"Oh, is that how you treat a woman?" Justin laughed. He kicked Victor hard in the chest, sending him careening into one of the sand bins. Bricks collapsed with a sound akin to pins falling in a bowling alley.
Justin ran toward the sand bin and we followed. By the time we got there, Victor had already been tossed about like a rag doll. He tried to fight back, but Justin was quicker and more powerful than him. Sand quickly rose everywhere, making it tough for us to see more than glowing red and gold eyes.
Justin straddled Victor's body. We could all see the red glow diminish from Victor's eyes.
"Are we finished here?" Justin asked as he caressed Victor's face.
"We'll never be finished," Victor growled as he spit blood in Justin's face.
Justin roared and pummeled Victor with his closed fist over and over again until the yellow glow in his eyes softened and disappeared entirely. I approached him from behind and quietly called his name.
"Justin…ipsaji… What separates the Razadi from all other beings on earth?"
Justin's fist froze in midair.
"Justice…" he said in his normal voice. He stood up and reached down to grab Victor's hand. Victor reached back.
"…and redemption." He hoisted Victor up and carried his weight as they walked toward us.
"I love you, brother," Justin said, as he kissed Victor's bloody cheek.
"I love you, too," Victor admitted. Justin handed him off to some other brothers, who took care of him.
We reformed our circle, this time without our black cloaks. Each of us had on a different set of colors, some in traditional West African robes and others in more contemporary garb. Justin stood before us, chest still heaving from the excitement.
"Brothers of the Razadi," Uncle John began. "I present to you Justin Kena, son of Theresa, now and forever more known to us as Ominiyi. This means 'Oshun has honor.' Now, take the knowledge of what you have seen here tonight and spread it through your home cells. Spread the word that for the first time since we left our homeland, a new member of our tribe has been made, named, and crowned by the Orisha Oshun herself. Let them all be made aware that Justin Kena-Ominiyi-is our brother and he has more than proven himself worthy. Justin…"
Justin looked up at Uncle John with pride.
"Ominiyi. You are one of us now. Welcome home."
The circle of Razadi erupted with applause, whistles, and chants of celebration.
Babarinde embraced Justin. Bewildered, Justin embraced him back with tears in his eyes. The entire group came in to welcome Justin, one at a time. I took great pleasure in introducing him.
"Salako, bring me his cloak, please. Justin, let me introduce you to your family. From Miami: Kosoko and Omiyomi. Omiyomi shares your crown."
"Greetings, brother," they said in unison as they embraced Justin.
"From New Orleans: Salako and Omitonade. Omitonade also shares your crown."
"Welcome to the family," Omitonade said.
"From Atlanta: Ogundele and Akinlana. From Los Angeles: Makinde and Ojonda."
"Blessings, blessings."
"And from New York: Balogun, Osundara, Oyagbola, and Iranola."
"I can't believe all of y'all came to see me…all this way," Justin said.
"You da baby bruddah," Iranola said. "'Course we gonna see you be born."
"Oshun crowned you. What an amazing gift," Osundara said. "I'm so happy to have you as part of my family."
Justin's eyes continued to water.
"I've never experienced anything like this before," he said.
"Well, I should hope not!" Babarinde guffawed. We all joined in.
"So, what now?" Justin asked.
"Now?" I bared my fangs. "Now, we eat. Who's got a taste for some Iota Theta Beta?"
The Morning After
I woke up first.
He was sleeping one of those good, deep sleeps that humans only get after two Benadryl. He was exhausted and blood-drunk.
He slept with a do-rag on to keep his baby locs in place—what good that did now after a night of fighting in the grass and dirt. He still did it, though. Everything I'd taught him was a habit.
My ipsaji.
I ran my fingers lightly over his bare chest. He smiled without opening his eyes and pulled me closer to him. He was snoring again within moments.
I wasn't tired one bit. I barely ate anything at all. Justin was now one of us. He didn't have to worry about being accepted. He didn't have to worry about Victor. There'd be no more sickness. Old age wouldn't happen for a very, very long time.
"Dante, I need…oh. Excuse me."
Uncle John wasn't accustomed to such practices as knocking before entering a room. On the other hand, Razadi weren't known for inhibition, either. Justin remained sleeping hard on his side of the bed.
"What's up, Uncle?"
"I need to talk to you. Can I sit down?"
"Of course." He took a seat on the ottoman.
"How's Victor?"
"Recovering. I already talked to him about this."
"Okay…"
"Victor really botched this thing."
I nodded.
"We've got a mess on our hands with the nightwalkers. We've maintained this truce for a long time, but him sending Justin to their house? Well, you saw the result of that. But at least…at least we know that they have Orlando. And if we can get Orlando back, we can find John Irons, too."
"But how do we get them back without starting a war?"
"I've done my best to negotiate with the east coast nightwalker clans. And they say they won't interfere if we are solely trying to rescue one of our own."
"Which we are. We've got no beef with nightwalkers."
