Scented Lust

by Jacqueline Turner Banks

  Artest looked around the room. All the Ketier seemed to be frozen. Leeana wore a sad expression, but her gaze followed the screams and other movement around the room.

  He heard a scream and looked up to find a woman running out of the kitchen with a butcher knife in her hand., She was moving at top speed toward Tyler, who was still trying to shake off the woman who was attached to his back.

  “Seydou!” Artest screamed out his real name.

  Tyler didn’t hear Artest, but Roberta looked up and saw what was about to happen. She flipped the man she was fighting and lunged toward the woman with the knife. He threw his dagger at the man she had flipped, who was now back on his feet. It hit him in the middle of his chest.

  Another man, this one shorter and heavier than the usual Sangsue, ran out from the direction of the bathrooms, carrying a gun. Artest saw the creature look at their table and immediately knew his thoughts. If he couldn’t stop us, he could kill our human companions. Even a Sucker would know that, for many of the Hunters, that was a fate worse than their own death. Artest screamed as the Sucker ran toward him. The man lifted the gun and pointed it, Artest couldn’t take the time to see at which one—Leeana or Jordan. At that moment, it didn’t matter. Artest dove toward the man. He heard that wind-shearing sound he associated with an energy bolt as the shooter hit the floor—never taking his eyes off the gun. The gun dropped as the Sangsue disappeared. Artest got on his knees and peered over a table, expecting to see the Pale Fox.

  Leeana was standing with her right arm still outstretched. The bullet was frozen on a path to Jordan. Artest scanned the room. None of the Hunters were looking in their direction or were close enough to know was going on. Even if they had known what was about to happen, they couldn’t have stopped a Sucker like that—Dogon-Hunters didn’t have that kind of power.

  He stood and looked directly at her. There was an apologetic look in her eyes. Was it because he saw or because she killed?

  Artest looked at Jordan; like the rest of the Ketier, her eyes were fixed on nothing in the distance.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The last thought Jordan had before all hell broke out played on a loop.

  She’d asked Leeana what she knew about the Dogon—Jordan knew she wanted to ask, so she’d waited until she was sure that the Hunters were involved in their conversation.

  Leeana frowned like she’d been waiting for the question and it was a question she didn’t want to answer, which Jordan knew couldn’t be true. She decided it was just that frown people make when they’re thinking.

  “Actually, I know a lot about the Dogon,” she finally said.

  “You do?”

  She nodded. “I’ve studied several African tribes. Why do you ask?”

  “Jahia and Tyler are Dogon.”

  “Cool.”

  Clearly Leeana felt “cool” said it all. “So what do you know about them?” Jordan asked.

  “I remember a fable. Want to hear it?”

  Jordan nodded.

  “Twins are very important to their religion. I guess all the gods in their pantheon were twins except Ogo. Ogo was born one hundred percent male. But the fable I remember wasn’t about him, it was about the twins Andumbulu and Yeban. Together they are the Spirit of the Underworld.”

  When she mentioned Ogo, Jordan’s heart jumped. She wondered what Leeana would say if she told her Ogo had just seated himself at their table.

  “Hell?” Jordan asked, wondering if she was using underworld to mean the place she and other Christians called hell.

  “No, not really ‘Hell’ in the Christian sense of the word. Just that part of the world that is below ground. There are parts of the underworld that are hellish, but other parts that are fairly normal.”

  Jordan laughed. “Except that it’s the underworld.”

  She smiled. “Right, normal for an underworld. There are parts that are an underworld paradise-lite too. Think of it like a house having an attic, maybe two stories, and sometimes a basement—all legitimate parts of the house. Anyway, Andumbulu and Yeban ruled this world, and all was well except they were lonely. Just because they were down there didn’t mean they didn’t have the same needs as men topside.”

  Interesting, Jordan thought, she used the word “topside.” It was the same word Artest had used when they talked about Sam the demon.

  “There were no women down there?”

  “Not women like them. Certainly, most of the women down there were dead, and they didn’t want dead women who had already lived their vital lives. I guess there were other types down there who were alive, but nobody close enough to what they wanted.”

  Jordan took her last sip of her drink. She noticed that Leeana waited until she knew she had her attention before she continued. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I love mythology.”

  “Well go on, girlfriend.”

  “Anyway, you have to remember the underworld is divided up in nations just like this world. The Dogon underworld shared a border with the Yoruba underworld.”

  “Of course,” Jordan said sarcastically.

  Leeana smiled and continued. “There was a beautiful young Yoruba goddess name Oya. Like most gods, she had many duties, but one of them was to watch over the newly dead. It was actually her job to escort them to the Yoruba underworld. She’s also known as the goddess of the wind and change and even the goddess of the River Niger. Oya is said to be the mother of nine children—Egungun, who is regarded as the collective spirits of ancestors, and four sets of twins—but that’s not true. Oya met and fell in love with the twins Andumbulu and Yeban, years before she had her first of the nine.”

