I follow the directions given. Every once in a while flashes of people appear and disappear. Am I in a school or seeing the dead? I need time to think about where even who I am. Because apparently my goddamn mother is named Lordy. I want questions. I'm almost hoping my phone goes off so I can pry and find out who this nigga is.
Yahoska is my sister? He said he's switching out souls so... one of my sisters was in the body of another. My pace slows coming to the realization. I lean against a wall, catching my breath. I had a sister in another body. I've said my family isn't here. They've been hovering over me.
I brace myself against the wall. It comes to me that she whispered under her breath while doing my hair. I kept thinking I've heard that voice before.
Sabita-Ann, Penelope, Aello, Kalliope, Near, Deliverance. Counting my sister's names in my head. Brean, Sae, Yellon--I can't recall them all. Headcount is getting to me. He's probably swapped my damn memory. I could be someone else.
As if on cue, my phone vibrates.
Counter999: Damn, you moving like a snail.
?? Above the Rest ??: Tell me now! What's in the gym.
Counter999: It was meant to be a surprise.
Counter999: I'm not telling
?? Above the Rest ??: You said you were in a Hole with my mother
Counter999: Yeah
?? Above the Rest ??: How did you become a Drunk?
?? Above the Rest ??: Did my mother force vamps to eat each other?
If I knew my mom was two-faced like this, I wouldn't be able to contain myself. She taught her kids how to eat a vampire and hits me like that. Did she teach others do it? I've never actually known the real reason to commit cannibalism. For survival, yes, I understand. He's making it sound as if she taught others to do for malicious reasons.
Counter999: I can read your thoughts
Counter999: You sound retarded.
?? Above the Rest ??: Fuck you
Counter999: Reminds me of how your mother kept seventy-two niggas in a basement butt ass naked and made ten do a train.
Counter999: I mean, she was getting fucked by one dude and then that dude got hopped on by another nigga.
Counter999: Dick in the ass. A little in pussy. I wasn't in none of that shit. I was a favorite. Iarius was a favorite. Vini, Bruce, it was about seven of us. Oh, Coochie Man and Miss. Uncle Miss, the crazy nigga that likes shooting out the window. That's why Vinitharius don't take his ass anywhere.
?? Above the Rest ??: Your point?
Counter999: Your mother was a pimp. But she trained us to be Mauls. Coochie didn't like cannibalism. He was all about vampire shit. He got to drink blood, hunt niggas. I didn't mind, I hated how she taught us to hunt.
Counter999: Let me tell you something about your mother. She was tortured but she likes torture? So she kidnapped these people from this abandoned village in Norway. And she made them run and told us, go fetch.
Counter999: Good exercise.
?? Above the Rest ??: Ok, but why did you kill my mom.
?? Above the Rest ??: You also said you were a Drunk.
Counter999: The Eldritch Detail of Vampire Crafting. Obayifo boarded the ship because she put one on there. She was acting as an obedient slave. This black woman with some meat on her bones was the perfect pet. She offered to discipline the ones that escaped.
Counter999: Tricky woman.
Counter999: A slave came to her dead. All you need is a little bit of voodoo, a little alchemy.
Counter999: You've heard of equal exchange, right?
Counter999: Imma tell you anyway. So, you can make a vampire. 1) you need a corpse. That corpse can be a mummy or a fresh body. Bones will not do. 2) It's a picture you draw under the body. This is a target for the soul to go in. It's like S.O.S or something. It looks like a star with eight points. 3) You welcome the soul into the new body. Because a vampire is a goddamn corpse. You need to give the bitch life. You set candles on the ground where the arms and feet are. This one is weird, you get a pole with a round end, get it hot, and burn the heart. I don't know why she did it but she did it to me. And when the soul came...
Counter999: My dick did a little hello
Counter999: Step 4: You need to gather the following items. A gallon of blood, a set of teeth; just the incisors really. A rare flower crafted by your goddamn daddy, Witch's Wisp, or Witch's hair. It usually old, a beating heart, and a name. That's right, you need to name them.
Counter999: My name is...
?? Above the Rest ??: Did you forget
Counter999: Oh thank God, somebody reminded me.
Counter999: I don't fucking know.
Counter999: It's the best thing about Vamps. Because the whole soul in the body, wasn't the original. You can be whatever the fuck you want. Hell, I stole the name of a pitbull named Keychain.
?? Above the Rest ??: So you don't like your name?
Counter999: Jean-Louis
?? Above the Rest ??: That's not bad?
?? Above the Rest ??: It's simple.
Counter999: Yeah...
Counter999: My name is Jean-Louis. But I could be you or your father. I could be mayor. I could do a lot.
Counter999: Oh yeah, she made a Dracula
?? Above the Rest ??: My mama made Dracula?
Counter999: No, she made another. There's two.
?? Above the Rest ??: Ok...
Counter999: Me :D
Counter999: I was her favorite. But I ain't no pet, you hear me? I was the big bad dog.
Counter999: But then I ate a nigga and she kicked me out the Hole like what the fuck. stripped my name from me and said I wasn't welcomed in her clan.
Counter999: And I was like, so that's how you make a vampire clan? I want one.
Counter999: The whole town was nothing but vampire haven. Some humans had to keep their sanity by offering themselves. That was the deal. But then I came, I said, I can get rid of her.
Counter999: Take over the manor, be at rest. Fucking Fabrice Berthelot ruined that. Then I found out he's the first husband. I was what the fuck---this bitch is a hoe. Coochie and I really started to bond and he stabbed me in my damn sleep just because I ate Miss. Like what the fuck
?? Above the Rest ??: You need to die.
Counter999: I know!
Counter999: But I don't want to. So, I'm not going to do it.
Counter999: Also, fucking Goldielocks. Her real name is Odile.