

Grabbing The Hot Gate People controlled by dangerous desires

A Paranormal Novel

Akintayo Akinjide

© Copyright, 2018 Akintayo Akinjide

Cover Design by Imasetng

Editor: Precious Adejumobi

Published through

Writertain E-Publishers

Contact: writertain@gmail.com

Other Books Akintayo Akinjide

-A Dread in The Spine

\- Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening
Dedication

Dedicated to Juliana Oloyede aka Toyobaby, for the numerous things she had to battle.

And

Folashade Adetunji for overcoming always.

Contents

1. Flickers of Light

2. Seeking A Greener Pasture

3. Battle on This Side of the Gate

4. First Touch on The Hot Gate

5. The Problem That Lasted

6. Staring at The Gate

7. Dragged Through the Steaming Gate

8. Hopelessness

9. The Painful Desire

10. Springy Gate

11. The Gate Fell

12. The Mirror View

13. The Path Taken

14. The Culture of the Other Side

15. Cutting The Last Rope

16. Against The Callback

17. A Man's Shoe

18. Portal Built

19. Backstabbed

20. The Never Ending Journey

Read First

The story happened in Fortunecity, a private island in Nigeria. In The Year 2016.

The private Island is divided to Greencity, Brownvalley, Blacktown, and Suncity.

Chapter 1

Flickers of light

Stella felt excited. The whole church was watching. That was one great thing that came with being in the prayer unit of the church. You're allowed to do deliverance, even in public. You're made a celebrity than even that most skillful choir member, and the pompous pastor, who pretended to be humble, mostly referring to himself as 'my humble self'.

That day, the church, Wild Fire of God, was wrapping up a seven-day open-air crusade. She had been granted the opportunity to wrap-up the program with a prayer session. When her coordinator informed her about the few minutes she had been given, she immediately began to prepare herself for what would look like an eternity of deliverance. With all the energy in her, she got ready to utilize the opportunity she had always craved: to come out of her hiding.

At first, she was going to let the prayer trend in its usual boring style. The church would only shout words that had no effect in the spiritual realm. But then, she saw something that excited her. One of the girls in the choir unit was possessed by the demon of deceit and attention. She craved it. The girl looked simple in her dressing and mannerism, but for some stupid reasons, she always had an unusual gait about her that made people throng around her. Stella rushed to the girl like a thunder storm and began to chant without the microphone. The opportunity was rare.

Normally, the church would assume she was speaking in tongues. And for the fact that she was the one leading the prayer meetings, she was at liberty to do anything she wanted. Although there were a lot of witches in that gathering- some as visitors, others as church members- none of them could understand the ancient curses she used. That was the edge she always had above them. How old were they? The oldest among them would be probably 120 years old and she was edging towards her millennial. They were just kids and she had never for once considered herself as their mates. None of them could ever go through what she had gone through.

Before she moved to the girl's side, she shouted at the church, 'you'll pray that God, every tree you have not planted in me, uproot it by fire'.

If her memory served her well, that was the 57th time they were saying that prayer since her ninth month in that church. Yet, the church members always took the prayer seriously every time they gathered, and had never ceased to surprise Stella with the renewed way they saw the prayer point. Regardless of the number of times they had said the prayer, the church prayed fervently as if their stomach was a field that anyone could just plant any unwanted tree- ignorance. They cried and shouted with enticing energy. She loved it.

Her chant was directed towards giving specific instructions to Heetah, her demon, the strongest demon she had ever seen in Fortune City. Immediately, it began to torture the demon in the girl. The exciting thing about torturing the demons in people was that it made the people receive the same feeling the demons within them were having. The girl screamed, failing to stand aright. She clasped her hands over her ears and began to scream. People lost their concentration and focused on the lady. Stella loved the publicity and would have instructed them to focus the camera lens of their phones on her, but, she needed this one to be done in secrecy.

'You'd better close your eyes so as not to go home with someone else's problem. The spirit of Leviathan is at work here. Keep praying'.

The church returned to their fervent prayer, which became louder as if they were trying to drown the girl's scream with their noise, as if God wouldn't hear their voices above her painful scream. Even the little children among them vigorously shook their heads as if the unwanted tree was planted in their heads. Stella noticed that some of the witches in the gathering were sending terrible curses towards her, but she couldn't be hurt. All the smaller demons within her were having a field day at suppressing the power of the witches' demons. Their faces gave away their disappointment, but from research, she knew that she had to react the same way most of those ignorant powerful pastors would react. She pretended as if nothing happened to her. She was stoic as she faced the girl who had taken to rolling on the floor. Heetah was having fun with the girl's demon. If she gave it the chance, it would love to play with her body for a long time because he wanted the lady to suffer.

