Chapter Four

Our next meeting was the following day; the time between the moments I had last seen her and now, as I sat in my cold metal chair waiting, seemed an eternity.

She sat down with an exaggerated demure manner and began where she had left off, with meeting Madam Laveau.

I could not help but interrupt her at this point.

"So you live with madam Laveau?"

At this point she smiled a sly smile. "I never said that's where I lived… only that I've been with her."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Voodoo is a lot of things but it doesn't pay the bills, monsieur. I wasn't lying when I said I was no whore." She said and left something obvious hanging in the air. I might have guessed what she was getting at, but my mind simply would not accept it… naively I sat there, wide eyed and waiting.

She seemed to let the point go and forced me to ask her, "Why do you keep telling me that? I already said that I believed you."

"Then you truly do not know where I live… I live at the Arlington, in Storyville." She said enunciating every word in that beautiful southern drawl.

My mouth had dropped for the second time in two days. With my particular ability it seemed I was never shocked or surprised. This one little girl, however, had literally put me on the edge of my chair since I had met her.

"How can you… why, how…where…why..."

She laughed a soft titillating giggle. "I can see I've surprised you and that you must have a few questions. Don't bother; I'll answer them all in time, just know this, Madam Arlington does not allow virgins to be defiled in her house. But a girl has to eat, right?"

"Eat?" I asked; my throat was now dry as a bone and my gaze dropped immediately to her throat, her scent filling my nostrils and invading every part of me. It was a struggle to bring my eyes back to hers.

She laughed a humorless laugh now, "Guess that's the end of this conversation." She said as she rose to leave.

"No, please. Stay, I still want to help you." I choked.

"I'm sure you do, Cherie, just not in the same way as you did before you knew where I lived." She said sarcastically, walking away from me.

"No… I swear to you. I told you, your kind and mine are not friends; we could never be… like that. It makes no difference what you are. I will help you as I agreed to, no strings attached, I promise you." I said quickly.

She turned and seemed to consider my words. Slowly she came and sat back down.

"I think you may have misunderstood me monsieur, I am not exactly a working girl at the Arlington. Not the kind you are familiar with anyway. I dance, that is all… I am a mere preview to the real show. Madam Arlington has been very kind to me."

"You dance, how has it come to be that you..."

She held her hand up to stop me, "No more questions… if you are to help me you must know why I am here in the first place, you will help me not to die, remember?"

I nodded my head silently as if to assure her that I would remain such.

"Now, where was I? Madam Laveau took me under her wing magically, but as you may know, lives in quite a small compartment in the French quarter.

So after receiving a good meal from her and assurance that she would protect me and teach me her art, she told me about Madam Arlington. I went to Storyville that very evening and what I saw going on in the streets and in the house were things I had never imagined in my wildest dreams.

I found Madam Arlington in her boudoir as directed by one of the other girls. She was alone that night, being who she was; she entertained only her regular customers, and only those who were high contributors.

Madam is the most expensive of all the house girls, her prices exceed twelve dollars, you know."

I shook my head while muttering, "No, I did not know."

She nodded as she continued, "Yes, she is what the men call quality. I walked timidly in and sat down as directed on her vanity chair. Her bedroom is decorated in the finest red velvets and lace. Truly it is a sight to behold.

I was amazed at the beauty of it and immediately told her so. She smiled sadly and said that this could all be mine, but the price was higher than I could imagine.

The longer I live there the more I think I understand what she was trying to tell me then. I told her that night of my situation and mentioned that Madam Laveau had sent me here.

She nodded knowingly and said she had just the position for me."

I could not hide the smirk that crossed my face, but the glare from Marie quickly wiped it from my face.

"She said I could dance in her parlor. She said I would not meet with the men until I was ready, and that if that day never came I would be no less welcome in her home. I accepted gratefully and have been there ever since. I visit Madam Laveau in the day time and return to the Arlington house just before dusk. I dance until around midnight and then as the crowd begins to disperse I am free to retire to my quarters.

Now just because I do not offer the services that most of the others do, does not mean that I make any less money; I have my regular customers as well and many pay to see me dance for them. My quarters are beginning to be quite the talk of the house.

In my quarters I have chosen a soft golden velvet and satin with sheer muslin bed curtains. Velveteen, my closest in age in the house, has said that I shall have the only ladies boudoir that has never been visited by a man."

She looked up at me then, with a gleam of familiarity in her eyes.

"My bedroom is the color of your eyes. I just realized that, but it is the truth."

I nodded but said nothing. The explanation of my eye color would come later.

"The girls taught me how to dance to tame the men and excite them. I borrowed some rags from Gazelle, that's what they call their entertaining clothes, rags, the first week or so until I could pay for my own from my earnings.

I know what you must be thinking of me, but I assure you it isn't what you think. I know you have never visited our house, but I can promise you what you may have seen in other houses is not how we dance in ours."

"Why do you try so hard to convince me that you are not lascivious? What would that matter?" I asked her.

"I don't know; for some reason I seem to care what you think of me. I should not, I know; but the fact remains. I could show you how I dance, if you were to get me out of here…" she said.

I frowned, I opened my mouth to speak but nothing would come out.

"Perhaps not." She said.

Just then the guard came in to announce that our time together was again at an end.

She stood to go but I caught the glint of a tear in her eye as she turned to leave.

"Marie, what do they call you there?" I asked. Why did I ask that? What was it to me what her bordello handle was? But I held my breath waiting for her answer.


A/N: Hi, guys.. so sorry for the delay. Got a new machine and the transfer has been delayed... got all my old files on the new computer so updates should be more regular. Remember... reviews produce chapters!