Voodoo Unleashed Page 23
He chuckled. “You’ve always had powers, Angeline.” His lips brushed mine, a featherlight kiss. He wasn’t talking about my witchy abilities.
I licked my lips, already tasting his candy sweetness.
Etie made a sound in the back of his throat, and he brought his mouth to mine again.
Just as I began to melt, a familiar, ominous laughter drifted into the room. The voice that had haunted me returned.
Etie’s arms wrapped around me. A surge of power swelled in the room. Electricity popped, and the lights flickered wildly.
“Eve-angel-ine.” Baron Samedi stood in my mirror, the smoke from his cigar coiling through the glass. “I have plans for you.” His onyx eyes slid toward Etie, a sinister smile tilting his lips. “Nice play, bokor. Nice indeed.”
My pulse spiked. I should have known the baron wouldn’t take losing so graciously.
A growl rumbled through Etie’s chest, and his voodoo magic instantly rushed toward the surface.
“What do you want?” I snapped, leaning into Etie and taking some of his strength. The light bulbs above my dresser exploded, raining shards of glass.
My eyes bugged out of my sockets. That had been the biggest surge of power I’d experienced from my own magic so far.
“Nice little talent you have, Eve-angel-ine.” The voodoo king pulled on his never ending cigar while regarding the two of us with an unreadable—and unsettling—expression. “You two are quite the pair.”
“You can’t have her.” Etie’s voice dipped, slicing through the room like a sharp, lethal blade. “She’s mine now.”
I was going to have to remind him I wasn’t a piece of property and I couldn’t be owned—just as soon as we weren’t being tormented by a dark voodoo loa.
Baron Samedi clucked his teeth. “You forget one thing, bokor.” He spread his arms wide, smoke seeping between his teeth. “I’m a deity, boy. I cannot die. I am forever, and in the end, I will have what I want.”
His ominous words sent tendrils of ice through my bloodstream.
Hellfire flashed in those polished orbs. “Until next time, Eve-angel-ine.” Baron Samedi tipped his top hat and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
His laughter remained long after he was gone.
I chewed on my bottom lip as Etie stared down at me, his eyes glittering with magic—and darkness.
He was going to do something dangerous.
Trouble had left the horizon and was slapping me in the face. The voodoo king wasn’t going to let me go without a fight, and Etie wasn’t going to back down.
My tattoo tingled. “What is going through that mind of yours?”
The corners of his lips twitched. “How would you feel about having your own personal, round-the-clock pouvior bokor bodyguard?”
My jaw unhinged. “You’re not serious.”
“Dead serious, cher.”
I was right. This was dangerous. One, my mom would flip her lid. And two, I would never get a moment of peace with the Cajun Casanova breathing down my neck.
I was so screwed.
Continue Angel and Etie’s journey in book two, Magic Untamed.
Evangeline thought her problems were over. But as a conduit, they’d only just begun…
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Magic Untamed
Hidden Conduit Series Book Two
SNEAK PEEK
Chapter One
Fingers slowly trailed down my spine, spawning hot tingles across my skin. Every nerve ending came alive, pulsating and desperate for more of that familiar touch. My soul was already branded by his. Why not surrender everything to him and parish in this scorching inferno?
Not a bad way to die.
A rhythmic rattle echoed, cutting through the sinful dream. Reluctantly, my lids fluttered open, the scene in my bedroom slowly coming into focus.
Okay. Not a dream.
I choked back a long string of obscenities. Étienne Benoit was in my bed. Again. This was the second time in a week I’d found the Cajun Casanova sprawled out beside me sound asleep. Well, he wasn’t exactly asleep now. His hand had slipped beneath my shirt and was moving up and down my back slowly. Sensually.
Crap. Focus.
“Etie.” I nudged him. “Etie, get up.”
His only response was to snuggle closer, mumbling French under his breath.
I tried to ignore the wild fluttering of my heart. “You can’t keep sneaking into my room at night whenever you feel like it.”
“You weren’t complaining a minute ago, cher.” His deep voice vibrated in the small, nearly nonexistent space between us.
A hot flush spread across my skin, and I swallowed hard, unable to deny his words. An exotic blend of herbs and spices swirled around me, sticking to the sheets. It was a flavor I had grown exceedingly addicted to. Dark brown hair was wild around his bronzed face, and those lush lips were begging to be kissed.
