Your Blues Ain't Like Mine

The  Divas  Pen  LLC  Publication  

  http://thedivaspen.com   Your  Blues  Aint  Like  Mine   ISBN  978-­‐0-­‐9830523-­‐2-­‐6   ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED   Your  Blues  Aint  Like  Mine  ©  Copyright  2010  TA  Ford   Cover  art  by  M.  B.  Wright   Electronic  book  publication  October  2010   With  the  exception  of  quotes  used  in  reviews,  this  book  may  not  be  reproduced  or  used   in  whole  or  in  part  by  any  means  existing  without  written  permission  from  the  publisher,   The  Diva’s  Pen  LLC.   Warning:  The  unauthorized  reproduction  or  distribution  of  this  copyrighted  work  is   illegal.  No  part  of  this  book  may  be  scanned,  uploaded  or  distributed  via  the  Internet  or   any  other  means  electronic  or  print,  without  the  publisher’s  permission.  Criminal   copyright  infringement,  including  infringement  without  monetary  gain,  is  investigated   by  the  FBI  and  is  punishable  by  up  to  5  years  in  federal  prison  and  a  fine  of  $250,000.   (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/).  Please  purchase  only  authorized  electronic  or  print  editions   and  do  not  participate  in  or  encourage  the  electronic  piracy  of  copyrighted  material.   Your  support  of  the  author’s  rights  is  appreciated.   This  book  is  a  work  of  fiction  and  any  resemblance  to  persons,  living  or  dead,  or  places,   events  or  locales  is  purely  coincidental.  The  characters  are  productions  of  the  author’s   imagination  and  used  fictitiously.  

Your Blues Aint Like Mine Mud Lake, Mississippi, is known for two things: its cotton fields that still flourish, and unseen darkness that permeates the night. Mud Lake is also the home of Tommy ‘T-bone’ Walnut. A troubled boy who found a home and adoptive family after being orphaned at ten, he grew into a man with a single wish. He wanted to be a blues singer. He travels the Delta with his best-friend and surrogate brother, playing juke joints in hopes to be a blues star. The tragedy deals him a soul-crushing blow. And then, Tommy Walnut, a white man who has found love and friendship with a poor black family in the 1960s Deep South, is forced to face his demons. He’s forced to stand at a crossroad and decide. Is a short time of happiness and fame after a lifetime of misery worth risking it all? That fateful night, a hellish bond is made, promising Tommy fortune and the love of his life. But there remains a single price. His soul.

Prologue Name is Tommy but you can call me Tbone. When I was ten, I saw my momma killed by her pimp—strangled with his belt until her eyes went funny. Dead-like. I hid in the closet until the roaches forced me out. When I finally did leave my dark crawl space of pink high heel shoes and dirty clothes, I covered momma with a blanket; got the thirty dollars she kept in a can under the bed, and took the guitar named Ilene that my Pa left behind. I’ve been on my own ever since. Running through the bayou, sleeping in the slums, and meeting many ‘runners’ like myself along the way. It was a kid named Davis Duke that I took a shine to at fourteen. He was five years younger but many years wiser. Some said Davis was an old soul. I can say without a doubt he was much more than that. Davis used to hide me behind his Pa’s tool shed at night and feed me the scraps from his table. He was the only kid I knew that was a wiz with dice and drank whiskey from the bottle. Davis' Pa was pretty well known in Mud Lake. His name is Daddy Legs and he ran a blues-joint called The Ditch. Guess the name fit. Folks had to climb down through a ravine to get to it. The Ditch was far enough off the beaten path for a runaway like me to find work. Despite my age I was tall enough and smart enough to barter small jobs that kept me front and center to the Mississippi blues scene. But that wasn't the real reason. My love for Mud Lake was because of my love for her. Her name was Daphane. She was Davis’s twin sister. They lived at the back of the bar. They was black folk, I’m not. In Mud Lake it would give a person pause if even a throw away orphan like me was taken in by a Negro family. But Daddy Legs never turned me away the few times he caught me lingering. So despite it all I spent the next ten years of my life as part

of the Duke family. Watching the beautiful Daphane bloom into the woman that would always have my heart. For you my story with Daphane starts where Davis’ story ends. That’s when it all went to hell… my soul included. It was the summer of 1968 in Houma, Louisiana at a small juke joint called the Pink Lady. Yes, that was the night my best friend and blood brother, Davis, died. The first night the devil came for me.

Chapter One “What the hell you wearin’ man?” Tbone choked on his beer, gurgling down the rest. He sat up in a fit of laughter. “My gear. My cool. Awe fuck you, Tbone. This here is fly,” Davis tugged on the lapel of his powder blue suit. He stood before a cracked mirror as tall as him, propped against a dusty oakwood tallboy in the corner. They shared a cramped wardrobe closet with a mop bucket and crates of Maxine’s homemade firewater. Davis checked himself from the front to the back, nodding his approval—oblivious to his lack in taste. Tbone sipped warm beer to keep from laughing. “Five minutes!” Came a hard fist pound on the door. Davis shot him a wink from the mirror. He strutted over to the cramped corner of the room and picked up his shoes that he would spitshine to pearl gloss. They’d been in and out of New Orleans for over a month now, tonight they’d settled in Houma. Davis was the front man, all blues and soul. Tbone managed to get him through most of his routine on his guitar Ilene. Though Davis was born to music, Tbone wished his talent were the same. The only white boy to frequent the back wood juke joints down in the Delta he put in work each and every night. It hadn’t escaped his attention how impatient the band could be during rehearsals. He knew the men were getting tired of his failings. “Tee, you gone do jus’ fine t’night,” Davis said. Through the reflexive surface in the mirror, Tbone fixed his eyes on the man he called brother. Tbone shifted on the stool seat and readjusted his guitar strap. “Been practicin’. I aint Daddy Legs.”

Davis laughed. “Hell nah you aint my Pa. But he put that harmonica in your hand… and your daddy put Ilene in the other. You jus’ got to believe in the music you sellin’. I keep tellin’ you this and you keep second guessin’ it. Hell boy, you got more blues in you than any Negro man I know. Stop holdin’ back on the string. Get in touch with your inner funky white-boy.” Tbone plucked a chord, then another and howled. Davis doubled over with laughter. How could he admit the truth? He wasn’t holding back. Davis and Daddy Legs were wrong. He loved the music and believed in the lyrics he wrote. It just never got right when he tried to play. Not the way it was heard in Davis’ voice. He just couldn’t reach it no matter how hard he practiced. “Yesterday when we was warmin’ up, where you was?” Tbone asked. His eyes flipped to Davis who straightened his back and dusted invisible lint from his suit. “Out.” “Petie-boy said you was down in Terrebonne Parish. Shootin’ dice?” “Petie-boy needs to stay out my business. I wasn’t shootin’ no dice!” “Then that means you was at them cards again?” Tbone pressed. Davis ignored him. He sat, spit on the side of his loafer then gave a good buffing with the brush. They sat in the cramped closet where they changed, facing each other. The heady smell of mildew souring over the mop bucket clogged his nasal passages. Tbone kept sneezing and rubbing his nose. “Do I need to remind you of what went down in Biloxi?” Tbone sniffed, “We almost didn’t get out of there alive. If somethin’ going on, Davis, I need to know.”

