Chapter 5

 

I stood there in front of Casa do Diabo, with my heart sunk into my bowels in worry. Ashley isn’t a fighter… not at all. She wouldn’t stand a chance against a vampire, and the sun had just set beyond the horizon.

“What can we do?” I asked, looking desperately at Oggie.

“Nothing,” Oggie said. “Pray, maybe?”

“There has to be something…”

But she hadn’t been inside fifteen seconds and the whole house suddenly illuminated in a red glow. A split second later, Ashley went flying out the door, directly toward us.

Oggie sprang into action, jumped maybe six feet into the air, and caught her before she struck the pavement behind us.

“Well that answers the question,” Oggie said, setting my sister down beside me. She clung to me for a moment, trying to find her balance.

“What question?” Mikah asked.

“Why they don’t lock their front doors,” Oggie said. “No need.”

“What the hell was that?” Ashley asked. “I stepped inside, took five or six steps, and the next thing I knew it felt like my body had been tied to the back of a freight train and I was flying out the door.”

“A double ward,” Oggie said. “The place must have both exclusionary and inclusionary wards in place. It let you through because you didn’t have my aspect. So I was right about the exclusionary ward. But since you don’t possess an aspect bent toward vampirism, you aren’t a vamp and don’t have the potential to become one, you didn’t fit the inclusionary criteria of the second ward.”

I shook my head. “How in the world could we ever get in there, then?”

Oggie sighed. “I’m not sure.”

I have an idea, but I don’t think you’ll like it.

“What’s that, Isabelle?” Everyone fixed their eyes on me, waiting for me to relay whatever Isabelle was saying.

Pauli… he still had Kalfu inside of him. I mean Kalfu isn’t a Ghede Loa, he’s a Petro Lao, like Erzulie and Ogoun. But his aspect seemed pretty vampiric to me.

“I don’t know, we can’t ask him to do that. He’s not in any condition…”

“What is it?” Ashley asked.

“She thinks we should ask Pauli to try.”

“That’s brilliant!” Oggie said, slapping his thigh. “Kalfu is the dark kinder Rada of Legba… even as the red Baron is the dark kinder Rada of the green Baron.”

I cocked my head sideways.

“He isn’t the same class of Loa as Baron Samedi or Brigitte—they are Ghedes. But Kalfu controls the evil forces of the spirit world. I’m not sure he qualifies under the terms of the inclusionary ward that’s been set up, but he should be able to bypass it. Since Pauli is basically the new Legba, since he carries Kalfu’s essence within him. They shouldn’t be able to stop him.”

I bit my bottom lip. “I agree, the idea is brilliant, but he’s sacrificed enough. Can we really ask him? He’s still not right, not after what happened. I don’t know how I can ask him to risk himself again.”

“But he has Aida-Wedo’s aspect,” Oggie said. “If they try to attack him, he could hike a rainbow out of there faster than a fritter.”

I cocked my head. “Oggie, you’ve been living down here in the South for way too long.”

“The point is, he’d get out of there slicker than a greased hog.”

I just shook my head.

“He’d be gone faster than a Krispy Kreme at a Weight Watchers meeting,” Mikah added.

“Oh Lord…”

“As quick as a duck on a June bug,” Ashley said, grinning.

“What does that even mean?” I asked, scratching my head.

“Slicker than snot on a goat’s glass eye?”

“Gross!”

“The point is,” Oggie said, “he could avoid any real danger. If he can just get in there and find out what we’re dealing with…”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll ask him, but he’s been holed up in his mom’s basement ever since…”

“Nothing like a new adventure to get his spirits back about him,” Oggie said. “But we need to consult with Aida-Wedo first.”

“Why?” I asked. “Not like he belongs to her.”

Oggie sighed. “The politics at the Academy… I just have to tread carefully. Right now she’s my only ally, and Marie Laveau is still trying to decide whose version of events is true. If I piss off Aida-Wedo… you know, by exposing her initiate to danger a second time. I’ll just say I promised her I’d talk to her before I involve any of her students in my plans in the future. If I lost her support, we’d lose the whole Academy to the likes of Maman Brigitte and Erzulie.”

“Erzulie can’t be that bad,” Ashley said. “Please tell me she isn’t, because if I’m going to attend, if I’m going to get a hang of this aspect…”

“Erzulie is as she is…”

“You mean your wife is as she is?” I added.

Oggie cringed. “It’s a marriage of convenience. That’s all. I’ll just say that she’s a sucker for a love story, and once she’s sold one, there isn’t much changing her mind.”

“I’m no Freud,” I said, “but maybe that’s because her own love life is basically devoid of, well, love?”

“She has enough passion, with enough different people—Loa and human alike—to make up for it,” Oggie said, cringing.

