Page 35 of Iblis' Affliction
Without waiting for a reply, he moved to the wall, intending to use it for support. The marble staircase doubled and shook, and every step he took felt like a Sisyphean toil because the steep steps refused to end. For a second, he considered taking a rest but forced through the exhaustion and took another step, then one more. The staircase ended. Impressed with his achievement, he looked down from the peak of the conquered height.
“U-u-u-u…” The breathtaking view from the oh so tall ‘Everest’ disappointed and didn’t look all that high anymore. It swayed, jumped, and spiraled out of control. Losing his balance, he flapped his arms in the air and slumped to the floor.
“Are you okay, Reis?” Ayaz asked, looking perplexed. He made a step toward Talha but froze.
“Do I look like I’m not okay?” Talha squeezed his eyes, then opened them again, trying to subdue the swirling room. His right foot burned from his long walk, so he lifted his leg and took one shoe off. Slipping out of his hands, the shoe rolled down the staircase. Talha snorted.
“No?”
Satisfied with this reply, Talha removed his other shoe and deliberately dumped it down, wanting to see if it would land close to the first one. But the liquid voice coming from behind drew his attention, and he forgot why he had been staring down the staircase.
“Master is drunk...”
The remains of energy Talha was fighting to contain left his body. He fell back, sprawling his arms wide on the cold marble floor.
“I locked you...” Talha remembered. He rubbed his temple with his fingers, then pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to concentrate. “Did you break the lock?”
“No need, Master. There is no lock Slater can’t open.”
“Do you know why locks exist?”
“Master is talking funny. Master needs to get in bed. Slater will help.” Slater bent forward, trying to catch Talha’s arm, but the man deflected his hand away with his own.
“No fucking way… You are a freak! There is no-o way I’m going anywhere with you. You are creepy! You need therapy! Ayaz, shoot him if he tries anything.”
Slater sniggered, rubbing the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand as his shoulders rocked.
“I’ll take him to his room,” Slater said to the security guard. The next moment, iron fingers clasped around Talha’s biceps. “Come on, Reis, get up.”
“No-o. Ayaz, shoot him!” Talha protested, but Ayaz didn’t move. “Why does no one listen to me? Am I Reis or not? Get the fuck out, traitor, you are fired!”
“Easy, Master…” Slater hissed, jerking him upright. Before Talha understood what was going on, his arm wound around Slater’s shoulder.
In a heartbeat, his fighting spirit evaporated as all his attention concentrated on the simple task of walking. The dark gray carpet of the corridor changed into the Persian carpets of his bedroom. The room swirled before his eyes, and the mattress bounced under his back before swallowing his weight with blissful softness.
“You reek!” Slater said, and Talha wondered if he heard irritation in his voice.
“You reek!” Talha couldn’t say why he snarled it back, but he was too tired to analyze himself. With a flick of his wrist, he dismissed Slater. “Go away!”
“Master is acting ridiculous.” Slater’s hands seized his collar and unfastened the top button.
“Yeah? Slaughter me for it…” Two angry hands ripped his shirt open, and Talha thought he sobered up enough to have a serious, man to man conversation. “I asked myself why, and you know why?”
“Why what, Master?”
“Why this is…” Talha twirled his index finger in the air, trying to remember what he wanted to say, but lost his thought. Instead, his palm cupped the side of Slater’s face. “Who could say this face belongs to a monster…”
His thumb outlined Slater’s cheekbone, brushed against his lips, pulling the bottom one down.
“With such a beautiful face you could have been an actor or a model. You are smarter than you try to appear. You could have been anyone. Instead, you became my curse…”
Talha laughed, staring into the dilated pupils. The softening line of Slater’s mouth stretched his face in a stupidly-surprised grimace.
“I can’t even kill you, no matter how much you annoy me. I have been thinking about it all night, and I realized something…” He groaned, scrunched his face, then said, “Wait, I think I’m gonna puke…” Nausea passed. Talha raised his hand in the air. “No, I’m good.”
“Master realized something?” Slater’s ears twitched, straining his facial muscles.
“I did? What was it?”