Davis gaze lifted from the shoeshine. His front gold tooth gleamed within in his lopsided grin. “What you gone do, Tbone? Shiiieeet,” Davis chuckled, but it didn’t have the usual ring of amusement. There was something hollow and strained in his manner. “I got into a little money, then…” “You lost it. Fuck. How much?” “Hold up!” Davis stood. “Don’t get your drawers in a bunch. I gots time. They givin’ me time. We do a couple of shows and it’s good. All good, baby. You know me. I’m slick like butta… cain’t nobody hold me for long.” He gave a spin then stuck out his upturned palm. Tbone shook his head and slapped it. Davis nodded. “Well alright then. Now let’s do this.” He put on his shoes. Tbone rose but reached to stop him. “I got a little saved for emergencies. How much you in for Davis? I can get to it and…” “No, brother. I’m cool. We good.” He patted Tbone’s cheek, and then popped the collar of his polyester suit before slipping out. Tbone reached for his guitar. He’d keep his eye out for any trouble.

Chapter Two The people of Houma were in the place deep that night. Davis’s performance had filled the 24-ounce pickle jar on the second set with dollar bills. Everyone in the Pink Lady was grooving. Davis soulful croon was a slow moving hand that reached in and squeezed the blues from your heart. Tbone's struggle to keep up with the band lessened when he connected with the lyrical flow. It was his time to conjure the sweet face of Daphane and drift on the memories of their times in Mud Lake. Daphane was kindness, love and all the sweet comfort a man could ever achieve with the woman he desired. Music, particularly the blues, always got Tbone to longing for Daphane. *** "What you smilin' for Tbone?" Daphane emerged out of the blue-green sparkling waters of the creek; her thick tresses coiled, dripped water. She wore her slip dress for an afternoon swim. The nylon material slicked over her skin revealing her curves and barely shielding the dark perfection of her nipples. Tbone’s smile broadened. He leaned back. Blades of grass pushed through his splayed fingers. She was a vision. The sun was her halo, and the fresh smell of newly bloomed violets mixed with sweet grass was her fragrance. "I ask you a question Tee. You come down here to peep at me again?" she plopped on the grass next to him. Tbone let go a deep chuckle. Daphane was what folks called a 'straightshooter'. He was guilty as sin, but not ready to confess. "Trying to understand why a gal like you would swim in her slip instead of her skivvies. You afraid of showing some skin?"

Daphane cast him a sly smile. "Nah, I aint afraid of nothin'. I'll tell you why though. Cause a guy like you gonna come a peepin' and I aint incline to give no peep show. You think I don't see you watchin' me Tbone?" He shifted forward, propping his elbows to his knees. Davis and Daddy Legs never let any boy or man near Daphane. To be honest he'd kill a man if one were to look at her cross-eyed. But she was his kin. As close to it as he would ever have. Tbone was determined to never forget that fact. His feelings for her were wrong; she was Davis’s sister and the closest he's ever known as family. They could never be more. "I don't come here to peep at you." he swallowed, down the lie and force the nervous tremble from his voice. "I come to fish." "Is that so? Where your pole at?" Caught he dropped his head and gave it a shake. "I guess I forgot it." "Mmhmm." She was close, closer than appropriate. Tbone lifted his head from his knees and cast her a look as she moved in even closer. He dropped his hands back behind him and the tips of their fingers touched. Tbone couldn't bare the closeness a moment longer. She was only seventeen. He was five years older and had taken on the title of her surrogate brother. The closeness was wrong. Though he'd willing admit that it didn't feel that way. "You wanna kiss me?" she asked. The quiet between them was heavy with the things he wanted to say. He opened his mouth to speak but she quickly moved on him, halting his words? Tbone fell back into the bed of grass. Daphane’s wet soft supple body covered him as her full sweet lips pressed to his. No tongue. She was too innocent to know that he craved a little tongue. But he'd die a happy man without it. Her hands pressed to his face and she pursed her lips to his offering him the sweetest kiss of his life. A burst of starlight exploded behind his lids. Tbone struggled to remember to breathe; he focused on her lovely face in dazed bewilderment. Daphane stared down at him with her brown walnut shaped

eyes. "Some day you gone stop runnin' an denying the truth between you and me. I'ma be here waiting for you when you do. Some day." Daphane eased off him leaving the damp feel of her warm body behind. Standing before him she pulled her soggy slip dress over her curves and tossed it aside. In her white panty and bra she turned for the creek. She tossed him a beckoning grin from over her shoulder. She then sprinted for the calm waters. Winded, enslaved by the sweet promise in her kiss Tbone resisted the urge to follow. It would be hard to explain the erection he squeezed his legs together to conceal. Yet he never stopped grinning. *** Tbone eased down the tempo, strumming chords with his thumb he measured the whine from Ilene to pitch perfect as the band followed note for note. His eyes remained closed. Davis had his harmonica and began to play. The crowd went wild. They always did. Tbone let himself go. It worked for the first set but as they neared the second the homey warmth of being at Davis side jamming through their music soon morphed into something hot and insufferable. Heat flamed under his skin causing his flesh to pebble with beads of sweat. Strange, but his lungs filled with the muggy swamp air. He was hit with an unnatural arrhythmia to his heartbeat and all of it occurred within a millisecond. The dark fog that smoked away any thought of retreat consumed his mind. The music dulled as his pulse rate sharpened in the canals of his ear. He missed a note. Then another. That's when a voice so purely seductive reached his limited hearing over the grooving beats of the band. He opened his eyes. The haze of confusion melted like the walls and every thing or person surrounding him as he struggled to recover his lapse. He shook his head hard. His vision returned to focus and so did the grooving crowd. He fumbled through the bass, and without provocation felt compelled to

look out past the audience to the bar. She turned on the barstool and met his gaze dead on. Her skin was brown, as if powdered in cinnamon. A woman he'd never seen before in a sexy low cut blue dress. He was reminded of the moon over the cotton fields in spring back at Mud Lake when he looked into her eyes. Bright irises shadowed under lowered lids with dark upward swept lashes were a striking color of blue. They glistened like fallen rain when she smiled. And her smile though faint, and only touching the corners of her mouth, remained the sexiest smile he had ever seen. “Tbone, what the fuck you doin’ man!” Petie-boy hissed from the piano. He shook his head from the reverie and realized he had stopped playing altogether. Quickly he regained his rhythm and flow with his brothers in music. When he dared another peek toward the bar, the sweet honey in blue was gone. So was the heat. But to his dismay it left a chill shiver along his spine. Tbone inhaled. It didn’t matter. It never did. No woman, no matter how sexy, no matter her color, could hold a candle to his Daphane. She always remained in his thoughts and centered in his heart. Though he’d denied that truth and left her behind in search of his soul with Davis. He was going to become a blues man. One day when he was worthy of her he'd return to Mud Lake and sweep her off her feet, build her the biggest house. Tbone had hopes of having a family too. Secret hopes he never shared with Davis. Regrettable hopes he never shared with Daphane. A man was nothing without his hopes. “Thank you, Thank you all, don’t forget the tip jar. Me and the boys gonna take a break,” Davis said, but his tone was shaky. Tbone picked up on it quick. He looked out across the applause and grooving audience toward two dark burly looking dudes near the bar.

“Something wrong?” Tbone asked. “Nah, nah! Just gotta take care of business. You know. Let’s cool it for now. Go get some beer in you. I’ll be right back.”

