During day-stasis I am again plagued with visions of Babet and given the recent events involving Estella she too was featured. Dusk can’t break fast enough, this is my torture. If I give in to my primal nature I would later come to regret it. The monster inside only lasts momentarily and once it’s subsided; you are faced with your despicable actions. With Estella it is easy, and complicated. I can be free to give in, not a care that I may hurt or kill her. Her durability a match with my own, but I am not what she truly wants. It’s not as if I am unaware of her use of me tonight, for if I was honest with myself I would admit to using her in return. If I can’t have Babet, I can pretend with Estella.

Before I go to Morte’ I go into the bayou. By now Penelope would have had her daughter re-stock my freezer and I was in desperate need. The Voodoo priestess wasn’t home and on rare occasion she isn’t when I drop by. I was in and out quickly, quenched my thirst and made my way toward the club. “Dig” by Mudvayne permeates the hall, I quickly motion to Estella.

“Look, don’t make this weird Cian, it was just sex.” She yells over the music, chastising me before I have a chance to speak. I lean into her ear; a tray perched atop her hand hovered overhead improving the acoustics as I explained gently that I too appreciated her visit to my humble abode and that she wasn’t exactly my reason for stopping by tonight. She is visibly taken aback, but recovers quickly.

“The other night I didn’t get the opportunity to speak with Madliene regarding the paperwork she generously left me.” I pull away and Estella is unaware of my receiving such paperwork, scrunching her face. I don’t want to disregard her, but if the Queen is being secretive with her own children and staff, I may need to gird what I divulge. Estella gets called away to a table sauntering off and I of course can’t help but admire her assets. She blows back to my side and we depart to one of the quieter spots of the club.

“When was the last cleansing?” I ask and Estella slowly places the tray on the floor, her face thoughtful.
I am suddenly very curious to what the Queen has planned in the very near future. Occasionally Madliene will hold a cleansing to thin our population; and I thought if anyone knew it would be Estella, she has a very special immortal gift. Estella can read the energy of a location, the events that have transpired, and the people involved. Her visions are inaudible; fortunately she has the ability to use her sense of smell. Our sense of smell are our eyes and ears if need be.

We all have a supernatural gift or talent when we are made into vampires. Something that lingers from your human life is magnified during the transition from mortal to immortal. I, in my human life was a warrior or soldier. My job as a human was to defend and protect my family and my village from anyone who dare cross our borders. In my immortal life that talent is enhanced and I am a demonic killer. Being vampire I am already granted speed and strength, my skin is impenetrable and I can attract any human to my table without much coercion but the years of service to my father and the opportunity to participate in almost every major war since I was made has granted me the knowledge and skill to hunt and kill anyone or anything. I enjoy this gift. I am a killer. I always have been. I only know of one other fierce killer who didn’t have the history of battle like me, but a demon in her own right.

A night like any other at Morte’, the lights danced and the music throbbed while Madliene held court, a catastrophic scuffle broke out among a vampire and a human. The cause of the fray happened to be Angelique, a mental seductress in everything she is. She was flaunting her wilds around the tables, her job as it happened to be, before she became the gaunt rogue she is now. In bloom Angelique was as beautifully treacherous as her maker and Madliene saw Angelique as a muse among the inhabitants; an inspiration to others, human and vampire alike. That’s her talent, to inspire them to drink, fuck, suck and act hedonistically; as she would elegantly put it.

Angelique is never to involve herself once the inspiration took hold, but the night in question, she had grown tired of the job and decided to have her own fun. Madliene grabbed Angelique long before Sophia was born. Angelique is, was the oldest child in a family of sixteen, Sophia being the sixteenth. Years in between pregnancies, organically Angelique could be Sophia’s mother. When Madliene took Sophia; Angelique went rogue.

Estella takes a deep breath, casting her green eyes to the ceiling and crossed her arms hugging them close to her body for comfort. Little did I realize what I had asked her to recall. To re-account the night Sophia was made and Angelique broke her heart.