“How do I...? What do I do? If she’s in Vilokan is there a way I can ask for her back? What? How do I fix this?”
“You don’t. But I will. I just need you to think about that night. From the moment the nurse came and got you to the moment Pagan was cured. Then I need you to remember Pagan’s childhood. There was this boy, a blond boy, that came into her life several times. I need you to try very hard to remember him and tell me everything. Even if you think it isn’t important. I need to know.”
She nodded her head and then frowned, “And I’m not asleep. This isn’t a dream?”
“No, you’re very awake. In fact why don’t you go make yourself a cup of coffee without the whiskey this time? I need you as alert as you can be.”
“Yes, okay, um, do you drink coffee?” she asked turning back to look at me.
“No, thank you. I’m fine,” I assured her and she hurried into the kitchen to fix her cup. I stood up and walked over to the mantle and picked up one of the many pictures of Pagan lined up on it. She was smiling brightly at the camera with her arms slung over the shoulders of Wyatt and Miranda. I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her sweet smile then put the picture back in its place.
“I just thought of something. Miranda’s mother said Leif was in the car with her and he’s missing too.”
Without turning around to face her I replied, “Yes, I imagine so. Considering Leif is the son of Ghede.”
Her loud gasp followed by the clatter of her cup hitting the tile floor reminded me I was dealing with a human here. One that, unlike Pagan, hadn’t been seeing souls all her life. I really needed to monitor what I said more carefully.
Pagan
When I’d allowed myself to dwell on Ghede never once did I imagine what I was seeing at the head of the twenty-foot long table. Leaning back with a sinister grin on his face was a tall figure in a black top hat, a pair of dark sunglasses and two cigarettes hanging from his mouth. From what I could tell he was wearing a tuxedo with tails. Both of his feet were propped up on the table as he reclined in the enormous carved marble and satin chair that reminded me more of a throne in a princess movie. Except, like most of the other items in the room, it was black.
Leif had placed us directly to the right of him and he was smiling proudly like he’d brought his prized possession to impress his father.
A scantily dressed woman placed a large silver cup in front of me and I was a little concerned her boobs were going to pop out in my face. I was terrified to drink or eat anything a bunch of voodoo spirits dined on but I also wanted to see Wyatt. So I forced myself to pick up the cup and lift it to my lips. The stench burned my nose and I quickly set it back down. There was no way I was drinking that.
Loud cackling laughter startled me and I jerked my attention from the offensive drink to see Ghede slap the table with one hand and laugh amazingly loudly without once dropping a cigarette from his mouth.
“She amuses me son,” he bellowed and the rest of the attendees at the table joined in on his laughter.
Leif’s hand reached for mine under the table in an attempt to squeeze it and I jerked it away quickly. I didn’t want him to touch me.
“You don like de rum do ya gurl,” Ghede stated for the rest of the table to hear.
Rum. So that was what it was. No, I didn’t like the rum.
“No,” I replied, unable to hold his piercing stare even with those dark glasses of his on. You could still feel it.
“Ah, we might need to fix dat.”
Highly unlikely.
“Could she just have some soda, father?” Leif asked and for once I was thankful for his presence. My mouth was incredibly dry.
“Yes get de gurl some soda,” he ordered one of the women standing back around the table waiting to do his bidding.
“Thank you,” I managed to choke out. Wyatt, I reminded myself. I was doing this for Wyatt.
“Ah and she’s got de manners. You chose good son. I lak dis one.”
Leif beamed beside me and I felt the urge to gag.
“Dis one,” Ghede announced loudly to the rest of the table, “she fell in love wit Dankmar. Das right,” he enjoyed the surprised responses that came from the others. I peered down the table for the first time since sitting down and had to force myself not to openly gape at them. At least my dress didn’t stand out. Every female at the table was dressed in a similarly ancient style of dress. However, their chests were much bigger so they really did have cl**vage up to their nose. I sucked in a quick breath when I watched one of the men pull the front of a lady’s dress until her entire breast bounced free. Swinging my eyes off them I studied the other side of the table. Men were all dressed in tuxedos and several even wore black masks. The hairstyles on the women were alarmingly high. Curls stacked up at least a foot with sparkling jewels, feathers, and other items stuck into the mix. They all drank liberally and laughed even shrilly. A loud squeal brought my eyes back to the other side of the table and I watched as the man who’d pulled the woman’s top down now had her butt up on the edge of the table and was shoving her dress up, which was a feat all its own with all the fabric, and she was spreading her legs wide and squealing delightedly. When the man went to unbutton his bottoms I closed my eyes and snapped my head back around to look toward the wall behind Leif’s head. Dear God, they were about to ... to do it at the table. What had I agreed to?
“Father please, Pagan isn’t used to this sort of behavior. For tonight can you stop them?” Leif asked from beside me and I wanted to bury my face in his shoulder and start humming a song to drawn out the loud grunts coming from the man only a few feet down from me.
“Whut? De sex is part of de fun. You won me to go wit out de sex? Whut is a party wit out de enjoyment of de flesh, hmmm. Non dat is de answer.”
The woman began to moan loudly and call out words I’d never heard before. Leif’s arm came around my shoulder and I used his side and his arm as muffles for my ears while my eyes remained tightly shut.