Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 25: Pariah

**

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 was letting take over her. I didn't want Sajida's words to win, even if it was inevitable that they would.

I looked at Aza once everyone began shuffling into the house. She was upset - more upset than I anticipated. The heat lingered, sweat dripping down my neck - a mix from the heat and stress. My body was growing sore from being thrown across the room by Mama's hand. Everything hurt, inside and out.

Aza, frown deepened and creased, tilted her head towards the house, silently telling me to go inside. I didn't want to; it didn't feel safe. I didn't feel safe around my own mother who was somewhere upstairs. But I entered anyway. There was an eerie quietness that lingered despite all of the people that filled the room. They all stared at me, whispering loud enough for me to here. The comments consisted of how this was all my fault - how I brought a vampire into the house, how I put everyone in danger, and how I couldn't have been Madam Dumont's daughter.

Even though there were many more involved, I was the main culprit. But I took this with pride as I walked up the staircase. Slowly, I took in every step, knowing everyone was still staring at me. I took a deep breath, still processing everything that had happened. My hands gripped the railing, almost splintering my palm before I continued my ascent. On the second floor, the Coterie were meeting together, gathering around the table with quiet, frantic voices. Priestess Qadira was praying silently to herself, trying to pretend that what just happened actually didn't happen. When they saw me, they stopped talking immediately. Their faces slowly molded into a scowl.

"Alisande," Mambo Nene said. My full name - I knew I was in trouble.

I thought about apologizing. I thought about defending myself. I even thought about confessing everything, from the night Hezekiah stole Marie Laveau's seal to seducing him and stabbing him with a vampire hunter's dagger enchanted by Erzulie herself. They would either shun me for lying or realize I was telling the truth, plunging their sisterhood into chaos and disorder. Mama was nowhere in sight, isolating herself after the incident on the porch; their leader was gone, and a vampire was in their basement - one from Abraham's clan. I had to make a choice given the sensitivity of the situation; I was going to confess everything as smoothly as I could. And I almost did, until a firm hand on my shoulder stunned me into silence.

Miss Aza stood next to me with Kizzy, Rocio, and Esther at her side. Don't say a goddamn word, now, was what her look conveyed to me. I said nothing.

"Aza," Mambo Nene said, waddling over to her. "We need to convene."

"I figured," Aza said.

"What about Alize?" Ava Claudette asked.

"What about her?" Nene replied. "You saw what happened, Ava. She ain't in no state to be with us right now."

"We can't convene without the rest of the sisters," Babette said. "Taima and Hepzibah ain't here, Alize ain't here, neither."