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After years of renouncing his heritage and connection to voodoo, Sam Ethol, fifthteen-year-old is haunted by a mysterious voodoo practitioner that killed his father and multiple citizens of New Orleans.
"Voodoo isn't real!"
Sam Ethol, a 16-year-old high school student said to his best friend, Stevie Lacroix as the two sat outside the Chow Pow, a popular dinner in New Orleans, LA.
"Come on Sammy. Are you going to sit here and tell me you don't believe in magic?" Stevie chuckled as he drank his glass of sweet tea.
"That's what, I'm telling you, Stevie," Sam replied to him.
As the two teenagers discussed their beliefs in the supernatural world, a large overweight man with dark skin and a bald head came toward them with a busboy tub and dropped it on the table between them.
"Alright, break times over." He said uninterested.
"Come on house, we still have ten minutes left," Sam complained.
"Yeah, I know. But we got a huge rush cause of Mardi Gras. We ain't got time to diddle dally. Now get going." House said.
"Oh well," Stevie complained also. "Another day, another quarter."
"Watch it, Croix. Just because your daddy is in the office doesn't mean you can bad mouth how I pay my help." House got annoyed.
"Alright House." Both boys gave up.
"Come on Stevie," Sam said as he pulled out a white apron behind the bus tub before grabbing at the second one to toss to Stevie. "Let's go get this quarter."
Vibrant sounds of triumphant and harmonicas filled the air as Sam and Stevie fastened their aprons and greeted multiple customers who were intoxicated by the vexatious sound of New Orleans.
Stevie grabbed a second bus tub to clear the tables when an unsettling figure spotted him from afar.
"Crap!" Stevie cursed as he maneuvered away from the overweight, red-haired man in a white business suit. The young man walked through the crowd until he bumped into Sam.
"Easy bro." Sam eyed him.
"Sorry man. I just saw you know who in the crowd." Stevie explained to him.
"Again?" Sam said as he looked around to find the intimidating man.
"Hey, busboys!" A blond-haired middle-aged woman called from the dining hall window, interrupting their conversation. "The cooks need the trash taken out." The lady said before she stormed off.
"Bro, can you get this one for me? I don't want to bump into that creep." Stevie asked.
"I got it, Shirley," Sam assured him and called after the lady.
Sam fist-bumped Stevie before putting away his bus tubs and walking into the kitchen.
The dreadlocked teenager moved past the cooks, frantically scurrying around the kitchen to finish the large quantity of food.
"Appreciate the hassle, Sammy," Shirley said.
"What I do best, Boss lady." Sam smiled at her.
Sam tied the large bag of trash before lifting it and haunting the heavy sack outside. The young busboy carried the garbage away to the dumpster several feet from the restaurant when a ceric chilled breeze flowed down his spine.
"Who's there?"
Sam turned around, gazing around his surroundings only to find nothing but the empty valley way behind him.
"Get it together Ethol." Sam thought to himself but was stopped abruptly.
"Sammy!" A chilling voice uttered his name but when the young man looks over his shoulder, he found nothing.
"It's getting too crazy out here. I should..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a divesting twister composed of green spirits was yelling in agony as Sam was trapped inside it.
The dreadlocked teenager fell to the floor. His mouth wide opened yet not a single word escaped it as his chest beat repetitively at an uncased pace.
Sam shut his eyes, tilling his head from the bizarre phenomenon until the painful screams ceased.
As he cautiously opened his eyes, he saw that the vortex was gone.
"Not again". He sighed.
Just as Sam stood up from the abnormal menace, a woman's scream penetrated the air, making Sam run inside only to find the kitchen covered with blood and the corpses of the chiefs dropped over the kitchen.
Across from Sam, the door leading to the main floor of the restaurant was broken open, occupied by the mass volume of the local socialites reduced to a lifeless husk.
"Stevie..., House... Shirley..." Sam yelled for any possible survivors, but he heard nothing.
The dread-locked teenager walked inside with his heart beating like a drum and his legs wobbled with every corpse he passed.
He looked up to the wall across from the kitchen entrance and found an unsettling message written boldly in blood.
"Take the throne, Voodoo Child."
Terror covered the young man's face as he back stepped further and further from the horrific situation in front of him.
"Why is this happening to me?" Sam began to wail but stopped when he heard a voice.
"Sam," Stevie called out in a battered state, his body lying on his side and struggling to get up.
"Stevie?" Sam ran to his best friend's side to help him to his feet.
"You alright man?" Sam asked him.
"Kinda, sort of," Stevie said out of breath.
"What the hell happened here?" Sam asked, wanting to know what happened exactly.
"No clue. One minute, I was clearing tables then suddenly, this guy in a red trench coat and black fedora walked in and shot out a swarm of bees everywhere." Stevie explained to him.
"Bees?"
"Yeah. It was crazy as hell, man."
The two boys lifted Shirley, making their way out of the kitchen. When they entered the dining hall, Sam could not help but noticed the bloody message on the wall.
"Sam, what are you looking at?" Shirley said, noticing that Sam's hand was still above.
"Can't you guys see that?" Sam asked, not understanding what was happening anymore. Sam lifted his arm and pointed to the well.
