Okay, there was some confusion in the beginning, but there was still something in the beginning. The prologue was when Evangeline was a little girl, and the shadow... that will be later explained in this chapter.

Now, enjoy!

~The Witches~

A young, antsy woman ran through the streets of New Orleans. She was just like most women:

Inoccent, naïve, and very compulsive. This young woman's eyes moved in every angle, glancing at the wonders before her. The gift shops and tiny bistros in this town were very distracting. Her hyper instinct and spontaneous attitude was very ignorant to others because it was very common in the this society, for there were always other women around her who acted the same way, so that left her out of the suspicion. Of course, when other women acted like that, they were either tourists who were intrigued by everything they saw, or because of the men.

The very built men of New Orleans.

She was one of those women who looked like they would make perfect suitors for those men, whether it be for one night or the rest of their lives. A woman whose looks deceived her actual age, but no one bothered to care about that. The men were still begging for her body. But she was a very different woman...

Before she even dared to enter the streets, she pulled at the hem of her dress to show more of her cleavage and adjusted her sunhat. The beads in her hair jingled when they clanked together. She pulled out a mirror from her purse and smiled at herself. She was now a presentable lure.

She stood in front of a store window. Window shopping was always fun. It was a new store, she could tell. There were many trinkets in the store window that she couldn't recognize. New products or imported goods? She couldn't tell. The city was losing its valued culture real fast. Someone else suddenly joined her. She sideglanced to see it was a man, probably in his mid-twenties. His eyes also averted to her and she quickly turned hers back to the window. When she looked again, it seemed like he was closer to her. He even stretched out his arms. It was a sign; he was going to make a move on her.

"Hey there, little lady." He finally came up to her, using his arm to lean against the wall so she had no escape but to the left. "I saw you standing there and I couldn't help but notice how a gorgeous, little thing like you isn't hanging out with a guy like myself."

"Didn't notice it either." she said, not moving her eyes from the glass window.

"You look kinda hot. How 'bout I buy you a drink."

"That sounds good-sweet Jesus!" She saw a clock on the inside of the shop. "I'm sorry, but I'm late for somethin'!" She ran off before he could call after her.

Sis is going to kill me, then add my head to my collection!

She ran as fast as she could through an alleyway until she was in front of a mossy door. Torn drapes fell over the frame and the sign on the top was scratched off. This was her home-their new home. Hopefully, she wasn't too late. She rummage through her purse to find her key and unlocked the door. As soon as she entered, she expected to be welcomed by a scold, along with a gang of voodoo masks, dolls and other little mystical trinkets. Things seemed fine and trinkets were the only things there to welcome her, so she entered without hesitation and gently closed the door.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"AH!" The young woman flinched. Another woman a few years older appeared in front of her. "I'm sorry, Sis. I-I was just out..."

The older woman sighed. "Don't tell me, your 'collection'?" The younger woman hesitated. She sighed before she walked away. Her younger sister followed quickly behind. "Tell me, Aurorette, what is our job?"

"To collect more souls."

"Correct." She manipulated with one of the voodoo dolls in on a nearby table. "And why are we collecting souls?"

"Because Nicolas left behind a huge debt." Aurorette answered her sister blandly.

"Also correct." This time, she hissed. Her grip on the doll was getting tighter and tighter. "And why do we have to pay this debt?"

"Because we're family. And as a family, this debt belongs to all of us, (apparently)."

Her elder sister didn't let her corrosive answer go unnoticed. "I would appreciate receiving the answer without the sarcasm, Aurorette." she spat out.

"We're paying his debt to get our powers back."

"EXACTLY!" She throw the ragged doll on the ground and it burst into dust, turning into a 3-demonsional map of New Orleans. "And you fooling around the town with those pigs is not benefitting to our problem!"

"Hey, getting men to go out with me is a benefit, Selene! After all, when I give them the souls, I get to keep the bodies and add the heads to my collection." She pulled out a keychain which had several dangling, severed heads. "And you always say dating was a waste of time."

Selene scoffed. "No matter, those extra souls are no longer needed. Thanks to our hard work, we've collected enough souls to pay the debt Nicolas left behind." She swore under her breath. "Now, the only thing we need to do is bring Nicolas back."

"Why do we have to bring him back? If we have enough souls to pay for the debt, Nicolas is no use to us!"

"Actually, he will be very useful to us." Selene walked around the 3D map of the town. "You know our brother's rambles of ruling this city of its riches, right?"

"It's not hard to remember. He wouldn't shut his trap!"

"Well, since his plans didn't work, he's been awfully bitter. And you know what happens to a bitters souls on the Otherside, don't you, Aurorette?" There was a very long pause before Selene answered for her sister. "They eventually turn into demons. The intensity of his emotions, hate overall, gives him unearthly power. We will be allowed to summon that wretched fool, and he will have no choice but to do our biding!"

"Excellent idea, Sis!" Aurorette praised her sister. "But, how exactly are we gonna do that?"

"I've recovered this book of cryptic spells," Selene held up the ancient hardcover. "that can help us in the long run. But I haven't found the right spell, yet."

"Well, while you're doing that, Imma go back to-hey!" Aurorette walked up to a peculiar cage hanging from the side of the room. It was slightly above her height, making it hard for her to see what was inside the cage. She jumped a bit, but she only got a short glimpse. She snapped her fingers and a shadow appeared. It lowered the cage for her. "What the hell-is this a frog?"

Her sister looked up from the book momentarily to see what her sister was talking about. "Oh, yes, that is a frog."

"Okay... where'd you get 'em?"

"He was just a sad sap trying to play me for a sucker. I thought it would be fun to jerk him around a bit."

"So, you turned him into a frog? What use is that?" Her sister was silent. "Sis?"

"It's genius!" Selene slammed the book and ran back to the 3D map in the middle of the voodoo imporium. "A soul for a soul! The perfect revenge and the perfect opportunity to rule this city!"

"Brilliant, Sis!" Aurorette praised her sister once again. "But, what are we going to do with the frog?"

"Hm..." Selence walked up to the cage. The said frog was still unconscious, but she jiggled the cage to make sure. "He might be a use to us after all."

"How?"

"You'll see." She turned blew it until there was something in the centerpoint. "Ever heard of a place called Tiana's Palace?"

"Yes, it's the most popular joint out here. My last date was there, why?"

"There's going to be a ball, and we're going..."

Sorry for the title's weird alignment. It wouldn't stay in the middle for some reason.

R&R!