Chapter Three Davis turned and stepped off, straightening his suit jacket as he strutted through his fans giving a few men a slap handshake and passing winks to the ladies. Tbone watched the two men at the bar ease off their seats. One, the tallest and meanest looking one, snatched Davis in close by the shoulder. He whispered in his ear. Davis nodded. The other walked off to the front of the bar and Davis followed. Tbone got the jar. “What the fuck you doin’, man? That’s split six ways. You know better.” “He in trouble, I need…” Petie-boy snatched the jar. “You just need to split it six ways. Ya heard?” Tbone clenched his fist. Petie-boy headed to the back of the club. The other band members said nothing, didn’t even look up. They knew Davis and his gambling ways. All had gone into their pockets at one time or another to save the day. Now everyone was tired of it. Tbone could never be. Davis was his family. He swore to Daddy Leg’s and Daphane that he’d protect him. He would honor that promise until he took his last breath. Without delay, he headed out back in the direction of Petie-boy. He found him counting the tips. Tbone paced a short path as each minute slipped into the next. It was a minute his play-brother didn’t have. Something bad was going down. That’s what that hot and heavy feeling of dread was when he played Ilene. Something bad had moved in over them. “How much in the jar? Damn!”

“Two hundred and thirteen.” Petie boy grinned. “Pretty good for a…” “That’s only sixty-six dollars, between me and Davis. I need it all Petie-boy. They’ll kill him. You know it.” “Sorry, Tee. We all love Davis, but me and the boys talked about this. The minute he slipped out and went to Terrebonne Parish and got in those games, we knew. All us got bills of our own. Families.” “And thirty dollars aint gone do shit for ‘em,” Tbone snapped back. “It’ll put food on my table. Give Manny enough to get the trumpet he wants out of pawn. It’ll…” “Fine! Whatever. Just give me the money. I’ll take care of him ma’self.” “He aint your responsibility, Tee. He keeps doin’ this. He’ll get you both killed.” “Give me the fuckin money!” Tbone snapped. Petie-boy counted out the bills. Tbone snatched them from his hand. “Tell the boys that Davis and I are out. We headin’ back to Mud Lake. We done. Ya heard?” “Tee, don’t be no fool. Davis aint worth all that!” Tbone stormed out the backroom through the bar. Maxine called for him but he paid it no mind. He kept seeing Biloxi, remembering how bad the beating was, before he rescued Davis and got them both out. How long did it take Davis to fully recover? A month? With his heart racing and sweat dripping from his brow, he threw open the door. He scanned the parking lot. The summer night prickled his skin like the poke of a thousand heated needles. The swamp air was almost too thick to breathe. A wave of déjà-vu went through him. He studied the cars to see if Davis was forced into one. He stepped aside for those trying to enter or leave. Davis was nowhere to be found. The heavy footfalls and panting of a man running at him from the east

drew his attention. “Hey, tell Maxine they whippin’ on some boy good back there,” the man pointed to the direction he fled. “Somebody oughta call the sheriff.” “Where?” “By the dumpster to the side of…” Tbone shot past the stranger and around the car, blocking access to the side of the building. As soon as he stumbled upon the scene, his worst fears were confirmed. The men from the bar were beating a barely conscious Davis on the wall. The thugs took turns using his brother as a punching bag. Blood covered Davis battered face and busted eye. “Stop! I got your money! Stop hittin’ him!” The man with the raised fist stopped. The other stepped back as well. They looked at each other. Tbone could read it on their faces. A white boy on the side of the Pink Lady wasn’t a common sight. “Who the fuck is you?” One chuckled. Tbone’s adrenaline washed out his fear. He kept an eye trained on Davis. He was slumped over. Hurt bad, blood dripped a long strand of drool from his busted lip. “How much does he owe?” “Five bones. You got five bones, honky?” The question made him queasy. How in the hell could Davis owe these men five hundred dollars in one night? Tbone nearly threw up his fear on the spot. With what he had saved and what was in his pocket he could barely get a good one sixty together. “I… I can get it. You got to give me time.” He went straight for Davis. The one closest threw his arm out and pushed him to the center of his chest. He stumbled back. The other man sneered. “Nah, you pay it now boy or we take it out of his ass! And if you don’t mind your own bizzness, white boy, we takin’ it out of yours, too. On GP, general principle.”

“Go back in, Tbone. I got this… it’s cool baby. It’s all good.” Davis coughed, and then gave a strained laugh. His head lifted. “Trust me, brother,” he eased up the wall holding his gut. "We just workin' things out." “Shut the fuck up!” the biggest guy yelled, ramming his knee into Davis’ groin then delivering a hard punch to his face. In that moment, as he saw Davis fall, so did his hope. It fell away. Left with the pure instinct to survive the night, Tbone went wild. He grabbed the bottle at his feet and swung it up like a bat against the other man’s head. Blood and glass splattered. His victim hit, unaware, dropped to his knees. But the other went on full attack. There were repeated blows to Tbone’s face and gut until he was on the ground in a fetal ball. His head hit the pebbled dirt hard, bursts of light flashed behind his closed lids as pain rocketed through his skull. Suddenly the beating stopped. The pain was so severe it took another moment to register. Then Tbone heard it. A blood-curdling scream from his attacker ripped through the air. His lashes then fluttered open. A beast nearing eight feet tall with hooves for feet, talons extended and sharply hooked ripped through the throat of his attacker. Horrified Tbone was transfixed as the creature ripped out the dying man's spine. An unearthly howl followed. Tbone struggled to remain conscious. Terror made it easy. The creature tossed away the body and loped after the fleeing survivor. The dead man's head rolled over not far from him, his eyes still blinking and mouth gaping in a death cry. Tbone managed one final glance at the creature and he wished he hadn't. For it turned in that moment and looked at him too with melee, its fangs dripping crimson flesh, the heart of the other in its hand. It had scaly skin. Charred black and covered in ulcers the beast also had dark wings that spread a mile out of its back. It

grabbed his struggling victim, flew above Tbone flapping its wings with majesty then away toward the full moon. Darkness came.

Chapter Four “Tbone… Tbone… sweetie can you hear me? Chauncey, get him up… get him up…” There was movement. He felt light, suddenly with his arms and legs held by others. He opened his eyes to shapes and the shadowy floor. Then darkness covered him once again. *** Tbone shot up. The pain sliced through his brain splitting him to his spleen. His muddled thoughts were no more than flashes of a macabre memory he couldn't decipher. He had no concept of where he was or why he hurt so badly. “Here drink this.” Petie-boy handed him a whiskey glass. Tbone struggled to sit right. Everything hurt, but mostly his head. He glanced at the silent ones surrounding him—the band and some of the staff from Pink Lady. Everyone wore the same grave look; no one could look him in the eye. Sipping the whiskey, he winced as it burned the cuts in his lip. “What happened?” he croaked. “We found you at the dumpsters. You and Davis.” Petie-boy said. “A’ight… so he’s up.” The sheriff stepped in. Tbone squinted. The sheriff smirked, moving his toothpick around with his tongue. He was a tall man with sweat stains under his armpits and the collar of his brown uniform. Sheriff Tucker Clairebo was the meanest Cajun east of the Mississippi River. His hair, greasy, was slicked back on his head, his face and chin meaty with red splotches from too much time in the sun. Tbone hated the smug look he gave him. A look he's been given down in the delta when seen with…

