Only By Moonlight (12 page)

“You’re real quiet, honey. You okay?” LaShaun
said, breaking the silence.

“This job is starting to wear on my nerves I
guess. Kids barely out of diapers dying and getting their kicks in
freaky ways... I don’t know. If I wanted to deal with that crap I’d
work in a big city department.” Chase let out a long breath.

“That ‘crap’ is all over these days,
including rural parishes like ours. But at least we get it in small
doses,” LaShaun replied in an attempt to console him.

“I’ll bet Elliot’s mama doesn’t think it’s so
small. This stuff is even giving me nightmares.” Chase shook his
head.

LaShaun felt a familiar sensation, like an
army of ants with tiny electrified feet marching up both arms. Her
stomach tightened as she resisted the urge to claw her own skin.
She glanced down to reassure herself and saw nothing on the back of
her hands or on her forearms. Instead she centered all of her
attention on Chase. Suddenly, a curtain dropped between them. Like
a television monitor, the image of a wooded area appeared. A soft
blue haze pulsated within it. Then the vision flicked off as though
someone had hit the “Off” button. LaShaun rubbed her forehead.

“You look a little wobbly, cher. You okay?”
Chase frowned at her, concern on his handsome face.

“What kind of nightmares, Chase?” LaShaun
said sharply.

“Never mind about that now, you...”

“I’m fine. Tell me about the dreams you’re
having. It will help you to talk about them,” she pressed. When he
slowed the truck and looked at her hard, LaShaun put a hand on his
arm.

“Most of them I don’t remember clearly. They
start with me falling into a dark hole. While I’m going down, weird
symbols flash by. I can hear voices, and then it’s only one voice.
I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman.” Chase paused to grin at
her. “I’m not cheatin’ on you in my dreams, cher. I swear.”

LaShaun forced a smile back at him. “You
better not be. What happens next?”

Chase didn’t answer immediately. He
concentrated on turning east at the intersection of Highway 35 and
onto Highway 14. “After a while I get this sensation of being lost,
like I’ll never find my way out of a dark place. It’s kind of hard
to describe, but all I can remember is fighting to hold on.”

“Like you’re lost in the woods or something?”
LaShaun’s heart drummed in her chest with such intensity she
winced.

“Not exactly. I don’t know. Pretty crazy,
huh?” Chase gave a nervous chuckle.

LaShaun winced a second time. The powerful
anxiety he felt seeped into her pores as well. She squeezed his arm
a little tighter. “You’re the most steady, feet-on-the-ground guy I
know, Chase Broussard. The stress of the election and working
double shifts would give anybody nightmares.”

“Yeah, well I need to get it together. Going
after Dave like that was a stupid move. M.J. is right. I need to
take off a couple of days to re-charge, and do some damage control
for when that story makes the rounds.” Chase smiled at LaShaun. He
took one hand off the wheel to give her thigh a quick pat. “That
means you’ll be stuck with me.”

“I look forward to it,” LaShaun said and
smiled back at him.

For the rest of the ride to her house they
shared a comfortable silence as the dark countryside slipped by.
She would make Chase’s time off from work as relaxing and enjoyable
as possible. LaShaun knew Chase’s real worry, that post traumatic
stress episodes from three tours in Afghanistan would cripple him.
She actually hoped his behavior and nightmares came from PTSD.
LaShaun feared the cause came from a more sinister source, one not
from this world. Had the evil called forth by her ancestors
returned?

Chapter 7

For two days LaShaun monitored every move
Chase made, every expression and every mood he displayed. Not even
the newspaper and television stories of “a heated exchange between
the two candidates for sheriff” seemed to bother him. Friday
morning, Chase woke LaShaun from a sound sleep in a most delicious
way. Wrapped in flannel sheets, LaShaun had made her master bedroom
his sanctuary.

“I’m going to be pulling more over time in
the next few days,” Chase murmured as he nuzzled LaShaun’s neck. “I
need a nice, hot memory to get me through the chilly nights of
fighting crime.”

“Candidate Broussard, you’re supposed to be
motivated by a passion for justice,” LaShaun replied and wiggled
against his hard body.

“I’ve got a passion for a lot of things;
justice is only one of ‘em, cher.”

