Leif (Existence Trilogy #2.5)(8)

I wouldn’t let her shut me out today. Not here. Not now. First, she would remember. Then, once she understood what I was to her, I would let her choose. In the end, Pagan would choose me. She had to. There wasn’t going to be another choice.

“Don come in here askinʼ fer me da help you. Jusʼ take da gurl. Fuck Dankmar. Jes cause he won de gurl don mean he can ʻave her. Dat ainʼt whut de rules say. De gurlʼs soul is yers. Now take it.” My father, Ghede- the Voodoo lord of the dead, stood up scowling at me as the redheaded female spilled from his lap onto the floor. Without even a glimpse back at her to see if she was alright, Father grabbed his two signature cigarettes and lit them with a simple snap of his fingers. The woman in the floor scrambled to pull the low cut top of her dress back over her bare br**sts. The nervous mannerisms of her movements caught my attention. That wasnʼt normal. Most of my father’s harem would have continued to lay sprawled out on the floor with their bare chest in clear view of anyone who decided to look her way. Frowning, I noticed the light pink in her cheeks and jerked my gaze back to Father’s.

“She’s alive?” I asked unable to mask the horrified expression on my face.

Father chuckled and shifted his dark gaze to the woman while taking a long puff on his cigarettes. “I get bored. De chit shouldn’t ʻave messed wit de voodoo. De blush in her cheeks is nice, heh? I lak dis one.”

The complete disregard to the woman’s life didn’t surprise me. Father never was one to care much about life. He enjoyed the death of a follower. Taking a soul inside its human body wasn’t something he did. Unless they allowed him to by practicing voodoo rituals that opened themselves up to his interference.

“What of her body? Will you just keep it too?”

Father flashed a wicked smile toward the woman whose rapidly beating heart I could hear from across the room. “I lak de body.”

Stupid woman. She was now Ghedeʼs new toy until he was bored with her. Shaking my head, I couldn’t think about that right now. I had my own set of issues. “Father please, just tell me what to do. Dankmar has her. She wants him. How do I make her remember? He protects her and I can’t get anywhere near her.”

Father reached up and adjusted his top hat before pulling the cigarettes from his mouth and leaning forward across the desk. “Dankmar is Death. He can’t always be dere wit de gurl.”

Dankmar had a job to do. If he was with Pagan during the day, then... that left the night.

“I go to her while he’s working,” I said aloud and my father nodded his head and slipped the cigarettes back between his lips.

“Yes. Give de memories to her while she sleeps.”

In her dreams. Perfect.

6. “It’s almost time.”

I waited, ready to catch her if she fell. My Pagan was always up to something dangerous. I spent more time keeping her alive than I did comforting her. It was rare that she cried. But then, I never allowed something to upset her for long. If a frown appeared on her perfect face, I found a way to make her smile. Today she wasn’t exactly making me very happy. Seeing her climb up a tree was difficult. Every small slip of her foot caused me a moment of panic.

Just as I’d feared her foot slipped and this time my brave girl couldn’t catch herself in time. Stepping up to the tree until I stood directly under her, I held out my arms ready to once again catch her from falling out of this tree. It would be the third time this summer.

“Umph, got you,” I assured her as I stared down at her tightly closed eyes. Her eyelids blinked rapidly before opening and gazing up at me. The confusion in her eyes when she saw me was always so painful. I hated that she couldn’t remember me. That she couldn’t remember the times we’d spent together

“Uh,” she mumbled in confusion as she shifted her eyes from my face to the tree.

“What were you doing up there? That was too high.” I told her this every time. It never did any good but I kept trying. Maybe one day it would stick.

“Um, I uh... did you catch me?” she asked in that familiar surprised voice.

“Yeah. Why else do you think you’re not lying on the ground with a few broken bones?” I asked trying not to laugh. She didn’t like it when I laughed at her. It was as if she knew she was missing out on some important piece of information and she hated being out of the loop.

When she began to wiggle in my arms, I stood her up carefully. The curious expression on her face soothed some of the ache in my chest. She remembered me… at least her heart did. I could see it in her eyes. She was trying so hard to open up those memories.

“Where’d you come from?”

She always asked me this, “Just around. Saw you climbing too high and came over to see if you needed help.”

“Do I know you?” she asked watching my face for any sign of a clue.

“I wish you did but you don’t. Not yet. It isn’t time.” I bit back my words. I shouldn’t have said that. I needed to be more careful with the things I said to her. Even if she would forget me by the end of the day.

“What do you mean?” she asked with a frown.

“Pagan Moore, get your butt over here if you’re going to get a sneak peek at my tree house before the boys get here.” Her friend, Wyatt, called to her from the street. He wouldn’t be able to see me. That would confuse her. It was time I left, for now.