Seductive Sands

by Kim Faulks

  Natalie wound the scarf around her face as the wind picked up the sand and whipped it across her skin, stinging her eyes. Her sunglasses kept out most of it, but her skin stung and her throat was already dry. They walked slowly but steadily and before long the mountain opened up and swallowed them. Malik lead them along the slippery rock face as the sun dipped in the sky and finally they reached the valley floor.

  They climbed from the camels and Natalie stumbled around cursing, unable to feel her body below her waist. She could have sworn she heard Malik chuckle, but when she turned he was pre-occupied with setting up the camp and didn’t look at her once. She tied the animals together and secured them to a stake in the ground.

  The valley floor wasn’t as comfortable as she could have hoped. Instead it was littered with masses of rocks of all colors. The dark grey colors stood out creating a trail from one to the next as far as Natalie could see, even in the setting sun.

  She moved some of the rocks out of the way and placed them in a circle, creating a barrier for the fire, then scouted around, finding dead or dying trees that she could use. The days felt like hell, but the nights could be just as fierce. She had felt the temperature slowly drop with the setting of the sun and she knew that before long it would be bitterly cold. The valley floor was nestled between the mountains. It gave them the shade they needed to make it to where Malik believed the camp was but it created a tunnel for the biting wind. The memories of Afghanistan came flooding back with the sting and the burn of the harsh environment.

  She huddled around the flames as they sparked to life, blowing them gently until the flames flicked high into the air. Malik had given the horse and camel some of their water and untied the saddles and bags from their backs. He seemed content to work around her and not speak to her. This alone frustrated her more than it should. Did she think he would crumble if she withdrew from him? Probably, but she knew she wouldn’t respect him as much if he did. He walked back to the fire and dropped a large hare next to her feet. “I caught it, you can clean it.”

  She looked at the motley brown and white fur and her eyes were immediately drawn to the unnatural angle that its neck sat. She was hungry and it seemed a waste of a fire without something warm in her stomach, so she pulled her knife out of her boot and made her way from the camp. It would do no good to attract foxes or the like around the camp. She dug a hole where she could and set up a torch against a rock where she skinned and cleaned the animal. The hide would attract other animals, so she decided against pegging it out to dry for the night and instead covered it with dirt and rocks, then made her way back to the fire. She built up the rocks on either side and used one of the branches as a rod and placed the hare over the fire.

  The flesh crackled under the flames as the yellow sparks shot up into the darkness and before long the sweet smell of food caused Natalie to groan in hunger. She opened the front of the tent and stepped in. It was empty, she had assumed Malik was hiding amongst the bedding and thought it was about time that she made amends, but it seemed it was not to be.

  She ate alone in the silence that was now becoming uncomfortable. Malik hadn’t returned; it seemed that he was either more hurt than she knew, or there was something else keeping him away from her. She let the fire dwindle and wrapped the rest of the meat in a cloth and buried the bones before she lay down. She lay under the blankets until exhaustion claimed her and she knew no more.

  Chapter 6

  She woke furious with Malik and even more furious with herself for caring. His blanket was gone from their tent as well as most of the cooked hare. She stepped out of the tent and poured some of their water into a small metal pan and carried it over to the other side of the animals to wash. She undressed and stood in her underwear while she soaped a cloth and ran it over her skin.

  Her skin prickled with the coldness of the water and early morning air as she turned around making sure she couldn’t hear anyone before slipping off her bra and panties. The horse blew air and moved and Natalie froze, listening for movement; then continued to wash herself. She ran the cloth over her breasts and her nipples hardened, God it was cold. She needed to hurry and slipped it over her stomach and between her legs. The camels moved and she turned towards them. If it wasn’t the fact that his camel was still there she would have thought he had deserted her in the middle of the night. “Probably has left me to die in this fucking desert,” she muttered to herself.

  “How can I leave when the view is so breathtaking?” he said and she jumped, covering herself with the miniscule cloth she held in her hands.

  “God Malik, you scared the hell out of me,” she said angrily, turning to grab her clothes.

  He moved without her hearing and his touch drew a line of fire against her skin. “Don’t cover yourself on my account.”

  “I’m angry with you and you can’t just leave me and turn up when you want. I’m not one of your disciples, I won’t bow down to you.”

  “Is that what’s made you angry? How my people treat me?” he said, whispering in her ear as his lips traced their way along her shoulders and neck.

  Was that part of the reason for her anger? It didn’t seem to make much sense to her now. Nothing seemed to make sense but the feel of his lips and the tiny trails of fire his fingers left along her body. She turned to him and any remark she had left her instantly. She had missed him, his touch and his affection. But most off all she had missed his love. His body brushed hers and he took the cloth from her hand and rinsed it in the water. His hand slid over her body, re-washing the places she already had, but she hadn’t the heart to tell him to stop as she closed her eyes and turned backwards, leaning against him.