So the ultimate voodoo child was hot? No one could deny that. But it didn’t give him the right to slip under the covers with me whenever he wanted.
No. This damn soul bond was responsible for that. Etie had been stuck to my side for the last week since he rescued me from Baron Samedi in the spirit world—by binding our souls. He called it a gwo-bon lyen.
My fingers traced the swirling black tattoo above my collarbone the spell had given me—a toujou. A matching one marked Etie in the same place. He’d sacrificed his shot at peace to save me. As a powerful conduit, I could have permanently taken his powers, relieving him of the constant inner battle of light and dark.
Now that we were bound, I couldn’t drain his powers. They’d simply circle back to him.
A lump rose in my throat. He’d even called his father, the man who tortured him and his brother when they were children. Binding our souls while I was in the spirit world was no small feat, not even for the pouvior bokor.
Henri was still hiding in Carrefour somewhere. That was all Etie would say on the matter.
We hadn’t received any more threatening visits from Baron Samedi. Hopefully, he’d given up his claim on my soul. Etie had more or less broken the deal I’d made with the voodoo king. I’d only wanted to save my sister from the mysterious illness slowly but surely killing her when I bartered my life for hers.
Payment was to be made on my eighteenth birthday. Too bad Etie decided my soul was worth fighting for.
The frightening voodoo loa wasn’t likely to give up though. He’d waited eight years to claim me. Baron Samedi had even threatened to take Marisol in my place, but Etie put a protection spell around her. The baron could only get to her if she summoned him, and my sister had no reason or desire to call upon the keeper of the dead.
“Stop that,” Etie mumbled against my neck, the vibrations curling my toes. “Your thoughts are keeping me awake.”
I stiffened. “You said you couldn’t read my thoughts.” I was in for a world of trouble if he could. The things that ran through my mind when he was around would make a grown man blush.
His rough chuckle did nothing to ease the hot embarrassment creeping up my throat. “I can’t. I can just feel your worry.” Etie lifted his head, his mismatched blue and green eyes burning between hooded lids and sooty lashes. “No one’s going to take you away. You’re mine now.”
That was another problem in itself. Etie had gotten in his head that just because our souls were linked in some magical way, I was his.
Things between us were strange. I liked him—obviously—but was it only because of the gwo-bon lyen? Even before then, my grandmother had orchestrated our meeting. She’d wanted Etie to care enough to return to his darker voodoo roots to save me.
Was our entire relationship built on a scam and reinforced with magic?
This was about as complicated as Marisol’s makeup routine. “I told y
ou, I’m not—”
My protests were cut off as his lips brushed against mine, the lightest of kisses and yet it burned my mouth.
“Mmm, Angeline…” Etie’s lips skimmed along my jaw and down my neck. “You taste like honeysuckles.” Teeth grazed my throat.
“I-um… was saying…” A gasp slipped out as he nibbled my ear, his fingers creeping over my lower stomach.
The overhead light began to flicker wildly, matching my erratic heartbeat.
Add that to the collection of problems piling up. Ever since I’d demolished the magical binds my father and his coven had put around me, my powers were as unpredictable as the voodoo caster currently unraveling me.
“If you bust another lightbulb, I don’t got any more to replace it,” Etie murmured. “I’ll have to go to the store.”
I’d graduated from light flickering to bulb shattering. “Then don’t make me.” Ugh. My voice was way too breathy.
A low growl rumbled deep in his throat, and the snake on his back rattled again. “It don’t sound like you mean that, cher.”
My body didn’t mean it. Not one damn bit.
“Etie,” I warned when his mouth dipped lower, brushing over the swirling black lines of the toujou. Electricity crackled along my skin as his lips connected with it.
He wore a satisfied smirk when he drew away, settling back on the pillow next to me. “Sleep for a little while longer, no?”
I sighed, finding it impossible to kick him out. Sensing my surrender, he rolled over on his side, drawing the blankets over his back.
He was even hot covered up. A puffy snowsuit couldn’t hide his impressive physique.
In all honesty though, Etie wasn’t the only one experiencing this crazy separation anxiety. The longer we were apart, the worse it became. He said there would be side effects of the gwo-bon lyen, but he didn’t mention I’d start having withdrawals from the Cajun Casanova.