"But there's a catch. Only you, Victor, and, now, Justin are allowed to go after them. If any other Razadi attacks the Anubis Society, then it will be an all-out war. And you know we will lose. Philadelphia, New York, West Virginia nightwalkers would all descend on DC like cicadas if the Anubis Society is ambushed."
"I fucking hate being a minority."
"Said every minority ever."
Justin stirred in his blood-drunk sleep.
"Even him, Uncle? He just earned his name. Just got crowned. This is hella dangerous."
"I know. But Orlando is in danger. If they've got access to laboratories and doctors, they could be attempting to clone our blood. Isolate our DNA. Who the hell knows what else? Look, if I thought there was another way, I'd propose it. We know the nightwalkers have Orlando. You, Victor, and Justin are all strong enough and smart enough to get him back."
"What if we don't succeed?"
"Aragbaye. Did you see Justin out there last night? He might have been nervous, but he wasn't scared. He had confidence. It's something I haven't seen since we were back in the village. I need you now. Your people need you. We can get Orlando and end this whole thing. Say you're on board."
"Of course I'm on board, Uncle. It's just…the last thing I want to do is let you down. Or put Justin in danger."
"The only way you would let me down is if you didn't try. And as for Justin, he's one of us now, Dante. Like it or not, he will always be in danger. From the nightwalkers. From the demon Djinn. From the government. From journalists. The rest of his life will be filled with deaths and rebirths, periods of hiding in the shadows and periods of hiding in the daylight. Surely, he knows this."
"Just as surely as he knows that he needs human blood to live."
"You really take this protector thing to heart, don't you?"
"I didn't know you were handing me my ipsaji on a platter, Uncle."
"Indeed. You didn't."
"But you did, didn't you? When you gave me that folder…you somehow knew."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"I think you did," I nodded. "But if you told me, it would have changed things. I needed to discover it on my own."
Babarinde smiled knowingly.
"Act quickly, but act intelligently when it comes to the nightwalkers. We need Orlando back
safely. And if we've got to shed vampire blood to get him back, so be it."
"So be it," I repeated. I gazed at Justin's snoring body while I silently prayed that he was ready for his first mission.
Envy
"I'm really happy for them," Andre Crawford said from the back seat of the mini-van.
"I know," Sasha said. "They look happy."
Andre and Sasha had seen the entire Razadi initiation fight from the top floor of a parking deck off Children's Hospital. With the assistance of binoculars and a telephoto camera lens, their already impeccable vision allowed them to practically read the lips of the daywalkers.
"I don't know a lot of the words they're saying," Andre said. "Do you think they're all African words?"
"Maybe," Sasha said. "They're supposedly West African. One of those words was weird… ip… sahj… something. Couldn't make it out."
"Funny how they just had the entire fight out in the open like that," Andre marveled.
"Well, it was on land nobody could see from the street. In the middle of the night."
"But the drumming…"
"Wasn't that loud."
"But…"
"There were over a dozen of them. They would have hypnotized any humans that discovered them. Then drunk them."
"Yeah. You're right."
They sat in silence as the Razadi dispersed.
"Should we follow?" Sasha asked.
"No. They're probably just going to go celebrate."
"This upsets you."
"Sasha…you don't know the half of it."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"Do you want to…you know…run?"
"They'd stake us before we could get to safety."
"Not if we had help…protection…"
"You really think the daywalkers would have a reason to protect us? We helped keep their brother hostage. We took his blood."
"What do you want to do, then? We are tethered to the Anubis Society. Now, we either run and keep running until we get someplace where we can be left alone, or we link up with the Razadi, or we just sit there in that mansion under Nigel and Cassandra until karma deals with them."
"I don't know what we're supposed to do. I don't know who we can trust."
"I hate vampires," Andre said.
"But we are vampires!"
"So are the Razadi! Look at them. They love each other. They take care of each other. They're not worried about prophecies or science. It's just family with them. Nothing more or less. And they are vampires. They drink the same blood we drink."
"They're not vampires. Not really. They own the fucking sun. You and me? We'll never see the sun again. We can't walk down the street with sunglasses on. I can't…I can't go to the beach, take my shirt off, and feel my body getting warm just from standing there. I'll never get tan. I will literally never see the sun! We got cursed, Andre! Because not only was the sun taken from us, but we are tethered to the craziest people I've ever met. All the power that we have? The strength? The influence? It's worthless. Because we have to obey these stupid, ancient, vampire laws and pay our penance to the society."
"Look at me," Andre said. Sasha turned all the way around in her seat.
"We can have the sun again. I believe that."
Sasha looked away.
"I think you're just being sentimental because the Razadi are black."
"And what if I am? Hmm? What's the harm in having faith that we're not that much different from them? That maybe—just maybe—they could look at me and see a little bit of themselves. Because when I see them…I see a whole lot of me. I see who I was. I see who I could damn well be some day. Somebody with a family. Somebody who doesn't have to run. Now, listen. I don't trust Cassandra any more than I do Nigel. I know she doesn't want to kill Justin, but I still don't trust what she wants him for."
"And what do you think that is?"
"I don't know."
They sat in silence for a few more moments.
"Andre… We can't tell Cassandra what we saw tonight."
