The Desires of the Heart

Samantha could not speak. She couldn't. She was terrified even though she struggled to maintain an air of calm. Something flashed in the moonlight and she felt cold steel against her throat. It was a knife.

"I would very much like to slit your throat like a chicken" he said, his voice soft and seductive, "would you like that?'

Samantha remained silent.

"What's the matter? Cat caught your tongue?"

Silence. The other boys with Michael were becoming uncomfortable. They were expecting her to be screaming and begging for mercy like her whore of a sister but she wasn't obliging. Her quiet façade was beginning to spook them.

Michael put away the knife and his hands slipped under her blouse. She gritted her teeth but she still gave no reaction.

"You've got nice tits you know" he drawled, "They're actually bigger than your sister's but you've got harder nipples."

Samantha considered kicking him in the balls but she felt it would be a rash decision.

"This is your first and last warning, Darling. If you continue to make yourself a nuisance then I will have no other option but to cut off your clitoris. Understand?"

No answer.

"Bitch."

They left her and melted away into the darkness. Samantha felt herself slide down the wall and crumple into a heap on the ground. She began to sob uncontrollably from fear and humiliation.

***

The next day the initiation was carried out in a flat outside the campus, which a rich member of the Cleopatra Club had rented. The curtains were drawn, the front door locked and bolted. In the bedroom only a weak bulb covered with red tape gave off any illumination. It cast an eerie red glow over the large bed.

Samantha was stripped and placed on the bed, her wrists and ankles tied to the posts. A handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth and they gagged her. Then all the girls too stripped themselves naked while their unblinking eyes never once left her.

Then the gang sex began.

***

Michael and his boys met a young man called Felony in a seedy bar uptown. Felony was the Head of the Captains Confraternity and one of the most evil souls known to man. Though Michael's crew looked menacing enough they were quite nervous of this slightly built character that looked nerdy with his glasses and youthful good looks. Only his eyes betrayed the fact that he had no trace of humanity. They were as blank and as empty as those of the dead.

"We have a proposal to make" Michael said carefully.

"Yes, go on" Felony said cheerfully as he drank a plate of pepper soup while sipping on a bottle of malt. He didn't drink or smoke because he felt they were unclean acts. Michael wondered how a known mass murderer could be fussy about 'unclean' acts.

"Give us two hundred thousand and some logistic support and we will give you Harlequin."

"Ah, Harlequin, my beloved cousin."

"We know that the Captains have been hunting him ever since he murdered your Grand Patron. We'll bring him to you. Alive if you wish."

"Preferably alive. I would like to dissect him myself.'

The others squirmed in their seats.

***

Michael was not to know what was in store for him. On that fateful night, he had been staggering home after a drinking spree with his boys when some figures sprang from the bushes that bordered the path leading to his Boy's Quarters. Before he could bat an eyelid a hand with a damp cloth clamped over his nose and the first whiff of chloroform was the last thing he perceived before passing out. His unconscious body was stuffed in the boot of a car and he was immediately hauled to the Agric farm.

He was pulled out and dropped on the exact spot where Janet had been raped. He was bound and gagged and expertly revived.

What followed was some of the worst minutes in his life. He could only watch and mumble helplessly as the six females tortured him ceaselessly.

They flogged him with whips fixed with razor blades and salt was poured into the wounds. If a man could be gang raped by a group of crazy females then he surely was.

Then they drugged him out again and carried him to the Freedom Square -- the largest and most popular field on the campus. They laid him out stark naked for the entire world to see. He was still unconscious the next day when students on their way to lectures found him in his unenviable position. When he finally opened his eyes, an impressive crowd of onlookers were talking excitedly and staring at him like he was a monkey in a zoo.

Michael was furious beyond words. He had been humiliated beyond even his worst imagination. Even his own boys sniggered behind his own back. At the next gathering he raised the issue. He ranted and raved while the other present members tried to keep their faces straight.

"This time" he growled angrily, "I demand approval to retaliate against the girls that did this. If this is allowed to pass even our own brotherhood would be despised."

Harlequin for once had to agree.

"Yes, you are right. The people responsible are members of the Cleopatra Club. They think their identities are hidden but I have my informants even within their cult."

"Yes, you have my approval. Find the girls responsible for this and punish them with extreme prejudice."

"Yes, my KommandComplalanche."

"Find them, torture them and kill them.'

***

Toni was about rounding of her dinner of hot Eba and Ogbono soup at a refectory up-school when she spied two young men lurking by the doorway. Her cod fish eyes observed them coldly as she gulped down a glass of water. They were trying hard to be inconspicuous. Toni knew cultists on sight. She did not need a soothsayer to know that they had come for her.

She went to the counter to pay and bent to whisper to Nkolinka, the waitress.

"I'd like to leave through your back door" she said in her ear.

"Follow me."

Making sure her watchers had their backs to her for a brief moment; she followed Nkolinka behind the counter. Soon she was outside.

"Thanks, N-Kay, I owe you a hug."

"Ha -- ha! You owe me much more than that."

They brushed lips briefly and Toni set off in the direction of the female hostels. She wanted to warn Samantha not to leave her room for any reason whatsoever. When she got there, there was a crowd outside her doorway. Nneka, Samantha's roommate was in tears, blood streaming down her face.

"Samantha's been kidnapped" she wailed, "Some masked men broke into our room and snatched her. They hit me when I tried to stop them!

***

Samantha was dragged out from the back of the ear and tossed to the ground. She was almost paralyzed with fear. None to gently her kidnappers began to strip her off her clothes. When they had finished she lay completely bare on the grass. Her clothes were thrown back into the boot of the car.

