A Most Graceful Life Ch. 10

"I'm sorry, Mom. I only realize now how he truly is. I guess I was too blind to see it in my youth," replied Stephen, honestly.

"Every boy wants to idolize his father. I can surely understand that," she commented, before reaching out to caress his chin in a motherly fashion. "I'm just sorry you had to see him for how he really is. I'd like to apologize to Grace, too, the next time she comes over. Those things he said were so out of line that it borders on insanity."

"Apology accepted." Grace's words imprinted on his mind in a delightful little giggle.

"The important part is that we are free of him, and that he doesn't have to come back. I shutter at the thought of being married to him still. That would be like practical enslavement!" Theresa shuttered, before taking another sip of coffee.

The word enslavement jarred Stephen's cortex immediately, reminding him of his earlier thoughts about feeling like Grace was enslaved to him without a choice. Hearing the same words coming from his own mother about his father slammed him in the gut. What if he truly was no better than Jerry Willow? His mind invented an imaginary pair of shackles, forever binding Grace to him. He remembered the look of emotional neutrality and then disgust she gave his father at the diner last night. What if one day that look was directed towards him, after he had completed his transformation into his father?

Stephen shuttered himself, remembering bits and pieces of what Grace had told him about herself. She had a life before being made into the genie she became. She was a real human being at one time, with no magic. It wasn't just that he fully commanded some supernatural entity. It was a real live human soul that lurked just beneath her surface. He felt sick to his stomach, and hurriedly excused himself from the kitchen. Making his way back to his room, he sat down in his chair, bringing his hands to his face. He felt low, lower than in recent memory, at what he was doing to such a wonderful person as Grace.

"Master?"

Stephen looked up, to see his very concerned genie sitting on the edge of his bed. She wore a determined smile, as if she were a doctor appraising a sickly patient. That's how he felt right now: sickly in the soul.

"You must have seen all that, then?" He asked, before tapping his forehead. He didn't need to expand the conversation, when Grace could easily see into his mind and pick up on his thoughts. She nodded, before slipping off the bed and taking his hands in her own.

"I think it's time I told you something about me. Something that nobody else knows, or will ever know. That something is the story of my life, before becoming a djinn," she said. Grace beckoned him to stand, and led him to the bed, pushing him back gently against the frame. Once he was settled, she crawled her way into his lap, letting him hold her against him. With a quick flicker of her hand, she said, "There, we have total privacy now. No one will disturb us."

Stephen said nothing, and decided to let her start the story on her own time and pace.

Taking a deep breath, Grace looked him in the eye, and began. "I have already let slip where I was created. When we first met, do you remember me asking you if we were still in Arabia?"

Stephen nodded, and then Grace giggled to herself, "That wasn't by accident. That is my homeland, or at least, where I spent my entire human life. My tribe was a mobile one, as are most in the sandy desert, with scarce resources. Our tribe name was 'Abs and we inherited a small portion of central Arabia. Since the tribe of 'Abs was so small, we had to rely on powerful alliances to stem our larger neighbors from gobbling up the territory."

"It was a hard living out in the desert, as you might imagine. Water and food were usually scarce, forcing us to move around constantly in search of those two essential items. Since our tribe was so small, the amount of land we could traverse in search of those was very limited. Trespassing on another tribe's land was considered a death sentence."

"We made a living as best we could. With our tribe, nomadic herding was a major profession of the group. We also made quite the living off the various caravans who needed help passing through the sandy wastes of the desert. It wasn't much, but we survived."

Grace took a pause, letting the words sink in. She then continued, "Our tribe, being as small as it was, only had a limited number of clans contained within. Our particular clan never had more than one hundred members at any one time, due to death, disease, or war. Living in such a hellish landscape tended to bring out the worst in people."

"That's where I come into the story. I was born into a small family unit as the second daughter of my parents. I remember my grandfather was the leader of our particular clan, and I had many cousins. Indeed, everyone in our clan was closely related."

"Do you remember your name?" Stephen asked.

Grace nodded, "I remember mine, just barely. But the names of my family members, even my mother and father are now lost. My name was 'Atiya."

"'Atiya? That sounds pretty. Do you have any idea what the meaning of the name is?" He asked.

"It means 'gift' in our language," she replied.

Stephen smiled, "Well, that is particularly accurate. You are the greatest of gifts."

Grace looked up at him, beaming with a smile. She kissed his lips gently, and then continued her story, "I don't think my father thought so. He wanted another son. In those times, sons were most important, as only sons could inherit and only sons could go to war. I think my father just saw me as another mouth to feed."

"That's terrible, Grace," whispered Stephen.

"It is what it is. Times were much harder back then," she replied simply.

"So you were born as 'Atiya. Despite what your father thought, was your life a happy one?"

Grace shrugged, before answering, "As happy as one might be considering I was only fourteen when I nearly died."

Stephen almost recoiled, "Fourteen? So young!"

She nodded, turning her face away, "It wasn't going to be a natural death. I could have lived longer, but the political circumstances of the tribe dictated how it must be."

"What happened?" He pressed.

