Ravens of Eternity

MAISON DU SOLEIL 1800's

Unease trickled down Laurents spine as he entered the brothel. Maison du Soleil’s interior was cooler than the oppressive heat outside. There were rumors about this place, they also called it the house of eternity, you can lose yourself in the sins of the flesh and never return.

He adjusted his cufflinks and wrinkled his nose as the scent of death clung to his clothes. Death and smoke, there were bodies piled up in gutters and in mass graves. A plague had come down on them and they blamed the house of pleasure.

Gabriel was going down the path of losing himself to Maison du Soleil. Peering into the room off his right he saw a flame-haired woman watching him. The candles reflected off her eyes, he gave a shudder as he saw her watch his every move.

“Bonjour, how may I help you, Mr. Matise?” He eyed the petite blonde and he saw her for what she really was, a creature of myth, a siren that lured men with the promise of bliss between her legs. Smiling at him he sneered down at her and shook his head, why his brother felt the need to come here every night was beyond him.

She wrinkled her small nose and took a step away from him. He brushed off ashes from his shoulders, he looked into another room and saw a couch with three women draped over a man who was moaning and writhing in pleasure. He thought he saw blood smeared on the mouth of one of the whores as she lifted her face from his chest.

“If you are searching for your brother, he is in the game room.” She gave him an appraising look and then disappeared up the stairs. The rooms were perfumed and the underlying stink of sex clung to the air. Laurent sighed as he made his way down the narrow hall. His eyes tried to adjust to the dim interior of the house.

He needed to get his brother out of the city, tempers were running high and he heard the whispers that people were coming to burn the house of the sun, down to the ground. The people did not care if there were innocents involved, that the people inside the house of ill repute may have families outside the walls. The crazed preacher running the mob

He finally found the game room and saw women cozied up to his brother, his blonde hair seemed to glow gold in the candlelight. The women’s eyes reflected the light like the predators that hunted the swamps at night. Flashing their teeth at him they left the room and Gabriel scowled at his brother.

Laurent sat across from him and placed his hands on the table. He believed the rumors that circled the brothel, it was the only one in New Orleans that had such a dark and sordid story attached to it. Some of the rumors said that the patrons were killed by the women.

“Brother to what do I owe this displeasure if you came to preach about the sins of the flesh,” he leaned back and smirked at him. “I assure you that I have already indulged in all of the sins that you can imagine.”

Laurent sighed and rubbed his forehead; he was trying not to succumb to the seduction of the women in this place. It grew more difficult every time he walked over the threshold. He absently touched the medal under his shirt. He was not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination but he at least did not spend all his time gambling and seducing whores.

Sanya said the medal was blessed and that it would keep the evil from the brothel from consuming him. She told him darkness dwelled in these walls and that it would be their undoing. Gabriel tapped his fingers on the table the poker chips clicking together, the cards fluttered to the floor as a breeze from the Gulf blew through the open window.