54. Ghoulish

{Naya}

Before the jann could tell us where to find the ghoul, Uri interrupted. "Naya, this is too dangerous."

I shot back, "You've got a better idea?"

The jann stretched his face closer to us. His beak clicked together in what I judged to be a sign of excitement.

If you don't feel comfortable confronting the ghoul, I would also be open to taking this little blue djinniyah off your hands.

Uri's body went rigid.

I pointed to myself in disbelief. "Are you talking about me?"

Yes, of course. Who wouldn't want to adopt a pretty little djinniyah like yourself? You'll bring me so many customers. Think of all those rich, uptight ifrits that pass through. They'll bend to you like this one and just like that, we'll be up to our eyeballs in gold!

His beak clicked rapidly.

Yep. I was right about the excitement thing.

Uri's voice was tight and controlled. "Naya is not for sale."

I looked at him. "Come on, Uri. Let's just find the ghoul and kill it."

It was clear that he did not plan on doing anything of the sort. But I wanted to visit that oasis. Badly.

I shut out the vision of the jann hovering above us and leaned over the camel until my face was parallel to Uri's.

"What are you doing?" he muttered as I removed his hood.

Reminding you what you're going to miss out on if we walk away from the jann.

I mirrored the move that Uri made the night before, inserting my tongue into his ear. His spine stiffened at the contact. In my periphery, I saw a clump of smoke that must have escaped his mouth. And beyond the smoke screen, the jann's head tilted in a curious fashion, followed by the erratic clicking of the beak.

+++

{Uriel}

Uriel didn't know what embarrassed him more. The fact that his girlfriend got him aroused right in front of an unfamiliar djinn, or that she had revealed that he was not at full power in front of members of his own kind.

"Naya," he said as they approached the jann's cave on foot. They had left their camels and Ritsu with the jann. Ritsu wasn't happy about it, but the jann assured them that their supplies would be under his protection until they returned.

Naya turned barely enough to offer her ear. She was careful not to look him directly in the eye.

With as much patience as he could muster, Uriel pulled his veil down and said, "Please don't do that again."

Naya picked up her pace. "You're going to have to be more specific, Uri."

Uriel caught up to her, took hold of her wrist, and yanked her to a halt. "Don't go around telling djinn that I'm trying to become human. Let them think that I'm merely an ifrit who's cloaking his horns. If word gets out that I'm in a weakened state, trouble will find us."

Naya chewed on her lower lip. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. And I didn't mean to embarrass you either. I just really, really want to –"

He kissed her.

It was rough and brief. He drew a ragged gasp from her as he tore away. Uriel readjusted his veil and headed in the direction of the cave.

Naya called his name and chased after him. He fought every muscle in his body from taking her right there in the sand. He had few doubts that she would try to stop him if he tried.

"This is insane," Naya said once she caught up to him. "We are hornier than two chihuahuas doped up on Viagra."

Uri kept his eyes straight. "I'm not entirely sure what that last part meant, but I agree with you. I can't go another day like this."

They had reached the cave. From the outside it looked empty.

"Me either," Naya said. "I want you so bad, Uri."

Another explosion of impulses took over the two of them. Uriel used the cool cave wall to support Naya's back as he hoisted her up. She fastened her legs about his waist with a deftness that left him breathless. His hood and veil came off, followed by the damp scarf he kept around his neck to keep cool.

Uriel felt the tension in Naya's arms as she jerked the layers back and in her thighs as she wrestled his ribcage between them. In contrast with her coiled strength were those tender, easy kisses. Naya was selfish with her tongue, rewarding him only when he least expected it and never lingering for too long. Her hard muscles juxtaposed against the softness of her mouth – this was insanity. Had he not been responsible for holding her up, he would have gladly melted into a puddle.

<You are hopeless, boy.>

Uriel suppressed the urge to giggle. He didn't care what his fire had to say. Naya made him the happiest man in the world.

Her lips formed a question. "Uri?"

He rocked his pelvis against hers. "Naya?"

She moaned and dragged her mouth down to the hollow of his throat.

"You know that ghoul we're supposed to kill?"

Uriel grunted. "What of it?"

Casually, she said, "I think it's behind you."

"Okay. Give me a minute."

Uriel took his time lowering Naya back to the ground, all the while, he sensed the ghoul approaching from behind. It carried that familiar foul stench of rotting meat and caustic saliva. Once Naya was back on her feet, Uriel turned to face the incoming ghoul.

It was ugly, amorphous, and it stunk.

