Dani and the Bull

Authors Note:

So here I am back again, after three crashed hard drives, and two computers, I finally got to the stories I thought I had lost forever and believe me it will not happen again. I will be doing my best to do some more work on them and A Ride to Heaven and Back Part 2 in the near future. You'll also find that Dani and Bull decided to pull some twists and turns on me that needless to say I was not prepared for but that will come clear in a later chapter. Not only do they have to battle the forces of good and evil, but now they have to return the balance of nature to its rightful place.

What a mess, but they will muddle through as always, and I just hope I can do them the justice they deserve.

Hugs

Darkstone57

Chapter 12

Dani sat in the café booth and rested against Bull, it was morning now and after a long night the only thing left to do was wait for the tires to be replaced. Meantime she was listening to Bull, Red and Bull's cousin J.C. talk about odd shit happening. She was still recovering from the sickness that had hit here when she had realized Nick and Jessie were close by. It had never been so bad before, she hadn't even had the strength to call her demon to help Bull and the others fight him off. What the hell had Nick hit her with last night?

"Are you sure you don't need to go see a doctor Dani...?" J.C. looked at her with concern in his eyes, the same color eyes that her beloved Bull had. His daddy was one of Pierre's brothers, one who had left the bayou for a career in the Army and after his own stint in the Marines; J.C. had settled in this small town and joined the police department.

"I'll be fine, just cold and still feeling a little nauseated. Bull will warm me up later..." She felt weak and it showed in her voice, and lack of energy.

The two men grinned at her as they looked at the way Bull kept his arm around her in his possessive manner. "I'm sure he will Dani, still can't believe you've come back Beau, most of the family thought you were dead when we heard you had run off, only your daddy, and your momma kept telling everyone that you weren't. I think a lot of us thought since you were so young when you did it that something bad had happened to you. But I can honestly tell daddy and the others that you are very much alive, and you found yourself one hell of a good looking woman in the process." He grinned then his voice took a serious tone. "Beau, last night..."

Red smiled, "You can ask him, we spent five years in the same jail cell, I know all about his demon. I felt it last night, what the hell you think made me think of Beau. Only felt power like that once or twice before, usually when someone pissed him off big time."

J.C. nodded, "so it was you I felt last night, but there was more and something else..." He sounded concerned.

Dani gave him a nod. "Part of it was from my family, the other thing you felt belonged to a man named Nick Jensen. I know he hit me with something last night, something new. I can normally recover from one of his attacks easy, but not this one. I think I need to get to Massie and Maylene for the answers...even my demon is feeling weak and not up to par. Wouldn't be so bad, but me and Bull, we're having a baby..."

"That explains it, I can see the charms, but that baby doesn't have any protection. He's not attacking you Dani; he's attacking your unborn child. I remember Massie and Maylene talking about such things when I would go to visit. We need to get you to New Orleans as soon as possible."

Red looked at them, "Well count me in, I owe Beau my life, he saved my ass more times than I care to think, and I ain't going to sit here on my ass wondering if you all are okay. I can find a new job down south, if I don't head up to Oregon when this is all over." He grinned as he stood up, "just don't go leaving without me."

"I promise we won't..." Though if she didn't get to feeling better she didn't know what was going to happen. Nick was attacking her son? She wanted to hear more but her maternal instinct was taking over and she went inside herself to check on the fetus, yes, she saw it now, a dark spot and it was growing, the sparks of the families doing their best to hold it back, but the darkness was strong and most were struggling to not fade. She noticed that Pierre's spark and that of her grandfather Charles were the strongest. "Bull, he's right, I need to get to your momma, and granny Maylene..."

She began to shiver and Bull half carried her out into the bright sunshine. The truck was loaded, and ready to go, even as he carefully helped her in, Red came rolling up on a sweet looking Harley Electra-Glide and smiled brightly. Her brother Dave was ready to go as well, and Mike brought Rose to her.

"She's been whining all night, trying to get to you. Dads' in paying for the tires and all, he says get your asses moving. We'll catch up."

