Dani and the Bull Ch. 16

Author's Note:

Sorry it's taken me a while to get this chapter up and running, I messed my back up a long time ago and every now and then it decides it needs a vacation. So it means stuck in bed with pain pills and muscle relaxers. It doesn't help when you share that bed with a 10 month old puppy of pit bull blood, that thinks my husband and I are it's parents.

Hugs

Darkstone57

*

Dani sat back on the bed and stroked Bull's face as he lay with his head in her lap. It felt good to have some time to just relax and not feel like the weight of the world on her shoulders. Everyone had firmly decided that the best thing to do was to wait for Nick and Jessie's next move. Maylene, the two Priests and Mr. Two-feather were deep in discussion and all kinds of rites and vision quests to try and find the most likely place for the final battle. The house back in Oregon was ruled out from the very start, which left the house in New Orleans or the Grove. Maylene and the two Priest considered the Grove too well protected but the old Shaman pointed out that Nick had attacked there and still had enough power to disrupt everyone connected to this coming battle. Personally Dani felt that it would be better to have the final fight on neutral land. Someplace that Nick might feel comfortable but far enough from places that might suffer.

"Bull, how faraway is that place my uncle lived?"

He turned to look up at her and frowned. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Because I think know how to get this all over once and for all. Come on, take me there."

To say the man of her heart didn't look happy would be putting it mildly, but he groaned and followed her down to the truck. Her mom and dad were drinking coffee with Massie and they looked up as she walked down stairs. Her dad was still fuming from Bull's idea about restoring the balance of nature by her having sex with both him and Andre, and it would be a while before he was calmed down enough to be back on good terms with Bull.

"So where are you two going?"

Dani saw no reason to lie to anyone, even if she knew her dad wasn't going to like it. "Bull and I are going to the other side of the swamp, to where Uncle Jake lived. The trailer is gone and the police said it's doubtful he'll ever go back there even it was still around."

"Why the hell you want to go visit that godforsaken place then?"

No one would fully understand her reasoning but she had to answer. "Maybe because it is forsaken and maybe I can get some answers I won't find just sitting here."

They rode in silence and Dani knew even Bull didn't understand why she wanted to visit the place where her aunt had died either by violence or by accident. Even if she bothered to ask herself, she couldn't have truly explained it, but she had the oddest feeling that somehow she might find some answer to the questions a meeting with Mr. Tall-feather hadn't answered.

It was a sorry looking place; most of the vegetation around was dead and decayed or dying. The smell was overwhelming and in defense and needing to breathe both her and Bull tied scarves over their mouths and noses. It didn't completely filter out the stench but it made it easier on her lungs. Bull looked at her as they looked around.

"Are you sure about this baby?"

"No but I can't just sit and wait anymore, can you?"

He looked around and motioned toward the area of where the trailer had stood. "Let's try over here."

Dani felt it as they drew closer and her demon came to life in response to the evil that filled both the air and the land. But there was something else there too, a glimmer of hope that she suspected came from an unexpected source. Finding a spot to sit, one not yet devoured by the decay, she closed her eyes and thought of her aunt. How Annie had always been so happy and loving even when her uncle was acting his worst and how her aunt had once told her that if she ever found a man to love, she should look for the best in him before the worst.

Now a voice spoke in her head. "I was wrong Dani, if I had listened to your parents; maybe I would still be there with you to help you fight your battle."

She opened her eyes and found herself looking into the face of her aunt. There was a soft glow around it, free of bruises and black eyes and looking young and full of freedom. "Aunt Annie, I was hoping you'd be here."

"I can't leave, but the world still talks to me. I know of you troubles and how you've suffered and yet you keep trying." Dani felt a soft touch in her womb and knew her aunt was touching the baby. "So young and innocent and not yet aware of how wonderful the world can be. I envy you Dani, I wanted a child so bad, hoping it would make things better but each time it seemed Jake grew angry and beat me to make sure I lost it. And you're right; my falling from the porch was no accident. He was drunk and I was running to keep him from beating me. When I came out on the porch he was right behind me and his told me if I wanted to leave he'd make sure I left forever. The next thing I knew I was looking down at my body and blood was flowing from my head where I had hit a rock." Her ghostly gaze moved to where Bull was watching. "Your man has violence in him too, he's done things that he is ashamed of, but I sense a peace in him, and a fear. Help him along Dani, he's standing at a crossroad in his life right now, he needs you to help him make the right decision."

