SEALs of Summer 2: A Military Romance Superbundle (65 page)

When they finally came up for air, he saw in her eyes how much she wanted him too.

“Luke.” It was a whisper, a chant, a prayer. “Don’t forget me.”

“Forget you?”

The drums ended suddenly and bodies fell to the floor.

“What the hell? What’s happening?” He lifted up on his toes and scanned the room.

When Ysabeau didn’t answer, he turned his attentions on her in time to see her eyes roll back in her head.

“Ysabeau!” He caught her before she crumpled.

Then somehow he was on the floor. He couldn’t think straight. All color bled out of his vision and a weird sensation filled his brain. Cotton smothered him from the inside out.

“Ysabeau, wake up!” he yelled, scrambling to hang onto her in the mass of bodies all around him. “Someone help me!” He looked around and noticed he was the only one still conscious.

And then, inexplicably, he heard arguing. Inside. His. Head.

He blinked rapidly as the world went foggy. No matter how hard he fought it, he couldn’t keep himself upright. His head hit the floor. He couldn’t see. Couldn’t scream. The voices grew louder and louder.

“Stay away from him!” One of the voices yelled.

He had a vision of a figure blocking a body on the floor. A man? Was he dead? It was as if he was looking through mesh. He struggled to make sense of things. The figure blocked most of the vision, protecting the man who’d curled up in the fetal position. Not moving. Just like the bodies in Mr. Johnson’s painting.

Another person stepped closer. A scary, malevolent figure. “Tell me what will happen! I must know. We’re running out of time.”

“That is no concern to me. I only care for him. Release him.”

“I care about her. Tell me what happens, or dis man will suffer,” Malevolent snarled.

“You would not dare harm him!” The protector’s voice was a shrill alarm in Luke’s brain.

“Oh no?” The tone dripped with mockery. “Watch me.”

In the vision, Luke saw the scary woman lift a baseball bat. His brain exploded. He had never experienced anything so painful. He screamed in agony and banged his head against the floor to make it stop.

“No!” The protector screamed. “You’re hurting him.”

The scary woman put the bat down and the pain eased back. “Tell me de truth.”

“There is only one thing you can do to save her.”

“I’m listening.”

“Keep them apart, or she will die.”

There was one more brain pound and then the cotton closed in. The man in the fetal position whimpered as everything went black.

‡

L
uke awoke with
one of the worst hang-overs of his life.

“Holy shit, what was in that bottle of Coke?” he complained to no one in particular. He couldn’t remember what’d happened after the dirty dancing. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to straighten out his vision and find Ysabeau in the mess. When the world became clear again, he saw her crumpled beside him. She reminded him of one of Sunny’s dolls that had been tossed on the floor.

He crawled to her and scooped her up in his arms. “Ysabeau.” He kissed her forehead and rubbed her cheek. She stirred a little so he held on and rocked her gently in his arms. “Wake up, angel.”

His legs were too weak to carry her, or he would have taken her out to the car and driven her home.

He scanned the crowd for someone to help him. Not all the hounfo were unconscious. About half-a-dozen of them moved around in a daze. A couple still danced, while one or two wept copiously. A young man fell to his knees in exaltation. A few twitched like they had Tabasco in their briefs, shouting like lunatics.

Luke really didn’t care about the mass hysteria, or whatever it was. All he cared about was the fact that Ysabeau wasn’t awake yet. “Angel.”

Ysabeau’s eyes fluttered open and she focused on his face. “Is it over?”

“Yes. Thank God,” he said quietly. “Come on.” He lifted her to her feet and they both wobbled a bit. “Let’s get out of here.”

She pressed her palm to his chest. “Not yet. Grann needs to finish what she’s started.”

She was weak. Whatever had happened during the ceremony had exhausted her. “Hell, no. I’m taking you home.”

As they started to leave, two identical young women stepped into his path.

“Mr. Carter, I am Reba, this is my sister Meeka,” one of the twins said. “Please come with us.”

“Nice to meet you ladies. If you’ll excuse us, we’re leaving.” Luke sidestepped to pass by them.

They circled around him, quickly stepping into his path again. They were tiny but determined. “Mambo Grann said you must come for the
Lave Tet
.”

“Sounds interesting ladies, whatever it is, but—”

Reba, or was it Meeka, giggled behind her hand, while the other said, “Lave Tet is the initiation ceremony for those who have been mounted for the first time.”

That made Luke smile. “Hate to break it to you, ladies, but I’m not a first-timer. I’ve been mounted plenty of times.” He glanced sideways at Ysabeau. “Let’s go.” With any luck he would be mounted again before the day was over.

Two pairs of eyes widened. “You have been possessed by spirits before today?”

Luke started to laugh. “You’re kidding me, right?”

From the look on their faces, they weren’t kidding.

“The Mambo has spoken,” one started.

“You must come with us,” the other completed.

“Go, Luke. I’ll wait for you over there.” Ysabeau pointed to a row of chairs. She looked like she needed to sit down.

“All right. Rest. I’ll go see if I can hurry Grann up so we can take you home.”

Flanked by miniature soldiers, Luke went with them to see their leader. Grann Mambo spoke to them, but he was the one who needed the damned answers.

*

Grann wasn’t ready
to leave the Rec Centre because the Voodoo ceremony wasn’t over. To speed things along, Luke decided to appease the old lady. After making sure there were no sharp instruments in sight, he knelt on a cushion while Grann spoke over the top of his head to the crowd. People nodded and murmured in agreement with her words. He had no idea what was said, but felt anticipation coming from the crowd. Was he going to be knighted or something equally as fantastic? He didn’t care. He simply wanted the whole ordeal to be over so he could find take Ysabeau home.

