House of the Angels

Sybilla never liked going to see Doctor Jacques, but the fact that she needed to was completely out of her control. Hopefully she would be able to find some answers from the witch doctor that no one else would be able to give her.

She remembered how to get there, simple enough. All she had to do was look for the house with the red door and the black shutters. She knocked three times and was granted permission to enter. Sybilla laughed a little on the inside. Nothing had changed. Everything was still in its place, the altar, the furniture....not one thing out of place.

“The years have been good to you.” Doctor Jacques chuckled when he greeted Sybilla.

“Same to you Jacques.” She replied with a mischievous smirk.

“Please, rest.” Jacques said, gesturing to an old ottoman in the resting area.

Sybilla perched herself on the ottoman and handed Jacques his payment. “Shedded snake skin.” She told him. “Good for making gris-gris.”

“Ah, many thank-yous mambo.” Jacques replied gratefully. “So tell me, what brings you here on such a night? I thought your little brood needed you home with Miss Anne?”

“The lil’ ones are asleep and the older ones can take care of themselves.” Sybilla said, tossing one of her long braids over her shoulder. “There are far bigger things to worry about.”

“Ah” sighed Jacques. “So I’ve heard.”

“And I’m sure it’s no secret among the community that the brat did it to please her mother.” Sybilla spat. “You and I both know she’d do anything to get her mother's approval.”

“Bah!” hissed Doctor Jacques. “They are two of the same. The only difference is that one is a calculating monster and the other is simply stupid.”

“Everybody knows that Jacques.” Sybilla said. “We both learned that early on. But unfortunately the way that lesson was learned cost us a life.”

“Aye ma cherie it did.” Jacques lamented. “If I could go back and undo what that monster did I would. But the past is the past and cannot be changed.”

“But that wasn’t the reason I came here Jacques.” Sybilla told him after a small sliver of silence. “I didn't come here to rehash old problems. I came here because Anne and I may need your help.”

“I am listening.”

“Firstly, I came to warn you that one of the bitch’s minions is dead.”

Jacques nearly spat out the rum he had been drinking. He was aghast at Sybilla’s shocking claim. “How?” he questioned. “How did you do it mambo?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.” Sybilla said matter of factly. “I don’t even think you wanna know what I did to that evil ’lil shit. Secondly, she’s gonna think that you and I did it. So if she comes knockin’ on your door I suggest you keep a tight lock on it. Thirdly if that brat decides to mess with one of our own you make damn sure her ass gets planted so far into the ground she can’t get back up. Ya’ll hearin what I’m sayin?”

Doctor Jacques chuckled. Anything to get rid of Miss Sally Caulfield and the spawn of hell itself, he would gladly comply.

“Whatever your bidding is,” he told Sybilla with a flash of his blindingly white teeth. “I’ll do it.”

“Good.” Sybilla said. “There’s a few things I’m gonna need.”

“And they would be?”

“Rooster feathers.” Sybilla began. “Salt, to make them shrivel up like raisins, the works. Better get your men and women together before St. John’s Night. Cause that’s when they’re gonna come out of hiding.”

“A ceremony?” contemplated Jacques. “Very well. The usual time and place?”

“You bet your sweet behind.” Sybilla answered. “My own will be participating in it. The lil’ ones will be up so there’s no worries there.”

“Good, good.” Replied Doctor Jacques. “Be on your way ma cherie. I will see to it that we are prepared.”

“You’d better be.” Sybilla smirked before turning to leave.

Doctor Jacques kept watching her until she turned left down the street corner and headed for home. St. John’s Night would be fast approaching and he needed time to prepare. But even so, the satisfaction of watching Miss Sally Caulfield’s eventual downfall gave him great satisfaction.