The parlour was more comfortable indeed. Étienne had gestured for us to sit down on the beautiful settee's that surrounded a small cocktail table and had requested that tea be brought in by one of the helpers at the church. We were poured cups of Assam tea in delicate china cups and added our own sugar and milk. I sipped daintily at my cup while my Aunt who was never one for being reserved in any way at all, just poured the tea down her throat.

'You never change Morrigan, you never change.' Étienne shook his head and grinned at my Aunt as he sipped his own tea. He then turned to me after resting his cup and saucer down on the table.

'Now, Madelyn. I assume you're wondering why your Aunt has brought you here?'

'I am actually. I thought we were just going to visit one of her friends down the road.'

Étienne chuckled.

'It's part of your initiation. When magic users have had their awakening and just before their initiation; they are given a gift from another branch of magic. As a protective good luck charm. And that is why I'm honoured as a friend of your family, to present you with this.'

Étienne reached down to the shelf under the cocktail table and brought up an intricate leather bound box and opened it. From inside the box, he produced a small leather pouch and rose from his seat. Étienne then knelt down beside me and took an item from the pouch. He asked to hold out my left wrist and gracefully tied a bracelet to it. I looked at it, snug fitting to my wrist. There were charms attached to the bracelet, the main part of it was in fairly thick leather to which a piece of silver was attached that had some symbols I had never seen before engraved in to it. Another part of the bracelet had a dark coloured cowrie shell set in to it. I could feel an energy coming from the bracelet and much like the one my Aunt had gifted me; it felt comforting. I marvelled at the bracelet for a moment before turning to Étienne.

'I don't know what to say but, thank you so much!' I squealed. 'I can feel the energy in it.'

'And may it serve you well Madelyn.' Étienne said, he stood back up and made his way back to the settee.

We had a chat for a little while about magic stuff; namely where I was up to in my studies, had I managed to get along with "that difficult family spell book." Auntie M and Étienne talked shop for quite a while as well; something about an exorcism of a young mother to be who's child was at risk, it sounded awful. Auntie M asked about Étienne's twin niece and nephew; everyone was expecting them to have their awakening soon and Auntie M was to present them with magical gifts when they had their initiation so that meant they would be paying us a visit in the future.

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Étienne then spoke to me at length about Haitian Vodou, of which he was a high priest and had taken an active part in the religion for a very long time. He explained that Vodou was often misrepresented especially in the media with the likes of voodoo dolls and being associated with dark magic.

'The media shows our ways in the worst light, it's become quite tiresome.' He said. He went on to tell me that their religion was a means for the practitioners to communicate with gods and the dead, specifically family members and that some practitioners just happened to be actual magic users; like himself.

'Magic users come from all walks of life Madelyn. And it depends on the life you lead and choices you make that determine what kind of user you are.'

That made perfect sense. I knew where he was coming from. Vodou practitioners who were real magic users were healers and protectors and provided comfort to those who had lost loved ones, not people who cursed others at a whim and stabbed needles in to dolls resembling people they wanted to hurt. I suppose the media were really to blame for all of the lies and tall tales about vodou, most likely from those who had probably never even been anywhere near it and decided to make it seem exotic, mysterious and dangerous. I suppose it was the same for us regular old run-of-the-mill witches as well, we always seemed to get a bad rap too in TV and films and stuff. But like Étienne said; it was still down to the personal choice of the magic user themselves on if they used their gifts for good or bad.

It was getting late on for us, UK time at least it was going on up to four o'clock in the afternoon but in New Orleans it was almost ten in the morning.

'Would you like to stay for our afternoon sermon? You would both be more than welcome.' Étienne asked us both.

'I'm sorry but we cant I'm afraid, we have business to attend to.' Auntie M replied.

'Ah, your sacrificial murderer. I hope you resolve this issue swiftly.'

'I do too. There's been too many dead women turning up for my liking and it'll start drawing attention to us, that's if it hasn't done already.' Auntie M sighed. She stood up from the settee and I followed suit. Étienne swayed over and gave my Auntie M a massive hug and a kiss on the cheek. He soon came to me and did the same.

'Madelyn, I wish you a fantastic initiation tomorrow night. But both of you please, look after each other.

Auntie M and I looked at each other and smiled. 'Of course we will.' We said in unison, giggling a little after.

'Now, I have one more gift for you two.' Étienne smiled warmly. 'I already informed my cousin of your visit today so if you go visit his shop before you leave, he will have beignets for you.'

My Auntie M's face lit up.

'You know me too well Étienne.' She cackled. 'Thank you.'

'Nothing gets between you and fresh beignets, that I do know.'

We left through the front door of the church and on to the street. New Orleans was bustling with people, the sounds, sights and smells hit me with such a force that I had to give myself a moment to take it all in.

'I know we're only here for a flying visit, but I'll bring you back for a longer visit. How does that sound?' Auntie M asked me. I nodded enthusiastically. This was definitely somewhere I could holiday for a bit.

'Great! Now come on and lets go get these beignets you're gonna love them.'

I had no idea what beignets were but I followed Auntie M through the oldy-worldy streets of New Orleans. Knowing her, it was probably food.