  “Both of them?”

  “Yes, they are a unit. She fell in love with them and had her first child with them, their daughter.”

  “Wow.”

  “Right, but she had to hide her pregnancy, and when her daughter was born, she had to leave her with her fathers.”

  “Why?”

  “It wasn’t allowed for Oya to love gods from another pantheon.”

  “Who could have stopped them—they’re gods?”

  “Who knows what would have happened? Maybe the Yoruba pantheon would have killed her or all of them, or maybe it would have caused a war or something physically damaging to the earth.”

  “What happened to the baby?”

  “Her fathers raised her with a lot of love, but she didn’t get to see her mother often, and they could never let any of her Dogon or Yoruba relatives know anything about her.”

  “And she has to live underground?”

  “No, not after she grew up. She was free to come and go, but she was never at home anywhere.”

  “So she would be Ogo’s niece, right?”

  Leeana nodded. “But he doesn’t know that.”

  “But she must be a supergod, right—half Dogon and half Yoruba?”

  “She is, was, very powerful, but she didn’t have a real job or list of duties like most gods because nobody knew she existed.”

  “That’s important?”

  “Sure— every god you’ve ever read about was the god or goddess of something. Everybody needs a purpose.” She seemed sad, as if she knew the girl personally.

  “Remind me not to let you tell my kids bedtime stories when the time comes.”

  Leeana laughed. “It’s not a sad story. It’s just a story about a mixed relationship.”

  “Oh, I get it. You told me that story because Artest and I appear to be a mixed couple.”

  “Why did you say ‘appear’ to be? He’s white, isn’t he?”

  Her expression was bedeviling, like she was teasing her friend. As if she knew Artest was African.

  “Not in the same sense that you’re white.”

  Leeana threw back her head as she laughed. When Jordan raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner, Leeana waved it away. “It’s called a tan, Jordan. Some people are good at getting them, and some people are like me.”

&nb
sp; “I know he’s tanned, but he has African roots too.”

  “Well, the scientists say we all do.”

  Leeana nodded, and they began to talk about something else. Jordan didn’t know if it was the drink or not, but Leeana’s demeanor changed after her story. She seemed more relaxed, happier even. Maybe it had something to do with Ian.

  “Are you going to go out with him?” Jordan asked.

  “Sure, why not? A person can’t have too many friends.”

  “Oh, it’s like that? He’s already relegated to the friend zone?”

  She nodded, and they both laughed.

  Then the oddest thing happened. Jordan remembered eating her chef’s salad, and she vaguely remembered thinking about whether or not she wanted dessert. The next thing she remembered was all of them except one watching Ian’s driver turning into the shared driveway to take them back.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  If there were more Sangsue in the restaurant, they did what Bloodsuckers do when the going gets tough: they ran. There was a moment of strange stillness, and Artest heard Jahia shout out Roberta’s name, followed by a wailing that immediately signaled loss. He looked at Jordan; she hadn’t moved. He slowly forced himself to look around the room. He found Ian looking at him from one corner, apparently doing his own scan. His expression acknowledged Artest’s feeling, and together, they looked in the direction of Jahia’s voice.

  Jahia and Tyler were kneeling over a prone Roberta. Leeana reached them seconds before Artest and Ian.

  When Tyler stood, there were tears in his eyes. “One of them was coming at me with a kitchen knife. I saw Roberta tackle him, and then I looked away to fight off the crazy bitch who had her talons in my back. I could tell by the smell that Roberta had dispatched him. I was getting ready to come over there to help you when I heard Jahia call her name,” he said in a voice Artest hoped he’d never hear again.

  “Fox, get over here right now,” Jahia demanded like she was talking to someone in another part of the restaurant.

  Leeana sat on the floor next to Jahia. “Let me have her,” she said.

  They all watched as Leeana placed her hands on Roberta’s chest. Her hands begin to shake. “Allez, Roberta,” she said. “Allez!” She moved one of the shaking hands to Roberta’s forehead. Then she said three words three times in a strange language.

  Fox appeared, already in place with his own shaking hands pressing Leeana’s.

  “It’s too late,” she told Fox. “She must have lost too much blood.”

  “I got here as fast as I could,” Fox said.

  It was as close to an explanation as any of them had ever heard him make.

  “I was here, and it wasn’t fast enough,” Leeana told him. “She bled out before we noticed.”

  He nodded. “Can you take her to Sam? At least she can live again there.”

  Leeana nodded. Fox moved back a little, and Leeana and Roberta disappeared.

  “I didn’t say goodbye,” Jahia sobbed. Tyler pulled her up from the floor and embraced her.

