like a little blind mouse huddled in the corner. He helped her up and hugged her as she shivered.

“I don’t know what to make of it,” he said as they stood before a long smear of blood that lead only one way—out. “He’s alive.”

They followed the trail of the snake, up the steep stairs. A smudging of red light from a glass lantern above lit one side of the stone wall and the thick, sticky blood appeared black against the worn stone steps.

“Disgusting,” she said.

“We must follow him. We have to finish him off,” said Ahanu.

Coreen stopped him midway up.

“You okay?” He turned to look at her, concerned. He noticed that she looked thinner than before her accident, paler.

“Do you think he watched us?”

“You mean back there?” asked Ahanu.

“Oh . . . I can’t think about it. Oh, God—that’s so horrible. He was alive, and he watched us.” The blood drained from her head, and she fell back. Ahanu caught her before she tumbled.

“I’ll carry you as I always do.” He grinned. “And . . . I don’t know. Who knows? He seemed out of it. He may have wakened while we slept. Don’t think about that. I don’t want our first time together to be blackened by him. It was pure. It was the best moment of my life. Don’t think about it.”

“I’ll try not to, Ahanu. I will try, but I don’t know. I feel bare. I need more clothes. What is this thing I’m wearing? What if he’s up there?”

“No, he won’t stay here. He’s badly hurt. Look at the blood. A human couldn’t survive that.”

“He’s not human.”

“There’s something I need to tell you.” He sat her down on the bottom step with her on his knee. She leaned her head against him. She felt too tired, too weak to say much else. “He made me like him.”

“What?” She moved her head up to see the profound sadness on his face.

“I am a Shaman too now. I am one with the wolf. I feel him in me—this evil. He stirs, he’s hungry. Even now when I look at you. I feel—”

“Shhhh. . .” she stopped him from saying it aloud. “I know. I felt it when we made love. I still love you. I always will. I don’t care about that.”

He squeezed her. “I’m worried. I don’t know what’ll happen.”

“I saw the wolf,” she said, her words sounding hollow. “I saw him in the forest. I saw him in my dreams. I’m scared.”

“Don’t be. He won’t have you. I’ll do whatever it takes. He won’t have anyone.”

“How can you stop him? He’s been here long before any of us. Your father said.”

“I don’t know. We’ll find my father first, come on.”

Discovering that the trail of blood led out to the woods and away from them, they searched the rooms of the Kanti’s cabin. Ahanu found dried fish in the strange, unsightly kitchen. He wouldn’t let Coreen enter the room; it was that unpleasant, disturbing. His father had been gutting many animals and drying out their parts. Ahanu took a bite of the salmon to make sure it was safe, and brought it to her. “Here, you need sustenance.”

A tired hunger had been eating at her. She could have just as easily passed out as chewed on anything, but she forced the swallows. “I don’t like fish.”

“Huh? How could you not like fish? Come on here, if we’re to be married, you’ll have to like fish.” He chuckled, finding an odd pair of pants made of some hemp fabric back in what he guessed was his father’s sleeping quarters. There was a pile of multicolored animal skins in the center of the room for a bed, and clothes were slung along one wall side. “I think this will go with your dress.” He held up the funny, misshapen pants.

Almost choking on the last bite, Coreen shook her head. “I can’t wear those. Look at them.”

“How about a tunic?” This piece was long and black made from simple cotton, slit with an odd shaped U at the top.

“Yeah, that. I’ll wear it. Can I take this lacy thing off? I need some water too. I need to clean up a bit.”

He smiled. “You look great in that dress . . . This tunic, it’s a major change. You sure? There’s water in that front room in a barrel. Don’t let the skulls bother you.”

“I’m getting used to them, believe me.” Coreen excused herself for a quick moment, coming back with an animal skin wrapped around her nakedness. She held the harlot’s dress out from her body. “Where did you get this dress anyway?”

Ahanu stammered at the sight of her sleek body, hidden just barely, but obviously proportioned in all the right spots. “Uh, Betty’s.”

She blushed, but smiled too. “Oh yeah . . . that’s right. I remember that woman flouncing. She’s very—”

“She helped you, took care of you. She’s okay for the most part. She sent me here too. I don’t know why. She will definitely have to answer for that. She knows my father, I guess. I’m not sure of their dealings.”

“She sent you here?”

“Yes. She’d said it was just an errand that she needed me to help her with. She tricked me. The potion in that package was what my father forced down my throat. She got it from somewhere, but I don’t know . . . He gave it to you as well. That’s why you are alive right now. It saved you.”

“Good thing,” said Coreen, slipping the black tunic over her head. It was loose-fitting all the way down to her calves and smelled of some herb that made her feel relaxed. “You said she took care of me. I at least have to thank her.”

“I got you out of that place. I should burn it to the ground.”

“Don’t do that, Ahanu. You could set the town on fire.”

“That’s it, that’s it!” He took Coreen’s hand and towed her outside to the porch. The skulls above swung in the late afternoon breeze, which had suddenly picked up strength. “We burn him. I know where he is.”

“Burn who?” came a voice from behind the tree line. It was a strong voice, an unfamiliar voice.

The two teens backed up into the darkened cabin doorway.

“You’re awake. Wasn’t expecting that.” The dark-haired man came forward. He wore a crisp, clean, white, button-up shirt and equally crisp linen pants. Ahanu could tell this man was not from the area. “Who are you?” asked Ahanu. “You should leave.” He moved to the edge of the porch and pointed back toward the woods.

“I’m Roy. I work with Doc in town. He sent me to look for Coreen,” He said, eyeing the Indian. The sight of him was atrocious: blood stained white t-shirt, blood-stained jeans. Roy didn’t ask, though Ahanu expected him to. Surely, the whole scene didn’t look good. “Look, son, all I know is that our young lady there was about to die, on her way to the shining sea. I never saw her, but Doc said it was surely grim.”

