Serpentine Stairway to Heaven.

Marie sat back in her chair, with a particularly muscly man sharing it with her. And as the Music of the party around her went on, she wondered if she really was in the mood for this, the 7th Voodoo Queen, second of her name was never very particular about who rubbed their bodies up against her, of it where woman's tongue or man's cock that breached her cunny and stirred up her insides, but even with her subjects dancing, snorting and stripping to their heart's content in the house of the dead, Marie's mind was all but consumed by what she had done... to Daisy.

She never had liked her adopted freak of a sister very much, the way she walked around all high and mighty, beautiful and blonde and without a care in the world, she despised how her mother welcomed her (and that Undead monster Mother of her's) into their sacred tribe... not that Marie cared much for 'the Tribe' either.

"The Tribe comes before everything else, Maime, never forget that, Maime, you always need to stick to your guns, Maime blah blah blah blah"

...She... She didn't mean that she loved her Mother, admired her mother more than anything, but Marie didn't know how to lead! she only ever got into the family traditions to spite Daisy. Oh and spite her she did... She put the Curse of Chastity on her, split the throat of a virgin toad right here on her desk and sacrificed another year of her life just for it.

Yes... right there, she could see the blood on the desk still as she pointed down her straw, sniffing up a long line of the ashy white cocaine that burned the inside of her nostril.

It was as she lent back, half shocked by the Coke, looking around at the flashing lights of green and blue and the degenerates that danced beneath them, that she really was all alone, she couldn't talk to any of these people, she didn't even know them, all it did was make her feel numb inside.

She felt the Male stripper on her touched her and the Voodoo queen jolted "Stop! Stop... just fuck off. Go away!" She commanded, watching as the man gave her a judgemental look, strutting off in his tight-whites.

Why did she do that to Her sister? what the hell had possessed her to do such a thing, Daisy was gentle and kind, and compassionate, she wouldn't hurt a fly... and she cursed her, defiled her with a cursed mark, all for what, for jealousy?

And as the Party around her boomed, and she tossed the Rolled up note on the colossal pile of green that her runners had collected... Marie was certain that Her sister, the only one that she had left, was probably off crying somewhere, half-maddened by the curse that Marie had laid upon her, drowning in sorrow like the little sissy she was, and Marie... hated it all.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

She paused... what the hell was that sound?

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Just behind the sound of the basey music... was that Hissing?

Marie raised an eyebrow, gulping as she slowly lifted her head to peer up at the sound from above. Staring down, with eyes that burned with Crimson flame, was a long, dark scaled snake, it's mouth open wide to flash its elongated fangs as it hung from the ceiling above.

But the Serpent was not alone... oh he was not alone at all, hundreds, and hundreds of them, hung from up there, all with eyes aflame, and burning stars etched into their scaled faces. "NO!!" That's all she managed to say as the Snakes began to rain down, locking themselves around flailing arms and hyperventilating torsos, constricting around the faces and neck as the room erupted into a colourful array of screams and cries.

Marie's personal serpent looked... very poisonous, and so as it fell on her, coiling carefully around her neck, she tried her best to keep her quivering body completely still, a stark contrast to her subjects who cried and screamed, rolling and screaming as the vipers took there hold.

She could feel it slithering, constricting around her neck, slowly tightening until she had barely any air left to breathe. She couldn't fight them, no one could fight them, that was the trick of it, doom was in these serpents, armageddon in their scales, Marie or her... associates couldn't hope to kill these snakes, not because of the venom, or the strength in their bodies, but because of the fire inside of them, the ever-burning red inferno that could reach into limbo and pull out the soul, it was Hellfire... Her, hellfire.

"This isn't what I wanted."

Marie managed to crane her neck towards the window, it was open wide so that the chill of the swamp heir could brush past her long lashes.

And in a blink, She was there.

Shrouded in crimson as red as Strawberries, a bonnet bowed with scarlet, a river of gold, Blonde as the summer sun flowed from her shoulders as she looked to Marie with her single burning eye.

"Y-Yo, it's that Vampire chick a-again!" One of Marie's men choaked, his own snake wrapping itself around his neck.

"I am not a Vampire." She whispered, watching with that sorrowful look on her face, as the man scrambled clumsily over to his bag to brandish a brand new 38'

"N.....No.... Don't!" Marie tried to cry, her words strangled away by the serpent on her throat.

But it was for nothing, the Young man raised his gun, resisting the growing tightness around his nape to fire. Daisy did not move, she merely frowned deeper, tipping up her hat as she sat by the open window.

