The moment was a bloody red. Even the full moon stared at Rori's immoral face before making an awkward look and leaving. It didn't feel as bad as she had imagined. Sleeping with the husband of her sister who was the head of a werewolf pack was a desire she thought she could avoid if she was given enough time to think it through. But, she didn't get enough time. All the moments she spent considering his offer were not good enough for her to come up with a decision that would favour both parties.
"Rori!"She turned as she heard Mark's voice. His accent was as black as anything she had ever heard or seen. From Jazz to Soul music, he was as black as Sudan-born model Nyakim Gatwech."Yes!" Rori answered as she turned around a little bit."I am sorry," Mark's voice was pure and simple. "I didn't mean to flow with you the way I did. I thought you loved it when I go hard on you."Rori looked away."I am sorry," Mark continued. "We can work things out. Sandra doesn't need to know about what happened this night. Do you hear me?"Rori did not answer. She was deeply hurt, and her pain was stronger than whatever feeling of hate she was going to get if her sister found out that she had slept with her husband."I am going," she managed to say slowly. "I am going back to my apartment.""Wait!" Mark raised his voice as he ran towards her, holding his belt firmly with his right hand in order to prevent it from falling from his waist. "You know I love you. I care about your well-being, Rori. You are a source of my inner joy. You feel me?"Rori's eyes flashed slowly. "I don't understand what you mean, Mark," her voice was persistent and strong. "You told me we were going to play a board game. The next moment, you were on top of me, kissing me and fondling my breasts. What do you expect me to do at that point?""Enjoy it," Mark's lips pressed together. "I expect you to enjoy the moment as you did.""Are you seriously joking?""No, I am not. Look," Mark held Rori on her shoulder. It was a gentle touch. "I know you like me and you have always thought about this night. I know you want me to spend quality time with you. I have eyes, Rori. I observe you whenever I see you in public. I see the way you look at me. Your eyes are always eager to know where I am going, what I am doing, and if I am going to get your attention. Everyone in our pack knows you love me. You don't have to deny it, Rori. Even your sister knows that you like me. You must be a dreamer to think that no one knows about the special connection going on between us.""Leave me alone," Rori said, gently.Mark pulled his hand from her shoulder and placed both of his hands on his hip. By now, his breath was growing cold."You can't talk about me like that," Rori continued. "I am not your bitch. I am not a street prostitute you just meet on the road, pay a dollar bill and order her to offer you all the fun you want in the world. I am a woman, Mark. Have a little bit of respect for me being a woman if you can't respect my sister."Mark laughed. His laughter was like that of a man who had beaten his son on a fifty metres race. He grinned."Are you hungry?" He asked."Hungry?" Rori was shocked. "Of course, I am fucking hungry," she said sarcastically. "I am so hungry that I have lost the ability to cook in my own apartment. Mark, I am so fucking hungry that I forgot to buy a package of food on my way here. Don't be ridiculous. You are a leader. You should grow some balls."Mark laughed again, not as hearty as he had done before. He squeezed his face as he let the impact of grinding his jaw run through his mind. He remained calm. "I have a question for you. It is kind of related to sex. But, I am going to ask you this question because I want to understand something. Am I permitted to ask, my dear Rori?"Rori sniffed. "Be my guest.""Good," Mark smiled widely. "When was the last time you had sex with a man?"Twenty seconds of silence passed."Many years now," Rori finally replied."Do you desire it?""No. Not right now.. When I met that attractive Canadian man I told you about, I was not thinking about it. Sex has not been in my mind for a while.""But, it has been a part of your life?" Mark pressed."Excuse me?"Mark cleared his throat. "I hold you in high esteem, Rori. For you to tell me you have not had sex for many years, I respect you. It is not easy to deal with the sexual challenge that comes with being an adult. I don't know if you feel less desire for sex because you are getting older or if you have trained your mind. But it doesn't matter. What is important is that you are stable. It is what matters to me.""What do you mean by stable?"Another twenty seconds of silence passed."You have the potential to have sex," Mark drooled.Rori gave him an awkward look as she hissed. Mark was now holding his belt with a masculine pride that irritated her."You have got the potential to make yourself proud," he continued. "You just have to be a good girl, and your sister will never know about it. I am the leader of our pack, remember? I make shit die."Rori started walking away. For a minute, she didn't look back.Apart from the painting of a nineteenth century werewolf, everything in the apartment shone as the sun streamed in through the long French windows. Drake sighed as he observed the carved mahogany mantelpiece in his parlor that had been polished. He couldn't remember when he had polished it, but he was certain he had sat on it before he went to bed early, yesterday. "Good morning, my love," a blonde woman in a white apparel said, as she came closer to kiss him. Her name was Rosetta. Her bright eyes hovered around the parlor until it sparkled, and Drake was able to notice the carved rosettes and female busts of the mahogany mantelpiece in his parlor oiled to perfection. He could not help but admire the long marquetry table in the center of the room. It was well placed as it reminded him of his late parents who had the good habit of rearranging books on top of a shelf until it suited their taste. "Do you want eggs? Milk? Or both?" Rosetta asked. She was seriously paying att
