The Babet & Prosper Collection I: One Less Warlock, Magrat's Dagger, A Different Undead, and Bad Juju (16 page)

Babet went to the vines climbing his
cabinets. She inhaled their scent. She shook her head. “This is
some kind of magic that I don’t know.”

“Can you wave a hand and get rid of all this
green crap?”

“I can try.” When her chant ended, the vines
began to wither and die. “I don’t do clean up. If you’re all right
now, I have people to meet.”

“You aren’t even going to tell me your name,
after saving me?”

She shrugged. “Names have power. It’s better
if you don’t know.”

He raised his hands in the air. “Hey,
whatever you say. But thanks. I could have been down there a long
time. I don’t go into town much. It would take people a minute to
miss me.”

The dog on the stoop wagged its tail when she
passed it. “Take care, boy.” Then she hopped in her car and drove
for home.

* * *

Evangeline and Nadine showed up at supper
time too. It surprised Babet. She didn’t think Nadine left the
settlement any more than she had to. Babet told them her news while
they shared the muffuletta. Prosper made happy noises while he
ate.

When they finished, Babet brought them all
another beer to carry to the back courtyard. The air was less humid
tonight, more of a caress. People walked up and down the sidewalk
in front of her house, but their noises were muffled by a small,
water fountain she’d installed in a corner of the patio.

Prosper frowned. “The only time I’ve heard of
vines like you described was when I watched the old Batman movie
with Poison Ivy.”

Babet nodded. “It was sort of like that.”

“That’s Juju magic,” Nadine said.

Evangeline gave her mother a sideways glance.
“I thought you said Juju was like Karma, good or bad luck.”

Nadine leaned back in a lawn chair, slipped
off her sandals, and rubbed her toes over Morgana’s back. The snake
sighed with pleasure. “Only old, old witch doctors have the power
to do more.”

“Like what?” Evangeline twisted her pinkie
ring, nervous.

“There are curses, bad ones. Like diseases
and wasting away.”

“And vines?” Prosper’s voice held doubt.

Nadine stretched her legs and tipped her
head, letting the sun warm her, much like the snake’s pose. Her
white-white skin was spattered with freckles—and Babet was struck
by how exotic the woman looked with her ebony hair braided into
thick plaits and her eyes so dark, they sometimes seemed black.
Bracelets always jangled at her wrists. “Marcel didn’t get the full
curse, not when he was in his friend’s house, or the entire kitchen
would be overgrown. He only got part of one.”

“What kind of curse?” Babet asked.

Nadine’s lush lips curved into a smile. “A
swamp curse. Marcel will look the slime he is.”

Evangeline grimaced. “You mean he’s turning
into a thing?”

“Like the old horror movies—swamp creature?”
Prosper shook his head in disbelief. “No one can really do that,
can they?”

Nadine gave a careless shrug. “Babet saw the
vines. Someone magicked them. Someone old and powerful with lots of
Juju.”

Babet didn’t think about curses often. Her
coven practiced white magic. Voodoo and Juju made her
uncomfortable. Their good and bad energies seemed to ebb and flow,
according to the situation. Black magic was more acceptable. But
once a person dipped her toe into those dark waters, wasn’t the
pool muddied forever?

Nadine arched a brow, watching the
expressions flit across Babet’s face. The woman could tell what she
was thinking, she knew. “You’re such an innocent, child, like my
Evangeline.”

Babet changed the subject. Nadine had a way
of making her feel like a naïve novice. It unsettled her. “Okay, if
you’re right and Marcel is a hideous monster now, what happened to
Delphine and Ines?” She wasn’t sure how much sympathy she felt for
Marcel, but if the women were still alive, she wanted to save
them.

Nadine’s forehead wrinkled. “They’re not
dead. I called for them. They didn’t come.”

“That leaves room for a lot of other things.”
Babet took a long draught of her beer. The water splashing in the
fountain usually calmed her, but tonight, it made her think of
swamps and bogs. “You don’t think someone’s turned them into plant
people, do you?”

A fierce light glimmered in Nadine’s eyes.
“Ines is one of ours. If someone harmed her, he’ll beg to release
the curse.”

Babet rubbed her arms, even though the air
was warm. What would a battle between voodoo and Juju entail? She
didn’t want to know.

Prosper finished his beer and rose to get
another one. “There’s another possibility. What if Marcel dragged
them off to make them help him with their magic?”

