VAMPYR REQUIEM: Lestat De Lioncourt

13. Doomed With A Sin, Bound By The Craft

TWO DEATHS IN ONE WEEK. Morticians and undertakers were smiling ear to ear for sure.

Isabella Dubbary lost two friends, now her circle was getting smaller, and melancholic. And I just knew, Tala hated it. She was a person who thrived in carousing and laughter, being surrounded by a group of depressed mourners was probably draining her. It's just a matter of time before she jumped to other people to satiate her wants.

After Sophia was put to rest beside her sister's niche, the people left the cemetery. The place was once again silent and empty. But one remained by Sophia's tomb.

"Tala..." I called. "Won't you look up? The stars are out and beautiful tonight."

"I know why you did it." She said without looking back at me.

"Yep, I stole some of your ribbons. I like them on my hair."

Tala turned to me, finally facing me. "You killed Adelina and her P.I because they were investigating me. You killed Sophia because she found out that it was you who burned their house with her sister in it."

"You're welcome."

"I did not ask for this! I told you! I can deal with this on my own!"

"You're barely doing fine, Tala. Almost all of them are plotting against you. You should be thankful you have an ally like me! We are a pair, you and I. Why can't you just accept that?!"

"Because you're the worst!" She screamed. "You want to control everything! You manipulate and destroy! You're restricting me!"

"Oh I restrict you?! I was teaching you! Guiding you! Pushing you to your full potential! and this is the thank I get?"

"Oh don't victimize yourself! You gaslighting narcissistic cunt!"

"That's it! You're going home!"

I rushed at her back then grabbed both of her arms behind her. She stomped on my foot in return and hit my face with the back of her head. I stumbled, crashing against a niche of a guy named Pyotr. His rotting corpse slipped out from the crevices of the stone.

"Oops, sorry Pyotr!" I picked up his leg bone then smashed it at her stomach. While Tala was crouched down in pain, I swung the bone upwards. It hit her chin and sent her flying. Her body landed on the dusty ground, and I made her remain that way when I stepped on her chest.

"See?" I moved Pyotr's leg bone on her neck. "You've grown soft, chérie."

Tala suddenly spout blood. Some of it splashed to my cheek. I tried to wipe it off with my fingertips. Though, I froze at the sight of it. Her blood's pigment was black. She hurled again, but this time, something entirely different came out from her mouth. They were dead butterflies and moths.

"The fuck?" I frowned. "Were you eating insects?"

Tala tried to vomit again, but the concerning occuring number of dead butterflies and moths from her mouth was making her choke, that I had to scoop some out from her throat using my hand. But it only got worse. Tala started to quiver, then black blood began pouring down from her eyes.

I looked under her tongue, and saw an x mark slowly appearing there. Now I knew what was happening. Tala was being hexed.

* * *

I descended on a well swept porch; one hand was carrying Tala, while the other knocked the door. A young man with a beautiful honey blond hair and tantalizing brown eyes opened it. He was wearing the cleanest white clothes with silver linings, and a frown on his chiseled youthful face.

"Good evening, Zach. May we enter?"

"Goodness!" His eyes widened when he saw the troubled state of Tala in my arms. Her mouth was open, letting dead insects and black goo slip out. Her skin... was slowly turning gray as if she were about to rot. "What happened to her?!"

"You're a Mayfair. You're supposed to know."

Zach bit his lip as he shook his head in trepidation. "Come in, monsieur Lioncourt! Let's put her first to somewhere safe!"

Zach led us to his living room. I set down Tala on the velvet sofa then I grabbed the blanket which Zach found, and put it on her to ease her shivering.

"Tell me everything." He demanded whilst eyeing Tala concerningly.

"She started to vomit black blood and dead insects. And..."

"And what?!"

My gaze went dark. "Look under her tongue."

Terror struck at Zach's face, as if he already knew it. "No...."

"Look at it." I firmly imposed.

Zach knelt down beside her, then gently touched her tongue. He lifted it up only to see an x mark on the underside of her tongue.

He stood back up, but found it hard to face me properly. "Someone.... Someone has..."

"Hexed her." I finished. "You Mayfairs.... I know what you are. As much as I want to know who either of you did this, I want her first to be cured from whatever this is." I stuck out my arm then grabbed his collar. I pulled him toward me and peered deeply into his eyes. "Take the hex away or I'll burn your house with your body in it."

"I can't counter the hex, Lestat. I don't have the skill."

"So we're just going to let her suffer?!"

"No! I-" He glanced at Tala. She was frowning while her skin was slowly turning gray and dry like a cement stone, and her mouth spouting carcasses of odd insects. He couldn't bare her looks. He had to turn away. "Only the witch who hexed her can stop this. Which means..."

"Killing the witch bitch."

"That's not necessary."

"Look at Tala! It's necessary."

"No. There must be another way..."

"You're only saying that to save your Mayfair kin."

Zacharias pushed me away. His eyes beheld a glare that hinted why nobody could touch the Mayfairs. "My coven is my family, Lestat. And I'm risking myself of being shunned for even trying to entertain the needs of the likes of you."

I moved back closer to him and brushed my fingers through his dark blond locks then tugged it behind his ear. "It didn't stop you before..."

Zach slapped my hand away then stepped back. "I'm only helping because it involves Tala. And if you really want her to be saved, you listen to me."

"Fine." I threw my hands up in the air. "Do what you must."