Maybe I was a little happy when I woke up next to him. I just hoped my mother or grandmother didn’t charge through my bedroom door. Neither of them was thrilled their innocent, barely legal little girl was bound to one of the most notorious figures in our little town of Carrefour, Louisiana.
A squeak echoed, and my gaze snapped to the door just as the knob began to turn.
Speak of the devils.
My heart leaped in my throat, but before I could move, the door swung open, revealing two familiar figures.
Chapter Two
“Hey, chica—” My best friend Riley halted when she caught sight of the guy-sized lump next to me. Her jaw dropped to the top of her white sundress. “Holy frijoles.”
Lana—my other best friend—bumped into her. “Ri, what gives? Why’d you stop.” She poked her head around the frozen red-head, her mouth forming a petite circle.
I bolted up and motioned toward the door. “Shut it!” I could have sworn that thing was locked.
Lana spun around and shut the door, leaning against it with her palm over her heart. “What is going on? Why do you have a guy in your bed?” Her dark, hooded eyes examined Etie’s covered form. The only thing visible was his tousled dark brown hair.
Riley inched closer, her usually pale, freckled skin a few shades darker from the sun. “Who is that?”
“I thought you guys weren’t coming back from Spain until tomorrow,” I said, trying to divert the subject. How was I going to explain Étienne Benoit?
“We caught an earlier flight.” Riley’s green eyes never left the bed. “We missed you.”
“Clearly she didn’t miss us.” Lana leaned away from the door, a smirk tilting her lips. Her long dark hair was newly accented with a few vibrant blue highlights, something she never would have gotten away with in high school. Her parents probably had a fit. “She’s been traveling outside of her usual square foot comfort zone.”
She had no idea.
“Why don’t you guys meet me downstairs.” I tried herding them to the door, but they weren’t having it.
“Is it John McNeil?” Riley wiggled her eyebrows. “He’s a good kisser.”
Man, she was persistent. Riley McDunum was the epitome of a boy-crazy girl. Like a shark smelling fear, she could sense the testosterone when a guy was near, especially a hot one. If I didn’t make something up, she’d never leave.
Unfortunately, Etie decided to move. The covers fell from his shoulder, revealing the massive snake tattoo stamped across his back. Everyone in Carrefour had either seen or heard of the youngest Benoit’s impressive ink. There was no mistaking it or confusing it for something else. No one in town sported anything like it.
Heat crawled into my face. There was no mistaking who was laying in my bed.
Lana clapped both hands over her mouth to muffle the long string of profanities. Riley’s eyes were three times the normal size, threatening to pop clean out of the sockets. And me? I was shaking my head at the Cajun Casanova. His timing was impeccable.
Riley grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. “What is Étienne Benoit doing in your bed!” she whisper-yelled.
My head snapped back and forth until I finally slipped out of her grasp, the room spinning. “It’s a long story.”
“Girl, you better start talking.” Riley began jumping up and down, her red curls bouncing chaotically. “I want all the dirty dets.”
A throaty groan escaped Etie, and his hand slipped out, searching the mattress beside him. “Angeline?”
Lana mouthed Angeline, dramatically waving her face as if she were going to faint.
“Angeline? Where’d you go?”
Flames licked at my cheeks, and the absence of smoke was the only thing telling me I wasn’t actually on fire.
Etie shifted, his head turning in our direction as his lids fluttered open. A sleepy smile split his lips. “I didn’t know we had company, cher.”
My eyes narrowed. Something about that crooked half smile made me think he’d been awake longer than he was letting on.
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Read more from J.N. Colon
THE VAMPIRE PROPHECY
Dark Fates
Dark Divide
Dark Oblivion
THE IRON SERIES
Blood In Iron
Badly In Blood
Blood Lies
Torn By Blood
Blood Shattered
DIVINE DARKNESS
Dark Souls
Dark Sins
Dark Prophecy
Dark Goddess
SECRET SALEM
Stalked
Hunted
Haunted
Tormented
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling author J.N. Colon writes young adult and new adult paranormal romance and urban fantasy. She’s a bonified paranormal junkie, getting her fixes from books, television, and movies. Her favorite day of the year is Halloween, and she’s dying to go ghost hunting one day. Stop by her website and learn more about her and her books.
www.jncolon.com