Realm of the Wolf Book I: Wolf Dance (36 page)

304

Realm of the Wolf Book I: Wolf Dance

by Lorraine Kennedy

Relieved, Laura turned off the engine, and leaning back on

the headrest, she closed her eyes. The sense of coming home

was powerful and comforting. Since the beginning of this

nightmare, Jessup had been her one anchor to reality, and

right now she felt she needed that more than anything else.

Leaving the Bronco, Laura climbed the wooden porch stairs

where an old brown hound dog lay eyeing her without lifting

his head. Straightening her shoulders, she knocked firmly on

the door. A moment later, the door opened and Jessup stood

in the entrance. He looked upon her with curiosity, but his

features were blank. There was no familiarity in his warm,

dark eyes. Fear gripped Laura's heart.

"It's me ... Laura." She attempted a smile but failed

miserably.

At first there was no reaction, but very slowly ... sparks of

recognition entered his eyes and he smiled.

"Why, Laura, how you been girl?" He smiled but Laura

could tell he was still slightly confused.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

Jessup stepped aside so she could enter.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I didn't realize who

you were at first." He was shaking his head as if still trying to

figure it out.

"How much of our time in Wyoming do you remember?"

Laura decided to get right down to the amnesia problem.

"Weren't we working a job there for Duccini, some time

back?" He smiled weakly.

Laura nodded. "The
Sungmanitu
... do you remember

them?"

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"Wasn't there some kind of trouble with them?" Again he

appeared to be confused, but whatever was fogging his

memory was lifting away.

Jessup leaned against the small kitchen table and studied

Laura in silent contemplation. His numb expression gradually

took on the look of apprehension.

"The wolves ... they tried to kill us."

"No." Laura shook her head. "That was the Jaguars. Try

harder, Jessup. It's very important to me that you remember.

I need your help."

Jessup left her standing there while he went to the sink

and filled a glass with cold water. He drank it down in large

gulps. When he was finished he set the glass on the counter

and turned to Laura.

"I have forgotten my manners. Would you like something

to drink?"

Laura shook her head.

"So ... what's wrong, Laura? I thought that problem was

basically solved when we left there?"

Laura's smile was weak. "Maybe we should take a seat and

I will fill you in on what's going on."

As Laura talked, she could tell he was remembering more

and more. Just knowing she was not alone with this any

longer was enough to abate her fear.

"Damn ... that's even more to swallow than what I know to

be real." He was dazed.

"I know it all seems so fantastic ... even to me it does."

"So they actually have these cities that exist in a parallel

dimension? And they think the baby you are going to have ...

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will fulfill some kind of prophecy for these Jaguars?" Jessup

was sure no fairytale could be quite as imaginative as Laura's

story. But if one believed that a man could take the form of a

wolf—which he himself had witnessed—he guessed the rest

couldn't be all that more farfetched.

"I need to hide out for a while ... until I can figure out how

to keep them away from my baby." Laura was pleading for his

help.

In deep thought, Jessup began to tap his long fingers on

the tabletop.

"There is one thing that we might be able to do," he finally

spoke.

Laura waited for him to continue.

"Eventually they will trace you here, but we might as well

not make it easy for them," Jessup told her in that deep

southern drawl she had come to love.

"Where are you going with this?" Laura smiled, really

happy to have the old Jessup back.

"The bayou is a dangerous place, even for those who know

it, and downright deadly if you are unfamiliar with it. If you

were to disappear into the swamps, it's unlikely they would

find you—even if they happened to trace you here."

Laura lifted her hands in a gesture of helplessness. "How

can I do that?"

"Wait a minute and let me finish, why don't you?" Jessup

grumbled.

"Now as I was saying ... my Aunt Bellea lives deep in the

swamps. She's something of the legendary Voodoo Queen

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around here, but to me, she's always just been plain old Aunt

Bellea."

"So you are suggesting that I go stay with your aunt?"

Laura looked doubtful.

"It's the perfect solution. We'll hide your auto someplace,

so when they come looking for you, they'll find nothing."

"It could be dangerous ... for you," Laura pointed out.

"I'm aware of that, but I survived them once before, and

I'm sure I'll do so again," he assured her.

"It's worth a try." Laura smiled.

"Do you think you were followed?" he asked.

"No, I think I was well away before they even figured out I

was gone."

"That's good. It will give us some leeway. We'll get some

sleep and take you out to Aunt Bellea first thing in the

morning." Jessup leaned back in his chair and yawned.

"I'll bed down on the couch tonight then ... if you don't

mind," Laura added.

"It sure will be fine to have some company for a change,"

he told her.

Midmorning found them coming near a small house built

on some kind of wooden platform above the water.

Laura's face fell. "Is this it?"

Guessing her thoughts, Jessup tried to calm her

discomfort. "Believe me ... it's much homier than what it

looks. This is the way houses are built out here," he informed

her.

A woman sat on the shack's porch, looking at them as they

approached. Laura thought she must be more ancient than

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the swamp itself. If she had any hair, it was wrapped up

tightly in the colorful scarf she wore on her head. Her dark

skin was deeply lined with age.

