and only slightly interested.
The demon, thinking herself back in control, began to strut pompously the length of the gate and back again. “It was traded. In exchange for a gift of protection.”
“Protection of whom?” Maman asked.
“A true love,” the demon possessed girl answered.
“And who traded it to you for protection of their true love?” Maman pressed.
The girl grinned evilly. “Me thinks you should pay me my due, yah, before we tell you. That was the deal.”
‘Vangeline bowed her head slightly. “Then by all means, enter. I will give you all you are due.” Maman ‘Vangeline watched as the possessed girl reached for the latch on her front gate, pausing before she touched it and looking up at Maman for repeated permission to enter. “I have relaxed all the protections on my property and given you permission to enter. You will not be harmed by my protection charms and spells.”
The girl laid her hand on the gate, and at no immediate pain or impairment, smiled, thinking herself the winner in this confrontation, and let herself into the small yard in front of the home on Basin Street.
‘Vangeline turned and walked to her front door, her heart pounding, praying to all the deities she believed in for the safety of her son. She opened her door and stepped through, leaving it open for the girl to follow.
And follow she did.
The moment the girl passed through Maman ‘Vangeline’s threshold, she lifted the girl with a simple flick of her wrist, thrust her against the wall and with a few whispered words replaced the wards on her home, locking the spells and charms back tightly in place.
The girl’s demon started squalling, the girl herself floundering, her arms and legs flying about like a rag doll as she fought the immense strength slamming her continually against the wall. “Release me! Release me now or I’ll bring a wrath like none you've ever known to your door! Release me!” the demon screeched as the bones and skin of the girl’s face contorted into the demon’s countenance, then back to the girl again.
‘Vangeline walked slowly toward the girl, pinned three feet off the floor against her own living room wall. A circle of safety painted on the wall behind the girl, talismans of the religion Maman practiced accenting that circle. “Perhaps you don’t know about me,” ‘Vangeline said as she approached the girl still pinned magically to the wall.
The demon hissed while at the same time the girl snarled at ‘Vangeline.
“I am Maman ‘Vangeline. I am high-priestess of New Orleans. You are in my home now. In my territory, among my people and my things. And that ring you hold belongs to my son. If you have harmed my son, you have breathed your last.”
The girl stopped struggling at once. She realized the error of her plan. Then the demon reminded her, ‘But we gave him a way out. And we gifted him with the ability to watch over his love. We have served her son.’ The girl grinned. “We have not harmed him. We answered his plea, and gifted him with eternal life to watch over his love. We have gifted him his desire, not harmed him!”
Maman knew a demon gifted nothing without a twisted curse attached. “Where is my son?” she demanded calmly.
“I will never tell you! But if you free me, I’ll show you,” the girl promised.
“I’m afraid you will not be freed. Not unless you give me a reason to want to free you. Tell me how you come to have my son’s ring, and explain to me how you gifted him with anything.”
The girl, controlled by the demon, their thoughts intertwining, began babbling about everlasting life, the ability to watch over his love while declaring loudly that she did not seek him out. “He called to us, we did not lure him to us. He called to us! And he was happy to make the trade! Now he will forever watch from his resting place.”
‘Vangeline’s breath caught, realizing her son was likely gone. And more likely than not, his soul had been locked to the small patch of ground where he’d breathed his last. “You cursed him. You’ve locked his soul to the very ground he died on.”
“No! We gave him the ability to watch over his love. That is what he wished for. That and for you to reward us with our due for delivering his message to you. And this! His ring, he said to show it to you and