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"You're mine now, sweet Mori."
Bael stood on the platform, tall and broad, wearing an open purple tailcoat, showing his bare, tattooed chest adorned with dozens of gleaming necklaces and medallions. His long hair was unbound under a black top hat, and he was…barefoot?
I frowned at his feet, his toenails painted black just like his fingernails. I’d never get used to watching Bael St. Claire. Everything he did was graceful, eccentric playful and kind of frightening. He was in performance-mode right now as he played his fiddle again.
He played the standard carnival performance music with an ominous twist. Somehow it sounded as if he were playing two instruments at once; one higher pitched and the other lower. I laughed to myself, unable to keep it in when I realized that this was totally nightmare music. It was scary movie music. Music that made your heart race and your stomach rise up in your throat.
Theodore stood beside me, watching Bael with a small smile stretching his wicked lips. Something about that smile did things to my insides, as if he was feeling smug after what we'd just done. He suggested we watch the rest of tonight's show, and that Bael wouldn't want me to miss it. I was all too happy to get out of that fun house.
As Bael continued to play, I felt myself falling under his spell. The music seemed to seep into every inch of my body, enticing me with an otherworldly power that I couldn't resist. Soon, the lions and tigers were released back into the center of the tent. They began to move in time with the music as well, circling Bael as performers lit those flaming hoops again.
All around us, the audience was silent, not even daring to breathe in case they broke whatever trance had taken hold of them. The gray faces remained watchful but silent and vacant.
But as Bael's fingers danced over the strings of his fiddle faster and faster still, I couldn't help but picture how those fingers would feel on me again, maybe this time while Theo was inside of me.
"So why the carnival?" I asked, leaning over so that Theodore could hear me over the music as we took a couple of unoccupied seats at the end of a row, though, I had no doubt he'd have heard me even if I'd whispered.
He looked down, meeting my gaze. His eyes were once again a bright, glowing blue, contrasting beautifully with his deep brown skin. It was odd that nobody seemed to balk at the fact that Met Kalfou stood among them. All eyes were locked onto Bael's performance, and the gray faces were as unmoving as ever.
Theodore reclined in his seat, lifting up one leg to place his bare foot on the backrest of the row below us. His toenails were painted deep purple, and he wore several clinking anklets. He slung an arm around the back of my chair as he leaned in toward me.
"Carnival represents desire, freedom and tradition." He gestured to the dancers that had joined Bael in the center of the ring. They were the same group of dancers I'd seen drinking Euphoria only hours ago. "It was once outlawed. Looked down upon by those who thought they were better than their baser instincts. The debauchery happened behind closed doors while our people were stifled."
My head bobbed up and down, my eyes glued to his mouth as he spoke. I felt a flood of memories wash over me, remembering the feel of his lips on mine. I jolted out of that thought, trying to focus on what he was saying, but still feeling the lingering sensation.
"But here," he continued, "we've all come together in death. Stripped of our inhibitions and embraced in the beauty of desire and pleasure. There are many ways to spend one's afterlife, but what I offer is life after death. To choose the path you wish to take."
"Buttheydon't get to choose," I said, looking out at the sea of gray faces in the crowd. I remembered that night in the funhouse, watching as that woman screamed in horror at what she saw in the mirror. I shuddered at the thought of where she might have ended up.
"Their fates were chosen by the choices they made in life. Unlike you, each of these souls has been weighed and measured. Some have been found wanting, while others might be rewarded."
"Why me?" I asked. "Why am I so different? Why was Liam different? And Ellie, and all the others down there?"
Theodore’s eyes bored into mine intensely, and I didn't look away. I wanted to believe that he wasn't lying or being deceptive in order to get what he wanted from me, but the shadows of uncertainty were creeping in. Nothing here made sense anymore; reality had become a distorted version of itself. I was filled with a combination of excitement and dread. It was weird, though, because it seemed like excitement was taking over, and the dread was slowly fading.
"The difference between my denizens and the...gray faces, as you call them, is that they, upon their near deaths, found themselves trapped between realms. It's not as rare as you would expect, but when it happens, it gives a soul the opportunity to make the choice for themselves. They can choose to remain the way they are for an eternity, or they can live and use their newfound knowledge to live better."
"So you're offering me a chance to live after death?" I said, my voice barely a whisper. "To what, be with you here? To become one of your denizens?"
He nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm offering." His gaze searched mine for any sign of hesitation or fear. "If you take this offer and accept the fact that you will never return to the world you once called home, into the body that grows cold on those blood-soaked sheets, then yes, you will have an eternity with me. Or, an eternity to do as you please within the confines of my realm."
His hand snaked over my bare shoulder, and his touch made my skin tingle gently. "And if you choose to be with me, then your eternity will be filled with more exquisite pleasure than you've ever known. I will make you writhe on my cock and my tongue at your command, my priestess."
Priestess...
My eyes widened as I fought for a coherent thought. I shook my head, at a loss. "I'm not—"
He shushed me, placing the pad of his thumb on my lower lip. "You successfully ushered a soul to its destiny. You summoned a powerful spirit in the flesh, and you've captured not onlymyattention but the heart of my most trusted denizen. IfeverI've seen a priestess..."
"Careful, Theo, if you flatter me too much, I might have no choice but to stay. Then you'll never be rid of me." I grinned at him, feeling flushed and hot.
He called me a priestess. A fucking priestess. The very thing I'd been training to become someday before Austin took it all away from me.
My face must have shown my train of thought because Theodore's fingers lightly pinched my chin and raised my eyes to meet his. "What are you thinking about?" he asked. I sighed and shook my head, but he wouldn't release my face. Instead, he slipped his palm over to cup my cheek. "Don't lie to me, Moria. What were you thinking of just now?"
"Damn you and your perceptiveness," I muttered under my breath. He smirked, but I could see anger beginning to simmer in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, I decided to just be honest. "I was training to follow in my grandmother's footsteps. I don't have to tell you how powerful and wise she is."
He nodded, his thumb running softly over my cheek. I wasn't exactly sure how well he knew Grandma Anne, but seeing as she was an elder, and a powerfulmambo,I'd say he knew her spirit well at the very least. It wasn't Met Kalfou that she summoned usually, but rather his brother, Papa Legba.
