“Violence may beget violence, but if you are a minority in America, nonviolence begets violence. It was like this when I got here and it’ll be this way long after I leave, sadly.” Asha says thoughtfully, causing Naira to think even more while looking through the window. The two ride while listening to RnB. Naira nods along and watches the rain roll down the window. Asha sits with her hands folded in her lap while looking out of her window.
“I once knew a man who had a large house, two children, and a lovely wife, at least that's what everyone saw her as. Behind closed doors, she’d torment me. She'd hit me for no good reason. The words she spat at me should never be uttered by anyone that claims to have even an ounce of humanity.” Naira was caught off guard but listened intently.
“Well, it just so happens that her husband saw how she treated me one day. He stepped between her and me. ‘Don’t go beatin’ on her woman! How is she supposed to retrieve the linens if her hands are all battered?! It's time you take yourself inside and straighten up!’ he scolded her, fiercely. I bet he thought he was my knight in shining armor,” Asha scoffs. “His wife suspected he cared for me more than he cared for anyone else on the plantation, and to some extent, it might've been true. I saw fire in her eyes before she turned around and left us alone…” she focused her gaze ahead, as rain droplets began to fall on the windshield. Naira could tell Asha was reliving the story as she told it.
Naira remembers Emory telling her about this part of the story, after reading Asha’s book, but doesn't recall many of the details. Asha continued. “We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. His face was a mix of hatred and confusion. He helped me up, and at that moment, when we’d touched hands, I was sure our souls had connected. I don't know what came over us, I could never explain it I don’t think, but right there, we made love in the hay. We looked and sounded like animals,” she sighs and straightens her back, blinking repeatedly as if holding back tears. “From then on, he’d sneak away with me after hours, when he was sure his wife was sleeping. We’d both been hiding our after-hour escapes from our significant others.” Asha pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing. “My partner’s name was Barbury. He was a giant of a man, dark and handsome, muscle on muscle, he was the silent type. You could never really get into his head, he’d never asked why I got so much food, but never complained, knowing I’d always share it with him. As long as I kept sleeping with the master, I knew there was a chance I could get him to go easier on everyone else… or that's what I told myself at least.” Naira believed to see a single tear roll down Asha’s face.
“Well, Barbury and I couldn't keep our relationship a secret forever, and to him, there was no reason to. There were many people in love on the plantation, hell, they even had children. And truth was we had a child on the way, but it seems like the white man caught wind of our relationship, and Barbury was gone within the week… I never saw him again. Shortly after, the master was even more violent than his wife. His beatings would sometimes go on for hours,” Asha pauses for a moment as Naira sees that she was hurting.
“It’s alright, you don't have to go on if it makes you uncomfortable,” Naira comforts her boss.
“Oh no, this is where it gets interesting. I’ll spare you the details, but that man gave me more than I could’ve ever imagined, and stripped me of things I never knew I even had. I was a ghost of my former self. He used me whenever he saw fit. Some nights, I scrubbed my skin till it bled. I figured there was nothing else I had to lose.”
“What about the baby?” Naira interrupts.
Asha didn’t hesitate to answer. “Well, all those beatings had taken a toll. He’d also stopped feeding me as generously as he’d used to, and even cut my normal rations,” she pursed her lips and shrugged. “I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I gathered up all the malice I had in my heart and devised a plan,” she licked her teeth. “I used my seemingly submissive nature and charm to make him submit,” she says, a vengeful smile on her face. “One afternoon, when the others were finishing up their work and heading to their beds, I grabbed him by his hand, he hopped off his horse, and without words, we headed toward our spot. Only this time, I wanted to be a bit more adventurous or so he thought. I pulled him to a spot I felt was more ‘suitable’, which was on his front porch and we did it right there, he never really was too bright. Naira, I was loud. I rode him like I wanted to kill him. I dug my nails into his skin until I could feel the slick blood soak my fingertips, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, it seemed like he enjoyed it. I don't know what came over me. I licked the blood off of my fingers and felt him sink his teeth into my neck. In the middle of our throws of ecstasy, I felt a barrel point against my head ‘get off my damn husband you nigger!’, she yelled with all her might. I quickly realized that it was his wife, her fury was felt in my bones. They began to argue back and forth ‘Put that goddamn gun down woman!’ he yelled back at her.”
