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Chapter 4



Elda stood there, mouth agape, not certain how to answer. "Voodoo, why do you need to know about Voodoo?" she asked, caught of guard for a minute.

"There's trouble brewing, and it involves voodoo witch doctors, possibly descending en masse on Tokyo,"she said, "and I don't think they are too happy on recent events. I know it's mostly hooey for what they have, but I believe that we may be dealing with ahandful that actually has a finger on a darker power!"

Eldasighed, and said, furrowing her brow, "Not again, every time it looks to be as if things will calm down it gets wild again, and while I am a wild child, this nonsense over and over again irritates me."

"I know that, until recently, your contact with the human world had been very limited," said Yuriya, "But whatever you can tell us now, it would be helpful. We need to know what we are up against."

"I wouldn't know much about this," Eldasaid, angrily, "If only James where here, I am sure he could tell you more."

"Well," said Yuriya, "voodoo is what we are up against."

"Anyway, it is not like it matters, with Chiyuki and her old friend here," she said quietly.

"Jean-Claude doesn't seem to think that it will be all that easy," said Yuriya, "They've already proven to be able to handle the both of them to some extent. They have many tricks up their sleeves, and there is no telling how many more they have. Of course, as they use them, we learn of them. Yet, how many would they go through, and how much damage could be done before they could be stopped? That also depends on how many come over. There are so many question marks over this thing."

"Yea, I am not worried about humans though!" Elda said, some of her prejudice against humans showing up. Yuriya cocked her head, with a curious look on her face, and said, "I thought we were past all this? You have seen humans equal to us: what they do not possess in powers, they can, as my husband says, adapt, improvise, and overcome. You know well what happened three years ago. Why would you still be seeing Victor? If they can do this, what would happen if some dark power came in to aid them?"

"That would make them something else would it, if they were possessed by darker power!" she said, lifting an eyebrow.

Eventually Jean-Claude approached, having settled the twins down to sleep, (hoping that great-grandmother's "affection"would not give them nightmares,) and he heard the tale end of the conversation. He then said, "You are right about that, Grandmamma-it would be something else. If my research is correct, then what we are dealing with here is something with which even the 'mainstream' practitioners of voodoo would have a problem. There are two factions, and, oddly enough, we may need to contact one group to aid against the other-the priests and priestesses of the Loa versus the priests and bokor sorcerers."

Eldamade a dumbfounded face. "Huh?" she asked, her face looking dejected.

"Okay, here it goes": he said, "Voodoo, as practiced in Haiti, is a mix of some Catholicism with African tribal religions. They believe in one supreme deity--the Bondye, (a bastardization of the French /Bon/ Dieu or Good God,)-and several spirits called the Loa, made up of the papas and the erzulie, (females.) The Bondye has nothing to do with this world directly, and so they get to him through the loas and erzulie. It is through these spirits they perform their 'magic.'Whether or not they have any power remains to be seen. However, they do know alot in the way of tricks, and, even if it is a bunch of nonsense, some of the rituals leave them open to possession by real evil spirits. If that happens, there is no telling what else could follow. If they are of the darker side-the bokor-then that can be real trouble indeed."

"I still don't get it," Eldasaid, just as Ai appeared and bonked her on the head.

Jean-Claude jumped back a bit, and then sighed when he saw who it was. "Couldn't stay away," he asked Ai.

"Nope!" She said smiling, "I think Chiyuki is avoiding everyone though," and she scratched her chin.

"I'll address that in a sec," he said, "In the meantime, what kind of insight could you add to this situation?"

"Well, they depend on people fearing them, their power is increased by fear, so if that helps?" she said shrugging.

"That is true," said Jean-Claude, "and that only qualifies for the bokor sorcerers. There are actually 'good' priests and priestesses as well."





However, AI had something more pressing on her mind, which was the whole reason for coming in the first place. She nodded and agreed with the statement, but then turned the conversation to her worries. She asked, "Can we get to more urgent matter right now?"

"Is there a problem?" asked Jean-Claude, "The last I saw, Chiyuki and Ren were beginning to get sweet on one another."

"There might be a problem and she might leave." Ai said, "Ren is a lot like her old love and she is bound to touch on the past that she has tried to forget."

"Oh great!" said Jean-Claude.

Yuriya was confused, and said, "I thought this was what she was after? Did she not think about what could happen?"

"She might not have realized how much Ren is like him," said Ai, "and that is why she was attracted to him almost instantly."

