Alade (Irunmole Saga)

by Jean-Marc Akerele

  Sunshine was a stunning Puerto-Rican woman who on the surface looked like the sort of woman any red-blooded man would want to take home and engage in monumental acts of depravity the likes of which had yet to be seen before. She was of average height, with a sensuously curvaceous figure, full breasts, and a backside whose memory many a man had wept over in the depths of the night. Her beauty was not what you would call model pretty, but the combination of African features, Latin skin tone and her incredibly blue eyes made her exotic and it also made her stunning. At this moment, she was sitting down in or more accurately she was draped across a chair in the lobby of the Motel 6 seemingly asleep, with that gorgeous rump of hers in the air, beckoning to every man, including myself, to come and take a bite…if they dared. I sat in the refreshments room, just out of sight of the lobby watching her. Shawn sat to my left fidgeting, probably needing a hit, so I turned to him and slid him a piece of crack. “Go back to the room and calm yourself and when you return be still. You’re making me lose focus, if that is possible looking at such a perfect ass. Go now.” He stood up and looked at me while he picked up the crack. “And what about her? I am telling you I have heard disturbing things about her; she is not what she seems. I can wait Lucius; my need is not that great yet.”

  “Thank you, but no. You go on ahead and get right, your own demon needs to be fed; I will need your strength and your steady arm later. Besides, if half the stories you told me about her are true, then she is just the sort of woman we need with us. I’ll be fine, go.” He took one quick look at me and a long one at Sunshine’s backside and then quickly walked to the elevator to get back to the room which we had here. Once I again I had set a trap but this time it was for less mundane prey, for just as I had snared Shawn, I intended on snaring Sunshine. I was not quite sure exactly what she was but I was pretty sure I would soon find out. I did know one thing though; she wasn’t human and soon, if I played this right, she would be joining our little family. I put my legs squarely under the table in front of me and leaned my head on my arms, expecting a long wait, but after no more than an hour I saw the same man who had checked into the hotel an hour ago visit the lobby a total of three times in rapid succession, hungrily eying the tasty dish that he saw asleep on the chair. On the fourth time, he came into the lobby, he had obviously gained in courage, the liquid kind, for I could smell the reek of Jack Daniel’s from his pores as he walked by me. He walked straight up to her and touched her softly on the shoulder, and when she shot up out of the chair defensively, he quickly placated her with as much bullshit as he could quickly muster and handed her a few twenty-dollar bills. He spoke a few more words to her and then turned and walked past me again towards the elevator, stopping once to look back at her hopefully, until finally, as if resigned to her fate, she got up and followed him, our eyes locking for a brief second before she stepped into the elevator which he was holding open. As the elevator doors closed, I saw his hand slip past her waist and grip her buttocks possessively. I kept watching her all the way until the doors closed and just as her face became obscured by the grey metal, she gave me what I was looking for; she smiled. Not the smile of an oversexed woman who was about to get her groove on, but the smile of a deadly predator that has just bagged its next meal. I grabbed my phone and called Shawn.

  “Meet me at room 234,” I said rapidly.

  “Is it happening now?” he asked. “I certainly hope so.”

