Previously: Aleigha is told about a mysterious amulet. He finds out that the amulet contains the soul of a Drunken vampire.
By the time I woke up. I missed an hour's drive and the left side of my neck. Again.
My nose covered in blood as well as my shoulder and upper right thigh. The car has stalled with Aleigha standing outside the car watching me through the open door. "I'm in pain." I groan. "I know... I got so mad I bit you again." He's stoic with his arms crossed over his chest and black coat slipping off his shoulders. "I ate you when we were kids. You're so curious about everything I might as well tell you now."
Now? When I'm dying?
"Mama taught us how to eat vampires. And yes," he tosses his eyes to the side. "It's horrible to do it. However, in Virginia, vampires are discriminated against. Once upon a time, we as a species was put on the sex market. Mom was a young prostitute at the age of four."
My body is fixated on the throbbing in my muscles. It feels like I had a seizure. "You did. You pissed yourself too. Sorry. I was hungry."
I can't respond to that except call him an asshole. "Stay in the car with Seamus. This is a library by the way. Supposedly, there's a book I need to get. And a car I need to steal back."
Wiggle your big toe, I tell myself. "Are you listening?" he questions. "I'm leaving you behind for a minute. I'll fix you up later."
Aleigha
I hate my fucking baby brother. He did this exact shit when we were kids. God help me.
We went to that boarding school in Virginia. They changed into a vampire Alternative school. One thing they don't tell anyone about those schools, it contains the word disciplinary. Feels more like a school for slave.
He keeps asking and the further he pisses me off the more I want to tell him. I ate my brother. Twice.
Three times, if I count practice. I'm addicted, one of the reasons I had to go to Amalaric Thrallmaster.
Vampires taste different than humans do. Mortals have a salty texture, it used to be tradition to go after the fatter ones. I guess it's the lack of death in vamps.
And when a human gets scared and the heart accelerates, making all the blood rush. It's like biting into velvet food.
Food is ready hot.
I'm blushing thinking about it. Though I haven't had humans in a long time. I'm not the type of vampire that falls for a damsel in distress though. That's a contradiction given my sex affairs. Oh, Mokiri.
Though we were eight at the time. She didn't have her period until ten.
My worst fucking nightmare. All because im a fucking addict. I could have gone to KFC and been done but no. My fucking girlfriend stabbed me in the neck while I was sleeping, called the cops on me, and flew away.
She's so lucky I'm not a woman beater. But mama did say, gender equality.
My fucking girlfriend must be the type of nigga coming from a clan closest to Arch Angel Gabriel. May hells fuck him unholy.
Frontier Bibliotheca Library. "Ileoh, give me the name of the book I'm looking for."
"This book is location suspiciously in the library. It shouldn't be here it's one of the four vampire bibles."
"What book is that?" My mother wrote book one of the four bibles. That's been degraded. "It is the Fate Word. You know what that means." Fantastic, I'll give it to the retard to learn. He doesn't know a lick of magic. "Ileoh, why is the Tome missing from the Ghytto?"
"The slave masters are giving smarter, Aleigha. They think this shit is Harry Potter. It's easy and the black market isn't that hard to find." She tells me. I agree mama promoted integration and I have to say, being segregated and hidden wasn't a bad fucking idea. And at the same time, I'd rather be looked at with fear than a sex animal.
"It seems the Growden family left a door stop."
I narrow my eyes. "Niggas love doorstops."
"Indeed, theres a tear leading to the Ghytto. It's the only form of protection we have. While the population of vampire decreases in Virginia. We have at least triple the amount in the Ghytto. I recommend going there sometimes with Deidre."
"You think I should let him meet--?"
Ileoh chortles, first time my phone has ever done that. "Yes. The King is taking a week's break currently. It's not a bad thing."
"King V still has the record company?"
"Of course, it's how vamps make their money. Your eldest brother is helping out your uncle make a Trance Disc."
Trance Disc? Uncle Iarius hasn't made one of those since mama died. "Cool. Also, how's the security in the building?"
"Poor." She says bluntly. "Books are precious, but humanity can't read so... fuck it. Go all out."
"Great." I'm about to put her inside pocket then she rings again. "However!" she starts. "There's a phone inside."
"Someone there?"
"Look forward." I do as suggested. What an ugly sight. The figure has at least four arms, a skeletal appearance, and floating pieces of armor. It's black to the bone, which means...
"It's a vampire grave inside."
"Of who?" I ask. "Someone important?"
"An old slave to the boat. They renamed them." Says Ieoh. "He refuses to leave. The library is placed on his grave."
"Information on this old soul?"
"African Slave in 1666, I'm amazed I can get all this info from the spirit realm. True name is Kalu Salem. He's Ethiopian, brought by Arabs."