Grace took a deep breath, and then started anew, "Since our tribe was so small, we were very reliant on powerful alliances to keep us safe. Any time an alliance fell apart, we were in mortal danger. Most of the larger tribes saw the little ones as just prey waiting to be gobbled up by the closest rival. The majority of our lands to the east bordered a very powerful tribe called Tamim. They were powerful, with many clans, and easily outnumbered our tribe by ten to one. Aggressive were their warriors, constantly encroaching on our lands."

"We had an alliance with another nearby tribe, that of the Tayy, which protected us for a long time. Yet the Tayy were not benevolent overlords. They started to gobble up our ancestral lands, forcing us onto smaller and smaller parcels in order to survive. For that reason, the Tayy alliance was ended in order to preserve what remained of our autonomy. As soon as the Tamim received word, they attacked."'

Grace looked at the floor, her eyes holding a particular spot as if she was remembering the entire ordeal. "Our clan was attacked at daybreak. Although we were few in number, we had many good warriors that rushed off to fight, including my father and brother. The Tamim slaughtered them where they stood. At that point, the only ones left remaining were the old, the women, and the children."

"Knowing what was about to descend upon us, my mother sent my sister and I out into the desert. I remembered crying hearing the panic in the tribe, and seeing the despoiled bodies of my kin. We at least got a head start. My sister and I were half a league away when the warriors of Tamim descended on what remained of our clan. The elderly were killed first, mostly speared to death as if it were sport. The remaining women were raped repeatedly, and then killed. The prettiest ones were then taken as slaves. Most of the children were rounded up, being sold into the slave markets where they would command a good price."

"I never saw the village again. My sister and I pushed forward into the desert, away from certain death that awaited us back with the clan. Yet, we had little water, and less food. It became a death sentence anyway. She was the first to die, on the third day. I was so dehydrated and weak that I had no strength to bury her. I wasn't much longer for the world anyway. I remember collapsing and blacking out, and that was about it."

She shuttered for a moment, and Stephen wrapped her up tightly in his arms. Once her composure was regained, she continued, "I suppose it is lucky that I'm still not buried under all that sand. I wasn't dead, though, yet. My barely breathing body was found later on that day by a group of Tamim merchants returned east. Due to my serious condition, and other factors, I was deemed a worthy gift to the nearby Djinn King."

"What other factors?" Stephen interrupted.

Grace offered him a sad smile, "Not any human being can be made into a djinn. There are certain... criteria. The first, and this goes for all levels of djinn, is that the offered needs to be on the edge of life and death. Living, healthy humans cannot be transformed with the magic, which requires a void in order to reinsert the gift of life. Of course, deceased human beings are useless, with there being no spark to ignite for the magic to take hold. They also cannot be decomposed either, as the magic requires a warm body. The path to dying creates that void, allowing the magic to take root. Therefore, the window between life and death is absolutely crucial."

"The other aspect for being made into a companion djinn is that all potential candidates have to be female, with their... virginity intact." Grace blushed, finishing the sentence.

"Why is that a criteria?" Stephen asked, with a confused look.

"In those days, most companion djinn were given to powerful tribal leaders, kings, or emperors. At the time, those were almost the exclusive domain of men. It was seen as rather distasteful to offer a powerful king a companion djinn that had been born as a male. The consequences of what may happen if he found out were particularly severe. So the rule was made to only accept females."

"And the virginity?"

Grace smiled, "It was thought that offering virgins for the powerful male to deflower would greatly help the bonding process between genie and human. There was another factor as well, where offering a deflowered woman to a powerful man was considered poor taste."

Stephen furrowed his brow, but then shrugged, "I guess I can understand that."

"The Djinn King accepted my body and the merchants were offered two wishes a piece for their offering. At dusk that night, the Djinn King infused the magical spirit into my body and I was transformed into the raw magical essence. I was then sealed within my portal."

"So once you were transformed, you didn't look like a human anymore?"

She smiled, "That's right. If you were to have looked at me then, I would have appeared like nothing more than light green cloud. That is the raw, magical potential that we assume before being opened by our intended master. This form in front of you was only determined by reading your mind and finding out your likes and desires."

"What happened next?"

Grace shrugged her shoulders. "Once entombed within the portal, time and space lost all meaning for us. All I know was that I was originally intended to be offered to a powerful Great King, but for some reason, when my portal was opened, I was here with you."

"Sorry to disappoint," Stephen chuckled.

Grace reached up and caressed his cheek lovingly, "There is no better fate than being with you for eternity, my love. Despite the intention, I am with who I was meant to be with. There is no doubt about that for me."

She sat up, kissing him lovingly, passionately, and Stephen found himself beginning to respond to her charms. She bid him to slide down the bed, until she was sitting on his hips, intentionally grinding herself against his waist.

"That was a long, roundabout way of saying that the life I had before you wasn't pleasant. It wasn't pretty. Though I was human, my fate, and condition, was miserable and my premature death is no further proof of that. Despite what you see as enslavement, given the choice, I would always choose this life with you over any other. I need you to know that, Stephen."

