Saved and SAINTified (38 page)

S
aint shrugged, yawned and looked around the room. “If you say so.” Using his tongue, he worked a piece of food out from between his teeth from his meal earlier in the day.

“Here is something that may come as a surprise to you
. I decided to read some of your books. We have the same passions.” He pointed to an oil painting hanging high on the wall of all of his African wives. “I agree with your principles, Saint. You’re a very wise man. My wives are my passion, my affinity. I always wondered why we were like this, you and I. Our love for darkness is, well, magnificent.” Nizsm’s eyes glossed over with a sexual haze when he stared at the picture.

“I don’t know about that,
Nizsm. I
love
black women—African American, Sudanese, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Jamaican, French Canadian, you name it. I had to have them on a daily basis. I treated them like my air and food. Now, I just need the one. You don’t love anyone but yourself. You have no love for black women, or any woman for that matter—you have lust for them and what they can do for you. On the surface, it may look similar. That is the only thing we have remotely in common, Nizsm. You never grew up in that department. It’s a pity, actually.”

A
brief pause.

“S
aint.” Agitation seeped from Nizsm’s voice. “I see that you will continue to be uncooperative. I’m doing my part. You need to do yours; it is in your interest... ”

“You’re cursed, man. At this point, there is no getting out of this for you. Y
ou will repent to me for this. Because you have had the audacity to speak to my father about such a grotesque act, and you have invited me here to all but spit in my face and insult me with complete and utter bullshit. Your goose is cooked. I’m coming for you when you least expect it.”

Nizsm
stood angrily and hurled his glass across the room.

“Let’s just
go straight to the point, Saint. Kill your daughter or leave it up to me. You have two choices and those are it. She is a threat to my empire. I will lose everything and I refuse to lose at anything, ever!”

“Oh, you’ve lost before,
Nizsm. That’s why I’m here—because you lost.”

At that moment, the tension in the room built at an exp
onential rate.

“Watching you is like watching a baby trying to teach itself to swim. It’s
tragicomic and never ends well.” Nizsm slowly sat back down.

“Oh, I know enough,
Nizsm.” Saint stood and shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels while smiling complacently. “I know you and I are not the same. You’re the opposite of everything I believe in. You came into the world and created havoc. I was born into the world to create meaningful change. You drew your first breath and almost snuffed another out, your own mother. I dare say it was on purpose. I drew my first birth and gave another life.”

“So I see that you’ve done a little homework
,” Nizsm scorned. He folded his hands over his groin. “There is a way of life that only a person of my position can administer. There are promises and agreements that must be upheld.”

“Well, not all agreements need to be kept.” S
aint thought about his promise to his mother to never harm someone except in self-defense. If there was ever a cause for such an action, this was it.

They shared a long silence.
Saint sat back down, but was anxious to leave. He needed this wrapped up before he reached over and punched Nizsm clean in the face.

“Hassani, Dakarai and
Xenia will die soon. I’ll take your sons as well, as a token. It’s a shame about Xenia though, really.” Nizsm looked at him smugly. “I got to see her ... study her. She is a
fine
specimen.” He sighed as he scanned Xenia’s body pervertedly with his thoughts, allowing them to be on display for Saint.

S
aint hissed through clenched teeth. “If you ever … and I mean
ever
… violate my wife like that again, we will tussle, right here, right now. You won’t win if you fight fair. You’re afraid of a good old fashioned beat down. You know I’d fuck you up so bad, your own children wouldn’t recognize you.”

“That may be true, S
aint. I’m sure that due to your recent leanings toward violence, you’d succeed in that, but psychically, you’re no match whatsoever because you are completely out of tune and hysterically scattered. You can thank your father for your family’s death. He should have told you long ago, trained you and cultivated your gifts. Now,” Nizsm smiled and shrugged, “you’re at a horrible disadvantage and it will cost you everything.”

Saint seethed, but coaxed himself back from speaking just yet.

“Back to Xenia though... ” He tapped his finger along his chin. “Please forgive me, but I would love to taste her forbidden fruits. Maybe I will, right before I kill her.”

S
aint shot out of his chair and barreled toward his nemesis, causing the man to fall back smacking into the ground. Nzsim’s eyes bulged when Saint’s hand squeezed tightly at his throat, cutting the air supply. Their gazes locked. Nizsm’s wives rushed over from nowhere and surrounded Saint, along with several of his children. Saint could feel the piercing psychic waves from Nizsm’s broods. They began to descend upon him, screaming and shrieking until Saint looked up toward them and pushed them back with such intensity, they were slowed to a mere crawl. He glared back down at Nizsm, but didn’t dare release the man until he’d had his fill. After a few moments, he slowly freed him.

“That’s your weakness,”
Nizsm choked out. He rubbed his reddened throat and got to his feet. “Saint, you have no control over yourself as it pertains to that woman. She will get you killed.” He narrowed his eyes upon Saint. “I could blow on you right now, Saint, and demolish you.”

“Why? Because you need some mints?
What the fuck have you been eating, man? You got breath like you’ve been licking a thousand camel asses.”

“More jokes.”

“Ain’t a damn thing funny.”

“Because of your wife’s desire to have a girl-child, and
the subsequent result of that, you now will have to go against
me
, and you will lose. I will be the victor. It’s a shame, really,” Nizsm said nonchalantly as he shook his head. “I know you worked so hard to find that woman and keep her. Yes, that’s right, Saint. I know all about you. ”

“You never found your soulmate,
Nizsm. If you did, you’d understand why I’d literally walk through Hell and back to get her all over again and keep her. Since you don’t know what love is, and I’m not even sure you know what
like
is, you have no idea what drives me and why. Love is a foreign language to you, and you don’t even know its alphabet.”

