Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 10: Burn It

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"Here's the changing room, in case your clothes get a little too bloody for them to be wearable."

Rashida guided me through the thrall's quarters, explaining to me where everything was as if I was going to take up permanent residency. I was still in shock that I was abandoned there, but then again, why did I expect anything more from Hezekiah?

Why did I expect anything more from a vampire, at that?

Rashida walked me through the changing room—a small area filled with vanities, lockers and naked women. The thralls stared me down like I didn't belong there or like I was some sort of parasite that was treading my way through. Rashida had to hold my hand and pull me through since my body was nearly immobile. Her words barely registered in my head; my eyes flickered left and right too fast to take anything in.

"I can already tell that you'll be of high demand," Rashida told me, sitting me down at a vanity. "You're young, and I'm sure you haven't been fed on more than this one time." She touched the bite marks on my neck. I flinched away. "Who gave these to you? Hezekiah?"

I didn't know what would happen to me if I explained the story behind the puncture wounds; if she knew I was unable to turn into a vampire, would that 'up' my value? Regardless, I nodded and left my answer at that.

"We're going to have to wipe you down and make you fresh. Here."

Rashida sat me down at an empty vanity, purposefully isolated from the rest of the thralls. The vanity was covered with clouded bottles, labeled in a language that was unfamiliar to me. Rashida took one bottle with a green screen over it and saturated a clean rag with it from inside the vanity drawer. The liquid smelled like garlic mixed with a lot of mint and citrus.

"Wipe down your body with this," Rashida instructed. "You don't have to wipe everywhere, just the main areas where Hezekiah touched you, especially your neck."

So, my entire body, then, I thought to myself.

I took the rag from her and followed her orders, scrubbing my neck until it ached even more and cleaning my skin of Hezekiah's scent and influence. When I was done, she pulled out a package of cookies that looked to be oatmeal raisin.

"Here," she handed me one. "Eat this."

"Why?"

"A vampire's bite is one of the most painful sensations ever known to a human being. Eat this, and it will make the pain turn into pleasure; you won't feel a thing if you catch a patron's eye."

"But it's a cookie?"

"The taste of the original potion is...acquired, so we decided to incorporate it into something that would dull down it's taste. If you want, we could give you a cigarette if that's what you would prefer."

I smelled the cookie and pouted my lips at the scent. It didn't smell too much like oatmeal raisin, but regardless, I bit into it anyway. It was bland and dry, but I finished it without complaining. And after I was done, Rashida took me to the closet to find a better fitting pair of shoes. She decided that what I was wearing was suitable, especially for someone like me that wouldn't be at the Jubilee long. When I remembered who was coming back for me, I shivered even in the intense heat and damp air of the changing room.

"We'll just take in the dress a bit and raise the hem."

Suddenly, with the wave of her long finger, I felt my dress lifting and pulling itself around my waist and thighs. I should have figured by then that Rashida was a witch—a powerful one at that, since Mr. Boone seemed close to her—but what she did to my dress with her fingers shocked me. She pinched her thumb and index finger, twisted her index finger, brought her fingers in and out until my dress felt considerably different on me.