like heaven to catch a glimpse of an alternate me, in the new life he suggested.
His body faded into the city’s sea and I stood there with only his crisp-edged business card and a vision of an improbable but appealing future. Apparently, Paris was an unstoppable force, a very skilled and thorough thief. Because now, it had ownership of my soul.
CHAPTER 2
Undead
The warm breeze washed over me when I stepped outside to get in my mud-smeared jet-black Jeep Wrangler to head to work. I welcomed the heat, inhaled deeply to let it move down my nose and throat. It felt like blazing fire at first, awakening the long-dormant life hidden away in my haven of a body. I was more than thrilled that it was summertime, had missed the uncomfortable hot weather and all its humid glory. My tank top already damp with perspiration, I stuck to the leather seat, my moist hair blowing effortlessly in the wind. It felt raw. Real. Alive.
I jumped on the highway heading for Lafayette, enjoying the sunshine as I drove, though after a year and a half, I was tiring of the trip to the city every day. I lived in the Breaux Bridge area, but was majoring in Literature at Louisiana State University, and worked in Lafayette too. There wasn’t much around my home except wide-open land, sparse neighbors, and a few family-owned restaurants and shops. I needed privacy though, and the rich French culture and history. A short commute to the city was a fair trade for my new life. Besides, I didn’t have classes this summer, so I wasn’t driving to and from Lafayette nearly as often.
In the bookstore parking lot, I put the car into park, lifted up my aviator shades and took a last drag off my cigarette, scanning the lot for any sign of his car. I hadn’t seen him in over a week, and I was hoping he took me seriously this time.
His dark blue Ford pickup wasn’t here. I threw an oversized oxford work shirt over my tank top, always thankful that it covered a multitude of sins, and popped a piece of gum in my mouth, gave a final glance around before I headed inside.
“The new release table’s looking kind of barren, Camille dear,” an annoyingly pleasant voice chimed as I stepped behind the front counter to clock in. Carol, my supervisor, specialized in the completely unnecessary. She watched me walk in the door every day for the past year and a half and do everything she ever asked me to, and then some. She knew I was reliable, that I loved my job, yet she made at least one condescending comment a day to me.
“I’ll be right on it,” I sang back just as pleasant, grabbing a stack of books to take to the new release table.
“Don’t be too long now. I have other things for you to do this morning.” She tilted her gaudy, librarianesque eyeglasses down for a second to look at me and gave me her signature mother hen stare. Rolling my eyes as soon as I had my head turned away from her, I shuffled on over to the table to appease her.
When she was out of sight, I snuck off to the most important section for my weekly ritual. I skimmed through the Hoodoo spellbooks to find some new protection spells, then slipped into the back room to make copies. None of them had worked yet, but I was new to the whole conjure thing, so I was optimistic.
I tucked the new spells into my pocket while I headed back to the new release table, pondering when would be a good time to swing by the conjure shop.
“So what’s it going to be this weekend, dinner and a movie?”
The question came from behind me. My body tensed, my shoulders instantly feeling the greatest effect. I clenched my jaw and swiveled around to peer up at a poisonous, yet undeniably angelic-looking face.
“You know I hate it when you do this,” I said. “And this is hardly the place.”
Times like this, I was grateful I looked so serious all the time. That helped when I needed to appear angrier. But I couldn’t maintain my stare. I swallowed and looked down first, then back up.
“Well maybe if you didn’t hide away from me all the time and actually answered my phone calls, a visit to your place of employment wouldn’t be necessary,” he said. He smirked, stepped a foot closer to me.