Voodoo Masters

Chapter 12

Taylor was up for the remainder of the night. She spent the hours on her laptop furiously typing things into Google, anything she could think of that might help her figure out the meaning behind those markings. Around 2 AM, she typed in "New Orleans voodoo markings" and found one article. It was topped with a picture of a large carving on what looked like a cave wall. Taylor recognized it as one of the pictures among the many others on her ceiling, so she read the entire article.

Voodoo plays an important roll in the history of the mysterious city of New Orleans. Some brave souls still practice it today, however it was most common in the 17th century. Today's scholars view those practices of voodoo as a way for African Americans to show supremacy over the white population. On the other hand, voodoo was merely religious practice for these people. After forcibly being brought to America through slavery, many African Americans kept their old religion in secret. This is what became known as voodoo, which scared the Roman Catholic Americans. Many symbols and markings such as the one shown above have been found all over New Orleans. Some historians predict that they all have a certain meaning, similar to the hieroglyphics used by the ancient Egyptians. However as of today, there has been no progress in cracking the code.
An ancient legend was uncovered in the process of researching these symbols. This story states that each symbol possesses a spirt when it is carved into stone. That is why many people carved pictures into their walls, so a certain spirt could watch over them or help them do their work. It is said that if all of the symbols were to be placed together into stone, the entire spirit world would be unleashed into ours. Whether you believe in life beyond death or not, that's one spooky ghost story. Voodoo is something never to be messed with.

Taylor shut her laptop and stared up at her ceiling. Release the entire spirt world? There was no way. She would definitely know if she was being watched by spirits. Or would she? Taylor thought back to her moments in Liam's voodoo shop. The mood was creepy and unexplainable things happened. But she didn't believe in any of that ghost stuff. It was all a show and just a way to rob people of their money.

Even though she had convinced herself that was all fake, Taylor still stayed up for the remainder of the night, thinking and pacing and wondering what on earth was going on in her new life here. Nothing made sense. Everything she did lead her back to Liam. This mysterious man that always seemed to emit this kind of darkness. He was incredibly intimidating, yet intriguing at the same time. It was almost as if he had a sort of spell over you.

Spells. There it was again. Everything related to all of that voodoo shit. Taylor tried so hard not to believe it. Her tired mind took over and she began to imagine a world where magic did exist. Liam spent his free time in his shop, casting spells over an ancient book, waving his hands gracefully through the air. She imagined what it would be like to be under one of his spells. Having to do anything he told her to do. Having to kill someone, be his slave, even kiss him, touch him...

What was it about Liam that made her think these thoughts? Taylor had never hated someone yet wanted to reach out and touch them even for a second at the same time. She refused to believe the fact that she was attracted to him. Sure he had an attractive face, a muscular build, a deep voice, and no physical flaws, but that didn't mean she was infatuated by him.

This whole situation confused Taylor immensely. Tons of things connected yet nothing made any sense. Around 4 o'clock she decided to take a walk to clear her mind. The only thing that lit the hallways of the apartment building were the yellow emergency lights. Taylor zipped up her sweatshirt while letting out a sigh and quickly made her way to the stairwell.

When she opened the door she was surprised to see two men sitting on the stairs smoking. She tried her hardest not to cough when she walked through them and began to
descend the stairs.
"Wait," one of the men coughed from behind her. She ignored him and kept walking. But she stopped dead in her tracks when he yelled, "You're Taylor Mire aren't you?"