The Delacours: Part Deux

eight.

I was staring at a dark ceiling. I could smell blood and my body was in immense pain. I tried to look around me but my vision was blurry. I looked to my arms and saw something vaguely wooden sticking out of my wrists and I felt them burn. There were buckets on the ground underneath me filling with my blood. I could hear chanting from the distance and I was confused. My head was on fire. I looked down at my body and saw that I'd had a large wooden stake coming out from the middle of my torso. I tried to move, but I felt the stake reach towards my heart.

"Jason?" I asked, as I heard a familiar grunt in the distance. "Jason, is that you?"

"Liz? Liz, what the fuck is going on?"

"I'm surprised you don't know, Mr. Born-and-Raised." He was silent, I could hear him struggling. "The witches in the Buroughs..." I said, as I managed to pull one of my arms up, letting the stake rip through my wrist. I pulled the other arm, and then pulled at the one in my chest. I struggled, but I pulled straight out and hard. I let out a small whimper, trying not to alert the witches. I stumbled over to Jason as my vision was still clearing. "The witches in the Buroughs... they don't practice regular magic."

"What do you mean?"

"Jesus fucking Christ, Jason. What kind of Puerto Rican New Yorker are you? They practice Santeria!" I said, reaching his body.

"Oh," he said scared, "I don't fuck with that shit."

"You don't 'fuck with it', but you can't even recognize it happening right under your nose!?"

"I was raised a good Catholic boy..." I pulled the stakes out of his wrists.

"You're lucky I need you to get the fuck out of here, or I'd stake you myself for being such a, what's that word, 'pendejo'?" I said with a perfect accent.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish," he said, chuckling. "You might just be a New York vampire."

"I know enough..." I gripped the stake in his chest. "I'm sorry, but this is gonna hurt like a motherfucker and you need to not scream." He was already whimpering before I pulled. "Are you praying!?"

"I told you, I was raised Catholic!" I pulled the stake out and nearly knocked over something behind me, but managed to catch it.

"We need to find a way out of here."

"Uh, Liz..."

"What?" I said, annoyed he wasn't helping.

"Where are our clothes?"

"Seriously? We're about to be killed and you're worried because I can see your dick? We need to figure out how to get the fuck out of here!" He grabbed a towel and handed it to me.

"Please, take this." I wrapped it around my body and tucked it into itself as he wrapped another towel around his waist. I could hear someone walking towards us. I motioned for Jason to get down behind something. It was Alma's granddaughter. I reached out and put my hands around her mouth. She raised a hand lit with white light.

"I wouldn't do that." I brought her to the corner furthest from the rest of the coven. "Scream and I'll snap your neck. What's your name?"

"Laura," she said, whimpering.

"Laura, you look too young to be mixed up in this. If you help us get out of here... I can make sure you're taught magic properly."