Baskadia

Cynthia felt strongly drawn to him the moment she saw him. The attraction was instantaneous because he seemed to be her type. Slim and plenty of hair. And this guy did not only boast of a narrow waist but adorned it with proportional broad shoulders. He was lithe. Like a slim tiger having leisure time. Complete with a full head of stylishly bushy hair and trimmed beard. He moved with natural grace as he took a seat at the end of the bar and waited patiently as a horde of party animals with darkened eyes yelled orders at the overworked barman whose kohl had smeared around tired red eyes.

Most people in the party wore khol, which made them appear cattish. Cynthia wondered if it was a kind of a club thing. She never knew who the celebrant was or even the reason for the party. Hours ago, before she crashed this party, she was abysmally drowning in selfpity at home. Then she decided to seek out a hangout far from the area where people knew her, and where she could be unrestrictedly decadent. She found a place with loud music and poor lights.

A group of party goers were drinking up a storm at a table, she sat close to them and soon struck up an irrelevant conversation with them. She eventually joined them to this party. Ordinarily Cynthia wouldn't have talked to those strange people or even go to a party she wasn't properly invited to. And the venue of the party wasn't the kind of place she would have attempted going to with strangers. It was situated in an estate still under construction at a remote part of town.

She was probably suicidal that night due to the cruel rejection she had suffered earlier. Her new acquaintances, except for the drunkest of them, disappeared on her as soon as they entered the party hall. The drunk guy hung around her. She pointedly ignored him. He was of average height and stocky and odiously plastered. He disappeared many times and always reappeared with a fresh bottle of drink; a different brand from the last one.

  Cynthia had contented herself with a small plate of chops and a bottle of strong alcoholic wine she had snagged from one of the unattended tables as soon as she arrived with her new friends. She didn't open the bottle since its alcohol content was above her usual gauge, but as the party progressed without direction, she was forced to uncork the bottle. She wanted something milder but the stampede at the bar discouraged her. As the loud music changed to a popular hit, the drunk guy suddenly placed himself before her and leered down. 'You care for a dance?' He was moving his body side by side in a funny motion. 'No, thanks,' Cynthia replied. 'I don't want to dance.' This wasn't what she was looking for. If one must eat a frog, they better go for a juicy one. The reason for coming here was to do what she never did before: have a good time on her own and pick up a delicious guy to hang out with. That was what she wanted, as opposed to playing it safe, which she had done all her life. Look at where playing it safe got her.

John betrayed her. Discarded her without remorse or even respect. Made her a laughing stock. ‘Why?’ the drunk guy asked, taking hold of her hand. The kohl on his eyes had mixed with sweat and spreading towards his cheeks. He burped. She slipped her hand free from his sweaty clutch. She quickly scoured the hall for better entertainment and to avoid looking at the man before her when she sighted what she wanted. The new guy wasn’t ostentatiously dressed, just in dark jeans and shirt, so nobody took notice of him, except her of course because he was her type.

The drunk guy pestering her finally weaved away, dancing with his hands lifted up. She sighed with relief, gulped down half glass of her own drink and liked the instant buzz it gave her. She decided to wait for the new guy to get comfortable before she could "bump" into him and strike up a conversation. It would be easier for her If he had a drink in hand. But then, a little after 15 minutes of his arrival and after she had taken more gulps of her drink, he hadn't gotten a drink, so she approached him with hers. 'I've got a whole bottle, you care to share? We will ask the barman for an extra glass.' He seemed surprised at her brazen approach but he shrugged. He was better looking up-close. Thick ruffled hair, light brown in colour as if tinted, fine groomed facial hair, but not too groomed; full darker eyebrows and lashes. The dim light in the hall cast a shadow on his face and softened his complexion to golden. What she saw of him was handsome in a rugged way. She liked him more. 'But I don't drink alcohol if that's what you've got,' he said to her, his voice, light and friendly. 'Thanks all the same.' Cynthia hitched a hip on a stool beside him. 'This is all I could get.' She poured more wine into her glass and took gulps. She had become nervous. The wine gave her that spur to approach him so brazenly, and the fact that she was beginning to get tired of getting courted by men she didn't like.

She now wanted to go for the ones she liked and save everyone the trouble. John, her recent ex, had chased her for a month, when she finally agreed, she regretted it almost immediately. He wasn't her type to begin with. He was overly muscular in a boxy way, but since he had chased her relentlessly, she took her friends' advice and gave him a chance. First, the romance was forced. The chemistry wasn't there.

They just dated, going with the squiggly flow. Meanwhile, she was committed to the relationship and tried her best to make it work, to the extent she started seeing him as her type and even managed to fall in love with their relationship. She kind of started believing she loved him. What was there not to love? He had a good job, good looking, dressed well and came back home before 7pm.

He was a husband kind of guy. Only for him to stab her. She caught him cheating on her and when she confronted him, his callous reason was that she wasn't committed enough in their relationship to be his wife. He got engaged a week later. Cynthia felt more humiliated than broken-hearted. Yesterday, one of her friends and roommate made snide remarks about her being dumped for a village girl. Cynthia stormed out of their flat and hadn't gone back.

She slept over at another friend's place and decided to crash a party with total strangers today. She didn't know whose party and she didn't care. She promised herself to hook up with any fine guy and have a nice time. And here she was chatting up a cute guy who was totally her type. 'My name is Cynthia,' she extended a fist to him and he bumped it. 'I'm Jude.' 'She smiled at him. 'You look foreign.' He chuckled. I am a little foreign. My grandfather isn't from here. East Africa.' 'That's nice. East Africa has beautiful people. Ethiopia, especially.' 'My grandfather Ethiopian.

Does that make is me beautiful?' He gave her a teasing smile and a wink. She laughed and gulped more wine. He's so hot, she thought. Liquid warmth rushed through her body. He got up, brought out his wallet from his back pocket, flipped it open, riffled out a snapshot and showed her. She got her phone from her handbag and switched on the phone torch. The elderly man in the picture looked more like a crossbreed between an exotic canine and a human.

His dark brown face has a long golden beard covering the entire lower half part of his face. His thick brows and deep set eyes were startlingly clear and had a set of piercing golden pupils. The man was wearing a grey suit and white shirt and held a cane. 'That's him. My grandfather.' 'Wow! He's remarkable.' She looked at the photo longer. 'He is a remarkable man. I grew up under him and he taught me a lot.' He put back the photo in the wallet and slipped the wallet behind him. 'Do you want to dance?' She asked him. He shrugged. 'I'm not good at it?' She grinned at him. 'I'll manage what you have.

What's a party without dancing?' He gave her a slight shrug and followed her to the dance floor teeming with dancers, so she held onto him with one hand and the other clutching her bottle, and still managed to sling it around his shoulders, he put his arms around her waist. She liked the warmth from his body, his skin felt good on hers as they moved slowly to the loud beat. Her body was comfortable with his maleness. She held him closer, her breasts cushy against his chest. He wasn't that taller than her because she was on high heels. She suddenly wanted him to touch her intimately. She longed for it. It was a crazy yearn beyond her natural self. It was so strong. Overpowering. And he reacted to that need too as if by telepathy.

He seemed to have felt her vibe and splayed his fingers on the small of her back, nudging her close and tight to his frame, his leg shoved in between her legs. They couldn't get closer than that on the dance floor. Her body trembled, she brushed her face against his face, her mouth close to his mouth, seeking a kiss, shocking her normally reserved self. He brushed his lips on her chin and cheek, avoiding her mouth. She sighed and sagged on him, he held her. Right then the light and the music went off completely in the entire hall.

There was total darkness. People gasped. Some whooped. Ben's mouth took Cynthia's in a hurried but passion racked kiss. She yielded at once. Her fingers buried in his thick hair. His hand toured her body, his mouth ravished her mouth and neck, her cleavage. She loved his scent and his taste in her mouth. He intoxicated her more than the wine. Cynthia's eyes were shut in the darkness but seeing fireworks. Ben touched her intimately without seeming vulgar. She loved it and wanted more. She wanted to go to bed with him that instant. To completely give herself to him. She held on to him tight, believing that she had completely gone mad because of a man. The light and the music came back on.

The drunk guy had returned again and was now standing close to them, staring open-mouthed. Ben stopped feeling her and stepped away. Cynthia reluctantly let him go. 'You said you didn't want to dance,' the drunk said accusingly, pointing at Cynthia. 'I asked you first. We are together.' 'We are not together,' Cynthia replied. 'I don't even know you.' 'That's harsh,' he slurred, then glared at Ben. 'You don't come to our party and steal our women.