Chase slipped his hand between her thighs. He
stroked her flesh and moved his hand up. With a light touch, he
caressed her mound for a few seconds before using his fingers to
slowly drive her insane with desire. His tongue circled first one
nipple and then the other, back and forth as his fingers worked a
kind of magic she’d never felt before. Within the next hour Chase
thrilled her with three different positions, each one more exotic.
At last he stood above her as she lay on the edge of the bed, her
legs stretched up against his chest. The rhythm of his thrusts kept
time to her moans. As she grew more frenzied, Chase would slow
down. When she couldn’t stand it any longer, LaShaun tried to take
control, grinding her hips to satisfy a cavernous hunger. She
clawed to hold onto him when Chase pulled out. But she was rewarded
moments later when he pulled the comforter to the floor. On his
back, he guided her to sit in his lap. LaShaun wrapped her legs
around him as Chase lifted them both. His tongue circled both
nipples again until she screamed with pleasure. Waves of ecstasy
seemed to go on forever as she moved up and down, faster until
nothing existed except the motion that satisfied her cavernous
need.

“Take control, baby. I’m yours,” Chase
whispered, urging her on with his own intense thrusting.

“I need every inch of you,” LaShaun gasped
and dug her fingers into the hard flesh of his shoulders.

Her moans answered his shouts urging her on.
Their voices intertwined in the special language of love and sexual
pleasure. When Chase exploded inside her LaShaun came again, every
nerve ending on fire. When her movements slowed and stilled,
LaShaun let out a shuddering sigh. After a few minutes he used his
powerful legs to stand up with LaShaun in his arms. He eased them
both back onto the bed. LaShaun blinked away tears as she trembled
against him.

“How did I exist without you?” she whispered
softly. “I will be yours forever.”

Chase gave a deep chuckle and stroked her
hair as LaShaun drifted into a semi-conscious dream state. A vision
of them lying on a wide bed with a beautiful rattan headboard in a
room with an ocean view popped into her head. Eyes closed, LaShaun
smiled and savored the floating sensation. A beach breeze made
gauze curtains framing a window flutter, their private tropical
paradise.

“Mwen vle viv andedan ou,” a deep voice said
softly, wrapping around her. (“I want to live inside you”)

“J’taime,” LaShaun replied.

She gazed up into fiery almond-shaped green
eyes. Her feeling of joy turned to panic. LaShaun tried to pull
away, but her body seemed numb. Her limbs would not move. She tried
to cry out but no sound came from her lips. The eyes sparkled, and
then darkened into a light brown that gradually grew darker.

“Hey, sleepy girl. I know how irresistible I
am, but loosen this death grip on me. I gotta go to work.”

LaShaun’s eyes popped open to find Chase
smiling down at her. She blinked at him as her heart beat so hard
her chest ached. Pushing him away, LaShaun stared at him. “What did
you say?”

Chase got out of bed. “I’m going back to the
grind of being a peace officer. I can’t lay around lovin’ on you
all the time.”

When he started for the bathroom, LaShaun
caught him by the arm. “No, I mean before. You were speaking
Creole.”

“Honey, with the moves you made I wouldn’t
doubt I was speaking French and every other kind of language.”
Chase winked at her and then kissed her hand. He turned away and
opened a dresser. “With all the clothes I’ve left here it makes our
decision easier ‘bout which house we’ll live in, huh? I feel right
at home.”

LaShaun jumped out of the bed and pulled him
back around to face her. “Chase, you were speaking Haitian Creole,
and, and your eyes changed color.”

“That was some crazy dream,” Chase said with
a laugh, but it died away as he gazed back at her. He wrapped his
arms around LaShaun. “Cher, you’re shivering.”

“We were in a house on the beach, but it
wasn’t any place I’ve ever been. I can still hear the sound of
waves.” LaShaun looked up into Chase’s eyes desperate to see the
familiar, the man she knew. “I want you to be safe.”

“Baby, you’re kinda freakin’ me out here.
Like I said, you had a weird dream, that’s all. You’ve had them
before.” Chase spoke in a soothing tone as he gently rocked
her.

“And we know what happens, too. I get those
visions and then...”

LaShaun swallowed hard. She took having
visions in stride, even when she saw horrible things. Sometimes she
could almost start fires as heat flowed from her finger tips.
Monmon Odette had taught LaShaun early about the Rousselle family
legacy. Her grandmother had schooled LaShaun on how to direct her
‘gifts’, marveling at how strong they became with time. None of
those skills had ever frightened her, not even as a child. But this
was very different. Never had a vision come so close to home.