If she still wanted to deceive the witches of Fortune City that she was a Christian, she had to pretend as if she didn't know anything was being done to her because their frustration had begun to turn to reckless muttering, and screaming. Many of them had turned to the use of loud incantations that looked like speaking in other tongues to a regular Christian but were actually curses.

Stella screamed into the mic. 'I am the daughter of the most high. I am not just any person. I speak as an authority. Keep quiet oh ye power of the heathen. The most powerful one is in your midst. Be quiet ye kingdom and force of darkness'.

She would have loved to call all the names she had once been referred to as- the good ones: Jadis, Glenda; the bad ones: Eva Nora, Bavmoda\- but she kept the details to herself. The demons cringed within the witches around and they yelled in retaliation and obedience. One of them screamed and fell, turning sporadically.

'The power of the Lord is moving strongly in this place, don't miss this opportunity'.

Despite the perceived decorum that the church was known for, the 'humble' Pastor Praise climbed the altar to join them on the stage. Exactly what she needed. A little interference from the 'humble one' because she couldn't concentrate on the altar if she had to keep fighting the obstinate witches. Stella expected that the Pastor would direct her and the screaming girl to move to the back of the church to continue with her deliverance. That would be a good place for her to make the girl empty and available for the spirit of another Nephilim walking on the streets. The Bible even said if the girl was rid of demons, seven more would inhabit her. As much as she would have loved to help the girl from being a breeder of demons, she was under instruction to make everyone in Black Town prepared for Lucifer's total domination of Black Town.

'Sister Stella, please move', Pastor Praise, whispered into her ear. Stella gritted, moved aside, and smiled. To the church, she was excited about being helped by her pastor, but to her, she had finally made him an egomaniac. With his new ego, the church would crumble easily, starting from his family. His wife had been made addicted to chocolates and donuts, and for that reason, she had been growing obese. Very soon, Pastor Praise would have a fall-out with his wife because of her size. He had always praised her slender nature when Stella first came to the church.

Pastor Praise snatched the mic from her hand, rolled his shirts and stood, poised as if he wanted to fight the demons physically. He began to question the demon, who railed curses at him and the church instead of answering the questions asked of it. This made Pastor Praise angry. After all, he didn't become the Pastor of such a great church by being talked down by demons. He shouted the name of Jesus, and the demon screamed, pleading first then shouting curses. Then, they started from the beginning and repeated the cycle many times.

Meanwhile, Stella stood beside him and pretended to pray along with him. At the Ministers' side, the other Pastors linked their hands and were praying fervently. Over a small demon? She shook her head and heaved over the frustrating life that some Christians live.

Pastor Praise called for a bottle of anointing oil. Stella stood beside him and repeatedly chanted for the demon to enter her. One of the protocol officers rushed to their side with a bottle of olive oil. It took Stella a great deal of effort to stop herself from shouting in surprise as Pastor Praise bathed the girl with the new bottle of oil. The girl shrieked and flustered on the ground as if her whole being was on fire.

'Come out of her', Pastor Praise shouted.

'Come out of her', Stella shouted after him. The girl shrieked and kept rolling as the demon fought its way out of her, into Stella. She felt heavier. She smiled and waved her hand, rejoicing. The other pastors, whose eyes had been blinded by ignorance, rejoiced along with her and the beaming Pastor Praise. The girl stopped rolling, and laid still for a while.

Despite not being a Christian, Stella's aim wasn't to disgrace the girl in front of the congregation. Heetah must have seen that she wouldn't do what he desired, and had stoked the 'humble' Pastor Praise's pride. By this time, many people in the congregation were staring at the innocent young lady, whose white and black choir uniform was now dirty from the excessive rolling on the floor in addition to being soaked in a bottle of olive oil. Stella couldn't imagine what the thought of the congregation would be towards the little lady. Many of them would her as being demon possessed and would react stupidly around her for a while.

'Devil, you're a liar', Stella said as she helped the girl up.

He knows, Heetah said to her mind.

'Thank you, lord. Thank you lord', she shouted.

