Free Voodoo Love (And the Curse of Jean Lafitte’s Treasure) by Victoria Richards

I raised my middle finger in salute and sped off into the night.
     
    ****

              Juan and I were quiet for a few minutes, both processing what had just happened.  I drove on the dark roads just outside of Barataria, unsure of where we were going or what the plan was. My mind felt jumbled and exhaustion crept in, a product of the adrenaline finally wearing me out. All I really wanted to do was find a bed, pull the covers over my head, and settle in for a week.
                  "Turn right," Juan said.
                  I slowed down and turned onto a dirt road. It was like traveling down a tunnel with Spanish Moss trees arched over the road, their arms heavy with leafy tendrils. My headlights cut through the darkness, but revealed nothing about what lay at the end.
                  "Where are we going, Juan?"
                  "To Euralie's."
                  "What? She lives out here?"
                  "Yes. Her family has owned a piece of land in this area for over two hundred years. They were some of the first original settlers of Barataria."
                  "She's been so close all this time, and I never even knew it."
                  "Euralie is a private person. She probably didn't want you to know about her. She feels that she failed her family."
                  "Because the map got in the wrong hands?"
                  "Something like that." He was quiet a moment. "Slow down. We don't want to run right into the swamp."
                  I braked gently, glad for the warning. In the darkness, the water was hard to see, only the muddy bank giving away its existence. The car shuddered and then died. Too much ghost mojo, I guess. Without the headlights, it was impossible to see anything in the area.
                  "Are we getting out?" I asked. "Even with your super powers, I don't think it's safe to run around the swamp without lights."
                  "Probably not. Pop the trunk."
                  "No keys. No can do."
                  Juan disappeared, and a moment later I felt the car vibrate a little as the trunk was lifted open. I got out to see what was going on.
                  "Here." Juan handed me a flashlight and a tire iron. As he was about to shut the trunk, I spotted something in its depth.
                  "Whoa!" I reached in and grabbed a brown paper bag. "I know exactly what this. Good old Ellen made at least three trips a week to the liquor store to pick up her favorite brand of vodka. This is coming with us!"
                  Juan gave me a weary grin as I cracked the seal on the bottle of Tito's Vodka.
                  "C'mon, Elizabeth , we have a ways to go before we can let our guard down."
                  I took a swig of vodka, feeling the burn as it went down my throat. Switching on the flashlight, I followed my ghostly companion through the brush of the swamp, hoping we weren't going to encounter snakes or gators. Neither was on my top ten list of things I wanted to deal with that evening.
                  Then again, the walking dead hadn't been on the list either.
                  Juan didn't say much. He steadied me a few times when I tripped, his touch sending small fires through my body which made me feel ashamed. I mean, really. How could I feel lust when I'd already seen so many bad things today?  For crying out loud, I'd watched the man I'd called my husband for a year die. What was wrong with me?
                  "Did you know Eddie was at Laveau's Lounge the night we first met?" I asked. "I saw him in the vision you showed me."
                  "I know it now, but not when we were first there. I didn't know his role in this thing until much later." Juan stopped to look at me. "He isn't what he