Beyond Fearless by REBECCA YORK Page B

boy’s head, dripped the blood of a young chicken on him, then stripped him naked and washed his body as part of his initiation.
    He’d thought at first that just being a member of the group would secure his future.
    But as he’d gotten to understand the way things worked in the congregation, he’d realized that the priest held the real power. People brought him tributes, gave him a special place in their lives, because he asked the Blessed Ones to favor them.
    Raoul wanted that big up. And he’d started making plans for how to get it. He’d gotten a pile of good stuff. But a whole lot more was almost within his grasp. He could feel it. Taste it. And he wasn’t going to let some viper snatch it away. Certainly not when he’d already gone to so much trouble.
    He walked rapidly toward one of the houses he owned in old town, his anticipation growing.
    As a kid, he’d thought that he was like everyone else. But it wasn’t true. He had powers that other people only dreamed of. And when he’d learned about Vadiana, he’d realized that, since boyhood, he’d had a special connection with the saints.
    With his power, he had served many of his people. Like Etienne. He had held a ceremony, asking the saints to help his friend prosper. And they had obliged him with the untimely death of Eddie Morgan.
    There were other proofs of his favor with the saints. Like when he’d snagged a rich husband for Maria Delgado. When the man’s wife had died in childbirth, he’d needed someone to take care of the child, and Maria had filled the position—then married the father.
    Raoul knew he had rare abilities. And he had invented creative rituals to bring him closer to the Blessed Ones. Rituals that the other island priests, like Joe Hondino, would never have condoned. But he needed something more—a bride as powerful as himself.
    At first he’d searched for the right woman close to home. It hadn’t taken long to realize that no suitable mate for a man such as himself lived on Grand Fernandino. So he’d started using modern tools—like the Internet—to search for the right partner. He had focused on many psychics. And the one who felt right to him was the woman named Magic Anna.
    Earlier he had sacrificed a chicken to Ibena to bring her to him in a place outside the world. Tonight he would use a different mojo to strengthen his position with her.
    Ibena was the goddess of eroticism and pleasure. He must give the saint pleasure as well as animal sacrifices. And she would bless his plans for tomorrow.
    He reached the little house and climbed the backstairs, unlocking the door with his key.
    Inside, he looked around the kitchen. It was large by island standards and furnished with a modern stove and refrigerator. When he saw the dishes neatly stacked in the drying rack, he smiled. Nadine had started off leaving them in the sink. He’d told her that if she wanted to live in this house, she had to keep it clean.
    She was capable of learning. And, if she continued to please him, she could stay in this house, in his life, even after he married Anna and took his bride to live in the compound on the other side of the island, where his followers could keep an eye on her.
    He stopped at a locked cabinet in the hallway and inserted the key. Inside was a small bottle of lotion—a sexual aid he’d first gotten from a witch woman a few years ago. Not that he had any trouble with his cock. This was his gift to Nadine.
    When he had poured some into his hands and rubbed them together, he strode through the silent rooms, furnished with pieces he had taken from a house the owners had abandoned during the threat of a hurricane. After the couple left, Raoul prayed to the saints, sweetening his request with many animal offerings. And the gods changed the course of the hurricane, sparing the island.
    In the bedroom, Nadine was sleeping, her golden hair brushed out and spread