“Well.” Maddy said. “It’s settled. You’ll pack up and stay with me until we can sort this out. I’ve got to catch my plane tonight but I can cancel it and help you move.”
Shania stared straight and thought hard. She always enjoyed Maddy’s company. Maddy was funny, smart, and had quick wit.
Shania smiled as she remembered the first time they met. Maddy told her that she wasn’t mixed but her “blackness” was enhanced with some extra Vietnamese flavor. Maddy was the best cook. She owned an Asian and Black infusion restaurant in Atlanta.
Shania folded her arms. She respected her friend but something inside made her hold back. “No. I can’t. Please don’t cancel your plane. You’ve been away from your restaurant too long. Besides, there’s too much to do here. Lydia and I will be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out. “
Maddy walked over to Shania. “You don’t have to stay here. You both can stay with me anytime.”
Shania gave Maddy a huge hug. It was great to have such a wonderful friend.
Shania drifted to sleep. The dream world seemed surreal.
A young black girl, around Lydia’s age, laid gagged and bound on a makeshift altar. The girl’s eyes burned. She could smell the evil stench. A white priest came into the room. He sung a grisly song.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Paranormal Serial Killer
The girl screamed but only muffled sounds could be heard.
“You ’vill be purfect for the master and mistress.” The priest sewed a hibiscus flower into the girl’s duct taped sealed mouth.
She cried a muffled scream.
“Magic be good.” The priest kept singing and sewing. Then, he used the iron knife to trail down the girl’s body, between her legs.
The child struggled and tried to turn her fear ridden body. He found her open spot then he sliced and dug her private parts until he’d removed her clitoris.
“I got it! I got it!” He danced around and then dropped the knife as he watched the girl choke to death on her own vomit.
“Her soul be ripe. She be ready for the Master and Mistress!” The old priest yelled and his mouth opened into a swirling portal that sucked in the girl’s fleeing soul.
Shania violently awakened in a cold sweat. Was that dream real? On shaky legs she got out of bed. She felt a cool breeze. Hadn’t she locked the windows and doors?
She softly whistled for Thor but didn’t hear him stir. Her hands shook as she turned the door knob. Cautiously, she moved into the hallway. Her heart pounded in her ears.
Stealthily moving towards Lydia’s room she saw a white light surrounding her door. She thought it was odd but she opened Lydia’s creaky door anyway. Lydia slept soundly. Shania breathed a sigh of relief. She heard a crashing sound from the kitchen. What was that?
Inside the living room, she saw the wooden box and African chair stool tipped over. The Adinkra symbols called to her.
She heard the words “Aya! [I am not afraid of you]!”
A thud came from the kitchen. Shania picked up the shovel that she used for gardening. She took a deep breath and pushed through the kitchen door. She scanned the dark room but it was empty.
She flicked on the light and screamed.
Thor was sprawled across her kitchen table in an unnatural manner. His neck hung like a broken twig. She wailed and walked over to her dog.
“No.” She cried. Tears drenched her face and night gown.
When she looked closer to the table, she saw a vase with drooping red poppy flowers and a note.
It said:
No one stands between me and you. Next time, I’ll abort Deacon’s daughter the way you aborted my child.
–Corbin.
Shania’s insides clinched as she dropped the shovel.
Shania fell to her knees. Her life was dark and sad. She’d lost another connection to Deacon. Her baby girl came into the kitchen.
“Mama, it’s okay.” Lydia looked like the perfect mixture between her and Deacon. “Nana, told me that I was special. I know how I can help.”
Shania smiled at her daughter. “Thank you baby girl, it makes me feel good to know that you care.”
Shania continued to mourn until she felt magical warmth around the kitchen. A bright glow filled the room and then a deafening sound occurred as Lydia touched Thor.
Shania watched Lydia close her eyes as bones creaked, crunched and knitted back together.
Thor’s muscles jerked, cracked, and moved in an electrified dance. His head snapped back into place and then his eyes jumped, fluttering. Shania sat stunned as she watched Thor return to himself.
He licked Lydia’s face and they played with one another as if it were normal for Lydia to perform a resurrection.
“Oh, my God!” Shania screamed as Thor leapt off the table and licked her face.
“How’d you do this?” Shania’s mouth could barely form words.
Lydia smiled and sat down next to her. “Mama, are you happy? I brought Thor back. Nana said we need him as our guardian on this journey.”
Shania looked at her in disbelief. “Nana? What child? What are you talking about? How’d you do this?”
“Nana said we’re magical people. We are descendants from the Great Mother, Mawu. She wanted me to remind you.” Shania studied Lydia’s face.
Her memories sloshed around like jugs of water in the back of an old jeep. Something was stopping her from remembering.
Shania grabbed Lydia and Thor in a big hug. “C’mon let’s go to bed.”
Shania fell into a deep sleep.
The priest waited for her.
“I see you. I know she here. The little priestess be awakened. I come for her soul! The Master and Mistress has been waiting for long time.”
