Dark Desires: Dark Erotic Tales (20 page)

Danielle spun around to face the person who'd just stormed in the door.

A tall beautiful woman stood fuming in the doorway. Her midnight colored skin glistened with the summer heat. Heavy braids were piled atop her head under a silken shawl that was artfully tied around her hair. Her swept back hair do revealed an impossibly long neck above a perfectly proportioned body. She was barefoot and the folds of her purple dress nearly swept the floor. She wore odd jewelry, had strange tattoos on her face and her black eyes glinted dangerously. Danielle was momentarily mesmerized by the beautiful witchy woman and felt embarrassed to have intruded. But then she snapped out of it, realizing in fact this was HER property and this woman shouldn't be here.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" Danielle demanded harshly, raising her defenses. "What are YOU doing here?"

The woman's eyes narrowed to slits. "You run on out of here, you hear? You don't belong here; you don't got no business here. This be MY house, you just get OUT!" The woman's deep Creole accent was alluring, even though she advanced menacingly as she shrieked at Danielle. Danielle forced herself to snap out of it.

"Listen, you need to settle down," Danielle stated. "This is NOT your house, and you are here illegally. Furthermore, I need to know where the baby is. I heard a baby out here crying last night. You can't have a baby here," Danielle griped, motioning around at the room in disgust.

The strange woman thundered across the room, sweeping past Danielle, and grabbed a bottle of some sort of white powder. The woman began shrieking as she flung the powder toward Danielle.

"
Tous les actes de la négativité
triple reviendra maintenant au thee.
Toutes les mauvaises celui que vous essayez d'envoyer ma façon
sur votre propre personne battante tiendra.
Toutes les actions, les pensées et les paroles de haine
devenir votre destin décidé propre.
Par tout le haut élevé un, mondes et sage
par les océans avec jour et des cieux bleus profonds
jour et nuit, et les pouvoirs trois
c'est ma volonté, ainsi grain qu'il est!"

Danielle stumbled backward, tripping over her own feet to get away from the banshee woman and out of the evil cottage. As soon as she was out the door, the spell over Danielle seemed to lift, and she turned and ran from the Voodoo woman. Danielle crashed back through the trees somehow instinctively finding her way back to the plantation house. Once inside her kitchen with the door tightly shut behind her, she peeked out the window to see if she'd been followed and saw only a peaceful, empty yard.

***

"Alright Jackson, just see what you can find out, thank you," said Danielle, ending her call to Jackson Anders. He'd been excited to hear from her and check how all was fairing in the land of the Deep South. She didn't mention the Voodoo woman and her odd French shrieking. Danielle knew bits and pieces of the French language but not enough to know what the woman had been saying. She feared Jackson might think her crazy if she told him she was afraid she'd just been cursed. Instead she asked him to find out any and all information about the plantation, why her parents owned it, and why they'd never told her about it.

As soon as she put her cell phone down, she heard a pounding on the front door that nearly sent her jumping out of her skin. She rushed to the door and threw it open, expecting to see the woman from the woods again.

However the person standing there was the furthest thing from a Voodoo queen. He was every bit of six feet five inches of solid, golden tanned, smooth skinned, and rippling muscled perfection. A mess of wavy brown hair framed a chiseled face. Everything about him said calm, cool, and collected except his wild, sparkling, dark eyes. He wore cowboy boots, a tattered pair of brown work pants, and nothing else. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of him, and his full lips spread like a slow fire across his face.

"Mornin' Ms. Mantagne," said the most beautiful creature she'd ever laid eyes on.

The only response she could manage was some eye blinking, and a rather embarrassing mutter-moan that made no actual sense. The man snickered. Finally Danielle took a deep breath and pulled her sorry self together. "I, uh… Good morning.
And… Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"May I come in?" the man said, answering her question with a question.

She eyed him skeptically. On one hand, she felt compelled to start shedding clothing on the spot. On the other hand, given the run in she'd just had in the woods, she couldn't rule out the possibility that this gorgeous creature might be an ax murderer. "After you tell me who you are... And how you know my name," she repeated firmly.

With twinkling eyes the man responded cordially. "My name is Auréle Toussaint
Plourde. I was aware that you were coming and I'd recognize a Mantagne anywhere. I'm the groundskeeper here. Been here for years, employed by your wonderful folks. Now that they're passed, I'd appreciate you kindly to let me know where I stand."

I'd appreciate you kindly
too,
Danielle thought,
anytime, sugar. You can stand right there, and I'll just get down on my knees and suck-

She cleared her throat, embarrassed as though he may somehow have access to her horny thoughts. Something about the way he penetrated her with his eyes and his sultry, very slight smile made her feel he in fact did know what she was thinking and she shivered involuntarily. Her nipples hardened as another filthy thought regarding his hard hands on her soft tits slithered across her imagination.  Danielle shook her head to clear it.  This wasn't normal behavior for her.  She'd been lucky to have sex once a week with her ex-husband, and though she'd never had any other lovers, she still recognized a two pump chump when she fucked one.  She'd been programmed not to care about sex.

Until now.

She took a look around what she could see of the front yard which looked like a jungle save the driveway area she'd had cleared the day before. She pondered him for a moment, thinking he must be the world's worst grounds keeper. But, what he lacked in labor skills, he made up for with raw, animal magnetism so, she forgave him on the spot, stepped aside and allowed him to come in.

"Alright then, Auréle, I've certainly got jobs for you, but not to be rude, you're gonna really have to bump it up a notch, alright?"

Auréle omitted a rumble of musical laughter and she shivered again.

"Follow me upstairs, I've got some stuff we can start on right away. While we're walking, tell me the story about the psychopath out in the woods."

