Moon Cursed by Lori Handeland

Author:Lori Handeland [Handeland, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Paranormal, Romance, Fantasy, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780312389352
Google: GvBomPEgu0QC
Amazon: B009699GOC
Barnesnoble: B009699GOC
Goodreads: 8497486
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2011-03-01T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

“Is that something you can give up? Kris asked. “Maybe for Lent?”

Jamaica gave a weak, burbly laugh. “No. You’re right. I am a witch. I just don’t ... do dat anymore.”

“What?”

“Kill t’ings.”

Uh-oh.

Kris took one slow step backward; then she took another.

Jamaica’s head went up. She saw Kris’s face, and she reached out a hand. “It’s not what you t’ink.”

“What is it?”

Jamaica rubbed her eyes. “I was young and stupid.”

“Redundant.”

“Yes. But me more dan most. I got involved in de Obeah cult. I became an Obeah woman. I sacrificed t’ings to get de power I needed.”

Kris didn’t like the sound of that.

“Sacrificed what? Sleep? Money? Snickers bars?”

“Animals.”

“Not cool.”

“Better dan what you were t’inkin.”

True. Kris had been thinking people.

“You really believe that sacrificing bunnies brought you power?”

Jamaica’s brilliant eyes met hers. “It did.”

Kris snorted. Her disbelief in Nessie might have waned, but her skepticism of every other hoax on the planet had not. Witchcraft? “I don’t think so.”

“T’ink what you like. I know de truth.”

“If you were truly able to practice magic, why would you give it up?”

“Black magic.” Jamaica wrapped her arms around herself and held on tight. “In Obeah, all de princes of hell are personified, Satan most of all.”

“Hell and Satan are Christian boogies.”

“Obeah, like voodoo, combines de religions of Africa with Christianity. They use de Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses as guides.”

“Wait a second.” Kris ticked off a finger with each word. “Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. That’s five.”

“Moses was considered de greatest magician in all of Egypt. A snake charmer. He parted de Red Sea.”

“With a little help from his friend.”

“Or his books of magic.”

“Seriously?” Kris had never heard this, and she’d heard a helluva lot.

“De Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses were left out of de Pentateuch, but dey exist and contain all de magic of Egypt. Did you know de Egyptian word for snake is ob?”

“Like ‘Obi.’”

“Life’s a circle,” Jamaica said.

In Kris’s opinion, life was a straight line, as long as you stayed on track, but she wasn’t going to derail the conversation by arguing the point. “Go back to how Moses wrote books of black magic.”

“Not black,” Jamaica corrected. “Not den. De black came later. When darkness fell.”

“What darkness?”

“Slavery.”

“Okay.” Kris could buy that. But not much more.

“De magic turned dark when evil ruled. De only way to fight such evil is with more evil.”

“Two wrongs do not make a right,” Kris said.

“Spend a few lifetimes in chains and see how right you feel.”

“You weren’t in chains.”

“De ones who blackened de magic were. I was just…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for a word.

Kris had no problem helping her. “A dumbass.”

Jamaica inclined her head. “I had been hurt. I felt powerless. I went searching for a way to change dat.” Her eyes sparked. “I found it.”

“What did you do?” Kris asked.

The woman lifted her chin. “T’ings I will never, ever say.”

“You left the cult?”

“I left Jamaica.” She looked away. “I had little choice.”

“Because?”

“Obeah is still illegal dere.”

“Illegal? How can they do that?”

“Jamaica is not America,” she pointed out.

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