  I used my growing and changing power to open the man’s hotel room door silently, and then sent Shawn back to our room to bring some cleaning materials while I made contact with Sunshine. I carefully crept closer to her using my dark ase to mask my movements, and watched her tail whip from side to side contentedly as she devoured the last remnants of the silly fool who had so insolently gripped her ass in the elevator. When I stood within a few feet of Sunshine I loudly cleared my throat and spoke. “Hello Sunshine,” I said casually, “it looks like you had a nice meal. Why don’t we get you all cleaned up so we can get out of here? I have a lot of work to do and I will be needed your help to accomplish it.” Outraged by the disturbance, she turned around carefully and looked at me with her piercing blue eyes, that were staring at me from a bestial face that could have been called feline but was most certainly not, while her body began to make popping and cracking sounds as it stretched and contorted into a shape that would be more effective for attacking me. While she transformed she kept on taking bites of the remaining gobbets of flesh from her meal, chewing it quickly. She had almost completely consumed it; hair, teeth, bones and all. She growled menacingly and I could sense that she was preparing to attack me, so I quickly lunged forward using all my preternatural speed and smacked her on the snout with my palm, saying “Bad kitty!” She tumbled backwards onto her tail in shock, rolling over once on the ground and coming to rest on her back. She stared at me incredulously, as her throat started to crackle and convulse. I stepped back a few steps, unsure of what was happening and waiting for her to attack again. When finally, after a tense moment she looked up at me and said in a half growl, “Did you just call me, a two-hundred and fifty-pound Kpelekpe, a were-hyena, a bad kitty?” “Yes,” I said, a little embarrassed, “I am sorry I did. I meant no insult, but it was the first thing that came to mind and you were about to attack me.” She stared at me for a long minute as if mulling something over in her head and then she started laughing, a robust infectious laugh and soon after I found myself joining in her laughter. By the time Shawn had arrived to help us with the cleanup, we both were on the carpet rolling on the ground in hysterics and she was ready to come with us.

  “I’ve heard about you,” it said softly. “Rumor is that you are the worst sort of depraved psychopath and that you have been going around finding others just as crazy as yourself.” I studied the creature sitting in front of me who had so fearfully spoken its mind, yet was somehow intrigued by what I represented. “And who told you that?” I asked, “The neighborhood gangsters? Of course, they would say that, they are afraid of what we represent.”

  “And what do you represent?”

  “Power, potential, and freedom.”

  “Freedom from what?”

  “From fear Samantha, I can taste yours right now even as we speak.”

