Enola folder her legs under her and placed her hands under her chin. After their showers, she and Margo had slipped into pajamas and piled into their grandmother’s bed. She was telling them the story of how she’d met their late grandfather, Frank Roux. According to their gran, Frank, a medical doctor, had written a paper condemning the practice of Voodoo. Marie wasn’t about to stand for that. She sought him out with the sole purpose of proving him wrong. They had a long drawn out debate, and when the debate came to an end, Frank insisted that she have dinner with him. Marie went on to say that they lived happily for twenty-five years, until he was killed in a car accident.

“Gran, why did my mom leave Louisiana and refuse to come back?” Enola asked.

“What did she tell you?”

“Nothing.” Nola shrugged. “She would never talk about it.”

Marie pushed back against the pillow, looking down at her hands as if she was having an inner debate. For the first time, Enola wished that she could read minds.

Marie looked up at Enola. Judging from the seriousness of her expression, she was about to reveal something heavy.

“What do you know about your father?” Marie asked.

“Nothing. I never met him, and my mother never talked about him. Why?”

Marie took a deep breath. When she exhaled, she said, “Your mother left Louisiana because she killed your father.”

“What?” Enola breathed.

“Yes. More than anything, your mamma wanted to be normal. No matter how many times I told her that she would never be normal, she fought it every step of the way.”

“Sound familiar?” Margo snickered.

It did. Enola could totally relate. If it weren’t for Gideon, Enola wished that she could go back in time, five minutes before she found out that monsters existed, and erase everything after that.

“Gran, why did she kill my father?”

“It was an accident,” her gran responded with tears welling in her eyes. “Baby, your mother and father were very much in love. They were gonna marry, especially when she found out that she was pregnant.”

Marie paused, maybe a bit too long, because Margo blurted, “So why did she kill him?”

Marie cut her eyes at Margo, and Margo threw her hands up.

“What? Gran, you know we waitin’ to find out.”

Marie narrowed her eyes at Margo and turned back to Enola. “One day, Olivia was attacked by a vampire. She used her abilities to defend herself. She was able to defeat the vampire, but she was severely traumatized. Eric, that was your father’s name, Eric Manolo was an immigrant from Cuba.”

“Ooh, Nola, you’re Cuban,” Margo chirped.

Enola was astounded. Her life was like it could have been a Stephen King novel. She had never known her father, not even his name. Then she learned that her mother killed him, and the only thing Margo could pull from the story was that she was Cuban. She rolled her eyes at her dense cousin and then focused her attention on her gran.

Marie cleared her throat and continued. “As I said, she was traumatized. That night, when she was finally able to sleep, Olivia was having a hellish nightmare. In the dream, she was being attacked by vampires. She began to fight back.”

A single tear danced down Marie’s cheek. Enola reached out and gently swiped the tear from her gran’s face. She didn’t like seeing her cry, but she needed the rest of the story.

“Go on, gran,” Enola urged.

“You see, Olivia was telekinetic. She could move things with her mind. When she woke up…” Marie dropped her head and swiped at the tears that escaped, then looked up at Enola with sadness in her eyes. “When she woke up, she was terrified, screaming at the top of her lungs. When Eric ran into the bedroom to check on her, she sent a fireplace poker in his direction.”

Enola’s breath hitched. She clutched her chest because she was actually feeling the pain that her mother must have felt. Her own tears began to escape.

“He died instantly,” Marie sniffed.

“Oh, my God,” Margo whispered. “Oh, God.”

“I had the shifters clean it all up. Olivia was devastated, so she ran and never looked back.”

An overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over Enola. She knew that her mother had loved her dearly. Enola never lacked love, affection, or understanding. But no matter how wonderful her mother was, she couldn’t hide her sadness. Enola often wondered why her mother suffered from frequent bouts of melancholy.

“Oh, my God! What is happening?” Ruby blurted from the doorway. She scanned the room with tears in her eyes. “Why y’all so sad? Mamma, you okay?”

Ruby rushed over to Marie and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Mamma, why are you crying?”

“Olivia,” was all Marie said.

“Oh, Mamma. Come here,” Ruby said softly as she pulled Marie into her arms.

She held her mother and gently rocked her back and forth. The tender moment reminded Enola of the many times she had been comforted by her mom. It also brought back memories of the times that she comforted her dying mom.

Enola dried her tears, crawled over to her gran and aunt, and wrapped her arms around them both. Margo wiggled into the hug and kissed her mom on the top of her head.

“I love you guys,” Margo whispered.

“I—”

Ruby’s declaration was suddenly cut off. She froze and went completely silent. She eased off of the bed and stood perfectly still.

“Mamma, wha—”

“Shhh!” she said, cutting Margo off.

Ruby looked over at Enola and placed one finger to her mouth.

