Chapter Twelve
Souxie Lafayette
“Are you sure about this?” Isis whispered as we walked with our arms linked.
Isis, and I stalked down the lit-up path towards the back side of Drew Collins where other academic buildings were originally made for Francis Holmes University.
A school that never came to be. It was a late Thursday night, and the school was still buzzing with rumors and thoughts about the assembly from last week.
Maggie has gone missing.
Maggie Grey is on the run.
Danielle Jackson, a student seeking help, is in danger.
Join the Coven Council tonight! Hosted by Xavier Martin of the Southern Five.
The flyers around the Grounds were everywhere plastered on buildings and posts with a looping clip of Maggie’s eyes turning red and her fangs coming out, screaming silently at whoever looked her way. They made her look like a true monster.
“We need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“I can’t believe they’re still going through with the games even with all of this going on,” Isis sighed as we walked in unison in our shoes.
She wore a gray pleated dress with a white blouse underneath.
White knee-high socks and peeks of her tattoos that wrapped around her thighs only served as a tease to the men who were interested.
Her hair was pulled back in a rare bun which only made her wide eyes look like black orbs.
Her tiny fangs peeked over her bottom lip and her pointy ears were present.
She was in her true nymph form tonight. I wore a long sleeve black dress despite it being in the middle of the summer night.
The heat never bothered me out here. If you grew up in the true south where humidity laid thick in the air, this summer breeze was nothing at Drew Collins.
“I think this is it,” I said.
The building was being decorated to welcome the incoming students for the games where they would most likely be staying.
I could hear the big commotion and loud conversations of students going back and forth before others began to clap when we stepped into the dimly lit halls of Francis Holmes.
For such a modern looking building, the inside felt antique with old paintings of black monarchs, kings and queens sitting on horses in the field.
Glass casings to showcase gold pieces that dated back to the 1400s and dark wood trimmings along the cherry-colored walls.
A woman stepped out in all black with a program in her hand.
“Are you all here for the coven cause?” She promptly asked with a smile. “Xavier is welcoming of all mythics and wants everyone to hear the message.”
“And what is the message exactly?” I asked. The woman smiled.
“That real magic belongs to those like you and me, priestess.”
Her eyes widened as she stepped to the side to usher in the other students walking into the building in groups.
“Please! This way! I was just about to give the speech!” She waved. I looked at Isis who shook her head.
“I didn’t realize it was getting this…crazy,” she muttered.
“Yes! Please come quickly!” She said with excitement.
“We are the newest organization to be formed here at Drew Collins and by far the fastest! My name is Nevine, co-founder of the Coven Council alongside yours truly Xavier Alexander Martin of the Southern Five Martin Family. All are welcomed but we do like to prioritize our witches, practicing priestess, mediums, and root workers alike…as well as our handsome warlocks, and necromancers. What you’re about to witness tonight is sponsored by the school.
We do not condone violence, or the promotion of violence against any student regardless of their predatory ancestral past. Now,” clearing her throat. “Repeat after me.”
I felt my face stiffen before pinching Isis’s arm for her attention. She whipped her head at me, seeing the panic in my eyes just as the woman started.
“Before this door, I loosen what I know…Inside these walls the truth shall grow,” she said as everyone began to repeat the words. I stabbed my nail into the back of Isis’s arm, careful not to let anyone else see until I felt a faint drip of blood.
“Still my thoughts and dim my fear,” she went on. “Guide me to what I must hear. Let questions sleep and faith ignite, bind my mind to your will tonight.”
I smiled after repeating the last phrase as she playfully clapped.
“You all are so open to receive, I absolutely love that. Please,” stepping aside, welcome in…”
The double wooden doors opened as a set of red stairs dropped below into a bunker of a theatre where Xavier stood on the stage with a cloth to wipe his sweat. He sat in a chair with a mic to his hand as two people in the audience started debating one another on the state of the Underground.
“What the hell was that for?” Isis hissed as she looked at her arm. She was able to smear her finger over the cut with a thin layer of water as the wound slowly tightened back up to heal itself.
