Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 58: Her Soul Wakes

And then he lunged forward.

The screams were piercing. The balcony I was on began to spin as I waited for the gurgling sounds of Hezekiah biting into Aza's neck. But it didn't arrive. Instead, the sound of an unexplainable force echoed instead. Doctor Ben had raced forward and shielded Aza as his magic flung Hezekiah and Abraham back into one of the pillars of the house; the entire structure shook. The music inside suddenly stopped, as everyone started to become aware that something was happening.

"Abraham!" A woman yelled. Running from inside the house, a woman with a dark blue ball gown had run out into the driveway. She was a vampire; she looked like she held some type of authoritative position in another clan, for she was at his side chastising him for his violence. But Abraham ignored her. Amidst the rubble that came off from the pillar he and Hezekiah flew into, he stood with a fury in his eyes that couldn't be extinguished. He no longer cared for the rules and the territories and the treaties and the political correctness. He did not want to walk on eggshells around anyone, nor did he want to plot in the shadows. Hezekiah compromising their bond sent Abraham to a plane where rules did not exist, even in the presence of the Council, who had come outside to see what was happening.

"Abraham!" Russell had yelled. "Stop this nonsense!"

"You stay out of this!" he shouted. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"I'm warning you," Russell replied, walking close enough to Abraham for it to become dangerous. "Do not do something you will regret. You know the rules."

"I know your rules," Abraham said, and at this point, the rest of his clan had come out to stand by his side. They looked anxious, wondering what would happen next; wondering if an era without the Council's influence on their lives was coming. "And they ain't mine."

Abraham then looked to Hezekiah, who had gotten up and was standing close to the other side of the pillar. There was a lack of restraint in the way he stood in front of all these people. Despite the meeting that had occurred prior with the rest of his contemporaries and the Council, he was ready to risk the natural "balance" of things. And to know that Hezekiah was the catalyst for this sudden shift was groundbreaking. And Hezekiah knew this. But he also knew that Aza was his family, which is what prevented him from lunging forward so willingly the second time Abraham commanded him to give Miss Aza the Gift of Darkness.

"Abraham," Hezekiah said, frantic. "After everything I've done for you? After everything I have done!?"

"You betrayed me!" Abraham hissed, in which the entirety of the clan turned to look at Hezekiah, the esteemed Elder who was seen as royalty. They looked as if the words coming out of Abraham's mouth couldn't be true, even though Abraham was the Lord of their clan.

"I know! And I'm sorry. I will do anything to prove I'm loyal, Master. Anything. But this? You...you know I can't."

"These witches have done nothing for you the way that I have. The only connection to you that she has is blood. Nothing more! You and me? We got over a century of a bond! And you're willing to throw it all away for her?!"

Hezekiah couldn't answer him outright, but Abraham knew the answer was yes. And this hurt him. Watching Doctor Ben stand in front of Aza, ready to defend to the death, almost seemed hopeless. Even the Council was ready to restrain Hezekiah or Abraham, if they tried to attack Aza again, but Abraham's clan was ready to get in the way. Every possibility onward depended on what Hezekiah did next—would he succumb to the loyalty towards his master and turn Aza into a vampire, or would he fall victim to the bond of kin and spare her? Hezekiah couldn't decide. He stood by the pillar, staring at Abraham with these wide eyes that were pleading, but Abraham was so hurt by the betrayal that this pleading look could not sway him. We all waited; The Council stood deathly still, waiting for Abraham's next move. But he did nothing yet. All he did was frown when Hezekiah couldn't make a decision.