Page 42 of Releasing the Djinn
"Where were you?" the creature snarled. His eyes closing from their large circular form to two malevolent slits.
Monstrous and nothing like his normal self, Nadira flinched and forced herself to answer as she looked away. "I was using the bathroom when I heard you. What's wrong?" she lied.
She wasn't even sure why she lied. The truth should have been fine to share, but something within her shuddered at the thought. She feared what his reaction would be. Maybe he would not see it as she saw it as just some harmless nostalgia. Maybe he would be insulted that she would wear what was essentially his prison for centuries around her neck so callously. She couldn’t be sure and it wasn't worth jeopardizing everything for a silly misunderstanding.
"I called for you, and you said nothing," Idrak's eyes were as cold as moonlight on ice. "I looked for you, and I did not find you." Though it was not necessarily a question, she could hear the demand for answers underneath each word.
Shaking now, Nadira shook her head. "Please Idrak, I was here, I'm not sure what's going on."
In a way that was true, she had no clue what was going on. Why did the stone conceal her like that?
She could feel his grip flexing against her shoulders in repetition, as he considered her words, his lengthened claws drumming against her skin like tiny needles, never breaking the surface.
Seeing that he wasn't going to say anything, Nadira pulled from his grip and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Please, Idrak."
Slowly Idrak's body returned to normal. His claws and teeth shortened, and his features lost their sharp, frightening appearance. But the change only stopped at his appearance. Still simmering with rage, he said nothing as she tried to coax him to talk. Upstairs in their bathroom, Nadira undressed both of them. She had led the silent, seething djinn into the deep tub that sat in the center of the master bedroom, hoping that the closeness of their bodies would soothe his anger. But Idrak remained silent. She could tell his thoughts were still on the event mulling over her disappearance, wondering why his magic could not locate her. With each silent minute that passed, Nadira felt her fear grow and her want to reveal the truth lessen and lessen. He would be furious, she was sure of that now. He would hate her if she confessed, maybe even abandon her. Her heart plunged at the thought. Wrapping herself around him, she sat boldly chest to chest with him as she wrapped her legs underneath the water around his waist.
"I'm sorry for scaring you," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Please, don’t pull away from me. This house, these clothes, money, all of it means nothing without you." The admission stung with the reality of the truth. Nadira needed him. She needed his stories, his mischievous wit, and she needed to wake up to his comforting heat each day. She couldn't just experience all of these wonderful things and have them disappear forever, she just couldn’t. "I love you."
Arms moved through the warm bubbly water and slipped around her back, pressing her tighter against him.
Burying his face into the crook of her neck, his voice caused her to shudder. "You can never leave me, do you understand that, my love. You are bound to me as I am bound to you."
"Yes," she cried happily. "I want that, I want you."
Lifting her up against his chest, Nadira's body wilted in relief as she felt his fingers impatiently part her folds and the head of his cock bluntly press at her opening. Sinking down against him, she inhaled sharply as her body slowly impaled itself on his length.
"Now tell me again," he whispered harshly into her ear as he lifted her back up in a bear hug before pushing her back down, causing the water to slosh at the sides of the tub.
With a feminine grunt from the harsh invasion, her eyes rolled back in her head as she clutched onto him tighter. "I love you, and I will never leave you."
Hours later, they both lay sated and pleased in their bed. Cuddled up to his body, Nadira made sure every inch of herself was pressed against his hot ebony skin. Late afternoon sun cast a warm tangerine glow across their room.
"I have been wanting to ask you something for a while now. But I am not sure if I should." Nadira's head lay against the djinn chest, and she could feel the minuscule lurch in his breath as he absorbed her words.
Idrak's clawed hand combed through her hair, brushing against her scalp soothingly in silent answer.
Seeing that she had his attention, she pressed on. "Tell me more about the other magical beings of the world like witches, dragons…warlocks."
Idrak's chest heaved up, lifting her head, and dropped back down as he let out a deep breath. "Warlocks are the worst of them all though," His voice was like black velvet on a cold winter's night. "Most of them may be weak in comparison to a witch or a djinn, but they have a type of insurance that cannot be ignored. A type of failsafe that stays your hand when you intend to kill the worthless shit, and that is their mother," he explained grimly. "Because if you kill a warlock, know that just as the sun rises and sets that their motherwillfind you. She will hunt you down through time and space and find you and make you beg for death." The words were said with such a sober deadliness, Nadira wanted to bury herself somehow closer to him. Instead, she shifted until she could see his face as he spoke again. "What I will never understand is why they don't just kill the worthless whelps?"
Shocked, Nadira blinked before pushing herself up onto one elbow so she could glare down at him. "Idrak, how could you say that?! They cannot kill their babies."
"They should," he muttered darkly. "You have no idea the horrors those men have cast on this earth. Do you think it was just my enslavement?" he said, turning to look at her directly, his eyes serious. "Do you think their depravity has never turned towards innocent women? There is something inherently wrong with all of them. They resent their mothers after being raised like spoiled princes, but at the same time, they're obsessed with them. And since they cannot take that resentment out on their mothers or even their equally powerful sisters, who do you think they turn to next?" Idrak could see the dawning understanding light in her eyes and sneered. "Yes, mortal women. Since their creation, women have been at the mercy of men: used, bred, and killed at their pleasure—warlocks are no different, even worse."
Sinking back down to the covers beside him, she tried to find a glimmer of hope somewhere. "Surely, not all of them are like this?"
"No, not all," he conceded dourly. "But I have never met one of those rare exceptions. I have heard it said that the warlock who does not seek power, naturally claims a small portion of it like their mother's and sisters; while the son that hungers for it is left with nothing."
His words felt heavy and oppressive and while it was all so darkly fascinating, she wanted to steer the djinn's thoughts back to something lighter "Are there such things as wizards?"
He frowned in thought, the angry lines on his dark face fading. "Yes, I believe those are human men with no natural powers who study the arcane magics and occult and are able to perform restricted spells. They mostly rely on sources of energy they do not understand and oftentimes require lots of sacrifices to ensure their spells can be cast."
Nadira shuddered at the thought but she was no less fascinated by it all. To think that everything she read and heard about growing up, thinking it was all myth and fairy tales, was real. A playful thought occurred to her suddenly. "What about unicorns, are those real?"
An image appeared around them of a wooded forest, after a few moments a black and white unicorn stepped out of the thick brush.
"They are rare of course, but they are real."