She dries her tears with a hand, and a smile takes over her face, she chuckles almost as if she enjoyed telling the story. “I guess she saw me smiling while her husband stood in front of me, trousers around his ankles, to protect me from her wrath when berating her. Oh, she didn’t like that one bit. She pushed by him and slapped me so hard I could’ve sworn I’d gone unconscious. When I opened my eyes, I was on the ground, her husband was now on top of her, strangling her. When I saw her hands go limp and release the gun, I scooped it right out of her hand. Her husband was too preoccupied to notice me grab it, and suddenly we’d all been stunned by a loud crack and a blinding light. Once I’d regained my vision, I couldn’t believe the carnage that befell my eyes, his shoulder was completely gone, blood was spilling out onto the wife’s white nightgown and they both howled. She regained consciousness and rushed to his side. ‘Oh my Lord, she’s gonna kill us’ she screamed and he punched her this time. ‘Get away from me, you damn bitch, I can’t fucking believe she did this! I‘ll have your head for this!’ I hadn’t even given it a second thought before pulling the trigger and watched her head disappear into a cloud of merlot in the setting sun. Her blood droplets glistened like rubies as they floated in the wind.”
Naira’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Oh my God. You killed her”. Asha smiles.
“Yes! And that isn't even the best part. Believe it or not, upon seeing his wife on the ground, he screamed like I‘d never heard any man scream before. I was sure his house would collapse. I dug into his wife’s pockets and retrieved the bullets she had and loaded them into the gun. His kids came rushing outside, hoping to see what all the noise was about. The first one hadn’t even gotten a chance to scream before I took his head clean off. His sister just collapsed into a heaving ball, crying and snotting everywhere. Then I shot her too. At this point, their father had somehow gotten an axe and threw it at me, nearly missing my throat but sinking itself perfectly into my shoulder, making me drop the gun. He picked it up and pointed at my head before pulling the trigger… nothing, just a few clicks. ‘You wasn't paying attention you had two chillun, remember’ I said as I snatched the axe out of my arm and began hacking away at him until he was nothing but a bloody mess of evil mush,” she looks at Naira with a look in between pride and emptiness.
“After freeing all the other enslaved, I had the house slave bandage my wound. She did a piss poor job, but it stopped the bleeding, so I wasn’t complaining. We all partied into the night, rummaging through the missus belongings, and grabbing whatever we could find to try on. The fellas drank and talked downstairs. I slipped in and out of consciousness that night from the blood loss, but if I’d died right there, I don’t think I would’ve been too torn up about it.” She smiles and shakes her head. “I think it was about 3 a.m. when we’d finally left. We all ran in separate directions, some getting caught and lynched or worse, returned to chattel slavery after being beaten and broken, and some being able to make it up north to freedom. I myself, on the other hand, was lucky enough to stumble across some vampires, who’d been so enthralled by my savagery and immersive storytelling, that they’d decided to make me one of them. I would’ve died from infection anyway, so I didn’t have much of a choice, seeing as they would have killed me either way. We had no idea we’d be regarded as “legacy” vampires, we just wanted to survive as best as we could.”
Naira’s jaw drops, and Asha turns to her, lifting her chin back up with two fingers. “Back then, vampires were still in hiding. We were still the minority, hiding out of fear they’d kill us and those we loved. I always wanted to go back down south to see if I could find Barbury, but as the years stretched on, I just couldn’t find the courage to show him what kind of monster his woman had become… I miss him every day, Naira. But after the things I've done, I know he wouldn't be able to love me the same. I'm not the woman he loved anymore, I’m something far worse, I’m…” Asha’s words catch in her throat as the white LED street lights pass overhead and the hum of the car drowns out the rain.
“I can see why you didn't put that in the book,” Naira says softly in understanding.
“You don't seem all that shaken. I wonder why that is,” she replies, surprised.
“I can understand why you did what you did to the parents… the kids’ murders don’t sit right with me, they still had time to change,” Naira argues coldly. Asha looks over at her, and then back to the road before chuckling.