“Where’s Davis?” Tbone dismissed the sheriff. Maxine was the one that moved around the sheriff to approach him. “Sweetie, he… I’m sorry.” “I want to talk to you, boy,” the sheriff snapped. “Where’s Davis!” Tbone snapped back. His eyes swept the room. Petie-boy looked away. “Where is he?” “He’s dead.” The sheriff dropped on him in a flat tone. “Now that we got that out of the way, I want to know who did this heah thing?” “Dead? He’s not dead. No he isn’t…” “…I aint got time to waste on this…” “…Petie-boy, he’s not dead. Right? He’s hurt. Right?” “I’m askin’ you a question!” “Fuck off!” Tbone shouted to the room. He rose shakily to his feet, his chest caved with emotion and his eyes shimmied with the tears he refused to release. To release them would mean that Davis was dead. And he wasn’t ready for that. He would never be ready for that. “Look it heah, I got a torn up white boy here with three dead niggers. You gone answer my questions.” The sheriff snapped. “Three?” Tbone stammered. “Baby, there were two other men out there in the alley. They looked like they been chewed on they was ripped apart so bad. What happened t’night?” Shock and disbelief clouded his memory recall. TBone slumped under the weight of the news. “I don’t know… all I know is Davis is dead, and I got nothing to say about that.” *** The rain formed a clear mist that covered the mourners in Boudreaux graveyard. Many gathered in a cluster of dark umbrellas huddled near the raised pine coffin. It always rained at funerals in New Orleans. Tbone had seen a few. For a blues singer like Davis, a ‘home

going’ was quite an event. Musicians walked the streets in front of a horse drawn carriage carrying their dead, playing their horns and trumpets along the way. Tbone would’ve thought it fitting if it weren’t for Davis’ family. He had no way to reach them and no money to take Davis home. They didn’t even own a phone in Mud Lake. Daddy Legs didn’t think he needed one. He reasoned many excuses why he delayed the news for the only family he’d ever known. Truth was he was a coward and too racked with guilt to face the responsibility. So he let Maxine bury his friend the way Davis would’ve wanted. “Ashes to ashes… dust to dust…” the preacher said, tossing earth over Davis’ casket. It was too much. Tbone looked away. Out over the tombstones and raised plots slicked with the remnants of rain stood a woman. Oddly, from a distance, she moved around the graves staring at him from under a long black cloak. Seeing her wouldn’t have caught him by surprise if it weren’t for her glistening eyes he felt rather saw under the hood. He looked to others to see if they saw her as he did, but none seemed aware. He could feel his skin pimple with goose bumps. As if time stood still around her, even the elements of nature slowed. She glided through frozen drops of mist in the distance, her steps so light he would swear her feet weren’t touching the ground. “I’m sorry son,” a soft voice spoke over the preachers. “I know you have to tell his family but if you ever need anything. Anything at all…” “Thank you Max, for everything.” He kissed her cheek. Maxine hugged him lightly, careful of his bruises she released him a mournful sigh then moved on. The others came, all to pay their respects. The last was Petie-boy. He could barely look Tbone in the eye. “I… you know I loved him. We all loved him, Tee.” “It’s not your fault,” Tbone said dryly. “You were right. Davis made those choices.”

“I’m sorry. I really am.” Tbone nodded, wanting Petie-boy to just move on. He watched him walk off relieved. He stood there in the rain until it was the gravedigger and him. Finally, he made steps to the open plot. “So now it’s on me. Right, Davis? I have to tell Daddy Legs and Daphane that you gone, that I buried you out here all alone. How did we let it get this far, that’s what I want to know. You gone and died on me,” his voice choked on the words that were pushed up by his heart. He couldn’t utter another one. Unable to speak, he dropped his head and sobbed. He could hear Davis and Daphane’s laughter. They were twins and the best of friends. They would sit back and listen to him play Ilene and fumble the notes. Daphane danced around and Davis would pick up his harmonica and encourage him on. Those were the only memories of his childhood that kept him sane. And now a part of him was gone. Stopping, he dropped to his knees and wept. All hope was finally gone.

Chapter Five Two days later Tbone walked the unpaved road. The sun set on him and storm clouds rolled in. A car or two passed. One stopped to ask him for directions, which he gave. Travelers liked him. Except this was home, the end of the road. There was no going back. Not without Davis. The soles of his feet ached by the time he reached Elliot Street. He faced the sign across the road, a yellow road sign with a black arrow pointing in both east and west directions. Left was three miles into Mud Lake and right was eight miles into Jackson. He could keep walking and spare Daphane and Daddy Leg's the pain. Or he could finally return home, a failure, without even Davis to make him feel good about it. Tired, dreading a late arrival that would wake the family, he dropped on a tree stump and bemoaned his existence. Removing his guitar strap, he set Ilene aside. The winds whipped through the trees. Tbone reached in his satchel where the few clothes he owned remained and pulled out a bottle of pop he picked up along the road back. He took a sip, staring up at the sky. “Davis, what should I do? Daphane and Daddy Legs won’t get over this no time soon,” he sighed. The smell of the approaching rain filled his nostrils. The fast moving clouds briefly parted to give him a peek at the awakening stars. He was home. He’d fished under this very sky and those stars before. Lost his virginity under them, got into his first fight with Davis swinging at his side just a few yards away. His life in the Delta began and ended with Mud Lake.

“You look lonely.” A beautiful voice broke behind him. Tbone’s head snapped around. A brown-skinned woman stepped out of the forest. He shot to his feat. She held to the sides of her long blue dress to step through the tall grass in bare feet. The top of her hair was covered under a blue patterned scarf. Thick dark ringlets for curls hung past her shoulders. And most striking were her eyes. Blue, dreamy, clear as moonlight they were lovely. Who was she? “They call me Blue,” she chuckled as if she read his mind. He swallowed. Blue clasped her hands behind her back and cocked her head to the side. “A black woman with blue eyes is quite strange in these parts. I got my name honestly don't you think?” “I’ve seen you before,” he stammered. “Have you? You from around here?” “Mud Lake,” he took a step back. Beautiful or not, her emergence from the forest with the storm clouds hovering sent the hairs on his nape one end. “Oh… I’m from Jackson actually. Just built a house not too far back.” “I know you. I've seen you before.” Tbone dug deep for the answer. “The funeral! You were at my brother’s funeral... and the Pink Lady,” he gave an awestruck look, taking another step back. "It was you, at the Pink Lady, wasn't it." Blue stared at him for a moment then rewarded him with a sweet smile. “You sure about that? Not partial to funerals.” “Not the funeral but the graveyard, it was... I think it was you,” he stammered. There was a grumble of thunder in the distance. Tbone eyes shot upward to the smoky grey sky. There was no sign of the stars, just the pulsating dark clouds loomed. As if the hushed whispers of the swaying

branches and quivering leaves could be heard, but no other night sounds from crickets and wood insects. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his nape stood on end. He looked to her curiously. She was close. He hadn’t seen her move yet she was standing right before him. And her blue irises had dissolved into a smoky grey cast. She blinked again, with a false innocence that nearly fooled him. “What’s your name?” she asked. “Tee... Tommy.” He said, not sure why. He never gave his Christian name. With her he needed to share more. “Why are you in the forest? With no shoes?” he broke their connection to study her muddy toes. “Walking. I always do, looks like you do too. Looks to me you’ve been walking for quite some time.” Tbone's guitar dropped from the lean on the tree stump. It fell faceup between them. She gave a sexy smirk. "You a blues man?" He picked up Ilene and his satchel. “I um… well I think I’ll be going, smells like rain.” When he turned, she appeared before him. He nearly jumped from his skin. She smiled and he released a nervous chuckle. "You sure do move fast." Blue touched his arm. He expected it to be a strike. She unnerved him so. He was certain of it. But her touch was so calming. Even the burn of grief he carried in his chest over Davis’ death lessened. “Why don’t you come my way? To wait out the storm. It’s just through those trees. I can fry you up some catfish I caught earlier.” “I don’t think…” “Didn’t ask you to think, Tommy.” Her laugh was light and airy, a scary contrast against the distant rumble of thunder. “Come with me.” She took his hand.

