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CHAPTER 27
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2021-05-02 15:04:50"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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** I didn't know where to start. Realistically, how would you even start with a creature like Hezekiah Mercier? He didn't want to answer any of my questions. Our interaction earlier that day was proof enough of that. So frankly, me being down in the undercroft again with my pajamas on and a candle in my hand was almost counterproductive. However, that instance earlier, I was under the supervision of the Coterie; the questions I asked were the questions they wanted to know the answers to. This time, as Hezekiah and I stood across from each other this late and forbidden in the night, I had different questions. The tides had shifted significantly that day, and I could no longer trust anyone in the house. The only person I felt I could trust had run off back into the city, practically exiled by the Coterie she belonged to. She was
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** That night dragged on like a relentless virus - slow, agonizing and painful. I didn't sleep - I couldn't sleep. The spirits wouldn't let me - they were all around me, watching me. Mama must have welcomed them into our home in addition to letting them into her heart. But it wasn't just the spirits I felt (they were a quiet and respectful bunch), but the thought of Hezekiah running through my mind that made it impossible to sleep. I sat on the bed, hands shaking from anxiety, neck pulsing in pain, wondering what was happening to him. Did his lungs still feel like they were filled with boiling oil? Did he still struggle for breath? Throughout the night, I kept trying my methods of escape, hoping that the latch on the door would unlock or the window would open. But still, they re
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I didn't know Mikael well. I knewofhim - he was the late Tia Valeria's novitiate. One of them. The other had died with everyone else in her House, leaving him as the sole survivor. He was young like the rest of us - an infant in voodooism. He was a lengthy, skinny man; I only ever saw him dressed in white which commonly swallowed him whole. This time, however, he was in pajamas close to the color of his skin - a light brown. Caramel, I suppose. His eyes were tired and heavy but his posture was alert and rigid. His hair, short and curly, was frizzy. His mouth had a natural pout, and his nose was narrow but a bit rounded at the tip. A handsome young man Mikael was, but clearly naive and impressionable - a victim of trauma. I'm surprised he volunteered to come with us, especially since he would be face-to-face with T
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Everyone in the living room had suddenly gone quiet as the banging against the door became louder. Growling and snarling were heard on the other side as if it pained Hezekiah to be kept alone on the other side. The Coterie and everyone in the congregation stared motionlessly at the door, holding onto each other and whimpering at everybangagainst the door. Mama looked at the six of us who ventured down there. She saw the state that we were in, saw our faces, and knew just how grave the situation was. I knew Aza's words rung in her head as she waited for Hezekiah to bust down the door. You should have fed him, Alize. You should have fed him. Suddenly, Mama grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes; I was still in shock, unable
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** The flames, suddenly, disappeared as if they never existed. But the altar, and everything around it, was burned to ashes. I was stunned speechless; I couldn't move. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. What I had seen. Flames reaching up to the ceiling had erupted, the female spirit who spoke to me seemed to dance in them, and then suddenly, these flames were gone. ' I stared at the destroyed altar before trying to snap back into my senses. I walked over to the burned altar, noticing the matchbox. There was only one match that wasn't completely charred and beyond uses. I picked it up, but only held it. I could have tried to burn the parchments again, but the spirit would probably come back. However, there was something else in me that prevented me from burning the parchments
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**I stayed quiet, though there were more than enough questions floating about in my head.I watched silently as Mama tried to patch up my wound. It was sunrise, which alieved only a portion of our anxiety."There," Mama said, tightening the bandage around my arm. "That should hold you off until we can get you stitched up."I barely heard these words coming out of her mouth. I gazed out of the window, looking at the sunrise. Somehow, I wondered if those vampires were burning; if they were caught outside when the sun rays broke the horizon, burning to a definite death. I thought of this, over and over again the higher the sun rose in the lavender sky. Perhaps I didn't wish this death upon all of them; I couldn't help but imagine
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** The smell of rich spices and sausages filled up Miss Aza's home once she and I made the journey downstairs. The Coterie was making gumbo - a huge pot of it for everyone that sat around in the living room. The Coterie was in the kitchen when we made it downstairs, whereas everyone sat on the couch or on the floor, their clothes still dirty and tattered. All them stopped their chatter when they saw me. Everyone went quiet, plagued with questions that they didn't know how to ask. Kizzy, Esther, Imani, and Rocio sat together and stood together when their eyes landed on me. They probably assumed I was dead. They probably thought that I was a lost cause. But I wasn't. I was there, in the flesh, staring at them and waiting for one of them to say something. But none of them did. I wanted to say something - I wanted to tell them of the
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** I spent one minute and sixteen seconds looking at them. Aza and Hezekiah. I spent one minute and sixteen seconds looking at Aza and Hezekiah, back and forth, deep into their eyes, carving out the bridges of their noses, the curvature of their ample lips, and the creases of their brows. I stared at the features they shared until they were one - until I was able to believe that Miss Aza Okoye and Hezekiah Mercier were related. Well, it was actually Camile Mercier. That was Miss Aza's legal name - Camile Aza Mercier-Okoye. And from that, she went by Miss Aza Okoye. Aza and Hezekiah didn't say anything as I looked at them. They knew that I was still in disbelief. In shock. Hezekiah crossed his arms over his chest and wait
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