Thick, fat, crimson worms squiggled on their bellies and littered the red earth with their wet bodies. Death and decay abound and she saw them all being eaten by Something. She knew they were being eaten because she would hear the gnashing teeth and slurp and burp of whatever was eating them.
She had this dream before.
When she’d try to run- she couldn’t. She’d see him. Stone. But he was not Stone. Not quite. This Stone sat with legs crossed, on a red hilly plain overlooking into a new pasture of green grass and sprouts of blue waterfalls- his hair cut short in the modern way men wear today. Not in a long braid anymore. He sat with his back straight in a meditative pose.
He was peaceful.
“Hey gorgeous,” he’d say without looking and pull her over to him with just the hook of his finger. She would look behind her at all of the chaos and death. She felt rumbles of earthquakes and tornadoes fox trot the earth in fast twirls taking up dead bodies and worms and spewing them back across the red plain with no mercy.
“Where are we?” She asks over the roar and chaos.
“Sit with me.” Stone took her hand. “Your hand is still so cold, but not icy as before.” He took his tongue and licked across her knuckles, turned her palm upward and pressed a warm kiss into it. “I like that world.” He indicated the green, fresh plains before him.
“It’s beautiful over there,” she pointed out. “But what’s going on behind us? Why so much death?”
“Oh. That.” Stone’s sexy lips kissed her hand once more. “We’re leaving that behind. Look at what’s before us. We can step into a new day, a new world. This one passes behind us. We step forward.” Then he stood and pulled her up to him.
“We can go there now?” She looked over the rim of the red hill and saw new flora and fauna sprouting before her very eyes. Little people. No... Babies, human babies were sprouting from slowly blooming flowers: their pink, brown, and reddish flesh unrolled from between the petals-littered the new world.
“Let’s go.” Stone said.
But before she could leap with him, she saw how beatific he’d look. How… Scrumptious.
How hungry she was.
The new world would never accept her.
She was way too hungry.
She leaned over to return a kiss to his hand.
Then.
Bit his hand clean off.
She munched, chewed and swallowed, smeared a bloody kiss on his paling screaming face.
Hunger satisfied.
Stone’s screams filled the air like a thousand alarms going off.
Samosa shot out of bed and landed on her rump. The incessant alarm kept buzzing and so while wiping her drool with one hand she shut the thing off and turned to where Stone was supposed to be.
“Your stomach growled all night.” He said.
She couldn’t see him.
It was morning, so of course his Curse kept him invisible in daylight.
“Yeah, I guess it was.” She rooted around for her slippers and once she found the white fuzzy things, put them on and her white, silk robe as well. “I’m always hungry. Where are you?”
“Here.” She felt his breath on her cheek. He was right on her.
“So. Who is it we’re seeing today?”
“Korin. An old pal of mine. He’s going to explain the ritual to you.”
“So, it’s not like a wedding wedding, but more like a ceremony.”
Stone didn’t answer for so long, Samosa stomped her feet like a bratty child. “Why are you so quiet? Which is it?”
“It’s a ceremony but Korin will have to explain that. I never went through one before.”
“Sorry I got mad, it’s just that”- Pause. “I have another wish.”
He was silent again.
“Well, actually I had a weird dream last night and it made me sad but ludicrous and…feeling deranged.” She walked out onto the balcony adjacent to the bedroom, smelled the crisp and cool November air. The trees’ limbs were stretched forth as if in praise of their Creator, some squirrels scurried around and around the tree. She saw Sugar Rocks barking at them.
“Your dreams are visions, Samosa.”
“Because of what I am? Whatever that is.”
“Yes. Messing with your soul each time you want a wish fulfilled or even making love to you, marks you and unlocks what door may have been closed to you as a mortal. Whatever you dreamed take it as a warning first and not a gift.”
“You don’t want to know about it.”
“I believe you.”
“I bit your hand off and felt good about it.”
“We need to see Korin,” Stone replied quickly. Closing the balcony door and going into the kitchen, Samosa threw together a tall order of cheesy scrambled eggs and carved a mountain of pineapple ham into ribbons that filled an entire 2 quart cooking pot. She ate alone. In silence. No longer feeling Stone’s presence, but knowing he was anxious for her to finish up so they could go to Korin’s place.
_________
Stone was a terrific navigator. He told Samosa the exact roads to take to get to Korin’s home. Korin typically resided between realms. In the Multiverse or on whichever planet he wanted to at the time, but he did have a nice estate in a couple of places. The home they were heading to Korin recently purchased in Hampton, Virginia. A modest home painted in pale green and pearl white. A home with three bedrooms- nice and quaint for a family.
Samosa stepped out from the car. “This looks like a family home.” They were parked near a cul-de-sac where a few blond haired children whizzed by each other on bikes and fancy designed helmets. “Does Korin have a family?”
Stone got out of the car, still invisible. “We can’t have families. We are slaves with no way to produce our own. We don’t even have our own names. Stone is what I call myself but the Grand Marid scoffs at that because he knows it is not my given name.”
A couple of thin teen girls skated by watching Samosa talking to herself no doubt. The one with auburn hair falling down her shoulders hid her mouth behind a bony hand- snickers followed.
“A given name?”
“It’s how Korin explains it: He says we all, including humans, have a name established before birth but we call ourselves what others name us or what we come up with later. Don’t ask. I don’t get it either.”
“This is a nice home though,” Samosa admired the clean cut lawn with its huge black bags of leaves lined up on the curb and the green and white swing set in the foreground from the flowerpots in the background.
As soon as she reached the door, it opened, letting out a whoosh of fragrant apple pie and baked chicken.
A pair of kaleidoscope eyes and the most stylish and windswept blond streaked hair she ever did behold, greeted her.
“Samosa, this is Korin. He is a jinni like me but-“
“Highly unorthodox,” Korin finished with a broad smile on his face. He welcomed her holding her hands and gently pulled her into his home. He was so tall and beautiful, just like Stone. But he wore a long white robe- a cross between Karate Gi and clerics robe and had what looked like peace all over his face. If he were human, he would be described as a typical Californian surfer guy or a model but he was more than that. She could feel it.
“You were right, Brother. She is just heavenly to behold.” Korin said boldly. Samosa felt the air chill several degrees next to her.
“Don’t stand gawking at my woman; tell us what we need to know about the ceremony.” But Samosa saw how Korin’s eyes took time and pleasure to drink her all in. Every inch of her body was explored and handled with supreme approval. He didn’t care if Stone was there. It has been so long since she felt desired and now two inhuman beings took interest? In her?
Wooh.
“Forgive me. I guess he forgot to tell you we are purely sexual beings and although I am trying a humble, more sacred path in my life my old nature always finds its way home.”
“What he means is, he still likes beautiful women and sex.” Stone grunted.
Samosa didn’t know what to say. She liked how Korin’s eyes changed colors from one moment to the next and the honest way he spoke. Of course, no one can compare to Stone. It’s just that being in the presence of these two otherworldly men was turning on her hotbox and her loins pulsated like a beating heart.
“I agree with Stone,” she said quickly. “Let’s just get down to business.” Korin’s purple eyes returned to a calm blue.
“Yes.” He led them down the foyer and to his study. His home was simple enough and his study was like the small office of a CEO, a basic wood desk, some books in the back row of shelves. She saw several awards and degrees hanging up on his wall- just like Stone had on his wall. Three comfortable chairs were set out in front of the wide desk.
“Have a seat my dear,” Korin said eyeing her lips then shaking his head to remove whatever thought was on his mind.