“She’s fine now, as you can obviously see. You can go back on into town. Don’t come back here either.”

“I should at least examine her, make sure she’s okay.”

Sneaking up behind Ahanu, Coreen popped her head up above his shoulder to get a better look at Roy. He was handsome, more handsome than most of the men that roamed Dam Town.

“I’ll be fine, Ahanu. Let him. It’s fine,” she whispered in his ear. “I do need my leg checked.” She motioned down at the bandage.

“Fine. Come inside then . . . Roy.”

Following them into the strange shack, stepping around the smears of blood, Roy finally asked, “What the hell happened here?” Ahanu gave him an angry face, a warning to tread lightly.

“Okay, okay. I get it, but whatever it is, it doesn’t look good. I’ve seen many a man die.”

“It was not a man.” Ahanu closed his eyes at the thought of what lay ahead. “Can we get on with this?”

“Surely,” said Roy.

Coreen took a seat in the only chair in that front room. It was made for a king, with a high, wicker back and feathers decorating the perimeter. She found herself enjoying the new man’s accent, as she’d never met a southerner before. Roy caught her staring, and she felt immediately transparent. “I’m from Georgia, been up here in these parts just a few months now.” He undid the dirty bandages, being very careful not to add pressure to the wound.

When Ahanu gave his lady the same angry glance, she put on a more solemn appearance. “You eat peaches, right?”

Roy belted out a laugh so loud it caught the two youngsters off guard, “Right,” he said. But then he stopped in shock when he looked at her wounded leg.





“You’re healed.” Roy scratched his head, examining the perfectly placed, black stitches that step-laddered up her right leg. “How is this possible? Doc told me you were gravely ill, that the infection was festering.”

Coreen shrugged, remembering nothing. Ahanu remained unassuming, giving the man no indication of the events that had just occurred.

Roy stood, ignoring all the skulls on the walls, the witchy spirit seeping through the cracks, and the indications of voodoo in the air. “I’ll tell you a story, seeing as you two are up to something. Don’t get me wrong here; I’m not beyond reproach, but Coreen, you should be dead by now.”

“Can we go now?” asked Coreen, ignoring his blatancy.

“Yeah. We need to go.” Ahanu chimed in.

“Ah ah. Sit back, sit back. I have to take those stitches out now. She may get them caught on something, could tear, cause some bleeding, another infection. Y’all don’t want to walk down that road again, do you?”

They shook their heads.

“Right, so, I was on my way west, you see. I’ve been around the South, in all those dark places, seen the likes of folks you don’t want to encounter. Hand me that knife from over there, would you?” Roy motioned to Ahanu, who delivered a small, black-boned carving knife that lay up on a carving table in the corner. Roy pulled a box of matches from his pants and lit it, using it to sterilize the ebony blade. “Now there was this one particular town, down in Louisiana, on the bayou. It’s not an obvious spot to go to unless you know about it, couldn’t even tell you the name of it. Anyway, the only reason I came to know of it was because I was lost. I was also hungry and wet. It was foggy, not a normal kinda fog, but a dark fog. It was odd. I saw a fire through the swamp ahead. I heard someone singing, high and low tones. A woman screamed. I didn’t want to know, but I just had to for some reason. I was drawn to find out. There was an energy pulling me there. I witnessed a murder. There was blood, there were animals, there were people chanting, calling . . . writhing. It was voodoo. You heard of it?”

They shook their heads. Coreen looked scared as she listened and watched him cut the stitches one by one, starting low and moving up her thigh.

“I saw them kill this black woman, slit her throat, but she stood there just as alive as you and me, just as we sit here now. She was a puppet for something evil. It was not of this world, even though the blood poured from her neck. She’d just laughed a silent laugh and smiled as she danced among them.”

“She obviously wasn’t dead then, was she?” said Ahanu sarcastically, taking Coreen’s hand.

“I left that place. I ran back the way I’d come, back out the swamp, but they heard me. They followed after me, screaming for the chase, and they caught me.”

Coreen jumped as he cut the last stitch. “What’d you do?” “There was nothing I could do. They made me watch, made me join in, made me dance, made me eat and drink things, you couldn’t imagine. The only way I escaped was that their party ended and they finally slept. That woman died. They laid me next to her. They made me watch as her mouth hung open and the blood dried down the front of her white dress. She was young—a virgin sacrifice.”

“I don’t want to hear anymore.” Coreen shook her head. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, where I’ve been. Ahanu saved me.” She looked to her fiancé.

“Whatever you took to get to this place now—whatever you did—there will be a price to pay,” said Roy. “There will be a price. Listen to me now.”

“She’ll be fine,” Ahanu stood now, getting real close to Roy, right up to his face. The two of them were the same height, eye to eye. “I know what I’m doing.”

“No, I don’t think you do. It’s written all over your face. You said you were going to burn someone. Who are you going to burn? I don’t believe it was just some animal that crawled out of here, and by the looks of this shanty, I don’t believe that we are dealing with something ordinary. Now tell me. I can’t just let someone who almost just died leave this place to go God-knows-where. God forgives once, but twice is not guaranteed.”

Ahanu closed his eyes and rubbed his face, knowing that the Southerner was right on some level. “It’s a Shaman. He tried to kill us. He’s gone off through the woods.”

“Why’d he try to kill you?”

“This town. It’s cursed, okay? The whole town is going down if we don’t stop him. Terrible things are going to happen, if they haven’t already. We have to go.”

“At least leave her behind. I’ll go with you.”

“No. We’re not separating, not for a second. We’ve been apart too long as it is. She comes with us.”

Coreen nodded in agreement, and Roy knew there’d be no reasoning with the two young lovers, so off they went.



***