Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 30: The Last Day of Hunger (Part II)

I didn't know Mikael well.

I knew of him - 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 Tia Valeria's killer down in the undercroft. But regardless of his reasoning, he was here. Present. He was also staring at me expectantly. Or maybe he was analyzing my character; we didn't know each other well, but I knew that he was aware of how "close" I was to Hezekiah. "Close" was subjective, though; I was closer to him than anyone else in the house, which wasn't that close at all since they all kept a considerable distance from him.

"So, what now?" Rocio asked. She wasn't her usual attitudinal self. She was scared. She didn't conceal this fear from us like she usually did.

"We go to the undercroft." Kizzy's eyes lit up like she had an epiphany. "I need to get my crossbow first."

No one questioned her as to why - we knew why. It was cautionary. The reality of how dangerous this expedition was hit us when Kizzy said those words, though. Hezekiah hadn't eaten in a long time, and the last time I was a blood bag to him, my blood literally turned into burning acid in his lungs. I was well aware of how vampires got when they were starved - desperate. Animalistic. Deadly. Hezekiah was an Elder vampire, though. He was well aged. These symptoms weren't as "potent" to him as, say, to a leech. However, it was safe to expect anything with him down there.

Kizzy left with Rocio and Esther to get her crossbow. I stood with Imani and Mikael and waited. I didn't hear anything downstairs or outside. My curiosity was piqued but I didn't dare look out the window again. I didn't want to see Abraham looking up at me, a smile stretching across his dead face. I had to focus on the journey ahead of us. A short journey, but a difficult one. I wondered how much of my blood Hezekiah required in order to be "functional" or at least willing to negotiate with Abraham and his clan. I also wondered if Hezekiah would even be willing to negotiate on our behalf. Maybe he'd rather starve himself out. That wouldn't be wise.

Abraham would become violent if Hezekiah wasn't in his possession again.

"What do you plan on doing once we get to the undercroft?" Imani asked me. This was a question that made her restless, waiting for the answer.

"I give him what he wants in exchange for what we want."

"And what is that?" Mikael asked me. This was the first time he had ever spoken to me. "What is it that you'll give him?"

The answer was simple. In fact, it was an answer that all of us knew already - blood. But I didn't give him a reply, because by the look on his face - this look of disgust and contempt - he wanted me to think of a different answer. An answer that I had already given Hezekiah before. An answer that wasn't blood. It was clear then, how Mikael saw me - a harlot. A whore. A fool, maybe. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt - he hated Hezekiah. With every fiber of his being. The thought of me having sex with him and interacting with him in any other way besides that probably made his blood boil. It probably made the acid in his stomach turn. He probably hated me, or I probably disgusted him. Perhaps I confused him. But he confused me, too: