The Bliss of the Grave

Ephraim Armer, the only son of a Nephillim aristocrat, had no idea he was being followed on the night he left the protection of a mystical barrier known as the “dark veil” to meet his human lover.

His pursuer was the Wizard Moultrie, a Nephillim traitor, who had worked as a servant in the Armer household for centuries; biding his time until he could shake up the peaceful existence of the half-breed black angels and put things in motion to assume his rightful place on the Nephillim throne. That night, young Ephraim and his lover disappeared without a trace.

The Nephillim King commanded the Brothers of the Dark Veil (“BODV”) to find the missing Nephillim--dead or alive. During their search, Ajuma Akibeel, succumbs to the charms of a beautiful human named Flossie; one of several hundred slaves on the most infamous plantation in the south--Magnolia Hill.

He is soon obsessed with Flossie, “ghosting” onto Magnolia Hill each night to make passionate love to her, and vanishing like the morning mist before the break of dawn. His angelic seed is powerful. Flossie soon gives him a son.

Flossie is eight months pregnant with their second child when she endures a brutal beating by the plantation overseer. She is fearful of what Ajuma’s reaction will be when he finds out what happened to her.

The BODV come up empty-handed after a two year search for Ephraim Armer. They are excited when a low level demon informant named Devius indicates a willingness to disclose information regarding the missing Nephillim—for the right price.

They hold a secret meeting at Maison Plaisir, a popular whorehouse in New Orleans, to plan a mission to meet Devius later that night at the “Nasty Secret”, a watering hole located on the third level of hell.

Ajuma leaves the meeting early; promising to meet his comrades at a gateway to the hells located in the swamp, before heading to Magnolia Hill to snatch a few stolen moments with Flossie.

He goes into a rage when he sees the scars on her back. He promises to return the next day to take Flossie and his son away from Magnolia Hill. Before leaving on his mission, he does what any red-blooded male would do under similar circumstances. He kills the bastard.

They were set up. The Wizard Moultrie was aware of their “secret” meeting. Shortly after Ajuma’s departure, he sends a horde of demons to attack the remaining brothers, making it impossible for them to rendezvous with Ajuma. Moultrie also had a nasty little surprise waiting for Ajuma and his men when they arrived at the Nasty Secret.
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It was high noon the next day. The slaves were toiling under the hot sun when word of the overseer’s murder was passed along in heated whispers. Flossie is implicated in the murder. She is questioned and beaten senseless. When she comes to, her toddler son is lying dead next to her. She immediately goes into labor. She delivers twins.

Ajuma returns to Magnolia Hill nearly two weeks later to find another family living in Flossie’s cabin and two fresh unmarked graves in the slave cemetery. Assuming his family is dead, he goes stark raving mad, making it necessary for the King to exile him from North America. When Ajuma doesn’t return to her, Flossie assumes he is dead.
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Flossie is an old woman when she spies a slave woman burying an item wrapped in white sack cloth in the woods. She returns to the location later to dig it up. Her hands tremble when she uncovers a thick black Grimoire filled with spells and conjurations to perform black majick rituals and invocations to summon demons.

The book belonged to Hannah, a Zanzibar-born witch who’d been to hell and back, only to return with the seed of the devil in her womb. It had been a gift from the Satan, and she was desperate to get it back.

Flossie never does return the book. And Hannah never ceases in her efforts to retrieve it. Flossie’s actions that day open the door to bitter enmity between two powerful families of witches that lasts for centuries.