Only By Moonlight (10 page)

“I’m sure the Sheriff’s Department intends to
follow wherever the evidence leads,” LaShaun replied quietly.

“Thanks for your time.” Allison Graham gave
her a controlled smile and walked out.

Surprised at the odd twists and turns of the
woman’s behavior, LaShaun followed her to the front door. She
watched Allison walk to her tan Volvo SUV and get in. She turned
the vehicle around and drove off. LaShaun shook her head and went
back inside. For hours later, she replayed the odd conversation in
her mind.

At eight o’clock that night, Chase called to
say he’d be at LaShaun’s house in twenty minutes. LaShaun smiled
when she ended the call and hummed a love song. She got busy. The
late February weather had continued to be cold and damp. She took
out a container of catfish couvillion she’d made earlier that day,
one of Chase’s favorite dishes. After she put rice in the steamer,
LaShaun sliced up a half loaf of French bread. Soon she had Zydeco
playing on the sound system and the house smelling of the savory
dish. Chase arrived an hour later. He’d pulled his truck down the
driveway to the back yard and came through the kitchen door using
his key.

“Hey, cher. Don’t shoot, it’s me,” he called
out as he hung his brown felt cowboy hat on a peg near the
door.

LaShaun crossed from the stove quickly and
wrapped her arms around him. She ruffled his dark hair and gave him
a long, passionate kiss. When they came up for air finally, both
sighed. “I’m so happy to see you.”

“Well, damn, if I’m gonna get this reception,
maybe I better stay away more often,” Chase said and claimed
another quick kiss.

“Don’t you dare,” LaShaun replied with a
scowl. “Missing you is a miserable feeling, even if I know you’re
only a few miles away. Now get comfortable so we can forget the
rest of the world exists outside these walls. I’ll fix you a
plate.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a grin. Chase gave
her bottom a pat and walked past the stove, but doubled back. He
lifted the pot. “Hmm, my favorite. You’re spoiling me, girl.”

“Yes, and get used to it,” LaShaun quipped
and winked at him.

Her reward was the wonderful sound of his
deep, rumbling laughter as he continued on to the master bedroom.
Moments later she heard him singing off key in the shower. LaShaun
smiled with affection. Soon she’d be able to hear that lovably
discordant music more often. The thought of their wedding brought
on a flash of jitters. Katie and Adrianna had already scheduled
another preparation session... As though LaShaun’s thought had
reached out to her, the phone rang and it was Katie. Chase’s sister
briskly ran through their agenda for Friday. Then she dropped a
hint about where Chase and LaShaun would live later on. LaShaun
managed to distract her by changing the subject back to the
reception, urging Katie to follow-up with the bed and breakfast
again.

“Yes, Katie. I promise I won’t skip out on
you this time. I’ve been looking at the catalogs you left from the
florist. I’ll give you my choices Friday.” LaShaun rolled her eyes
and pointed to the cordless phone when Chase came back into the
kitchen. “You’re brother is here. Say hi.”

He took the phone with a comedic grimace.
“Hey, baby sis. How ya doin’? Oh yeah, you whipping the bride into
shape, huh? Keeping her on task. Good job.”

LaShaun turned from spooning rice onto a
plate and hissed at him. “Hey!”

Chase laughed. “Yeah, LaShaun is giving me a
dirty look. Okay. Tell Dale I said hey, and kiss my baby nephew and
my niece for me. Bye.”

LaShaun finished filling both plates and put
them on the table. She turned to face Chase. “I’m thinking we need
to skip the wedding and just get married.”

“Okay, baby.” Chase nuzzled her neck. Her
words became muffled as his lips grazed the line of her chin.

“I sorta let Savannah, Adrianna, and Katie
talk me into making it fancy.” LaShaun rubbed his shoulders as she
tilted her head. She pressed against him and sighed. “We’re already
like one soul and body.”

Chase tugged her long sleeved dark red
t-shirt over her head. “Uh-huh.”

He clearly wasn’t paying attention to her
complaints. In seconds he peeled off her lacy bra. Chase kissed her
so deliciously hard that LaShaun forgot everything else as well. By
the time he’d taken off his shirt, she felt hungrier for him than
anything she’d cooked for supper. Chase pulled her to the sofa in
the open den adjacent to the kitchen. He removed her soft yoga
pants and moaned at the sight of the pink lace panties she wore. In
minutes his clothes were off. LaShaun pushed him down to a seated
position and straddled him. Slowly, still kissing him, she moaned
as he filled her. They both shuddered at the flash fire of being
physically united.

