Black Water Bayou

By Krystal Latrice

Having enemies were common for the Gachette witches but they have always been able to conquer during adversity.

When the demon of Gehenna rises after being locked away for a hundred years, the great sage of Black Water Bayou falls, leaving the legacy of her ancestors in the hands of her granddaughters, Merigold and Majesty, still learning how to use their powers and juggling college, the Gachette sisters must go to war with a revengeful demon to save their people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pretty Booked, LLC
• Release date: Jan 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781637181904

Book preview

ONE

All week, something had been eating my soul alive, like an invisible force was trying to rip me out of my flesh. My lungs were struggling with the one task they were made to do. My chest was on fire. If this was death, then why didn’t it take me without all the hassle?

Merigold? Majesty snapped me out of my puzzled thoughts. Whenever I looked at my sister, it was like I was looking into the mirror at myself. Her curly hair and chestnut eyes were a twin to my own features. The only difference between Majesty and me was that she was more on the lighter side, while I was a darker complexion, like Grams.

She had been trying her best to comfort me all week. The last time I’d gone off the rails was right before our childhood friend, Jerrius, went missing. I had a feeling in my gut that something bad was going to happen. I tried my hardest to push the feeling aside, but when Jerrius was found in the creek a day after our high school graduation, I knew to start listening to those gut-wrenching feelings.

Yeah, yeah. What’s that, Jesty? I said.

Maybe we should go back home to see Grams this weekend. She always knows how to fix you whenever you get like this, Majesty suggested.

Visiting Grams was the norm back when we were freshmen. I kept having episodes of crippling anxiety and panic attacks that made me feel like I was going to die, and Grams showed me ways to cope with it. She said it was the empath in me absorbing all the emotions and physical pain around me. It was what she’d tried to protect me from since I was a child, by enrolling me in home education with a teacher that came out five times per week.

Majesty was the normal one. She was able to go to school without feeling ill in crowds or from seeing new faces. Our powers were different, but Grams assured me that I would learn how to control mine. Fast forward three years later at the age of twenty-two, and I still had a hard time not absorbing energy around me. And no matter how hard I tried, I’d get sucked into dead-end relationships and friendships where I’d feel obligated to help them by seeing their past and healing them while draining my soul.

No, I was doing so good. She’s proud of me, Jesty. She’s finally happy that I’m feeling…was feeling better. I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair.

The quicker I got away from Majesty, I’d be able to block her idea out and come up with my own logic for why it was a terrible idea to go visit Grams.

I can handle this alone.

Majesty looked like she wanted to protest, but she backed down and resumed slurping down the mocha latte that had been her addiction for the last two years.

Just think about it, okay? Majesty said across the room.

I walked out of Coffee Addicts and the sun nearly blinded me, the downside of being in a place with very dimmed lighting for an extended time. I placed my hands above my eyes as my chest was overtaken with pain. I dropped my purse to the concrete right before I went down with it, then these flashes of home appeared and I saw Grams lying in bed. She was sleeping peacefully with her arms tucked underneath, the way she’d slept since I was a small child. It was the only way she’d forced herself to sleep, she claimed, because it was easier to defend herself against a demon attack whenever they tried to hold her down and take her to the shadows.

Who released you? Grams jumped up out of her sleep, looking into the darkness.

I defeated you. Grams tried reaching for her Black Tourmaline staff.

The darkness moved in on her, snatched her from the bed, then raised her in the air. Her eyes turned pale as the darkness ripped the breath from her.

Gehenna, Grams choked out right before the darkness snapped her neck.

I snapped back to reality, and Majesty was standing right over me with tears in her eyes as she reached out her hand to help me up. Being an empath was all I’d ever known myself to be. The visions? The visions were Grams’ things. She could see the future, look into the eyes of the past, and hear voices in the Beyond. Somehow, a vision grabbed me and made me see it all. I’d seen the death of our Great Sage that had ruled Black Water Bayou for the last hundred years.

It’s Grams. Something in the darkness murdered her. Those words did not sound right coming out of my mouth.

Grams was supposed to be invincible. She’d put down some of the most powerful sources of evil. No one was able to harm her because the Ancestors had anointed her as an infant. They placed their powers within her, allowing her to carry them for decades.

Merigold, what do you mean she’s dead? Majesty took a few steps backward with her hands resting on her head.

Our phones started going off like clockwork with text alerts from our family and neighbors of Black Water Bayou, encouraging us to come home. They said it was urgent. Grams was dead. My vision was true. I’d somehow seen the tragedy.

Ohhh, Ancestors. Majesty viewed her phone with widened eyes.

This was our reality now. No one to rule Black Water Bayou.

The drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Black Water Bayou, Louisiana was roughly over ten hours. Our great plan before we left our apartment was to tag team the drive and try to make it there without all the excessive stops. But I kept having these spells where I would get hot and these images would surface, so Majesty thought it would be best for me to ride shotgun for the remainder of the trip, which was roughly another six hours.

You think she was in pain? Majesty turned the music down.

We had not discussed Grams in over two hours, but now she was the topic of discussion again, and I felt like I was about to rip out of my flesh. I could still see flashes of the vision; the way her eyes turned white right before the demon murdered her with the hands of darkness.

Grams told us there were great demons out there and we had to sharpen our skills, but I always wanted to lead a normal life, so once we were off to college, I left that life in Black Water Bayou behind. I made friends, attended parties, and didn’t worry myself with generations of responsibilities. But now I could see that I was setting myself up. We needed powers, sharpened powers, to bring justice to Grams and all of Black Water Bayou.

Grams was strong, an extraordinarily strong witch. I don’t think pain was something she’d ever experienced, even in death. I focused my gaze ahead at the black truck that was swerving from lane to lane. Either the driver was intoxicated or falling asleep at the steering wheel.

