Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Flood [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (13 page)

Adele nodded. “And Villemont knows how to bide his time if he has to. He prefers to solve his problems using money, but he can wait if money can’t take care of things quickly.”

Gabriel’s stomach sank. “You really think he’s got somethin’ planned for us specifically?”

She nodded.

“And it’s gonna be bad?”

She nodded again.

“So what do we do?” Sophie interjected, her voice sounding panicked. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to bring this all upon you. I didn’t know.”

“Hush now,” Serafine said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “You didn’t turn Villemont into an evil man, and you certainly didn’t lead Georgina to us. She knows perfectly well how to find the congregation if she and Villemont want revenge. Besides, we got a way around this.”

Sophie blinked her eyes. “How?”

Serafine grinned. “Magic.”

* * * *

Virgil couldn’t help but chuckle as he saw Sophie’s eyes widen. Even though she’d clearly come to accept the fact that shifters existed, the idea of voodoo seemed beyond belief. He rolled his eyes a bit. It always shocked him when natives, who had been raised in a city known for its voodoo practitioners, shrugged the practice off as though it was a way to fool tourists. His ancestors had used it as such, and look where that had gotten him.

“Magic?” Sophie asked.

Serafine nodded. “Of course. Magic has always done right by us. Come on out to the deck. We’re gonna do a protection ritual. You ever seen voodoo done before?”

Sophie shook her head.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything. I think you’ll enjoy your first one. And even though you’re not a full member of the congregation yet, we’d love to have you participate.”

Sophie gave a small smile. “Okay. I’d like that very much. Thank you.”

Serafine disappeared to her quarters while the rest of the gators went out and got ready. Some went out to round up members of the congregation who were busy with chores or resting on their own boats. Within a few minutes, everyone on the congregation was assembling on the lower and upper decks of the boat.

“Is it safe for everyone to be clustered here?” Sophie asked, looking nervous.

“Of course it is,” Virgil said, giving her a kiss. “Just because we don’t have room for every gator to live here don’t mean we’re lackin’ standin’ room on the boat. If it wasn’t safe, Serafine would have said somethin’ and done a different spell that didn’t require every gator to be here.”

Serafine emerged carrying a large bundle. First, she pulled out seven purple candles and held them toward Sophie.

“Will you put these around the lower deck for me, please? Make ’em spaced evenly.”

“Yes, of course.” She hurried off to accomplish the task.

Virgil grinned as Sophie immediately busied herself helping out. Even though she hadn’t been turned yet, it felt like she was one of them. She belonged there, and he hoped it wouldn’t be long before she saw it that way as well.

Serafine handed Virgil seven purple candles to place around the upper deck, and when he came back, he found the rest of the ritual was complete. One black taper and one white taper sat side-by-side on an oak wood altar. Incense sticks stood in front of each candle, and a brown, withered root sat in front. Two bowls of powders and a small bottle of oil sat nearby.

“Who here has a photo of Georgina?” Serafine called to the congregation.

One of her fathers, Eugene, stepped forward. With tears in his eyes, he handed over a slightly rumpled picture. Virgil’s heart broke for the man and for the rest of her family. He could only imagine how difficult the last few months had been. He couldn’t picture what it would feel like to know his child had betrayed him and then been cast out of the congregation.

“Okay. Let’s begin,” Serafine said. “Everybody, please gather together and hold hands.”

Virgil reached out and grabbed Sophie’s hand. With his other hand, he reached out for Eugene. The man looked at him with sorrow.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Virgil said.

“So am I. But she made her own choices and decided to betray her family. We do what needs to be done.”

Virgil averted his glance quickly. He couldn’t stand staring into so much pain. Instead, he closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh bayou air and then opened them again so he could concentrate on the ritual.

Lighting the white candle, Serafine said, “Spirits and saints of the world, protect us from Georgina Fucher and the evils that live in her mind.”

Serafine drizzled the oil in a circle around the candle, and then drizzled the root with oil as well, and moved it to sit directly in front of the white candle. Then, she picked up the white powder and sprinkled it in a circle around the entire altar.

“Who will help me light the candles?” she called out.

“I will,” Sophie said. She broke free of the chain and rushed to meet Serafine. Virgil reached out for Gabriel’s hands, to keep the circle from breaking, and focused on his mate. She walked around and lit each candle, and Serafine drizzled a ring of the oil and a sprinkling of white powder around each one. Then, they climbed up to the upper deck. Virgil lifted his head so that he could see the tiny flames begin to light up.

“She’s one of us. I hope this makes her see that,” Gabriel whispered.

“I think it will.”

Sophie and Serafine returned, and Sophie resumed her place between Virgil and Gabriel. Serafine returned to the altar and lit the black candle.

“Georgina Fucher, keep away from our congregation,” she said as the flame blazed. She slid Georgina’s picture beneath the candleholder. She placed the bowl of brown powder next to the candle. Finally, she lit the incense, and the fragrant smell of jasmine floated into the warm summer air.

Picking up the black taper, Seraphine put Georgina’s photo in the bowl with the brown powder then touched the photograph and set the photograph on fire. Virgil felt Eugene flinch as her image began to burn, but he remained resolute as the image started to crinkle and melt.

“Sprits of the land, the water, and the air, protect us from the souls who wish to do us harm!” Serafine shouted. When the entire picture was burned, she stubbed the black taper into the brown powder. “Spirits of the land, the water, and the air, protect us from the souls who wish to do us harm!” Out of the corner of his eye, Virgil saw a tear slide down Eugene’s cheek. His heart went out to the man, and he wished he could think of some way to comfort him.