“And she’s still intent on bringing Maman Brigitte and Baron Samedi back together, again?”

Oggie nodded.

“Seems kind of trite,” Ashley said. “I mean, we have a fucking vampire clan forming in the city and she’s worried about Brigitte’s love life?”

Oggie shrugged. “That’s just Erzulie. That’s her role, her function as a Loa. It might not make sense, but she provides a needed balance amongst the Loa. If there were not one of us looking out for love, we’d be a pretty glum lot.”

“Then I guess we’re heading to Vilokan,” I said.

“And in the meantime, we pray that Mom and Dad are okay?” Ashley asked.

I nodded. “That’s all we can do.”

“And you shouldn’t doubt the power of prayer,” Oggie added. “Bondye will hear you.”

“Bondye?” Ashley asked.

“It’s the word they use for ‘God’ in Voodoo,” Mikah said. “You’ll soon find out that there’s one thing the Loa are certain of—more certain of than any of us are—and that’s that Bondye, that God, is real.”

“I’m a Catholic girl,” Ashley said. “Didn’t go to Catholic school like Annabelle, but I’m a believer. I’ll just say, in this instance, I really hope they’re right. Mom and Dad don’t stand a chance in there otherwise.”

* * * * *

“The answer is positively no,” Aida-Wedo said as her boa constrictor slithered around her neck.

“No?” Oggie said. “We have reason to believe a vampire clan is assembling in New Orleans and that their numbers are increasing by the day. The fact is that your initiate is the only one who could possibly get into that house to let us know what’s going on.”

“You are the Loa of war, Ogoun,” Aida-Wedo said, spinning a rainbow between the fingers of one hand while her boa continued slithering around her body. “You tend to resort to… conflictual methods… to resolve the problems you encounter. Perhaps if you thought outside of the box.”

Oggie threw his arms in the air. “If you have an idea, I’d love to hear it. But I’m not in the mood for riddles.”

“Temper, temper, temper… I cannot give you my consent to allow Pauli to join you on your quest. However, if he should decide to go about it of his own accord, if he should get himself into another mess by tagging along with some of his friends without your knowledge, Ogoun, then there would be no reason for me to reconsider my support of your position before the queen.”

Oggie grinned subtly and gave a quick nod. “Understood, sister.”

“I’m glad we have an understanding,” Aida-Wedo said, briefly making eye contact with me and then with Ashley. “It might be wise that Erzulie’s newest initiate not be involved, either.”

“My parents are in there!” Ashley protested. “My involvement has nothing to do with your bullshit school politics.”

Aida-Wedo grinned widely, exposing her crooked and yellowed teeth. “It is only a piece of advice, child. Do not take offense.”

“None taken,” Ashley said, her hands fixed defiantly on her hips.

“I simply would hate for any other initiates to go missing, under circumstances each time connected to the activities of College Ogoun. Such would not… go over well with the queen. But I cannot force anyone’s hand here. Your choices remain your own—that goes for all of you. And I know nothing of any of it.”

“You just heard the whole story, why we wanted Pauli’s help,” I interjected, even as Oggie shot me the evil eye.

“The story? Oh. I do love stories, child. Tell me one, will you?” Aida-Wedo winked at me as her boa nuzzled its head under her chin.

“But we just…” My words were interrupted by an elbow to my ribs.

“What was that for?” I asked, turning to Mikah.

“Just trust me… I know my mother. She’d rather pretend to be ignorant, imagine she has no recollection of what we intend to do, than have to tell Marie Laveau about it later.”

I nodded as Ashley, Mikah, and I left Aida-Wedo’s office—if you could call it that. It was more like her own personal Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum. Shrunken heads. The head of what looked like a minotaur mounted on her wall—surely it wasn’t real. Or was it? Who knows what’s real anymore. Oggie, however, stayed behind. I made eye contact with him just before walking out. I’d tried to shed any crush I had on Oggie, especially once I found out that he was one of Erzulie’s many husbands. But I still couldn’t help but blush when he looked at me, his eyes locked onto mine, and his dimples showed up on either side of his smile.

Isabelle couldn’t read my mind, but she could feel my cheeks flush. She made gagging noises from inside my mind, indicating her disapproval.

I just shook my head as we walked down the hall away from Aida-Wedo’s office and toward the exit of the presently defunct Voodoo Academy.

“Sounds like we’re on our own,” Ashley said as she followed behind me.

“Looks that way,” I said, shrugging. “We were handling this alone anyway before we happened to run into Oggie.”

“He won’t be uninvolved,” Mikah added. “He just has to pretend to be. The politics…”

BAM! I ran directly into another body—I’d been looking at Mikah and not paying attention to where I was going.

I stumbled a little and then regained my footing.