“She was having everyone say a spell out loud,” I said before scoffing with a roll of my eyes. “Who does she think she’s dealing with? Amateurs here at Drew Collins?”
“Look, I see Asha and Solomon in the back,” Isis pointed. Solomon sat in the back row with his feet kicked up while Asha waved. I even saw Quan in his human form sitting beside her with his usual grumpy face as we attempted to grab the seats in front of them.
“Aye,” Asha leaned in. “This shit is fucking crazy. This fool got these people really believing everything he says!”
“If you stand with Maggie Grey, you’re enabling vampire supremacy!
” One shouted. “I don’t care if being anti-vampire means being anti-magic!
They are not magic! They are not anything remotely close to what the true definition of magic is!
They are intruders! Predators that feed on us in order to have magic!
They made up the story about being related to Gaia so they could fit in! ”
“If you think about it,” Xavier said into the mic.
“Vampires forced their way into our community. Who is to say that they are the first documented mythical beings? Those who win are the ones who can tell their story, they can create history when they are the ones who benefit from it. Why is it true because they say so? Magic is older than them. They colonized their way into our community and took advantage. We’ve been stuck under their reign for so long, we don’t even realize it but we’re waking up now.
We’re waking the fuck up now!” He charged as everyone began clapping.
“We need to talk about segregating the Grounds,” a woman said as she stood up.
“It’s not just the First Family. It’s…its all of those who are born of predatory ancestral blood…
those who assault and attack women because they can’t help themselves…
it’s in their nature…I’m a nymph and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been subjected to sexual harassment. ”
“Or are you just a fucking victim your entire life?” Asha muttered. Isis looked back at her before turning to face forward, unsure of what to say. I’m sure she meant no harm towards Isis, but did Asha forget the very same thing happened to her?
“So we need a new governing power,” Xavier said as he began to pace the stage.
“We need someone that is for the people…look at us tonight…how badly we’ve been suppressed.
Witches, warlocks, priestesses, mediums, we are able to stand on a very thin line of life and death.
We can speak with loved ones; we can create illusions…
Hell our cousins above ground can even do the most basic of card tricks.
When did magic go from helping our community, pushing our society forward to attacks, to draining our blood?
To rape and violent animalistic behavior?
I’m…” lowering his head as the room got quiet, “I’m going to tell you…
that morning I was out running…When she came at me with her hand around my neck…
I only thought for a moment, maybe I could take her…
She’s a woman. I’m a man, twice her size…
I could easily pin her down and protect myself.
The problem with that is I am nothing but a mere man at the end of the day.
I can’t stand up against something that powerful…
something that can sink their teeth into you and drain you or your life source because it's the only way they can survive.”
A woman stood up and just from the back of her curly bobbed haircut, I knew it was Clementine. She adjusted the white sweater draped over her shoulders as she cleared her throat.
“Do you take any accountability in the fact that you might have triggered or pushed her earlier that day outside of the dining hall? When you attacked her for not knowing or speaking about her parents or questioning their origins? Do you not take blame for provoking her?” She asked.
Xavier used the cloth to swipe across his forehead.
“I take the blame for letting my emotions get the best of me because I care about the state of the Underground. Seeing her walk around freely amongst the rest of us while our community has been turned upside down because of her family…Do you understand what she was attempting to do?”
“I understand what Wilhelmina Holmes was attempting to do,” she replied before turning around to face everyone.
“I encourage you all to do your own research, including on the Southern Five and look into their history as well. Maggie Grey had nothing to do with these so-called injections that were supposedly spreading above ground, causing everyone to wake up and turn into whatever…” she said with a wiggle of her fingers.
“There is no truth to it nor any proof. The Underground did almost get exposed, but Dr. Holmes handled it the best way he could. I can assure you,” she said as she turned to face Xavier.
“Going against the very foundation this school was built on and its descendants will not end well for you.”
“Who are you again?” Xavier asked.