Heetah had warned her against using the name 'Jesus' anyhow. He asked her to always say lord, which referred to Lucifer, their lord. And whenever she was to say 'in Jesus' name we have prayed', she could either aspirate 'Jesus' by pronouncing ' Jhesus'; or nasalize it, as in 'Jinsus'. With that, she wouldn't face the wrath of he-who-seats-on-the-throne, and she was always careful about that.

After a little more charade, Pastor Praise returned to his huge golden seat with a pretentious humility and avid desire for praise while Stella stepped down from the podium, and stared into the weak church. They were all weak and blind spiritually. No matter how much they shouted, no matter how boisterous their plea was, they didn't have the reality of Christ, none of them. And she wouldn't be the one to enlighten them, not in this life.

Just as the service was going to a close, Heetah and all the demons in her wriggled.

'What's that Heetah?' Stella whispered. The woman sitting next to her, glanced at her, and nodded understandingly. Everyone assumed she was in the spirit, that she was silently speaking in tongues. So, she made the façade remained so.

'Someone entered the church. He has light'.

'Okay. Project it, let me see', she whispered.

Heetah projected the Church. Everywhere was dark in the spirit except a flicker of light from the end of the row.

'Was he in Church all this while?' She mumbled.

'Are you deaf? He just entered'.

'Show me his face'.

'I can't'.

'Why?'

'Light! His light is still on'.

She shrugged. 'I will put it off'.

That was her job in Fortune City: to put off the light in Fortune City before Lucifer's invasion – rather, visit. She was under strict order not to join any coven. Her job was to deceive all – the witches and the Christians alike. That was her job. Since she had killed the light in the Church that seemed to have the most balanced way of Christianity, it would be easier to kill the others.

Her initial plan was to ensure she sought him out after the service, but when the person in charge of announcement called for first-timers, and he was led to the front of the church, she made sure she remembered things about him. He was surely getting his flickers of light from a source outside of Black Town, she could see the singed parts of his spiritual wool and knew that he had just recently received the fire from somewhere else.

After the service ended, she moved to the person in charge of following-up new members, who was watching the members of his unit do their job effectively. She always loved his energy, and hoped he would also realize that he was in danger, but who was she to feel sad for the people of Black Town. They had allowed ignorance to take over their mind, and she wouldn't do anything about it.

'Matthew, good evening', she said as she extended her hand for a handshake. He rose quickly and staggered then steadied himself. His right foot was shorter than the left. She would have loved to help with some incantations that would cause the immediate growth of the leg, but doing that was preserved for the glory of her husband, her master, Lucifer. It would still take a bit of time to do such a thing in Black Town.

'Good evening ma'.

'God bless you, sir'.

Then they exchanged pleasantries in a way that was boring and awkward like the formal, religious people do, one she always hated. But she had to follow their trend if she ever wanted to penetrate them and their lifestyle.

'I guess you must have noticed me and Gladys', she said.

She bit her lower lips as she remembered whom she had always loathed. Gladys had recently been getting closer to her, and she hated it. Stella suspected that she got closer to have power because Gladys had been chewing the phrase in her mouth like beef. Yet, Heetah didn't seem to be against her coming close. There was a prophecy that a great one was coming to take over Black Town after Lucifer's visit. She should have known that Lucifer had a plan that was beyond her reach with Gladys. Heetah had just spoken through her to Matthew, and she had to keep the pretense.

'Yes. I notice...'

'Oh! Please let's have our seats', Stella said as she dragged a seat out of the row to sit in. Matthew sat as if he was pulling a rope, and she couldn't imagine the pain that would surge through her body if she ever had that deformity or any deformity.

'You were saying?' She said.

'Yes, I said I noticed you two are getting closer day by day'.

'Good. I'm her mentor or a sort of um...guide for now. And one of the components of her training is to be actively involved in the unit she is'.

'That's lovely. I also noticed that she has been actively showing her ability in God'.

'So, I want to advise that you sort of make her cattle have something to do. Let it mow the field for God. Let her follow-up one of the new members'.

'Well there was only one today', Matthew replied dejectedly, and she gritted as she knew she would soon be soaked in the same message Matthew preached every time he climbed the altar. But she couldn't resist it. Staying behind to listen would propel him to do her bidding without her having to cast any spell on him.

'It's so painful to see the people of God gallivanting around, and not do the sole purpose of their salvation. The main aim of the gospel. How will it be today if everybody brought somebody to church? Oh! The church is dying, and we need prayer. Prayer should resound in rooms, and doorways, and on the balconies of people for the Church of God'.