  “It’s not goodbye,” Fox said.

  She looked at Fox like she wanted to attack him. Tyler held her tighter. “You’ll take me to visit her sometimes?”

  “Of course I will,” he said, softer than usual.

  That was when Artest realized why Fox had assigned Roberta to Tyler. They all believed Fox could see limited aspects of the future. He must have seen Tyler’s partner dying. Or maybe he saw himself trying to save Roberta. Roberta had said many times that she was going to move to the underworld when she retired, since Sam had to spend so much of his time topside with her. As soon as he had the thought, Artest looked at Fox and found Fox looking at him. He looked away.

  “Except for the loss of our sister, the Hunters all over the city are getting a lot of good work done tonight. I know it still early, but I want you all to return to the temple. You too, Ian— stay together tonight. I’m being summoned. We will talk soon.”

  He was gone.

  “He has such an odd way of saying things,” Ian said, and they all agreed.

  Chapter Forty

  Jordan knew something terrible had happened—it was written all over Jahia’s face. The first thing she remembered Artest telling her when she became aware of things again was, “Leeana is fine.”

  She thought he was talking about the way she looked, her beauty. Then she looked at Jahia, and she knew somebody was not fine.

  “What happened?” Jordan whispered.

  “I’ll tell you everything when we get back to Tyler’s.”

  They climbed into Ian’s car, and something strange happened. They were immediately about a block from Tyler’s house.

  “What was that!” Jordan screamed out.

  All the Hunters sat still in stunned silence.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Ian finally said.

  “Which one. . .” Tyler started to say.

  “It was Fox—this afternoon at the school, Fox bent time,” Artest said, interrupting. “That’s what happens when we have to catch up with time,” Artest explained to Jordan.

  “Will we have to make up all that time in the restaurant?” she asked.

  Even in the dark car, Jordan could see that they all looked at each other.

  “No,” Tyler explained. “Time wasn’t delayed there—you and the rest of the Ketier were taken out of time.”

  She thought about what he’d said. A silly rhyme ran through her mind, several times. She started laughing. Time wasn’t delayed there—you and the rest of the Ketiers were taken out of time. His explanation, struck her as something out of a Dr. Seuss book, and she couldn’t stop laughing. The more she tried to explain it, the funnier it sounded. Before long the rest of them had joined her in laughter, nobody louder than Ian’s driver, Rico.

  Then she somehow ended up reciting from memory all of Oh the Places You’ll Go, one of her favorite picture books. She often gave it to new graduates in their gift packages.

  When they got out of the car, Jahia hugged her and said, “thank you.”

  Jordan didn’t ask her why she was thanking her; she just hugged her back. Jordan thought Ian was getting out to let them exit, but she heard him telling Rico to come for him in the morning. As soon as he entered the house, Ian said, “I know there’s some real alcohol in here somewhere, Seydou. Unass it!”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Artest said.

  “You’ll drink to me having alcohol somewhere that I would have to unass?”

  “At this point, I don’t care where you have to go to get it.”

  “All three of you sound like you’re already drunk,” Jordan said.

  “We can’t really get drunk,” Ian said to Jordan.

  “They like to tell themselves that, but they can get a little buzz,” Jahia said. She left the hallway and returned with a beautiful crystal decanter.

  “It’s sherry, all we have except for a couple of bottles of champagne left over from one of our celebrations. I didn’t think we should drink champagne tonight.”

  “We can start with this,” Ian said, taking the bottle from Jahia. “But I think I might want to celebrate Roberta’s life before the night is over.”

  Jordan heard the words and thought about what they meant. Her knees buckled. Artest caught her before she fell.

  They were in the bedroom when she opened her eyes. “Is it true?” she asked. “Was Roberta killed tonight?”

  He nodded his head. “She died in Service, Jordan. It’s the greatest honor a Dogon-Hunter can achieve.”

  She refused to address that insanity. “Her body just broke up and disappeared like the Suckers?”

  He stopped pacing and sat next to her on the bed. “We don’t break up like that—we’re mostly human. No, her body was taken to Sam.”

  “Oh my God. He’ll just open his door and Fox will be standing there with his wife’s body?”

  “No, that’s not how it works.” He sighed. Whatever he was trying to say, it w
asn’t easy. “Roberta’s time on earth is over, but it’s just her body.”

  All she could say was, “what?”

  “Don’t you expect to see Mama May again, on the other side?”

  “No, Artest, don’t go there. It’s not the same, and you know it!”

  “It most certainly is! I haven’t been to the Christian afterlife, but I have no reason to believe it’s any different. Energy doesn’t die—it has to go somewhere. Even those Sangsue have to go somewhere when they break up, or bleed out if it’s a bad kill.”