69

He sinks down to the floor with his back pressed tightly against the dark gray wall.
“I don't ever want time to fly when I'm with ya. I wish I can stop it. Just say the word. I'll do it in a heartbeat.”
“I’m mortal,” I state the obvious. It pains me to remind him that I will die someday, any day. Any second could be my last. “I’ll have to leave this earth” --I sink down next to him --“but ya’ll move on. ya have to.”
When he speaks it is through clenched teeth. “ya won’t die.”
“I’m human, D'ziko,” I say, my voice cracking. “Forever doesn’t exist for me.”
His eyes are bitter. “ya’re not leaving me to room this horrific world alone, it’s not an option.”
I sigh and sandwich his masked face in my hands.
“It might seem crazy what I’m about to say,” I say. “D'ziko this is how it was meant to be. I wasn’t born like ya with infinity on my cards. I’m just glad I found ya at all because not everyone is fortunate enough to meet their life mate.”
He shakes his head stubbornly, refusing to hear.
I wipe my face. “ya love me now. But ya won’t someday” --he is pulling against my hands now, trying to get away-- “I know it hurts but come forty years down the line ya won’t want me. ya’ll look for someone young, who doesn’t have wrinkles lining her face.”
“That’s…”
I shush him with my finger on his lips. “ya’ll eventually want someone curvier when my hips start to slacken, ya’ll want someone who won’t be mistaken for yer mother when ya take her out on date nights, and ya’ll want children.”
He loses it, saying, “Why would I want all that when I have all I need right here!”
“We have to face facts though,” I say. “I won’t use merryz. I want to age naturally. I’m going to die someday.”
“Nah.” His voice thickens. “Not if I have anything to do about it.”
“What?”
“I mean…” D’ziko pauses. “My offer still stands. .”
I narrow my eyes. “I don't want immortality. It won't make sense. ya’ll be gone. Mama will be dead, Kaseke too. I'll be all alone.”
D’ziko takes my hands and squeezes them. “Say ya'll think it over at least.”
“Look, D’ziko--”
He interrupts me. “Please.”
I force a smile. “Sure,” I say, desperate for a topic change.
He smiles but it doesn’t touch his eyes. “What do want to talk about then?”
Holy shit. How does he do that? It's like he's living in my head.
I shrug.
“I thought I’d never share something like this” --his hand drifts slowly, deliberately down to my shoulders, arms and then he takes my hand. He kisses my sweaty palm -- “with anyone.”
“Neither did I.” I whisper, touching his neck. His breath catches.
He leans into my touch, automatically, not seeming to have thought about it. His clenched jaw relaxes under my hand and he closes his eyes, sighing.
“yer touch is sinful.” He smiles. “It’s hard to believe ya’ve never done this before.”
“Ya’re perfect at it too; yet, and ya’re just as new to this as I am.”
"I'm glad I waited."
“I know,” I say. “Me too.”
His eyes have tears in them, and then mine do too. I touch my lips to his neck and place my hand over his chest. The drum of his heart is as uneven as mine.
I don't know how long we stay like this but right now I want to stall time. To tell D’ziko to use his gift but I don't. That'll ruin the experience. The sentiment.
It is pouring outside when D'ziko takes me home. We leave his house with thirty minutes to get to home. Mama will start getting worried.
Since D’ziko can't “fly” me to the front door, Whele gives us his carriage.
I sigh. I'm a bundle of joy . I can't stop my grin.
D’ziko moves my hair from my face. “What are ya thinking about?”
“yer family invited me to dinner this weekend.” My grin widens.
“That surprises ya?”
I nod. “I don’t fit at all with yer family,” I say sadly. “I don’t see why they like me.”
“I think I’ll avoid going to yer –”
My eyes bulge as I stare in shock. “D'ziko noooo!” I shriek. “Stop the carriage!”
He takes my hand in his and squeezes it. I didn’t think he could stop the horses in enough time to avoid running over the limping woman crossing the road but the carraige comes to a halt two feet away from her. She’s trembling so violently. Frightened.