She nodded approvingly. He was right, but not about the prayers for evangelism; rather, for the gospel to be rejuvenated.

'Do you know that last week, just last week two brothers left the Church for another Church?'

That caught her attention and she had to make Heetah stop his search for someone to disturb their meeting. Earlier, when his rambling was becoming overbearing, she had made Heetah scout for someone to break their meeting.

'Where did they go?'

'Who cares? They said that the Word of God is not here. They are going to one fellowship in Brown Valley. Can you imagine? Fellowship. When there is a Church of God, established and known for the wondrous ways God works'.

'So they left the Church for a fellowship?'

'Yes, my sister. And we need to bring back...'

By this time, Stella was tired of his rant, so she made Heetah nudge a woman to come to meet her. The woman, who seemed to have been waiting for her, edged towards them and bent her knees.

'Oh, Mrs. Kolawole...' she said and pleaded with Matthew that she wanted to attend to her.

'Matthew, the prayer unit would bring back the fire'.

He nodded and heaved.

Stella also heaved as she led the woman to a corner of the Church. Although she had left his side, she wanted to knock his head for referring to her as his sister. Her mother knew how many children she gave birth to, and she was aware that Matthew wasn't one of them. If he saw in her old form, he would refer to her as his ancestor.

She allowed the woman's talk bore her, as she continually listened to her claim about how the devil was disturbing her family. Stella glared at the woman for a while and felt it was time to finally ruin her family. So, she informed the woman that her husband and her sister always provided comfort for each other in bed. The only pretentious advice she had for the woman was that she needed to be patient enough to pray to God for direction. At least, she did it in the Christian way. She didn't have to wait to know if the woman prayed or not because immediately, the woman stormed outside and landed a loud slap on her sister's alluring petite face. People gathered around her, and enquired about why she was hitting her sister.

'She's sleeping with my husband', the woman yelled.

The church members around the little rancor saw the need to teach the naughty girl a lesson, so they dragged the girl to the Pastor's office, where the woman's husband, the assistant Pastor, was having a meeting. As their noises faded off, Stella couldn't help praise her prowess. She had to see the end of it. She rose but was stopped on the way by the Bible Study Secretary, Christiana.

'Sister Stella, can I see you?'

Stella stared at her in surprise. She had always noticed the other witches in the Church, but had always assumed that the disguise around Christiana was some burden placed by one of the witches of the church.

'You either have to leave this church or die', Christiana, whispered, smiling broadly. Christiana was known for snide responses to people's questions, and the big smile that always accompanied these responses.

If Stella was a normal ignorant Christian, she might have assumed the Bible study teacher was pulling her legs, but her aura said more than enough for Stella not to believe her.

Stella sat straight and leaned on the back of the chair and said, 'he who dwells in me is greater than he who is in the world'

Christiana chuckled. Her black hat was beautifully balanced on her head as if it had finally gotten to its permanent site. A fluffy yellow feather waved from the side of the hat. She was a fashionista who always mixed beautiful colors with simplicity. Her grass-green gown went along with the gold pendants she wore as a neckpiece and the simple stone earrings she wore. Yet, one could still notice the fire in her brown eyes. Disfiguring her beautiful look was a scar that looked as if it was penciled by an evil artist to look like a whisker.

'Your blood will be on our altar next. I saw what you've been doing to most of my people', Christiana said as she stared at her fingernails as if she was seeing them for the first time. Her fingers were trimmed in such a way that was extremely normal, yet conspicuous with its peach color. She then proceeded to pull them as if she was straightening them, and folded them as if she was trying to claw at Stella's face.

'Leave this church and give us our freedom to act. By the time I'm through with you, even your Jesus won't be able to save you from the gruesome death you would die. We would feed your body to the crows and vultures. If you're lucky we can give some parts of your body to the great eagles that assailed the mountains of the ages and ancient ones'.

Stella stared at her and was only angry at Lucifer for making her pretend about who she was to Christiana. At least, she would have made this scarecrow know that she, Stella, wasn't one of the birds she could scare away, that she was the fire sent to prepare the field, to propagate the land.

'You've been warned', Christiana said as she rose and then bent towards Stella. 'We, the witches of Black Town want you gone before we sacrifice you to our Lord, and we want you gone before next week Sunday'.