“Ma’am, my apologies. The place is so empty, I just wasn’t expecting anyone else…”

Then the woman looked up, and her eyes met mine. She was a beautiful woman. Mulatto with flowing black hair and near perfect skin. Her eyes were dark and deep.

“Queen Laveau!” Mikah exclaimed.

I gasped. “Marie Laveau? I’m so embarrassed, I had no idea…”

The Voodoo queen looked at me with wide eyes and folded her hands together in front of her chest. “What is your name, child?”

“I’m Annabelle Mulledy, College Ogoun. And this is my sister…”

“Ashley Mulledy?” Marie Laveau asked.

“Well yes, Your Highness,” Ashley responded. “How did you know?”

“Your case is one of the several reasons I’m here, if I should be honest with you. I’m due to offer my decision as to whether or not you may attend once classes resume.”

“Classes are starting again soon?” I asked.

The Voodoo queen nodded. Even her nod seemed graceful and distinguished. “Loa Sogbo has returned and has cast a deciding vote on the matters in dispute.”

“What was Sogbo’s decision?” I asked.

Marie Laveau smiled widely. “It would be uncouth to reveal that information to you before I’ve consulted with all the interested parties. I hope you understand.”

“Then what about Ashley,” I said, gesturing toward my sister. “You said a decision was made, and if there is an interested party at all, it’s her. She’s right here.”

Marie Laveau pressed her lips together, as if she were considering her words. “Very well, I suppose I can give you this bit of news. You will be permitted to join College Erzulie; however, you will be expected to work beside and even in subjugation to the other student who came before you.”

“Ellie?” I asked.

Marie Laveau nodded, then returned her attention to Ashley. “The tradition is that the closest most senior student should mentor the next. In this case, while you and she are technically still first-year initiates, she is a whole semester ahead of you and will serve as your mentor.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Ashley said.

Marie Laveau smiled widely, clearly appreciating the deference my sister was granting her. “I should note, however, that the decision was not unanimous. I will not reveal who supported and who opposed your matriculation into the Academy. However, you should know that without the full support of the Loa, your status as a student remains contingent upon a majority of the Loa endorsing your ongoing presence.”

“I understand,” Ashley said.

“Very well, then congratulations. It has been a pleasure, as always, to meet you all.”

“One more question,” I said. “If you don’t mind?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Did this decision have anything to do with, you know, our class already being down one initiate?”

Marie Laveau took a deep breath and exhaled. “Yes and no. That this arrangement does not increase the size of your class, since one is now gone, played into the decision. Though I should say, Annabelle, I’m quite familiar with the fact that you’ve done your best to find your missing classmate. Your class cannot go without an initiate for College Samedi. Should he not be recovered soon, another will be chosen in his place.”

“You knew I was looking for him?” I asked.

“You are the one who wields the Blade of Beli, are you not?”

I nodded. “Yes… I mean yes, Your Highness.”

“Then I suspected you would have an interest in locating Mr. Freeman since you alone have the means to do so.”

“Yes, I’ve been trying. But I don’t know where Nico is, or even when, to be honest.”

“The truth will not evade you forever, child.”

“Do you know where he is?” I asked.

Marie Laveau smiled. “It makes no difference what I know or do not know. What matters is your desire to save him… in spite of the fact that your own Loa testifies that he is the one who attacked you first.”

I sighed. “Yes, but I think it was a misunderstanding.”

“It truly was!” Marie Laveau said. “But whose misunderstanding was it?”

“My apologies, Your Highness, but I’m not sure I follow the question.”

“No matter the circumstances, do you not share some responsibility in what happened to Mr. Freeman?”

“Of course I do,” I said. “I brought Nico there to help but didn’t get him home in time.”

“You are not wrong to accept responsibility for this loss.”

“I know, but I didn’t mean…”

“Excuses regarding one’s intentions do not redeem past mistakes. The question is not how your error might be explained. The question is what you’re going to do when the time comes to set things right.”

“I understand. But Your Highness, there’s one more thing…”

“Yes, child?”

“Vampires… at Casa do Diabo. I think they have my parents.”

Marie Laveau reached toward my cheek and brushed a stray curl away that had been dangling in front of my eyes. “The tidings are grim, child. But I have nothing I can offer you beyond what you already possess. Except, perhaps, some advice.”

“I’d appreciate that,” I said.

“Confrontations with the dark side of our art… you are no stranger to these, I know it. But these can bring out the best and the worst of us. The path toward darkness is an easy road to follow. To tread in the footsteps of light, to embrace the goodness of our art in such perilous times, that is the harder way. It is the painful way. It requires sacrifice. Virtue, my dear, comes with a cost. Are you prepared to pay it?”

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I mean, I think so. But what will the cost be?”

“No less than what the moment requires, child.”