Without Limits: A BWWM Collection of Passion and Desire, page 29
Thomas closed the door, and crossed the plush carpet to a kitchen off to the left of the living room. The living room allowed a lot of outdoor light to cast out shadows, and flowed into the dining room. Like their quarters above the club, there weren’t many places for evil to hide in her cousin’s home.
“Ada thought you might come.” He turned to face her. “Would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“No, I want to know what is happening to my family.” She approached him. “I want to know why a man like you falls in love with my cousin, takes her away and now when she returns, my aunt’s life is in danger.” Throwing herself at him would have been putting it politely, but he ignored her and chased after Ada, a child compared to her. I wasn’t good enough for him.
“I fell in love with your cousin the moment I met her.” He sipped from his glass. “I didn’t ask her to leave, but because I wasn’t permitted to stay, we left.” Walking toward a wooden dining table with wooden chairs that had orange padded cushions, he sat and placed his glass on the table. “I never wanted to take her away from her family. We fell in love. We have been here waiting for her mother to allow us to return.”
Why would they not be permitted to stay? Belle would never ask them to leave. Never. Not her precious Ada. “If you wanted to stay among us, you should have done so. My family would never have asked you to leave.” With her hand outstretched, she lifted him from his seat without a single touch of her fingers to his skin.
Struggling against her, he dangled in the air. Scratching at his throat in an attempt to loosen the grip of her magicks, he kicked and coughed. The longer she held him there, his tanned complexion reddened until it began to darken. “I love… A…Ada. I agree to your terms. To the terms of her mother. Just as I did three years ago, I will do what she wants now, too.”
Terms? Loosening her grip, he fell to the floor.
Sitting up, he stared at her. “I am not the enemy you seek. I love her, and I will prove it to everyone who questions.” He ran the fingers of both hands across his bald head, then along the black strands of his beard. “I will come to the theatre in Harlem tomorrow, and if I am found unworthy, I will accept my fate.” Struggling to return to the door, he opened it and stood waiting.
Nothing about him triggered her magicks. He played in the band at the theatre. She had flirted with him herself because he was attractive, but also because he knew their world. He wasn’t afraid of them, but he only had eyes for Ada. The cousin who wore her clothes too big for her body, and tripped every time she walked on stage. "If you're not there tomorrow, I'll come back. If I find out that you've been able to deceive me and my family, I'll kill you." With a flick of her hand, she tossed him backward.
He flipped over a chair and landed against a wall. Wiping blood from his nose, he responded, “I love her, and I would die for her.”
Even if he was scared, she knew he wouldn’t hurt Ada or Belle. Nothing about him spoke to deceit or the evil they sought. “You might have the opportunity to show us all how much you love her.” She slammed the door behind her. If it’s not him or my mother, then there is another amongst us who is capable of hiding their true nature.
Jo Ann knelt on a pillow in her room with her head bowed and her eyes closed. Her magicks swirled around her. She wasn’t as strong as Belle or Lotti. Their kind had survived for over a century. But, she could do this. If she focused, maybe. It wasn’t possible it would end this way. Answers. I need answers. The spirits of my ancestors will guide me. Ancestors show me what is needed. With her hands folded softly on her lap, she slowed her breathing and focused. Show me all I need to see. Help me.
There was a shift in the energy in the room. Belle sat and smiled at her sister. How long they’d been entranced, she wasn’t certain, but when they began, the sun had sat high in the sky. Now the stars twinkled where once golden-orange rays had been.
The women in the room began to wake. All, including her daughter and niece, sat waiting.
“My sister is not a threat to us,” she said.
Dora crossed her arms in defiance of Belle’s words.
Lotti smiled at all in the room. When her eyes landed upon her daughter, they glistened against the candles glowing from the different surfaces they’d been set upon.
Belle continued, “I’m sure that most of you were already aware that my sister would not be the threat against my life. However, for those among you who doubted her love for me, now we can focus our time on discovering the true identity of the one who threatens our family.”
Lotti spoke, “I know I may no longer be welcomed among you, but I would never harm my sister. I am here for her and each of you. I promise to redeem myself.”
“Lotti will return to us,” Belle said. “Away from us, she becomes vulnerable to attack, and we are weaker.” Maybe it wasn’t too late.
The women glanced back and forth between themselves, except Ada.
Belle stared at Ada. “What do you think of my decision, daughter?”
“I’m not your equal mother. I wouldn’t question your decision to welcome my aunt to return to our home. As I also hope to be welcomed home, too.”
“My child, you have never been unwelcomed.” Belle smiled. Maybe once again, her family could be whole. If the visions began to fade, she would know they had broken the chain. “Do the spirits of our ancestors tell you anything?”
Ada closed her eyes, briefly, then opened them. “They are silent, mother.”
“I have also tried to reach them,” Jo Ann said as she re-entered the room. “I am not strong enough to do so.”
Rising to her feet, Belle waited for her sister. “In that case, we will welcome Lotti and my daughter until as such time we believe they are a threat to our lives.”
Dora stood. “Aunt Belle, I have spoken with Thomas.”