J.C. nodded. "I got some business to take care of but I'll catch up too, hit the freeway and don't stop for anyone. I got some friends on the highway patrol force, they'll help, and most of them are bayou boys too..." He grinned and touched her face. "You'll be fine cousin; you got a whole family who will be watching out for you."

His touch seemed to help warm her as much as the blanket her mom had brought out and the feel of Rose against her as well, she saw Bull's look of fear. "Get us to New Orleans honey, I know you'll get us there safe, I'm letting you drive my truck aren't I?"

Bull smiled and reached out to touch her face. "Yes you are love, now rest. Protect our child; I'll get you to Momma and grandma."

The trip south was like a dream to Dani, she knew they stopped for gas, and she could hear the purr of her truck engine as well as her brother's Harley and the Electra-Glide. Various voices spoke to her in her mind and the clearest were her grandfather and a soft, low voice she was sure was that of her lovers' father. She could hear Massie and Maylene's as well, their tones more like a chant than anything, and her mind filled with what sounded like a hundred women's voice reciting the same chant. Her voice was there as well, and her momma and Katie...Sue and Annie were chanting, and her grandma Dee, all of them weaving some kind of spell around her and her child.

At the house in New Orleans, it was Bull and Jessie who helped her inside, up the wide sweeping staircase and into a room filled with a thousand candles. A tall, stately woman with rich cocoa skin and bright shining eyes stood waiting and they quickly stripped off her clothes. There was a smell in the room and it seemed to ease all the fear and tension she felt as she did as Bull told her and breathed deep.

"He's in her like a viper, they be holding him off but we need to do the spell quickly, Bull you bring her momma, and sister in law up here as soon as they arrive, I need all the women folk close and you men down stairs to help hold the shield we wove around this house..." The voice was old and the face that Dani saw was ancient. When Bull was gone, the old woman looked at her with a soft smile. "You and the baby going to be fine granddaughter, just going to weave a little magic to protect the boy from that evil he put in him. This may hurt, feel like you going through childbirth, but it be okay, Mister Charles and Pierre, they holding him off. You bring our Beau home child, and he bring you to us...nothing going to happen to you or the babe at all."

Even as she spoke, a new scent came to Dani, a familiar smell, and the touch of a hand silvery light and soothing. "Lily..." She spoke the name and a soft breeze blew across her face. "Lily is here..."

"That's right; she came to being when you were born, your own guardian angel Dani..." Massie smiled. "She's here to help, and she'll stay until you don't need her anymore."

"I'll always need Lily...she's part of my family..."

She wove in and out of sleep as the two bayou women wove the spell around her and the baby. She could feel Nick fighting the spell, and Rose whimpered as she licked her face and yet stayed close. Like before she could heard the voices of women chanting and the sounds of men repeating after them. Bull and her father came through the strongest, and she clung to them as the pain hit her over and over, then there were others and like before a shield seemed to come up around her child. She fell into a deep sleep as the last of Nick's evil was driven from her and her child.

Bull woke as she moved beside him in the bed and Rose licked his face as if to tell him that Dani was coming back from her sleep of restoration. He had needed to argue with almost every woman in the house to be able to sleep with her last night, but he had been so scared, and he had needed to know he would be there when she woke. Now he felt her move close to his body and her arm wrap around his waist. He could taste her demon this morning, tired but almost back to normal, and the spark of their son was snug and secure as well. He hated to think of moving but he needed to piss and let his momma and the others know she was waking up.

He had barely moved when her arm tightened and she mumbled, "No...don't get up yet..."

He smiled. "I need to piss honey, don't think your grandma would appreciate me pissing all over the silk sheets we're sleeping on."

"She'd just replace them; every bed in this place is covered with silk sheets. What color are these?"

"A deep, rich purple, like most everything else in here, even the rug and wall paper."

Her lips turned up in a smile. "This is the room I slept in when I was here as a little girl. I love this room..." Her eyes opened just a little. "At least I did...I don't remember it being this purple..."

Bull laughed and got out of bed, making his way to the bathroom, he glanced back and saw her sitting up and lighting a cigarette. When he came back, he noticed her eyes moving up and down his body. "What?" he asked the question even though he knew the answer.