After Gran’s little speech was finished, she scooped water from a silver bowl with her hands and began chanting in her deep Mambo voice.

“What’s that?” Luke asked, pointing to the bowl.

She stopped her incantations, or whatever they were. “Holy Water.”

“Real Holy Water?”

Her eyebrows knit together, “What else would it be, Mr. Carter? Dis,” she lifted a stalk of a plant with tapering leaves and clusters of purple flowers, “is Hyssop. A cleansing herb.”

She dipped the Hyssop into the Holy Water and sprinkled his head with it. Droplets flew all around him, showering the altar and the linoleum floor.

“Mr. Carter,” her voice resonated in the hall, “I perform de Lave Tet. De cleansing ritual after a Loa has mounted a human.”

He rolled his eyes. Roughly, she forced his head back down toward the bowl. Cool water dripped from her hands onto the back of his neck. Her words chanted over his bent head. He couldn’t see anything, but could hear people pressing in around him. Their voices blended into a low hum of bees buzzing in his ears.

“Goofer!” Someone said behind him.

“Graveyard dust!” The crowd hissed.

Luke had the sensation the group had stepped away from him. He opened his eyes and was shocked to see that the water from his head ran brown into the bowl.

Holy Water my ass, what’s she putting on my hair?
He tried to lift his head again, but Grann forced him back down.

“Be still,” she warned. “You do not want me to make a mistake here.”

An eerie silence filled the hall.

Placing a finger under his chin, Grann lifted Luke’s head. “Now Mr. Carter, tell us what you learned.”

“Learned?”

“When you were mounted.”

“I’m not sure what happened to the others.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “But I can unequivocally tell you that no spirit possessed me. That’s ludicrous.”

Her thick lips curled in a smile that didn’t spread to the rest of her face. Her eyes flashed with annoyance. “You do not recall what happened?”

Suddenly, splinters of his memory came back. Mostly he remembered the pain. And fear. Screaming—his. It was like a flashback to the beating he took in the alley, only this time, he never saw who hurt him. He shook his head. This was crazy.

He squinted, matching Grann’s commanding gaze with defiance. “Can we go now? I’d like to wash this crap out of my hair.”

Luke stomped out of the Recreation Center. What in the hell had happened in there? Pressing the bridge of his nose, he exhaled slowly. The massive pounding behind his eyes was killing him.

Ysabeau looked as weak as a kitten. Wrapping his arm around her, he guided her into the car.

“Can I drive? You look pretty worn out,” Luke asked.

“I am fine.” Her voice was heavy with fatigue.

Luke held the door open for her. She smiled weakly as she moved past him and slid into the front seat.

He climbed into the back. “Ysabeau, you don’t look fine.”

She looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror. “I’m a little tired. That was pretty intense. I’m so sorry. How are you?”

He frowned. “A little confused.”

“I don’t doubt it. I had no idea they would do that to you. Are you sure you’re okay?” She said in a way that made him think he shouldn’t be okay. Maybe he should be dead.

“Yeah.” At least, he thought so.

She nodded slowly as if her head was nearly too heavy for her neck. Her posture looked different, like she’d aged. “That was the worst I’ve ever experienced. What do you think it all meant?”

“Ysabeau.” He exhaled through his nose. “What are you talking about?”

“Back there during the ceremony.” Studying him, surprise lit her face. “You really don’t know what happened, do you?”

“Bonswa!” Grann threw the door open and climbed into the passenger seat. “Are we’s ready to go?”

“I know I am,” Luke muttered, feeling a whole tangle of emotions wrangling around in his gut.

Grann asked something quietly in Kreyòl. Ysabeau caught his gaze in the mirror. Her eyes widened and she forced a smile. A fake smile. If he didn’t know better, Luke would think she was keeping something from him.

His temperature was on the rise. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”

Grann spoke first, “Why don’t you tell us, Mr. Carter?”

“I have no idea. I was dancing with Ysabeau back at the center of the universe…” The memory stirred up the heat, the wanting. He reached under her headrest and rubbed the nape of her neck with the pad of his thumb. “Really good dancing, by the way. I wouldn’t mind practicing some of those moves later. And then? I don’t know. I woke up with a bad headache.”

Deolina opened the door and flounced in beside him. “You better start talkin’ Guardian. What’s coming?”

Luke dropped his hand. “Excuse me?”

“Der is no excuse,” Deolina said.

Ysabeau spun around to face the black magic priestess. “It’s not his fault!”

“What isn’t my—” he started.

Grann interrupted. “Your spirit, Mr. Carter, de one protecting you knows somet’ing, but won’t tell us. Did she tell you?” She stared at him as if she was reading his every pore.

This was insane. “My spirit? How many times do I have to say it? I wasn’t mounted!”

“Yes, you were. I was der and heard her as well as you did!” Grann said.

It was like ice was dumped down his shorts. His mouth went dry and fell open. Sweat ran down his sides. “What do you mean you were there?”

“Umm-hmm. He was mounted.” Deolina flashed an astounding number of metal-filled molars at him. A show of triumph.

“Time is running short,” Grann demanded. “Tell us.”

Luke shook his pounding head.

Deolina made a
tsking
sound. “I saw dat comin’. He is no help to us.”

Grann and Deolina both turned away from him and jabbered to the woman he loved in a language he had no hopes of ever understanding.