CHAPTER 10
HAMMER
As I park my bike in the French Quarter, I’m tempted to try and talk my woman out of this adventure. Again. But I know it won’t do a damn bit of good.
She’s been on a mission for the last few days, ever since we found Marilyn’s journal.
I wish she hadn’t found out that her great aunt lived a life like the one Blanche found herself in, but she did.
It was so damn similar that it was heartbreaking.
The stories Cherie heard about this house were absolutely about Marilyn.
And now Laiken feels like she needs to pick up the pieces of history left behind and fix it, in their memory.
Marilyn admitted to killing her husband in her journal along with his mistress. The only good thing was that there were no children involved this time around. If I had to guess, Mr. Landry was sterile, and he didn’t live long enough for a lot of questions to be asked about it.
It’s not as if Marilyn married into the family, uncovered the man’s mistress, and she snapped. It took years of her enduring emotional and physical abuse while being taunted by the affair for her to kill the man.
She lasted longer than many people would have. But she also didn’t feel like she had any option but to stick around and try and endure. Part of that was the influence of the expectations of her generation, but the other part was she felt like her family abandoned her.
Because they did.
Marilyn wasn’t under any illusion about what her family thought about her and the assumptions they made about why she chose to marry into the Landry family. It isolated her and made her an even better victim for her husband.
Marilyn was never charged for the death of her husband and the maid. Hell, they couldn’t even fully investigate their disappearance because no bodies were ever found. If I had to guess, their bodies are somewhere on the estate grounds.
I won’t be going to look for them. No fucking thank you.
Since Marilyn didn’t have a child or family, including when it came to the Landry family, she devoted a lot of her life to investigating the history of the house and the family. She wanted to break the cycle that seemed to start with Blanche, Desiree, and Phillip.
She didn’t just research the history of the home, she also dived deep into Voodoo and the role it played in everything that happened in the house. Her goal was to break the curse, which she believed in completely.
I’m not sure I can blame her for believing in the curse considering her story was so similar to Blanche’s. The biggest difference is that it wasn’t the mistress who took down the cheating asshole. Marilyn stepped up and took care of the problem herself.
But all the research Marilyn did has led us to a night out in the French Quarter. We’re looking for a Voodoo Priestess, one whose power matches Desiree’s since she was the one who started this ball rolling.
Rene is the name of the woman Marilyn was trying to track down before she got sick and passed. Marilyn blamed the curse, and her getting too close to breaking it, as the reason she got sick in the first place.
Now we’re out on the hunt for a woman named Rene. As if that is enough to go on when it comes to tracking someone down in a place like New Orleans.
So far, the only good thing about this night is that I had my woman on the back of my bike. The feeling of her being wrapped around me was even better than I knew it would be. It is right where she belongs, where she was always meant to be.
Now, we’re walking around the French Quarter and not the touristy side of it. No, that would be too easy, wouldn’t it? And it wouldn’t have me on edge the way I am.
Instead, we’re exploring the seedier side of the area. I’m not sure what we’re looking for other than a Voodoo Priestess. Is she going to have a neon sign to tell us where she is? Somehow, I doubt it.
But Laiken was not going to be put off, she was determined to come down here and find this Rene woman. I tried to cajole her into forgetting about it. That was a mistake.
My woman’s eyes just hardened, and she told me in no uncertain terms, “I’ll go with or without you. You can choose which, but I am going.”
As if I was going to let her come down here by herself. No fucking way. Never going to happen.
Even if she weren’t wearing jeans which mold to her body like a second skin and a long-sleeved shirt that makes her tits look fucking edible, I still wouldn’t let my woman come down here without me.
I can feel the eyes of men checking her out and it has me on edge.
She’s attracting more attention with every fucking step she takes.
It’s just a matter of time before I’ll have to pull my gun and shoot someone, I just know it.
I grumble, “Do you know what we’re looking for?”
“The Serpent’s Eye.” She says it like that’s enough of an explanation for me.
It’s not. When I clear my throat and shoot her a look of pure fucking frustration, her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink.
“It’s a shop, I think. Marilyn could never find the address or confirm if it was an actual shop.
I couldn’t either. It didn’t come up in an internet search.
I figure it might not be a brick-and-mortar type shop and more of a word-of-mouth thing. ”
“So,” I growl, my anger spiking because the words I’m about to say piss me off, “your plan was to come down here and just ask around?”
Laiken shrugs like it wouldn’t be a big deal if it was her plan.
I run a hand down my face and shake my head. “What the fuck am I going to do with you, my little Mischief-maker?”
Without missing a beat, she tosses back, “Give me orgasms later.”
My cock goes rock hard behind the fly of my jeans. She’s not fucking wrong, but damn. The image of her on her knees with her pretty lips wrapped around my cock has me glancing around. Maybe we can find a nice, dark corner and I can experience it right now. Talk about fucking incentive.
“You’ve got a plump ass that’s perfect for slappin’, Doudou,” is called out from behind us.
I whirl around, taking my woman with me, to find a man stepping out of the shadows.