“This has nothing to do with love, so that is irrelevant. What
is
relevant is the fact that I need you to ensure that the pregnancy is terminated. Now, I understand things got a little out of hand, but, take some time to think about what I’ve said. Upon your return to America, I expect you to do as requested or you and your entire family will be annihilated. You know that you don’t want to go against me, Saint. You are far from stupid. This is not negotiable.”

S
aint put his hands on his hips, scratched his forehead and surrendered to laughter. “You’re bat shit crazy if you think I’m going to ask my wife to terminate this pregnancy. Nothing has changed. This was just meant to be. Accept it, man. Neither you nor anyone else you employ will be able to do a damn thing about it.” He pointed to Nizsm’s sons, the strongest of the group seemingly frozen in time. Saint crossed his arms over his chest and took a battle stance before shooting the crowd around them an ominous glare.

“You’re right about one thing you stated to my father,”
he said to Nizsm.

“And what’s that?”

“It
is
business and my Goddess, my princes and my-soon-to-be-born princess are all my business—they are under my cover. Regardless of my crash course, cliff note learning, psychic 101 for dummies, you still are no match for me and deep down, you know it.”

Nizsm
cackled. “You’re delusional. I don’t have this
swag
you urban Americans speak of. I don’t have your same level of charisma, I will give you that, but one thing I do possess, that you don’t , is the killer instinct. You’re afraid to kill and hate it when you have to. That’s what we do, Saint! We give life, and we kill. You don’t even know who the hell you are! You want to forever be a ‘good guy’ and you’ll have nothing to show for it.”

“Your original purpose,
our
original purpose, was to help our fellow man and instead, you alienate and destroy. We are still human, Nizsm, and that means we can die and our souls can perish forever. You’re afraid to go to Hell, because you know what’s waiting for you. Enjoy your small piece of heaven on Earth because once you come after my family, Hell will look like a vacation.” Saint’s tone brooked no argument.

“Yes, maybe that was it
.” Nizsm nodded, his face twisted as he seemed to be going into a series of distorted daydreams. His eyes went wild, like those of a lunatic, as he jumped topics. “No one gave us the recipe on how to create a Princess of Life. It doesn’t exist. There is no map or set of instructions, yet, you’ve done it with a commoner. In any case, Xenia must be special. I’d like to find out what it is about her that...”

“Yes, I know she is and I don’t need you to remind me. She’s mine and if you touch her, try to hurt her
, then I will—”

“You didn’t let me finish, jealous one,”
Nizsm sneered. “She is entirely too much trouble for a man like me to want to put up with. She’s mouthy and overly-opinionated. Trust me, after a romp in the hay with your soul mate, I’d discard her. It’s mere curiosity. I do, however, want to take the woman that made the great Saint Aknaten lose his mind.”

Saint kept his cool.
“Nizsm, this isn’t a video game. You just tried to push me over the edge with an old trick. You know that the angrier I get, the more tired I am and I can’t concentrate. That won’t happen again. I already felt your throat; I could feel the weakness inside of you. You’re no one to bow down to. This isn’t ancient Egypt, either. You’re no ruler. That is in our family’s history, pharaohs, but you’re not one!”

“My blood is from
kings and queens. Your Asian ancestry has diluted you. You’re inferior.”

“The heat has gotten to you. You’ve made yourself into a
king. Calling yourself something does not make it so, simply because you claimed it. Kings aren’t self-proclaimed, they’re born. I have the Princess of Life, Nizsm, because I’m the proper father for such a soul. She came from
me,
from
my
soul,
my
body,
my
essence. My wife and I gave her life—she was made from love, which makes her even more beautiful. She is coming, with or without your consent. YOU don’t decide if she is born or not. You’re not God. I would die for her.”

“Glad you stated that
—since you’ve made your choice, that’s your destiny.”

“You wouldn’t die for anyone,
Nizsm; therefore, a king you are not. I’m a warrior. You don’t want to go up against me. You’ll have to resort to tricks and illusions because you know you could never fight fair with me and win. You’re not even a real man. A real man, a
real
ruler, works for the people who appoint him, not from stepping on the backs of others to climb to the top. So, do what you must, Nizsm.” Saint waved his hand. “You will never get my sons, my daughter, or my wife. What you will get is death. You’re not my first go ’round at this. I’ve done this shit before.” And with that, Saint turned his back in preparation to walk out.

“You know that I will not hesitate. My advantage over you is that you are
sloppily developed and I also have my sons and daughters to help me carry out my needs. I started procreating at the age of sixteen, to create the Princess of Life,” he yelled as Saint sustained his trek across the vast room. “I needed to secure my family. I was diligent in my efforts! What do you have? Nothing! A meek friend—his intelligence won’t help him
or
you, a father who is obsessed with a dead Korean woman, an incapable wife who needs her big mouth sewn closed, one son who gets bullied on the playground and takes it, and another who still wets the bed.” He laughed. “What can they
possibly
do?! This is almost too easy!”

S
aint looked over his shoulder, his heart like steel. “I have an army within myself, and should I need a little assistance, it will be more than you bargained for. Now, you have a good night, Nizsm.”

“S
aint, you’re making a grave mistake. You must reconsider!”

S
aint raised his hand in a good-bye gesture and left the house, leaving the enemy behind. “Sleep tight ... don’t let my residual swag bite. Bitch-made mothafucka. I will make you bleed profusely before this is over...”

****

Later that evening…

Nizsm
pushed his fist through the large bedroom window. It shattered, joining the disjointed, sharp remains of two other windows that lay a broken mess from his venting. He turned toward the Oracle as he paced about in a maddening rage.