His mind screamed for him to stay, to resist. But logically speaking there was no reason to obey. It was going to storm. He didn’t want to show up on Daddy Legs doorstep like some drowned rat with the news of his dead son. Before he completely processed the next thought, he felt his legs moving. His feet moving, he was walking through the forest, with her taking the lead. And though he expected there to be quite a distance, he soon discovered it to be short and quick. A farmhouse, small and modest—the chimneystack shot billowing puffs of smoke. “How long you been out here?” he asked. His head turned and his eyes went back to the path they travelled. It was gone. As if the forest had swallowed it. Suddenly he lost all sense of direction. The forest trees shifted, crowding the small cottage. He felt it rather than saw it. When he looked up to the sky he noticed how much taller and long reaching the tree branches were. Blue dropped his hand. She ran for the porch steps just as the rain clouds emptied with a loud lightening clap. Tbone followed, rain drenched through his clothes. He had to laugh at the sloshing of his worn over canvas tennis shoes and so did she.

Chapter Six She shook her locks splashing him with large water drops. And again time wound down to a crawl when he neared her essence. Her movements were done in exaggerated slow motions with her long strands of hair whipping about her face like a vision from a forgotten fantasy. The front of her blue gown clung to her medium sized breasts. Her dark nipples and large areola strained against the thin fabric. She cut him a secretive look. Tbone dropped his guitar. Then she was near. A sudden movement and he was hers. He blinked, not sure he’d seen it that way. It was dark, rainy, light absent. His mind again played tricks on him. Her hand touched his face… traced the line of his jaw. She kissed his chin. “Come inside. It’s stormin',” she laughed softly and then went in. Her nearness weakened him. Distance worked. He shook off his temporary stupor. He felt the rain again, saw the flashes of light, heard the wind howl. He felt his heart beating again. And it all gave him pause. Why was he there again? Where did she come from? Why did he follow? “Tommy, come inside and close the door,” she called to him. He picked up Ilene who had suffered enough in his travels and followed. Inside was warmth and quiet. The door closed on the storm and the cozy setting of her little cottage lay before him. “Take off them wet clothes. Let me dry them by the fireplace. You can put on that robe.” When he followed her point, he saw a thick man's robe thrown over a chair.

“What about you?” he asked, surprised to have finally found his voice. “I like being wet.” She winked. He thought to say more but she turned up the flame under the iron skillet on the stove and dropped yellow battered catfish into the bubbling, popping hot grease. Strange, she’d leave grease on the stove to take a walk? Taking off his shirt, then his pants, he reached for the robe. “Underwear too,” she said, casting him a sideways glance, licking her fingers. Tbone’s brow lifted. He shook his head, smiling. She wasn’t Daphane but she was sexy. And he was so damn needy for the distraction. “Who is Daphane?” Blue asked forking the fish and turning it over in the bubbling grease. “What?” “Who is Daphane?” she repeated. “Who told you… how did...” “When I came through the forest, I heard you say her name.” He thought about his burden at the tree stump and the way he laid them down. He didn’t remember speaking Daphane’s name aloud. But maybe... “Family,” he answered. She looked over her shoulder at him and gave him another smile. “I can cut up some potatoes with your catfish or…” “The fish is fine,” he said, taking his clothes to the fire. He took the opportunity to sneak another glance. She seemed too beautiful, too charming for a life of solitude. She stood at the small stove, with a cabinet above. Next to it was a fridge and nothing more. That was her kitchen. His eyes travelled her form, stopping at her feet. He watched as she rubbed her big toe against her ankle. The small action was still erotic.

With the glow of the fire from the fireplace inside of the cabin he could see so much of her silhouette through her wet clothes. “So how long has it been since you’ve been home?” “Sometime,” he admitted. He took a seat at the table. She looked back at him. “No place like home. Right?” “Right,” he mumbled. She turned with a plate, catfish golden brown to a crisp. Fastest frying he’d ever seen. Blue smiled at him, placing the meal down in front of him, fetching sliced bread, and a beer. Tbone didn’t say much. He dumped the hot sauce on the crispy golden brown and spread over a generous helping of mustard. He was hungrier than he’d imagined, starving all of a sudden. He feasted on the fish, grabbing the bread to dull the hot spice. She sat there watching him. He found it hard to meet her blue stare, strange as they were set upon her brown skin. Like mirrors, he could see himself in them. He had a hard time seeing and believing in himself. “You want a lot of things. Don’t you, Tommy?” “Don’t we all?” “You lost a lot, makes that want burn really bad. Am I right?” “Are you a seer or somethin'?” he asked. He finished the meal with the downing of his beer. She let go a sharp laugh. “Or something.” Tbone looked from her to the meager surroundings, then back to her. Pushing back from the table he narrowed his eyes, then forced the question. “You were at my brother’s funeral. Answer the question.” “Maybe.” “Were you or weren’t you?” “If I was, you want to know why?” “I want to know why.”

“Because you called me.” She rose and sauntered over to the modest table where she'd fed his belly. She ran her finger over his plate and then licked the tip. His eyes followed her as she did. “I love the rain, like a cleansing,” she said, then turned and faced him, her nipples peaked lovely through the thin wet fabric of her dress. If he wasn't mistaken she wiggled a little so they could bounce and hold his attention. It was distracting. Everything about her was strange and distracting. Tbone wanted to know more of the coincidence. Did she know Davis? How did she know he’d be buried? How did she? Blue pulled down the top of her dress one shoulder then the other to let it slip off her curves. She wore nothing underneath. The mere sight of her beauty caused Tbone to release the breath that backed up in his throat. He rubbed his knuckles over his chin. What was this woman’s game? “Who are you, really?” “Blue, Nao, Nzinga... those are a few names. Does it matter, Tommy, who or what I am? Does any of it matter now?” Tbone rose. The flames in the hearth dimmed. A cast of shadowy light flickered and moved over her voluptuous curves as the dark hairs of her sex were clearly seen. She was right. What did any of it matter now? Soon he’d face Daddy Legs and Daphane and admit to his failure. From there he had no idea what he'd do. He was certain of their rejection, certain that he'd spend the rest of his life wandering a blues man with no soul. She moved. His gaze lifted. His heart pounded in his throat. She didn't touch him. And though she closed in on him, her nipples were a breath away from the front of his robe. Her head went under his

chin and she sniffed him. Her head roved around his face and sniffed him. Tbone swallowed hard. "Ilene, she your guitar, blues-boy?" "Yes," he stammered. "Haven't tamed that bitch have you?" she chuckled deep in her throat. Tbone eyes lowered to her face, her gaze lifted and met his stare. He was lost in the beauty he found there. But she smelled wrong. Too sweet as if to cover another smell... sulfur? "You fresh," she hissed. Her warm hands went to the part in his robe then spread east to west over his chest. The sash loosened and the robe fell open. Blue pushed the cloth robe off his shoulders and he willingly let it drop. He could survive just about anything, but her hand on his cock. As her fingers closed on his shaft a heated zip of pleasure split his sac. She pumped his cock held tight in her fist and he grunted loudly. He could stand it no more. He grabbed her and brought her up against him. With his tongue down her throat he forced her to the floor. She released his cock but the passionate palm strokes had nearly left him undone. All he wanted was to get in her, to bury his cock deep. Heart thundering, he held her pinned to the wooden floor with her legs splayed apart. She chuckled, lifted her pelvis. The bauble of her clitoris rubbed over his painfully erect shaft. The head of his phallus breached her tight opening and his cock slipped in to beautiful wet heat. Curiously, all dread and doubt that covered his grief evaporated with each plunging thrust. Blue mewled beneath him twisting her pussy in the most delicious way drawing him deeper. Dizzy from the momentum he dropped on her and pumped hard and fast wanting to get lost in her pussy. He filled and stretched her channel but it still felt like a tease.

