Iniko
Iniko came alert in the darkness. Her head pounded, and she was sore. She put her hand on her neck and felt bite marks. Her mind raced trying to figure out what’d happened.
“Kuumba,” she thought.
He’d tricked her. Memories flooded back to her of the last hours they spent together. She bent over, throwing up. He’d taken advantage of her; he’d messed with her mind.
After he left her, the Obayifo slavers came in and bit her bespelled form, repeatedly. Kuumba had betrayed her, again. She’d been helpless to stop them. Her stomach boiled—they’d turned her into one of them!
Demented singing rang in her head. With her eyes closed, she tried to identify the source. Was it inside her mind? The Obayifo witch spirit sang a gruesome song.
“We can make you stronger. We can save your daughter. We can give you revenge on your husband. If you kill them all, now!”
Iniko cupped her head inside her hands. She was a warrior goddess and daughter of Mawu. Soft crying tugged her thoughts. Where was that noise coming from? Her eyes popped open and her vision reddened.
It was pitch black, but a couple hundred chained slaves huddled together amongst filth and death; their heartbeats pumping with fear. The evil inside her danced, reveled.
“Eat them.” The voice moved her into action. Iniko fought hard, but their fear fueled her. This new evil made her corrupt. She stood up groggily, intoxicated from the anxiety of the captured. She wanted to feed on them; she wanted to eat them all.
The evil whispered, “If you feed from them, you will gain more power.”
It almost had her. Iniko looked at the chained women. She knew this could be her sweet Zawadi. Her mind refocused. She had to get out of this slave hold. She tried to remember her true self, but the hunger gnawed, deep.
She wasn’t chained. Nothing stopped her from feeding and killing them all. She wanted to suck them dry of blood and despair. She wanted to gorge on all their magical power.
Her clan sisters shrank back in the darkness. She heard gasps. Her true self screamed.
The demon inside said, “Eat their souls.”
Iniko lunged forward, but instead of grabbing the nearest weeping woman, she smashed through the slave hold door. She was Mawu’s daughter. She would not feed on her brethren; she would not succumb to evil. Iniko felt a surge of love from Kuumba. He was using their mate bond. Anger boiled at his betrayal.
She remembered their final moments and his kiss. She had sworn to trust him and come to his aid, but another voice boomed louder. “Join us, daughter of Mawu,” the Guhruhi commanded.
Iniko fell on her knees. “Great Mother, help me!”
Elongated fangs dropped down, and her hands contorted into claws. Her heart beat like a wild beast. Iniko’s body moved without her consent. She tried to take a stand against the evil, but it was as if she stood in the eye of a hurricane. Her feet were forced to march; Iniko was powerless.
She tried to gain control, but it didn’t work. She soon found her unwilling body facing her possessed husband, who was standing in front of a dismal scene of bloody murder and death. The blood made her hungry and Kuumba radiated power that she wanted. Iniko was torn, confused.
She hung her head low. This was not her.
A female arm hugged her from behind and spoke. “Sister-in-law, I’m glad you’ve joined us. It was unfortunate your virgin daughter had to become a trokosi sacrifice, but you feel the power like I do and see it was for the best.”
Iniko turned to face her, but she could only focus on the woman’s throat. The smell of fresh human flesh ignited Iniko’s saliva. Magical power strummed and hummed everywhere.
Iniko wanted to taste her flesh and blood.
Time slowed as she watched her chest move up and down. The women’s thumping neck beckoned like prey to a ravenous wild boar. The foolish woman was talking but her words hung in the thickness of the night. They meant nothing.
The demonic voice inside cried, “Feed on this one. Take your revenge.”
Iniko’s pulse flooded in her ears. Her thoughts were scattered, scrambled. She knew once she tasted blood that there was no turning back. Iniko fought internally, but the magic begged to be consumed.
Before she could contain herself, she leaped on the woman and tore out her throat. Iniko’s bosom became drenched as the tasty juice ran down. She relaxed into the feeding as a pleasurable wave bloomed and pushed her into an oral climax that she’d never experienced.
The magical blood tasted good rolling down her throat, and she wanted to open her mouth wider to gulp down more.
“You cannot escape. You will join with us.” The Guhruhi laughed using her husband’s voice from behind her.
As she fed, Iniko sensed another voice from Kuumba, through the mate bond.
“Wife, you must return to yourself. Chop off my head and push me into Nana Buluku’s portal of light so the Guhruhi will be trapped inside my body as a final prison.”
The Sankofa Adinkra symbol danced in the pure light. Iniko’s forehead burned and she dropped her sister-in-law’s bloody body. Memories flooded back of how she’d been reborn and remade into a warrior woman.
The voice of the goddess was muffled and she couldn’t hear the words well. She hesitated. Iniko grabbed her head; she was torn, confused.
Why was there so much blood?
That demonic voice inside her mind boomed, “Yes. Can’t you feel the power? Drink more...”
Iniko smacked her talon-like fists against her forehead. Her constitution was weak. What had Kuumba done to her?
The goddess’s words were clear. “Iniko, you can always turn towards the drinking gourd of light. Vanquish the evil.”
Iniko straightened her shoulders and stood tall. “I will never join you. Death to you and death to your master! I will destroy you.”
Kuumba’s fangs dropped down as he stepped away. Iniko saw her daughter’s lifeless body. He’d drained her!
“No!” Iniko yelled. The anger rang throughout her body. She’d failed to protect her daughter. In a fit of passion, she returned to all she was and called forth her dagger and Akofena war sword of light.