“I don't think people change. They may act differently, and they may even renounce all prior misdeeds, but deep down, those principles they learned as children are still there, that beast is still in them waiting to rear its ugly head. Some take more prodding, while some are just ready to explode like the gentleman we saw at the store. We can't let these people grow and walk the Earth hoping that they ‘change’. We shan’t be that gullible, child,” she says, with a completely serious tone. “We must extinguish that wildfire of hatred before it has a chance to spread throughout the generations. And that man is being extinguished as we speak. That hatred took my baby, so I took theirs, and one day, someone’s hatred will take me, I’m sure of it.” She declares while staring at Naira through the darkness with glowing red eyes.
“Doesn't sound like a healthy cycle,” Naira says while averting her gaze at the passenger window.
“I never said it was, don’t twist my words. I'm just saying it's the way things are. In this world, you either dominate or submit. Both could be powerful if used correctly back then. I understood the power of submission if used correctly, people don't take the words of strangers too seriously if you expect to do any damage. Befriend them, get in close, and strike when they are at their most vulnerable.”
Naira smiles politely at Asha’s comment, letting out an uncomfortable chuckle, and wondering if that’s what they were doing, befriending her, biding her time, waiting for just the right moment to strike when she exposes her complete self to her. “No, that's too much to think about, I need some damn sleep,” she thinks to herself as she rests her head on the window of the car while listening to the music.
Upon entering the mansion, they speak for a few minutes before Asha guides Naira to her room. While getting ready for bed, Naira thought about what Asha had said, all night wondering just who Asha was telling that story to. She was telling it in the presence of Naira, but she’d never actually looked at her when giving the most vivid details of the story. Instead, she’d keep looking straight out into the rain, as if she was telling this story to a friend she hadn't spoken to in a while. Naira wasn’t sure why Asha felt so comfortable sharing that secret with her newest employee.
Naira thought to herself, “Asha must think I’m cool as fuck! Emory would be so proud.” She pumps her fist in the air before drifting into sleep.
Naira lays in her bed listening to the faint moans and groans of the mansion. As she tosses and turns, she wonders about Credence, her friends, and Cole. She can’t help but feel a thousand miles away from them, despite actually being forty minutes away. She’s been so invested in her job, almost swallowed by it, she feels as if she’s been disconnected from her life back at home.
“I wonder what he’s been up to. Can't believe it’s already been a week,” Naira says quietly to herself while looking at the old pictures she had taken with her friends and Credence. She drops her hand to her side, letting out an exhausted sigh.
She presses the play button on her phone and listens to music while getting dressed. While humming along, she’s interrupted by a loud popping noise. Startled, she hesitantly inspects the source of the noise. She catches a small crack in her window, and as she studies it, “NA-...CA-...WE-...TROU-” suddenly bursts into her thoughts. “Addy?” she thinks and notices it indeed is her friend. Confused as to why she’d reach out this way, rather than texting, she focuses on what her friend is saying. Unable to make up the words, she picks up her phone.
Ayo?
You ok?
Are you fuckin with me? 🤔
She texts, yet it won’t send. “This shitty Wi-Fi!” she exclaims, and her friend’s voice dies down. “It's alright, I’ll see her later today,” she briefly scowls before continuing to get dressed.
She starts performing her daily duties. Sweeping the floors, cleaning the windows, and taking out the trash. After a few hours had flown by, she wipes the sweat from her brow after finishing her daily routine, heading up to the waiting room. “My dogs are barking, can't wait to sit down finally,” Naira complains as she sluggishly pulls herself up the stairs. This time equipped with Bluetooth earphones, she stealthily tucks in one ear and a podcast she was sure would last her for an hour or two plays. Naira steps into her vestibule and sits at her desk.
As she tries to get comfortable, her head turns when a muffled voice interrupts her podcast. She was sure it was coming from Asha’s office. Pausing her true-crime podcast, she can see that the red light above her door was lit.
“Must've forgotten to shut it, I’ll get it,” Naira thinks to herself. Carefully, she steps toward the door and presses her ear against its cold surface. “Right after some snoopin of course,” she thinks again with a mischievous grin.
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