Previously: Aleigha explains the origins of magic. Aleigha is a walking body with souls keeping him alive.
Seamus, God bless what soul he has left. We come to the address that was baited into our hands. The house is two stories high, large curb parking lot connected to a large garage. Slanted rooves, five large windows in the front of the house, and two smaller windows on the top floor. "Nice house." I mention. "Agreed," Aleigha exits
the car and goes to Seamus's side door. "Come follow."
Seamus gets out of the car, knees wobbling. What will he do to this old woman? Please don't kill old people. I don't believe in that; I believe in longevity.
We march to the medium door. He beats it down, pounding the door with his fist. "Stop!" I beg, "She'll think the police at the door."
"It's fine. She's white. They believe in cops." He stretches out two fingers and hovers over his lips. "Nime Estua Mor." He rolls his R's. I'll never place Simon Says again. "Naecha." He whispers. His choice of clothes is a police officer uniform. The outfit is matching Rottingham's police force. A dark blue dress coat, black pants, white gloves, and the goofy helmet over the head. "You look like a knight."
"Good. I'm going after the holy grail anyway."
Eventually, the target shows up, "Today is a busy ass fuckin' day. First my fucking bill calls, the damn cat threw up on the carpet. I'm too goddamn old." She complains behind the door. What is happening?
She opens the door revealing a short elderly woman with her hair in a big bun with a single braid coming out the side. Blue eyeshadow and lipstick mark her thin lips. "Jesus fucking Abigail." She shuts the door immediately, Aleigha puts his foot in the door blocking it. "Fuck you!"
"Ma'am, we just received a suspicious—"
"You didn't receive shit!" She stammers attempting to smash his foot into the door. It's very ineffective.
"Ma'am, we got a report there's a dead body in the basement."
"I don't have a fucking basement!" Aleigha takes the gun on his left side I didn't even know appeared with his new get-up. "Ma'am I will shoot a Witch."
"Get out off my fucking lawn, Aleigha!"
Now we are threatening old witches. My gaze falls on Seamus, "And you just follow like this is your whole purpose."
"Tatatem Turqua." I took my eyes away for a moment to pick up a thundering sound. The front door is blasted away and the old woman inside the house, sprawled out with the shield on top of her.
Aleigha steps inside, uninvited. "Katelynn, or should I say, Godelieve Knotley. You've been playing dead?" he smirks, walking to her body. "I fucking hate you!" Lynn spats. "Learn to die!"
"Quit bullshitting. You know the lich that parades the souls of the dead and all that good hoodoo shit."
She sneers, spitting in his direction. "What the fuck do you want?" She fumes. "Your services. Got any room for a body? Maybe I can borrow a few off you?"
Aleigha hovers his hand over the door, moving it off her. "Thanks..." she notes and gets to her feet. "Oh lord, Deidre?" Lynn eyes up with her lips tight. "Well, now you know my secret."
I don't even know her real name. I'm finna use Lynn until I understand. "Katelynn?" I walk into the home with Seamus hobbling behind. "You left school."
"Yeah..."
"Why are you old?" She has wrinkles and crow's feet. "You heard him. I'm a lytch. I know Aleigha, sadly. I used to be a Brood Witch for his mama." She snaps her fingers and turns into a youthful teenager. "I'm actually a healthy age. My Thirty-second birthday just passed."
"YOU'RE 32 YEARS OLD?"
"I started with the family and shit I forgot death existed." She twiddles her fingers in front of me. Sparks of fire wrap her fingertips. "Magic is pretty cool."
Recap. I was in school, I'm not in school. I was broke, I'm not broke, I'm a thief. Met a vampire, changed my life around. Zombies. Had a friend, don't know shit, she's a witch. Also stolen cars!
"You good?" Aleigha dismisses his police uniform. "I'm going out to get my hair done. I look like an asparagus."
I been avoiding his hair. It's a matted black afro, dry grey streaks. "Where did you come from?" questions Lynn, I imagine she's pissed at Aleigha barging into her house. Does he this a lot?