"See what?" Stevie asked.
"Yeah, I don't see anything either," Shirley added.
"That text in blood. "Sam explained. "It's painted on the wall."
"I told ya that this boy needs glasses." House projected as he got up before referring to Shirley. "Now stop fooling around and get the poor lady a seat."
As Sam helped his employer sit down, he felt a pinched pain on his left palm. "Ouch, that..."
He was cut off when he opened his hand only to find a glowing green silhouette of a voodoo mark in his palm before he completed his sentence.
"...Hurts".
The story is a battle between the forces of good and evil, with various obstacles blocking the path to success. The story starts off with three teenage girls who are each bullied and outcast in the orphanage/ boarding school ; Sigmund Ross Institution . They discover that they are all children of a god like demon named Zai and inherit demonic abilities that make them targets for a series of mystical creatures who seek their destruction.
Banished to an alternate dimension known as Parabola at a young age for releasing and becoming a host for the omniscient demon, Lilith, Olivia Cult masters her skills as a witch detective to combat supernatural threats that plague the human world and Parabola under the jurisdiction of the inter-dimensional police force, L.I.F.E. Although she yearns to one day reunite with her family, she soon receives a bittersweet opportunity to once again interact in the human world when a sinister occult of supernatural creatures known as The Blessing incapacities most of her allies and threatens to achieve I'm a get an on earth. Olivia must investigate the human world to find The Blessing and stop their plan while also keeping a distance from the family that abandoned her. But she will soon be put to the test tube to determine if she can achieve one of her goals without sacrificing the other.
Janet was adopted when she was a kid -- a dream come true for orphans. However, her life was anything but happy. Her adoptive mother taunted and bullied her all her life. Janet got the love and affection of a parent from the old maid who raised her. Unfortunately, the old woman fell ill, and Janet had to marry a worthless man in place of her parents' biological daughter to meet the maid's medical expenses. Could this be a Cinderella's tale? But the man was far from a prince, except for his handsome appearance. Ethan was the illegitimate son of a wealthy family who lived a reckless life and barely made ends meet. He got married to fulfill his mother's last wish. However, on his wedding night, he had an inkling that his wife was different from what he had heard about her. Fate had united the two people with deep secrets. Was Ethan truly the man we thought he was? Surprisingly, he bore an uncanny resemblance to the impenetrable wealthiest man in the city. Would he find out that Janet married him in place of her sister? Would their marriage be a romantic tale or an utter disaster? Read on to unravel Janet and Ethan's journey.
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."
After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"
Rena got into an entanglement with a big shot when she was drunk one night. She needed Waylen's help while he was drawn to her youthful beauty. As such, what was supposed to be a one-night stand progressed into something serious. All was well until Rena discovered that Waylen's heart belonged to another woman. When his first love returned, he stopped coming home, leaving Rena all alone for many nights. She put up with it until she received a check and farewell note one day. Contrary to how Waylen expected her to react, Rena had a smile on her face as she bid him farewell. "It was fun while it lasted, Waylen. May our paths never cross. Have a nice life." But as fate would have it, their paths crossed again. This time, Rena had another man by her side. Waylen's eyes burned with jealousy. He spat, "How the hell did you move on? I thought you loved only me!" "Keyword, loved!" Rena flipped her hair back and retorted, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, Waylen. Besides, you were the one who asked for a breakup. Now, if you want to date me, you have to wait in line." The next day, Rena received a credit alert of billions and a diamond ring. Waylen appeared again, got down on one knee, and uttered, "May I cut in line, Rena? I still want you."
She was a world-renowned divine doctor, the CEO of a publicly traded company, the most formidable female mercenary, and a top-tier tech genius. Marissa, a titan with a plethora of secret identities, had hidden her true stature to marry a seemingly impoverished young man. However, on the eve of their wedding, her fiance, who was actually the lost heir to a wealthy dynasty, called off the engagement and subjected her to degradation and mockery. Upon the revelation of her concealed identities, her ex-fiance was left stunned and desperately pleaded for her forgiveness. Standing protectively before Marissa, an incredibly influential and fearsome magnate declared, "This is my wife. Who would dare try to claim her?"
They don't know I'm a girl. They all look at me and see a boy. A prince. Their kind purchase humans like me for their lustful desires. And, when they stormed into our kingdom to buy my sister, I intervened to protect her. I made them take me too. The plan was to escape with my sister whenever we found a chance. How was I to know our prison would be the most fortified place in their kingdom? I was supposed to be on the sidelines. The one they had no real use for. The one they never meant to buy. But then, the most important person in their savage land-their ruthless beast king-took an interest in the "pretty little prince." How do we survive in this brutal kingdom, where everyone hates our kind and shows us no mercy? And how does someone, with a secret like mine, become a lust slave? . AUTHOR'S NOTE. This is a dark romance-dark, mature content. Highly rated 18+ Expect triggers, expect hardcore. If you're a seasoned reader of this genre, looking for something different, prepared to go in blindly not knowing what to expect at every turn, but eager to know more anyway, then dive in! . From the author of the international bestselling book: "The Alpha King's Hated Slave."