Ada approached her. “What have you done?” Grabbing Dora by her arm, she added, “If you have harmed him, drawn a drop of blood from him, I will do the same to you, cousin.”
Jerking her arm from Ada, she said, “He isn’t dead, but if he poses a threat to Belle, he will die and it will be by my hand.” She returned her focus to Belle and Lotti. “He has agreed to meet here tomorrow to be tested.” Glancing at her mother she spoke again, “You left us. Left me. You might not be the killer in Belle’s visions, but that doesn’t mean we should welcome you, or him. Thomas isn’t one of our blood. He is a man who walked into our theatre for a job and walked out with one of our kind.”
“One of our kind. I’m standing here, cousin,” Ada said. “Is your jealousy still so strong and petty that you threaten the life of the one I love to prove yourself worthy?” She turned to leave, then paused. “You will still only be one part of the puzzle. I am another. You believe yourself to be worthier than I, but you’re not.”
“Ada, wait—”
“Mother, I will return with Thomas, but I must check to be sure he is uninjured.”
“Dora, without my daughter, we will not be strong enough to defeat what is to come. We will test Thomas just as we will each of the women in our home and those of other covens if necessary, but we can no longer allow you and Ada to fight like children when so much more is at stake. The future of all of those who follow behind us may be challenged with my death.”
Dora’s eyes lowered.
Lotti spoke, “I have been away too long, but I have returned. We will defend all that is ours or die trying.” She placed a hand to her daughter’s cheek. “I love you and I have missed you.”
“That didn’t matter to you when you decided to leave.” Dora took a step away. “I am too old to be mothered by you.” She turned and walked away.
The future of their coven, of their kind, might depend upon all of them joining their powers to defeat a hidden enemy. However, they wouldn’t be able to save their kind without saving her life, and that depended upon all of them unlocking the powers deep within them that can only be unlocked together. They were the descendants of Thakathi whose powers were based on the harmony of nature. The hate, anger and distance between them could cost her life.
Ada stood over the bed she shared with Thomas. Their home was modest, but it was theirs. In a world where their love was forbidden, they had survived. Magicks. The blood of her ancestors had allowed her to protect them. However, she didn't know enough to protect them from the danger that threatened her mother. That threatened all of them. Testing Thomas to determine his intentions toward her family, meant testing his love for her. I don’t doubt his love. However, I am afraid.
At the touch of her hand to his chest, he opened his eyes. Stripping from her clothes, she climbed into bed with him. Wrapping herself in his warmth, she couldn’t imagine her life without him. “I am sorry.”
“I knew this day would come,” he responded.
In truth, they both knew something or someone would eventually test all they knew. Their way of life. “It came too soon for me,” she whispered the words against his skin as she rested her head on his chest. Tears rolled down her face. “What if—what if, they see something that we are not aware?”
Curling an arm around her, he pulled her on top of himself. “I don’t fear being judged, I only fear losing you.”
Rising to her knees, she straddled him. It’d been years that they’d lived together as a couple, but it didn’t change her body’s reaction to his caress. Each time she felt his touch, something within her came alive. Sliding a hand between them, she gently massaged him before she slid her body down the length of him. She inhaled and her head fell backward. Everything within her woke when she joined with him.
His fingers gripped her butt and held her in place on top of him.
Leaning forward, she placed her hands beside each of his shoulders, allowing her pelvis to do the work. Slowly, she rode him until his back arched and his mouth lifted toward her.
He rose from the bed, slightly, and their lips met. Placing a hand behind her head, he deepened their kiss. Quickly, he repositioned their bodies with her beneath him. Taking one of her nipples into his mouth, he suckled before once again, focusing his attention back to her lips.
A kiss that began softly, slowly deepened until it melted everything inside of her as her mind and body both craved for him to no longer tease her. Tightening her legs around his waist, she lifted her hips from the bed and her body demanded that he deepen his thrusts.
Obeying her command, he both deepened and quickened his pace.
Placing her hands behind his head, she controlled their kiss. She couldn’t breathe. His breath became hers and hers his.
Her thighs tensed and her body tingled. She no longer controlled what happened with her body, and she didn’t want to either. Giving in to his touch and his kiss, her orgasm overtook her. When she opened her eyes, he smiled as his hips once against pushed against hers connecting them in a way that would forever mean they belonged to each other.
His climax rolled over him, and each pulse and tense of his body gave her joy.
Rolling to one side of her, he rested beside her. She followed him and curled up against his body. Tomorrow and all the days ahead of them would be long and difficult. Nevertheless, tonight she would hold onto the man whom she loved and who loved her. Her mind imagined that the threats that chased her and her family wouldn’t win against the power flowing through their blood. With his heat comforting her, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
Chapter Five
Seated on the floor of the parlor Belle and Lotti beckoned Thomas to enter.
Cautiously, the man walked to the center of the room as instructed.
Her niece, Dora, stood with her back against the exit. Was it her attempt to block him from running away? Belle wasn’t sure, but Dora’s position at the door would stop anyone who attempted to run.
Belle remembered the man who had stolen her daughter’s heart well. However, this time, he wouldn’t leave with her, or live, if the ancestors said differently. As he approached the center of the room, she had already begun to search the heart and mind of her former saxophonist. Nothing about him felt like the evil that threatened her and her family.
