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Hanks volunteered.
Culhane shrugged he had never believed in it never wanted to. Candler asked.
"Well, JeAnn if your mother's in a trance now well will this hinder her
coming to?"
"No I don't think so. See she put herself into the trance that time. This
just I think sort of happened. Her mind is coming awake, and it stopped one
level below or above conciousness."
"Well, darling whose mind is she linking yes whose mind is she linking
with?"
"Fidelito I think but somehow it isn't him. Don't ask me why, but I just
know."
Momma Cinda's body went erect across the bed, her arms raising. JeAnn dropped
to her knees beside her mother.
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Hanks whispered. "Is she dyin'?"
"No I don't think it's anything somatic." JeAnn whispered.
Culhane cleared his throat. "Then what the hell is it?"
Momma Cinda's chest rose and fell, rapidly, sweat gleaming on her milk
chocolate skin, her eyelids fluttering. "Asmodeus no!" And she sat bolt
upright, eyes open. She screamed, fell back.
JeAnn shrieked, "I shouldn't have done this here! I need a trauma center, a
crash cart! Damnit!" But while she vented, she was preparing a syringe.
"Adrenaline?" Culhane asked.
"Yeah." JeAnn Bonaparte answered nodding her head as she was about to
administer the contents of the syringe.
Candler was beside her. Hanks waited calmly by the foot of the bed.
As the tip of the needle was about to penetrate Momma Cinda's flesh, JeAnn
Bonaparte stayed her hand. "She's all right again." JeAnn Bonaparte put down
the needle, adding. "I think."
Culhane watched as JeAnn checked vital signs, then sagged to a seated position
on the edge of the bed. She looked around the room, nodded, then exhaled
loudly.
"Asmodeus? Do we know him?" Where was Mulrooney when he really needed her? "Is
he a Voodoo guy or something?"
JeAnn Bonaparte merely shook her head.
But Hanks surprisingly answered. "I read a great deal. Because of that, I'll
frequently read books I really have no interest in. I read one once it had to
do with demons and devils. And that's what Asmodeus is he's a demon."
"Shit," Culhane said through his teeth.
"She's she's coming round I can Momma? Momma? Can you hear me? Momma? It's
JeAnn Momma?"
"JeAnn Je ?"
Momma Cinda's head turned.
"Yes," JeAnn whispered then leaned her head against her mother's chest, tears
flowing down her cheeks.
Culhane stepped to the far side of the bed it was getting crowded there and
started to pour Gatoraide into a glass.
"Lie still Momma rest "
Momma Cinda's tongue sounded thick and she still seemed incoherent. "M.F.
Mulrooney trouble the demon God preserve her. Dumballa preserve her. Pray
to St. John the Baptist pray to St. John the Baptist "
"What's she talking about?" Candler asked.
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"M.F. Fanny Mulrooney's initials," Culhane supplied, holding the Gatoraide
still and noticing that his hand was shaking. He made a conscious mental
effort to stop the shaking. It worked a little.
"But I don't understand was she aware of what was going on around her while
she was unconscious?"
JeAnn looked at Candler. "In a drug induced state like that her mind could
have been moving up and down through various levels of consciousness. She
could have overheard something but I don't understand her talking about a
demon "
"Maybe from those Voodoo rituals of hers," Hanks supplied.
Culhane watched JeAnn's eyes flicker as she looked up at Hanks. "Voodoo has
nothing to do with Satanism nothing. Not a thing. No it must be something
else maybe somebody or in the trance."
Culhane bent over the bed. "Momma Cinda tell me about Fanny M.F. Mulrooney "
"No!" JeAnn pushed against Culhane's chest. "She might "
But Momma Cinda began to speak. "Asmodeus the mind the boat no! No! Don't
touch her mind! No!"
And Momma Cinda's eyes opened wide again.
Culhane looked at her the eyes seemed almost clear. "Momma Cinda can you
tell me? What did you see?"
"The demon has her Fidelito's soul is dead to life Fidelito's mind Asmodeus
uses it to control the boat."
"Boat?" Culhane didn't understand.
"Drink this," JeAnn told her mother taking the glass from Culhane's hand. He
hadn't realized he'd still held it. Momma Cinda drank, choking a bit as JeAnn
Bonaparte took the glass away.
Culhane asked again. "Boat? Momma Cinda what boat?"
JeAnn looked at him angrily then to her mother. "Rest, Momma please "
"No." Momma Cinda began. "We will all die "
"None of y'all move!"
Culhane looked up Hanks. A gleaming six-inch Colt Python .357 Magnum was in
his right fist.
Instinct made Culhane reach for the SIG, even though logic told him that he
wouldn't make it.
There was a blur of movement Candler but Candler's gun was already drawn
Culhane saw it, felt the hammering at his head.
The Gatoraide fell from his left hand. The gun fell across the bed in front of
him and he reached for it, slamming down across the bed as the blackness
washed over him&
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Chapter Twenty-four
"Where's Blackbeard's treasure, woman?" Hanks snarled.
"Whit what are you "
"Love you be realistic, darling you're very good in bed, but of course
nigger women are supposed to be "
"Bastard "
"Where is Blackbeard's treasure y'all tell me or the girl here dies!"
"Mary Frances Mulrooney!"
"The hell with her," Hanks responded.
"Fidelito is doing evil His soul. He has bargained with "
"Y'all tell me where the treasure is now, or I start rearranging this pretty
face of hers!"
"You and Culhane are dead. Momma Cinda but she can live "
Culhane was swimming. He was reaching to the surface, but he couldn't touch it
and his breath was burning out, burning his lungs. The water was very dark
but it wasn't cold and sometimes there were crazy colors in the water. He felt
something sharp against his hip and his shoulder and theorized he had hit a
rock. He tried clawing for the surface again.
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