He’s tall, not as tall as me, and wiry. There’s something about him that sets me on edge, something bordering on sinister.
And I’m a man not easily intimidated who has done more damage with a hammer than most people would even consider.
Laiken whispers, “Doudou?”
I speak out of the side of my mouth, having heard the phrase a lot in the years I’ve lived in the city, “It means honey or sweetie.”
My woman makes a humming sound as she tilts her head and studies the man.
He’s dressed casually in loose fitting clothing, his hair in dreads which fall down his back.
His nose has a hook in it as if he could use it to reel someone closer.
His skin is dark, the shadows wrapping around him and blending along the edges.
His eyes, though, are lit up from the inside. But it’s not a good thing.
My stomach sinks. This man thinks he’s the predator in this situation. He calculated incorrectly though because there is no way I’ll ever allow another man to touch what is mine. And Laiken is mine.
“You won’t be slapping her ass or touching her in any way,” I snarl the words, my lip curling up as I bare my teeth at the man.
His lips curl into a wicked smirk which looks like a threat. His eyes flick toward my woman and then back at me. “And who is going to stop me? You?” He looks me over, his eyes lingering on my cut. “You think that leather protects you in a place like this?”
The man throws his head back and laughs, the sound echoing around us. As it does, it changes, and I swear I can hear snakes hissing in harmony.
Or maybe it’s a trick of the acoustics of this small side street which might as well be a back alley.
Laiken’s voice shakes as she asks, “What do you mean a place like this?”
The man’s eyes move over to my woman, and I can almost feel it when their gazes lock. “You’re in the snake nest. Don’t you feel it?”
A shiver rolls down my spine and Laiken moves closer to me without even realizing it. My fingers twitch to reach for my gun, but I hold off. For now.
The silence stretches between the three of us. Every second that ticks by feels like way too long and yet, I don’t know how to break the tenuous truce. That’s the only way I can describe it because he doesn’t move closer, he doesn’t threaten, he doesn’t harass my woman. He just stands there.
And so do we.
Before the moment can shift again, this time into something darker, a woman steps out of the shadows very close to where the man first appeared.
The curls of her hair are a riot around her head, the darkness of the street and the broken light of the moon hitting them in such a way that they look like they are writhing with every step she takes.
The sound of hissing snakes surrounds us again as my heart starts to hammer in my chest. I want to grab my woman and run, but it feels like I’m unable to move. It’s a feeling I don’t like, not even a little bit.
Her eyes are like endless black orbs and flick over my woman and then me as she glides closer, passing the man who seems to shrink back, unable to stand on his own when confronted with the woman’s presence.
She licks her lips as if she already tastes something delicious on them and it causes my nose to scrunch up in disgust.
I don’t like the way she’s looking at me, and I swear my balls are about a second away from crawling up into my body and waving a white flag in surrender.
Laiken’s hold on me tightens as my woman starts to vibrate with anger. It’s adorable and endearing as fuck.
But something tells me this is not the woman you want to piss off with threats.
“You seek something you do not understand,” she flicks her hand in Laiken’s direction, “but I see you have brought me a sacrifice.” Her eyes find me again and the implication is clear. “I can work with this.”
Laiken’s voice is filled with disbelief, “A sacrifice?”
“Yes,” the woman trills, “if you were looking to trade my services for him, I am willing to negotiate. It is clear he is a man who can give much pleasure. Pleasure is a welcome commodity in my line of work. It not only fuels my energy, but it is so much fun.”
The smile on the woman’s face grows as Laiken scowls at her. Before I can stop her, she steps in front of me as if she’ll shield me with her smaller body.
“I’m not here for a trade. There will be no negotiating about it, and I would appreciate it if you would stop looking at my man as if he is a yummy snack.” She reaches back and wraps her arm around my torso. “He’s mine.”
Even though this is not the right time, my heart soars as my cock thickens behind the fly of my jeans.
My woman must feel it because she takes a step back against my body to press her plump fucking ass right against my cock like I won’t take her to the ground right now and fuck her just to prove a point.
Okay, I won’t do that. Probably. Maybe.
“Really?” The woman tilts her head as she considers the both of us.
“I thought you came here seeking the Serpent’s Eye.
You have found her, and my services are not cheap.
You want a curse broken and a land freed from the spirits who still cling to it.
” She licks her lips again, her eyes flicking back to me. “He will be the perfect payment.”
“Mine,” Laiken growls at the woman, the sound echoing in the small space around us to be absorbed by the shadows like an offering.
The woman, who must be Rene, nods once. The movement is decisive and sends her curls writhing around her head like snakes reaching for warmth.
Laiken grabs my hand and throws one more glare at the woman before swiftly moving back toward my bike. She doesn’t exactly drag me, I don’t think she’d be capable of doing any such thing, but she certainly does pull me along behind her with surprising strength.
It’s only when we’re far away from the scene, Laiken’s arms wrapped around my waist and the vibrations of the bike underneath us, when the sound of hissing snakes disappears entirely.
What the fuck was that?