Clary was up with the sun the next day and she barely had time to scarf down some overdone eggs and stale bread before she was being hustled out the door with a map of the bayou, a sack of supplies and a book of ingredients to find.
"This should take you several hours, don't rush and make sure every thing you get is fresh. Watch out for gators now!" and then the doctor had closed the door on her before she could ask questions.
"Well bugger me, he's in a right fluster ain't he?" she said scratching her head under her cap.
Facilier waited for her to turn the corner at the end of the street before he began speaking to his friends. The ominous looking African masks that served as vessels through which they communicated rattled as the spirits woke.
"Now y'all said I had until the end of this year to come up with the souls, it's only September so why are my powers failing?"
The masks upon the walls glowed and hissed at him. Facilier's eyes widened, he hadn't made any sacrifices to the dark powers in many years. How could he have forgotten? In addition to the souls he was to collect for the spirits to feed upon he was required to make a ritual sacrifice every twenty five years to replenish his power through the life energy of his victim. He removed his hat and peered into the mirror, his hair was starting to turn grey in places. Without a victim to feed off of, the shadows had begun to drain away his energy.
He needed someone fresh and young to drain. His first thought was of Clary, that would be quite easy. He wouldn't need to go out and lure someone else into a secluded alley. But after a moments contemplation he rejected the plan, Clary worked hard, good help like that was almost impossible to find these days. While the girl was out he'd go and find a victim. He grabbed his hat and cane and went out to hunt down some poor unfortunate soul.
...
Clary followed the instructions on the map and soon found herself climbing over twisting cypress roots as she combed her way through the swamp. The Scottish girl had seen marshes and bogs aplenty in her childhood, but nothing as dark and ominous as this swamp. The trees blocked out much of the light, making it nearly impossible to keep track of the sun, from time to time she thought she saw eerie lights playing across the surface of the bayou. It was alien and unfamiliar to her; she found her self wishing she could go back. With a sigh she squared her narrow shoulders and trudged onward, she had a job to do and there was no turning back.
She found most of the ingredients without a hitch, all he had written down, for the most part, were the names of a few odd plants. It was the last few lines that confused her...
"Capture three of the ghost lights in black bottle I've put in your sack, the lights should be easier to spot at night. Just get close to one and open the bottle, then close it again until you capture the next light.
What ever you do DON'T drink from the black bottle."
Clary rummaged around in the sack until she found said bottle. It was black alright, not a glossy black but rather a dull black as though some one had coated it in coal dust. When she shook it she heard the dull splash of a thick liquid. Curiously she opened it and instantly recoiled as a sickly sweet stink pervaded her nostrils. She replaced the cork and turned her head to gag, whatever that was she didn't want to know...and she most certainly didn't have any desire to drink it!
She climbed up a nearby tree and sat on the branch, hoping to spot the lights. It wasn't long until nightfall and after almost an hour of waiting she was forced to light her lantern. Finally a strange glowing orb appeared on the surface of the water a little ways from her tree. She frowned, was she expected to swim for it?
With a sigh she dropped down, grimacing as the muddy swamp water soaked through her clothes. She was in up to her waist and she hoped it didn't get much deeper than that. As she neared the orb she uncorked her bottle, she was amazed at her own fearlessness. This thing she was capturing was essentially a ghost, yet she wasn't afraid. Perhaps she had just seen to much to worry about glowing orgs.
The orb drifted to her bottle and with a flash it was sucked in. The bottle, to her surprise, got lighter instead of heavier. While she marveled at this the water around her began to ripple a little bit and when she turned she found herself staring into face of a large alligator.
Clary shrieked and lurched back, falling backward into the water. There was a sharp pain in her left leg as the alligator grabbed hold. Clary was pulled under and she found herself being dragged and twisted as the alligator began to roll around under water. The cold liquid filled her nose and mouth and although she thrashed she no longer knew which way was up or down. She grasped at rocks and the roots of cypress trees in an attempt to gain some form of leverage but she succeeded only in tearing the skin of her hands. This was it, she'd never escape...she was going to die here in the black waters of the swamp and her resting place would be the belly of this monstrous reptile.
...
Facilier was walking around town when he felt a burning sensation at his hip. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a voodoo doll he had made of his apprentice. There was a large chunk missing out of its leg and he could feel the life draining from it. The kid must have gotten herself into trouble. Quickly he ran into a secluded alley and pulled out a yellow candle.
Lighting the candle he closed his eyes and breathed in the smoke. He saw Clary thrashing under the water in the clutches of a large alligator. Around her a cloud of red spread. There was no time to waste Lifting his hand palm up he began to chant, summoning the lost souls in the swamp to Clary's aid.
...
Under the water Clary had ceased her struggling, she could no longer feel the pain in her leg and she couldn't see any light that might tell her where the surface was. She had no air in her lungs and a strange sense of calm had settled over her. Without any hope of survival she surrendered herself to her fate, but just before she shut her eyes she thought she felt something cold brush past her.
...
Mama Odie felt them before she heard them. The Shadowman's minions were nearby. With a grunt she heaved herself out of her chair and went to investigate. Although she was blind she needed no aid, her other senses were sharper than ever. From the smell of things, the shadowman's henchmen had just crawled out of the swamp and when she strained her ears she could hear something being dragged along the ground. Lifting her magic gourd she fired beams of light at the shadow creatures and went to inspect what they'd been dragging.
Mama Odie's dark, wrinkled hand was met with a face and clumps of wet hair. Further exploration revealed this stranger to be a girl, she was still breathing, that was a good sign. Mama Odie examined her for injury, at first the girl seemed only to be very wet and half-drowned, but then...
Mama Odie let out a gasp as her hand moved down the girl's left leg...or what remained of it. Below the knee there was little more than a shredded lump of flesh and a sharp bone that protruded. "Oh, you poor little thang, them gators done tore you up," she said. "Well don't you worry now, mama take care of you," she lifted the girl under her arms and dragged her back to her house in the tree.
...
Facilier could feel through the voodoo doll that Clary was no longer in danger, however the leg had come completely off. He'd have to find a victim to leech off of another day. He moved quickly down the street, ignoring the dirty looks he got from passersby and turned into the alley that lead him home.
She might be safe from the gator right now but a girl alone in the swamp with a missing leg was as good as dead. What was worrisome was that he'd lost contact with the shadows he had summoned to go after her. He'd have to go and get her himself, hopefully she didn't get eaten or bleed out before he found her. He grabbed a lantern and conjured up one of his "friends". He gave the doll to the shadow apparition.
"Lead me to this kid," he said. He only hoped that it wouldn't turn on him, without a blood sacrifice to keep them content the shadows were getting restless. He just had to gamble and hope he still had enough time.
Hi, I'm back, I know it's been awhile, but here's a short chapter for you. I haven't been in much of a writing mood as of late, I've been busy with school and all that but I'm back for now and I will try to update more frequently.
~Enos
