Birth of a Dark Nation (19 page)

"You ready?" I asked. He nodded and opened
his mouth as I spooned the soup in.

He was still angry and sad. He ate in silence
until the bowl was empty.

"I need my phone."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?' Am I under
arrest?"

"No, it's just…"

"Then give me my fucking phone."

I produced his phone from my pocket and put
it in his hand.

He fumbled with it for a few seconds. Being
blindfolded, there wasn't much he could do with a touch-screen
keypad.

"Who do you want to call?" I asked.

"My mom."

I opened the contacts on his phone and
scrolled down to his mom. I pressed the green call button and put
the phone back in his hand.

"Hi…mom?" he asked. "Hey. Nothing. I just got
a little sick. Oh, I dunno. Caught the flu or something. I'll be
off work for a few days. No, I'm okay. Seriously, I'm fine. Yeah, I
slept through Sunday. Hope you didn't worry."

He put his head down and listened to his
mother in silence.

"She did? Well, tell her I said thank you.
Yeah, her daughter can send me her resume whenever. We could use
help during her winter break for sure. Well mom, I gotta go. I
think I want to take a nap. Of course. Tell dad I love him. And I
love you, too. Thanks, mom. Bye."

He held the phone out for me to take back. I
grabbed it and our fingers touched. He pulled back immediately.

"Everything okay at home?" I asked.

He nodded and lay back down on the bed,
turning away from me. I picked up the tray and hurried out of the
room, turning the light out as I went. In the shadows, I could see
him shake in silent sobs.

~

Early one morning, a few days later, he began
to moan.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"My mouth hurts really bad," he said.

"That's a good sign," I said. "It won't be
long now."

"What won't be long? Ouch, good God,
Dante!"

Justin covered his mouth. I could see he was
fiddling around with his teeth by using his tongue to push on
them.

"Push 'em, that's right," I said. "Push them
on out."

After a few minutes, he was ready.

"Tissue," he said. I got a napkin from his
dresser and put it under his mouth.

"You ready? Push 'em out," I instructed. I
saw his tongue move one last time on the right, and I heard the
faintest of pops, like a knuckle cracking. One more time on the
left. He spit out his two old canine teeth into my napkin.

"Good, Justin. You got it."

"What the fuck just happened?"

"Your fangs are coming in. Your old canines
were loose. The new ones will be in soon. Then you can eat and
protect yourself."

"Jesus," Justin said, lying back down. "When
do I get to take the blindfold off? Are my corneas gonna pop out
too?"

I laughed.

"Your corneas will not pop out. In a day or
so, your vision will be better than ever. Trust me."

He turned away from me in silence and I left
him alone once again.

~

"I think this process is…going better than it
did in Louisiana," I said to Victor a few days after that. We sat
at the kitchen table finishing up bowls of rolled oats with
blackberries on top.

"LaPlace was a fucking nightmare," Victor
sniped.

"Yes, I know…but this time…"

"His eyes should be mature now," Victor
interrupted, abruptly throwing his spoon into his empty bowl with a
clang.

"I agree. Let's do this."

Victor and I entered the room. Justin was
sleeping on his side.

"Wake up, babe," I said, lightly shaking
him.

"Babe?" Victor scoffed. "Why don't you just
make him your
ipsaji
?"

"Must you trivialize everything? And what if
he is my
ipsaji
, then what? Hmm? You'd have to finally
respect him? Heaven forbid."

"What's ipsaji?" Justin asked, as he stirred
awake.

"Never mind that," I said. "It's nothing. Are
you ready to see again?"

"Yes," Justin said.

"Well, take the damn blindfold off," Victor
said.

Justin reached around, untied the scarf, and
peeled it off. He blinked several times.

"Damn," he said.

"How's your vision?" I asked.

"It's…perfect."

"As it should be."

"No, like for real. It's perfect." He blinked
several more times and wiped his eyes. "I can see every detail
about this room. It's…it's colorful. Like
really
colorful."

I smiled. He looked down at his hands.