"I know Aunt Annie, and he knows that I will accept his choice no matter what it is. But first we have to defeat Nick; I thought maybe I could think of a way to put it more on our side if I came here."

That made her aunt smile. "Maybe there is, but I can't tell you what it is, this place is evil, I think it's why Jake picked it to live. But maybe your friends can help...talk to the witch woman and the priests, and maybe that old Shaman might have a few ideas too. I'm sure one of them might have an idea of how to cleanse the land..."

As her aunt left, Dani knew she had a clue to what she needed to do. Her aunt had never told her directly, but it was a start.

Back at the house, Dani decided it was a good thing she was getting used to being nude. A year ago she would have never considered stripping off her clothes the minute she hit the protected ground and walking unconcerned into the house to a hot shower. Bull followed close behind her and glared at anyone who even started to say a word, all except Andre. "We left our clothes by the truck go get them and make sure you burn them back at the still in the woods. I would also suggest you get some sage from granny and add it to the fire or grandpa's latest batch might be contaminated." As Andre went to do what his brother asked, Bull stopped him at the door. "And don't touch them barehanded. Get a pair of the heaviest gloves we got and use a stick to pick them up."

Dani heard Mr. Two-feather and Philippe offer to help him and she nodded. "Granny we need some of that special soap you use to purify before a ritual, we need to scrub each other big time."

"Go to the tub off the back porch," Massie spoke up. "We'll start filling it; you two shouldn't have any trouble fitting in it."

They fit it just fine, and Dani noticed Granny and Philippe's brother Claude had started small fires as well as burning cleansing herbs and scribbling wards in the dirt to contain any evil they might have brought back with them. It took three tubs before they all agreed that they were clean and the two of them went up to the attic to put on fresh clothes and talk about what had happened.

"You know baby, I am beginning to wonder if a part of you isn't a witch woman like granny." Bull looked at her as he lit two cigarettes and passed her one. I know daddy called you a hurricane but what I saw today, you sitting there calm as day talking to your aunt's spirit and not blinking an eye to what she was telling you."

"Aunt Annie told me a lot more than just what she was saying Bull; somehow we need to get Nick to that spot for the final battle. I don't know why or how I know but I do. It's no coincidence that my uncle chose that spot to live or kill his wife. Not when he could have picked anywhere in the country to live with the money grandpa left him." She looked at him. "What do you know about that property?"

"Not as much as Granny would. I know that the family who owed it before your uncle had been on it forever it seemed. I remember being told as a kid to never go near the place, and that it was said a former slave was suspected of performing black voodoo magic."

Dani felt a need to tease the man she loved. "Not as much as Granny would huh, sounded to me like you know more than you realized. I also want to find out from Lily why she told me to stay away from the Gazebo at the house in New Orleans."

Bull got a pad of paper and a pen from a stand beside the table. "I think we need to start taking notes.

He was right and Dani made a list of what she considered important things to pay attention to. Three places seemed to stand out, her home back in Oregon, the house in New Orleans and the bayou. Talking about each, and discussing what the full connection could be, they lost track of time and were surprised when they were summoned to dinner by his kid sister.

It was after dinner that the subject of the land where her uncle had lived was brought up again and she listened intently as Granny Maylene talked about what knowledge she had.

"The place never was what the owners wanted it to be. Even before the Beaumont's bought it, there was a history of madness and all kinds of mischief and mayhem around the place. I know that the legend of the slave practicing black voodoo was real popular around the time of the civil war, and there is a tale of an uprising among those who were still owed resulting in the death of most of the family by ways I won't talk about tonight since we got so many young ones among us. Let's just say that when the news reached town those that ventured out to check the stories, they came back to town and refused to say a word to any one that verified or denied the stories. Almost all of those folks when went there died within a few years, most of suicide. My grandmother told me that one or two of the family that survived left the place and never came back. When the Beaumont family bought it back in the late eighteen hundreds, they tried to do the same as the original family, but it never paid off, and eventually the house just fell into total disrepair. Sam Beaumont was the last of his line and he bought that trailer to live out his life in right after the Korean War. Once he died the land stayed empty until you uncle bought it. Nothing good came of that land, and I don't think it ever will."