"You've had this coming for a long time, bitch!" spat one of them. She could only stare helplessly at them and pray for the ordeal to be over quickly.

They picked her up and began to push her around. She received a hot slap or two and got thrown to the ground again.

"Get it over, damn you all!" she screamed silently, as she waited for them to rape her. The boys continued jeering at her for a while then abruptly turned around, entered their vehicle and drove off. Samantha lay on the red clay soil for a long time in a confused state wondering what was going on.

Someone was coming towards her from the bushes as she lay there stunned and she watched petrified. The figure loomed above her and she saw it was the mysterious cultist whom had escorted her that night and had warned her not to continue her quest for revenge. She gazed up at him with frightened eyes. His hand stretched towards her.

"Take my hand" he said gently. She did so and he helped her up.

Holding her wrist he pulled her along. Soon she saw a car by the road. She was put in the front passenger seat, while the young man took the wheel. She curled up on the seat, her will shattered and not caring where she was going. In fact she did not care about anything anymore. She was broken.

The drive was not a long one and soon they stopped outside a Boys Quarters. She was taken inside and placed on the bed. The young man left for a while and came back to collect her. He took her to a bathroom where he gave her a thorough wash. After drying her he carried her back to the room as she was suddenly too weak to walk.

He forced her to take some food and some hot beverage and then tucked her into bed. Throughout all this Samantha was in a daze and when her head finally touched the pillow, it wasn't long before she fell asleep.

***

Michael was pissed off. Even though Harlequin had given him approval to attack the girls he and his boys were not allowed to go for the hit themselves.

"I have designated some of the other lieutenants to carry out the hit. I have more important things for you guys to do. I have information on Felony's whereabouts. We are going to hit them tonight. You guys will go and tool up for the attack while I go and sort out other logistic matters. I will join you boys at midnight.

Michael immediately became interested.

***

Midnight

Harlequin, Michael and the boys rode in the car in silence. The tension in the car was palpable. They were tooled up: all had automatic weapons and a sack load of ammunition with the purpose of liquidating Felony and his crew. A cult war was brewing and Harlequin said he wanted to draw first blood. But Michael had other plans. He planned to take Harlequin for a long ride into the most remote part of Nsukka town. He would never see sunlight again. Machetes, gasoline and a can of acid were what he would be administered with. Michael would make sure that Harlequin was wiped from the face of the earth.

He glanced at his leader to see if he had any idea that he was on his way to his doom. His face was calm, his eyes closed as if dozing; seemingly oblivious to the danger that he was in.

Was he that daft? thought Michael. Didn't he sense that all was not well? Or was he just so sure of this power?

Despite himself he couldn't help but admire his boss. Harlequin was probably one of the greatest cultists that ever lived. But tonight the most dangerous man on the campus would be overthrown and he would take over. Michael would make sure his own name was written in blood. He would take the cult back to the glorious days.

His train of thought was interrupted as the car came to a stop just before a police checkpoint that had never been in that part of town before. Even more unusually there were six policemen instead of just two or three. They were all armed with shiny automatic rifles that looked they had just come out from wrapping foil.

"Everybody out!

Shit, thought Michael, they were fucked.

They all came out of the car protesting loudly but with their hands in the air. Their guns had been hurriedly stuffed under the seats. But there was nothing they could do about the weapons in the boot. Christ! What a screw up.

"You" one of the policemen pointed at Harlequin, "Come with us." He followed them without a word. He was placed in the back of a police jeep and driven away. Michael saw him turn and give him a strange look that he couldn't decipher.

They were shepherded into another jeep and they too were driven off. It didn't take long for Michael to realize that they were at the spot where he and his boys planned to liquidate Harlequin.

The jeep stopped and they were hustled out into the open field surrounded completely by bushes.

"Run!" the commander ordered and he and his men began to cock their rifles.

Then Michael understood. The pure, cold terror that washed over him seemed to give him rebirth. He turned and ran. His boys also took off. They were crying out in fear and disbelief, running as fast as possible, trying to reach the woods before the policemen opened fire. No such luck.

Michael heard the bark of the rifles that shattered the silence of the night. His legs gave out under him and he cried out in pain and terror as he fell on the rough grass. He tried to crawl to safety but he could hear approaching army boots closing on him. A shadow covered him and he knew he was finished. The boot kicked him over on his back.

He stared up at the face of the man who was pointing the muzzle at him. He wanted to plead for his life but he couldn't bear to give him that satisfaction. He started helplessly and waited for the coup de grace.

"Harlequin sends his regards", said the man.

And with that he pulled the trigger.

***

Two weeks later the Complalanche Confraternity performed last rites for Michael and his crew. Their bodies were burnt to ashes, mixed with blood and given to all the members to drink. Harlequin gave a moving eulogy.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we are all one."

***

Samantha lay in bed with her mysterious friend and they talked a long time. They had been going out for sometime in a strange manner. He had refused to tell her his name. Janet was out of the hospital but immediately went home. She was considering changing school. Samantha was considering the idea as well.

"So was it worth it?" he asked her, "I mean all you went through?"

"I don't know" she said after thinking for a while.

"Are you happy Michael was killed?"

"I don't know"

I didn't think so. I've been there before."

"Why did you help me?"

"I don't know."

They both smiled.

"Well" he continued, "I guess since I first saw you that night I couldn't get you out of my mind. You remind me of my late auntie whom I loved very much."

"Are you not going to tell me your name?"

There was a brief silence.

"Call me Patrick." He said at last.

Samantha smiled.

"Okay."

She guessed she liked him.

END