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

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Mama

HI!

Long time no see. Sorry for the wait. I posted an important message on my message board detailing why I've been away and the future of this series, so I highly recommend you give it a read. 

Enjoy!

**

Marinette of the Dry Arms.

It sounded like a name I should have recognized, yet I had never heard it before. But the Oracle was well acquainted with this woman; she refused to let go of my arm, even though her ghost was gone and the wind had died down.

"Oracle," I said. "It's alright. She gone." But who was I to try and comfort this Seer over something I knew nothing about? Even when I tried to soothe her nerves, I kept wondering when this Marinette would appear again to terrorize the rest of the house.

"No." the Oracle's nails dug into my skin, the more I tried to pull away. "That was a warning, her appearing here. Once she become more powerful, she'll be back."

"Then it ain't safe for you to stay here. You all alone, the house is a mess..."

"Don't matter where we go. Mama Dantor show me; the bayou that your girl is trapped in? They doing a summons. They bringing Marinette back here. And I don't know how long it be 'fore she manifest in flesh."

Mama Dantor, Marinette, Bayou, summons. I wasn't going to pretend like I knew what this old woman was talking about. And despite the circumstance, she saw how annoyed and confused I'd gotten from this mess.

"Oracle, I don't got the slightest clue what you on about." The idea I had wasn't a good one, but I was low on options. "You come with me to go see Abraham. My clan will protect you there. We was fixing to see you later on today, anyway. You explain everything to us there, how that sound?"

I pulled her up slowly, her fragile hand still tight around my arm. I checked her for injuries, but all she got was a little nick on her leg from a shard of glass. But the Oracle was too shaken up to even pay attention to the small, distracting, trail of blood dripping on her leg.

"I'll go with you," she said; I was surprised there was no fuss. "But I ain't explaining nothing there around that man."

"What man?" I asked, but we both knew who she was referring to without her having to say anything. And even if I pressed the Oracle about it, from her demeanor, she wasn't in no mood to explain her reasoning. "Oracle, you know Abraham gone want to know the reason for me bringing you onto his territory; a decision that ain't the wisest for me to make in the first place."

"I'm aware. You can tell him whatever you like, but Mama Dantor don't want me sharing none of her knowledge with that Vampire Lord."

I was losing patience with this old woman. I looked around the house at the overturned furniture and shards of glass on the floor and realized I couldn't leave her here to fend for herself. I could take her to the Coterie, but I didn't trust them enough yet to handle the situation; Alize and Aza were still too emotional after Samedi showed us what had happened to Lisa. It would just complicate things more to bring her to the witches. At the moment, taking her to my clan would be easier. But she didn't trust Abraham.

Would she trust me?

"Would Mama Dantor be alright with you explaining it to me, then?" I asked the Oracle. Her tongue, usually quick witted and sure, was hesitant at the suggestion. I pressed it further. "Abraham will have my neck if he knew I came to see you on my own accord. I need to give him something, Oracle, if we're offering you protection. And I can't do that if I don't got the slightest clue what's going on."