Not done.' He stomped away like a spoilt child. Ben led Cynthia back to their seats at the bar, which was luckily still vacant. Cynthia was trembling and breathless. Her head buzzed. She needed more of what she just tasted on the dance floor. She drank instead. She didn’t want to be clearheaded yet and lose the magic. The alcohol had helped her lose her inhibition making it possible for her to get what she wanted that night. If she lost that boldness now, she wouldn’t go further with her chase. She would likely slunk back to her self-pitying and keening for that jerk ex of hers. She emptied the bottle. ‘More drink?’ he asked her. ‘Just a little.’ She got up and returned with a full glass of brandy. She took two quick swallows and endured the burn. ‘It’s like you are trying to forget everything tonight,’ he observed. 'Or do something drastic.' 'Just want to enjoy myself.' She pointed a thumb to the dance floor. 'Should we go back there?' He shook his head. 'I don't want to have you on the floor.

I almost did.' She shivered. 'Can we go elsewhere then?' That surprised her, wondering where that came from. She had gone crazier than she intended; the man was like a new drug to her. He looked at his watch and said he had to go. 'I have an important meeting.' 'Oh!' Cynthia was disappointed. She really enjoyed their short time together and anticipated more. It was something she never experienced before. She expected him to ask for her number but he didn't. He got up and left just like that, melting into the body of dancing people as if he intentionally wanted to lose her fast.

He didn't even glance back. She sighed, the booze didn't let her feel too disappointed. She looked at the stool he vacated and at the floor. And there was his wallet lying there. It must have dropped out of his pocket when he slid off the stool. On impulse, she picked up the wallet and went after him. She couldn't even believe what she was doing. She could have waited to locate him later but she had to see him again now. She thanked God for this wallet. Yes, the party won't be interesting for her without him. Ben had done something to her within those few minutes that no man had ever given her all her life. He was all that mattered then. It was like he robbed her of her heart. Outside the hall, she looked around and among the cars parked outside, only a couple were leaning on a car and in a tight embrace.

They were young and trendy like most people at the party. She asked the smooching couple if they saw a man in a leather jacket. 'He went that way,' the lady told Cynthia in a smoky voice, the man smiled dreamily at Cynthia, and they both pointed Cynthia out the gate. Cynthia thought they were weird. Everybody in the party was weird. Everybody, either dancing, smooching or smiling dreamily. Not much talking. And they were all dressed in similar fashion; dark casuals and lots of eyeliner both in men and women. The streetlights outside the gate weren't working. So the area looked too dark in contrast with where she stood, as outside the party hall was lit up with security floodlights. She went anyway.

She sighted him where he stood seemingly waiting for transport. Her heart did a summersault. He was so cute. She imagined spending the rest of the night with him. In a cuddle. Lovemaking probably. She didn't mind a one night stand with him. No one would know except her, and him of course. The night was far gone, close to 1 a.m and taxis were scarce. No car in sight. The big building where the party was at, stood at the end of the road and also bordered a large expanse of undeveloped bush stretching towards some hills beyond it. Most of the houses on that street were new, uncompleted and unoccupied.

She walked up to Ben and put on a woman-of-theworld seductive smile. The booze working overtime. 'You have to book a ride,' she said to him. He whipped around to look at her. He seemed shocked to hear her. She smiled. 'You dropped your wallet, Ben.' She handed it to him. He nodded at her, slipping the wallet into his inner jacket this time. 'Thanks.' 'You are welcome.' She noticed a golden glow in his eyes. She thought it was the night light playing tricks. 'You can hardly get a free taxi this time except when you book one.' He looked nervous. His narrow handsome face turned away from her as his eyes scanned the whole area. 'My app isn't working,' he said to her in a noticeably deeper voice.

