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

Chapter Twenty-One: Sephtis

Was inspired to update again, today! And I had a great time doing it for this chapter. 

Enjoy!

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The four of us journeyed to the whereabouts of Sephtis the gargoyle that Virgil was able to pinpoint from his findings.

An old abandoned church in the middle of nowhere, barely visible through the thicket of trees. Me and Abraham could feel a presence from within, but it could have been any one of our kind. One thing for certain, though, is it wasn't no human taking residence in there. 

"Stay here," Abraham said to Alize and Aza, who clutched their belongings close to their chests. The air was hot, the clouds looming; a storm was forming right above us.

Me and Abraham walked up to the church doors and pried off the wood planks hammered over the front doors. Inside, it was pitch black darkness. The pews were down and worn, falling victim to rot and whatever else. The ceiling was open, the steeple having caved in whenever and made a home in the middle of the church. It was almost completely surrendered to the elements. I smelled rotting flesh; a smell that I could put a face to, once I saw the dead bodies mauled and dismembered, tossed to the furthest corners of the church. 

"How long for we catch on fire in here?" I said plainly.

Abraham chuckled. "Any moment now, I reckon. Though we might perish from a rogue plank of wood somewhere instead; place is a mess."

Thunder and lightning started brewing up above us - the bright lightning illuminated the inside of the church, bringing focus to what we already could see in here - Sephtis, perched up on a beam close to falling apart. He was still stiff as stone until he woke up. He knew we were here, he had to. In a sense, this thing was playing dead with us. If Alize and Aza were in this church with us and saw Sephtis for themselves, they would have had a fright more than what they expected.  Gargoyles looked like us when we went too long without blood - ears pointed, teeth poking out and as sharp as razors. The vampire that people were afraid of. Only difference was in the wings on his back. I guess that was the one gift the "Dread Goddess" didn't give the vampires like us. 

Aza and Alize began setting up the Circle with fire to cut through the thick darkness outside. They read through the instructions given to them and started saying words aloud, practicing. They filled a bowl up with water and began blessing it. Then, they poured the holy water over the Circle on the ground they created, which seemed to have its own spirit or power to it. And as all this was happening, Sephtis still hadn't woken up. 

"He's toying with us," I said. "He knows what's coming." 

"Mm," Abraham grunted. "We're not close enough to him." 

The plan was to lure Sephtis out of the church and restrain him as the two worked to remove the magical ward placed on his body so we could kill him. But we couldn't do that if he wasn't awake; he was no use to us as a stone slab. No, whatever soul was trapped in this gargoyle had to be awakened. And we were coming to the notion that we had to be the ones to wake him up. 

There were chains on the ground, stained with blood; the dead meat on the ground must have tried to tame the beast for themselves a time ago and failed. Whatever reason they had, whether they was vampire hunters or knew of the prize that awaited them if they killed a pet of the Council's, they were foolish mortals; they didn't know how our kind worked; how to dance with us. We move too quickly, and so death is quick for them. 

"Let's wake him up, then," I said. Grabbing the cold chains off the ground, Abraham immediately knew what I was up to when I had the metal dragging behind me. Abraham moved into a darkened corner right across from where I was, which was now up on an adjacent beam. My eyes on the gargoyle, I swung the chains in my hand until they spun fast enough to slice through flesh and bone. Then, I hurled the chains at Sephtis, watching them wrap around his neck and fling him off his perched spot on the beam.