Serafine took some more of the white powder and sprinkled it on top of the root. She took a piece of foil from one of the pockets of her robes and wrapped it around the root. She then pulled out a bottle of oil and drizzled it on the cloth.

“I will now place this in the control room, the heart of this ship. As long as it is there, everyone in this congregation will be protected from Georgina’s mischief. She cannot hurt us.”

As soon as Serafine accomplished the task, the circle broke. Armand and Nelson rushed to support Serafine, who had gone pale.

“I’m gonna be fine, boys. If you could be so kind as to help an old woman get to her bed, I’d be much obliged, but I’ll be better in the mornin’.”

As Nelson and Armand carefully helped Serafine over to her boat, other gators busied themselves with cleaning up after the ritual. Virgil rushed up to Sophie and gave her a deep kiss.

“That’s voodoo,” he said.

“Is Seraphine really going to be okay?”

“I think so. She wouldn’t hide it if somethin’ was really wrong. That ain’t how she is.”

“I’m sorry that we have to be so hostile to Georgina. In spite of everything, my heart hasn’t quite accepted that she’s not my friend. But it was still an amazing experience. I felt so powerful. I’m honored that Serafine let me join in.”

Virgil smiled but realized there was still fear in her eyes. “Somethin’ is still botherin’ you. Talk to me.”

“I noticed the ritual only protects us from Georgina. It doesn’t protect us from Villemont. But he’s still out to get us.”

Serafine came up behind them and set a hand on Sophie’s shoulder.

“Magic can’t solve all our problems all the time. Sometimes, we can’t be dependent on the spirits. We can protect ourselves from Villemont, but even if we’re shielded, he’s still gonna continue tryin’ to tear down the bayou. I’ve had a premonition that his end is near. If we’re gonna bring about that end, we need to let ourselves be vulnerable.”

“But isn’t that dangerous?” Sophie asked, her eyes growing wide.

Serafine shrugged. “Bein’ vulnerable is dangerous, yes. But we have to accept a little danger if we’re gonna put an end to evil that big. Now come on. Let’s go get ready for some lunch. I don’t know ’bout you, but a good ritual always leaves me feelin’ hungry.”

The jambalaya had been put on to simmer well before the ritual began, so it was perfect to eat as everyone lined up in the main kitchen for food. Scooping up bowls for Sophie, Gabriel, and himself, he saw Adele and Narcisse whisper to each other and then disappear. But Sophie cajoling him to hurry up and sit next to her distracted him, and seconds later, the confusion was gone from his mind. He joined his mate and his friend and relaxed.

Half an hour later, however, Adele and Narcisse emerged again, this time with grave expressions on their faces.

“What’s goin’ on?” Virgil asked.

“We have some bad news,” Narcisse said.

Serafine raised her eyebrows. “That much is obvious, yes. Do you mind tellin’ us what this bad news is all about?”

Adele sighed. “The five-day weather forecast is showing storms rolling in sometime in the next three days. But after the measurements I’ve taken of the disappearing coastline, I have every reason to believe that the city will suffer from devastating floods.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You mean a hurricane is set to come through?” Gabriel asked. “We’re not even in hurricane season yet.”

Narcisse nodded. “We know. But the forecast isn’t predicting a hurricane. It’s predicting a regular, run-of-the-mill thunderstorm.”

“Villemont has eroded so much of the coastline that even a standard storm could spell catastrophe for the city. It’s that serious.”

Virgil banged his hand on the table. “Goddamn it. Who gave that man a buildin’ permit? How could they have been so stupid about it?”

“I’m sure the city council was thinking less about stupidity and more about how nice Villemont’s bribe would look sitting in their bank accounts. Not that he bribed them, of course. But that does seem to be how he gets away with everything.”

“So what happens now?” Gabriel asked.

“The damage is already done,” Adele said. “Even if Villemont stopped construction today, so much damage has been done that we’re still looking at massive flooding.”

“What if we reinforced the city?” Virgil asked. “Add reinforcements around the levees and build up blockades around the unprotected river shore?”

“That’s pretty much our only option,” Narcisse said. “We were just on the phone with the National Guard and the governor.”

“You have no idea how many strings I had to pull to get phone calls with them,” Adele said. “There might have been some voodoo involved, you know, to make them more willing to take a call from a lowly biology professor.”

“They have the military out working on reinforcements right now, but they’re calling on civilian volunteers to contribute as well.”

“That settles it,” Manuel said. “Every gator who is able to help is gonna sail to New Orleans. We’re leavin’ right now. Hurry and get together any tools you need. Get food ready, too, because we’re gonna have a lot of hard work ahead of us. Get movin’ and meet down by the boats, ready to sail, in fifteen minutes.”

“What about me?” Sophie asked, grasping Virgil’s hand and looking up at him. “Can I go, too?”

“Of course you can,” Virgil said.

“We want you along,” Gabriel said, kissing her. “Just make sure you’re careful, okay, baby? We couldn’t live with ourselves if somethin’ happened to you.”

* * * *

Sophie felt nervous as they sailed toward New Orleans. She knew the basics of guitar repair, and her fingers were nimble from years of practice, but she had no experience with major construction projects. As much as she wanted to go help, she was afraid she didn’t have the skills to adequately protect her city.