Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Imari Jade Page B

they do in the Catholic churches. Marie was raised a Roman Catholic, like most of the French and Spanish at the time. She was a devout Catholic and she attended mass every day.” Isabella paused. “Marie even got permission to hold rituals behind the Saint Louis Cathedral.”
    “I didn’t know that,” Ernie said, impressed. He walked her to her car and opened the door for her.
    “You need to come to church with me one night and witness one of our ceremonies.” Isabella started her car.
    “Maybe,” Ernie said in a noncommittal tone. “I might take up on the invitation. Where are you headed?”
    “Home to check on the place and then I think I’ll swing by to see my grandmother.”
    “Give her my love,” Ernie said. He walked to his car and unlocked the door.
    Isabella drove off.
    * * * *
    The night sky was filled with stars and an enormous moon. It didn’t look any different than any other night except instead of patrolling the streets for demons, Isabella decided to go to church and get some advice from her grandmother, Matilda.
    She dressed in a long, white cotton dress with her long, dark hair covered by a white bandana. Her feet were incased in a pair of soft leather sandals. A breeze whipped at the flowing hem around her legs.
    Others, dressed in similar garb, walked the well-worn path which led to their place of worship, along Bayou Saint John. Its whereabouts weren’t a secret but very few outsiders came there to visit. Isabella suspected a lot of people were afraid of what they might find.
    The hype of Hollywood and the imaginations of fiction writers portrayed the voodoo religion as the practice of black magic. It was so far from the truth, as Isabella and her church of worshippers practiced the opposite. Her family had been voodoo worshippers all of their lives. Descendants of eighteenth century West African Yoruba people…the originators of the Vodun religion.
    Isabella followed the others as they walked toward their peristyle…the main building of worship. The small building was far from glamorous but it served them well, providing shelter against the elements and protected them from the curious.
    Isabella walked through the door and into the foyer where she stood in a short line that led into the meeting room. Two tall men, dressed from head to toe in white, guarded the door. One of them, Jason, turned at the sound of her approach.
    “Your grandmother will be pleased you could join us tonight, Isabella,” he said. “It has been a long time.”
    The other man, Otis, turned to acknowledge her. “Come inside, Sister, and join us.”
    Both men stepped aside and allowed her to enter. Then they stepped inside pulling the doors closed behind them.
    Everything was almost ready for the ceremony, Isabella noted as she walked in, gazing at the altar. There were rows and rows of long folding tables and chairs placed around the great room. The worshippers were busy getting seated as she scanned the room for her grandmother. Matilda appeared beside the altar.
    Matilda Denning was nearly seventy years old, but her face was smooth and without wrinkles. Her dark hair had long since gone and was replaced by a coarse mingle-gray mixture which she always wore braided and concealed beneath a rag. Her grandmother got around without the aid of a cane or walker and her mind was still alert and sharp. She took care of Isabella since her mother was murdered by a vampire many years ago.
    Isabella walked over and gave her grandmother a kiss on the cheek.
    “Good evening, child. Hurry, take your seat.”
    “Can I talk to you before the ceremony begins?” Isabella asked.
    Matilda nodded. “Is it about the murders?”
    Isabella nodded quickly. “The police and the mayor think a voodoo cult is responsible.”
    Matilda chuckled. “Child, you know better than that.”
    Isabella lowered her head for doubting. “Yes, but I have to admit that someone is going out of their way to make it look like voodoo is involved. There