"Oh gross! My hands are so…wrinkly! How the
hell did that happen?!"

"Justin…your hands always looked that
way."

"What?! It's like…these folds on my knuckles
are fucking humongous. And look at all these triangles! Like…how
the hell? This is crazy!"

"I'm telling you, that's just how hands look!
You have crazy good vision right now."

"Holy shit. That's crazy. Can we go
outside?"

"Sure. Let's visit the garden." I reached out
for Justin's hand and he took mine. He moved slowly because he was
still weak from the attack, but I was happy that he was confident
enough to test out his newly reborn eyes.

"This is the first time you've smiled," I
noted, as we walked down the stairs. His eyes were wide as he
inspected every crack in the wall.

"I haven't had a reason to," he said.

"You're alive," I rebutted.

"Whatever."

We exited the house through the kitchen door.
The sun was setting and some shadows had already cast themselves
over the back yard and the alley, but some deep golden rays still
slashed their way across the garden.

"Oh my God. This is beautiful."

Justin let go of my hand and walked down the
rusty iron stairs to the backyard. He slowly walked through the
arbor trellis that served as the entrance to the garden, lightly
holding onto it for steadiness. He surveyed the small plot of land
intently, taking in each portion a square foot at a time.

He slowly knelt to the ground. Soon, he was
on his hands and knees, surveying the vegetation in the garden with
the intensity of a prospector looking for gold.

He cupped his hand and dug it into the soil.
He lifted it up into the sunlight and let the dirt slowly fall back
into the ground. His human eyes would just have seen dirt. His
Razadi eyes saw hundreds of shades of brown and black with
crystalline specks of minerals thrown in.

"This blessed plot," I quoted. "This
earth…this realm."

"What?" he said.

"Shakespeare," I replied. He nodded.

"I'm glad you can see," I said. His finger
traced a path in the soil.

"So am I," he said. I placed my hand on his
shoulder. He recoiled slightly and looked up at me. I could see his
pupils contract to pinpoints, then dilate again. He relaxed and
leaned his head against my thigh. I exhaled.

~

A few nights later, he moaned. Again.

"What's wrong?" I asked, as I entered the
room. Luckily, Victor was out for the evening. Catering to Justin
was not in his repertoire.

"My stomach is cramping. I'm really, really
hungry."

"Do you want some more soup?"

"It's not filling me."

"I'm sorry."

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked me
pitifully.

"Ultimately? You're going to have to get some
blood."

"I know. It's like I can tell that's what my
body's craving. Ever since…ever since I got attacked and woke up
here…like…you know how you crave Chipotle all week and you might
have like nine meals to get through before you actually go down and
get your Chipotle? Well that's how I've been feeling, even though I
know it's blood that I want."

"You sound sad."

"I am. I guess y'all are gonna have to take
me down to the sorority house soon."

"No. I won't let your first time be with some
random chick."

"What difference does it make?"

"It makes a difference. I'm yours. I should
be your first blood."

I bared my fangs and sliced a thin line along
my wrist. Justin sat up eagerly. I placed my wrist against his
lips. He held it in place with both hands and drank the blood
seeping out of my vein.

When it's done right, getting your blood
sucked feels better than a blowjob.

"It's not going to fill you," I whispered.
"But it will keep you healthy until you get some human blood."

Justin quietly continued sucking.

"Okay, that's it for now." I removed my wrist
from his mouth, even though neither of us wanted me to. My blood
would rejuvenate in short order, but a pint was about all I felt
like risking right now. The last thing I wanted was to be too weak
to defend him if something happened.

"When your fangs finish coming in, I'll teach
you how to bite properly."

He nodded.

~

A few nights later, I heard Justin calling my
name. I went to the door and he beckoned me toward the bed.

"Get in."

I froze.

"You not kicking me out tonight?"

"Please. Just get in bed with me.
Please."

I shut the door and walked over to the bed.
He was finally getting some color back into his skin. Once he got
some sunshine and made his first kill, he'd be better than he ever
was before.