Her eyes stared deep into his, full of complexity, yet passion as well. She created a window to the soul, desperately trying to throw him off the course of his recent moral troubles. Once Stephen began to understand, she pressed in another tender kiss.

"Now, I desire that you make love to me. Will you do that for me, Stephen? Will you show me once again what it means to be loved and desired?" Grace slipped her tank top off, leaving herself exposed from the waist up. Stephen's eyes drifted lower, taking in her full breasts, and achingly stiff nipples. Grace was thoroughly excited.

"Yes," he whispered, joining his lips to hers in desperate passion. He decided then and there to postpone the talk involving her freedom to another time.Perhaps tomorrow would work better, he mused. His will was set, and he knew it had to be done, except now, he chose to enjoy himself. Who knew how she would react when the time came. For now, he would give in to the pleasures of her flesh.

For the rest of that morning, his troubles disappeared.

Tomorrow indeed.

--------------------

Hanif was pacing.

His heartbeat was erratic, and he was sweating greatly. The worn soles of his shoes trotted an imaginary line that stretched across his entire living room. He looked at the clock. 10:57 pm. Almost time.

The wall in front of him was plastered with pictures and clippings. First, it had been hard to find something important enough to pin to the wall. Newspaper sightings of magical beings, news clippings of extraordinary happenstance, and collected folklore of the area where sorcery was commonly practiced all started on the board. Over time, and with more wishes from the djinn, Hanif began to narrow his search.

As of today, at the center of the board, there were pictures of several different people, but whom were the prime suspects of the sorcery that Hanif had been sent to destroy. It was only yesterday that Hanif had received his biggest break yet, and now he was just about completely positive he knew the source of the magical disturbances. Two people in general were now the sole focus. One who Hanif suspected was the master. The other, the filthy djinn who was bound to him. Hanif smiled cruelly when he thought of the fate he had in mind for their disposal.

Putting those thoughts aside for now, he looked back at the clock. 11:00 pm exactly.

Picking up his cellular phone, he dialed the only number he had for his lord.

"Speak," answered Grand Master Abbas.

"I've found it, Grand Master Abbas. I've located the djinn," Hanif announced, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Give me details, Hanif," Abbas replied, his interest thoroughly piqued.

"It was hard to locate at first, Grand Master," Hanif began, before taking a deep breath. "Just about as soon as I locked it on one specific city, the djinn threw my trail off, with the signal going back east. I followed the signal of magical wishing as far as I could, until it settled back in my current location. Once the pulse was settled in one spot, I utilized my funds to purchase a small house to be my base of operations. I was getting closer, however, while the frequency of wishing was getting further and further apart. It became harder to locate it even though I was so close."

"Yet, you still managed to locate the djinn?" Abbas pressed.

"Yes, Grand Master. Only yesterday, the master performed a magical wish in front of my very eyes. I now know, with almost hundred percent certainty, the identities of the master, and the human form of the djinn."

"Excellent, Hanif. What is your plan? How will you summon the other two wardens to complete the destruction of the djinn?"

"I will disable the master first, so that he is helpless to intervene. Then I will use my Restraint to rescind the djinn's powers, rending it helpless. From there, I will call my brothers, Mahmoud who is active in Canada, and Adil, who was just recently in Cuba, to travel here immediately to destroy the djinn, permanently."

"Very well, Hanif. How long will it take the pair to arrive in your location?"

"With air travel, no longer than a day, Grand Master. Once they have arrived, we will operate theTubadid and destroy the life force of the djinn forever," Hanif pronounced, triumphantly. He looked over in the corner, to the container that contained theTubadid instrument.

A rather crude looking device, it was not without magic of its own. TheTubadid was an invention of their Order. The name was literally taken from the Arabic word for dispersion, which is exactly what it did. There were three handles, meant to be operated by three wardens. Once grasped by a fully conscious warden, their life forces were pooled together, combined into one single, indestructible ray of focused energy. When the beam was focused on the djinn itself, the ray of energy obliterated every ounce of magical matter contained within, throwing that material back into the air and earth around it. Quite simply, once the ray destroyed that magical matter, the djinn reverted back to their pre-djinn form, which, with how djinn were created, was a practically dead human being. A simple knife thrust could finish the job from there.

Hanif smiled. The plan was good, and his intuition was spot on. All that remained was to act.

"Very good, Hanif. Your plan will work, and I think you will soon be home, back here with the Order. For destroying this djinn, you will be promoted within our Order. When you come home with the body, you will be promoted to the rank of Grand Warden. I trust this pleases you?"

Hanif swallowed hard. A promotion? That would be wonderful! "The thought of promotion steadies my hand and steels my purpose towards the task at hand, Grand Master. I will not let you down."

Abbas chuckled, "I know you will not, Hanif. There was a reason why you were selected for this task. You were the best man for the job. Now, tell me, when does this plan of yours go into effect?"

Hanif looked through the blinds of his house, over to the house across the street. His eyes picked up the mailbox that was marked with the name 'Willow' on the side. Setting his gaze, he replied back to Abbas, "Tomorrow, Grand Master. I will move on them tomorrow."