"Okay," sighed Jean-Claude, "Where could she have gone, and what could be going on right now? I haven't seen Ren since the club."

"I wouldn't know," she said, "She needs to be left alone."

"But, if there is a problem..." said Jean-Claude, but Yuriya interrupted, and said, "Baby, sometimes, a girl just needs to think things out. Just let it go. She's a free spirit, and she'll want people around eventually. She'll come back. In the meantime, we have to work on Ren."

"Hmm...I agree, he has this thing for me...stupid boy," said Ai, rolling her eyes, "I already have someone."

Yuriya got a glint in her eye, and said, "Let's hook up with Karin and Maki-chan-maybe between the four of us, we could 're-educate'the boy!"

"Hey, he's my grandson!" added in Elda,"Let me in on the fun!"

Jean-Claude shook his head, and went back to the house, leaving it alone. He may have been married, but he still could not entirely conceptualize the female mind. Ai cheered, "LETS GO TACKLE REN!"

"Right!" said Yuriya, but then stopped, beading up with sweat, and said, "Tackle-okay...um...we're not talking kidnapping and torture, are we?"

"If that's what it takes," said Elda,"Besides, he just can't resist being around his precious grandmother!"

Yuriya shuddered, considering the tales that she had heard from Karin about how much Grandmother loved Ren to death-almost literally! She then said, "Um...let's go get the other two first. I think they're closing up the club with Anjou," considering that Jean-Claude and Anjou have joint ownership of the Cavern. Yuriya then thought for a moment, and then said, "Do you think Yukkiko is with Chiyuki right now?"

"Personally, no," said Ai, "I think Chiyuki has ditched everyone and is crying to herself in a corner, as memories that she tried to forget come back to her."

Then let's get to the Cavern," said Yuriya, "and see if we can't get Yukkiko in on this. I'm sure she would love to help her mentor. Besides, we also have to get some wedding plans worked out; dress shopping-hey, this is turning into a regular girl's night out!"

"We can work over Ren, and take care of wedding business, all at one time," said Elda, as she rushed back into the house, and came out one second later, dressed to kill, saying, "Let's go girls!"



Meanwhile, Mimoun was making some phone calls, and there was a stir amongst the bokor. Soon, many were getting ready to leave. This, however, was not unnoticed. A Loa priestess name Clarice was in atrance, in deep prayer to Papa Legba, (god of the crossroads,) and Erzulie Freda, (goddess of love.) Certain ripples in the spirit realm had touched her, and she needed clarification. Freda was showing her a burgeoning love, but it was filled with past sadness and distress. However, Freda was showing that another love was coming to a crossroads. Papa Legba joined in at this point, and began to show how one path led to peace, and one led to a familiar evil. Concentrating harder, she began to look at the face of the foe, and saw nothing but the bokor on the move. The one in the lead was none other than one person she despised, and one she knew wanted to do nothing but become a master over all: Papa Mimoun. Mama Clarice came to, and grew angry. There had been good shifts in the spirit realm, they having been started three years before. It got stronger as the time passed. She knew this was a good thing, but saw nothing but trouble with Mimoun involved. She could not understand how he could want to be as he was, considering how their own ancestors had led a successful revolt against their slave masters, and were now free. How could he want to put people in bondage again? She had to find out where the roads were leading, so she took some powder, threw it on the fire in the stove, and it flashed, puffing a brief waft of smoke that looked like Japan. She then knew what was going on, and where Mimoun was. She then began to ask around, to see what was going on in the village, and she had come to find out that many of the bokor were heading out of Haiti. She could only figure that the action was taking place far away. She then knew that she had to do something. At that, she went into some reserve savings, and prepared to head there herself. She did not know what was going on, but she was going to find out. Certainly, she knew there were some in danger, and she had to help them at whatever it cost her. However, this was not unnoticed either. After Mimoun finished spreading the word, he began to feel like someone was looking in. He could not place it, but he knew something was up. He left the phone center where he had placed the call and went to his encampment. He then grabbed two chickens that he had purchased earlier and slaughtered them. He began to divine, and try to contact the spirit realm. After about 15 minutes of meditating and incantation, he saw what was happening. He saw that a Loa priestess was watching him, and that her gaze was now fixed on him. He then detected movement, and then realized that it was angled towards him! He knew that this was not good, and he would have to hasten things. In the meantime, he would give the fools that were resisting him one more chance, but not after a greater demonstration of his power. They would soon learn that it is not wise to trifle with a bokor master.