  “Can you? Then you can understand why I have many misgivings. You scare me.” I took a deep breath and looked around my surroundings. Shawn, Sunshine and I had come knocking on the door of this ancient creature whose presence I had sensed in and around Georgia Avenue since I had taken my first steps in this world, and a mere second after my first rap upon her door had sounded, it had opened the door and led us into its apartment. The apartment was a small onebedroom apartment, but it was draped in opulence that was completely at odds with the rest of the building and its other occupants. The walls were covered in beautiful paintings, tapestries and even furs, while the furnishings were more reminiscent of a pasha’s palace than a one-bedroom apartment in uptown Washington D.C. There was a pleasant smell of frankincense that permeated the place and one had the sense of distance and great age in this apartment. When Samantha offered us refreshments, it served us our drinks in silver goblets that could have been made in the Bronze Age. I studied this creature while it played the host, draped from head to toe in black silk except for its eyes, like a sensual version of the burqa that the fundamentalist Muslim women wore. There was something odd about the way it moved, something hypnotic and disturbing, erotic and repulsive all at the same time. “Samantha,” I began, “Perhaps without realizing it initially, you called out to me. But I think you were fully aware that once you had made the call that I would answer it. I think you have been waiting for me for a long, long time. But frankly you are correct; I do want others around me as crazy and as dangerous as myself because beings such as ourselves are rare in this world, and it is only by strength and by fear that we will gain the power to leave this darkness. You called to me because you are tired of being afraid, tired of hiding in this world in which we will ne
ver be anything but oddities and tired of being alone. These modern humans do not even believe in the old myths any more, to them we are things to be dissected and studied not venerated and feared as we were in times past. Your race is one of the oldest to have inhabited this planet. You have seen things that scientists today would give their souls to witness a glimpse of and your power to manipulate reality is unmatched. But in the end, here you sit, hiding in this museum to your past, to your former greatness, while the world outside passes you by. I intend to make them fear us again; I intend to make them venerate our kind once more and I intend to free us from the shadows once and for all. It is our time now. Carpe Diem, Samantha, seize the day.” The Machlyes watched me carefully through the veil, and as it studied me its eyes changed color from dark brown to uniform black, with no iris or pupil whatsoever and I knew that it was using its power on me. The Machlyes were an ancient race of star travelers who had settled in ancient Carthage, in what is now the modern day North African country of Tunisia. Their ability to shift the stuff of reality was a rare talent and unmatched even by the Orishas themselves. They owed their skills to the perfect balance of the primal powers of the cosmos which they had achieved within their own physical forms, and this was manifested by the phenomenon in which every member of their entire race was a true hermaphrodite, all the way down to the genetic level and the spiritual level. They were a long-lived and gentle race but with the advent of the younger Gods, humanity had turned their faces from their mystery and wisdom, the same wisdom they had shared with humanity, which had allowed humans to flourish so quickly in the Middle East. But humanity had rewarded that trust by instead hunting them down as abominations and exterminating them. Samantha was one of the few individuals which remained of its race, the few remaining others having been scattered far and wide across the globe. I opened myself to her questing power and allowed it to shift reality around us so it could see my past. It watched the drama as my burden was placed on my shoulders by Esu and Yemoja and moaned in sympathy as it felt my growing despair, before finally releasing me. Abruptly, it stood up and came to stand before me, causing Sunshine to bristle and instantly go on alert, her being rather possessive and protective of me. I could hear a faint popping sound and knew she was beginning her change. I reached out with my power and calmed her, without taking my eyes off Samantha, who had begun to quickly unwind the layers of silk that it was wrapped in. After what seemed an eternity, I took in a sharp breath as did Shawn and Sunshine, for Samantha now stood before us completely naked and had been revealed as the perfect amalgamation of man and woman, a being that was truly neither, and truly magnificent. Its shape was a perfect marriage of everything masculine and feminine and even its breasts were shaped in such a way as to inspire lust in a person of either sex, such was the perfection of its combined nature. Where the sex organs should have been there were no physical structures, only disturbing a grey void which inspired feelings in me which I could not describe and I could hear Sunshine making low mewling sounds, while Shawn had stopped breathing completely. “Can you accept a creature such as me?” It asked breathlessly, continuing as I could only nod my head. “Will you protect me and in time guide me back to our rightful place in the world?” It asked. “You are incredible Samantha,” I said, when at last I was finally able to speak. “A being that is unique in all of creation and one that is beautiful beyond description. It will be my honor, our honor to protect you. If you will trust me I will not let you down. If I succeed in my task, then we will all be reborn to the world once more, this I promise.” It looked me in the eyes once more and again its eyes changed color, though this time I could not sense its power shifting things. After bowing its head for a moment, it seemed to come to a decision and suddenly it knelt before me and took my hand, placing it gently against its cheek. “Then I am yours to command, Lucius,” it said, “and my skills yours to use as you see fit, just please make sure the were-hyena does not eat me because she is looking at me strangely right now.” It smiled at me as it said this so I looked over at Sunshine who was curled up next to me paying very close attention to my hand on Samantha’s cheek and reached out with my other hand and slowly stroked Sunshine’s face saying, “My dear Samantha, have no fear. Sunshine doesn’t eat her friends. Well, most of the time.” Now my deadly little family numbered four. I still had much work to do because I needed to gather a few more important pieces together before we would be ready and strong enough to begin. I took a few moments to relax and enjoy the moment, because I knew that so far everything had been accomplished without a hitch. But the time for smooth sailing had passed and now I knew it was about to become very difficult, especially now as I thought of my next target, an old and cantankerous being very prone to unexpected violence and verbal abuse. I would enjoy these few moments of serenity as much as I could because I knew shortly it would be time to recruit the Bokor that is if I didn’t die in the attempt.

  “Get down!” I shouted just as four knives embedded themselves in the door jamb right next to Shawn’s face. Sunshine, Shawn and I all hit the floor at the same time and scampered back behind the door. “Come on Lulu,” I shouted, “I thought we were going to have a civilized conversation. What’s with the knives?”

  “Fuck you, Lucius,” she retorted, “you stink of Ile-Ife and the fucked-up Gods which run it. Get the hell away from my house.”

  “Now, Now Lulu; let’s not get insulting, after all you didn’t have to open the door when I knocked on it.”