Dani asked a question that startled even her. "Maylene, do you know the name of the original owners?"

"No I don't, my family and the Marquailles' never had anything to do with any of them but Sam and even he was a surly old man who tended to keep trespassers off his land with a shotgun, but why all the interest all of sudden child?"

It was just a hunch but she knew that hunches had changed a lot of things in the world. "Because I think that is either the original site of the battle that the spirits fought that Mr. Two-feather told us about, or that if we find the name of the original owner and trace it down we are going to find that somehow Nick is related to that land as much as dad and Beau are." She lit a cigarette, "I can't help thinking that Nick always looked at dad as a rival, but at the same time seemed to be willing to be friends with a newcomer that most of the other folks in town weren't so sure about. He also seemed real interested when dad would get to talking about how he had grown up back in New Orleans as if it brought memories back to him as well."

Everyone looked at her in surprise and she knew her ideas were being mentally looked at. "I'll call dad the first thing in the morning," Dani heard her mother speak up. "He's the best thing the town has to a historian and he would know where most of the longtime residents came from."

Dani saw the two priests exchange glances as well. As the older brother it was Philippe who spoke up. "I think we need to check this place out, and if you don't mind Mr. Two-feathers, I think your help might be needed. Your magic is way older than ours and I think it might be even more powerful."

The old shaman nodded. "I will be glad to help; it's why I'm here. But before we go exploring a place that is filled with such evil, we'll need to prepare. If no one minds, I'll be taking Andre along as my helper. It makes an old man feel better if the younger bucks do some of the heavy work for them." He bestowed a fatherly glance at Andre and Dani wondered if Bull wasn't the only one whose future had been misread.

Bull was thinking the same thing as he watched his brother help the old man into the house and into the room he was using. He decided not to bring it up except to Dani once they had settled in the attic room. He also wondered if there was anyway his father, Lily and Charles could help solve the questions Dani had raised tonight. Obviously the spirits of the families were able to help more than he had ever thought possible.

He also wondered if the spirits might be able to help him with the thoughts that had been in his head since the huge mistake he had made in the grove. He found himself feeling that he was not cut out to be a priest, no matter what his future had been read as, the lies had disrupted the lines and he was lost in limbo. Philippe had told him that he could still start the training. The problem was, chosen began training when they were six or seven, when they were first beginning to read and write. As near as he was to thirty he was a good quarter of a century behind and that was a lot of learning to make up. He was still finding it hard at times to read and understand some of the repair manuals he read. Dani had been helping him but lately they hadn't had time to work on it.

There was also the matter of Dani and their child. Priests weren't encouraged to marry, Philippe had taken a long term lover, but his brother had settled for the release that came from certain rituals and ceremonies. If he followed through on his destined path it would mean Dani would be alone a great part of the time and he would have to take a full time job as well to support her. He had hoped that the idea of helping restore the balance by a joining of her and Andre would help but instead it had made things worse.

Feeling a hand grasping his he looked up to see Dani looking at him with an understanding look. She drew him up and together they walked outside and down to the docks. Sitting down he held her close and they gazed up at the star filled sky. He didn't know if he should talk or just keep silent.

It was Dani who decided for him. "Talk to me Bull, I feel you're shutting me on somehow."

"I know but since what happened the other day, I feel so twisted up inside. I came so close to just giving you and our son to Nick by not thinking what I was doing. I had no business being so foolish."

"No you didn't, but you're a human man Bull, and all humans make mistakes. I admit I was angry to think you would even consider just giving me to your brother, and yet when I saw how hurt you were, I couldn't keep from wanting to comfort you."