What were the gods attempting to show her, and why wouldn’t they show her the whole picture? It was often said that those of her kind who received premonitions would never be able to see their own futures. Her vision. Her death was not about her, but about their coven. Although she might not be able to change her own fate, she would be able to help those who were a part of her coven, until another strong enough to protect them emerged. Her sister was strong, but a normal life was all Lotti ever desired. To be the leader of their coven was not the role she sought, which stupid or not was another reason she trusted her.
Nodding at the pillow in the center, she said, “Thomas, please sit.”
He complied.
Lotti smiled at him, and Belle noticed that the young man’s disposition changed. His shoulders relaxed, and a quick smile crossed his face before it disappeared.
Belle glanced at Lotti, and her sister nodded at her. Although she had never seen them together when she spied on them, she realized they had watched over each other. Ada and her man had been watched over by the person she had once trusted more than anyone else in their world.
The stones Belle and Lotti held in their palms would’ve been prized by anyone who saw them. Although, for them, it wasn’t their monetary value, but their ability to aid their magicks that proved them to be valuable. The stones would help them see through the deceit of anyone they tested.
She and her sister closed their eyes and focused their powers. It had been years since they had joined together as one. Their coven had been weakened without her sister and her daughter. With their return, it might not be too late, they could return to the strength of power once forgotten. They could unlock magicks from the past.
Belle's eyes flew open. The precious stone she held fell from her hands. Jumping to her feet, she stretched out her hand and lifted it toward the sky.
Thomas flew from where he sat.
As she pushed against nothing, his body pushed against the wall. The wall around him contoured. Cracks crawled out from where his body touched the drywall.
“Mother!” Ada screamed as she fell to her knees in front of Belle. “Please, tell me what has happened. What did you see?”
“You have been deceived. He is not the man he claims.” Her legs felt weak beneath her. Faltering in her stance, she shook her head as she tried to focus.
Dora stepped forward. “I knew it.” She closed the gap between herself and Thomas. “I can kill him for you, aunt,” she said.
Ada stood and stepped in front of Dora. Small hands curled into fists. Opening her fists, her arms hung by her side with her palms facing her cousin. Her palms began to glow. “Touch him and I’ll break your damn arm.”
Dora laughed at Ada as she did the same.
Thomas tried to control his own body. As he pushed against her magicks, blood trickled from his nose. Opening his mouth, he tried to speak, but no sound was heard.
Dora raised a hand.
“No, Dora. No,” Belle said.
With her back at Thomas, Ada looked at her mother. Tears fell from her eyes. "Please, I know him. I love him, mother. He is not the one we seek." Her words were broken by her cries. “Please.”
Belle released him, then she turned toward her sister. Confused, she asked, “Did you see?”
“No, sister. I didn’t.” Lotti looked confused.
Belle approached the man her daughter protected. “Tell me, Thomas, who is Narum?” Her vision had been clear. He was the one they sought. He will kill her daughter. But another glimpse of the Witch Smeller pushed through to her. The phrase had been whispered among her kind. However, no one had seen or heard of one in ages. Could it be possible? They had been warned that the Witch Smeller would return.
How could he be the evil chasing her in her visions? Ada sat on the floor beside her bleeding love. There was no law of the land that would allow her beautiful brown-skinned daughter to marry the white man whom she loved. Despite this, it didn’t stop her daughter from giving her heart away. Jail or death would be at the whims of anyone who dared to challenge them. The only thing standing between them and the pain others would receive was her daughter's magicks. This would break her daughter’s heart. “Narum. Who is Narum?”
“Please, mother, tell me what the gods have shown you? Tell me.” She turned to Lotti, Jo Ann and the others in the room. “Please help me. This cannot be true.”
“Daughter, step aside. Let me finish.” Belle looked down into the bloody face of the man her daughter loved.
Dark brown eyes that had been vibrant and hopeful when he entered were now barely open, but stared into hers with defiance. His life was nothing more than a finger snap away from ceasing, if she chose.
Nevertheless, he challenged her. There was no admittance of guilt. No fear. He would accept whatever punishment she deemed appropriate.
Her daughter wouldn’t move.
“Sister, we must be certain that we are correct. The gods have not given us the same vision,” Lotti cautioned. “They’ve shown me nothing at all. Let us be cautious with the heart of your daughter, and with yours.” She continued, “I was not as careful with mine, or that of my daughter.”
The words of her sister sank into her soul. Something wasn’t as it should be. Thomas had worked with them for months before he stole her daughter away from her. Obviously, her sister had watched over them while they were outside of their walls, as she had done herself. How could he deceive both of them? It’s not possible. “Take him from me. But daughter, don’t allow him to leave your side. I must figure out what is true.” Placing a hand to her head, she wobbled slightly. Her visions. Her headaches. They had to be connected. Why now?
Ada scrambled to her feet and although it should’ve been impossible for a woman of her daughter’s petite stature to hold the weight of a man of his height and weight, she easily helped him to his feet, and quickly vanished from Belle’s sight.