Uriel sneezed some ash on its face. Then he ignited it with a cough.

The ghoul screeched and danced around in circles, poisoning the air with its dreadful wails. Naya pointed her index finger and shot a turquoise dart right through the part of its body that should have been a skull. It silenced the creature.

While the ghoul's essence dissolved into a pile of sludge, Uriel took Naya's hand. "Let's go back to the jann."

"Uh, don't we need to bring some evidence that it's dead?"

Uriel looked down at the sizzling puddle of ooze. "That's not a bad idea." He crouched before the dead ghoul. "There's got to be a tooth or something around here."

While Uriel picked through the remains, Naya readjusted her hood and veil. Moments later, Uriel located a molar and spat on it, using his saliva to burn away the ooze. There was an abrupt shuffling of feet as Naya nearly collided with him.

He rose and caught her by the shoulders before she stumbled into the ghoul puddle. Her eyes were wide and fixated on the hollow of the cave.

"Naya, what's wrong?"

Pointing towards the dark hollow, Naya gasped, "That ghoul that you just killed, I think it was just a baby. And from the looks of it, we've pissed off the rest of the family."

Several lolling maws and red spots for eyes materialized in the darkness.

Uriel's lip twitched into a snarl. The ghoul had not been alone. The jann had lied.

"Naya, get behind me!"

The horde of ghouls lunged at once. Naya screamed.

Uriel had no time to react. He sank fast and deep into his suit of fire, not caring how it would damage his human flesh. He roused his fire to action while he bathed himself in it. With his diaphragm, he drew up molten rock – his primary choice of projectiles – and forced it up and out of his esophagus.

The lava rocks met their targets, but Uriel stumbled backwards. He had summoned more power than he should have. While his body recovered, he seized Naya's wrists and dragged her closer to the entrance of the cave. There was no use fighting a family of ghouls in the dark.

Some of the ghouls had fallen from the lava shots, but there were at least three that hadn't been in Uriel's line of fire. By the time he and Naya made it onto the sand, he had to get down on his knees and catch his breath.

<Let me finish them off.>

Uriel heaved. "No! The pentagram is burning me. We've already used too much magic."

"Don't worry, Uri. I've got you."

Uri turned his attention to Naya, who was guarding him from the approaching ghouls. They hissed in discomfort when they stepped out into the sun. The light gave their grotesque forms some definition. These three were much bigger than the first one.

Naya flicked her wrist in order to activate the fiery blue whips that spawned from underneath her fingernails. Uriel watched on in awe as Naya cracked her whips with another snap of her wrists.

The ghouls roared.

Uriel tried to call Naya back, but his throat was too sore from heaving up the molten rocks.

With practiced, easy steps, Naya thrashed the ghouls with the ends of her blue whips. She directed the attacks at their eyes. The ghouls wailed and grabbed at the fiery threads. One of them was able to wrap its gnarled appendage around one and jerk Naya forward.

Uriel watched on helplessly as Naya was forced to get within striking distance of the ghouls. They descended upon her despite the threat of her whips. Naya held her nerve and focused on wrapping all five whips of one hand around the neck of one of the ghouls. It thrashed in the sand as she choked it into submission.

For the other two, she became an easy target. They each launched putrid, neon green slime in Naya's direction. She dodged one glob, while the other landed on her shoulder.

"Mother fucker that hurts!"

Uriel found his voice. "Naomi!"

He forced his throat to accept another ball of lava. He heaved in agony as he forced it out and aimed it at the ghoul closest to Naya. Then he fell sideways into the sand. It took everything he had left to keep Naya within his sights and not pass out.

Even though there was only one ghoul left, Naya hadn't put enough distance between herself and it to rely on her whips. She scrambled backwards and dug something out from the folds of her clothing. The remaining ghoul snarled and galloped, kicking up gallons of sand with its jagged claws.

Uriel wanted to tell her to run back to the jann, but it would only risk causing permanent damage to his mortal body. He kept his eyes locked on her and prayed for a miracle.

Whatever Naya was looking for, she found it – a bottle of sorts. She ripped off the cap and downed the drink like it was the last one she would ever take. And then, when the ghoul was inches away from collapsing on her, she lifted her head up and unleashed a burning shower of blue fire right in the ghoul's face.

The booze-charged shower was only strong enough to temporarily blind the ghoul. While it was occupied, Naya dashed back several feet and unleashed the whips again. She viciously whipped the ghoul until it was on its knees. Only then did she use her whips to choke the life out of it.