Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. II | In Progress

Chapter Twenty-Four: Communion

It didn't take long for Sylvia to visit me in the room Mary had taken me to. 

It was the same room that I was brought to my first time coming here when Mary and the doctor healed my wounds from the car accident. When we arrived, we didn't say a word to one another. It wasn't safe to speak, to move or even breathe, for the Council was now on high alert after Sephtis' death, and they knew that I was the conduit between them and Abraham's forces. The look in Mary's eyes was dire and without encouragement, but I kept her worry away from me. Whatever was coming, I couldn't let myself fall apart more than I was. 

The footsteps on the other side of the door were prompt. There was no knock or declaration of entry, Sylvia simply opened the door and invited herself in. She had two women at her side - vampires. 

Mary straightened her spine at the sight of her superior. Despite Mary's seemingly loyal demeanor, Sylvia found her tainted by just being near me. 

"Leave us," she ordered. Mary nodded once, but left the room slowly, apprehensive with every step towards the doorway. Sylvia closed the door behind her. The air in the room was thick enough to be cut by a knife. And when Sylvia turned to face me again, the fire in her gaze made the air even thicker, making it hard to breathe. 

I kept my face neutral in her presence, though. She wouldn't see me falter. 

"If you were any of the other girls from that wretched Bayou, I would have you dragged out into the courtyard and executed for your treachery and insubordination," she said plainly. "But you and I both know that that isn't an option for you. And you enjoy that; you enjoy thinking that you are untouchable. Safe from punishment. Protected. But the extent of these privileges only goes so far." 

"I fail to see how Sephtis' death is my fault," I said to her, my voice unwavering. 

"Because you knew," Sylvia said. She began to close the gap between us. I could see the details of her face - the crow's feet and wrinkles that hung around her hellish eyes. The near translucent nature of her pale skin. "You knew they would go after my Sephtis. You knew and didn't say anything. You wanted it to happen. You wanted war because you want to be rescued." 

"That's a bold accusation. Baseless, too. In case you haven't noticed, my free will and bodily autonomy are quite limited in the current situation I'm in, so I don't 'know' much of anything going on." 

"Hmph." She smirked through the pain she was feeling. "You poor girl. To be so oblivious..." 

She nodded to one of the women behind her. They immediately left, and within a minute, returned with a girl in her possession that immediately wiped the smugness off of my face the moment I recognized her. 

Saadia, pulled into the room by the hair on her head, was thrown at Sylvia's feet with a stressed groan coming out of her lips. She was bloodied and bruised, her eyes looking as if she had come directly from the depths of hell itself. Sylvia could sense the immediate shift in my energy like she was feeding off of the shock and horror that overcame me. 

"Take a good look." Sylvia grabbed Saadia's face in one hand, effortlessly pulling it upward for me to see her injuries. "You did this. This is what happens when you pull innocent people into your web of deceit. They become victims of the crossfire." 

"I'm sorry," Saadia cried quietly. "I didn't have a choice..." 

"What did you do!?" I screamed at Sylvia, but she only found pleasure in my despair, for my hurt only proved to her that I was hiding something. 

"You confirm what she told us, we spare her life," Sylvia said. "It's simple." 

"Don't," Saadia blurted out, in which Sylvia responded by tightening the grip she had on her face, making Saadia cry out in pain.