Hot, Hard & Howling - OpenDrive

Mari Freeman
The old woman laughed as Nell placed her hand in Barri’s. With the gentleness of a
mother, she turned Nell’s hand and traced the brand. It was no longer sore but she felt a
little sting as Barri touched it.
Several moths gathered under the umbrella, their shadows flitting in the lights.
“You’re back,” she said to the insects as one landed on her arm.
“The box is reacting to your magic, calling them, conjuring them.” Barri tapped the
brand. “You’ll need them again if you want to open it.”
“Are they even real?” Nell asked.
“They are as real as your power. As mine.” Barri uttered something Nell didn’t
understand but her aunt got up and went behind a huge oleander bush. She returned
quickly with an ornately carved, black-and-tan carafe and set it on the table.
“First,” Barri said, placing her other hand on top of Nell’s. “I will cleanse you of the
evil in that puzzle box and see if I can quiet its call to the same. It wants companionship.
Blood magic that strong calls to those who would use it. You are like a beacon in the
night for the damned.” She tilted her head as if to listen to the night itself. “New
Orleans is not the city you want to be roaming about, calling out to evil. Place the box
on the table, under our joined hands.” Nell bent to retrieve the box from the pack. “But
do not foul my skin with it, please.”
Nell now wished she hadn’t touched it either. She didn’t like the thought of being
fouled. Her sisters and Mi-ma were also fouled. She slid it beneath their clasped hands.
“Lavender oil, vodka and holy water.” She carefully reached for the carafe with no
fumbling. She dribbled the concoction over their hands and onto the box. “Shroud me
in goodness and spiritual light. Dampen the darkness with power and might. Spirits
which cling, you’re not wanted inside.”
Nell watched the box begin to vibrate and hum. It was brief. Then Nell felt it—a
major lessoning of that sick, dark feeling she’d been fighting all night.
“You should be safe from the bloodsuckers for a while.” She stuck her thumb and
index finger into a pouch that hung around her neck. “Dead Sea salt. To protect you.”
She sprinkled the pinch over Nell’s hand.
“Thank you,” Nell said.
“It will not stop the one who seeks it.”
Again Nell was impressed. “You know his name?”
Barri tried to pull away. “Names hold power. You know that.”
Nell understood her concern. She let go of the woman’s frail hand. “You don’t want
to conjure him here?”
Barri smiled. The old woman cackled from behind them. “No, Nell Ambercroft. His
is not the kind of energy I wish to visit my house. Yours, though…your energy is
welcome.”
“I see.” Evidently her name wasn’t high on the scary scale when it came to power.
“My hair…”
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