He held her tight and shook his head. "I felt so scared when I realized what I had done, it was hard not to fall to my knees and ask you to forgive me. Dani, I don't know what to do. I keep hearing I should have been a priest, but the lies have turned that all upside down. I should have started training even before you were born almost, and I never had the education I should have gotten. I've also got you and the baby to think of, and I don't know if I could take being away from you all the time I would have to be." He sighed, knowing he couldn't keep his deepest thoughts from her. "You want the truth honey, a part of me regrets coming home. A part of me wants to be back in Oregon, working in your dad's garage and knowing how my life was going to go from one day to the next. I love my family but I can't help feeling that I don't belong here anymore. I actually understand your dad more each day we spend down here."

"That because you left a boy and came back a man." They both looked up as Massie walked up to them. "I understand how you feel son, I think we all do. And you're right about one thing, the future that was planned for you is no longer possible. You're a strong man and the magic runs deep in you, but so does your love for Dani and your child and if you become a priest the demands of both will tear you apart. This cannot happen; you must raise your son together. We all agree that you must choose your life and not be guided by what we hope for you."

Philippe and his brother came up to them as well, and Beau saw the older man grin. "And let us be honest Beau, I foresee little need for a priest of our kind in Oregon. Our magic is enhanced by the bayou, not tall trees and rain."

Beau had to grin and he shook his head as he felt Dani tense. "Remember honey, he's the victim of a lot of negative advertising."

She looked at him with the love he had grown to know so well. "Well, I guess your family will just have to visit us when this is over won't they. Hey Philippe, have you ever seen snow?"

A mischievous glint lit up her eyes and for a time, the world seemed to be in a state of contentment as Beau hugged her and felt a sense of relief that he had been freed of having to decide between his past and his future. When he and Dani went up to the attic, he found a renewed sensation as he walked into a scent of lilies and the spirits of the three elder members of their combined families.

This time he saw a fourth spirit and while she hadn't been visible to him earlier, this time she was as clear as his father, Dani's great aunt, and grandfather. Annie Lazarus smiled at him softly. "You are no longer in conflict Beau, and my family had found me, so we may meet in safety. In life I knew of your family and I often envied them the love and happiness they radiated whenever we passed in town. In truth I envied them just the way I envied Jack and Helen for the love that I felt around them. I owe your mother and grandmother a great deal for telling them of what Jake did to me, and in its own way of being the means that brought my dearest niece here to release me."

He looked at Dani and saw her eyes were glistening with tears. "Aunt Annie..."

Annie smiled at her niece and shook her head. "Relax Goldie, I'm not going anywhere yet, what I mean by that was that I am no longer bound to that place. I am as free as any other spirit to travel and not chained by ignorance. And to repay my debt, I will tell you something that I have learned that will help you in the coming battle. You've already made huge steps forward to discovering it, but this will help even more. You're correct in your thoughts that the spot across the swamp was one of the first sights for the battles and where each of your families received the three demons. Nick does have as much bayou blood in him as you and Beau. However, have your family look on the female side of the family. In this your Granny Maylene will be a great help as she will find the answer in her own family. Her lie to your family was no chance mistake; it was directed by the evil of the land across the swamp. I don't expect you to absolve her of the guilt but it will help you both understand that the evil in Nick is widespread and it will do all it must to survive.

Bull saw Dani nod and held her even closer and tighter. He had one question that he needed to know the answer to. "Why was I chosen to be a priest?"

Annie gave out with a tinkling laugh that sounded like the soft clink of metal wind chime in a gentle breeze. "Because my dear nephew-to-be you were destined from your first spark of life to be more powerful than any priest or witch in the history of your line. If your power had been allowed to grow to its full extent, you power would have extinguished Nick like a match in the water. Instead the evil of the swamp wanted you tainted, before ever knowing your full potential. It might have worked too if your new path hadn't set you directly in the path of the only female Lazarus to be born in almost a hundred years. The evil never dreamed of such a thing happening. Even Nick's belief that Dani was meant to be his, well you can see its train of thought. Together Nick and Dani would have created the most evil child in the world; he would have put the most demented figures in our world's history to shame and put all of us in danger of total destruction and damnation. Your arrival wrecked its plan and sent Nick on another course. To destroy you both and your child before he is ever born." She gave them both a look that spoke of great pride and hope for the future. Bull also noticed she looked as weary as he and Dani felt. "It's time for me to return to the swamp, but I will see you again."