“Pauli, quick!”
I didn’t need to explain. Returning to snake form, Pauli wrapped himself around my body and teleported me to Kalfu’s position.
A mass of people were charging up the hill on the opposite side.
“More Bokors?” I asked.
No, Isabelle said. They don’t have living auras.
“Fuck!” I shouted. “Zombies! They’ve raised the bodies from Vilokan!”
I looked at Kalfu—but he didn’t show a look of confidence on his face. He clearly hadn’t expected this either…
“Holy shit,” I said, doing a double-take. “It’s Mercy!”
Vampires can animate the undead, provided they’re fused with the Baron’s essence. How many of Vilokan’s fallen had belonged to College Samedi? At least a fifth of them, maybe more. It was enough to amass a fairly sizable zombie army.
I spotted Mikah, who charged after the vessel. He summoned his earthen blade and tried to break it. It didn’t work. His blade didn’t have the power that mine did—he couldn’t dispatch objects to the land of the dead, to Guinee. Whatever bound him to Kalfu apparently didn’t prevent him from trying that, though. Instead, Mikah grabbed the vessel and, using his earthen elemental strength, hurled it into the air.
Kalfu’s tornado tried to hold it down, but the vessel flew just high enough that I was able to get a clean shot.
I fired Beli—the bolt of my crossbow shattered it.
“My pottery!” Pauli shouted, lamenting the loss of his childhood art project.
The souls of Vilokan poured out of the shattered vessel one by one—just as the souls I’d released before had done when I broke their vessels, when I completed the death rites.
But the souls didn’t go away… not all of them. Some of them bee-lined straight for the zombie bodies that Mercy was commanding.
They’re trying to go back to their bodies! Isabelle shouted. When they do…
“They’ll become vampires… fuck!”
Kalfu was laughing now. Still, these were vampires under Mercy’s control. At least I hoped they were. My stomach churned. She’d promised not to double-cross me. Could I trust that?
The souls reinhabited their bodies, their flesh immediately healing, their eyes glowing red.
Mercy’s eyes widened—in an instant her whole zombie army had become a massive clan of vampires.
I gripped my crossbow a second time and took a shot at Kalfu—the bolt flew away once it struck his tornado of energies.
“The curse of a broken bargain be on your soul!” Kalfu shouted as he struck Mikah with a jolt of his red magic.
Mikah flew backward, his body crashing into the ground.
“This is only a small share of the Bokors whom I command! Soon you will be mine!” Kalfu shouted, directing his vow toward Isabelle. A dozen or more Bokors joined Kalfu in his magical whirlwind. A second later they were all gone. They’d vanished. I wasn’t sure how, or where they went. But they were gone.
I ran toward Mikah—I released the reins and let Isabelle take over. This was a moment for her.
Isabelle placed our hand on Mikah, and the Seelsorgerin glowed and consumed him.
“Whatever he cursed you with,” Isabelle said. “It is gone.”
Mikah was in tears. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. Oggie knew. He knew all along. He told me this was how it was going to have to end.”
“But it’s not over. Not yet,” Isabelle said.
Then I felt Mikah’s lips press to mine—Isabelle kissed him back. We had Mikah back… and I supposed that I was going to have to put up with the unpleasantness of these kisses a lot more in the future. My stomach recoiled—not just from the kiss but because moments earlier I’d seen Mikah kill Oggie. I knew there was a reason, a plan. That didn’t make it any easier. Isabelle loved him—I’d have to deal with that. But I just couldn’t get the image of him killing Oggie—the man, or demigod, whom I loved—out of my mind. Swallowing that resentment was going to take time.
Joni came up beside us and placed her hand on our shoulder. “Good work, Isabelle. Both of you were amazing.”
“Who is that?” Mikah asked.
“That’s Joni,” Isabelle said.
“They call me La Sirene now,” Joni said.
Mikah nodded. “Thank you for your help.”
“The vampires,” Joni said. “Should we go after them? They were trying to charge us… me, Shelly and Finn. But one of them, the one who was a vampire from the start, somehow pulled them back.”
“That’s Mercy,” Isabelle said.
“That vampire’s a friend of yours?” Joni asked.
Isabelle huffed. “I wouldn’t call her a friend. Our interests align… since Kalfu hunts vampires. He acquires powers through their blood.”
Joni shook her head. “That’s not good. You realize what this means.”
“It means the souls we just saved—at least the ones who became vampires—they’re still vulnerable to Kalfu.”
Joni nodded. “And if he does really have a lot more Bokors at his disposal…”
“This war isn’t over,” Mikah said. “Not by a long shot.”
Might be true, I said in Isabelle’s mind. But we are together. And we live to fight another day.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Joni sent Shelly and Finn back to Fomoria. She told them to let Agwe know she’d be home soon. But for now, she had some loose ends to tie up. She wanted to help. We’d saved her people, she said, so she was going to help us win the war. This world—the world of “land walkers”—was still her world, too.
It was an alliance we frankly needed. I was grateful for it.