“Help me, please.” Her voice is hoarse. She looks too pale.
D'ziko stiffens.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I smell mushrooms and decay.”
My heart stops. I am frightened for the woman who is on her knees now, begging. Help, me, please. Please.
“Jungles.” My voice is barely audible.
“We have to get out of here, fast.” He probes the horses again. They're going berserk. Sensing the danger too. But they do not move.
I turn to him. “No, we can’t just leave her there. They'll skin her.”
“I would’ve seen her emerge from the forest,” he says, suspicious. “She just appeared suddenly.”
“No!” I scream. “We have to do something.”
“She smells funny.”
“She was bitten.” I cry angrily. “I could never forgive myself if I heard about her dead from the grapevine tomorrow. Please? For me?”
He sighs.
“Ya’ll be in and out of the carriage in a second,” I encourage. “We’ll take her to the the mother dog. She owes me a favour. Please.”
He shakes his head,
“What if that was me?” I ask. “Ya’d want someone to help me, wouldn’t ya?”
“It’s a trap.”
I hesitate. He wouldn't lie to me.
He mumbles what sounds like profanities in a foreign language. “Stay in the carriage.” He warns.
“Thank ya.”
He points at me, eyes narrowed. “Stay.”
I nod.
His face is blank, emotionless. “Lock the door behind me and close yer eyes.”
I frown but nod for his benefit.
I should’ve known something is wrong from his stiff posture, the warning in his voice, the way the woman’s eyes seem to scan the forest as though she is waiting for something to happen. I should’ve known.
Four things seem to happen simultaneously when D'ziko closes the door behind him. One, the woman stands gracefully to her full height; a catlike grace to her leap, her eyes glowing mischievously in the fog. Secondly; we are surrounded by pale, black humanoids – Shadows; decay smelling creatures that emerge from the shadows in blinding speed as they close in on D'ziko. Third; the door locks on its own, dark windows automatically roll up to cover the transparent windows in blinding speed. And four; I scream for him to turn around to come back to safety.
They close in on D’ziko one by one from the forest edge, their slinky bodies moving too quickly in the fog. They remind me of zombies.
Like every example of their kind, their faces all look the same; pale, frozen and downright scary. Their eyes are a deep reddish-purple.
The only woman in the pack, the one a foot away from D'ziko falls back three steps, her eyes sharp, her smile slow and chilling.
The man next to her has white, thin hair and he is tapping his foot. He doesn't think D'ziko poses much threat. Next to him a guy who looks too young, too human to be a Shadow glares at D'ziko with frightened eyes as though he doesn’t know his reason for being here.
Shadows are resurrected people. Shadows take the form of their previous selves and carry their names to the after life. They don't eat, sleep nor tire.
“Adunbi,” D'ziko greets politely, calmly, too calm. I know him well enough to recognise the rough edge to his voice. Adunbi was murdered in the combat ritual earlier in the year.
The group parts slightly to make way for Adunbi. He stalks toward the car with a grace of a tiger. I see he's got himself better coordination. Maybe being dead did him good afterall.
He is clad in a black t-shirt and dark three-quarter jeans that hung loosely around his lean tall frame.
When he smiles a shiver goes down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. His eyes are fixed on me, staring over D'ziko’s shoulder.
“The last time we were this close together, I ended up blind. And dead.” Adunbi is actually amused. “Enough chit chat. We came for the human, ya’re free to leave.”
“Over my dead body,” D’ziko snaps.
“Very well,”Adunbi says. “ya seem to forget that none of yer gifts can work on me now. Not even yer princess face. Pretty doesn't hurt. Not anymore.”
The two slowly circle each other, Adunbi’s too distracted to pretend he is human, his rotten flesh pale against the streetlights. D'ziko’s gaze, is focused on two things, Adunbi and me. He keeps shifting his gaze slightly, to check if I am still were I should be. In the carriage.
“Just give us the human.” Adunbi doesn't think D'ziko stands a chance with four shadows surrounding him.
To be fair. I don't either.