"Yeah."
"The less she knows, the less they all know, the better. I don't necessarily think that the Razadi can help us. But I don't think they mean us any harm. We took their brother. And then they came for us, as anybody else's family would do. If they're trying to take down the Anubis Society, then we should let them. As long as we know to run when the time comes."
Andre climbed over the seat and sat next to Sasha.
"You know I love you, right?" he asked.
"I know," Sasha said. She smiled as coyly as she had the day she met him. He pulled out the camera and deleted each photo he had taken.
"I wish you well, Razadi," he said softly. "It was a pleasure peering into your most sacred moments."
Sasha exhaled.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Just nervous. Justin Kena's one of them now. For real. It's only a matter of time before they strike back for what Malcolm did to him."
"And they're going to strike back hard."
"Hopefully," Sasha smiled. Andre grabbed her hand.
"Hopefully," he repeated. They kissed and hurried back to the mansion before first light.
Part Three:
Daywalker's Delight
The Meeting
He whipped my ass fair and square.
I can't deny it and I can't be mad about it. He did what he was supposed to do.
He's one of us now, like it or not. And I respect him. Truth be told, I honor him. We were told long ago that Razadi were born, not made. But I knew different. A real Razadi had to be made through blood, sweat, and tears, and Justin had more than paid his dues.
I didn't like him. But I loved him. And now it was time to kick some nightwalker ass.
I showered, shaved, and braided my long dreadlocks behind my head so that they wouldn't be in my face. Babarinde complained that I always styled my hair too flamboyantly, that I drew too much attention to myself. I couldn't help that I took pride in my appearance. Dante might be fine looking like an average corner boy, but when people see me, I need them to know they are gazing upon royalty. So yes, my hair was always done, my face was always clean, and my nose was just a little bit higher in the air than the average person's.
I walked down the steps of our house and joined Dante and Justin at the kitchen table where they waited for me.
"Good morning, gentlemen."
"Good morning," they replied in unison.
"So, as you know, Babarinde has given us strict directives in our rescue of Orlando," I said.
"It's just the three of us against at least a dozen vampires living in the house," Dante said.
"We can handle it," I said. "Nightwalkers have their weaknesses."
"So, give me the crash course. I'm looking forward to taking care of the vampire who tried to kill me." Justin said.
"Stakes and fire," Dante said.
"Those are the only things that can kill a vampire?"
"At night. Then of course, the sunlight."
"What about moonlight?"
"Moonlight? Nah, never heard anything about that."
"What are you thinking?" I asked Justin.
"Just trying to figure out all my options. Ultraviolet light. Solar energy. All that."
"We haven't tried everything because we haven't had a reason to. We've had a truce for a hundred years."
Justin nodded in silence. His face was still puzzled, but he was a sponge, absorbing every bit of data.
"Victor, here's what I want to know," Justin began. "Do we just go in there and get our man, police style? Or do we try to uncover the bigger story? We know he ain't in no vampire jail. That's not how they roll. We know they're up to no good, but we're doing ourselves a disservice if we don't try to find out what, exactly."
"But we tried that," I groused. "You planted a bug and everything. It's time to just get Orlando."
"I agree; let's get him. But let's get him and everything else we can find out a
bout them."
"Fine, I can agree with that. But I am not trying to spend all winter dealing with this."
"I feel you.
So, the dilemma is, do we attack during the day when they're all sleeping, but guarded, or at night, when they are likely to be out hunting?" Justin asked.
"Nighttime. They are more vulnerable by themselves. And so is their mansion," Dante said.
"I think we're missing something important here," I said.
"What's that?" Justin asked.
"If the vampires know that we made you a daywalker, we might have a problem. You could end up locked away just like Orlando."
"Then we'd better get this plan right the first time around."
Leaving New Orleans
"Brothers, tomorrow is the day we realize the destiny of our people. Today, most of you leave New Orleans and start new lives under new rules. Stay small and stay unnoticeable. Cling to each other, but participate in society. And when it's time, move on into new identities. Be reborn, just as we were here. Be the seeds that we were destined to be, floating quietly from one place to be planted in another, softly and gently."
There were no tears in this farewell. As for me, I was happy to be moving on to a new adventure. I was just anxious to know who would be in my cell.
"A large group of you will be going west, to Los Angeles. Sangodare, Akerele, Danguro…"
I fidgeted as Babarinde read the names. Let's go, I thought.
"Some of you will be going back to the Caribbean, but to Haiti, this time. Omidiran, Oriade…"
Good. They're boring.
The other cities were rattled off: Atlanta. New York. A growing city called Miami. Seven of us would be left in New Orleans to manage the plantation. That left Aragbaye, Aborişade, Ogundiya, and me.
"You four will be going to the nation's capital: Washington."
Yes!
"So that means you're coming with us?" Aborişade said.
"No."
"What? Why not?"
"I'm going someplace else. By myself."
"You can't do that."
"Yes. Yes, I can."
"It's dangerous by yourself, Babarinde."
"Nobody will know who I am. I'll be fine." Aborişade wandered off behind the house without another word.
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