Rori did not feel at ease when her sister, Sandra stepped inside her room to talk to her about their parents' death. The whisper of Sandra's pink satin dressing gown was the only sound in the empty room she could hear clearly as she hurried to make her statements add up properly in order to simplify things for her. "Let us eat," Rori offered after a brief moment of silence. "Food is good for a troubled soul.""Food?" Sandra scratched her forehead softly. "I don't want to eat food now. But if I refuse to eat, you will start acting like Mark. You will either complain I am trying to lose weight or I am too thin to reject a food offer.""I don't judge, Sandy," Rori said, dropping the bowl of rice she had gotten from the kitchen on the dining table in the dining room. The kitchen was close to the dining room.Sandra took her place at the empty chair and pressed the discreet ruby and jade bell push beside her. "You don't have to do that," Rori cautioned. "It is
Drake's coffee was poured from a bronze pot with an ivory handle. The bronze pot was one of the few objects he had managed to bring back home after spending almost a year in Mozambique, along with other treasures that had belonged to his parents' former home. His father was a decent strong man who had cared little for all of what Africa had to offer, and most of what his mother had to offer too about Africa. He spent most of his long well-lived life talking about the location, secrets and sexuality of werewolves. He was far more interested in jaunting around the world, convincing himself that there was more to humans than the normal acceptable biological form, far more in love with the night creatures that circled around, under the full moon, chanting praises in honor of their creator who they barely knew than the havoc caused by watching people live their entire lives tied to a particular location.Once, Drake's father had gotten involved in an argument with a religious man wh
At first, Drake didn't take the first three months of Rosetta's absence seriously. As far as he was concerned, she was gone. And she was never coming back to him. He had been amused when Rosetta's father presented him with a plain sheet of paper, demanding his signature. It seemed more than funny for him to see his almost father-in-law accusing him of murder, and then, eventually, he had realized how much pain Rosetta's death had done to her parents. Her absence had absorbed every tiny bit of energy in them. Then, the sudden discovery of her dead body by the local police close to the river had sparked a deep breath of argument which had led to the formation of opinions by a few members of the small loving community that were considered barbaric. It was a crazy encounter that would go on for days.Drake knew his time of questioning was coming soon. But, he didn't expect it to come as soon as possible. He was well aware that his major political disagreement with Rosetta's father
"She was a very beautiful woman when she was alive. Wasn't she?" Bennett asked. He was Drake's childhood friend who had gone to the same university with him. "You are a handsome lad, aren't you?" Drake replied, faking a laughter."I was when I was a bit younger, and didn't think much about women," Bennett's gentle voice hit the window in his apartment like thunder striking a make-believe pole."We can argue about your beauty and never reach a dead end. It doesn't matter if you believe you are the Prince of Wales or the Duke of Edinburgh, what matters is my perspective about you which is not going to change.""Charming!" Bennett interrupted, dropping the glass of wine in his hands on top of a glass table. His eyes combed Drake, as they always did, expecting to see something that wasn't there and never had been. They had been friends for a long period of time even long before Drake had met Rosetta and had planned a suitable pleasing marriage that will ensure their
Rori's eyes darkened as she thought about Drake. She had considered visiting him without his knowledge because she felt he needed to be with someone who would comfort him even though he denied it. She was about to answer the door in her apartment just behind her when it opened with little force. It was her sister, Sandra in a cloud of green silk and cream-colored lace, her hair cascading over her shoulders as she looked at her in an unusual manner, more like despair. "You are thinking about something," Sandra said. "It is your human friend right?""I don't know what you talking about, Sandy," Rori lied, trying to avoid looking in the direction of her sister's eyes. Sandra sat down, almost in a thud. At full stretch, she stood almost a foot shorter than her younger sister, Rori, and she seemed extremely nervous, as her hands fluttered like tiny birds. "How is Mark?" Rori asked, trying to occupy herself with the onions lined neatly inside a tray."Mark is f
Drake looked truly stunned and Rori had to turn away to conceal her cheerful smile. And when she turned back again their eyes met briefly. It was a short moment. Pure!There was a hidden caress there in Rori's eyes for Drake, not that he would never had known if he decided to take a peek. But there was absolutely no need for that because Rori was not in a position or state of denial. She cared about Drake. It was what mattered to her the most. His state of well-being was the only reason she considered visiting him in the night without thinking about it twice."Thank you," Drake said as he sat down and placed a soft pillow close to his belly."What are you thanking me for?" Rori asked. She was trying to conceal the smile on her face."You came to see me, didn't you?"Rori nodded in approval."It shows you care about me," Drake continued, "because if you didn't, you wouldn't have come here.""True!" Rori affirmed. "I was a bit worried about you
The moment Rori arrived at her sister's apartment, everything seemed to stop dead for a second. Even her voice was gentle in her own ears, and silently, at her sister's own end, she nodded and moved away in a manner that left Rori confused. She wanted to ask her sister if something was wrong somewhere, but she didn't know how. A part of her was even grateful for the call from Sandra Ryder, her sister because she had laughed throughout the conversation in a way that proved that it would take a great amount of evil for both of them to be ever separated. Now, as Rori stood a few metres away from her sister, she could feel a strange uneasiness run through her body as if she had gotten involved in a crime that involved backstabbing her own elder sister. Indeed, she had!"Where are you staying now?"Rori moved closer. "Same old place. But, I am planning on moving to the city to stay with Drake for a while. He is in a bad state now. I would love to get closer to him more. I