Her sharp nails bit into his back and her thighs locked around his legs like a vice. He kept pumping and fucking her madly and without warning he released.

Chapter Seven Dazed and breathless he woke. Tbone look to the left. Had he passed out? Had he? One moment he was giving the fuck of his life and the next he was on his back. She was at his side, naked with her legs crossed before her, Ilene was in her lap. She strummed a few chords that sounded surprisingly lovely. Her dark hair was wild covering her shoulders, arms an front. She was ravishing. Tbone still couldn't find his breath. And sadly the grief he felt over the loss of Davis was there where he left it. Nothing would ever wash it away. “I can’t bring him back. That’s not what I can offer you.” She said her eyes lifting from her play. She set the guitar aside. "Did I black out?" "You rested," she said in an amused tone. He glanced over at her. "What the hell happened?" "I can't bring him back, Tbone." "I didn't ask..." "You ask it, I hear it. It's not what I can offer." Tbone stretched his eyes. His lids felt heavy, his entire being felt as if it were weighed down with bricks. “What can you offer me?” “A start over. Name your hearts desire… then have it.” She leaned over and kissed his chin, then rolled on top of him. The warmth damp feel of her body now so close it went through him. “You want to be somebody. Don’t you? Play the blues maybe? You got so much soul in you, enough to be a true blues man.” She purred, her kisses peppered his face then went lower. Tbone didn't respond. Once with her was enough. He wondered if she put a root on him or some poison in the food, the beer.

Her head shot up. “You want Daphane; want her to be your woman?” He grabbed her shoulders hard and threw her off him. She sat back with a wicked grin and Tbone managed to get to his feet. “Don’t mention her, you don’t know her.” “Answer my question,” she demanded. Tbone stood. Blue rose. “I want the things that can never be, so does any man whose lived and lost what I have. I want my best friend to be alive. I wanna be more than a blues man; I wanna be the blues man. The way it was supposed to happen before it all went to hell!” “Interesting choice of words,” she chuckled, she took a step toward him. “Want to know what I want Tommy? I want you,” she said but it came out more like a hiss. “There aint much of me left,” Tbone exhaled in a heavy voice, panting now but not sure why. “There is. Offer it and I’ll give you your wants and so much more. In five years we’ll meet again, here, and settle the score.” Tbone laughed. “Are you serious? Or just fuckin' crazy?” Blue’s eyes flashed like lightning and he stumbled back. She gave him another sweet smile. “What do you have to lose Tbone?” She said his name. He blinked and her smile curled into something sinister. “You want to change Daddy Legs and Daphane’s life. You want those songs that you wrote for Davis to be heard over the world. Give some meanin' to his death. You want to have the love you never had? Then this is the bargain. Your soul Tbone, for starters.” “My soul?” Blue licked her lips, her eyes dropped to his semi-erect cock. “Make a choice. A final choice.”

“I…” he gave a nervous chuckle. For a minute she had him going. Standing there naked as she pleased with the wildest deal he’d ever heard. “Sure, Blue. Have at it. Not much left to it now anyway.” She moved on him quick. Her hands to his face, her lips crushing his in a soul draining kiss. In that kiss the instant jolt of heat, and lust was to be expected, but not the tenderness. He put his hands over the perfect mounds of her ass, pulling her in complete submission, tasting her tongue with a sweep of his own. Only a small voice in the back of his mind warned that he should run. Warned that the bargain he struck was one he’d weep over many nights to come. Once her hand found his cock and gave it long strokes, he shut the door on that part of his thoughts. Blue drew away, released his member and took his hand instead. Her place was darker now. The flames in the fireplace reduced to orange ambers, dimmed, just like his resistance. He walked with her to the back of the cabin to her bedroom. More darkness. They were engulfed by it. But he could see her still. She snaked up against him again, her mouth and hands everywhere. Tbone responded with hungry kisses of his own. He gripped her by the arms. She tossed her head back with a salacious laugh at his roughness. Something he couldn’t name had a hold on him. He turned her and threw her forward but caught her by her long hair. He kicked her feet apart. She was forced into position, hands to the mattress, as he worked the head of his cock to her pussy. He shot his hips forward and it was as if her whole body vibrated. Tbone groaned at the punch of air that deflated his lungs. He thrust again into the silky warmth of her channel as she worked her ass back against his plunging cock. He tugged on her hair, harder, with a firm hand to her hip and then pumped his cock in and out repeatedly. Blue didn’t cry out for more or mercy. She gave her own deep guttural grunts as she dipped her back further and bucked her hips under each thrust countering.

He yanked back on her hair harder, spurred on by something unseen. He slapped her left ass cheek and then the right. The rougher he got the more compliant she became. He was dizzy with heat, lust, and sex, but he kept thrusting and thrusting until the coiled knot of pressure in his chest released. He blasted her with a volcanic eruption as he climaxed. Tbone let go of her hair. He could hear her chuckle as he withdrew. Feeling drugged, he stumbled on shaky legs. He’d never been rough with a woman. He'd only had a few at Davis encouraging. Daphane was the woman he truly wanted. Blue tossed her wet hair and looked back rolling her ass in the most brazen of ways. “Get more… you can have more.” “No. I um… I think I should go,” he mumbled turning for the door. But he ran directly up against her. She was in front of the door instead of the bed where he left her. He blinked in shock. Blue gave him a wicked flick of her pink tongue. “An even swap aint no swindle, baby. You made a deal blues-boy and I plan to collect.” Tbone made to object then felt hot heat pierce dead center of his chest hurling him off his feet. He was thrown to the bed. He choked back the startled cry. His legs parted his arms shot up above his head with invisible binding. And to his horror his cock was erect standing tall. He tried to speak and couldn’t. He struggled, strained against the invisible hold and it only came out as a flutter of his lashes. There was no other movement. Blue crawled toward him, her breasts swaying, her hair so long it dragged over his skin. He moved his lips the best he could but again he didn’t speak. A serpents tongue slipped from her mouth, gave a trace up his leg and his knees. His could believe the scene before him. A long pink tongue with a forked end, flicked at the head of his cock. He was repulsed and turned on at the same time. It circled the length of his shaft sliding over every veined inch. Tbone shivered. He didn’t want it, but he liked it.

He wanted out, but he wanted to stay. This demon or witch had him pinned flat to the bed. She licked and sucked on his cock until he convulsed with knocking knees. She swallowed him and he shouted to the roof in sheer pleasure. His cock jerked and released his seed. A groan deeply buried in his throat, followed shouts from his trembling lips. But she was far from done. His cock still painfully hard remained upright. Her head lifted, she licked her mouth and chin free of his essence with her tongue. She then eased down on him. The pressure of entering her once more snapped the last of his resistance. Like a vice, her pussy gripped him and his jaws locked tight. Blue wound her hips in circular motions and his back bowed from the mattress with the ripples of pain and pleasure. So intoxicating it was, he couldn’t decide on what he liked better. Laughter cackled and charged the air. Tears slipped out from the corner of Tbone's closed lids. Her nails sliced red streams of blood over his chest. His toes curled and finally all the air in his lungs pushed forth a torturous scream. He woke sprawled in the grass. The damp blades poked and scraped the sides of his face. A soft drizzle of rain sprinkled over him forcing his lids to part. Tbone coughed, he gagged up sulfuric bitterness. When he pressed a hand to his chest he winced. The pain there and in his groin was beyond excruciating. He immediately ripped at the buttons to the front of his shirt and searched for the source. Five long cuts reached from the top center of his chest to his navel. The rain ran down the crimson gashes and mixed with the trailing blood. Tbone gasped in horror. "Wha-a-a-t the fuck?" He touched the wound. To further his horror he bore witness to them miraculously healing. The pain webbed through his chest and dissolved into a dull ache before easing away. Not even the traces of blood remained. Tbone leapt to his feet. He snatched up Ilene, his satchel and he

ran for his life. At the crossroads he chose home, the only place he ever had. And he vowed never to run toward anything else false again.