  Every minute she spent with this creature she knew she was falling deeper in love with him and it scared the hell out of her. It wasn’t that he was made of fire or the fact that he had a dark side that he kept hidden away from her. It was his immortality that scared her. How could he love her while she was destined to die and be born again, how could she do that to him?

  He kissed her neck and wound his hands around her body, trailing over her stomach and lower. It seemed the cloth had been forgotten somewhere along the way. He turned her around, picked her up and carried her into the tent. He lay her down and trailed his hands between her thighs, dipping into the warm, wet crease of her body.

  She heard him slide his zipper down and gasped as he entered her. It wasn’t about sex for her anymore. It was about having him inside her, filling her with his body and pouring himself inside of her. She wanted to possess and be possessed by this Djinn. “I love you, Malik.”

  “Bedad, call me Bedad, Natalie, just this once. Tell me that I am to belong to you for all eternity and I will be.”

  She was shocked but he moved inside her and the pleasure rose inside her, she wanted him to be hers and the words flowed from her mouth before she knew she had said a word. “Bedad, you will belong to me for all eternity.”

  He closed his eyes and his body burned bright as he moved inside her. He grew hot underneath her and inside of her as he came in a rush, filling her with his seed. Her insides grew warm as his fluid was absorbed by her body and he pulled out from inside of her. She could feel that something was happening, as her body grew first warm, then too warm - burning hot and she cried out.

  “Shhh,” he said covering her mouth. “It’s okay, just relax it will be over in a second. I love you Natalie and you are now tied to me as I am now tied to you.”

  Her body felt like it was burning from the inside out and her eyes widened as she kicked and thrashed under his hand. The fire spread throughout her body and moved, searing through her heart. She was going to die and she screamed into Malik’s palm while she thrashed against his body. Why was he doing this to her? She punched out at him, aiming for his face. He grabbed her hand and held it against his body. The inferno ran down her arms, then up into her head until it burned her eyes. Then abruptly the heat died away, leaving her panting and scared.

  Malik moved h
is hand away from her mouth and looked down at her. “Are you okay?”

  Her body shock violently. “No. What the fuck?” she screamed, as she punched him as hard as she could. His face rocked backwards as her fist connected with his cheek.

  “Stop Natalie, it’s okay.” He reached out towards her, but she had already scuttled backwards and pulled the hunting knife from her bedroll.

  “Come near me and I’ll slice you open,” she said, her voice a little shaky but her hand held the knife without so much as a shake.

  “Okay,” he said moving backwards carefully. “Don’t do anything rash, okay?”

  “What are you so scared about anyway. You’re supposed to be immortal.”

  “I am immortal, but my love, you are not and I have just been infused you with my essence.”

  “You did what?” she said looking towards the point of the knife, she knew it was razor sharp as she had sharped and honed the blade herself.

  “I gave you part of me, my essence. I know you don’t understand but this is for your safety, this is the way it has to be.”

  “Can this be undone?”

  “No. There will always be a part of me in you now. It will be safer if she cannot control you entirely.”

  The softness of his eyes told her the truth of his words and she felt stupid holding the knife out in front of her. She let her hand drop and placed the knife next to her and turned her attention inside her body.

  The fire had gone from inside her and she focused on finding any changes in her body, but felt nothing. “I don’t feel any different.”

  “You won’t until you need it. It will help you and keep you safe. Find the flame deep inside of yourself and that is where you will find me.”

  She turned away from him, when he looked like that it made her heart beat louder and even though she could almost still feel his body filling inside her she wanted him there again.

  “I thought you were trying to kill me,” she said, letting the last sparks of her anger take her mind off the fact that he was so gorgeous and naked before her.

  “I know I’m sorry, I lost control. I should be able to keep myself in check, but I can’t with you. You...bring me undone.”

  The heat returned to her and for an instant she thought she was about to be engulfed in the fever but it rose only into her face and she knew she would be as red as her hair. “We’ve got to get going,” she muttered and turned away from him.

  “Yes, it will be getting hot soon.”

  “I think I could stand out in the desert all day and not feel like I just did, like I was burning alive.”

  He pulled on his pants and backed out of the tent. Natalie pulled her clothes on and piled the bedding outside, ready to pull the tent down. She pulled her socks and laced up her old army boots. She had started out feeling sore after riding yesterday, but now she felt fine, in fact now that the embers inside her had died away she felt better than fine, she felt better than she had in ages.

  They packed up the rest of the food and water, brushing the scorpions from the bottom of the containers. It would do no good to have the animals drop dead from the barbs of their tails before they found the camp. Natalie strapped the last of the equipment and turned, spying the ground disturbed further away from the camp. She looked around the camp and only found two sets of prints. The bones of what looked like a small animal lay near a large rock; from the direction of the scraps it looked as though they sat facing the direction from where Malik and Natalie had travelled, as though they were keeping watch. She turned back towards him and watched as he checked over the animals, making sure everything was strapped down before they headed off. He hadn’t left her last night; he was standing guard for her. She buried the bones and brushed any evidence of their presence away.

