A pang of surprise hit me as the bitter taste of a strange magic assaulted my senses. The scent was faintly familiar.
I looked around, restraining my magic and instinct to flee. I was in a dark forest, surrounded by massive trees at all flanks. Bugs chirped and small rodents scurried under the brush. No human was present. My magic told me that much. All I could sense was the chilling kind of magic that clung to the air like the stench from a dumpster.
A Djinn was here, hidden, invisible—the same one that had been at Gorky Central Park while I watched Boris kill his ex-wife.
But how had I come out of the stone if there was no human in sight? Djinn don’t bleed and blood is needed to release me.
“Show yourself,” I commanded.
Nothing.
My heart raced uselessly. It didn’t even need to beat, but it still functioned as if on automatic pilot. I didn’t bother to stop it. These emotions—no matter how human—kept me sharp.
“What do you want with me?” My voice echoed through the forest, bouncing against the trees and sending a few small animals scurrying for their burrows.
“How would you like to be free forever?” A disembodied voice said. It had a female quality to it, but just barely. Its deep thine was edged and graveled as if with disuse.
Free forever?!
My heart beat faster, but I shook my head, denying the anticipation that made it beat so. I couldn’t be free. I was a slave, a cursed prisoner. There was no hope for me, and I wouldn’t let it take shape—not so it could be dashed to pieces once I was abruptly sucked back into the stone.
“Your heart likes the idea,” the voice said.
“I have no interest in games. Show yourself!”
“Very well.”
A small wind picked up at the base of a large tree. Dry leaves flew up in the air, making a small tornado. Twigs and dirt joined them as the whirlwind grew upward until it formed a funnel as tall as me.
Atop the mass of twirling debris, a naked torso slowly materialized. The arms and the head formed next, followed by a mass of white, long hair. The creature’s skin was black and polished like the surface of a grand piano. The face was a monstrosity of sharp features and glowing, emerald eyes. A long chin jutted forward, while a long hooked nose descended to nearly touch it with its tip. Her small breasts were bare, but she looked too much like a statue for the nudity to alarm me.
A chill traveled through my essence, freezing my core. I shuddered, sensing the creature’s hatred in waves that radiated from her as heat radiates from the sun.
“Who are you?!” I demanded. “How did you free me?”
“My name is Akeelah,” she answered, though I got the impression she was not the kind of being who answered questions before getting what she wanted. The harsh quality of her exuding power told me this much.
Today, however, this Akeelah creature seemed willing to compromise which meant I had something she wanted. Someone always wanted something from me. It was a lesson I wasn’t allowed to forget.
“I gained your freedom for you,” she continued. “It required a little subterfuge, but it wasn’t difficult. I would have freed you earlier, but it took me some time to figure out your previous master had to die in order for you to be able to come out.”
I frowned at her, wishing she would stop the infernal tornado that posed as her legs. It was distracting and loud.
As if she’d read my thoughts, the funnel cloud beneath her vanished, and a pair of long, polished legs appeared instead. She padded in my direction, sly as a cat.
“You couldn’t have freed me,” I said, trying to sound confident. “Djinn don’t bleed, and blood must be deposited on the stone to release me.”
“True,” she admitted, her jewel, green eyes flashing red for an instant. “Nonetheless, you owe your freedom to me.” She stabbed a finger on her bare sternum. “If you quit interrupting, I assure you, I will explain.”
I bit my tongue. Something about this Djinn made me feel uneasy, and the desire to challenge her arose at every turn. But I was free. Out of the stone. Whether I liked it or or not, it meant I had to listen. What other choice did I have?
Akeelah nodded once as she saw the realization and acquiescence in my eyes.
“As you said,” she went on, “Djinn do not bleed. We are energy, pure essence. This physical body is made from gathered matter, particles from the air kept together by magic. You know well how it works. You do the same. Though, I’m curious about this shape of yours.” She looked me up and down as if I were a dog. “Why do you choose to look this way?”