“Are you through working tonight?” She
whispered and wiggled her hips until he gasped her name twice.

“I... I gotta go back,” he managed to get out
before licking one of her nipples before taking it into his mouth.
Then he moaned, “Yes.”

LaShaun gasped a few times before she could
speak. “Then we better make this a quickie.

Chase rested his head against the sofa back.
“Do it.”

LaShaun rode him wildly, pausing to tease him
with him kisses until he moaned for her to move again. Up and down,
she savored the sensation of being in control. She ignored his
pleas for her to go faster at one point. Going slow drove her to
the point of madness. Nothing else mattered as waves of pleasure
ruled them. When he was finally able to speak, Chase let out a long
hissing breath.

“This is the best work break I’ve ever had,”
Chase mumbled.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” LaShaun
quipped. She got up from his lap and motioned for him to follow
her. “Let’s take a quick shower. We’re gonna have to heat that food
up again.”

“I doubt it cooled off with the fire we had
goin’ in here,” Chase joked with a grin.

They teased each other, enjoying the
happiness of being in love. Twenty minutes later they were dressed
and back in the kitchen. Chase wore a pair of sweat pants and
t-shirt as he devoured the plate of food.

“This is what I call home. Loving on my
soon-to-be wife and eating some down home cooking. I’m ready to
catch me some bad guys and call it a day.” Chase winked at her.

LaShaun laughed as she rose from the table.
“You’re feeling mighty powerful.”

“Did you really mean it about no wedding,
honey?” Chase looked at her, his long legs stretched out.

“Actually, yeah. We could switch gears
without too much trouble.” LaShaun shrugged and started washing the
few dishes. She liked doing it by hand even though she had a high
tech dishwasher.

“Sure. I guess Jessi won’t mind not being a
flower girl. Katie will get over not watching her big brother get
married. The people who love us will survive not watching us vow
before God to be together forever...”

LaShaun spun around to face him, suds flying
from her hands. “Stop already. I get it. I didn’t realize you were
so romantic about the ceremony.”

“At first I thought, who needs it? But then I
saw how happy it made Jessi, my sisters, and you. Oh, no,” Chase
said and pointed a finger at her. “Don’t tell me you weren’t
enjoying the whole idea of your special day dressed like a
princess.”

“It’s our special day,” LaShaun replied
softly and walked back to him. “I love you.”

“And I love you. Will you marry me?” Chase
pressed his face against the cotton fabric of her pink t-shirt.

“I seem to recall you already asked and I
answered.” She kissed the mass of dark softly curled hair on top of
his head.

“Say it again so I’ll know it’s not a dream,”
he replied and looked up at her.

“Yes,” LaShaun said.

“The wedding is on? I don’t want to be the
one who has to tell my niece she won’t get dressed up and toss rose
petals. Uh-uh. Not to mention my sisters and Adrianna.” Chase
affected a shudder of fear.

“We’re going through with this production
because you’re scared of the Broussard females?” LaShaun burst out
laughing.

“Damn right,” Chase replied promptly. He was
about to say more when his cell phone played a Cajun two-step tune.
He crossed the kitchen to retrieve it from the counter top. He
glanced at the display and answered. “Yeah, boss.”

LaShaun continued cleaning up the meal. By
the time she’d scrubbed the cast iron pots clean of rice and
catfish couvillion, Chase had hung up. She smiled at him, but his
serious expression chilled the moment of loving warmth still in the
kitchen.

“What’s happened?” LaShaun asked.

“Becky, girl that was with Greg, has
disappeared. Her mother is down at the station pretty much out of
her mind with worry. I could hear her screaming while M.J. was
talking to me.”

LaShaun stood rooted to the floor as waves of
terror crashed into her. “She slipped away to meet Greg tonight,
Chase.”

Chase froze in the act of pulling on his
favorite old scuffed leather work boots. “You know where they are
right now?”

LaShaun closed her eyes. She swayed for a few
seconds. “Resurrection fern,” she whispered.