"Why the hell are you wearing those pajama pants?"

Even before he could answer the door to the bedroom opened and her Aunt Jessie came in, followed by her grandma Claire, his momma and grandma, as well as Helen. It was Aunt Jessie who answered. "Because young lady, the last thing we need is you two forgetting about the spell and getting busy before Massie and Maylene had a chance to come check you out."

Dani looked at him and he nodded. "It was the only way they would let me stay here last night."

"Well that bites...I hope you know tonight they will not be in this bed with me...we sleep nude or else..."

Helen grinned, "She's back to normal. Told you Jessie, since she met Bull, she's turned into a little sex pot, and hellion." Her mom moved up and kissed her forehead. "Morning sweetie, feel like eating..." When she nodded, Helen looked at him. "I'll bring you both plates up. I know you didn't eat at all either yesterday Bull..."

"No he was too busy breaking every speeding law in Louisiana." Her brother Dave came in with a bowl of food and one of water for Rose. "Sorry to interrupt, but the little lady has to have her breakfast too."

When the little pup was eating he left the room and Bull watched as his momma and grandmother checked Dani over. Granny Maylene nodded. "You'll be fine child. Week or two in the swamps fix you up just fine. Get you out of this smoggy city air." She looked up at Aunt Jessie as the large woman started to protest. "Now Miss Jessie just be for a while. You have plenty of time with her and the man who left home as a boy. We got the house protected and your boy Jack and his sons to keep you company. We need to go home and lay Pierre to rest..."

Dani's aunt nodded. "I forgot Maylene, just been so long since we seen her and of course, It's been fourteen years since you've seen Beau."

Bull nodded. "not to mention that Nick and his brother will have a hard time finding her in the swamps...it will also give her some time to recover and get her strength back..."

"Massie I apologize, it seems your long lost son does have some sense after all, when he isn't thinking with his cock. Though I had my doubts when Helen told us she was already pregnant. Seem in this day and age, a gown man would know how to prevent..."

Bull frowned, and despite the fact her aunt was both a lady and bigger than he was, she was pushing her luck with him. He would tolerate a lot for Dani's sake, but...

"That's enough Aunt Jessie..." Dani's voice was sharp and biting. "It took two of us to make this baby and you know it. So leave Bull alone. And I don't want to hear you talk to him like he's some Neanderthal either, to him or about him. You don't know a single thing about him and you will give him a chance or I will take my baby and my man and I will go to the swamps and be just like my father and forget this house exists, is that understood?"

There was a soft twitter and her grandma Lazarus smiled. "My word, she has a temper Jessie, now move your ass you old bitch and let me in to see my granddaughter."

The only person in the room who didn't tower over her grandmother Claire was his own granny Maylene and the two old ladies were both bent over and crippled up to the extent of looking like twins if they'd had the same skin tone. Jessie moved and Bull watched as the small package of pastel chiffon and silver colored hair move up to the bed. She bent over even farther to kiss her granddaughter on the cheek and smile softly.

"You go with Massie and Maylene, me and Jessie will be just fine and we'll be coming to the funeral anyway. As for you having your hand in making that baby, I don't doubt you're just as hot blooded as your grandfather and father were and are. Jessie and I are just concerned you getting pregnant so soon and all the trouble going on. You're our heir Dani, oh the boys will all inherit cash, but this house and a trust fund are yours when both Jessie and I are gone. And as for Bull, he's a good man, and I have no doubt he worries just as we do about it all happening so fast..."

That was putting it mildly, the last thing he wanted to have happen was something happening to Dani or their child when it came to the final showdown with Nick. Both of them were going to be in the line of fire. All he could do was trust his grandmother's magic and hope the shield held.

Helen returned with food, and the other ladies left the room. "Are you two okay now?"