“It’s not really a choice. I can alter my appearance, but this comes easier, automatic. It is my human shape, after all.”
“Human shape?!” Akeelah’s eyes widened, radiating with a green light that denounced her surprise.
“Yes, I was once human, transformed into a Djinn by a magus. It was done as punishment for my crimes.” I held my head high as I said this. I deserved my punishment. I would never hide from that.
“Oh,” Akeelah’s fleshy lips formed a circle. “That explains everything.” Her eyes shone brighter and a grotesque smile spread across her lips.
“Explains what?” I demanded.
She paced away from me, her eyes dancing from side to side. She seemed deep in thought for a moment, surely trying to figure out the implications of what I’d just revealed.
Finally, she turned to face me. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I was explaining how I freed you, remember?”
My answer was my silence.
“After the woman died, I had no idea where you disappeared to. So I followed Boris to his filthy home. I thought he might lead me to you or tell me where you’d gone.”
Followed Boris? I was right. She had been, there, had witnessed Tasia’s murder. Of course, my magical barrier would have been nothing for a true Djinn to detect.
“It turns out he drank heavily, and talked to inanimate objects while intoxicated—particularly, to ancient stone tablets, the kind I had not seen in a long time and only museums seem to possess these days. You can imagine how the rest went and all I learned from his loose, drunken tongue. After that, it was easy.”
“You killed Boris,” I said.
“Oh, no. Not me. I cannot kill humans, no matter how hard I try,” she said this with a mixture of regret and anger.
So the legends I’d heard were right. Djinn can’t hurt humans.
“I had to find someone to do it,” she continued, “which was not hard. It never is, really. There are plenty of human lowlifes willing to do anything you propose for a bit of gold or that paper they call money. You do not even have to offer a reason or an explanation when you ask for a bit of their blood.” She cackled, a dry sound that grated on my nerves.
“I see,” I said. “Now, I guess the question is why did you go through all that trouble to free me?”
“Oh, yes. That is the question, isn‘t it?” Her eyes scanned me up and down hungrily.
“What do you want from me?”
“I had heard stories of men transformed into Djinn. Well, half-djinn, truly. But I never believed them possible. I had no proof, you see? But it seems that, now, I do. Oh, what wondrous news!”
We glanced at each other for a long moment. The wind blew. The foliage above us rustled.
Akeelah suddenly broke eye contact and inhaled, scenting the air. “Noses are so useless, aren’t they? There is so much more you can sense with magic. Such as the weaker quality of your essence. That was the first thing that made me curious about you when I sensed you in that park, sitting next to that pathetic man.
“Then the impossible . . . you used magic to cloak a murder. What a delight!” Akeelah threw her head back, thoroughly amused by something that did nothing but disgust me.
She went on, “Do you know how many times I have tried to use my own magic to kill or simply aid in the demise of a human being?”
Something told me the answer would shock me. I didn’t want to know.
In fact, I didn’t think I wanted anything to do with this creature.
She scoffed in the back of her throat and answered her own question. “The truth is I have lost count. Though I have never stopped trying or wishing I could do it.”
“I don’t see how any of this has anything to do with me.”
“It is simple, my dear,” she said.
“My name is Zet. I am not your dear.”
Again, Akeelah’s eyes flashed red, making me realize that the abrupt change in their color was a reflection of her inner anger.
“What it has to do with you,” she said, enunciating every word, “is simple. I need you to show me how to . . . make more of you.”
What?! She doesn’t possibly mean . . .
“You want to turn humans into Djinn? Why would you want to do that?”
“Oh,” she twirled a hand in the air. “I’m just bored. Eternity has its disadvantages as you well know? It would be . . . entertaining.”
“Entertaining?” I gave a court laugh. “I don’t believe you.”
“What does it matter to you?” she asked, her voice changing from the mocking tone she’d used so far to a near growl. “The only thing you should be worried about is your freedom. Surely, that must be worth everything.”