She tried to wake but a tingling feeling overtook her and it seemed as if she were stuck between two worlds.
“You can’t have my child!” Shania screamed.
The priest rolled his eyes back and laughed. “We be on our way!”
The scene changed and a beautiful brown-skinned woman dressed in a royal purple head dress came into view. She was gorgeous shimmering in the moonlight.
Shania squinted, was it a younger version of her Nanabaa?
CHAPTER FIVE
Flee
“Nana? Is that you?” Shania’s voice echoed.
“Not exactly, but you trust your Nanabaa so I’ve chosen this form to help you believe. I am Mawu, great Mother and Goddess.” Shania watched Mawu smile.
“Like in the folktales that my Nanabaa told me?” Shania said in a state of disbelief.
Mawu put her finger on Shania’s lips. “Shush, you have many questions but we have little time. I can’t hold you in this realm for long.”
“You and my special priestess are in danger. You must flee this place and find where your true love dwells. He is the Guardian and can wield the Akofena war swords.”
Mawu turned her head and gazed in the hazy dim-lit distance. She cocked her head in an unnatural manner while she listened to something that Shania couldn’t hear. Mawu turned back and focused laser attention on Shania.
“You mean find Deacon? I can’t. I know something bad will happen.” Shania slumped in her dream.
Mawu’s eyes swirled with power. “Your memory loss was to protect but now the time has come for you both to remember.”
Mawu touched Shania’s forehead and pushed her back into her body.
She heard a whisper. “When the time comes, remember, but for now, flee!”
Shania sat up in Lydia’s bed. Disorientated, she looked around the room for the wood box that she’d moved into Lydia’s room. She realized that a magic spell made it glow and hum. How did she know that?
Memories sloshed inside her mind but they were unclear. Shania turned and saw that both her child and dog were safe. Her heart slowed down but her mind got into action. Shania knew what she had to do. She looked at the clock.
> “I’ve got to find Deacon in Atlanta. She told me to flee.” Shania scrunched her forehead but who was she? Shania had a hard time remembering but she knew that she had to leave Detroit.
A part of her still felt dread but another part was happy that she would be reunited with the love of her life. She prayed that something good would come out of all of this.
Shania dug out her phone. She bit her lip and studied the wood box again. Her memory showed her a special key. She knew that she had to find it, if they were all going to be safe. She dialed her phone with resolve.
She’d give her money to whoever could pack her up and move them today.
Corbin snuck into Shania’s apartment through a secret passage in the kitchen. It was one of the perks of being the building manager. These old refurbished buildings had plenty of entries. His heart was happy that he could keep tabs on his trophy. He’d figure he’d give Shania a couple of days to rethink what she’d done.
He rubbed his sore arm from the dog bite. The anger boiled inside his stomach. He’d tried to do what he could to make her his. He tried to make her forget Deacon. He’d even sabotaged the condom and waited for her to be fertile to get her pregnant. Corbin couldn’t believe that she’d killed his baby. His black child!
He’d make her suffer. Corbin lifted his fire red dashiki and removed the flask from his inside pocket. The flask jiggled. He just needed a little swig to get the edge off. He opened the flask of Jack Daniels and gulped. JD never let him down the way women had, including his white trash mother.
He remembered the beatings that he received at the hands of his militant black father.
The words echoed in his mind, “Boy, I’ll beat the white side out of you.” Corbin tried everything he could to be tougher and darker. It didn’t work. His hair was always too straight and his skin too light.
Corbin stumbled into Shania’s living room but the place was empty. He panicked. Where had she gone? She’d left him. She’d abandoned him like his mother. His Black American princess left him like a whore in the night.
“No.” Corbin screamed. “I must have you!”
His shoulders slumped when he thought about how Shania filled the emptiness that was his heart. He let out drunken tears.
He’d never be black enough for his father.
“Yes, Master and Mistress.” Corbin heard someone in Lydia’s bedroom. He staggered around as an inebriated mess. He stopped and noticed that Shania’s front door had exploded into splintered pieces. He choked from the residual white dust.
“Shit! I’m not paying for that.” Corbin sobered up and marched into the little girl’s room. He’d find away to make somebody pay in money and blood.
He’d beat them into submission. Corbin stomped through the apartment.
“What are you doing here?” He looked into the eyes of a white priest.
“Ah, you purrfect.” The priest said in broken English. “You ’vill serve the Master and Mistress. Bow slave.”
“Man, I ain’t servin’ no white man! You must be crazy!” Corbin lobbed a drunken swing with his injured arm but the priest was too fast.
Before he realized it, the priest had him pinned on the floor. He blew white dust in his face.
Corbin gagged and coughed.
The priest said words that sounded African but ritualistic. The evil took root deep in Corbin’s soul. It became all that he needed to fill the emptiness.
Shania never made him feel this complete.
“Rise. Obayifo. You ’vill help me find the great Mother’s little priestess. You now serve my Master and Mistress.”