Dani nodded and Bull came to sit by her on the bed. "I didn't know what was happening, and I felt so sick...I want him suffering mom, I want him to be withering in pain on the ground and me standing over him laughing. I've never felt hatred for him like I do now..." Her eyes flared with the emotions she was feeling and both Helen and Bull and the others in the house felt her demon roar as it had never roared before. Even hardened men like her dad and brothers were startled by its power and Bull pulled her close.

"Eat, you both need your strength, and so does my grandson. Bull, take care of them in the swamp, make them as strong as you, and prepare her all you can..." To his surprise, Dani's mom came and kissed him on the forehead. For a minute she held him as strongly and as close as he held Dani. "And don't be too hard on Jessie and Claire they're just two lonely old ladies who have had a hard life."

"I won't, as long as they don't upset Dani again..."

When Helen was gone, he made sure Dani ate and he ate what he could of his. He had little appetite and in the end, half of it was still on his plate when it joined hers on the tray. Laying back on the bed, Dani's head on his shoulder, and her fingers tracing the lines of his chest, he just felt the need to be quiet. She knew it and like him was content to just lay there and feel their closeness.

Neither of them were surprised when they drifted off to sleep and slept until late into the evening.

Dani woke and moved off the bed long enough to use the bathroom then go back to where Bull was just stirring. The air was cooler now, and the smell of Wisteria and Magnolias mingled together in an almost sickening sweet scent. Going to the two French doors, she threw them open and stepped out on the veranda that encircled the first and second floors. She could remember sleeping out here when she had been young but the smell of flowers not being so strong.

When Bull came out, she settled into his arms and knew this was where she belonged, in his arms, feeling him do his best to protect her and their child. It had been no empty threat that she had spoken to her aunt Jessie, and it would have been the same no matter if it had been her grandma Claire. She would defy Heaven and Hell as well if they tried to separate them. "Bull," she kept her voice soft. "When we get to the swamp...will Maylene do the Blood Ritual if I ask?"

He tensed, then relaxed. "Are you sure Dani, you know what that ritual means."

She knew...Maylene had told her about it on the phone once. It was as good as a marriage ceremony, but it could only be performed by a member of one of the couple's family. It had been used in lieu of a marriage ceremony went two people of different races wanted to join, but law prohibited it. Maylene had laughed as she told Dani the stories of white women who had fallen in love with slaves or servants and come to the swamps for the ritual, and then gone home to husbands and families carrying the blood of those slaves and servants. Even funnier to her was that in more than one case, the husbands or male members had done it too at one time or another as well.

Even as Bull asked her, she knew that it wasn't fair of her to ask him to make such a commitment right now. He was just finding his way back from being confined for five years. She knew he loved her, she knew it grew everyday that they spent together. Shouldn't that be enough for now? She made no mention of that moment he had tensed, instead she shook her head. "Forget I asked that...I guess it's just the fear of what's waiting out there for us."

Bull nuzzled her neck. "I'm just as afraid as you are Dani, and yes, we can ask Granny to perform the ritual, but I want more from you. The ritual was hidden for so long, and is seldom used now. When you asked, I was afraid maybe you didn't want to admit to anyone...I should have known better, you stood up to your aunt without hesitation. I've never had anyone defend me like you did who wasn't my family."

"Bull, I would defend you with my dying breath if I had to. I know a lot of people might think I was crazy, being so young and yet so determined, but I can't help it. It's like the baby, yes, I might have liked to wait until I was older and we knew each other longer, but I'm not sorry it's in me, and this baby, it was conceived in genuine love. Not the here today, gone tomorrow kind of love that most people my age feel, but a love that will go on long after you and I are ashes in the wind. I guess I am more like my family then I thought I was..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because there is a thing in our family that when we fall in love, it isn't just a passing fancy, it's the real thing and it only happens once in our lifetime. Like mom, and dad, they knew from the moment they met that it was going to be them against the world. Mike and Katie, they fought like cats and dogs growing up, but one day they just looked at each other and that was that, they've been together ever since. Hell, look at Annie and Zach. It's the same way, it's like there is something in our blood that we just know. Why do you think I forgave you about Sue so fast, and so easy?"

"I admit I had expected you to make me work for it, I know how you feel about your friends and your family..."