Dead Bite

Heat

Welcome back dear mortals, I do hope you enjoyed the first chapter.  Note some of this chapter is written in broken southern dialect and  may contain triggering things such as mentions of M*rder, S*icide, and Blood. Continue at your own risk and happy haunting! XOXO

Chapter Word Key:

Gris-Gris; to put a curse on someone.

 C'est La Vie;  "That Life."

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Luna pushed open the heavy Cedar door only to be confused at the sight before her...

 In her usual spot on the warn black leather couch, sat in front of doctor Montgomery's desk was a devilish looking southern gentlemen. Dressed head to toe in black, dark as the ink that covered the skin peeking from under his cuffs. The only color breaking was from the deep red cravat that rest proudly on his chest. 

He was unlike most of the city folk she had ever seen, such plain beings. She had been surrounded by fake normality her whole life by blue collared southern house wives and their accompanied gentlemen. This  man was far more different then she could have ever imagined, that brought a slight fright to her fragile soul. She kept the same blank expression, not wanting her emotions to be read like a book from the stranger in front of her .

She couldn't help but to notice the long cane that lay between his hands, a ball of jade encircled by two golden serpents lay under his calloused fingers. Years of hard work shown on his hands and spotted tan skin. His beard and hair were at war in length.  Salt and pepper curls fell down past his shoulders from under a well worn black top cap that was tilted to the side of his head.  His finger crept up to the brim and gave her a tip of the hat as a greeting and nodded.

Luna simply could not take what she knew was coming next...

She could feel her heart pounding in her ears from anxiety, quickly running down the hall to spill her guts into the white porcelain vessel in front of her. Not that it had been a lot, she hardly ever ate more then a single meal a day because of her anxiety. Shock had set into over drive as her head started to spin and blood ran hot. This couldn't happen, not again, not now...

"You have to excuse Ms. Devoux, She's never been good with new people. She also had no clue of your coming to my office today Mr. Graves. I do apologies for her behavior" Dr. Montgomery explained to the man in front of him. Short and curt with his words as always.

He's definitely not the man he was picturing from the paperwork, most would have seen an obscurity to the population but who was he to judge?  He was the girls last resort before having to place her in a shelter.  The man looked up at him with a hallow eyed stare past his cat-eye sunglasses that sat on the lower brim of his nose and gave him a smile that seemed to crooked to be in place, yet fit the mans mouth perfectly in a peaked grin. 

"Ah, Mr. Montgomery, C'est La Vie. Girls just got them nerves a buggin', She'll be I'ght in no time." the man spoke in a thick drawn Cajun accent and the doctor nodded.  He'd defiantly hoped the man was right for Lunas sake.   

Luna soon crept back into the room, being as silent as she could, not to be noticed.  Peering into the room she felt as if she were a ghost watching the two men speak.

"So, Mr. Graves in regards to Luna, are you sure you are prepared? She's a special girl who has special needs, including around the clock care and proper looking over of medications. " Luna could tell the nervousness in the doctors voice as he shuffled around the papers on his desk in front of him. 

After one one incident, she now has to be treated like a fucking child. Who could blame her for wanting her shitty life bouncing from house to house to end...but now she was so close to escaping that she couldn't even bare the thought. 

"I do promise you, she will be taken very good care of, by myself and staff included. Now, Mon Cher, why don't you stop playing hide and seek and come in here with us? Let's get this all settled. I got people back home dyin ta meet ya and suppers almost gettin done. Mrs. Ada will put tha Gris-Gris on me if we ain't back in time for her beignets." He spoke to her over his shoulder, not even having to look to know she was there. 

Yet again shock set in but not in a bad way this time. Though he looked like the personification of darkness she felt inside, The man was unlike anyone else she had met to take her in before and she almost felt...Welcomed.  She too was an obscurity in this town, Different then the rest. It felt almost bittersweet finally feeling anything else but shame. Welcomed. That was a funny word to roll through her thoughts after so many years of social abandonment and being looked down upon for no action of her own.

"I... um... Mr. Graves..." Her words came out broken as she tried to form a sentence, words always tangling and getting the best of her. She hated when this happened, she felt a fool. Why are you like this...She mentally cursed herself not being able to meet the mans eyes as she stared down at his alligator skinned boots, a fury of red flushed on her pale cheeks.

"Yeas child, go on an speak now. I promise I ain't gonna hurt cha nah,"  He tried to coax the words out of her, he could see the wheels turning in the frustrated girls head. He made a mental note to himself, Over-thinka, got ya. 

Luna soon gathered her composure, "Mr. Graves, Sir.. I'm not prepared... I only came in thinking this was just going to be another therapy session. All myself is still back at Alma-May's house..." Not that she had much to begin with, but what she did have was special to her and she couldn't bare losing them.

A deep gruttled chuckle escape the mans lips and Lunas brows raised in confusion, "Oh Mon Cher, do trust me when I say we have got ya covered. Ms. Alma-May sent yer things on ova to my dear Mrs. Ada once she got the news. " He spoke out in his bellowed voice but she couldn't help but feel some sensation of sadness creeping up on her. Alma-May was the only foster she ever had taking a liking too. She was an old lady stuck in her ways but it made her perfect company to the troubled teen. 

Alma-May never had judged her for the hand she was dealt in life. She took her in as one of her own but deep down Luna knew it was time. Her brittle joints were giving,  hair slowly turning from gray to white, time was never a forgiving beast and Luna knew she deserved better help then Luna herself could give.

With that Luna could only muster a nod, she tried to hold back the tears creeping in on her. She had a hard time of letting go of people she truly cared for and Alma was the closest thing to family she's had since what happened that night.

Doctor Montgomery broke the silence by clearing his throat and both Luna and Mr. Graves had looked to the man, "Alright, so all I need you to do now is sign these custody papers Mr. Graves , then you two can be on your way. Do know Ms. Devoux, we are only doing this for your own good." The man spoke out out, a glint of sadness in his voice. He knew how attached she had became with her Foster mother but the lady was far to old to even really take care of herself. 

The man walked over to the desk and hunched down, he grabbed a fountain pen from his right side jacket pocket and let the letters glide over the paper. Tiny loops scrawled on the paper with a heavy hand leaving, tiny splotches in his wake and Luna knew this was really it. Yet another day her life was being signed away to some stranger but this time...

This time felt very different then all the times before... 

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Hello, dear mortals.

 I do hope you enjoyed. I know its taking a minute to get into the meaty bits but I want this to be slow burn and keep you coming back for more <3 Chapter 3 will be coming shortly. 

XOXO,

Mystic A.