“You can’t give me freedom. That man you borrowed blood from, he will die. Eventually. I’ll be back in the stone, sooner or later.”
“And you don’t think I can find another one just like him. I could do that for the rest of time. Or at least until there aren’t any of them left. Extinction is inevitable, you know.”
Yes, what she proposed was quite possible. A way around my curse. My chest pounded with the implications.
Freedom.
The possibility for revenge.
As horrible as her proposal was, I couldn’t deny it was tempting. Freedom and revenge were all I’d dreamed of for over two thousand years.
Were they enough to turn me into a killer? Was I capable of murdering others for my benefit?
6
“It is clear you see the possibilities,” Akeelah said, noticing the expression on my face. “Come on, you cannot like living trapped inside that stone.” She gave a visible shudder. “My imagination fails me trying to think of how it must be for you. Aware, every second of every day, and unable to escape. It must be the worst possible type of torture. All that life, all that power,” she made a fist, shook it, then threw her hand opened as if letting go of a trapped bug, “all of it, worthless!”
A bitter taste coated my mouth. Torture was child’s play compared to what I endured inside that stone. Still, I couldn’t give her what she wanted. I wasn’t wicked, never had been. Besides, something told me that entertaining this beast’s offer would be a huge mistake, one I would regret.
“Regardless,” I said. “This isn’t something I can do for you. Not without knowing your end, anyway.” I made time as I considered the possibility of an escape. Could I run from this powerful Djinn? Could I hide?
“My end?” She pondered for a moment. “Okay, I’ll tell you. I think it would be very entertaining to create a few half-djinn, possibly some crazy ones, then let them loose on humankind.” She explained this as if she was talking about releasing a harmless cold virus, but what she suggested would cause chaos, even death.
I shook my head. “No. I can’t help you. What you propose is evil, something I am not.”
“Really?” She looked skeptical. “Are you sure about that?”
My chest pumped with fury, stealing my ability to answer.
“I watched you help Boris. I would call that evil.”
“That wasn’t my fault. I cannot fight against my curse. I’m bound by its laws.”
“That is a technicality, and it does not make your actions any less evil. But come now, evil is just a word, a matter of perspective. I’m sure Boris thought exacting his justice was fair.”
“I am not governed by loose morals.”
“Morals? Another man-made concept. Is it amoral for the lion to enjoy the antelope’s warm blood?” Her face displayed some twisted kind of pleasure at the imagery. That’s when I realized arguing with Akeelah was a lost cause. She was insane.
“You will not convince me, creature,” I said, speaking with the extent of my command. “Leave me alone! Be gone! You hold no sway over me!” I remembered from old stories that Djinn could be sent away by a simple command. They weren’t supposed to be able to hurt humans—something Akeelah had confirmed—and they were also supposed to obey, if they were ordered to leave.
At my words, her eyes flashed red and, this time, stayed that way. Her face contorted with fury and her hands stretched in my direction. “You!” she exclaimed. “You are not human and cannot order me away.” Her fingers trembled. Her long, red-tipped nails curled inwardly.
I took a step back. She was a horrible sight, her face glowing red as the light from her eyes bathed her aquiline features, making her look like a bird of prey. She stood slightly crouched, a predator ready to pounce.
She can’t hurt me. She can’t hurt me, I repeated to myself.
You are not human, the voice of reason echoed in my head.
If I couldn’t order her away, did that mean she could use her powers to harm me? My eyes darted over the woods as I thought of an escape. I wanted to run. It was my first instinct, but it was ridiculous. Running would do nothing. What if—?
Before I finished that thought, a current of power slammed into me and sent me flying against a tree. Pain burst in the back of my head, sending a flash of light across my eyes. Collapsed on the ground, I blinked, trying to understand the odd sensation. I hadn’t felt physical pain in centuries, though it wasn’t at all like what I remembered. It was but a memory, a diluted thing that meant nothing to my makeshift body.
