Echoes in the Bayou (19 page)

"Gavin
wait, let me turn on the light," Magnus said to him. He'd tried turning on
a nearby lamp. "The fuse must be blown," he told them. "Let me
light the candles again, who's got the matches?"

Soon,
they were all feeling around the table for the book of matches that Sinta had
placed th
ere earlier.  "She's not
here," Gavin said. He'd managed to find his way in the darkness but it was
to no avail, because Melanie was gone.

"Where
the hell did she go?" He spoke into the darkness. "Did anyone see her
leave?
"

"Found
them."
  The sound of Magnus lighting
the matchstick made them all jump in their seats.

Sinta was
the first to see them, the two figures standing in the open doorway illuminated
by the lighting. They sat frozen as the dark figures encircled the round table,
Melanie was among the two. Gavin meekly called out to her but she didn’t
respond, her face was contorted in such a way that it scared him. Her bright
blue eyes had turned coal black and her skin looked sunken and had a gray
appearance to it.  He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment thinking
he was seeing things, but when he opened them she was standing directly in
front of him and was now staring down at him. Frightened, he inclined back.

The other
figure never moved from the table, it stood like a statue watching Ava and
Magnus. Magnus kept a firm grip on Ava's hand and as the figure leaned in
between the two, they both gasped in terror. A penetrating coldness surrounded
the figure and from the corner of his eye, Magnus saw that it was a man. 
Ava was already well aware of whom it was and as he leaned down even further,
she could feel his breath on her and it made her skin crawl. Gavin was being held
in a trance like state by Melanie while Ava, Magnus, and Sinta sat unmoving in
terror.

They all
couldn’t help but notice the strong resemblance Magnus held to his descendant
and neither could he as they stared at one another. "Magnus," Ava
whispered through bated breath. She was shaking now and was terrified. 
Through cruel and violently possessed eyes, the figure summoned Melanie and her
feet barely touched the ground as her body willed itself over to the figure of
John DuPonte and just as violently as her counterpart had done earlier outside
in the bayou, launched a verbal and physical assault onto Ava.

"You
know what you are?" Melanie said. Her voice had changed; she now had a
southern drawl. "You're nothing but a nigga whore who tried to seduce my
son and because of your foolishness, my boy killed himself," she shouted
and using inhuman strength knocked Ava out of her seat sending her onto the
floor. Magnus was held back by the heavy hands of his descendant.
"Ava!" He shouted and sat helpless as the wrath of Amelia Montieu
continued. "My boy is stuck here and it's all because of you. You couldn’t
have him then and I won't let you have him now! I should have buried you myself
and I will right after I let John have his way with you."  While
Melanie knelt down next to Ava, Sinta continued asking the spirits to
intervene, without their help she would not be able to drive the evil doers
away; they were too strong.

Melanie
had lowered her voice to a whisper, but the southern drawl of Amelia still came
through. "You know Celeste; I always wondered what it was about you that
made Mr. DuPonte so fond of you, and I finally figured it out. He is a creature
of habit and deep down, all men are dogs aren’t they? And what do dogs just
love to do Celeste? Why they love digging through the trash, garbage, and waste
and that's exactly what you are, you're nothing but a pile of garbage. And I'll
be damned if you think you are going to get your hands on my son, you no good
nigga."

The
spirits had heard Sinta's plea and all at once the lights came back on, the
fireplace was lit again and the room had returned to normal. The only signs
that anything had gone wrong were the marks on Ava's face and Melanie lying
next to her unconscious on the floor. Finally able to move after being
restrained by his evil descendant, Magnus quickly made his way over to Ava and
held her in his arms.

Gavin who
was still in shock sunk down into the arm chair that sat in the corner. The
only one concerned about Melanie was Sinta. She knelt down and felt for a
pulse.

"She
be okay in a minute o' two Miss Ava, she just need to catch her breath. You a
lright Miss Ava? Miss Amelia mean business don’t she?
But don’t you worry none, once we reunite Will and Celeste, both she and Mister
John be banished forever from 'dis world."

Ava
rubbed the side of her face and looked angrily at Melanie before turning back
to face Sinta. "I think we need to read some more of those diaries Sinta.
And how come Will didn’t reappear? I mean surely he knows that his mother is
here right?" Ava questioned her.

"Now
not necessarily Miss Ava, seem to me that Mister W
ill
done crossed over but keep coming back for Celeste and when he can't find her,
he go back, he what we call repi…"

"Repetitious?"
Magnus asked.

"Yes
," said Sinta. "Repetitious, thank you
Mister Magnus. He relive a lot a things and he won't stay crossed over 'til he
have his Celeste. Now you understand how strong they love was Miss Ava? Mister
Magnus?"

"Yes,"
they both nodded
.

Sinta
went on to warn Ava about reading the diary of Amelia Montieu alone. "An
Miss Ava, you's got to stop readin' Miss Amelia di
ary
by yoself, 'er time you's read it alone makes her stronger. Hatred Miss Ava is
a very powerful thing and you's gots to understand 'dat. It like you bringin'
her backs to life Miss Ava. And if you do 'dat, she aint never gon' go
away," she warned her.

"What
the hell happened?" Melanie had awoken and although she had a pounding
headache, she remembered nothing. After Gavin and Magnus filled her in, she
only looked at Ava and without so much as an apology turned and went into the
bedroom.

"I'm
sorry abo
ut that," Gavin sounded regretful.
"And I am sure she is too, she's just tired," he said to Ava.