He reached over and turned the light out on
the nightstand. I took my shoes and my jeans off.

"Basketball shorts?" Justin asked. "Hot as it
is outside, your nuts must be musty as hell right now."

I smiled.

"You like my authentic African musk,
though."

"Gross."

I slid underneath the thin blanket next to
him as he lay on his back. I took his hand in mine. He turned on
his side and faced me.

"Dante."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for saving my life."

I inhaled and slowly exhaled.

"You're welcome."

He leaned in and kissed me on the
forehead.

"So as it turns out, I become somewhat of a
bitch when I bounce back from almost being murdered. I understand
now that the only alternative to be being turned into a daywalker
was my death. And let's face it: I'm not ready to die."

"I'm not ready for you to die, either."

"All my life, I've just been floating. I
never felt like I made a mark anywhere. Never thought I had it in
me to be important or make a difference. But surviving that
attack…undergoing this transformation…I can see better. I can smell
better. I can hear better. And it's like…the entire world just came
out from behind a curtain. I feel the pulse of the world now. What
was I doing all these years?"

"It doesn't matter what you were doing
before. All these things happen for a reason. Your purpose was
written before all this. Your destiny is already determined."

"Proof beyond faith."

"Proof beyond faith. You better believe
it."

He nodded.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"I'm horny."

"I think we can work out a compromise," he
said. We kissed and I bared my fangs.

The next day, Victor stormed into the room
with the grace of a rabid elephant.

"Your lessons begin today," he said to Justin
abruptly.

"Don't you think it's too soon?" I asked.

"No. He has our blood now. If he's going to
get attacked like a Razadi, then he needs to fight back like a
Razadi. And it starts with the lessons."

Justin was awake but gave Victor no
acknowledgement as he tapped away on his laptop, trying to
telework.

"Are you ready?" Victor asked.

"I'm working," Justin said curtly.

"Oh, excuse me," Victor said, as he began to
turn away. Suddenly, he turned back toward Justin, snatched the
laptop from the bed, and threw it to the ground. It made hideous
crunching sounds as it hit the floor and went black.

"Are you crazy?" Justin shouted.

"I said your lessons begin today."

He snatched Justin's hand from his lap and
held it, closing his eyes.

"It won't work that way," I said. "Get
closer."

Victor sucked his teeth and scooted closer to
Justin on the bed.

"Relax," he said, gently cupping Justin's
face into his hands and leaning close enough for their foreheads to
touch.

Justin immediately tensed.

"It's okay," I said. Justin loosened his
shoulders and relaxed, breathing in and out slowly as Victor opened
up a pathway to our memories.

I closed my eyes and tuned in to what Justin
was seeing.

"It is quite simple, Ogundiya," said the fat
general. "You will accept the terms of this treaty or your people
will die."

About a dozen men from each side of this war
crowded into the small hut. Each side of the bloody battle was
ready for it to end, but only on their own terms.

"Haruna," Ogundiya said slowly, "You have
invaded the ancestral homeland of the Razadi and you dare make
these demands?"

"Ogundiya," Haruna interrupted. He was a
beast of a man, almost porcine in his appearance. The rolls of his
stomach seemed to spill onto the table like a sack of grain. His
eyes were like two beetles hidden in a cake of brown mud. Haruna
took great joy in exacting revenge on the tribe that had been the
bane of his existence. His whole life, he was raised to hate the
Razadi for all they had. He had been taught that the Razadi had
displaced his own people from the lush valleys and driven them into
the barren, rocky cliffs.

"The Oyo people have not forgotten how, years
ago, the Razadi forced us from the golden valley. We have simply
returned to claim what is ours. We are offering a most gracious
treaty in exchange for your lives."

"Your people are misguided, believing these
fanciful stories," Ogundiya calmly began. Ogundiya was everything
that Haruna was not. He was a slender, level-headed old man that
was well known among his people for his wisdom and fairness. The
crow's feet around his eyes showed both his weariness and his age.
He was too old to still fight wars in the savannah when white
traders threatened to encroach on their safety.