Please read Chapter 1 first … it was originally published in 2023 and is needed to understand Chapter 2.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2
The setting is Phoenicia, ancient Lebanon, specifically Berot, which is modern-day Beruit, and a Ghoul is an ancient Demon
Keywords:
Abba — Father,
Zawja — Wife,
Ebn’ — Son,
Bent — Daughter,
Omm-Mother
While I had lived many lifetimes as a Ghoul, it felt more like surviving. The catch was, we didn’t get true lives, until we took them from the blood oaths of those who called on us. I knew I was lucky that my summoner had been lied to himself. It meant there were no witnesses to the transformation that occurred.
Suhel died in that moment, the Suhel I had grown accustomed to being. As I rode back to Berot the victor, these men cheered for me. I didn’t know them, but they knew me. They cheered for me, cheered. I could understand why humans called on us demons for help. This power from their adoration was overwhelming and I had never experienced anything like it.
“Assaf, wait up,”
I heard someone shout from behind me. I had learned enough during the absorption of my sacrifices blood that this was my name and the person calling me was someone I was comfortable with. Names and memories would eventually come to mind. Time was all that took.
“Yes?”
“Do you want to set up camp? We have marched for a long time. We will get home tomorrow; our men are tired.”
Sleeping would help my consciousness absorb Assaf’s life history, it would be a benefit when encountering my new zawja for the first time. I nodded my head, “Make it happen.” I pulled the reins on my horse and moved him off the main road. I needed space to be alone, to be myself. Scouting around for the best place I set up my camp and instructed the men who came after me to take care of the others.
“Deal with the rest, I need time to mourn the loss of my ebn’.” I told them what they needed to hear from their leader. The truth was, my son, Kamal was alive, and I would summon him tonight and tell him of the grand news.
~*~
“Abba,” a voice I did know said from behind my back.
I turned, smiled and pulled him in for a hug, “I knew you would recognize me.”
“This the human who wanted your help?”
Nodding my head, “Yes, but he ended up being my sacrifice and now we have a new path ahead of us.”
“Path?”
I nodded, “I now have a bent. Which means, you will soon have a zawja. A true bloodline to infiltrate and take over.”
My ebn’ grinned, “I would love a zawja. And a few ebn’s of my own.”
“Agreed, I will arrive in Berot by late afternoon. I expect you to arrive in a few days to join my army. You will have a certain someone to woo.”
He nodded, “Yes, abba. Safe travels to our new home. I will see you soon.”
The celestial form in front of me vanished, the summoning hadn’t lasted as long as I had hoped. My strength was still regrouping after the battle. Once he was with me in Berot, everything would fall into place.
~*~
We woke early the next day and began our descent into the city. After hours of travel seeing the crowds of people cheering, tossing bread at our feet, calling us their hero’s, all of the men who traveled with me were enjoying inflated egos. This city had been on the verge of destruction and the sacrifice had prevented that destiny from unfolding. Assaf hadn’t realized that what he did by calling me altered history and the natural course of events.
But that wasn’t my problem. That was God’s, and I wasn’t about to show concern for him.
“Abba, abba!” I heard this being shouted from over the sea of chaos. It was a voice I felt like I should recognize. My head moved around on my neck, as if it was a swivel, until I found the owner of the sweet pitch.
My new bent.
I dismounted my horse, gave her to a servant boy and walked to the pretty young woman I now claimed as my bent. “Hello my dear.”
Her slender arms wrapped around me, and my body reacted in kind. Engulfing her in a strange sense of love and protection that I hadn’t expected.
“Where is Aban?” She started looking around the crowds. I would have to get this done sooner or later.
I shook my head back and forth, “I need to tell your omm, he didn’t make it.”
She began to cry. I thought there would be hysterics more chaos but instead she stood there, her back upright, stoic, like a leader. “His sacrifice won’t be forgotten.”
I grinned and nodded, “Yes, his sacrifice is what helped us win the war. He is a hero.”
“Who’s a hero?” That voice, I knew it was her even if I didn’t turn around. My blood now sang at her closeness.
“Aban didn’t make it, I am so sorry my dear Ahron,” I turned around while speaking. The woman who looked back at me was breathtaking. Her skin radiated beauty, her smile was perfection. Everything about this woman screamed queen. No, goddess.
“Was his death a worthy one,” she asked it in a way that made it seem like she expected him to die in a careless act.
“Abba said that Aban’s sacrifice won the war.”
My new zawja nodded her head, “Good. I can be proud of that.”
I wrapped my arms around her, I leaned in and put my lips against hers. There was something about her that made everything irresistible. Maybe it was because I hadn’t been with a woman in this type of realm in over twenty years. Since I had been with Kamal’s own omm.
She responded in kind, her hands were just as greedy as mine, traveling over one another’s body. Slipping our fingers along places of our body that would get us stoned to death if discovered in public.
What would these humans do to me? I was the demon Suhel, and after all and I was ready to claim my zawja.
“Maybe we should finish this in our room,” she said to me in a whispered tone.
“My thoughts exactly.”
We walked off, leaving Amine to manage herself. Tonight, I would claim my zawja. Tomorrow, I would make sure my own ebn’ claimed my new bent.
I like this!
I can see the temptation to deal with the demon for victory and then the duplicity of the demon taking advantage for its own ambitions, I’m interested in going forward whether the demon changes after meeting the daughter and the wife of the man he’s supplanted.