Chapter 6

Moonlight barely touched the darkness of the
early morning hours. LaShaun walked slowly through the woods. She
watched every movement of the leaves and tuned into the sounds.
They had arrived at the scene around midnight. Chase, M.J. and
other deputies had spread out in the opposite direction. After two
hours, they’d been too busy to notice that LaShaun had headed
north. The scent of wet foliage tugged her to Blood River. Birds
and squirrels scrambled through the trees or scurried in the thick
shrubs. LaShaun heard plenty of sounds, but none of it connected to
a human. Her cell phone hummed against her hip. She pulled it out
of her jeans pocket and glanced down. Chase had texted “where r
u?????” LaShaun paused to answer him so he wouldn’t worry. “i’m ok
knife and gun with me.”

LaShaun had taken time to get her favorite
weapons. The denim jacket she wore had three inside pockets. She’d
sewn them just the right size. One long one held the sterling
silver knife she inherited from an ancestor. In the other pocket
was the small derringer pistol loaded with silver bullets. They
would kill human or demon if the need arose. LaShaun wasn’t sure
which one she might face in the shadows that moved between sunset
and dawn.

Most folks assumed demons and spirits only
did their dirty work in the dark. Big mistake. The most powerful
supernatural forces could move at any time, though darkness did
appeal to them more. LaShaun sensed that the missing teenage girl
had no clue about the danger she was in. Like most parents, Becky’s
mother and father blamed “hanging with a bad crowd.” They chose to
ignore one fact, Becky had seemed more than willing to follow where
Greg and the others led.

LaShaun’s cell phone hummed again
insistently, but she ignored it. She saw ahead with her third eye.
LaShaun walked quickly through the brush without making a lot of
noise. She wasn’t worried that Becky would hear her and bolt. In
her vision, LaShaun could see that the girl was preoccupied. Unlike
what most people thought, having paranormal abilities didn’t mean
all was revealed; or even if revealed that LaShaun would understand
what she saw. LaShaun moved cautiously since she didn’t know if
Becky was alone.

Moments later LaShaun arrived at a huge oak
tree. Massive branches as thick as trunks of other smaller trees
curved to the ground. Spanish moss draped several branches farther
up. Resurrection Fern grew along others. Humming an odd discordant
tune, Becky sat on the grass brushing her fingers through the
greenery. Her voice would rise high and then dip into hissing.
LaShaun stepped behind another large oak tree and listened for a
few moments. Her cell phone buzzed again, vibrating insistently as
though to communicate Chase’s agitation that she wouldn’t answer.
So she did. A short text, “found her”. He texted back that he would
follow the GPS tracking app on her phone. LaShaun slid her phone
back into her pocket and started to show herself but paused. Becky
had stopped humming. A breeze picked up, but only seemed to center
around the tree where LaShaun stood. Then she heard a whispering
voice near her ear.

“I have returned. This girl and others are
mine. These young ones are quite a delight. Why not join us?” the
voice said.

The last word was drawn out to a long hissing
sound that grew louder. The familiarity of the lilting male voice
sent a jolt through LaShaun like dozens of electrified needles. She
strode quickly toward the still seated teenager. Becky had a serene
yet vacant expression on her smooth young face.

“Rebecca Saucier, you stand up right now
young lady. You’ve put your family through a horrible night of
worry,” LaShaun said sharply. The hissing sound intensified as
though a nest of giant snakes had arrived.

Becky blinked a few times as though she had
trouble focusing. Then she slowly looked around until her gaze
found LaShaun. She smiled. “Don’t be ridiculous. There was no need
for them to worry. Besides, what I do is none of their damned
business.”

“You’re going home now,” LaShaun barked at
her. “You’re going to listen to me, and you’re going to listen to
your parents from now on.”

Becky, still smiling, stood. The lovely white
dress she wore had leaves and a small twig stuck to the lace hem.
She put her hands behind her back. “Fine, but only because I’m
ready to leave anyway. I’ll come back here whenever I want to. No
one can stop me.”

LaShaun examined the ground as she walked
around Becky in a circle. Becky moved in a circle as well so that
she always faced LaShaun. The girl showed no fear, not even a faint
trace of anxiety. The white dress looked delicately beautiful, a
style from a different era. She looked like a bride from the
nineteenth century.