Chase kissed her lightly on the tip of her
nose and slapped her rear end. “Baby, you were sound asleep. That
was a dream, a really weird one, but still just a dream. Now I’m
gonna shower and get down the road before my boss calls asking why
I haven’t shown up. We’re going to interview one of Greg Graham’s
friends. See if we can find out what the hell these kids are
playin’ at out in the woods.”

With a shake of his head, Chase padded on
bare feet to the master bathroom. He continued to talk about
routine matters. LaShaun didn’t answer him. Instead she sat on the
edge of the bed thinking about the “dream” as Chase insisted. He
seemed to be himself again, a fact that helped LaShaun not totally
come unglued. For the first time in months she felt the sharp pain
of not having her grandmother in this world. Monmon Odette would be
a source of strength, and knowledge right now.

“So I’m hopin’ we can wrap up this case and
figure out who killed that poor Dubois boy. To top it off, the
coroner says he could have had a fall. But I don’t buy it. Nope,
that kid was murdered and...” Chase stood wearing only his briefs.
He gazed at LaShaun with a grin. “You’re still sitting here naked,
babe?”

LaShaun sat blinking rapidly and looked down.
She was sitting in the middle of the queen-sized bed in a lotus
position as though meditating. “What? Oh, I was just giving you
some space to get ready.”

“Thank you, darlin’. The last two days did
wonders clearing my head, that’s for sure.”

Chase pinched her cheek. Then he sat down on
one of the stuffed chairs, pulled on his socks, and stood again to
step into a pair of black denim pants. Five minutes later, he was
fully dressed. LaShaun took a shower. She quickly dressed in jeans
and a soft flannel shirt. When she went to the kitchen, Chase was
already on his phone getting an update. He liked knowing what had
been happening at the station even before he walked in the
door.

“I’m going to fix us breakfast,” LaShaun
whispered to him.

“Don’t worry about it. I heated up one of
those frozen sausage biscuits and made some coffee to go. I’m
running behind as it is.” Chase kissed her mouth. “I’ll see you
later.”

LaShaun put her arms around his waist. “Hey,
I noticed you’re not being specific. I guess that means I won’t see
you for a few days.”

“It’s crazy, honey, so I can’t make promises.
I just talked to Bo. He says we got more trouble, but said he’d let
M.J. and Dave tell me.” Chase stepped away. He pulled on his
department issued jacket and zipped it up. The Vermilion Parish
Sheriff’s Department emblem was stamped on the back.

“Show ‘em what you got, but be careful. In a
few short weeks, you’ll be in charge. M.J. will gladly hand you the
keys to that place,” LaShaun said with a laugh.

Chase shrugged. “We’ll see. Old Dave has more
than a few friends in this parish. You get back to planning our
wedding.” He headed for the door.

“Oh Lord, don’t remind me. Katie and Adrianna
have sent me at least fifteen e-mails, a piece. I don’t think the
royal wedding in England was this much trouble.” LaShaun groaned.
“And we’re running out of time, at least that’s what they keep
telling me.”

“It’s still only February, sweetie. Don’t let
those two gang up on you. Keep it simple. We both agreed.” Chase
pointed a finger at her. “If you need back-up, just let me know.
We’ll face those two down.”

“Thanks, cher. We have the location, under
the historic oaks of Broussard ancestral lands. We’ll have the
reception right there on your patio and...”

“Our patio, sweetheart,” Chase corrected her,
but looked at his smart phone again reading a text.

“Gotta get used to that, and so does your
mama,” LaShaun quipped in a soft voice.

“Huh?” Chase tapped out a reply to someone at
the station.

“Nothing. Go make Vermilion Parish safe from
crazed teenagers.”

Chase gave a grunt. “Bye.”

With one last kiss, LaShaun sent him out of
the door. She waved at him through the kitchen window as he turned
the new Dodge Ram truck in a circle and drove away. LaShaun ate a
light breakfast while she watched the morning news. Relieved not to
hear more weird developments in Beau Chene or Vermilion Parish, she
pulled up the to-do list on her tablet. She stared at it for a good
ten minutes without enthusiasm. Her thoughts were still on her
“dream”. The doorbell startled LaShaun out of her reverie. When she
went to the front door she got another surprise.