Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

all he knows,” Roumain said.
“But not you?”
“Mia, there are rules that even I must abide.”
“But you don’t normally.”
“I’m not normally in the presence of a Raphael-altered being.”
“So, once again, fate plays with me, and I end up the loser,” Mia said, turning her back on the judge.  “Where can I find Guillaume?”
“He’s just the other side of the hill,” Roumain said.
Mia turned around.  “Thank you for all you have done for me.  I will not forget your kindness, like I have your interferences.”
Roumain watched her trudge up the hill.  He saw the waves of sorrow drain off her and run down the hill to mix with the tears that filled the pool.  Yet, he had to stop himself from being moved by them.  Little Mia Cooper had changed again.  This time, he couldn’t trust her.  He’d seen what she’d become inside, and it frightened him.
Roumain’s wife walked out of the pool and up to his side.  “Your little pet has disappointed you,” Violine said, caressing his arm.
“You’re getting my clothes wet, woman.”
“She is ripe.  Take her now.  Implant your child within her.  The baby will bathe in Crone magic and grow into a powerful sorceress.  She may quite possibly rival me.”
“Look where that got you,” Roumain said, lifting Violine’s chin.  “Are you sure you don’t want revenge for Mia killing you?”
“I’m not sure.  Killing me, freed me, yet still I miss being alive.”
“I have two very desirable women within reach. Yet one or both may probably be the end of me. I’m not sure if I haven’t slipped into my own private hell,” Roumain said and walked away, leaving Violine to frolic in the pool alone.
Mia’s aunt Beverly was tied to Guillaume Bouché by the Cooper curse.  Guillaume had loved Beverly, but not enough for him to be consumed also by the curse.  Death had stopped the obsessive love he had for the powerful sensitive, but it also kept him here, pondering his fate.  In life, he was a magician, wizard if you will.  He learned to control all Mother Nature had to offer.  He used it to entertain people and to make life comfortable for himself.  He needed little: a bottle of good rum, a soft yielding woman, and a comfortable space in which to enjoy all she had to offer him.
Guillaume saw the woman rumored to be Judge Roumain’s earthly fascination and Beverly’s niece.  Although, he could now see there was no direct relation between Bev and Mia.  The time he spent in contemplation had cleared his mind, and he could see that the only thing that tied his former lover and the woman before him was that they were raised by a powerful witch.  Bev’s adoptive mother and Mia’s paternal grandmother.
“I find it fascinating, girl, that you walk freely when you readily reject the bed of the king,” Guillaume said, patting the ground beside him.
Mia dropped down beside the thin man and pulled her knees to her chest.  She hid her face from the astute magician.
“Come now, girl, I can feel your tears.  But I sense you don’t cry because you’ll miss his caressing voice.  You cry because you’re being misjudged by a judge.”
Mia sniffed and looked over at Guillaume.  “I can see why all those women fell for you.  You’re funny.”
Guillaume smiled.  “I’m funny and sexy.”
“There’s that.”
“Careful, I don’t want to end up in hell,” he warned.  “Tell me, why have you come once again to see me?”
“Roumain said you escaped Lucifer’s Lip.”
The man’s face lit up.  “I did.  Not many of us have.  I may be the only one come to think of it?  No, quite recently there was a boy, but Roumain sent him to hell after being eaten by a shark.  This boy refused to see that he couldn’t use his immature anger to influence anyone here.  Roumain said, ‘If you’re going to act like a troll, then you shall be one,’ and poof he was gone.”
“How can you know all this?”
“Purgatory is an interesting place.  The living world is overlaid again and again.  This film of all times helps us to atone for what we’ve done.  It is torture for some, an aid to others.  Me, I get to see my lovers again.”
“I’ve come looking for advice.  Your daughter, Sabine, is on a boat anchored off Lucifer’s Lip.”
“She is in danger then,” Guillaume said.  “It’s a false sense of security that the water brings.  There is a life that reaches out from beneath the island to do the bidding of the demon-with-no-name who resides within it.”
“What kind of life?”
“Kraken or a relative of one.  It has hundreds of tentacles.  It pulls you under the sand, or through the water, into caves where you’re tossed on a pile of rotting bodies until your mind can be consumed by the demon.  After, your remains are eaten by this kraken.”
“How did you escape?”
“I had the use of what Mother Nature had given me.  She sent a pod of dolphins to guard me as I swam to safety.  They confused the tentacles and fought the sharks.  I was a very lucky young man to survive my ill-fated adventure.  Finally, a large turtle carried me to the shipping lanes where a boat picked me up.”
“But if you know about the caves, it seems to me that you were pulled into them.  How did you escape the danger in the caves?” Mia asked.
“The demon was looking for a host so he could leave the island.  I was considered because of my strength but rejected because of my magic.  The demon couldn’t bond with me.  I’m too oily for anything to stick to.”
“Strange use of words,” Mia said.
“You would understand had you been raised in my village,” Guillaume said.
Mia waited for him to explain, but he did not continue