Seductive Sands

by Kim Faulks

  “That went well,” he said, gearing up and pushing the Jeep faster. She just nodded and tried to keep watch in the mirror in case Steve had changed his mind about letting them go.

  They drove in silence. It was one of the things Natalie liked about Malik, he wasn’t one for small talk and after a while she stopped staring into the cracked mirror and sat back. They drove for hours and eventually the buildings became sparse, giving way to the sand that covered the roads. They stopped and filled up the car and Natalie sifted through the bags. She pulled out the Glock and slipped in the full magazine, then searched through the bag until she found what she knew would be there. It was small and well hidden, but her fingers dug through the material of the bags until she found it.

  The tiny GPS device blinked red as it transmitted their location back to the steel warehouse. Natalie turned towards the attendant as she slipped it into the rubbish bin and slid the Glock into the back of her jeans. The attendant glanced up at her and she looked down. It would do no good for someone to remember her face. The sooner they disappeared into the desert the safer it would be for them.

  Malik came back to the car and tossed bottles of water into the back seat and handed her a bag of food. He noticed the bags were pushed down in the seat and his eyes scanned her body, looking for the tell-tale bulge at the back of her waist. He said nothing, but he could read between the unspoken lines and then slid in the seat and started the engine.

  Natalie waited until the yellow sands of the desert covered the road before she reached into the bag of food. She was starving, but even though he was immortal he still needed food and water, so she waited until Malik had eaten two of the rolls before she took a bite. The confrontation with Steve in the shed had shaken her, it wasn’t the nearness of the cold-hearted bastard that caused the depression inside of her. Malik had taken to checking on her out of the corner of his eye and although she appreciated his concern she needed to be left alone.

  The Jeep was stifling as the buildings that provided shade disappeared and the hot sun belted in. She wiped her head with her hand as the first trickles of sweat made their way into her eyes. She had spent four years in Afghanistan, so she was used to the sand and the heat but that wasn’t what made her uncomfortable. It was what had happened in the warehouse.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” said Malik.

  It was probably the last thing she wanted to do, but she had no alcohol and they couldn’t spare the time for her to break down and climb back from the depths of her own tormented hell, so she nodded and slowly started. “They call me the Butcher of Baghdad. I guess I earned that name, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “How did you get it?”

  “It was only six months after we arrived in Afghanistan, we had been deployed into a red zone. Insurgents had been confirmed in the area and we were to go in and clear as many as we could.”

  “Clear, you mean kill?” he said, his voice growing softer, as if he knew what was coming.

  “Yes, kill. My team went in second, we weren’t even supposed to be where we were, but someone had fucked up and gave us the wrong co-ordinates. We walked straight into a terrorist group. They fired on us and we tried to fire back, but we were outnumbered and cut down, somehow I ended up being separated from the rest of the squad.”

  “You were on your own in there?”

  Natalie nodded as the memories came flooding back. “I was cornered in a derelict house with a young mother and her son. There was no way out and I could hear them searching for us and killing everyone in the houses, there was nothing else I could do.”

  Big brown eyes stared up at her in her mind and she cried out in the car seat as they hurtled into the cover of the desert. “He was only a child, not even ten. I couldn’t let him die like that, to get cut down by a spray of bullets while his mother watched, then died beside him. There were others coming, I could hear them and I knew that soon there would be no hope for any of us. So I stood and grabbed my knife. It had to be quiet; otherwise they would know I was there. I waited for the first of them to enter and I pulled him into the room and into me. I gutted him while I held his mouth.” She said, her voice trailing off into another time, another place and stared at the wide-eye face of her victim while she choked away the last sound of his life.

  “How many did you kill, Natalie?” Malik asked, bringing her back to that moment.

  “I lost count, they kept coming and coming and I had to keep going, I couldn’t let the child die like that. In the end they stopped coming, it was lucky because they were taking up most of the room of the small house. They said that I killed fifteen and I guess it could have been that many. Can you believe they tried to give me a medal for that? Three of them to be exact, I sent them all back.”

  “And the others of your squad, they survived?” he said as he concentrated maneuvering the car along the soft sand.

  “Yes, they survived. Some of them were holed up not far from where I was, they heard the whole thing.”

  “I bet the guys treated you differently after that,” he said.

  “Yeah, they treated me differently alright. Most of them stayed away from me, ones like Steve. I scared them and no one wanted to bunk down with someone like me sleeping next to them.”

  “What happened to the child?”

  “I don’t know. I never saw him again.”

  She waited for the horror to consume her and teetered on the edge of the invisible ocean inside of her that threatened to drown her, but instead she felt something else comfort her, a presence that never wavered. She closed her eyes and felt Alexander, it was like a cool breeze that enveloped her and the whisper of his voice inside her head. We are the same you and I. It is through our connection that I share your pain so that you will never again suffer alone.

  It was his voice that calmed the terror inside of her and instead of tipping into the abyss, she stayed on the edge of that ocean and slowly over the next few hours she clawed her way back.

  Chapter 4

  They reached the tip of the Red Sea after the sting of the afternoon sun had been and gone. It had been a slow trip, the sand covered the road more times than not and it proved be a danger for even a seasoned traveller. They had blown a tire and the Jeep overheated three times, but they arrived in Suez in enough time to find somewhere to stay for the night.

  She had remained quiet, the soothing presence of Alexander inside her mind lulled her, wrapping her in a blanket of contentment. But it wasn’t lost on Malik. “He’s still in your head, I take it.”

  “Alexander?” she said, turning towards him.

  “Why can’t he just leave you alone?”

  It was like he spoke to Alexander as though he stood in front of him. His anger was like a ferocious animal, snarling and overpowering. I will never leave you alone, I will always be here, waiting for you to realize our love is never ending. Hurry Natalie, come back to me so that we may be together again.

  She didn’t think Malik could hear him inside of her mind, but he knew the reaction Alexander had over her body and she couldn’t stop her body from reacting as inside her mind Alexander trailed his fingers along her arm to cup her breast while his lips sought hers, washing her pain away in the desire they had for each other.

  Malik braked suddenly, throwing her against the seat belt and she reached her hand out as her head flew toward the dashboard of the car. “What the Hell?” she said, her adrenaline kicking in, her anger now overpowering every other thought inside her.

  “Sorry,” Malik muttered. “Something ran across the road.”

  She knew it was a lie, there had been no animal, but Malik had gotten what he wanted as the presence of Alexander receded from her mind and her body. Alexander had disappeared from her mind and Malik was quiet for the rest of the trip, they were both brooding like children confined into their own corners. But Natalie knew it was only a matter of time before they would be at war with each other again.

  They would be heading into the A
rabian Desert tomorrow and Malik needed to be focused if they were to find the Boudin camp alive...well for her at least. Makkah and her warriors moved around, like the sands they called home and Natalie was feeling hopeful that she would find the answers to the questions she needed.

  She was intrigued and a little apprehensive in meeting the immortal that had she had known in her first life. Malik didn’t know what kind of immortal Makkah was; she wasn’t a Vampire or a Djinn, but something else, something older. It concerned Natalie that not even a centuries old Djinn knew what Makkah was. That and the way he acted differently when he spoke of her, like he was careful as not to anger her. He shook his head when she pestered him with questions about her and their relationship and muttered, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  The white stone buildings in the City of Suez were magical against the vibrant pinks and purples of the setting sun. Natalie was transfixed by the sight of the massive buildings that sat precariously on top of the piles of rocks and Malik smiled, watching her as he drove them into the City. He handled the car with the finesse of a rally driver; in and out the overcrowded streets and soon they slid between two towering white wash stone buildings and stopped outside a double-story house.

  Vibrant colors of a row of mats were spread across a balustrade of a verandah and Natalie looked over to Malik.

  “It’s only small, but it’s safe and it will do for the night,” he said as he switched off the engine. The Jeep ticked and hissed loudly as it cooled and Natalie climbed out from the car and moved around towards the back.

  “Is this your place?” she said, pulling the bags from the car.

  “Yes, one of them.”

  Natalie could hear movement from inside the house and she caught the flash of a red head scarf as the outline of a woman passed across the doorway. Fear gripped her stomach and stopped her from unloading the car. For the first time she felt something that was akin to suspicion as she stared at the doorway.

  “What’s wrong?” said Malik, stopping and trailing her gaze into the house.

  “There’s someone in there.”

  “Oh, that’s Rashida,” he said as he pulled the flat tyre from the back.

  “Is she...” Natalie stuttered, unable to find the words that would answer the question screaming inside her head. Is this Malik’s wife? Or Lover?

  “Is she what?” he said looking at her now. Not a glance, he was really looking at her, following her eyes and reading the unease on her face, until his body shuddered as laughter echoed from his chest.

  Natalie felt the heat flood her face and it wasn’t because she stood on one of the hottest continents on the planet. No, she felt embarrassed that he laughed at her and the fact that she was suddenly jealous of this woman who she hadn’t even met. But she couldn’t move until she knew exactly what she was walking into. At that moment she would rather have taken on fifteen insurgents in a dump in the middle of a war, anything other than confronting this unknown woman. “Is she your wife?”

  “Why would you care?” He said, stepping towards her, his eyebrows raised. He was filthy and sweaty, his t-shirt clung to the hard swell of his chest and in that moment Natalie thought she had never seen someone so perfect. Why did she care? It was simple, because she had fallen in love with him.

  He could see the answer in her eyes as she stared at him and his mouth dropped open slightly. “Do you love me, Natalie?”

  The answer stuck in her throat. She had loved before - but until she met Alexander and Malik she had never been in love and the realization of that was frightening. “Yes,” the answer was barely whispered, but he heard it just the same.

  You don’t love him Natalie, you can’t love him, you don’t even know him. Please, come back to me and I will show you what true love is. Natalie tried to keep the impact of Alexander’s words from showing on her face. There were times where she wished her emotions and thoughts were her own and no one else’s. In her heart and mind she did love Malik, but she felt the same for Alexander. It was an instant connection, one that she could neither explain nor ignore, so she had no other choice than to accept her feelings.

  She knew confessing her love for Malik had drawn a line in the sand for both of these creatures. Both would now fight until the end for her and that thought filled her with dread.

  They looked stupid, standing outside in the waning sun with bags of guns lying around their feet. Natalie heard the creak of a door and she turned to where a pretty young woman stood. Her red head scarf off-set the chocolate of her skin and large brown eyes. She looked at Natalie and Malik then looked towards the floor.

  “Rashida is one of my servants; her family has served me many lifetimes. She is loyal and I’m very lucky to have her.”

  “You are so kind my fire lord,” she said, her voice soft as she kept her head bowed.

  “Thank you for arranging the house at such a short notice,” said Malik as he looked towards the young woman.

  “It was my pleasure and I must be going now, father will be getting worried.”

  Malik looked at her with a kindness and a protectiveness that Natalie had never seen in a man before. “And how is your father?”

  “He is well and asks after you each time I come,” she said smiling.

  Natalie really saw this man now, she could see the years of emptiness that surrounded him, each generation making its way for the next, leaving him behind. Natalie looked out to the darkening sky, not to marvel at the sunset but so he couldn’t see her tears fall.

  The young woman disappeared between the buildings in front of the house and Malik turned as Natalie wiped her face. His face held a puzzled expression as he watched her, but left it alone and before long they had the bags piled inside the doorway.

  The house was sparse, but immaculately clean and the most delicious smell of food wafted towards her. Her stomach growled and she placed her hand against her body as she made her way through the house.

  The lounge held no television or even a radio, but was filled with books of every kind, they lined the shelves in rows, some of them looked older than those she had seen in museums. She made her way through the room until she came to the stairs. Malik watched her from the doorway, his eyes following her as she walked through the lower part of his house and nodded when she turned to him, making her way up the stairs.

  The first room was a small bedroom; there was not much in the room only a single bed and small desk. The room was so sparse that Natalie assumed it wasn’t used much. The bathroom was next and Natalie almost groaned at the sight of the massive shower. There was only one room left and Natalie assumed that this would be the main bedroom, although she hadn’t expected to find what she did.

  A queen-size bed sat in the middle of what looked like a full-scale military map room. The outlines of every country sat pinned to every wall, covering them until the cream paint was no longer visible. Each country was broken down until detailed outlines of their cities covered the entire room. Natalie moved further inside, drawn and confused by the circles and details written beside some of the maps. She went from one map to another, until she stopped.

  She stood looking at a photo of herself. Her tight shorts left little to the imagination as she knelt, releasing Chris’s dog off the chain. She remembered that night; it was the one before she met Alexander. She stared at the photo remembering the noise in the trees she had heard and how she had searched the edges of the park before going upstairs to bed and realized the noises she had heard were Malik.

  He moved, making a noise louder than he should and she turned towards him, her eyes moving to his feet as she remembered the impressions he left behind. “It was you?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I had been following you for the last two days.”

  He had been following her? She turned back to the maps of the jagged edges of the Australian coast, the colored pins attaching details of her life to the paper. She moved again and found herself looking at a small area of England. The date of 1877 was written in thi
ck red pen. Natalie was drawn to a small black and white photo. The grey hues outlined timber buildings and horses that lined an empty street and a young woman. She seemed familiar to Natalie and she removed the blue pin that attached it to the worn map and held it closer to her eyes.

  She was only young, not even eighteen if she had to guess. It was something as simple as the narrowing of her eyes and the gaze she held for the person behind the camera. Natalie knew that expression, she had seen it in the reflection in many a window as she moved past, in a hurry to the next destination as she made sure hallways were checked and rooms were searched. The expression that stared back at her in the small black and white photo was hers.

  It was one thing to have someone try to explain that you had lived your life over and over, but to have the evidence of that stare back at you from the eyes of an eighteen year old woman floored Natalie.

  She stepped back, dropping the photo. It fluttered towards the floor and almost reached the concrete before an open hand slipped underneath it and gently cradled it. Natalie looked down towards Malik. He had moved so fast that all she saw was the blur of his body as he dropped towards the floor

  He held the photo in his hands and stared up at her, his expression apologetic as he said quietly, “It’s my favorite photo.”

  She shook her head as though she could erase the haunted feeling that death stood behind her, its fetid breath trailing like tendrils along her spine, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t.

  Her world narrowed in on what lay in the palm of the man before her. She had never been claustrophobic before in her life but in that moment the walls closed in on her and all she wanted to do was to get out of there and run.

  She turned and headed for the stairs, not knowing or caring where she was headed, as long as she could get away from that room. Her hand grabbed the rail and she stepped off, until he stopped her with one word. “Please!”