A better option. Babet relaxed a little and
handed Prosper her empty bottle. He raised an eyebrow and she gave
a quick nod. A plus to having magic was that it took a lot to get
tipsy.

Evangeline jumped to her feet, ready for
action. “Come on then. Let’s go! Marcel has to have them around
water somewhere. Let’s find them.”

Her mother patted Evangeline’s empty chair.
“Sit. Relax. Why would we do what our spirits can? We’ll send
Manette with a few others.”

Babet might not be fond of the female spirit
with the downturned lips, but Manette definitely proved useful on
occasion.

“No, wait.” Babet tried to remember what her
mother and Hennie had told her. It seemed like she’d visited them
forever ago, but it was earlier today. “The owls know.” She
explained what she’d learned.

Nadine shielded her eyes with her hand and
looked at the lowering sun. “Can you call them to you? Or is it too
early?”

“They’d rather I waited ‘til dark. They could
lead us to where they’ve seen Marcel.”

Nadine sat up, now ready for action.
“Evangeline and I need to return to the settlement. Could you meet
us there to call your owls?”

Babet squirmed. The settlement made her
nervous. Prosper came back outside and handed her another beer.

“I left the French doors open so I could hear
you guys. Owls, huh?” He rested a hand on Babet’s shoulder, then
looked at Nadine. “Are you planning on taking an army into the
swamps?”

“No, just a few of us. Evangeline should stay
at the settlement, in case something comes up. You…” She looked
directly at Babet. “…should come with us. We might need witch
magic, as well as our own. If the Juju witch doctor, instead of
Marcel, has Ines, things could get messy.”

Messy, she could handle. Ugly, she wasn’t so
sure about, but Babet gave a quick nod. If Nadine thought she
needed her, she’d go, even though she hated swamps, didn’t like
bogs, and wasn’t too sure about voodoo.

“I’m going too.” Prosper drained his beer,
reached for Babet’s hand to help her out of her lawn chair.

Nadine ran a knowing eye over his physique.
Not lusting. Speculating. “I’ve seen you turn into a bear.”

“That’s me.” He rested his hands on his hips,
ready to argue if she tried to turn him down.

Nadine shrugged. “Bears are good, especially
one your size. Gators don’t bother them.” She pushed out of her
chair and started for the door, motioning for Evangeline to follow
her. “Meet us as soon as you can.” Her lips curved into a smile as
she looked at Babet. “There’ll be lots of mosquitoes. You might not
want to wear a little skirt.”

Babet exhaled in disgust. “I’m a witch. No
mosquito will bite me.”

Prosper turned to her in surprise.
“Really?”

“Has one bitten you since I gave you your
ring?”

He gave a slow grin. “Come to think of it,
no.”

“What good are spells if they don’t make life
easier?”

Nadine shook her head at them. “Change
anyway. A short skirt’s a distraction, especially for him.”

Prosper deliberately ran his gaze up and down
Babet. “She’s right. I am a leg man.”

Among other things. Babet hadn't noticed
anything that didn't attract his attention.

Nadine laughed, amused. “See you tonight.
Gather your strongest magic. We might need it.”

The good mood evaporated. Babet watched
Nadine and Evangeline walk to their cars and pull from the curb.
She sighed. “I’ve never fought Juju before.”

Prosper came to stand behind her, spooning
his body to hers. “Neither have I.”

They left it at that. They’d drive to
Nadine’s settlement and go from there. Neither knew how to
prepare.

* * *

Only a rim of rosy light tinged the sky when
Babet and Prosper followed the river toward the swamplands and
Nadine’s house. The settlement bumped against the slow-moving,
muddy waters, but Nadine's pumpkin-orange, two-story sat in the
center of the small community. Nadine and four friends stood on its
front porch and came to greet them.

Nadine gestured toward the two women on her
right. “Atsila and Hachi, Cherokee and Seminole.” She gestured to
her left. She didn’t have to give a heritage. “Dashika and Elodia.”
A woman with midnight-black skin grinned at them, along with a
short, plump Hispanic woman.

Prosper looked surprised. “Do you have every
ethnic group in your settlement?”

“We’re working on it, sweet thing.” Dashika
looked him up and down. “Looks like your mama passed a little of
every gene on to you.”

He winked. “I’m the best of everything, all
rolled into one.”

