by Jason Fuquea
It also looked like some kind of brickwork was attempted on the ground. The floor is made from sections of flat brick then sections of raw rock scattered about like a chessboard. Some patches of floor flat some not, but everything moldy and damp with leaks and pools throughout.
We walked for about ten minutes and came to a dead end only going right. Left had some tools sitting in a cut-in where someone had started to dig and stopped. Above the tools, I can make out another engravement “Decatur Street, Café Du Song and The Custom House.”
We walked for a while coming to an opening in the rock, but fallen rubble blocked it. “The Café entrance is slated to be repaired in the next few years. The Custom House is just ahead about a mile.” Anton advised. “We do a lot of business there, with the Louisiana District Export Council, Vampires need to have a safe way of getting goods and services in and out of the New Orleans ports you know.”
“I bet you do,” I sighed. We continued until standing in front of another freight elevator. This freight elevator is large and modern not something I expected to find here, complete with floor indicators and call buttons.
“Anton, I’ll take it from here, you go back the way we came, I’ll be seeing you soon, and if “Something” happens to Roxanne that same “Something” will happen to you.” He nodded. I waved him off and pressed the call button. It’s mid-morning so it should be no trouble to get out, especially at my rhythm.
Angel and I exited the building on Canal Street and walked down to Decatur Street and took a right. About a quarter block up from the crossing of Decatur Street and Iberville Street on the left sat the DBBA.
We entered through the side door and walked up the half spiral to my apartment, and of course Buddy is waiting at the door rubbing his face against the threshold. “Angel,” would you find Buddy something to eat?
“Of course,” she answered.
“I’m going to get a shower,” I said and walked toward my bathroom. “This magic dress and tiara look great on me,” I thought while I stared into my crookedly glued mirror. I opened the mirrored bathroom door and walked into the bathroom. Once inside I turned the shower hot water knob as far as it would turn. I slipped off the dress and got into the falling water.
The water is boiling hot but to me only barely warm, pleasant nonetheless. I wanted to wash off the smells from the bar and Vampire grill and think about today.
A lot happened, Demons, Witches, and Vampires all around me in a weave with humans trapped in the middle. “Well one good thing happened, there’s one less Vampire named John,” I thought chuckling.
I normally don’t spend thirty minutes in the shower, but this is completely relaxing. “I need more shower time,” I thought.
A loud crash came from the front of the apartment breaking my thoughts. I immediately moved into my rhythm. Everything slowing except for Angel; she is with me. I hadn’t noticed when she came into the bathroom. Her crescent-moon blade at her side, taking my flank.
We moved at our rhythm into the living room where three Werewolves are breaking through the door and are making their way toward my room. The first one has blood on his face, I guess he had gotten cut on the way in. The other two of his pack followed closely behind.
“Angel stab one in the head make sure to kill him. Then grab the other one and hold him to the floor.” I said in Demonic. In our rhythm she skewered a Werewolf several times in and out of its elongated head with her hooked blade, then grabbed another Werewolf. I grabbed the mouth of the lead wolf and we moved into normal time.
The stabbed humanoid creature went down with a humph and blood oozed out of the lifeless corpse onto my couch, breaking my milk crate table as the body floundered. The second wolf Angela had in her arms, he twisted and fought instinctually biting and scratching her.
She shrieked, bleeding tar-like blood from her shoulder and neck, the long claws tore through her skin and ripped her choker. Her strength being too much for the wolf, she’s able to hold it down by the throat, now securing it with the crescent-moon at its neck. The Werewolf is now in pain as her blood dripped down scalding it. “Demon blood burns,” I thought. Good to know.
I held my wolf up by the throat. The pathetic thing is helpless. I looked it in the face and said, “Shift now, or she kills that one too.” The Werewolf relaxed and after a few minutes, I could see humanity coming back into its eyes. I knew this could take a little while, so I dropped it to the floor to let the change happen.
