by A. D. Koboah
“I won’t repeat myself, boy.” He walked into the restaurant.
“Boy?” I gasped.
“Shh,” Avery whispered.
His eyes were lit with anxiety. He waited a few moments until the boy was out of sight before he turned to me.
Keep quiet, and whatever you do, keep your thoughts shielded from him. Do you understand?
I nodded. He took my hand, holding onto it tightly, and we followed the child into the restaurant.
We joined the boy at a table near the window in silence. He ordered a glass of bourbon from the waitress and then lit a cigarette whilst Avery ordered our drinks. He drew on the cigarette deeply, his features relaxing for a few moments before his gaze fell on me.
“Don’t you think you should have at least ordered a Coke or something for appearance's sake?” I said to the boy once the waitress had left.
“Didn’t he tell you to keep your mouth shut?”
I felt Avery stiffen beside me. He was still holding tightly onto my hand. He stared openly in surprise at the boy.
“Pay attention. I have already told you my mental powers far exceed your own. All anyone in this restaurant sees when they look my way is a little boy with a glass of soda. I could reach over and snap your scrawny little neck and they would all see only what I want them to see. And there is no point in trying to shield your thoughts from me.”
“Who are you?” I asked again.
“Dallas,” Avery began.
“Yes, Dallas. You just sit there and look pretty while I have a little talk with Avery,” the boy said, a smile curving around his lips as he regarded me, dragging deeply on the cigarette. Dallas is such a stupid name. I much preferred your other name.
I gasped and just stared at him. He knows?
The boy smiled, showing wolfish looking little white teeth. Avery seemed confused as he stared intently at me and then the child.
“What just happened? What did you say to her and why can’t I pick it up from her mind?”
“Just one of many little tricks of mine. You’ll be seeing a lot more of what I can do if you don’t keep your little witch in check.”
“Listen, you don’t scare me, you little runt.” I was a little bit unnerved, not to mention terrified he would let something slip to Avery. “I can’t believe I thought you were cute. And that little suit is just plain creepy.”
Avery faced me, his face pale and lined with anxiety. “Dallas, please.”
I sat back and glowered at the boy.
“What do you want with us?” Avery asked.
The boy straightened his tie, glaring at me all the while.
“Nothing much. As I said, I am looking for my mother. It just so happens she is dead. I thought I should perhaps meet the woman who killed her.”
Avery let out a deep sigh. I stared at the boy, speechless, my heart filling with compassion for him.
“Arnaldo,” Avery said. “I...she didn’t leave me with much of a choice. She...I...”
He faltered to a stop, desperately trying to gather his thoughts. When he spoke again, there was a quiet plea in his voice.
“Let Dallas go home. I am responsible for what happened to Auria.”
The waitress arrived with our meal at that moment.
“Oh good, our food is here,” Arnaldo said, behaving as if the topic of the mother I had murdered had not arisen.
He winked at the waitress as she placed the meal before him. Then he put out his cigarette, staring longingly at the waitress’s behind as she moved away from our table. He began to eat with relish, talking throughout, completely ignoring the subject of his mother. Mine and Avery’s plates of food lay untouched before us. I stared at my rare steak, my thoughts automatically turning to that night in the woods and Auria’s death. I battled to turn my thoughts to something else, lest the boy see the gruesome details of his mother’s last moments.
Seeing my expression, Avery placed a hand beneath my chin and turned my face to his so he could look into my eyes, his own gentle despite the unease I could see in them. He kissed me on the forehead, still holding onto my hand, and for a few moments some of my unease diminished.
We both turned to Arnaldo when we realised he had stopped talking. His gaze was on us, amusement in his dark eyes and the curve of his lips.
“Did you know the big oaf is worried his immortal beloved is perhaps trying to possess you, Dallas?” he said with a smile that was full of mirthful malice.
I turned to Avery in consternation. He was staring at the boy, anger making his eyes burn with an unnatural blue fire. The boy’s smile widened.
“Oh, was I not supposed to tell?” He said to Avery and laughed. “You’re wrong, of course, so don’t you worry your pretty little head. Luna is not trying to possess Dallas’s soul. You’ve got much worse things to worry about than that.”
“Is that what you think, Avery?” I said, my stomach twisting at the dilemma this must have put him in.
Avery shot Arnaldo a hate-filled look before he faced me.
“I couldn’t be sure of what was happening, especially after what took place at the swamp. But I realise it couldn’t be Luna because although Luna only met Mallory once, she loved her. She would never hurt Mallory or steal the life of one of her descendants.”
He faced the boy again. “What exactly do you know, Arnaldo?”
“Mainly what I just told you. Luna is not trying to possess Dallas. Do you really think she would be able to spend an eternity sharing a body with an airhead like Dallas? But what Dallas told you all those years ago is true. She is alive.” He laughed once more, a laugh laced with malice. He turned to me and winked. “I wonder how long it will take him to figure out what that means.”
Avery stared at him, a small smile on his lips that did not reach his eyes which were burning with rage. The smile widened, revealing his fangs.
“When this is all over, I think I’ll be the one to come and seek you out. Then we’ll see if your superior mental powers really will prevent me from killing you.”
