Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 21: Sly Witch

If I was doing to seduce him, it had to be perfect.

"Everyone, just be quiet!" I shouted once my thoughts came together. Surprisingly, they all shut up. They were eager on what I was going to say. I wasn't too great with words, but once my mind was on something, you'd have to pry it off with a great deal of strength before I'd give it up.

"I'm doing this," I said again, smiling awkwardly as if that was supposed to reassure them. Esther was almost crying as if she was being forced to seduce a vampire.

"Lisa -"

"Aza, Erzulie is willing to help us if I do this. We've come too far to blow this opportunity; we didn't waltz into a bayou witch's lair and outrun a group of Leeches just to give up now, right?"

Aza then kept her mouth shut. Even Rocio just looked at me without saying a smart remark. Kizzy almost appeared proud of me. Or maybe she was proud of the fact that I was basically sacrificing myself?

"I don't want us to be the ones who stood by and did nothing if this goes wrong," Aza said quietly, concerned laced on her beautiful face.

"Why don't you stand by, then?"

The disgusted look on Kizzy's face was almost comical.

"Not stand by and watch," I clarified, "but just hide close by. If I think shit's going south, I'll say a code word or something."

"Yeah, like 'help,'" Esther suggested proudly. We just glared at her until Rocio thought of something more practical.

"How about 'it's getting late'?" She said. She looked irritated that she was entertaining this idea, but even she knew that there was no going back to square one, especially in the state the Coterie was in.

"It's getting late," I repeated, looking at everyone to make sure we were on the same page. And to an extent, we were. We agreed to Thursday; Aza knew how to summon a vampire. We would do it at midnight once everyone in the safe house was sleep. On the outside, I displayed an embarrassing excuse for confidence. But on the inside?

I was completely terrified.

**

I didn't eat anything for most of Thursday, save for some potato chips that Mama made me scarf down because I looked like I was losing weight.

Mama was losing weight, too. Most likely from stress. By Thursday, Mama Hepzibah and Missus Taima's Houses went back to their shops in the city. They claimed they left to start death rites for Tia Valeria, upset that we hadn't started them sooner. That paired with the cabin fever plaguing us all was a recipe for disaster in the first place. Mama watched them pack and watched them leave, and once they left, Mama silently began to sage the entire house. She wrapped up the leaves, set them aflame and became mumbling in a language I didn't  know as she walked around the house, smoke clouding around her before rising to the ceiling.

"I'm ridding the house of negative energy," she explained to me when I asked. "It's the last thing we need for the days to come."

Her voice was calm; she was concealing her anger about two Coterie members leaving. I didn't respond immediately. I knew if I opened my mouth I would probably confess to many things - meeting Sajida the Shunned, our run in with Leeches, summoning Erzulie and now, our plan to lure an actual Elder vampire into the goddamn house.

No. I kept my mouth shut tight.

Mama turned to look at me when I didn't say anything in response. Her eyes, almost a brighter shade of blue than I previously remembered, bore into me. The irritation faded away to concern for me. She placed the burning sage in a bowl and touched my face.