"Aunt Bellea, I have brought you a visitor," Jessup called

to her as he was docking the boat near the porch.

Jessup held out his hand to help Laura from the boat. The

craft rocked as she tried to disembark. For the second time

that day, she nearly ended up in the water.

"I just don't think I'm meant for the water," Laura

muttered once her feet were firmly placed on the dock.

Jessup laughed. "Much time out here and you'll be getting

about just like the Cajuns."

The wooden stairs creaked beneath their weight as she

followed Jessup to the porch and stood before the old woman.

Bellea's sharp eyes seemed to look right through her and for

a short time, Laura felt as if she could not breathe.

"Aunt Bellea, this is Laura Ellison from out west. She's in

need of help right now." Jessup's voice was grim.

"I know who she be." The old woman croaked out her

words. "You be the one with the child that is human ... but is

not human." It was a statement.

The look of utter shock on Laura's face pried a cackle out

of Bellea. "I was given signs that you would seek me out."

Laura's eyes flew to Jessup. "Bellea just seems to know

things," he explained with a sheepish smile.

Bellea slowly rose from her rocker and started for the

door. Laura guessed they were to follow her. Once inside,

Laura saw that Jessup had been right. The three-room shack

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was exceptionally clean and appeared to be comfortable

enough.

Without asking if they wanted anything, Bellea poured

them a glass of what Laura at first thought was water, but it

tasted and smelled like mint.

Sitting at the small kitchen table they drank the mint

juleps in silence. Laura was pleasantly surprised at how

refreshing the drink was.

It was finally Jessup who started up a conversation. "I

don't know how long she will have to stay. Maybe until her

child is born."

With a gnarled hand the old woman waved away Jessup's

words.

Bellea spoke to Jessup as if he were a foolish little boy.

"She's meant to be here."

An hour later Jessup was bringing from the boat, the few

things that Laura had managed to take with her.

"I'll be back to check on you in a couple of days," he told

her.

"If it's not too much trouble, could you see if you can pick

me up a few books to read when you do?"

"Will do," he told her with a chuckle.

Laura watched him row away, her mind full of misgivings

and her heart full of loneliness.

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Bellea kept her so busy that the days passed more quickly

than Laura would have believed. There was always something

to mix or cook, some herb or root that had to be sought out

in the swamp. Most every day they made a trip to visit

someone who was feeling "Unda de weatha", as Bellea put it.

Every few days, Jessup would visit to see how they were

getting on. Always he would bring things that he thought the

two of them might need.

Laura's pregnancy was quickly becoming apparent. The

roundness of her stomach was now visible unless she wore

loose clothing. Bellea had begun a layette in blue. When

Laura asked her how she knew it was a boy, the woman

answered impatiently.

"Girl, ya know as well as I do dat it's a boy."

In the evenings after supper, they would sit on the porch

and watch the fireflies dance in the night. Laura was the one

who would do most of the talking. Bellea would listen and nod

every once in a while as she knitted the baby another

blanket.

Laura found that she was almost happy and would have

been completely content, if it were not for the dark thoughts

that intruded on her each night when she lay down to sleep.

During this time it was impossible to keep her pain at bay. As

soon as she would close her eyes, visions of Tasha lying in

Justin's arms would leap before her. Tears would crowd into

her eyes and her heart would fill with despair.

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Tasha was his wife and had every right to be with him. It

was she who should not be crying for someone else's

husband. Laura would remind herself of these facts over and

over. Sometimes it worked, but most times it didn't. Usually it

was the movement of her child within her that would pull her

from her misery.

The night was like so many before, hot and so humid the

swamp felt more like a steam bath. Laura slipped in and out

of sleep, too uncomfortable to fall into oblivion.

"Lauraaa...." A little girl's voice called to her from the

swamps.

Laura jumped up, unsure if she had been dreaming.

"Lauraaa...," the voice called again. Leaving her cot, she

opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.

The bayou was alive with its night song ... but the voice

had vanished.

Laura peered into the darkness. There was nothing that

seemed unusual, but still the air seemed to crackle with the

electricity of danger.

She could not dismiss it as a dream; it had been Rosa's

voice. Whenever Rosa had appeared before, it was to warn

Laura of impending danger. Laura had no reason to doubt

that it was any different this time.

After a long time, Laura turned to enter the shack, but the

voice from behind her froze her in her tracks.

"Laura ... don't go."

Laura turned sharply and was only mildly surprised to see

the same little girl with dirty, cracked feet looking up at her

from the bottom of the stairs.

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The girl's impish smile was not so much one of warmth,

but of foreboding. "You are in danger, little sister."

Laura's tongue felt swollen, making it impossible to utter a

word, even if she had known what to say. The ghostly mist

that emanated from the girl's skin sent a shiver down Laura's

spine.

Finally words jumped from Laura's tongue. "I'm so sorry

for what happened to you, Rosa. I wish I could have known

you."

Rosa's dark eyes eerily reflected the moonlight. The

amusement that danced within them was unnerving.

"Rosa always helped take care of baby Laura." The girl

smiled.

"I don't know what to do, Rosa ... or where to go." Laura

blurted out.

"It's not only wolves that can appear in sheep's clothing."