Chapter Eight Five Years Later, Mud Lake Mississippi "You're beautiful," he muttered against her cheek. "You're beautiful." Those stroking hands of hers were never still. They were always moving, always tracing hot erotic patterns over his back when he lay in her arms. Tbone couldn't hold back his murmur of pleasure as he arched his back under the caress. Her thighs parted, the heels of her feet crossed over his clenched buttocks. His mouth covered hers. Her mouth was a teasing torment and her tongue like silk when it crossed his lips. He wanted... longed... yearned for more. And he had everything a man could dream. A woman he loved more than a life, twin boys barely three, a career as a blues man that had garnered him fame and riches. "Oh Daphane..." he chocked in a sound of need, suffering pleas, huskily hungry—the only words he could think of to summon what he felt. She smiled against his mouth. Impatience got the better of him and he thrust into her prematurely. Her pelvis rocked up to his and her nails dug into his skin. "I'm sorry baby, I want you so bad." She stroked him again, moving the way he liked. She never turned him away, never denied him. He looked down into her lovely face as he thrust in and out of her, and eyes dark with passion locked with his. And suddenly he was no longer yearning but exploding. In their own confined private world the burn of their heated writhing bodies locked in deep sensual wonderful movements that chained their hearts. Abandoning himself he surrendered completely to being her husband, her lover, the

father of her children. In return she gave him that plus more. He thrust hard and fast, delivering long strokes. She pumped her hips upward under each strike. Tbone kissed her face, her neck, sucked her shoulder. He hooked his arms under her slender thighs and forced them back. She gripped both halves of his buttocks and squeezed as he throttled her pussy with such force the mattress springs screamed. It got good to him. Better than good. This was the pinnacle of the sweetest essence of their love. He stopped, lifting her as he sat on the backs of his calves. She straddled him face to face. Her dark lovely beasts undulating, allowing him to run his tongue over their pebbled peaks. She gripped one of his shoulders as she arched her back and bounced on his member hard and strong. Her head dropped back. Tbone seized the opportunity to run his tongue up over her collarbone. Daphane rode his cock until she and he were crying for release. They fell over on bed and he pumped his ass violently shaking through his climax as she held to him and did the same. It took a long time before his breathing finally slowed. He lay with his head pressed to her breasts listening to her heart. The warm feminine scent of her sweat mingled with their sex. Their large bed cradled them in their love. "I should go check on the twins Tbone." "Hmmm." "Move sweetheart, I'll be right back." He groaned but obeyed, the disconnect with her almost painful. Daphane eased from the bed. Her thick hair was poufy, a dark tangle mass of curls. She eased on a monogrammed robe, blew him a kiss and then left the room. Tbone dropped his arm over his eyes. Five years tomorrow. Since the day he ran through the night to hers and Daddy Leg's door. They brought him in, shivering with shock and delirium. Daphane

nursed him through his fever. And then he confessed the death of Davis leaving the other horrors out of the story. He wasn't turned away. Daddy Legs and Daphane mourned Davis with him. They became and still are a family. And when he scored a surprising record contract just days later, he had Davis body brought back to Mud Lake. "Your son is trouble." Tbone lowered his arm. Daphane returned to the bed, to him. He drew her closer. "What he done?" "He's standin' up in his crib. Just a waitin' on what I don't know. I laid him down but you done spoiled him." "I'll take care of it. You sleep?" "When you goin' to Biloxi. You performin' this week aint you?" she yawned. Tbone kissed her gaping lips. He kissed between her brows. "I'm not goin' tomorrow. Stayin' here." Daphane eyes shot open. "Wut?" "I said..." "I heard you Tee. Daddy say this is a big show for you." Tbone drew away. He found his robe and dressed. Avoiding the question. "I'll deal with it, get some rest." "But..." Tbone smiled to his wife. "There will always be big shows. Our family comes first." Daphane smiled. She turned over. "Don't bring Tommy Jr in here. He has to sleep in his crib." "Yes beautiful." Tbone eased the door shut. He made the short walk to his children's room. Tammy and Tommy Jr. slept in their own cribs. His son

true to his mother's words stood in his crib sucking hard on his pacifier, waiting patiently for him. "Can't sleep boy?" Tommy plopped back down on his pamper. His little chubby hands rested on his thighs as he stared up at his father. Tbone picked up one of his many guitars he kept in the house. Taking a seat in the breastfeeding chair next to the crib under the moonlight, he did what he always did for his boy. He played a soft melody. Tommy fell over blinking his large round brown eyes at him and within minutes he was sleep. Tbone rocked back in the chair. He'd cut his time on the road short. Daddy Leg's managed his career. Tbone made sure his surrogate father had help but ultimately he trusted no one but Daddy with his affairs. No one with his family. His time had come to an end. He had a good run. Five years of more happy than he's ever known. Now the devil was owed his due. He rose from the rocker. The moon was full that night. A window faced his children's room spilled in silvery light. His feet and body was drawn there, though every fiber in his being warned he should grab his babies and get Daphane then run. Tbone swallowed his fear. It was of no surprise that the witch stood there, in her long black cloak, with her unnaturally blue eyes. From the distance he could see the evil curl to her lips and her beckoning smile. She turned and walked until she disappeared from sight.

Chapter Nine "You hear me Tbone?" "What's that baby?" he said dragging his thoughts from the sinking sun. "I said that Nelly is coming over this evenin'. She gone watch the twins so we can go to Jackson. Just you and me." Tbone gave Daphane a sad smile. "I thought you was worried about me playing hooky?" Daphane released a sweet merry laugh. "Is you crazy? My rock star hubby pass up on a million dollar gig to stay with me and my babies and he think I'm gone complain. Shoot, you oughta know better." Tbone rose from the table. "I do. Come here." he took her into his arms. "I was lost until I came home, came back to you." "I told you Tee, we was meant to be. You the one wasting all those years runnin'." "It took me a long time to feel worthy of you Daphane. I made so many mistakes. I should have never left here, me and Davis should have stayed..." She pressed a finger to his lips. "We make choices Tee. All of us make 'em. Good or bad we gots to live with it. You understand me?" Tbone nodded that he did. Daphane eyes glistened with tears. She hugged him. Her arms tight around his waist. He held her to him. She was so precious to him. "I'ma go up and get dressed and changed. Okay?" "I have to go out Daphane. For a little while." "How long? It's almost seven and we got a hour drive to Jackson."