I obverse my surroundings, Lynn lives in a well-off home. Spacious living room looking out the large window showing the parking lot and street. The kitchen is neat, an island kitchen with black fridge and dark stove. "I came from Virginia. You tried leaving us after the riot." Aleigha walks to the door. "I didn't leave!" she retorts. "Who the fuck what's to live in hashbred county anyway. They lock us up in jail, hang us, take our fangs, steal our kids—which is why your stupid brother is the way he is!"
Aleigha chortles, he bores over his shoulder. "Why are you in Maine?"
She crosses her arms, "Your mom always said, work from the top and go to the bottom."
"Different afro. You work from the bottom and then go to the top."
I walk into the living room. The couch is a bright white, with no stains, a fireplace in front keeps the area warm. "How long have you been here?"
"A while..." she says and moves to the sofa. "Actually, two weeks. I killed somebody."
Goddamn it. "why?" At this point, I don't have the energy to scream how crazy this is. "Um... I needed the bone. Blood doesn't work, yet."
"Aleigha was talking about the cure is in the bones. What is that?"
She sits down and crosses her legs. "Bone marrow. Vampires aren't immortal unless some magic is invoked. You can still die, Deidre."
"That's right," Aleigha stays in the threshold. "I told you this in the car, I have spirits in me."
That sounds like a bad case of voodoo. "Satanist?"
"No. West African Rites. It's in our blood. Worship of spirits and shit."
"What are you doing?" I don't know how to ask. I don't know where to start. "what about that list you gave me?"
I iron out the crinkled paper in my pocket. "What about taking over the school?"
Aleigha leans against the edge of the wall. "We need a cave."
"Then we go to a mountain." I suggest, "Why would you take a school as a cave?"
"Vampires have a different definition of a Cave. Or a Hole. Another term is stash, so basically I want a stash something in the school."
"What's that?"
"People. Our mom was Drunk. She ate vamps and her eyes turned pink. Before they lynched her, they drained a bunch of vampires and forced the toxic on her." Aleigha's breath hitches. "Mama overdose and started acting out. They had her tied to a damn chair, daddy and all her uncles went back to the spot where they held her down. Her body had her own teeth marks."
"Drunken vampires are addicted to the taste of other vamps. They love it. If they don't, one will eat himself," explains Lynn. "Ranaan was a Mahara, daughter to the biggest Maul in Virginia. Your mother was a prophet but of course," she trails off. "Christians came out, with picket signs and even rope. To kill her. They shouted at the top of their lungs.
"No devil is welcome in my church..." Aleigha adds, he breathes in deeply before beating the wall. Virginia is segregated. Which makes perfect fucking sense for a colonial ass state."
Lynn chimes in, "Vampires exist. It was Ranaan that said we shouldn't hide—"
"You're part human," Aleigha grunts. "and I was an orphan at some point and put into a vampire pit for your mother to feed on me, but she didn't!" Lynn mouths off. "Your mother wasn't a complete bitch and I'm on her side. Humans deserve to die."
It's painful to sit in the middle of the chaos. I don't know what to do, I'm just here. I can't offer an opinion. This is my mother, I'm a vampire. I'm pale not because I'm albino but because...
"Deidre!" he calls me. "Your albino because you're drugged. Forlivi." He claps his hands pronouncing every word. "Ok, listen!" He rushes to sit across from me. "Forlivi, is a blood thinner."
"It's kind of like that." Includes Lynn. "Forlivi is called a blood thinner but where we grew up it's not used like that. Children in the ghettos of Virginia are given the drug and it's them lethargic. They don't realize what's going on."
Aleigha inhales, "Baby vamps get their fangs around four years old. Baby Milks comes in currently and they drop out at ten. Forlivi kills this need to feed on blood because vamps have fucking anemia. They get pale as hell and with the drug it drains the fluid, literally targeting blood cells. After they look Hush, the stage where a nigga can't breathe and has no color. They usually paint them to look normal."
Aleigha rises from the sofa, breathing heavy. "WHY THE FUCK IS YOUR SKIN WHITE?"