I wasn’t sure what we’d find when we approached Casa do Diabo. So many new vampires. Vampires forged from former vodouisants—they’d be formidable, eventually. Once they overcame their bloodlust. If they were on our side. I could only pray they were.
Mercy wasn’t at Casa do Diabo. No surprise there. She had enough to keep her hands full for a while. Everyone else was still waiting there. Roger, Ashley, Ellie and Sauron. Tressa was with us now, too. Mikah stood beside me, and Joni followed close behind. It had been a while since she walked with legs, and she wasn’t exactly surefooted at the moment.
Isabelle had given me back the reins shortly after the beach. Thankfully, I’d still had a few of those herbal anti-headache pills that I needed whenever Isabelle and I exchanged control. I’d stuffed a few of them in my bra for good measure. The downside to going under the sea was that I ended up having to pack a lot of shit in my bra. Hardly the most comfortable thing in the world.
Roger’s jaw practically hit the floor when he saw Joni. I could see that Ashley was mildly uncomfortable by it—nothing like seeing your current boyfriend encounter his long-lost ex to spark the pangs of jealousy. Who could blame her?
Still, Joni was now married to Agwe. Roger and Ashley were inseparable. The past was the past. She had no reason to be jealous, and she knew it—still, it was an admittedly awkward encounter.
I heard a bark.
I turned, and my jaw hit the floor.
Letty! Isabelle shouted—I could hear the tears in her voice.
Letty pounced on me, and I allowed her to tackle me to the ground as she licked my face. Isabelle was giggling. I couldn’t believe it! Letty was alive!
“Letty!” I exclaimed. “How did you make it?”
As I tried to peer past my dog’s face as she showered me with slobbery kisses, I saw Aida-Wedo and Sogbo standing there, grins spanning each of their races. They were the only two Loa who remained after all that went down in Vilokan. Now that Oggie was gone, too.
After a brief wrestle, I stood up and scratched Letty behind the ears.
“Aida-Wedo, ma’am, did you?”
“Child, all lives are valued equally amongst the Loa. I could not bear to allow the animals who had no chance to save themselves perish.”
“She went for the animals first,” Sogbo said. “Then came back and saved as m
any people as she could.”
I shook my head—not to contest her philosophy of life, but in disbelief. I couldn’t believe it. The pain in my heart, having seen Oggie die, was mildly assuaged at least for a moment by the joy of having Letty back.
Aida-Wedo pulled me aside, along with Mikah and Pauli. She pursed her lips. “You’ve done well, children.”
“Thank you,” I said. “And thank you for saving my dog. But Kalfu is still out there. And he’s still growing his army.”
“And there’s the vampire coven, too,” Mikah said. “Bondye only knows how they’ll pan out in this war.”
“A war…” I said somberly. “We could really use Oggie for this.”
“Yes, child. But you and Mikah both share his aspect, no?”
“We do,” I said.
Aida-Wedo smiled widely. “And from what I understand, you were crowned High Mambo by Agwe himself!”
I nodded. “How’d you know about that?”
“Oggie said Agwe had awarded you the victory.”
I bit my lip. “I’m not sure what such a title means anymore.”
“Child, I’ve saved more than you know. And there are many more vodouisants who were not in Vilokan when it fell.”
“Still, so many were lost.”
“Indeed, child. But the Voodoo world needs someone like you, someone who can unite us all. After all, with my Pauli boy’s help, here, it seems you’ve managed to restore Vilokan.”
“I’m a fraud,” I said. “I never belonged to the Voodoo world.”
“Be that as it may, child, you are their leader now.”
“What about Marie Laveau?” I asked.
“No one has heard from her since Vilokan fell. We do not know if she was in the city or not. Be that as it may, you are the High Mambo. The responsibility that was meant for you as the victor of the Trials remains—you must unite the Voodoo world. The fate of the world depends on you, child.”
I looked at Aida-Wedo incredulously. “The whole world?”
“Kalfu’s influence spreads far and wide. The Bokors are more numerous than you could ever imagine. His hunger for power is endless.”
“I thought he just wanted Isabelle, the power of the Tree of Life, so he could take over Guinee.”
“Yes, child. And if he has to take the whole world hostage to get it, that’s exactly what he’ll do.”
To be continued…
Book 5: Voodoo Queen: https://theophilusmonroe.com/series/gates-of-eden-the-voodoo-legacy/
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Theophilus Monroe is a fantasy author with a knack for real-life characters whose supernatural experiences speak to the pangs of ordinary life. After earning his Ph.D. in Theology, he decided that academic treatises that no one will read (beyond other academics) was a dull way to spend his life. So, he began using his background in religious studies to create new worlds and forms of magic–informed by religious myths, ancient and modern–that would intrigue readers, inspire imaginations, and speak to real-world problems in fantastical ways.
When Theophilus isn’t exploring one of his fantasy lands, he is probably playing with one of his three sons, or pumping iron in his home gym, which is currently located in a 40-foot shipping container.
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