“What a surprise,” I said. “Marcus, didn’t we just talk yesterday. I wasn’t expecting visitors, especially when I’m taking a damn shower. You should be pleased with yourself though. You are one of the very few men that has ever seen me naked.” I frowned. Angel laughed at my joke.
After another few minutes, he replied, “There are repercussions for your actions, Alice. The Vampires are furious with you. From the moment you entered that bar making fools of them you were dead. One of the Vampires in the bar is a Vampire lieutenant named Jordan Ramsey. The moment you released the Vampires from that room he came to me and required that my pack kill you. We are the only pack in New Orleans and since we can walk in the day, he compelled us to come after you.”
“Don’t move a muscle wolf if you do Marcus will be dead before you stand,” I said to the grounded Werewolf. Mentally I told Angel to please dress me. She got up, went to the bathroom and brought me my dress and helped me put it on, then took over watch of the Werewolf again.
“Marcus, I told you what would happen if you came after me or mine. Why would you not run away, you know I’m different, sweetie,” I said kindly.
“Well, I was dead either way really. If I didn’t do what the Vampires asked, they were going to kill my pack. I had a chance of killing you, where I could never kill all the Vampires in New Orleans. At least I got your damn cat.” He said with a laugh.
“What did you say about my cat?” I said with fear gripping me, “Angel find Buddy now!” Angel with a panicked look on her face moved into our rhythm and out to the hallway, she had just given Buddy something to eat.
She walked in slowly, eyes in pain, holding the cat out with her palms up, with blood dripping through her hands. Buddy has a puncture along his belly that almost ripped him in half. He’s panting raggedly, barely breathing it’s a killing blow, and he’s almost gone.
She laid my best friend in my lap, as I sat with my back against the living room wall. He is the one thing that stopped me from killing myself. I owe him everything. Buddy’s somehow still purring his distinct off-kilter purr, just slower now. I stroked his fur with my now bloody hand tenderly.
“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” I cried, blood dripping from my eyes and chin. “I love you with all of my heart, Buddy, you are so much stronger than I’ll ever be.” A few minutes later his purr grew quiet and with his eyes open, stopped breathing. Buddy died in my lap.
I am frozen, unable to move. “Take all three of their heads separate from their bodies to Jackson Square,” I whispered in my now choked up raspy voice. “Angel moved into our rhythm and took their heads and bodies without hesitation. I sat and continued to pet Buddy. His body now starting to get cold, I’m unaware of the time, lost without feeling.
The sun has gone down and back up a few times, but still, I am yet to move. Angel is with me, not leaving my side, soundless, grieving with me. My skin is changing no longer the indomitable fortress it was, now closer to the strength of an eggshell. I’m weakening.
Still more days later I see my hair starting to fall out, again. Three-foot- strands of hair now littering my body and floor. “I have to go, Alice; the last quarter moon is falling, I’m already fading back to the underworld.” She finished with a ghostly echo and a fading kiss. “Bye Angel,” I said softly.
My dress is now draping across me loosely; it’s no longer form-fitting to my body. I am most certainly dying. Another day has passed, I
think I’m moving in and out of conciseness.
“You know I like you too Alice, but don’t kill yourself over me.” A soothing voice spoke from above me. I raised up my head and saw a white-haired, blue-eyed man in my apartment.
He’s wearing a stark white shirt with the first two buttons open. He has on white pants and no shoes. “At least you can still look up, I was worried I’d need to bring help,” he said with a smile. “Yea, I’m truly sorry about Buddy, but he was dead when I found him. You were right though; someone did strangle that poor cat.”
“What? How would you know anything about Buddy?” I asked weakly.
“I hope you don’t mind but while you were unconscious, I took him and buried him in the cemetery, I had to wait until Angel left, she would have most likely killed me if I came near you.”
I hadn’t noticed Buddy was gone. “How do you know about Angel and why would you bury my dead cat?” Again, asking questions to this strange man in my apartment, unable to move.