  “I only opened the door so I could stab your monkey ass. Your people have caused me nothing but trouble.”

  “They’ve caused me nothing but trouble too, why the hell do you think I am here? I just want to talk Lulu; can you please calm down?” “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Why don’t you take your pet demonpossessed crack fiend and your nasty ass tame hyena and go have yourselves a party on someone else’s doorstep, because if you don’t get the fuck off mine in the next ten seconds, you’re going to see just why even your gods leave me be.” I quickly reached around behind me to prevent a pissed off Sunshine from rushing in to attack her, while Shawn, as laid back as he was, simply smiled; it seems he found the whole situation amusing. We had not brought Samantha with us; Machlyes are not the warrior type and even though its powers might have come in handy to counter Lulu’s own, in the end it was a very sensitive creature and I had promised to protect it and that meant not upsetting it. The person throwing knives at us and cursing like a sailor was Lulu, a three-hundred-year-old Bokor of the Makaya sect from the Congo region of Africa, though she had lived for so long in the New World, in the Deep South, that she behaved just like the foul mouthed Southern matriarchs that you see in the movies. But make no mistake, she was a power to be reckoned with; a power to be respected, who for some unknown reason seemed to hate me with a passion, most probably because of my connection to the Orishas and Ile-Ife. Apparently, the rivalry between the Kongo Gods and the Orishas was a deep and bitter one that seemed to extend even to their servants. At least that is what she seemed to believe. As far as I knew, I had done nothing to wrong her or her Gods and I was determined to prove this to her, because we desperately needed her power and her skills. But for now, I had about four seconds before she sent some very unpleasant magic my way, so I was scrambling for a solution. Even with the growing strength and darkness of my own powers, I would be hard pressed to win if I was forced to battle Lulu for she was that strong. She has been blessed by her Gods as the highest-ranking initiate of her sect and the repository of much of the knowledge and strength of her people; she was a power to reckon with. But I was not here to battle her, I was here to befriend her, and I was quickly running out of time. As I crouched behind the door waiting for the inevitable attack to come, fresh out of any feasible ideas to placate her, I leaned toward Sunshine beginning to construct a shield for us before the next onslaught, and before I could pull Shawn in closer, suddenly, he got up and dashed from behind the door before I could stop him and walked through t
he doorway. I shouted at him to get down, but instead he just smiled at me and then removed a bottle of bourbon which he had in inside of his pocket and popped the top and took a drink. He turned to Lulu, who for some reason had not yet thrown anything at him, magical or mundane, and casually asked, “Would you like a drink, Lulu?” Lulu glared at him for a long and tense minute and then abruptly turned around and walked deeper into her apartment.

  “Well come on in you stupid motherfuckers!” she shouted happily, “If you had said you had some bourbon in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to go through all that shit. Even the Gods accept libation. Come on in and sit down, I’ll go get some glasses.” Sunshine and I looked at each completely baffled as to what had just happened and warily peeked our heads from behind the door only to see Shawn sitting comfortably in armchair, with a full glass of bourbon in hand chatting and drinking amiably with Lulu, who had set out two other glasses on the table and was beckoning to us to come in and sit down. We obeyed and sat down nervously, both of us downing a quick swallow of the golden liquid to calm our nerves, and I finally settled down enough to say to Shawn, “Someday you will have to explain to me how you did that.” At that Lulu laughed, and after the long fit of coughing which followed her laughter, she looked me dead in the eye and said, “Lucius, eh, that’s what they call you now? Humph, one name’s as good as another I suppose. Anyway, listen up you black, shiny, tar baby looking motherfucker. What exactly is a creature of your obviously corrupted nature doing knocking on my door? What is it exactly that your ebony ass is trying to sell me?” I pushed myself further into the chair and weighed my next words carefully, so that when I finally looked up at her to answer her question I could see that she was on the edge of her seat in anticipation, she was curious now and somehow the bourbon was responsible. “What am I trying to sell you, Lulu?” I asked. “Something that all of us in this room desperately need more than anything else.”