Deeper than with what he conversed with her at the party. She felt a slight shiver, recalling his lips on her body. ‘I will book one for you,’ she offered. ‘I have two taxi apps on my phone. Where are you going?’ ‘Don’t bother,’ he said to her. ‘And you need to go back to the party. Go back inside.’ She shook her head at him. ‘I’m done with the party. The place is like a local market.’ ‘It is not safe here,’ he said, scanning the area with his eyes again. ‘It almost seems as if you are running away from me.’ She came closer to him. ‘I enjoyed the kiss.’ He moved away. ‘You are drunk. I don’t want to take advantage of you. You don’t know what you are doing. I didn’t want to get in trouble with the Kukeas. That is their party. You don’t just come in there and bang one of their chicks.' 'I'm not drunk. Tipsy, maybe. But I know what I want. Who the hell are the Kukeas by the way?' He gave her a puzzled look. 'I thought you knew them,' 'No, I don't.' She moved closer to him and gave him another sexy smile. 'But I'm glad I crashed the party. I met you.' Ben took some steps backwards. 'You don't want me.

Trust me. I'm not your type. Just go back inside. I must leave now. Nice meeting you. Goodbye.' He began to walk away.' 'Are you married?' She shouted after him, frustrated at his rebuff. 'No!' 'Engaged?' 'No!' 'You have a girlfriend?' 'I don't.' 'Then what?! Why don't you want me? Am I that ugly?!' 'Just go!' He walked away faster, taking the lonely road, thick brushes on both sides, leading to the main road further up.

Cynthia waited, then followed him. She now believed the bottle of wine and the brandy she had downed were responsible for this foolishness of hers. She should have used her commonsense and called a taxi if she must leave the party at that time and stop following a man who clearly didn't want her. But she kept on chasing him as if unseen rope attached to him pulled her to him. Something drew her after him. Ben moved faster and she tailed him. She had left the party venue far behind now and had to keep moving. Shadows suddenly moving in the bushes scared the booze out of her. It was as if some dark forms followed her. Her heart began to beat hard. She was terrified. Someone laughed behind her. An eerie mocking laughter. Cynthia stopped. And the drunk came out of the shadows. His dark clothing had successfully hidden him in the dark till now. And he wasn't alone. Four sinister looking guys were with him. 'That's her,' he pointed her out to his party. 'And that's him over there.' 'What do you want from me?' Cynthia asked him in a shaky voice. 'Respect,' he spat. He no longer looked dead drunk but hardened and evil. 'You and that dog of yours must respect us. We will make you. We Kukeas don't take nonsense from dogs. You are mine. He can't just come and take you.' Cynthia took some steps backwards and turned to run but what she saw coming the other way gave her little time to scream or run for her life.

She stood transfixed as two large wild animals that looked like dogs and as big as small horses, tore out of the bushes. The moon was full so she could see them clearly. They saw her too and made for her. She saw Ben chasing after the dogs. Cynthia turned and started running back towards the Kukeas, screaming her head off, but she fell. Tumbling and clattering on the gravelled road in her heels and handbag. She looked back, terrified, expecting the dogs to tear into her any moment, and then saw Ben flying at the dogs, his hands out, reaching for the nearest one’s neck to stop it. He let out a loud growl and the dogs stopped on their tracks, momentarily, few meters from Cynthia. She could see their fiery eyes and snarling fangs. She realized they weren’t dogs but a wilder animal of that species hardly seen around this part. They were like wolves. ‘We don’t have problems with you,’ the Kukea drunk guy shouted at the beasts. ‘It is your brother that offended us. It is him we have quarrels with. The girl is ours. We found her.’ Ben moved forward and placed himself between Cynthia, still sprawled on the ground, and the Kukeas. The wolves growled. ‘It is a fight then,’ the drunk said. ‘Let’s go.’ The beasts turned and ran back into the bushes and Ben went after them running on all fours like one of them. The Kukeas melted into the darkness. She later saw one or two different looking animals, big cats, spotted like leopards, running into the bushes too.

Cynthia sat up on the road, grits and sand all over her skin. Shaken to her bones. She had skinned her knees and had bruises on other places. She tried to stand up but cried out in pain instead. She had sprained or broken her ankle. She sat there sobbing. She had lost her purse too. Then she used her commonsense this time and cried for help. 'Somebody help me!' She could only hear growls and snarling of wild animals in the bushes. As if they were fighting. She shouted for help again.