He answered, “Alice, I am Buddy, or was Buddy, well kind of, you see I’m an honest to goodness guardian Angel sent to you at your lowest moment to help you not give up. You have lived one of the unkindest lives but never gave up on God not even at the very end.
You are too important to not help. I cut Buddy lose from the horrible trap that caught and strangled him, then took over his body. I came to you hoping you would find solace in a companion, even if it were just a cat.
Your heart is what gives you your power when you refuse to give in, when you tell the world to come at you, you grow stronger, you grow into a force like no other. But, when you hurt on the inside you immediately get weak, and in the case of hurting so badly over Buddy you actually begin to die.
I know this doesn’t make a lot of sense. And me saying I’m a guardian Angel seems unbelievable, probably even comes as a shock, but in a world with Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, and Witches you got to have some Angels too.” He chuckled.
“I’ve come to tell you Buddy is ok, he’s just fine, and the friend you had in Buddy is still here with you, I will never leave you, even if you can’t see me. Have faith, Alice, you are my Queen too.” He finished speaking then held out his hand to help me up.
I took his hand and he pulled me to him. My bloody tears leaking down onto the guardian Angel’s white shirt. He hugged me and whispered into my ear, “You are amazing, do not fear being alone, and never fear you have failed Buddy. You would starve before letting a stray cat not eat, who can say that truthfully.”
He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “Goodbye Alice, now get up and wage war against all of those that would stand against you.”
He touched my face and with a burst of blinding light was gone. I stood bloody, tears soaking through my dress. I thought about what had been done to me. How Buddy was mercilessly killed, and how I was hunted by the Werewolves and Vampires.
I can feel the rage building in me. I knew that Buddy was ok, but he was taken from me. There will be no quarter, there will be nothing but wrath. I am the Queen of Demons and will not be toyed with by Werewolves and Vampires.
I screamed to the heavens, looking up with my blood-drenched eyes and face, with all of my grief and anger, and weakness, I said in my Demonic tongue, “Deus Placer Confirma Me.”
As soon as the last syllables passed my lips, I was crippled. Pain, pain, inhuman pain hit me again, and again, earthshattering pain, ribs splintered, and spine cracked and dislodged as my heart thrust into action. A red haze filled the space around me, a cloudy bloody mist. I breathed in hard, filling my lungs and feeling my life force rebuild and rebind. The pain leaving me once again.
I walked through the mist coming out on the other side whole and new. My eyes glowing purple with flecks of red swirling around. My skin seemed even more refined and pristine than before I lost Buddy. I have been reborn again, another layer lifted from the veil surrounding me. I can feel everything more clearly, more focused than even before.
Chapter 14
Zombie Royal
I walked out of my apartment over to Jane’s door. I knocked softly, knowing she’s inside. I could hear her heart beating all the way over inside my apartment. The metal chain scraped the door and she turned the knob and pulled it open. She has Goliath in her hand hung down by her side. “Alice, come in, are you ok?
“I’m ok,” I said and walked through the door to her kitchen table and sat down. “I’m leaving, Jane, and want to say bye. You have been great to me, but just as my death moved me next to you, my life is moving me away. I don’t know where I will end up going, but it’s something I’ve got to do. If you ever need me just tell Chester, the violinist playing on Decatur Street and he will find me,” I said somberly.
Jane said, “Alice, I knew you were something special from the first moment I saw you. This messed up world needs you. So, go do whatever it is you’re here to do and come back to see me when you’re done.” She finished talking with tears welling up in her eyes.
I stood, and Jane came over and gave me a tender hug, now crying freely. I kissed her on the forehead and looked into her eyes. “Thank you, Jane, for never giving up on me.” She smiled and I left making my way out of her apartment down to Decatur Street.
Walking toward Jackson Square I can hear Christina singing. Continuing about a block up from me, I see Chester with his normal red handkerchief on the ground covered with change.