“I feel nothing but pure hatred. Mamma, what do you hear?” Ruby whispered to Marie.

Marie went completely silent. She gently pushed Enola aside and closed her eyes. “They’re in the house!” she whispered harshly.

Marie waved them over to the bed. “Join hands,” she ordered.

As instructed, the ladies joined hands. Marie and Ruby whispered a chant that Enola wasn’t familiar with.

“That should hold them off for a while,” Marie assured.

“Not if they’re with witches,” Ruby pointed out.

Enola looked to her grandmother. “Can you tell how many there are?”

“No. It’s a lot of jumbled noise.”

“Can’t Nola just do that fire thing she does?” Margo asked.

“If we can get ‘em outside. We ain’t trying to burn the house down,” Ruby explained.

“So how do we get them outside?” Enola asked.

Ruby stared at a wall, wringing her hands. Enola said a silent prayer that her aunt would come up with a solution that would get them all out of there alive.

“The balcony!” Ruby blurted. “We’ll lure them out back.”

“How are we gonna get gran down a balcony?” Enola asked.

“Hell, how are we gonna get us down the balcony?” Margo inquired.

Ruby ran to the balcony. A warm breeze caused the sheers to fly when she yanked open the double doors.

“Come on!” Ruby ordered.

“What about Gran?” Enola asked as she hurried to the balcony.

She watched Ruby toss a drop ladder over the rail of the balcony.

“Gran?” Enola repeated. “She can’t climb down this thing.”

“She not. We’re leaving her.”

“What! No! We are not leaving Gran!”

“Nola, we gotta lure them away from her. Trust me, Mamma can handle herself.”

Enola shook you head. “Uh-uh. She ain’t gotta handle herself.” Enola ran over to her grandmother’s bed and grabbed her elbow. “Come on, Gran. I’ma put you on my back.”

Margo rushed to help, but Marie pulled away.

“Girls, you have to listen to your aunt. She knows what’s she’s doing. I’m too weak to be moved.”

Enola’s brows wrinkled as she stared at her grandmother. “Too weak? I just watched you cook a seven-course meal. You were on your feet all day.”

“Yes, baby, but your strength has grown. It radiates around you.”

“And?”

“And, the stronger you get, the weaker I get. It’s the Moreau way.”

Enola dropped to her knees and grabbed her grandmother’s hand. Her eyes welled with tears as she looked into her gran’s eyes. She began to sob.

“So…so, what you’re saying is, I…I’m killing you?” Enola hiccuped.

Marie reached out and caressed Enola’s face. The warmth of her gentle touch should have been soothing, but Enola felt like she was dying inside.

“Nola, baby, old age is killing me. You getting yo gifts aren’t the reason why I’m dying. It’s the reason why I’m allowed to die.”

“Gran,” Margo sobbed.

“That’s enough!” Marie snapped. “Girls, close your eyes and listen.”

Enola and Margo shared looks of confusion.

“Listen!” Marie implored.

Enola closed her eyes. At first, all she could hear was her own heavy breathing, but after a few seconds of listening, she could hear what her gran was hearing.

Chanting!

“It’s witches. They’re penetrating our protection spell. You gotta go now.”

“Gran?”

“Now, Nola! Go! Save our family!”

Enola stood. She caressed her grandmother’s face and kissed her lips. “I love you, Gran.”

“And I love you, baby. Now go.”

Enola ran to the balcony, giving Margo a moment with their gran. She helped Ruby climb over the banister before climbing down behind her. Margo soon joined them. Once their feet touched the soft grass, they took off running. As they ran towards the fishing creek, Ruby started screaming for help.

“Scream,” Ruby told them. “We need them to hear us.”

Enola did as she was told and screamed, “Help!”

They were near the creek when they suddenly ran into a wall that was unseen. Nola bounced off the wall and fell back on her rear. She hurried to her feet and reached out to feel for the wall. She punched it, kicked it, but it was impenetrable.

Enola placed her palms on the invisible barrier and squinted at something in the distance. Whatever it was, it was fast.

“Nola, we gotta break this containment spell. If we don’t, we’re done,” Ruby informed before shouting, “Hands!”

Enola, Margo, and Ruby joined hands. Ruby began to chant and, once they caught on, Enola and Margo joined in. But before their chanting could make an impact, something that felt like a bomb exploded in Enola’s head. She screamed and grabbed her head before falling to the ground. She rolled to her side, still clutching her skull, paralyzed from pain, praying that she would pass out.

Behind her, she could hear Margo and Ruby screaming. She needed to do something to help her family, but she was in agony.

Enola forced herself to her knees and used the wall to help her stand. It was then that she noticed that the fast-moving figure in the distance had gotten a lot closer.

Gideon!