Ben ran out of the bush still on all fours, he stopped and straightened up and came to her. Cynthia screamed louder. He squatted beside her, touched her ankle and reached down to carry her. She wasn't a small woman but he picked her up like nothing. He smelled of forest and his hair was wild now and he looked more like his grandfather. His eyes glowed, his hair standing on their roots. She started struggling but her body was in a vice grip. 'Please let me go. I want to go home.' He stopped. 'But you have been following me all night like a bitch in heat,' he growled at her. She noticed his fangs had grown. 'You wanted something from me. You wanted me.' She stopped struggling. ‘I…I just wanted to be your friend,’ she lied. He chuckled. ‘It’s more than that.’ ‘Are you going to eat me?’ she asked him. ‘Maybe.’ He gave a deep chuckle. She felt an abnormal calmness. Instead of screaming for help as she was supposed to, she decided to resign to fate, or reason with him. He could easily tear her to pieces here. She was dealing with a wild animal In a human form.

A night paranormal creature out to mingle with normal humans. And she got snared in his charms. She either hung her hope on the brief friendship they shared at the party or pray hard. She chose to pray instead, because the perceived friendship might have been a snare. She used to be a prayerful person as a child, but along the line, as she grew, she fell along the way like a bad seed. She had met bad friends at school and rather partied than go to church. Her knees had not touched the floor for a long time nor had she gone to confession. Now, she couldn't even pray well. Her lips moved but only garbled words formed. She was sure God didn't even have her time that night. That was why wild animals were sent to eat her. She was irredeemable. 'What are you doing?' He asked her. 'Praying.' She replied, her voice cracked from crying. He had moved further into the bush, carrying her effortlessly. She could still hear fearful snarls of animals nearby. A dangerous, deeper growl from Ben quietened them. Cynthia's heart no longer pounded normally. She was half-dead from terror. Was he calling them for a meal? He got to a clearing within the bush and stopped, placing her on a trunk of a fallen tree. 'You will be safe if you don't move.' 'Why don't you just let me go? Please?' 'I can't, you've seen us,' was his answer. Cynthia bitterly regretted all the advances she made at him that night.

She should have suffered the party in silence. The first time she ever picked up a man, he had to be a dangerous abnormal. 'I won't tell anybody. I promise.' He scuffed. 'I don't trust a woman who can down a bottle of booze and pick up a random stranger. Besides, you can't even walk.' She hung her head. ’I'm cold.' He looked at her up and down, her black gown was short and sleeveless. He shrugged off his jacket and gave it to her. 'Stay here. Don't make a sound or you die.' He then moved away about two hundred yards and squatted, one hand planted on the ground. Few minutes later, two men approached him. They moved awkwardly as if their limbs weren’t straightened completely. They first walked on all fours then on two legs. They were naked. ‘What happened out there?’ One of them asked Ben. ‘First you were at that Kukea’s party, then you were late for our hunt and a woman was with you. And you got into a quarrel.’ ‘And you almost killed us!’ The second man snarled. ‘We were just two against them.’ ‘Smith, Jude,’ Ben replied. ‘It wasn’t like that.

The Kukeas are friendly to us.’ ‘Not anymore. We wounded one of them this night, all for that woman.’ ‘The woman was passerby,’ Ben told them. ‘She brought me something important I lost.’ Smith cut in. ‘You knew this was our meeting. Why is she still here?’ ‘She is hurt.’ ‘You know she is never leaving alive. You are responsible for her death.’ ‘She is coming with me.’ ‘What?! Are you crazy?! We are leaving for a mission tomorrow. Dugu North-East needs reinforcement.

More terrorists are moving deep into the forests and encroaching into their territory. They are killing and eating wolves for food. The last of our wolves kind are more endangered now than ever. Grandfather sent word yesterday, we go to Dugu North-East tomorrow.’ ‘I will go. Don’t worry about the girl.' 'She is already trouble for you. You couldn't turn tonight and didn't hunt with us as brothers. You know how important you must train often. And she caused an avoidable fight between us and the Kukeas. Just in one night!' Smith snarled. 'Get rid of her,' Jude growled. 'Give her back to the Kukeas.' 'They will kill her. She is not one of them. A novice.' 'Nevertheless theirs. For meat or for sport. They got her first. Let her go.' The two men melted into the bushes. Ben returned to Cynthia. 'Let's go.' 'Where?' she asked him. He didn’t reply. He picked her up again and walked into the bushes. Cynthia was now sure she was going to die. She had walked headlong into her own demise all because Jilted her.