Love Bites

Her Bond

Cal lounged on the sofa, feet on the coffee table, Xbox controller in hand. Music blared from his Alexa its heavy beat reverberating through the floor. Marcus lounged in the armchair to the left of Cal, furiously bashing his controller in a bid to beat his friend. The curtains were drawn against the sun's glare giving the room a hazy quality.

"Are you two planning on festering in here all day?" A cool female voice asked. 

Cal didn't even glance up from his game, "Maybe." he muttered. 

Marcus however sat up a little straighter and smiled at Selena "I do try to get your lazy assed brother to move. But you know how stubborn he can be."

"Yes I do," she said stepping over discarded trainers, magazines and dirty plates to the window and opened the curtains.

"What the fuck?!" Cal cursed, shielding his eyes from the sudden light.

"Jesus Cal! This place is a sty. Dad will kick your ass if it isn't clean when he gets back from the elder hunt tomorrow" Selena warned him, leaning against the door frame. Marcus admired the girls curves, her complexion was like porcelain, her eyes were the same shade as her brothers but her hair had a tinge of red that made her look slightly dangerous.

"It'll be tidy by then, obviously, God Sel calm down!" Cal growled, his sister was two years his senior and had always enjoyed lording the age gap over him. Selena tutted and with a disgusted look at them both walked away.

"When are we going back to the manor?" Marcus asked a few minutes later. Cal gave the door a furtive look, expecting to see Selena loitering. But she wasn't there and he could just about hear her moving around in her bedroom on the other side of the house.

"Later," Cal said quietly, "after dusk." Marcus nodded, eager to get back to their playthings and have some fun.

                                                                                           ***

Cassandra walked into the manor followed by Marcus and Cal. Cal nudged her forward and she dutifully lit the candles at the top of the stairs, closing her eyes she muttered "Ret al tey mula est ey," she felt the magic surge through her fingers and out into the ether. "It is done" she told Cal.

"Good," he nodded. "Can't have the little bitches running off and telling tales now can we."
Marcus laughed as if Cal had told the funniest joke. Cal glanced at him, realising that his mate was charged, eager and waiting to play. He shook his head slightly, he never did have any patience.

"Don't kill any of them," he told him, before walking into room 4 and shutting the door.

                                                                                             ***

Cassandra walked through to the old kitchen. It would have been a lovely room is its day. Large and spacious with a huge central island with a marble top, though now grimy and pockmarked with scars. Along the far wall stood a range oven, rusted with age but still working when the pit was stacked with wood. It was to the range that she went first, lighting the fire. She pulled up the old armchair she'd rescued from the hallway and sank into it. Waiting for the fire's heat to build. Opening the book she'd bought she began leafing through its pages until she found the right part.

The tourists are flooding into the city. They come to New Orleans for the food and drink, the culture is last on the list but at least it's on the list. Mother set up the cafe, traditional Bayou recipes, but our little place was no match for the larger restaurants that surrounded us. Within months we had to give it up. It broke mother, she sank into a deep depression and we lost her. I knew we had to keep our family afloat somehow so I turned to the only thing I knew how to do. 

We turned the little cafe into a shop for the occult, and I, using the back room, gave readings to the tourists. The shop flourished. They flocked in from all over to have their cards read by Madam De'Lamier and for a time it was great but I didn't expect he drain it would take on my energies. So we enlisted some help, a few well placed locals to help ensure the integrity of my predications. 

That is when I met him: Tobias Lucien.

He and his wife, Delua, came into the store. She was enraptured by the 'quaint little place' and she wanted her cards read. It had been a heavy weekend and I was at my lowest ebb. However, I forced a smile and did the reading. I did the usual patter about love and happiness, then I made my predictions. 

1. That they would have some good fortune related to money.

2. They would happen upon a situation that would require a choice.

3. That Delua would find herself in a dangerous position.

She gasped at the last prediction and her husband rolled his eyes and told her to stop being so dramatic. No matter, they paid and left, and I put in a call to my network. Everything was going to plan. First one of my locals left a bundle of money in their path only an hour after leaving the shop. They heard Delua comment that 'the witch had been right' but Tobias said it was 'just a coincidence'. So, I stepped up my game. That evening whilst they dined I had a beggar woman enter the restaurant, she stopped at two tables before theirs asking if they could spare any money or food, making sure they noticed her pregnant belly. I was pleased to hear that Tobias looked slightly more shocked when Delua whispered frantically about the second prediction. I still needed to complete the three predictions for my reputation to remain intact. So, after their meal I sent my final contact. As they walked home my contact pounced, grabbed Delua and dragged her down an alleyway with a knife to her throat. What happened next changed everything....

"Cassandra!" Cal's voice boomed, echoing off the concrete walls. She jumped and closed the book. Better see what he was hollering about. She met him on the stairs, a wild look in his eyes, that unnerved her.

"What is it?"

He pointed to room 4 and whispered, "I think i've..."

She brushed past him into the room and bent over the contorted body lay on the bed. She glanced back at Cal who was chewing his thumbnail pacing in the doorway. Marcus appeared zipping up his flies and Cassandra had to fight the urge to scream at them both. He looked at the scene, then at Cal.

"Shit!" he spat.