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CHAPTER 19
Last Updated:
2021-05-02 15:03:53**
The vampire hunters called themselves the Silver Syndicate.
Founded in New Orleans right after the civil war ended—1865 or 1866, Jonathan wasn't too sure on the exact date. At first, their sole purpose was to hunt down any abominations against God—witches, werewolves, vampires, what have you. Then the vampire epidemic began to worsen (coincidentally, after Marie Laveau's death in 1881). People went missing, ravaged bodies were found by riverbanks and in alleyways and people reported mysterious "human bite marks" on their necks. That's when the Silver Syndicate became dedicated to the eradication of those infected with vampirism. And quickly, their membership began to grow.
"We're a fraction of a small collective," Jonathan explained to Miss Az
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** I dressed quickly. Sweat stains were already showing through my white blouse. Seeing the altar for the very first time pushed my nervousness to an entirely different level. It was large, heavily accented and decorated with sparkling jewels, bric a brac, flowers and bottles of rum and wine. And the candles - dozens of them, not yet lit but bright with innocent colors of blue and pink, Erzulie's veve painted on some of them. When I came out of the bathroom and back into the room everyone was already dressed, having taken less time hyperventilating since a ceremony like this isn't unfamiliar to them. As a supplicant, I was the one that was to tell Erzulie what I wanted. The hard part was if she was going to listen to our plea for help anyway. The dozens of candles that crowded the a
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** Erzulie's point was made abundantly clear. Well, I was a little confused when she began crying, rambling about the fate of humanity, but besides that, she had made her point very clear. Once she left us, Rocio was in denial about what had just happened. "No." she shook her head, expelling the ideas from her mind. "There's no way. Erzulie isn't going to make Lisa do that, Aza. Right?" "Her terms were clear," I said, trying to keep a level head. "She said -" "I know what she said, Lisa," Rocio snapped at me as ifshewas the one tasked with seducing a vampire. I didn't have the energy to deal with Rocio's rudeness but instead wondered just how this was go
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** It was ironic, how quickly the tables had turned. The last time we'd known each other, Hezekiah intentionally bed me without even "bedding" me at all, successfully using me as a passage to steal what belonged to Mama and the Coterie. I felt like an idiot for letting that happen. My body gave into him so easily, hypnotized by his touch and his mastery of the female body. Goddammit, I was completely submissive to him that night. But now, the tables have turned. Oh, how they've turned. Now, my hands were pushed into Hezekiah's firm chest until his back was against the couch completely. I let him know that this time, I was in control. And he was willing to play along only because I had teased him to the point of him needing me
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Stabbing Hezekiah and rendering him unconscious was the easy part, believe it or not. The hard part lied in what to do with him next.Jonathan and Miss Aza hauled Hezekiah up and carried him to the exit of the attic. I helped, too; Hezekiah was heavier than I thought. His skin was cold and lifeless."We got to get him to the basement," Aza told us, sure of herself. So, we opened the door and gently walked down the stairs with a vampire around our arms. Kizzy, Esther, and Rocio were behind and in front, acting as the look-out, but their effort was quickly shot down when we saw someone coming down the hall. We stood completely still as Imani turned the corner, her eyes narrowed as if she was awakened suddenly. Hezekiah's collapse must have been louder than we anticipated.It was fo
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Mama hadn't said a word after Sajida left. Even when she went into the basement and saw Hezekiah's body asleep in the coffin we put him in, she was speechless. Kizzy and I stood back and just watched her, waiting for what she would do next. My pendant was still in her hand; she hadn't given it back because she did come in contact with me other than the deathly look I got from her when Sajida left. Aza stood beside her, wanting to explain, but waiting to see if Mama was ready to hear it. She just continued to stare at Hezekiah's body like she refused to believe or like she was struggling to understand how this was possible right under her nose. "I was trying to find the right time to tell you," Aza said softly, like trying to calm a lion. "I was going to tell you, A
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** Mama retired to her room after that. She didn't say a word to me. She didn't want to. I could see it in her eyes - she was almost ashamed at what had become of her. Sajida's words were proven true; the spirits came through her in her moment of anger. I stood on the front porch, stunned into silence. Hezekiah was gone by then, taken down into the basement - the "Undercroft" as some House members were calling it. Everyone was on edge, even when the vampire was locked away deep underground. And as they all cowered in fear, they looked at me as if I was the enemy. To them, I was supposed to let Hezekiah's hand burn. I was supposed to stand by and watch, no matter how gruesome. But what they didn't understand was that it wasn't about Hezekiah's hand. It was about Mama - what she w