The thought of using Grams in past tense choked me every time. It all seemed like a dream, a terrible nightmare that I would wake from. It was real though, and the drive back home confirmed it. Grams died at the hand of our enemy.

She mentioned something about Gehenna, I pressed myself to say.

Since I’d had the vision, I’d left out a few details, but I knew that backtracking, bringing Majesty in on the light, and laying all the information on her would help me piece together what happened.

As in the Ruler of Demons that she locked away a hundred years ago?

Majesty took her eyes off the road to view me. The car swerved to the right then to the left, then back to the right before she grabbed the steering wheel again to drive like she had sense.

She was locked up a hundred years ago, bound with the chains of a witch’s blood magic. The only way for a demon like Gehenna to break free from its prison was if the witch who worked the spell on it died and all her descendants died off along with the Ancestors in the Spirit Realm. Only Grams is dead. Majesty said no further words. She seemed to be in deep thought. That was the norm for us now; we’d fall into complete silence.

You know about Gehenna? I wrapped my arms around myself.

From the sound of Majesty’s information, I was the only one who’d stopped studying and sharpening my magic. She had always been the better twin. Grams had faith in Majesty and she allowed her freedom because she was strong. Sometimes when I’d look at my sister, I’d see Grams, a strong woman that I could not seem to be. And not the dark, curly haired twin I shared a womb with.

Yeah, Grams sent me a few of her books last summer. She told me it was information that I was going to need. I guess now makes it true, Majesty said.

She sent you books? What books? I asked.

The only thing Grams had sent me last summer were protection potions, spiritual bath salts, and an Amethyst necklace that she claimed would help calm my anxiety, but no books were sent to me. Once again, Majesty was the one who could receive the knowledge she needed while I was the one who needed fixing.

Yeah, her books of Demon Binds. They’re not to be in the hands of anyone who’s not of our bloodline. I was told they won’t even open for someone other than her direct descendants, Majesty said.

Then why weren’t they passed down to me after you read them? I grabbed my necklace. Grams really did see me as this broken soul in need of guidance and protection every step of the way.

Grams respected your choice of not practicing magic anymore. She wanted to give you time, Merigold. You know she never forced anything on us. Majesty took the first exit on the state line of Mississippi.

I’d kept those words in my head. Grams must have thought I was a disappointment to the lineage, because I’d never heard a similar story of another witch who refused to be part of the family history. I was too weak, that’s why she counted me out and didn’t have any hard feelings when I decided to lead a normal life.

Majesty exited the car to go pay for gas and grab us some snacks for the rest of the ride. Snacking on anything was furthest from my mind, but Majesty told me I must eat if I wanted to have strength to get through all that was happening. She was right. The more I’d deprived myself of food, the more lightheaded I’d get.

Since I couldn’t drive, the least I could do was pump the gas. I hopped out of the car and circled around to the driver’s side to pump the gas. My head boiled and I leaned over on the car as my stomach tied in knots. These waves of crippling illness would be the death of me if I did not learn what they meant.

The Great Sage of Black Water Bayou is down. Now we can move in and rule the magic world. We will drain all witches of their power and take it for ourselves. For a hundred years we were in bondage due to the hand of a witch, now we will rise again for an eternity, a woman says among a group of demons.

The sight of them rejoicing that my grams was dead made my heart fall. They were planning to remove witches from the supernatural world forever. Now that Grams was out of their way, they could move into the next phase of their plan.

Here’s to a new world where demons are the gatekeepers. The woman raised a black glass.

Merigold? Majesty snapped me out of the vision.

My legs were weak and my heart was pumping too fast, so I braced myself. I’d been here before, more than I could count on two hands, so I knew the feeling would subside. I had to calm down. I was not dying. This had everything to do with me, who I was.

The demons that follow Gehenna are planning to take over the magic, get rid of all of the witches. Removing Grams was part of some masterplan. I was calm and my heart was beating at its normal rhythm. The burning sensation in my head subsided and I was back to myself, but I wasn’t sure for how long.

How are you seeing this, Merigold? Majesty’s voice was low, lower than normal. I was sure it was because she did not want anyone else to hear our conversation. But to me, there was nothing to fear because humans never took anything seriously, especially not our world. They looked at us like we were freaks and followers of Satan, when we were protecting their world and ours from the real monsters.

I don’t know, Jesty. This is the second vision since that day. This has never happened to me before, I replied.

My focus went to the man who was standing next to the black truck that was swerving on the road earlier. One thing I prided myself on was having photographic memory.

He stood there watching us, watching me. I was unsure how long he’d been standing there, but his vibe was giving me the creeps. He started walking toward me. The closer he got, the more I could see his features. He did not have a face. He was a…a faceless demon.

Jesty, we have to go! We have to go now! I said.

I pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank, ran around the car, and hopped in. Majesty took no time listening to me, so she turned the ignition and the car roared, then she threw the gear in drive like her life depended on it! It did. She drove over the curb while exiting the gas station.

As she focused on getting us far away from the faceless demon, I was busy texting our cousins back home about a cloaking spell. We needed to get off the radar and make it home safe.

What was that? Merigold, what in the fuck was that? Majesty’s voice was loud. Too loud. I needed to think about what belonged to us back home that our cousins could use for the spell.

Our bears, our bears. I sent a quick text to Sharon, hoping like hell those bears were enough, that it had some form of our DNA on it for them to use.

What? Majesty yelled.

No, I’m trying to get Sharon to do a cloaking spell for us, one that’s strong enough until we make it home. I placed the phone in the cupholder.

I was ready to talk about it