Chapter 32: Loyalty Among the Undead

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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. This spurt of curiosity - a curiosity that this spirit was smart enough to know I possessed.

So, I kept them. I folded them, stuffed them in my pajama pants. But I didn't know what I was supposed to do next. Mama was still downstairs, holding Abraham and Hezekiah off. But she was doing this so I could burn these papers. However, these papers were not being burned. They were in my possession because this spirit told me to keep them.

Suddenly, Mama came into the room, frantic. Her eyes were back to normal; she was back to normal, the sweat on her brow and wide eyes indication that she was herself again. There was blood on her nightgown on her abdomen paired with a dark, black substance, but she paid it no mind. She rushed in, and the first thing that she did when she came into the room was look at the destroyed altar.

"What happened?" she asked in a short breath. The explanation hung on my tongue but never came off. I stood there, dumbfounded into silence. She would believe me if I told her what happened, but I didn't want to. I couldn't. At least not yet. But she had no time to interrogate the truth out of me.

"Alize!" Abraham called from the hall. His voice was strained as if it pained him to talk. Quickly, Mama shut the door and rushed to the table, where underneath lied a box filled with gris-gris. She picked one up, emptied out a dark powder from the small pouch right onto the floor by the door. She spread it with her hands, then grabbed a piece of chalk from the table and began to draw Papa Legba's veve on the ground.

Go on, girl. Get your Mama that bottle of rum and a candle.

The spirit was back in my head. She gave me instructions, and after a brief moment of disbelief, I decided to follow them. I ran to the altar, used my shirt to grab the charred bottle of rum, the half-melted candle, and the last match.

Now sprinkle the rum on the ground where your mama be at, on Papa's veve. Sprinkle it over the both of you, too.

I followed her instructions carefully. Mama looked at me, stunned, that I knew what to do. I sprinkled some rum on the veve, then on the both of us, before leaving the bottle near the veve. Then I used the last match to light the candle.

Mama grabbed my hands then. She began to chant to Papa Legba, asking for protection; asking to open the gates. Our offering wasn't much, and I felt that this wouldn't aid us. Mama, however, continued to chant, despite Abraham's footsteps growing nearer. It was a panic I had never known. A panic of impending doom looming above us. Abraham was going to kill us. He would kill me, steal these parchments, and find out whatever it is Mama wanted to hide; whatever it is this spirit wanted me to protect.

Vampiro, vampiro, vade retro.

She gave me new instructions, this spirit. These instructions weren't in relation to the Loa; they were in latin. It was a chant, she was saying - a chant to banish a vampire from residence, even if they were initially invited inside. But I didn't know what she told me; I didn't know what she meant. And as Mama continued to call upon Papa Legba over and over, this spirit said these words in latin over and over in my head. She didn't stop until I repeated them aloud. And when I did, Mama came to an epiphany. She tightened her hand around mine and repeated the words with me.

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