  The valley wasn’t safe to travel alone and they needed to keep the evidence of their travel to a minimum. She turned back and watched Malik as he rose on the back of the massive beast. He looked gorgeous as she moved quickly to catch up, wrapping her face in her scarf and pushing her sunglasses in place.

  They traveled as fast as they could, but the sun came far too quickly and before long it was stifling. They rode until her body screamed for mercy from the constant rocking and her mouth felt like the fragile ground they covered. She had gone past dehydrated hours ago and her lips had cracked painfully from the wind, she had stopped licking them after tasting far too much blood and prayed they would be able to find Makkah’s camp soon.

  She cried and fell when they finally stopped and Malik rushed to her side. “What’s wrong? Oh Natalie, your poor face,” he cried reaching out to her.

  She shook her head. “I’m okay. I just need some water and to rest,” she said. Her voice didn’t even sound like her own anymore.

  “I forget how fragile you are. I should be taking better care of you.”

  His words sounded funny to her, she had never in her life heard anyone, especially a male say something like this. “I’m not a child and I wouldn’t let you take care of me, even if I was dying.”

  He flinched with her remark as though she had slapped him, then she thought of what she had just said. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice carrying away. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  He smiled at her, the hurt evident in his eyes and he turned away, moving faster than normal to put up the tent. Natalie sat on the ground, clutching the bottle of water that she sipped. She knew that she would be sick if she drank more than the trickle she allowed herself. Malik had the tent up and the fire made before she knew it. All she wanted to do was to crawl into her bed but he had forced her to stay awake long enough to eat and drink her fill before she collapsed.

  Chapter 7

  She felt worse than she ever thought possible when she woke the next morning and the rest of the morning felt like a blur. She was dreaming that she was asleep, but the pain in her body told her that she was very much awake. She turned her head towards Malik and watched as he pushed her camel to walk faster. He looked as though he had stepped off Bondi Beach back home. “Bastard,” she croaked feeling her head roll to the side.

  He turned to look at her, then quickly moved his gaze past her while panic showed in his eyes. She turned her head and for an instant didn’t see what he could until she was able to distinguish the cloud of sand for the actual sand. There was someone heading their way.

  She sat up as the adrenaline kicked in and turned to Malik. “Friend or foe?” she rasped.

  “I’m not sure. Foe until we can be certain,” he said, pushing the animals harder.

  She kicked into the camel and it gave a snort of protest. She kicked it again, harder and felt it lurch forward under her. “Come on, move faster.” She threw one of the guns to Malik and placed the hot metal of the Glock against the small of her back.

  Natalie knew what was happening, they were being herded like cattle and the one heading towards them would push them to go faster towards the group of Arab pirates that waited to steal their guns, food and water and her. She knew what happened to women like her. They would kidnap her and sell her to whoever offered them the most money and she would quite simply disappear. Malik wouldn’t let that happen, she wouldn’t let that happen.

  The cloud became larger as the herder gained ground. He had to be on a horse to move like that and Natalie felt danger draw down on them. “Run,” Malik said. “Hide and I’ll lead them away, it’s the only chance we have. I’ll come back for you.”

  “And what if you don’t?”

  “They can’t kill me Natalie; I will come back for you. They’ll shoot me and leave me for dead then I’ll come back and find you.”

  “And if they tie you up and leave you, what then?” she said. “We give up and let them take all of our guns and water. No thanks, I’d rather fight.”

  “You don’t understand. They are murderers.”

  “So am I,” she said coldly.

  She flicked the guns action from a single to a fully automatic shot and shouldered the w
eapon. She didn’t know how stable the animal underneath her would be and she hoped that if she needed to return fire it wouldn’t throw her off.

  She waited, listening for the crack of the shot and wasn’t disappointed. The shot rang out, reaching her ears as she watched the horse drop in front of them. Malik swore in a language she couldn’t understand and the camel picked up speed. “Now you run?” she asked it, as she turned and sprayed the bullets through the cloud of dust. She could hear the scream of the horse as it fell and knew she hit the target and then all hell broke loose.

  The camel decided that self-preservation was the answer and took off on its own. No matter how hard Natalie tried to steer it back towards Malik it pulled away, deciding its own course was best. She thought of shooting the camel herself, but it would leave her running for her life and the way she was at the moment she wouldn’t last very long. At least the animal seemed to be moving at a faster pace than it had been. Another shot cracked through the air and this time Natalie could hear the bullet whizz past her head. “Fuckers!”

  She tried to turn, but the jolting movement of the camel as it ran made it virtually impossible. The next bullet hit the animal in the rear leg and Natalie could no longer feel the hardened leather seat underneath her, only air as the animal collapsed underneath her. She hit the ground with a thud and slapped her hand back against the sand to take most of the impact from her body and moved quickly to her feet. The camel tried to get back up on its feet, but the back leg collapsed and it tried no more, instead bleating towards her. She had more important things to worry about and scrambled towards the bag of guns and ammunition she would need.