They burned her hands, but she ignored the searing pain. Iniko swung and chopped off her husband’s head. His lips continued to move as spidery tendrils tried to reconnect the head to the body.
“Iniko, throw my body into the circle of Nana Buluku’s light portal to entrap the Guhruhi.” Iniko became mesmerized with the burning brightness of the portal. She picked up Kuumba’s headless body and was about to throw it in, but crimson oozed out and clung to her arm.
“Join us. Become one with our cause. We will bring your daughter back to life.”
Iniko turned towards her daughter’s hollow eyes and broken body. She’d lost everything. Traumatized tears rolled down her cheeks.
Kuumba’s head whispered, “Don’t trust the evil. Throw my body into the light.”
Iniko bit down on her lip. The voice of the Obayifo witch spirit grew louder and warped her mind. She listened and realized she could have it all. Iniko stole one last look at her sweet Zawadi. In that moment, she turned from Nana Buluku’s light and opened her heart to the Guhruhi.
“Yes! I will join you! Save my child!”
The Guhruhi burrowed into her pores and took her quickly. Iniko screamed, but no sound came. Her vision clouded. She dropped her dagger and sword then fell to her knees.
“Drink Kuumba’s blood and soul!” the Guhruhi commanded.
The goddess spoke. “Kuumba, you have fulfilled your vow. Free your soul from your body and soar into the light.”
Kuumba’s magical soul floated above his body and Iniko felt the mate bond flare for the last time. Kuumba said, “I love you, Iniko, no matter what. I forgive you. I understand the lure of the power. Don’t let it consume you like I allowed it to consume me.”
The white priest tried to capture Kuumba’s soul, but Nana Buluku’s light shone brightly and blinded them all. As his soul entered the portal, Iniko became cold and empty.
She dragged herself to the fallen body; her fangs came down, and she lapped up all that was Kuumba’s body and blood. Kuumba’s encasing spell took root inside of her belly.
She began to cough and choke.
Iniko’s insides imploded, reforming. Her body split and the Guhruhi was forced to take the shape of Kuumba’s form. They merged into one vessel. One side was Kuumba’s likeness and the other side was Iniko. She’d become twin souls glued together with the Guhruhi.
Iniko—or it—awoke, face flat to the stone floor. The universe came crashing into its ears as in this new being, new evil life grew. It looked around and Nana Buluku’s portal and light had vanished. It felt cold, abandoned.
The white priest yelled, “The Prophecy has been fulfilled. Bow to our new Master/Mistress.”
The twin soul stood up. It saw the dead daughter on the altar. A tear rolled down its cheek.
“We should kill you for stealing our daughter’s soul, but we have something else in mind. You will be our eyes and ears in this universe. Come drink from us.” It sliced its arm with a talon-like fingernail.
The priest approached, cautiously, with his fangs ready. He drank the blood, greedily, until it pushed him off.
“Now, you are bound to us for eternity.”
“Yes, Master/Mistress.” The priest humbled himself.
The side that was Iniko saw a cascade of images she didn’t understand. The Great Mother, Mawu, was enjoying the love of a white man, her father, in a sacred bed.
But his eyes were all wrong.
Her father was not Tyr but Loki, the Norse god of chaos. Then, she saw Mawu win her final battle when she was pregnant. The goddess’s water broke and she pushed out a child. Iniko’s heart sped.
More images flooded her mind. Mawu bound the child’s magic and then gave the little girl to the woman who Iniko called “Queen Mother.” Iniko’s side choked.
Her mother easily abandoned her because of who her “real” father had been.
The Guhruhi spoke inside. “We have always known that chaos suited you from the beginning. You were destined to join us.” Anger boiled. Iniko’s side went crazy. The evil drowned all that was good.
The Guhruhi said with Kuumba’s mouth, “We are joined. We have one heart, one mind, and one soul. We will find a way to restore our daughter.”
Then, the Guhruhi showed the prophecy of another girl magic bearer in America who would be able to resurrect the dead with air magic. It would take three hundred years.
“Now that we are reborn, we cannot easily walk this plane. We can return to our rightful place, but you must open the door of no return,” the Guhruhi said reassuringly.
The side that was Iniko looked at Zawadi. “But my child, can she go to this place?”
“Yes. She will not rot of death. We know a ritual to keep her fresh. She will remain like this until the resurrection.” The Guhruhi showed her an image of what the white priest could do. It also revealed the priest was a descendant of Loki who had been sent as a special gift.
Iniko’s side receded and watched the Guhruhi who had her husband’s likeness cast a final ritual spell on the white man that bound them together in a trinity of darkness.
The Guhruhi spoke inside her mind. “This one will be our eyes and ears on this plane until we can return.”
Iniko’s side picked up her child. Her true essence tried to return, but she looked down at her dead daughter.
Her heart sobbed.
She must wait for the other little priestess to be born and resurrect Zawadi. A light caught the side that was Iniko’s eyes. The dagger and Akofena war sword called to her. The Adinkra symbols magically danced along the castle walls.
They encouraged her to end her own life.
The light shone brighter and began to irritate her eyes. Iniko’s side turned away and left them. She would do what it took to save her daughter. She would never leave or abandon her child as her mother had done to her.
The Master/Mistress twin soul walked down the courtyard of the castle clutching the dead child. Iniko’s side closed her eyes and wished the door to open. The portal swirled, radiant and rouge.
The Master/Mistress stepped into the door of no return as an evil twin soul—reborn on a mission of power and resurrection.