***

Auréle masterfully made Danielle feel comfortable. For the first time since her accident, she forgot her scarred face. Auréle had an almost elicit way of gazing at her that made her wanton. She avoided his eyes in a desperate attempt to be professional and productive. Plus, the incident in the woods was a real problem and she no longer knew if she was even safe alone here.

"Her name's Toinette Chaput," Auréle explained. "She's lived out there all her life. She's part of the culture around here. Don't worry, she's harmless."

Danielle arched her eyebrows, regarding him incredulously. "Oh really? I'm pretty sure she just put a curse on me, Auréle!"

Auréle leaned close to her. He smelled like Honeysuckle and summer sunshine. She felt dizzy. "That Voodoo stuff… It can only hurt you if you let it, Ms. Mantagne."

She was transfixed looking into his eyes. "Call me Danielle," she whispered. He smiled again. Her body jolted with electricity and she internally screamed at herself to cut this out.

"Listen, if you know her, how 'bout you tell her she has to leave? That way I don't have to really fire her up and bring the cops out here. I'm just; I'm not comfortable with that stuff going on out there. And does she have a baby? I heard a baby crying last night!
TOTALLY freaked me out!"

For one brief millisecond,
Auréle's smile fell. If she wasn't completely obsessed with him on sight, she may not have even noticed it. But he recovered and answered in his sweet Southern drawl. "No, no baby out there. You must've been dreamin' ma'am."

She rolled her eyes. "No, not dreaming. There was a baby out there."

"And about makin' her leave. Well now, I have to say I don't really recommend that. For one thing, if you don't bother her, then most likely she won't bother you. And I don't reckon the law's gonna make her leave now. Squatter's rights."

"I'm sorry, what? She
most likely
won't bother me? And
squatter's rights?
You're kidding, right?"

"Listen, Danielle. I don't know about what you heard last night, and honestly, I haven't talked to Toinette in years. If you're really worried or frightened, I'd be happy to stay out in the slave quarters tonight if you like, see what goes on."

"Oh you can stay here in the house," Danielle said enthusiastically. She instantly blushed. Never in her life had she been so obvious. Though, she didn't have much in the way of basis for comparison. In her own defense, she had been genuinely terrified last night and again today and was grateful that he offered to stay.

Together, Auréle and Danielle made a good team. They worked tirelessly alongside each other cleaning and preparing the house to live once more.  Each time their arms brushed, or knees touched, or he was even in her vicinity, volts of electricity warmed her sensuously.

When she turned on her stereo to a local country music station, she was surprised when he didn't know any of the songs. "Not really my cup of tea," he explained mysteriously.

"Oh? Well what do you like? You can change the station."

Auréle glanced at the stereo with an odd expression. "I don't think that contraption would play what I'm accustomed to."

Danielle smiled coyly and sauntered away from the stereo back across the room where she'd been working pulling down some old wallpaper while he worked cleaning baseboards and floors on the other side of the room.  She swayed her hips slowly and hummed softly in her silky alto voice.  Not concentrating at all on her task, she closed her eyes and imagined him coming up behind her and putting his hands on her hips as she danced.  She could feel his eyes driving into her from behind, encouraging her little show.

"Maybe I like this music after all," he finally muttered.  She cast him a glance over her shoulder and fully acknowledged his serious, heady stare with a half-smile and slight nod.

Auréle entertained her with stories and local legends throughout the day. He asked her questions about herself and seemed fascinated by her which was titillating. Any questions she asked of him however were answered noncommittally or with an obvious subject change, so she didn't pry. He told her the plantation had been in the Mantagne family for generations. But her great, great grandmother, a woman her parents had never spoken of to her, had been tragically killed there. That was when the plantation had been abandoned and forgotten by the Mantagne family and they ran as far away as they could.

"Wow! I can't believe this. So that's why they never told me about my great, great grandmother? Her tragic death? What happened?"

Auréle's
eyes suddenly clouded over with haunted shadows. His voice became hushed. "Best not talk about that now, Danielle," he whispered. Disturbed by his sudden change in demeanor, she decided to leave it alone.

They worked on all day and into the night, and she felt she'd known Auréle every day of her life. She was also in a delicate state by midnight, barely able to tolerate his closeness anymore and still behave like a lady with decency or sanity. So, she informed him that since they'd gotten bedrooms cleaned and ready, he was welcome to one down the hall from her. She told him to make himself at home; she was going to take a bath and then hit the hay.

Alone at last, Danielle was excited to have a bath in the giant upstairs bathroom with a gothic claw foot tub, no light other than a dozen lit candles, and open windows and doors onto the balcony outside. Though she was in the middle of nowhere, something about the breeze on her skin from open windows as she soaked in the bubbles and the full exposure to the night was alluring. With every part of her heart and soul, she sent out a mental invitation for Auréle to join her like a wish on the wind. She released her hair from its twist on top of her head and let it fall into the water clinging to her full breasts and swirling wildly around her slick body. She sank completely into the bubbles, soaking her aching muscles in the rose scented water.  The water only added to her sensitive state as it slid between her legs, licking and tickling.  She closed her eyes and imagined Auréle climbing into the bath with her and that it was his hand she felt exploring between her legs. She stayed under until her lungs burned and then popped out of the water, her imagination so wild she expected to see him watching her.

And there stood Toinette, at the foot of the tub glaring angrily at her.

Danielle screamed.

***

"Danielle! Danielle! Shhhh, you're ok, you're fine, I've got you!" cooed Auréle. Danielle had scrambled out of the tub and scurried across the tiled floor, screaming like a woman unhinged. When she glanced over her shoulder, the room was empty but she was hysterical. Auréle had come running. He grabbed her towel and attempted to cover her as he dropped down next to her, taking hold of her, trying to bring her back to reality.