“And don’t you know it?” Dashika said. “You
look mighty pleased with yourself.”

He reached for Babet’s hand, surprising her.
“It’s because I’ve found someone who brings out the good in
me.”

“Aw, honey, you’re taken? I have a daughter
that would rock your world.” Dashika laughed at his shocked
expression. “Don’t you run and hide, Mr. Detective. My girlfriends
and I won’t eat you. Your woman here might hurt us. She’s the witch
lady, right?”

Nadine nodded toward Prosper. “Be on your
best behavior, girls. Our detective is a Were-shifter too.”

“Mmm, mmm, mmm, the man has it all. What you
turn into, handsome?” Dashika studied every inch of him. “Don’t
tell me you become a big dog.”

“I have the spirit of the bear,” he said.

“Lordy, I’d like to see that. Better yet, I'd
like to see you change back.” She gave a wicked grin. "You'd be in
your birthday suit, right? Clothes couldn't hold you in."

Nadine cut them off. “Enough chitchat. Babet,
can you call the owls to you? The sun sank. Will they come?”

Babet raised her arms and sang a chant.
Within minutes, three owls flew toward them. “Can you show us where
the monster is?” she asked them.

The owls turned to lead the way, circling
overhead, to give them time to keep pace. They ended up at a swampy
area a little south of the settlement. With shrill hoots, the owls
left them.

The moon was nearly full. Its beams hit the
green slime of the water, mixing with mists, to turn the air a
sickish yellow. Its glow backlit dead tree stumps, sticking out of
the water, and old cypress trees near the shoreline. Babet wrinkled
her nose against the fetid smell. It was easy to believe a swamp
monster might live here.

As that thought occurred to her, something
moved through the water. A fishing boat glided toward shore, its
oars barely audible as they dipped in and out of the water. She
squinted to get a good view of the person manning the boat. As he
moved out of the shadow of a tree, and moonlight struck him, a knot
lumped in her throat. Her breath hitched in her chest. His face was
partially human—smooth, coffee-colored skin on his high forehead, a
sharp cheekbone, and the bridge of his nose, but the skin on his
other cheek and jawline appeared almost amphibian—green and supple.
Vines and algae clung to his upper arms and torso. His lower body
was hidden in shadows.

Marcel?

Nadine motioned for them to hide. She pressed
a finger to her lips for silence. They waited and watched. The man
steered his boat to a small shack on the east side of the water. A
long pier stretched out into the water. He moored the boat to
it.

When he stepped onto the narrow boards of the
pier, Babet saw that his thighs were tangles of vines, but the
calves of his legs were human. The curse must have hit him in the
chest. It seemed to be spreading from there. His biceps were draped
in green—his forearms and hands fairly normal.

He walked to the shack and opened the door.
Light spilled from the cramped room, and Babet could see the shapes
of two women moving from the stove to the table. She frowned. They
weren’t tied or chained, so why were they there? Why didn’t they
run?

Marcel stepped inside and shut the door
behind him. There were two, narrow windows facing the front porch,
but their curtains were pulled shut.

Prosper and the women huddled for a
conference. “What’s the deal?” Babet asked. “The women were moving
around. Why didn’t they take off while Marcel was gone?”

Nadine pointed to stakes hammered into the
ground, circling the shack. Babet couldn’t make out what they were
for. They seemed to have an odd shape. “Monkey skulls,” Nadine said
in a low voice. “You can buy them at Juju shops. He put one on each
stake. He’s magicked a talisman on each woman that they can’t take
off. If they pass the skulls, something bad will happen.”

Babet locked gazes with Prosper. Apparently,
Marcel knew more Juju than people expected.

“We can pass them, right?” Dashika asked.

Nadine gave a grim smile. “Yes, we can.”

"And him?" Atsila pointed toward Prosper.

He held up the ring Babet had magicked for
him.

Nadine started to circle the swamp toward the
shack. Babet and the others followed her. It took a while. They
stayed farther back from the shores than usual, as alligators slid
into the water, away from them. It made them tread carefully.

When they reached the clearing that was meant
as a yard, Nadine waited for them to gather before striding toward
the porch. Prosper went first. He kicked the door open, then they
rushed in behind him. Babet took a fighter's pose, ready to blast
her magic. Marcel jumped to his feet and held up his hands in
surrender.