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I felt like the Coterie's footsteps were chasing after me. One by one, the click of a heel right after the click of my own on the steps, half a second after my own. They were onto me, literally and figuratively. When we reached the bottom of the staircase, we all began walking through the living room, the House members staring on as we marched towards the Undercroft. I felt a chill come through - a draft the closer I got to the door, even in the intense summer. Two male House members stood by either side of the door. They opened it silently, the portal dark on the other side, save for the occasional lantern hanging on the wall's descent to the basement. Aza stepped ahead first, walking down the wooden staircase with a sense of pride and self-worth in her stride. She wouldn't let the Coterie see right through her and deteriorate her sp
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** "What did he say?" That was the first thing the Coterie asked me when I had come back from the undercroft. They all stood in the living room, waiting for me to come through the basement door. And when I did, they bombarded me. However, they saw it on my face - they knew something was wrong. "What happened?" Nene asked me, her voice graver than before. I didn't say anything. I didn't know exactly what to say, really. The words they wanted to hear did not exist; they would never hear them. I sat down on the couch. None of them sat with me, except for Aza, who walked over to the plush seats and sat down right next to me. "Nothing," I finally said. Silence prevailed. The
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** When I awoke, the sun had already risen. It poured into my room, filling it with warmth. I sat up but very slowly; my head was throbbing to the point of it being hard to concentrate on where I was. It took me a few moments to realize that I was in my bedroom, lying in my bed, in my mama's house. The last thing I remembered from the night prior was Abraham threatening to kill Miss Aza. With this memory, I jumped out of bed in a panic, wondering if he had succeeded and oblivious to the events that preceded his threat. I ran out of the room, through the quiet hall and downstairs, yelling her name. The longer the silence carried, the larger my fears grew, I imagined that everyone was at a service for Aza or burying her body in
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I have tried with every fiber of my being to remember the rest of that night from my own account. I have gone through multiplelave tets, have spoken to my ancestors and to the loa, have channeled my djab, have convened with other mambos in an attempt to remember the events that preceded Abraham ordering Hezekiah to give Aza the Gift of Darkness, but it doesn't come to me. Some have told me it's common to black out after possession, so I have settled at that conclusion. I only remember the moment right before Marie Laveau possessed me and the moments after she abandoned my body. Everything between was told to me by others, so this account is stitched together by other witnesses; it is not my own, though I hope it will be one day. **
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** For some reason, I felt like I had been waiting for this meeting with Abraham my entire life. Walking towards the balcony after the meeting was over, this feeling of forbiddance deep within me as I had snuck off while the Coterie was not looking, I felt like I was reaching the end of the race and near claiming my prize. But what prize was there to claim from him? Knowledge? Deceit? I was unsure. I wouldn't find out until I opened the balcony door in front of me. The balcony had to be reached by entering the master bedroom, which was, of course, unused and completely empty, save for a bed and a dresser, both covered with a white sheet. The room was completely dark, and the only source of light came from the moon outside shining through the balcony doors.
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** Abraham's hand was cold and lifeless, like the gradual shift of the air in the room. My hand looked small in his—puny. His fingers completely enveloped mine. The music, which was still playing, was a slow and almost melancholy piano number, however, Abraham wanted to dance to it, so we did. My left hand rested on his shoulder (which wasn't an easy feat; I had to stretch a bit) and his right hand rested directly underneath my arm. We started off slow; I followed his lead. My body was stiff out of extreme nervousness. I couldn't look at him; I looked at his bowtie, which was nearly eyelevel. He knew that I was overtaken with nerves; he could sense it. Smell it. We moved slowly in our little space, the entire world, it seemed, watching.
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** There were eyes on me from every corner of the room. All from different factions, and all for different reasons. Never would I think I would be at a level of such importance at a function such as this one—with vampires and witches and voodoo priestesses, all high and low in rank, but still more significant than me. However, I was more influential than I thought; I was more significant than I thought. And I was coming to terms with this newfound jump in rank. Yet it wasn't the time to bask in this new knowledge. I was here to find a different type of knowledge—from Abraham. It would be nearly impossible to find a good time to speak to Abraham and ask him what I wanted to know; there were people everywhere, and most of these people were infected with the disease that not only g
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** I had locked myself in the guest bedroom with the black box as my only form of company that night. No one came to me; I was left alone, which heightened my suspicions about the truth I had brought to them. I sat on the floor, still dressed in white and covered in dirt and dried sweat. The ball gown lied on the bed, staring back at me. I thought about trying it on; I didn't need to know how it fit, since Jeffrey assured me that the dress was correct to my measurements. But I wanted to see myself in this dress. Is this how Russell Van Doren remembered me one hundred and fifty years in the past—wearing this gown when it was common attire at the time? I expected Hezekiah to knock on the window and let himself in the room, trying to explain himself and his actions; his reasoning f