Arnaldo went completely still.
I saw him staring at Avery, his coal dark eyes wide with fright, his face almost cherubic. Then I saw beyond what he had made me see to the truth. His eyes were frozen with rage, his pink rosebud lips set in a sneer, his face so hard it looked as if it had been carved out of stone, making him look nothing at all like a child, but what he really was: A heartless killer.
“Avery,” I said in an attempt to diffuse the tension. “He doesn’t mean what he said.”
Avery merely leaned back in his chair, his gaze never leaving Arnaldo’s.
“Look,” I continued. “You don’t have to be so mean to us. I’m sorry about your mother, okay?”
“Why? I’m not.” His gaze flickered to my chest again. “In fact, I’ve wanted her dead for a long time. I even tried to kill her myself a few centuries ago.” His face twisted in pain. “It didn’t work, of course, as she was much too strong for me. And what she did in retaliation, well, let’s just say it was extremely unpleasant. But at last she’s dead. Thanks to you, Dallas.”
“Then why did you seek us out like this?” Avery asked.
“Curiosity. I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time, Dallas. I have never come across a being as powerful as you. And, perhaps, I wanted to help you with your little dilemma regarding the entity that haunts the chapel in Mississippi.”
He smiled in a way that left us in no doubt he had no intention of helping us. He shoved a piece of steak in his mouth and chewed violently, his long, hot gaze resting on my chest again.
“Would you stop staring at my breasts? It’s creeping me out!” I snapped.
He merely smiled, his gaze still on my chest.
“Ahhh, desire. It is something I have struggled with for so long. I have a child’s body but the mind of a man. Women’s bodies of all shapes and sizes delight and drive me wild with desire. But this body is that of a child’s. It is sacred. To even contemplate slaying that desire—in this bo
dy—is a perversion. And as for any such woman who so much as looks at me with desire? It gives me great pleasure to kill them. I am happy Auria is dead. To defile the sacred body of a child by turning it into a vampire—to damn a man in this way—is beyond forgiveness. So here I am. I cannot act on my desire or even commit an act of violence against it by ending my life. You are beautiful, Dallas. So much more than I expected you would be. So allow me the small pleasure of gazing upon you, for I can do little else.”
A pocket of silence fell around us in the otherwise noisy restaurant and I felt sorry for him once more. When his gaze returned to my chest, I pretended not to notice.
We ate in silence. He appeared to be absorbed with his meal, but he let his thoughts and memories reach me. I was overwhelmed by the blistering emotions suffusing my mind. His longing, the hunger in his body as he stared at a female a few feet from him who may as well have been miles, if not centuries, out of his reach. He was elated when she turned to him, studying and admiring his unearthly beauty. The elation soured and curdled into searing anger when he detected a hint of impurity in her thoughts. The deaths were always painful, the torture sometimes moving seamlessly from hours to days. At the end of it was his pain, isolation and that ache, that yearning that would never be assuaged.
I dropped my fork and sat staring at him, tears filling my eyes as I watched him. He was dwarfed by his chair, his legs dangling over the edge. He still had his cigarette and occasionally dragged heavily on it, swigging back large gulps of his bourbon. As he smoked, he drew in deeply and opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling, his eyes black coals of want along with the snaking pain of denial. All I had seen of Avery’s memories, his loneliness, I saw in this boy and I felt nothing but sorrow for him and his plight. Arnaldo looked directly at me then and his gaze hardened, those black coals seeming to spark and burn with a black fury. I looked away.
He said nothing more of his mother or why he had sought us out, but finished his meal in silence. Avery also remained silent.
As we were leaving the restaurant, I came to a stop and disentangled my hand from Avery’s.
“Can you let me have a moment with Arnaldo alone, Avery?”
He stared at me, blinking in surprise. Then he looked down at Arnaldo. Arnaldo smiled at him, something which made Avery’s jaw tighten in anger.
“Go on, Avery.”
I kissed Avery on the cheek, something which tore the smile away from Arnaldo’s face and made pain blaze fiercely before he turned his back to us.
Reluctantly, Avery moved away and out of the restaurant.
It was a few moments before Arnaldo spoke into my mind.
I never thought the day would come when I would have the honour of standing before a true goddess. He remained facing away from me. But here it is. I sense your confusion at my words. You are a goddess and I should have fallen to my knees and kissed your feet at the sight of such beauty.
He sighed, suddenly looking smaller, more vulnerable. I wanted to put my arm around him, but didn’t dare.
But it does not matter whether you see yourself as a goddess, because I believe you are. That is what really matters, the belief. You have always viewed the chapel entity as an ancient evil but it was once flesh and blood.
It used to be human?
A child. You’ve been dreaming of her.
I stood in complete shock for a few moments. The little girl?
She was the chapel entity?
Yes. I came to you today because I am perhaps the cause of your problems. It was my curiosity, my studies into the occult and that ancient civilisation who believed a goddess had been born to them—a being who had the power to undo what my mother did to me—that led Auria to Mississippi to try and resurrect the evil now killing the women in your family. There is no question of whether or not you can defeat it. All you have to do is evoke and vanquish it back to where it came from.
