Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance (7 page)

“
Ben, don’t move,” I
commanded in a cool manner. I walked towards him being extra
cautious of each step I took.

“
Why what’s wrong?” He asked
innocently. He started to rise.

“
Don’t move!” I nervously
screeched a little louder than I had hoped.

“
You’re scaring me.” He
ignored my advice and took a step backwards and glanced above to
see what I was staring at. “A snake!” he hollered. His beady eyes
started to bulge, “I don’t like snakes. I like
alligators!”

“
Ben it’s okay.” I tried to
remain collected even though my heart was racing a hundred miles
per minute.

Ben ignored me and continued to move
backwards. It was clear that the snake did not appreciate the
commotion, so it started to inch closer to him.

“
Arelia what’s happening?”
He demanded. “The ground is moving.”

It took me a moment to realize that Ben
had stepped into a pocket of quicksand that was common in most
swampy areas. The earth below him was sucking him down at a rapid
pace. I had to do something now. As I ran towards him, I could see
the cottonmouth was getting even more irritated, so much in fact,
that it had coiled itself around Ben’s arm.

“
Arelia, help me!” At this
point, Ben was in utter terror, as the snake inched his way up to
his neck, and the ground pulled him in even further.

When I finally got to him, I made sure
not to step in the quicksand. I stretched out my arm for Ben to
hold on to. He gripped my arm, as I tried to pull him out. I tried
with every fiber in my body, but it was useless. Ben was a chubby
kid and probably weighed more than I did which prompted my body to
land with a giant thud backwards.

“
Arelia, ouch it bit me!”
Ben yelped in pain. The snake having gotten its revenge, uncoiled
itself from Ben.

“
Hold on. I’m going to get
you out,” I assured him. I needed some kind of rope. Not quite sure
what I was doing, I took off my gown and started to twist it into a
makeshift rope. “Ben, grab the gown,” I commanded as I threw him
the gown. He gripped the gown, and I started to pull again. I
pulled with all my strength, but it was futile. I just wasn’t
strong enough. I tried harder, and then if by some miracle, Ben
started to move from out of the quicksand, someone was helping me
pull him out. I turned around to confirm my suspicion and saw that
it was formerly-shirtless guy. His eyes were intently fixated on
Ben and his smooth skin gleamed under the moonlight. Together, we
managed to drag Ben out of the hole and onto solid land.

“
Thanks,” I mouthed to
formerly-shirtless guy not wanting to get into why he had followed
me. Ben was starting to foam at the mouth from the snake bite, and
I needed to help him. Formerly-shirtless guy nodded in
acknowledgement as he dragged Ben to a clearing.

“
Arelia,” Ben gasped.
“What’s happening?”

“
Nothing Ben,” I tried to
sooth him. I got on my knees and inspected the bloated area where
the bite mark was. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I asked
Erzulie to help me close the wound and stop the poison. “You’re
going to be fine,” I assured him. I continued to concentrate. He
had to get better, he just had to. If what everyone was telling me
was true and I was a voodoo queen who could talk to spirits, surely
they could help me save a scared, little boy.

I opened my eyes a few minutes later,
but the wound was still there, and Ben’s temperature was rapidly
rising. I could see formerly-shirtless guy eying me with intrigue.
I felt silly all of a sudden thinking that he probably thought I
was crazy. Oh well, it didn’t matter. I had to help Ben. I closed
my eyes again and focused harder. Using every inch of my being, I
was determined to heal Ben. I remembered the healing song
grand-mere used to sing to me when high fevers got a hold of
me:

Wash away the pain

Wash away the ugliness

I free you from the pain

Sweep way the pain

Make an offering in blood and
tears

Wash away the pain

Set you free from the hurt

My child I wash away the
pain

Crap, I had to make an offering, but
with what? At home, grand-mere Bea used to light candles, and mix
herbs whenever I got sick. Where the hell was I supposed to find
candles and herbs out here? Remembering that offerings could vary,
I anxiously ripped the stupid butterfly pin out of my hair, and
used it to prick my finger. The slight pain gave me an adrenaline
rush as a spot of blood sprung from my finger. I brought my finger
to Ben’s bite and passed my blood over it. Afterwards, I wrapped my
hands around his neck and closed my eyes. Once again, I repeated
the chant:

Wash away the pain

Wash away the ugliness

I free you from the pain

Sweep way the pain

Make an offering in blood and
tears

Wash away the pain

Set you free from the hurt

My child I wash away the
pain

A few minutes later, I opened my eyes,
but nothing had changed. “It’s not working!” I yelled to
formerly-shirtless guy. Where had I gone wrong?

“
What can I do?” His
eyebrows furrowed together, as if he were trying to come up with a
solution. “Maybe, we should take him back to the house. We have a
doctor on call for the summer. He’ll know what to do.”

“
No!” I screamed. “I’m
supposed to help him. They told me it would work. They told me I
had powers.” I felt so defeated, so stupid for believing in what
Ms. Mae and grand-mere Bea had told me.

“
Try harder then,” he
commanded. “If you want it to work, it will. You can’t just give up
after a few, feeble attempts.”

There was something in his tone that
was so certain, so determined. It was like he believed me more than
I had ever believed in myself. I wanted to argue and accuse him of
not knowing anything about me, but there are times when a girl just
has to bite her tongue and focus on the bigger picture. I pricked
my other finger and drew more blood. Afterwards, I closed my eyes
again and concentrated on the words within the chant:

Wash away the pain

Wash away the ugliness

I free you from the pain

Sweep way the pain

Make an offering in blood and
tears

Wash away the pain

Set you free from the hurt

My child I wash away the
pain

It had to work. It just had to. After
repeating the chant at least six times, it still didn’t work. “Fine
you greedy spirits!” I yelled. It was clear that they wanted more
blood. In a rage, I drew more blood, this time slashing my palm. I
brought my dripping palm up to Ben’s neck and repeated the chant.
After a few minutes, I felt a distinct energy. It was a force
within me so incredibly strong that I was convinced that I was able
to move a mountain if I wanted to or even get Sabrina to stop
talking about boys.

“
Arelia what are you doing?”
Ben’s voice forced me to open my eyes. “You’re strangling
me.”

I realized my hands were gripped a bit
too tightly around his neck. I unwrapped them to find that his
wound had completely healed, and his fever was gone. “Ben, you’re
okay!” I exclaimed. I gave him an enormous hug.

“
Of course, I’m okay,” he
said. “I’m just sleepy it was a long night. Tell the alligators and
ghosts that I’ll see them tomorrow.” He closed his eyes and fell
into a deep sleep.

In my excitement, I leapt up, and by
sheer impulse gave formerly-shirtless guy a hug. As my body touched
his, I could smell him and felt my skin tingle. Delicious chills
overtook my body. He wasn’t wearing any cologne, but he smelt
lovely. Warm and familiar mingled with a dash of sadness and
danger. I caught myself clinging to him and took a step back in
embarrassment. My moment of conquest had quickly passed, and I
realized that I was standing next to a swamp, in front of a
stranger in a corset and petticoat which basically translated to a
bra and underwear. I was horrified.

Formerly-shirtless guy looked at me
like the existence of Santa Claus had just been proven before
taking off his jacket and wrapping it around me. “You must be
cold,” he observed. “Your hand is bleeding.” He ripped a sleeve off
of his shirt and covered my palm.

In my state of absolute exhilaration, I
had failed to acknowledge the fact that the night had gotten a bit
chilly. My entire body was covered in goosebumps, and my hand was
leaking blood everywhere. “Why did you follow me?” I wrapped his
jacket around me realizing that I was standing in the middle of
nowhere with someone who could be a psychopathic, serial
killer.