"Ti-*UGHK*Time to die... you undead Bitch!" The Man choaked as He pointed his weapon, the sights aimed right between the Blonde's eyes.

"S-Stop!" Marie called, but it was too late, the blast from the barrel had already clapped violently against the air, the flash of fire emerging as the smouldering bullet flew through the space, cutting through the air and piercing deep into the fleshy skull of Daisy.

The Current of Blonde was disturbed violently as Her head whipped back in a cracking motion, and all onlookers where stunned to see just what Marie expected.

The Blonde's head, tipped back down, her eyes looking consciously and un-harmed as the hot metal sunk into her forehead, absorbed by the spongey flesh of her skin. By Marie looked on in vain, to see the man who let off the shot quiver, his eyes twitching as the back of his head suddenly erupted and exploded in crimson fireworks, painting all those behind him in splashes of scarlet Gore.

"She's a Doll! A-Argh... A Living Voodoo D-Doll! H-ooolld, your fire!!!!" Marie tried to call, but many more pulled out their weapons. "S-Stop! As your Quu...Queen I order you to stop!!!"

None listened, all fired at the Figure in red... and all were killed, but Daisy herself, the men who shot with their AK47's and poorly cleaned handguns were riddled with gunshot wounds, all of their bullets merely absorbed into Ostara's Mass and countered back on them as if they had shot themselves.

The Corpses fell and people seemed to get the gist of things, dropping their firearms and worrying more on the tightening snakes that coiled around their necks "What the fuck is this Undead bitch!?" One cried.

"I-I can't breathe... HAHAHAHA. what the fuck? I.... I can't breathe! Help!" Another spoke, bursting into laughter and twitching, collapsing to his feet as the body of his snake crushed harshly on his windpipe.

Marie's dark eyes looked upon Daisy, trying and failing several times to speak before muttering "I-I'm sorry... I-"

"I Might have forgiven you once." Daisy stood from her seat at the window sill, moving to stand over Marie like a dark shadow "I cannot kill you, I will not kill you. Since the ages with my mother, watching how she would bathe in the blood of Humanity, soaking deep in their gore... I swore to the Loa that I would never take a life. But I swear to you, Maime, that Your fate will be worse than ****, worse than immortality, I promise you a life of servitude, to the Guede, an unending faith, drowned in emotion and lost in devotion... Forever more."

In unison, the Serpents began to move again, slithering up the jaws of their victims. Marie looked deep into the eyes of beady black, tasting at the air for the last time, as it suddenly and violently, breached her lips.

The Sensation was painful and slow, feeling the serpent's building form decend into her throat, further and further down through her oesophagus, making her **** and gag as the tail slipped past her tongue, the Serpent settling deep in her stomach, where it hissed deep within.

---

The blonde cast her arms out, tears falling down her face as the fire inside them blazed, her jaws revealing her short fangs as she laughed, half in grief, half in Joy "I am aware that Maime isn't a very talented teacher so let me teach you something!!!" Daisy called, watching as her scaled beasts penetrated deep into the 'Voodoo' practitioner's throats "THIS IS THE CURSE OF VITALITY, OR THE PAIN OF OROBOROS, WHERE MY BABIES WILL SIT DEEP WITHING YOUR GULLET'S AND BITE DEEP AT YOUR ORGANS... unless..." Daisy turned her eyes to Marie "You devote yourself to the Guede and all their teachings, and with every moment that you neglect them, my babies will inject their venom."

Marie grimaced, clawing at her belly as she groaned and whine, doubtlessly feeling the deep writhing deep in her guts, slithering around and spelling agony for her "What have you done!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?" Marie roared.

"It is the serpent's hex..." Daisy looked to the entrance of the wide room and saw tiny Tina Willis her eyes wide as she saw Daisy "With each disobeying of that which the afflicted issues, the Serpent will bite deep into the soft flesh of your innards and inject a venom of overwhelming emotion." Tina cried, looking on as the men around her writhed and squirmed at the horrid sensation.

"Over-HAHA-whelming! HEHEHE OOOOOOOOOOOH HEHE! emotion!?" One of the men cried, his voice cracking with thick distress and paradoxical joy.

Daisy saw Marie scowl, the splintering hatred in her eyes as she went beet red and fell to her knees "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHWWW FUCK! UMMMMMMMMM! Y-You can't do this ... I AM MASTER OF MY OWN WILL YOU BLONDE BITCH--Ugh... HEHEHE-Agh!" Marie tried to speak, though her voice was overcast with a whirlwind of feelings.

Daisy stepped forward, towards the desk where she beheld the endless stacks of Emerald bills. "It's what Jacob what want... I have to survive, I must get to Wallace." Huffing deeply, she began to grab as much as Her hands could grasp, stuffing note after note, dollar after into her tiny red purse as she muttered "Complete compression: Endless Interior." The Symbol on her purse gleamed brightly and Daisy was glad to have learned the few blood-runes that her mother knew.

She had gathered enough... enough for an escape, but the Voice of a quivering Marie called for her "You come here... steal my fucking money, curse me... what right do you have? hehehe... I rule my way, I am the Queen! I AM THE QUEEN!!"

"Yes.. you are... and you will be a good Queen, or you will suffer and quiver and writhe as you overflow with love and hate, desire; hatred... agony, forever." She couldn't meet Marie's eyes as she quaked on the ground, unable to move because her feelings held her there. All she could see in her sister now was Jake's corpse and the betrayal of her.

"I... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Daisy... Please don't do this, I take it back, I want to take it back! Don't leave me-Hehe enough! DON'T LEAVE ME!"

The Woman in red merely turned away, that blonde hair billowing in the wind as her sister quivered, near creaming herself on the hard floor, laughing and crying in endless pain... and endless pleasure.

"What the fuck is she Hhahahahaaa! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!" A particularly tall man called out at Daisy who was about ready to take her leave.

"She... Is Madam Ostara of the Dawn." Tina called, her eyes gleaming amongst the crowd of men and women that quivered in suffering "Not of ****, not of life, but somewhere in between, An Undead who walks with the wrathful Sun, the Scarlet Dhampir!"

Daisy looked back to the hall of screams and laughs, looking at her sister, and at Tiny Tina Willis, one last time and as her single Vampiric eye smouldered, and her short fangs glistened ivory in the low-light, the Blonde's lips cracked into a smile "Goodbye. Good luck. Do not make me come back here. Serve well, live well, or You will die Laughing."

And just like that, She was gone. Carried away on the cool swamp wind and into the night, the air around the space of her absence, hissed, deeper than the Serpents deep in the Voodoo's stomachs and deeper than the venomous Ire that she left behind.

---

Daisy's heels clicked on the sidewalk as she walked through the quiet streets, her Violet eyes fixed downwards as Mr Copper slithered gently under her Ivory scarf, she was in a lot of pain, her insides burning as the Fire's of the Sun boiled her in her guts, calling on it too much severely irritated the Monster inside of her, burning the Vampire half of her that hissed and groaned and called for blood. Daisy had never really had a place, Humans were hesitant to welcome her because of her Undead aura that unnerved them, and any Undead that she had known (apart from her mother) just laughed at her and tried to eat her... it was torturous, and without her Mama, Miss Abat, to defend her, Daisy wasn't sure she had the strength to even try and go to Wallace.

She remembered roughly where the Airport was, but it was a long walk from this part of the city and though it was quiet she was especially uncomfortable with the silence. Eventually, hope came in a Taxi rolling slowly down the street until she whistled for it, the vehicle screeching to a halt.

The Inside of the Taci smelt stale, lifeless, it was parallel by the driver, a man that Daisy thought might be Eastern European by the way He asked where she wanted to go.

"Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, please?" She asked softly.

The Man hadn't actually turned to look at her yet and when He did she was the dark bags under his eyes, the scruffiness of his hair and his stubble "That's quite a ride, might be a little expensive."

The Blonde shrugged "It doesn't matter." He looked at her eyes, her lips and her outfit, some strange life filling out the darkness of his brown orbs.

"Buckle up." He muttered in his foreign tone.

The Drive was oddly relaxing, watching Her hometown fly by outside of the dirty backseat window, the droning of the radio crackled from the poor reception and violet eyes looked with curiosity as droplets of rain began to fall from the cloudy and starless black sky.

When she looked at the rearview, she saw the eyes of the driver looking at her, the bridge of his crooked nose twitched and Daisy's comfort began to fade as He spoke hesitantly "Are you, okay miss?" He asked.

She nodded, returning her attention off the slowly wettening street, trying to lose herself in the rumbling of the engine, the crackling of the shitty radio, anything but her thoughts.

And yet, Daisy couldn't shake the almost insectoid blandness of those Brown eyes, flickering at her in the reflection as they stopped at a red light. the Road was Busy even as the street was not at this hour.

"You know... I get all sorts in that seat back there." The Man's voice was even more droning than the radio, it unnerved her, but she listened all the same "But I don't think I've seen sadder eyes than yours in my mirror?"

"I've... had a rough night." She whispered, not knowing why, the flames inside had still refused to subside and her insides were still rattled by the events with Maime and the house of the dead.

"I don't mean to be rude, but-"

"-- That's always what people who are about to be rude say, can you just drive please?" She cut in before he could finish. The Man seemed to get the message and turned his head back to the road and the hoard of cars that intersected between each other, Daisy wondered what the Road must look like from a bird's eye view if the traffic seemed like shining metal droplets running down the Black tar leaf of the road from above, her stomach churned as she thought about it, churned with guilt at the sad look streaked across the Driver's stumbled face "Hey... I'm sorry." She spoke, catching those dark eyes looking again in the mirror "I have had a really hard day..."

The Man smiled in a cold rigid kind of way, the dark bags under his eyes betraying his lack of sleep "Did you have your heart broken, Ma'am? I've had many heartbroken girls, sitting just where you are. Beautiful girls, that most wouldn't dream of hurting, wounded by foolish men, were you hurt by a foolish man?" He asked innocently.

Daisy shrugged rubbing her eyes "He wasn't foolish... He was a good man, my family... if you can even call them that, He was torn away from me by them." It felt strange talking to a stranger like this, especially one so direct as him.

"Ah I see, I understand. My family are all gone now, they did not handle moving to this country very well, every day I would drive this cab to look after them, but being here... it just wasn't good for them, in America the Money is either too fast or too slow, and most of my passengers don't stick around when it's time to pay up."

"I'm sorry, that must be frustrating." Daisy found herself feeling sorry for the man, unsure of what to say to try and reassure him that she wouldn't dream of doing such a thing "Why do people do that? if you render a service then it should be paid in due... I... I worked for my family for years, I thought they valued me but... I was wrong, now I'm going to meet a man that I have never seen, when the Man I had to leave the man I wanted behind... Do you get a lot of people that runoff on their fair?" She asked, just getting her truth our of her system was refreshing, but her hesitation to do so seemed to have dissipated with peculiar ease.

The Man turned around as they stopped at a red light, his face oddly smooth and unfeeling "No... Not exactly, most do not get the chance."

Daisy's inhibitions seemed to ooze away, even as the driver took a wrong turn, driving through the darkness and rain downtown where the droplet cars had begun to dry out on the road ahead.

"Where are we going, this isn't the way to the airport?" Daisy asked, strangely calm, despite the growing distress deep in her gut.

"I do not often get pretty girls in that seat back there... let alone Beautiful one's like you, but you know what you American's say? When life gives you lemons...?"

"...Make lemonade?" She finished, her body was weak as she relaxed deep into the seat, the droning of the rain on the roof and the broken radio pushing deep into her slowly relaxing limbs.

The Driver nodded, letting out a strange kind of cackle as He turned into a dark alley, the street was quiet and black, without the streetlights she could barely see anything, but with the numbing rining inside of her, holding back her's and Mr Copper's fears, she could do nothing but watch as He pulled into a quiet alley and turned off the engine.

There was silence for a moment as the interior light flicked on, casting a bland yellow light across the Driver "I am sorry about this... But Broken hearts do make the best lemonade, I no longer have a family to feed and it is hard to hunt with the sun in this state, so I get you all to myself. Hmmm, you really are beautiful, I'm sure..." His head twisted and that cold face was drawn tight, his dark eyes burned red, and long sharpened fangs erupted as his jaws cracked in an unnatural gape "...You will taste beautiful too." He took the keys out of his ignition, and pocketed them, then made his move.

Like a disgusting leach, the Vampire tore open the barrier between them, crawling through it like a bloodthirsty beast, his low rumbling growl resembling that of his own car's engine,

She couldn't move, he had to have been mesmerising her, slowly relaxing her somehow, both herself and Mr Copper where frozen; limp, god damn it couldn't she just get a break!

She hatched a plan... it was a longshot, she didn't even have her human strength let alone her Immortal strength, but all it took was a little push, just a little push and she'd get her reaction.

The Vampire's hands were cold as he crawled over her, his dark tongue salivating as he grabbed overly harshly at her thighs, feeling at the warmth of her body, the tenderness of her hips and grabbing at her breasts "Ugh... Stop..." Daisy pleaded, her mind flashing to Jake.

He drew closer and closer to her nape, his breath stinking of ****... and she pushed, she pushed and she pushed, let all of her feelings in, about Maime's betrayal, about her curse, about Jake... his smile, and how she would never see it again.

Daisy's eye flashed red, her mouth drawing open as her fangs, shorter than the driver's jutted out as she hissed.

Jolting in shock, the Vampire flew back in panic, feeling her undead ire as He roared, claws sharp as razor's flying from his fingertips "WHAT!? YOU'RE... DIE! DIE DIE DIE!!!!" He screamed, flying forward with his claws which he sank deep into the spongey flesh of her chest.

There was a pause, as the hold on her body began to melt away, and the Vampire's glowing eyes began to die back down into their insectoid brown, looking down the newly open hole in his own chest which oozed with blackened blood "Wha... How... I..." He muttered, the contents of his chest cavity leaking out as his eyes twitched.

"M-Mr Copper!" She cried, and with his strength returned in ****, the serpent struck viciously, hissing as he darted over and over at the Vampire, sinking his venomous fangs deep into the Driver's throat several times and sending him flying back, with a great hole in his chest and voracious venom seeping out of his throat.

Pushing herself up, Daisy grasped his forearm, and wrenched it harmlessly from in between her breasts, pushing him aside. He gargled on blood and Venom, as she fished through his pockets and finding the Keys to his Taxi, He looked at her, frozen with a pained expression.

She got in the front, putting the keys in the ignition, and listening to the engine turn over, wiping his undead blood from her collarbone as she pulled out of the dark alley clumsily, she hadn't driven in many many years after all and was slightly confused as to the strange and seemingly useless functions on the modern controls.

"Y-You are... supposed to be a myth." she heard him say as she drove slowly and carefully out into the road, realising how much she missed driving, it made her feel free.

"Well apparently I'm not..." She said.

"A-Are there more, Dhampiri in --ugh...-- New Orleans?" He asked, his gargling spelling his coming ****.

Daisy frowned, shaking her head as she looked at his ruined body in the rearview "No... not in the city... probably not in the world." She whispered, seeing his eyes growing heavy "I have to thank you." She started "I don't remember a time that I have ever just let all of my feelings in, for as long as I remember I just bottle things in and soldier on, it feels good to just acknowledge things, gives me a new perspective... I won't let this place hold me back anymore, I am going to get to Charles Drake, and nothing is going to distract me anymore!"

"What are you talking about... You crazy Bitch." He groaned, contemplating his wound weakly

"tut tut, manners maketh man." She said.

"How... How did you this? It's like... I stabbed myself in the heart?" He was fading, that much was clear, the venom would kill him with the amount of damage to his heart, what was the harm in loosening her tongue a little.

"I'm a Voodoo doll." She explained, "I have always hated ****... so I made a deal a long time ago, as long as I never take a life, and abstain from blood, then no one can harm me, they can only harm themselves."

"Well... shit." He said, blood flying from his jaws as he hacked violently "Can you... Put on the Radio? If I'm going to die... Then I at least want to hear a good tune."

A simple enough request, but she was confused by the Radio, how it had a big screen and was connected to his Eleven-Telephone, she fiddled around with it for a while, struggling to get them to work and focus on the road which was growing busier at the same time.

"Ummmm, here, I think I got it?" She said, pressing one of the tracks on the strange glass screen. The Music that came was peaceful and quite beautiful, it's gentle trill inside the Car was unlike anything from her time... she really liked it.

"Hmmm, good choice." He muttered.

"It's beautiful." She said, tears in her eyes as she pulled out of the main road and unto a junction, swerving a little nervously out and accidentally cutting someone off

"LOOK WHERE YOUR FUCKING GOING, FUCKING MORON!" A man shouted.

"Soorrryy!" Daisy called back, chuckling as they rolled down the long winding road. "Hey... what's the name of this song?"

"A-Are you kidding? have you been --*Cough Cough*-- ugh... under a rock?" He spoke, more blood running down his chin.

"At the bottom of a bog, come on, tell me." She asked sweetly.

"S-Stairway... to heaven." He said, smiling "doesn't fit really... I'll meet my clan again, but it'll be in hell."

"This is for my Jake... He'll be up there." She peered up into the rainy sky through the windscreen, and smiled, wiping her eyes "Goodbye, Jacob, Rest in Peace. tell your grandmama I said hello." And for a moment, she could have sworn that she could see his face in the dark clouds, smiling down at her.

The Vampire was long dead by the time She pulled into the massive car park, directed by an exhausted-looking worker who luckily didn't look in the back seat.

She gave one last look back at the Vampire, He looked oddly peaceful, she hoped that He would find some kind of peace. Leaving the keys in the ignition and the music on, and nestling Mr Copper carefully under her scarf as she looked up to the tall, white structure, and the large revolving entrance "Come on, Mister, Let's get out of here... I have an appointment to keep."

And so she went, with her I.D in her pocket, Marie's cash in her Runed Purse, and a new determination in her heart, to fulfil the purpose of her awakening, to Find Charles drake, in the Black City of Wallace.