"Just a little while," he stroked her cheek. She lifted her chin and he gave her a parting kiss. It was the dose of bravery that he needed, to walk away from his family. He wouldn't go upstairs and see his kids. If he did he'd never leave. And Tbone had no idea what the demon coming for him would do if he broke their bargain. So he left her standing there in the kitchen. Beautiful, loving, trusting him as he gave her a final wink and slipped out of the door into his truck and the night. He'd kept his promise to Daphane. He built a house for her on the land they loved. Gave the Duke family all the things he felt he robbed them of when he couldn't save Davis. Now he had to pay the price. The crossroads between Jackson and Mud Lake still existed. He made the turn off at the fork and parked along an embankment. Tbone shut off the truck lights. He eased open the car door caught by how large and clear the moon was. The sun had all but left the sky streaked in violets and blood red. A solo wind blew through him, pushing him along. Easing his keys in his pockets he found the tree trunk he once sat on to drink a pop. His gaze drifted beyond to the forest, the one she came out of. Weary, burdened and grieving for all he would have to leave behind he made the journey. Every step one blazed to his memory from an event his subconscious never dared to unbury. He found her hut where she'd taken him five years before. Stood before it as night crept in and shadows swallowed the path he travelled. The door opened. Blue stepped out. It was as if time had stood still. She wore the same blue dress and checkered scarf in bare feet. "There he is, my blues boy." Tbone didn't speak. What was there to say? He stood and waited. Prayed that it would be quick and some day Daphane would forgive him. "Awe, Daphane, how sweet she is," Blue giggled.

Tbone watched her approach dreading every step. Blue spun before him the hem of her dress spreading out in a swirl of fabric that circled her brown legs. "Does she know how you sacrificed for her? What your sacrifice would be now that she has all that money and that big pretty house by the creek." "You stay away from her. She has nothing to do with our bargain." Blue laughed. A sharp crisp laugh that cut his heart to ribbons. "Of course she does Tbone. Why else you think I come. Because you wanted Daphane most of all, but you was too dumb to see she wanted the same. You were so deliciously dumb that night." Blue dropped both hands to her hips and rocked them seductively. "We gots a few minutes before I collect. Wanna give it another roll?" Tbone bit back nausea. Blue eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "I will have you Tommy Walnut, over and over again until your flesh drips from your bone and your innards fill my belly,” she hissed. "Daphane and my children are not part of this bargain. They never was. So you take what you want devil. But you stay the hell away from them." "That's not true, Tee," said a soft voice behind him. Tbone heart seized. He closed his eyes and prayed it wasn't true. Then he braved a look and his would fell apart. Daphane stepped out of the woods. Blue laughed. He rushed his wife grabbed her by the arms. "Why! Why did you follow me!" he said in panic. "I'm sorry Tbone, I had no choice." "Tell her Tbone, tell her the deal you made with the demon that's come for your soul. Tell her how we carved your name into the scrolls of hell while I rode your cock. All for sweet, sweet Daphane." "Don't listen to her, it wasn't..."

Daphane touched his face. "Shh, I know what you done. I know why you done it." "What?" Tbone said. "Enough of this! Send her away or I'll..." A shrill screech cut through the sky. Tbone head went back, his eyes strained for the source and locked on a dark winged beast swooping down over them. He threw Daphane to the ground and covered her as the beast flew right over them and straight for Blue. She screamed once the thing leapt on her and began to rip into her. Horrified he kept Daphane covered, as he looked upon the vicious scene. Suddenly he was sent back to a memory he never truly understood. He thought it no more than a delusion or fever of the mind that he dismissed many years ago. This beast at the side of the Pink Lady, it was the one who had chewed and mangled the men that attacked Davis. Half animal, half something else from hell it had the same scaly charred black skin, talons for hands and hoofed feet. It's huge dark wings flapped as it lifted into the sky with the screeching she-demon tearing open her throat. "Run, Daphane, get up... run..." "No." Daphane wept. He tried to drag her, save her but she fought him and escaped his arms. She backed away. "Daphane!! Run baby, it's coming!" Daphane turned and looked up into the sky. The monster dropped what was left of blue and swooped in for her. "Daphane!!" The animal landed just a few feet before his precious wife. Tbone rushed toward her but she whirled on him with her hands up. "Stop right there Tee. Stop!" He did.

The creature hissed, with a snout dripping flesh and blood as it did it before. It's eyes were black pools of rage. Large bullhorns extended from either side of its misshapen head. "I have to tell you the truth Tee. It's time." "Wh-what are you talking about?" Daphane shook her head sadly. "The night before Davis died, before you were set on the path to return to me, I was so lonely for you Tee. I knew you left here with Davis to become a star. You and Davis out there in the world lookin' for somethin' outside of Mud Lake. I knew you'd never come home to me." "That's not true. I..." The thing behind her became darkness before Tbone's eyes. The creature’s horrible existence dissolved into smoke and lightning. A sharply dressed man in a dark suit emerged. With pale white skin and blazing golden irises it stepped behind Daphane and touched her shoulders. His wife head dropped. She wept. "Listen to me Tee. I missed you awful, so awful I couldn't sleep. So I went into the woods, to our creek." her teary eyes lifted to his face. "And he found me. He showed me Davis's death. He showed me Davis' funeral. He showed me how lost you would be. He told me that I had to make a choice. He told me you were going to make one with that demon and that I couldn't stop you. He said she marked you and she would have you. Unless I staked my claim. See I loved you Tee and you never believed it. You think cause your skin is lighter and your pockets emptier and your guitar hollow when you play that you weren't worthy. Truth is sweetheart we was destiny, I had already lost Davis, I couldn't lose you too. So I made a bargain. The only one I could make. To protect you Tee, to love you as my own, to have your babies..." "Daphane no... please baby, nooooo!" Tbone moaned. "I'm sorry Tee. It's the only deal I could make."

The hell beast that was now a man kissed her cheek lovingly. His menacing golden stare lifted to meet Tbone's and he gave a pure evil smile. "She's mine now,” he said. "NOOO!!" Wings sprouted from the man's back. The dark wings flapped twice and their feet lifted from the ground, his arm now circling his Daphane's waist held her firm to his chest. "I will try to return to you Tee, to you and the boys! I swear it on what's left of my soul I will try!!!" Daphane!!" Tbone charged for them but they flew off into the moon. On his knees he screamed her name over and over until she was there no more. "Nooo..." he moaned, dropping to all fours and gripping the grass and soil. "It was supposed to be me... It was supposed to be me!"

Epilogue "Tbone that you?" Nelly asked. He stumbled in through the back door. He had spent hours in the woods searching for her. He'd gone to their creek in search for her. She was nowhere to be found. "Tbone you alright?" He staggered to the chair at the kitchen table and dropped in it. His face dropped in his hands and he wept. "Where is Daphane? She said she was going to go look for you." "Get out." "Huh?" "GET OUT!!" Tbone shouted. The young woman doubled back in shock. Tbone never raised his voice to anyone. Nelly turned got her purse and beat a path out the front door. Tbone went after her. He locked the doors and checked the windows. He secured every access to their home before running to the bedrooms. His boy and girl both stood in their cribs staring at him, waiting for mama. Tears covering his face as he gathered his children into his arms. He sat in the chair that their mother had rocked them so many times before. He rocked. He rocked. He rocked. Daphane had made a choice, one much like his own. And he would never know her reasons why. He would never be able to live up to her sacrifice. But when he held his children under the pale moonlight he

vowed that he'd spend the rest of his days there, waiting for her to come home. The End?

About the Author Sienna Mynx is your naughty writer of Paranormal, Contemporary, and Historical Interracial Romance for readers that love the bad boy's but desire to be the women that tame them. A current resident of south of Georgia, Sienna Mynx has just emerged into the e-publishing arena. Her novellas reflect her thirst for romance told from a man's perspective with the diversity she craves in erotic Romance. Look for more to come. Visit Sienna Mynx at http://siennamynx.com