Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 58: Her Soul Wakes

I have tried with every fiber of my being to remember the rest of that night from my own account.

I have gone through multiple lave tets, have spoken to my ancestors and to the loa, have channeled my djab, have convened with other mambos in an attempt to remember the events that preceded Abraham ordering Hezekiah to give Aza the Gift of Darkness, but it doesn't come to me. Some have told me it's common to black out after possession, so I have settled at that conclusion.

I only remember the moment right before Marie Laveau possessed me and the moments after she abandoned my body. Everything between was told to me by others, so this account is stitched together by other witnesses; it is not my own, though I hope it will be one day.

**

Before Marie took over my spirit, I watched in horror as Abraham continued to point at Miss Aza down below. Hezekiah continued to gaze at Miss Aza as if the longer he stared, the larger the chance of Abraham's request going away would be. But it never did.

"Abraham," Hezekiah began, but he didn't know what to say or how to sway his position. Hezekiah had committed the highest offense to Abraham, and the only way to amend for what he had done would be to carry out the order that Abraham had set fourth, but he couldn't. Aza was family. To ask this of him would be to ask him to cross a line that he never thought he would cross.

"Don't tell me that you want to protect that vile voodoo witch," Abraham spat.

"She's my family," Hezekiah said—pleaded.

"Your family is gone. This brotherhood is all you have left. You shall be loyal to us as we've been loyal to you."

I couldn't move. I couldn't even think properly. The situations I became tangled in only seemed to slip more and more out of my control. What could I do to protect Aza? I was powerless in comparison to the two vampires who stood in front of me. The only hope lied in Hezekiah and his conscience, but it was clear that he wasn't sure which way he was going to go on this divided road. His jaw clenched as he continued to look down at Aza below, and for a moment, I thought that he would refuse. But after a moment of thought, Hezekiah closed his eyes and descended down below. His movement was quick; a shadow navigating the night. One moment, he was standing by the balcony railing, and the next, the remnants of the darkness in him floated in the air as he suddenly stood on the ground below in the driveway. The Coterie yelped at his presence, and shortly after, Abraham disappeared and reappeared below, too. The screams grew louder, the protest and readying of attach amplifying.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I heard Mama yell at him.

"I've given you everything, Hezekiah," Abraham said to him as Hezekiah stood between Abraham and The Coterie. "I've given you purpose, I've given you a brotherhood, a new family. I taught you how to read, to write, to hunt! I have given you everything!"

"Kiah," I heard Aza say. "Kiah, what is this?"

"Aza." Hezekiah shook his head, wondering what there was to say, but he was only left with a choice to make. Aza was unsure of what the situation's context was, but when she looked up at saw the grave expression on my face, she came to the conclusion that it was dire. That it involved blood and death. If I screamed for her to run, would it be of any use? Could she defend herself in any way? Could any of them?

Hezekiah neared in on her, and the Coterie gathered together and readied themselves for defense. But I knew it was no use. I sat there and watched them. All of them. These people that had been feuding for centuries, standing on opposite ends of this driveway before the bright lights of the Beaumont plantation house, anticipating bloodshed as the constituents inside the house danced to a tune. Aza knew that Hezekiah would do anything for his master, and she was realizing this as Hezekiah stood between her and his Master, the call of the night slowly overtaking him, bloodlust somehow distasteful in Hezekiah's mouth when he knew it would be Aza's blood.