Corbin sat up and smiled. He no longer needed alcohol. He’d found something more potent. All of his anger and hatefulness were useful in this new awakening.
The call of the Obayifo spoke to his sinister soul.
The witch spirit whispered deadly history and flooded his mind with dark knowledge. He absorbed the heinous thoughts. His arm miraculously healed.
He ripped the bandage off, stood up and cracked his neck.
He was reborn in the evil energy. Corbin Mallory had found the true mission for his pitiful life. For the first time, serving the Black Magician/Warrior Goddess twin souls was all that he needed or wanted. He felt powerful.
Corbin laughed deep in his belly as fangs dropped down. He hungered for blood and magical souls.
“Yes, master and mistress. I am ready to do your bidding. Let’s find my ex-girlfriend and make her pay.”
A Note from Alicia McCalla
If you enjoyed reading Flee: A Short Story (Prequel to Rise of an African Elemental), I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book, too.
Lend it. This e-book is lending-enabled, so please, share it with a friend.
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Want to read more from the Soul Eater series?
Rise of an African Elemental (Available Soon)
This is the third installment of the Soul Eater series.
An ancient evil is drawn to the shores of America where good people have forgotten their history, power, and strength.
When Shania Moore’s dreams of a serial killer draining the souls of African American girls in a bizarre ritual turn out to be real, she knows her daughter with an unusual ability is in danger. Shania packs up everything and flees from Detroit to Atlanta. She doesn’t know that strength will be found in the arms of the white man whom she had lied to and left at the altar ten years earlier.
Deacon Kilgore does not know he’s a descendant from a Norse god and that he’s a guardian for an ancient African goddess. When his beautiful ex-girlfriend shows up, he almost walks away. She had broken his heart and lied to him about aborting their baby. But when he sees the sweet spirited young girl with violet eyes reminding him of his dearly departed mother, he can’t help but defend them both. Can he forgive the woman who ripped his heart out?
There’s more than their daughter’s life at stake. If Shania and Deacon fail to thwart the ancient evil, the very fabric of existence as they know it will be destroyed.
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Turn the page to preview Alicia McCalla’s New Adult SciFi Thriller,
BREAKING FREE
from Heart Ally Books.
Prologue
“Genetically Enhanced Persons or GEPs are dangerous. As Humans United, we have to control these dangerous abominations. Every GEP must have the power reducing chip infused within their DNA. I just hope they never figure out the code to disabling the chip. For now, the Coalition to Assimilate Genetically Enhanced Persons--CAGE--can use it to keep them from taking over our world...”
--News Conference with the President of Humans United, June 2000
The betrayal...
As Red Death jammed the IV needle into his arm, betrayal pierced his soul. Dr. Gary Leonard Kates, founder of the Revolution against CAGE, was tied to a chair. He thought about his three little granddaughters as the lethal serum pulsed through his veins. He refused to tell Red Death the code. He’d take the secret to his death.
The poisoned taste ignited inside his mouth, as her rose perfume suffocated him.
Everything about her disgusted him.
He hated the way she pranced around in her skin-tight, vinyl, red suit and spike heels. He could tell that she enjoyed torturing him, her former mentor. But what pissed him off more was that Brockman was watching.
“Dr. Kates, CAGE needs those codes,” Red Death hissed, “more than your Revolution!”
His
lungs burned.
“How could I have selected you as my protégée?”
He turned from her as his voice trailed away. She’d been like a daughter to him, and Brockman like a son. Their betrayal only hastened the need for his martyrdom.
He refused to look at her and she grabbed his face, forcing him to meet her eyes.
“I’m always saving your butt! Just like now!”
“You think mind-swiping me is the answer?” He hiccuped and coughed up mucus.
“You think making me a puppet is worth the freedom of your own kind?”
Dr. Kates’s veins caught fire--the flames spread from the bottom of his spirit to the top of his soul. Perspiration rolled down his graying beard, and he screeched out a spasm-distressed yell.
“Something’s wrong!” Brockman shouted.
Red Death’s spiked heels made panicked, clicking noises across the lab floor. She shook him. “What have you done, you old fool?”
“Double crosser! I hope your new CAGE job was worth it!” His voice scratchy with finality. “You Judas!”
He watched Brockman shrink with the knowledge of his impending death.
Dr. Kates knew that he’d done the right thing. But regret washed over him. Chemicals from the mind-swipe procedure, intermingled with the suicide cocktail that he’d injected himself with. He’d done this before copying his consciousness into his computer.
Before tonight, the doctor would’ve trusted them with his secrets. But no more. He would leave most of them to his daughter, Dorothy, to pass on to his granddaughters. He’d told her about Red Death, but not about Brockman. She’d have to figure him out on her own.
Dr. Kates let out another seizure-filled scream. The lab chair crackled and crunched from his thrashing, the seat dark with his torrential sweating. His body doubled over with the effects of the lethal drugs. The restraints held him tight--so much so that he’d almost ripped himself free.