I need to know more. When can—?
You’ll know what to do when the time comes. Goodbye, Goddess.
He moved toward the exit and was soon lost amongst the other patrons of the restaurant. I wanted to follow, to question him, but I knew he had said all he was willing to tell me.
Avery was at my side moments later.
“Is he gone?”
I nodded, miserable, thinking of how alone and unhappy Arnaldo was.
“Good.”
I let Avery lead me out of the restaurant, but continued to look out for the boy vampire who carried the weight of such endless yearning. I sighed, wishing he really had found a goddess who could undo what Auria had done to him.
Chapter 25
Akan
From that night onward, a routine was established. Akan went to the temple a few times each week to spend a few hours with the saviour of the Enwa people. His visits greatly cheered the little girl whose sorrow at her confinement within the temple had long taken its toll. Topa, although still fearful of the divine being, seemed to appreciate his visits and the good it did her. Jow, on the other hand, bore his visits in silence, her displeasure clear for all to see. But like Topa, she too feared the divine one more so now she was in regular communion with the spirits of the underworld, and so she did not voice that disapproval.
One night Akan saw something sticking out of the edge of the child goddess’s robe.
“What is that?” he asked.
She pulled out the remains of Tanu’s second gift, the flowers having long withered away, leaving only the brown stalks of the posy of flowers.
He stared at the dead gift, some emotion stirring within him.
“It had been so...so dark for so long,” she said. “And I thought it would always be so. When you gave this to me, it was like a ray of sunlight and although I knew I would never see the actual sun again, I knew things would get better.”
She carefully tucked it back into the folds of her robe.
Akan stared ahead for a few moments, sorrow piercing his chest. He spoke without meaning to.
“The field of Heaven’s Tears are still in bloom and will be for a few more weeks. It is a beautiful sight, even by moonlight. I will take you there. Tonight.”
She looked up, her eyes wide, as if a bolt of lightning had just struck her. At first he couldn’t be sure she had heard him.
“Goddess?”
“You will take me outside the temple?”
“Yes, Divine One. But only for a short while.”
He got to his feet before he could come to his senses. He gestured to Topa.
“Topa, I need your robe.”
She directed a furtive glance at the goddess before lowering her eyes in fear. “My robe? Why?”
“Quickly.”
Topa got to her feet, removed her robe and crossed the room to Akan. She handed it to him before moving away again. Jow was on her feet now, her sharp gaze on Akan as he wrapped the beaming goddess in Topa’s black robe so only her eyes were visible. When he picked her up and moved to the rear secret exit, Jow darted across the temple to bar their path.
“Where do you think you’re taking her?” Jow demanded.
“We will not be gone for long,” Akan said with a calmness he did not feel.
Dread crept into Jow’s eyes when she realised Akan actually meant to take the divine one out of the temple.
“This...this is unheard of! You cannot take her out of the temple. The—”
“Step aside, Jow. I will not hesitate to trample over your dead body on our way out of this temple.”
“Do not threaten me, Akan or I will call the guards! If you are caught with her we will all be killed. I—”
“Please, Jow.”
Jow turned to the child huddled in Topa’s robe, only her eyes visible. The anger fell away from the old woman’s features. Perhaps it was her fear of the child goddess that directed Jow’s actions, but she moved aside and let them pass.
They were soon out of the tunnel and into the night. The goddess gave a little squeal of delight when she felt the crisp
night air. She turned her face up to the sky. A gasp escaped her.
“Look at the sky—at the moon. It is shining so much brighter than I remember. It is almost as if it is doing so just for me, its goddess.”
“Yes, for its goddess.”
He took her through the village, keeping away from the homes but trying to let her see as much of the village as possible. He eventually took her to the field of flowers and removed Jow’s robe, letting her roam unrestricted. She darted through the field, often swooping to pick a flower. At times she darted out of sight, hidden by the night time shadows, and Akan’s heart would clench painfully for a few seconds until her tiny form reappeared, another flower added to the ones she already had in her hands. Soon her arms were laden with them. She eventually came out of the field, her face half-obscured by the flowers in her arms, a huge smile on her face. He covered her in Topa’s robe once more and took her to the top of the hill near his home. Her hand in his, they stood looking down on the village stretched before them in all its beauty, the sacrificial altar the only blight on the landscape.
“It is so lonely in the temple, but when I look upon my village, I understand and it is worth the loneliness.”
“Come, Goddess, we have to get back.”
“Is that your home?” She was staring behind her to his house.
“Yes, Goddess.”
“Is your son inside? I would like to see him.”
“Well, all right. But you have to be very quiet as we cannot wake them.”
He took the flowers from her arms and they moved to the house, entering it silently. When they entered Akan and Rutia’s sleeping space the child goddess pulled her hand out of Akan’s and moved forward into the gloom to peer at Rutia, Tanu tucked in her arms, the two of them fast asleep. She didn’t move or speak at all, but merely stared at them for some long minutes whilst Akan waited by the door. They had already been gone for far longer than he had intended.
He moved to the living idol’s side and placed his hand on her shoulder.
“Divine one,” he whispered. “We have to go.”