He has on a lacy ruffled shirt with Christina moving in his arms. He sees me walking up the street just like everyone else. I look out of place I’m sure, with my red dress and funny eyes, but I’m no longer going to hide what or who I am to the people of New Orleans.
“My lady, what a welcome surprise, you are looking very fashionable today.” He said greeting me.
“Sir Charles, you are far too kind, and I know this dress is a bit much, but what can a lady do when music such as yours calls,” Chester bowed, and we both laughed.
“How are things, Chester?” I asked.
“I can only assume it was you’re doing that put three heads and bodies on Jackson Square about ten days ago. One being the head of Marcus.”
I nodded and said, “He killed my cat.” Chester sighed.
“I am sorry about your cat, but I do not miss Marcus. Now that he is dead a new wolf pack is moving in, taking over, so be aware my dear.
“I wasn’t able to watch it in person, but the newspaper had a picture of someone looking exactly like you dragging a Vampire down the street in daylight, it made quite a scene and I do not think that has ever happened before.” Chester said in a matter of fact tone.
“I have been resting the last few days, but I’m better now.” I said.
“Great to hear my lady, if you need anything, I am at your service.” He replied.
“Play something sweet Chester, I need to clear my mind.” Chester played a soothing melody from days long forgotten. I continued walking toward the cemetery where Buddy is buried, just outside of Jackson Square.
I went to the cemetery and found where the Angel had buried Buddy. I didn’t want to make a scene but wanted to say goodbye. I loved the cat and wished he had lived a better life. I spent about half an hour with Buddy then walked back to my bench on Jackson Square.
I sat and thought, “Buddy is gone, and it’s just too dangerous for anyone to be around me, even Colt 45 Jane. I need to find a new place to call home.” Shaking my head, I focused on the square.
Today Jackson Square has wreaths and candles making a small memorial in the middle for the fallen bodies that Angel placed here. I guess even those that do evil have loved ones that never see their darker side. I’m sure Victoria will be leading the charge to take me out once this fight starts, and I can’t blame her. I killed for a cat, what would she do for her mate? It’s going to get nasty, and bloody and real – very soon.
Today the weather is anything but harsh.
Clouds are being lazy just sitting in the pre-noon sky. Bikers and dog walkers in the square are oblivious to what’s really going on around them.
Most people here today are vacationers taking pictures and marveling at the stonework, although quite a few pedestrians are pointing at me along with the rubberneckers driving by. “I wonder if I looked like an escort in my red dress.” I laughed.
I stood parting my hands and closing my eyes saying “Inferis,” in an instant I was gone transported to my throne in the Demonic world.
I wasn’t ready to wage my war without Angel. I opened my eyes to find Angel sitting beside my thrown with her knees bent, calves and feet under her. I reached down and held out my hand, she took my hand and stood. We embraced, I kissed her and spoke to Angel, “Do you need something, my princess?”
“I do not like being away from you, Alice,” she said seriously using my name. I nodded to her and sat on the throne.
I whispered to the underworld, knowing here everyone could hear my unspoken commands. “Soon, there will be a war. We will be called to cull those that stand against me. It is with my utmost honor to walk into battle against them with you all at my side. Prepare as you must, for the time is not long.”
Devin is to the right of Angel, and a host of other abominations were coming to pay homage to their Queen.
A true Demon spoke up, “I will serve as I must, but you are a Queen who has not proven herself, you were given the crown unearned. I am Anthelion, servant of Lilith and I challenge you to earn your crown, if it is your will.”
I replied, “I would expect nothing less, Anthelion.” Standing up in front of the throne I faced the true Demon, he’s eight feet tall and looking almost human except for his size and bulk.
He wore a flowing spotless black leather robe, with silver chains around the middle. In his hand, he carried a ridged gladius that has been to war. His long blond hair is down to his chest pushed to one side. He spoke, and the sword was engulfed by black fire. His eyes swirled with red sparks, preparing to attack me.