I stood, shaking my head. Of course, she really couldn’t hurt me. I was essence. My body was nothing but particles gathered from my surroundings. If I let the atoms fall apart, there would be nothing for her to hurt. What my body felt was but an echo of reality.
I gave her a satisfied smile as I straightened my shoulders. “You waste your time.”
That was when her magical attack changed and true pain began.
Shaking like a man in an electric chair, I fell to my knees and howled in agony. A second ago, I had thought pain ridiculous and, now, my entire being was screaming in agony. Trembling at a prodigious rate, the microscopic bits that made up my body began to separate. I stared at my hands as they became diffused, see-through. The pain undid me. I wanted to beg for her to stop, but I had no mouth to speak, no control over my magic to utter any words in any other way. All that existed was agony, and it consumed me.
As abruptly as it had begun, the pain stopped.
Akeelah laughed, nearly whooping at something she found hilarious. “Is it not delightful?! Oh, but it’s better than I could have imagined.”
My body snapped back together, its particles like magnets unable to resist the pull of my reconstructive magic. I stood, panting, heart racing.
Akeelah looked deranged as she laughed. She was nothing like the calm creature she had pretended to be in the beginning. Under the moonlight, her glowing eyes looked diabolical. Her face twisted in her irrational fit of pleasure, bringing to my mind demon stories I’d heard as a child.
“I own you,” she said in a near bark. “You will do as I say or you will learn the extent of my curiosity. What you just experienced was but a mere fraction of my power. I wouldn’t mind testing the limits, if you decide to refuse me.”
Eternal imprisonment and infinite torture, that was her threat. And what was the alternative?
Freedom.
Was there even a choice?
Yes, there is always a choice. Something Faris seemed to forget when he betrayed me.
“Do with me as you will,” I said, even as fear raked its cold fingers down my back. “Now that I know what kind of monster you are, I will never, NEVER, give you what you want.”
Akeelah didn’t skirt my invitation and quickly took the opportunity to educate me in my ignorance about pain. As she’d assured me, the first taste she’d offered was just that. That first demonstration was nothing compared to what she did to me next.
I don’t know how long it took her to break me. It felt like days, but I think it was mere minutes. Maybe seconds.
Pain can do strange things to your mind, can provide excuses and reasons for your behavior. Whereas at first, it had seemed an atrocity to give her what she wanted; later, it seemed a small offering compared to the freedom she offered, along with the opportunity to find Faris and exact my revenge.
“S-stop, stop,” I begged.
The agony ended. Relief and near love for Akeelah flooded me. Yes, she’d been the one to torture me, but she’d also been the one to listen, the one to heed plea and take the pain away.
I stared at my limbs in disbelief, unsure they had ever felt this way: whole, strong and steady.
“T-thank you,” I whispered in a pathetic tone.
“So you have changed your mind?” she said with a bored expression as if she’d always known this would be the outcome.
“I . . .” Hate and fury saturated me. How could I be so weak? “I have a condition,” I said, a bit of my bravery returning.
“Ha! You think you are in a position to dictate conditions? Well, you are sorely mistaken.”
I had been on my knees and let myself collapse on my backside. The earth was damp under me as I sat there, struggling to set my mind straight. It kept wandering off, looking for an escape from the nightmare it had just experienced.
Akeelah slapped me in the face. “I’m talking to you.”
My eyes sprang to hers. She was stooping over me, wearing a deep frown and regarding me with a look of concern. Maybe she was worried she’d broken me. And if she had, how useful could I be then?
“You said you had a condition,” she said begrudgingly.
“Yes! Yes! A condition!” I said, blinking in an exaggerated fashion, hoping a bit of acting could save me from a world of agony. “I’ll do what you say, but there’s something I want to do first.” I would buy time, enough for my revenge and for escaping this monster’s clutches. There simply was no way I could give her what she wanted. No way.
One Wish Away: Djinn Empire Complete Series Page 83