His lips broke out in an amused smile.
“Do you think I’m stalking you?” He asked hovering over me. It
really sucked being short sometimes. Standing at a measly five foot
three inches made me feel as if I lived in a world full of giants.
At this moment, formerly-shirtless guy looked like a giant even
though he wasn’t freakishly tall or anything, maybe slightly over
six feet.

“
Well, how else can you
explain being here?” I stated what I thought was the obvious. I
tried to stand on my toes, hoping to make myself appear
taller.

“
I saw you leave and thought
that you may have gotten lost, the property is rather large,” he
explained in a rational manner.

“
How did you know I left?” I
pressed. “You were too busy dancing.”

His laugh cut the momentary silence the
swamp had succumbed to. “I guess I’m not the only lurker around
here.”

“
What?” I asked
confused.

“
If you saw me dancing that
means you must have been watching me.” He raised an eyebrow as if
he was expecting me to confess that, I had in fact, been watching
him.

“
I wasn’t, Sabrina was
supposed to be helping me.” I adamantly defended myself, as I stood
even higher on my toes. “I only noticed you dancing because you
were with her.”

“
Let’s start over,” he held
out his hand. “I’m Lucus.”

I thrust out my hand. So he had a name.
“I’m Arelia.” I expected him to shake my hand, but instead, he
brought it up to his lips and gave it a tender kiss. I was
mortified, but I had to admit a little flattered, as well. It
wasn’t sloppy, or rushed, but it wasn’t creepy slow either. It was
the kind of kiss I assumed a gentleman would give a lady. I only
presumed that because grand-mere was always going on about how
real, Southern gentlemen took their time and made a lady feel
special.

“
It’s a pleasure to meet you
Arelia. You look absolutely stunning this evening.”

He had to be kidding, right? I was
covered in mud and dressed in only a tuxedo jacket. “We better get
Ben back before anyone starts to worry,” I snapped, waking up from
whatever just happened here. “Promise you won’t tell anyone what
you saw here tonight,” I begged him.

“
You’re secret is safe with
me,” he melodramatically vowed in an exaggerated, solemn tone while
placing his right hand over his heart.

I took one look into his eyes and
wanted to believe him, but I’ve never been the type to trust so
easily. “Thanks,” I muttered.

Lucus scooped up Ben from the ground
like he was a feather and we started to head back to the house.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” I glanced over at
Lucus.

“
I’m pretty sure that I know
the way,” he replied as he looked over at me and gave me a carefree
smile.

“
If you say so, but I don’t
remember this path.” I was certain that we would probably get lost,
and I would get attacked by some creepy animal who would chew off
half of my face. Grand-mere Bea would be horrified. Sabrina would
book me an appointment with her mom’s plastic surgeon. The whole
thing would be dramatic and traumatizing. I guess chasing chubby
boys into deadly swamps wasn’t exactly my most brilliant
idea.

“
We’re taking a shortcut,”
he advised me. “There is a much easier way to get back to the
house.”

“
Sure.” How could he
possibly know where he was going?

To my surprise, Lucus actually knew
what he was talking about and managed to deliver us safely to
Darkwood house. When we got to the front porch, Sabrina came flying
down the steps. “Arelia! Where did you go? I was looking all over
the house for you!” For some strange reason, she had developed a
weird twangy accent in the short while I had been gone.

“
And you,” she turned to
Lucus, “Mr. LaPlante, it’s not nice keeping a lady waiting, is it
now?”

I felt my stomach turn. Did she really
just say LaPlante? Oh, great. The boss’s son had seen me in my
towel and my underwear within the span of less than eight
hours.

“
Please, do accept my
apologies Sabrina.” Lucus gave her a dramatic bow. “I was just
helping a guest who seemed to have lost her way.”

He sounded so humble, so noble; it made
me want to gag. Who actually spoke like that anymore? I knew that
he was just putting on a show for Sabrina, and that was fine with
me. She deserved Prince Charming. “Who is that kid?” Sabrina took
her eyes off Lucus for a split second.