Of course. Arabs had some African slaves, went to the United Kingdom where they said: Hey, y'all want some niggers and the white man said hell yes. "A little more info."
"sold by Joe Bradley, real name Sharifullah Khadem. Sharifullah used Kalu to feed. He has lamia ancestry."
"Vampire?"
"from the East." We wouldn't be here if slavery didn't go around the world and everyone picked on Africa. "Is Kalu vengeful?"
"No. He just likes to read. It's a... curious story. Joe brought an African to America, at the time, he learned that Kalu was... well... retarded." Don't laugh. "The Arab was feeding off him but felt bad. To clear his sins—because Muslims and nonsense religion. Sharifullah stuck books from a library in Maine."
"Well, isn't that nice."
"He was very dark skinned. One of the families from the Growden side. Led a lynch mob to his house." Isn't that ironic. He had a black slave, got mistaken for a black person, and treated like a slave. That's almost sad. "They were both lynched by the mob, but Sharifullah fucked with spirits."
"Who buried Kalu?"
"He did. He bound his soul to the library. That nigga is still alive, just to let you know."
Fantastic.
If I ask politely, he'll give me the book. I don't feel good about fucking with ghost. Walking up to the library, Kalu disappears and the door swings open.
Ancestor. I hear from a disembodied voice. He knows I have African in me. Good, that means I don't have to fight.
"Wrong" he says. "Prove yourself."
I didn't want to do any of this, "I just want the book! That's what your guarding, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Just give it to me. It's for my brother."
"No"
Why try to trick a spirit into giving me anything. I need the book but lying won't help. "Fine." I take my coat off walking into the library. I toss it to the library counter and put both my hands up. "I don't have anything on me. I'm not aggressive."
"You have your mouth."
Correct.
"You are disgusting." Damn. "You've eaten the flesh of your brother. You do not need the book."
"I'm Ranaan's son. Does that make a difference?"
"No," he bellows. "It does not. She's not one of us anymore for her foul mouth. Get out!"
Book pages fly off the shelves and try and hit me. I sway my body left and right, dodging each book. "Really? I heard you forgave her..."
"No angel or demon can help you, devil child."
Now, I'm a devil child? "So, the spirits have something against my mother? Sadly, I don't know what that is."
"You are following her will, aren't you?"
"Yeah." I'm her son. It's my duty to uphold my mother's teachings. I'm not going to let her die with whips around her back and on a fucking leash. "My mother is the smartest in the clan, you know that. She climbed the rope before they took her down and tied her hands together."
"And did it again..." speaks Kalu, his body appears, a black skeleton. "She's foul mouthed. If she kept her mouth closed, she wouldn't have gotten lynched." His voice shifts to a feminine harsh tone. "Linus Growden did lynch Ranaan, but his wife is worst of all."
"I'm here for the book..."
"You aren't giving it."
"Why," I have my mother's mouth, as much as I want to use my magic and grab the book just to be out of here. I can't, it's an ancestor. I must be respectful. "I'm surprised your mother taught you such a thing."
"Nigga, fuck you!" So much for being sophisticated. "Why do you want the book?" he asks if it isn't obvious already. "I want to learn bad words. Something to scare a man to pieces."
"The art of rime or Trik is not made for what you want. We know of the will your mother imposed."
"Good. You can read." If I got to steal an old spirit, I will. "I'm going to make it hard for you. I have the book, The Fate Word."
"I know..." I take a deep breath in.
//I can't take the loud music, can't take the compass.
I woulda tried to run I guess I got no rumpus.\\
"Keyword," the computers in the library turn on. A screeching sound splits the sound barrier causing Kalu's ghost to static. He covers his ears from the wailing. "what did you do!"
"Nothing..."
Triks and Keywrd are two things my mother taught. Rap is a gift. If you can use it right.
"Give me the book old man."
"Find it!" the sound is interrupted by the library flooring vanishing. The computers drop to the bottom, "What are you doing?"
"Welcome to the Ghytto." Kalu leaves again, in a swarm of papers. A tunnel opens open as if the earth trying to regurgitate a whole street... My vision is obscured by a blind light.
I'm standing on a street with passing cars. People with see-through bodies pass, above the sky is moving in the direction of the black-lit sun. It seems to swirl its arrow-shaped rays.
"He wants to find the book in the realm?" That defeats the whole, stolen scenario.
Cars are honking their horns for me to move out the street. Across the sidewalk, the book is gliding. It's surrounded by a dusty purple glow. "Really?" I hate everything. I jump across a car and another to get to the other side. The book travels in the air above a building's rooftop. Digging my nails into the wall of the building I climb my way up.
The city is glamourous, bright lights give the appearance of stars on the ground. A wave of towers, homes, and a bridge in the distance. "While I'm here, I might as well go see Vinitharius."