"Gavin,
there is no need to make excuses for her," Ava was sitting on the sofa
now. Her own head was throbbing and she needed a drink.  Magnus gently
massaged Ava's shoulders.

"I
want the both of you out of here tomorrow, even if
 
I have to hire someone to come and get you," Magnus spoke with such
indignation that it made Gavin cower down and head to his room without saying
another word.

"Come
on, let's get you to bed," he said and led her up the stairs. "Sinta,
you're more than welcome to stay in any room in the house and thank you for
everything," he smiled warmly at the old woman before turning his
attention back to Ava.

When they
m
ade it to her room, Magnus told her that he'd
be right back.

Ava sat
down on the bed and wrapped her arms around herself.
  The evenings activities had been exhausting, not to mention
crazy.

Between
Gavin and Melanie showing up and the séance and talking to Will Jr. she was
physically and emotionally drained and to make matters worse, it looked like
she was going to have to sleep alone. A soft knock on the door brought her out
of her thoughts. "It's just me," Magnus grinned as he stood in the
doorway, he was dressed in nothing but pajama bottoms and he looked incredibly
sexy.

When Ava
frowned, he stepped further into the room. "Ava, I know what you're
thinking and no I don’t expect to make love tonight, I'm exhausted and I know
that you are as well, I just want to sleep next to you." He kneeled down
in front of her and took her hands in his. "Ava, after what's happened, I
cannot and will not let you out of my sight.  I am not going to let anyone
or anything hurt you, is that understood?" He asked.

Her body
had begun to ache even more and she swore it was in retaliation for denying it
the feeling of Magnus's touch
.

"Sleeping
next to one another sounds like the perfect idea," she tol
d him and got ready for bed.

She
brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas quickly. She wanted to delight
in the feeling of having him lying next to her before either of them fell
asleep. The rain had stopped completely and as the clouds parted, the moon
shone brightly through the window. Magnus watched as she made her way over to
the bed. She stopped suddenly and grabbed the writing chair that sat in the
corner and wedged it under the doorknob.

"There,"
she said triumphantly.

"Ava,
what did
 you do that for? I'm right here,"
Magnus couldn’t help but chuckle.

"I
know you are," she said. "But It's just a precaution, if anything
human or inhuman tries getting in, the chair falling over will wake us,"
she said trying to reassu
re herself.

"Ava,
I promise you that I will not let anything bad happen to you," he told her
again
.

"And
I won't let anything bad happen to you either," Ava replied. She loved the
feeling of having him next to her.

The
moment she lay down nex
t to him, he felt his
whole body go warm; he looked at her in a whole new way. He wasn’t used to
being told by someone that they wanted to protect him, he knew that Ava meant
it though. She wasn’t a woman who was frivolous and full of fantastical lies,
Ava was a woman who he could see himself falling in love with.
In fact
, he
thought to himself
, I think I already am.

"
Come closer," he said and edged her towards him.
He slipped a hand around the back of her neck and gently massaged her before
leaning in and giving her a long, lengthy kiss.  Ava gave a restful sigh
and her arms came around his neck. Magnus soon moved from her lips to her neck
and whispered, "Good night Ava."

"Good
night," she whispered back
.

 
As the sound of the loon birds lulled them to
sleep upstairs, the same wasn’t true for Gavin and Melanie downstairs, they had
spent most of the night having a heated discussion.

"I
just don’t get it
Mel; I mean how could you not
apologize to her? You smacked her across the face for god's sake; don’t you
think you owe her an apology?" Gavin argued.

Melanie
sat at the dressing table and was brushing her hair. "Gavin, it wasn’t me
who smacked her, it was that Amelia woman and if you ask me she had it coming,
now can we please go to bed? The soone
r we fall
asleep the sooner it'll be morning and I for one cannot wait to get the hell
out of here!" She argued back.

"When
we get back, things are going to change," he murmured. He was beginning to
think that maybe Melanie wasn’t the one for him after all. The more time he'd
spent there with Melanie, the more he started to realize just how much he
missed Ava. 

Melanie
fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow but Gavin lie next to her wide
awake. It took the séance for him to see that A
va
was one hell of a woman.
She'd never take
me back
, he thought to himself as he watched
Melanie sleep.
This isn’t even a
relationship
, he thought.
What I had with Ava was a relationship and a good one
too. But what did I do? I fucked it up, that’s what I did. This here is nothing
but a fling. I'm tired of flings,
he
thought as he punched his pillow before resting his head upon it.

In the
darkness of the kitchen, Sinta sat at the table and slowly and methodically
recited another cleansing prayer. She wanted to make sure that neither Amelia
nor John DuPonte would make any more appearances, at least for the night.
Tonight she wanted Ava and Magnus to rest, they had been through so much
already and she was hesitant to tell them that they would have to go through a
lot more, and soon because summer was fading away.  She was afraid that
the longer it took to find out the truth, the stronger Amelia and John would
become and it was known that the stronger unearthly spirits became, the harder
it would be to send them back through the veil.

A rooster
crowed off in the distance waking them up. "Magnus, I know where the
family cemetery is," she sat up in bed with a start.

He had
barely woken up himself and had to open and clos
e
his eyes a couple times before he could see clearly. "God you're
beautiful," he said as he stared at her.

"Thank
you, but I'm just average," she replied and went on to tell him about the
dream she'd had in which Will had taken her for walk around the pla
ntation and shown her where he was buried.