Stella touched her yellow turban and wiped down the long skirt she wore. She hated turban, but the one she wore was meant to hide the injury she got from setting herself on fire after practicing a fire spell. The spell was supposed to stop her from catching fire, but she made the mistake of putting her hand on a part of her head. Now, the part was singed and should be healed before nightfall. If not, she would have loved a cool air to blow through her head while she made sure the scarecrow in front of her suffered for her foolishness.

'Because you've threatened the chosen one of the most-high', Stella said as if she was in a trance. 'You will suffer for it. You will be punished with the thing you love the most'.

Suddenly from outside the church, a little child screamed and someone yelled. Christiana looked outside with trepidation written all over her face, while Stella retained her angry trance-like face. Normally she would have leered to show her dominance, but it wasn't one of the characteristics of Christians to revel in such victory.

'Mummy Divine', some shouted for Christiania from the doorpost of the church.

If she was still trying to figure out what had happened, she didn't need to be told that it was her daughter that screamed outside. Christiana removed her shoes, dashed out of the Church, and cried as she met a crowd around her daughter.

'Now, go outside to take the glory', Stella told herself. She pleaded with the woman, who wanted to see her, as she began to rise from her seat, to be patient with her.

However, when she got there, she met humble Pastor Praise bending and praying over the girl. He had gone out to take something in his car, probably to reprimand his assistant, the adulterer, but was met with the trouble of the girl. The little tiny innocent girl was fuming terribly, and an old woman had plugged her fingers in between the girl's clamping teeth- she was convulsing.

Christiana stared dagger at her and wailed. The other witches there took Christiana's cue, and tried to make Stella know they suspected her.

'Oh God, save my daughter'.

The young man, whose light she was to quench, ran out speedily with Matthew trailing after him. 'Get everyone away from her', he shouted to no one in particular as he rolled the arm of his shirt. 'Come on people, get back', he shouted.

'Window closed', Heetah complained.

'Yeah, right.' She said and edged into the little crowd that had begun to gather.

Christiana shook from side to side like someone infested with ants, and looked as if she would explode. The young man was bent over the little innocent Divine, employing every means to save her.

'Heetah, save her', she muttered from where she stood. Although he hated her leniency, and promised to get back at her later, he stopped tormenting the little girl.

'In Jinsus name', she said as she moved closer to Christiana. Christiana gave her cold glare, and hissed as she wrapped her hand around the girl, who was now lying still. 'Never promise to hurt the chosen one of the most-high. You can't, because I'm under his shadow, terribly and dangerously protected'.

***

Gladys Bolawole sat still after the service, and waited at a corner for Stella. Normally, she should have queued up along with others to see her, but she had all the time in the world, she could sacrifice all the time in the world, and she would utilize it by waiting patiently, especially as Stella ordered her to wait till she finished with the people she was talking to.

Although Stella wasn't the prayer coordinator, she was more fire-branded than the other members of the prayer unit. She was an emblem of power and genuine 'holy ghost fire'. She glanced at Stella again, and saw her talking to the bible study teacher, Christiana, whom she had also started warming up to. However, for reasons beyond her comprehension, Christiana had suddenly become cold to her. She had almost summoned the courage to ask if she did something wrong, but felt Christiana was busy and didn't know how to handle it.

'Sister Gladys', Matthew, the follow-up unit's coordinator said with a broad smile that she understood to mean that he had gotten someone else to be a member of the Church and he wanted her to approve. She wasn't even the coordinator or an assistant, but Matthew just had a knack for making sure everything was working fine, and that she was part of the process. If he had the mind of making her his assistant or recommending her for any post, he had better keep his recommendation in the deepest corner of his pocket because she wouldn't oblige the call to a post until she had laid her hand on what she desired.

Gladys gritted as she tried to avoid staring at the person Matthew came with. He wasn't the typical tall, dark and handsome type of guy. His body could easily be described as a beans stalk. It was only his neck and few inches of his shoulder that made his head different from his body, but he had a goatee that made him look handsome still. His soft clean-shaved cheeks were the perfect example of what she wanted on any man she would want to call her own.

Despite the nagging painful desire in her heart to see Stella, she presented the man a big smile as she rose from her seat, hand outstretched.

'Sister Gladys, he is our first timer. He's bro...'

'Japheth Adeogun'.

'Yes. Bro. Japheth', Matthew said joyfully. 'We will be visiting him soon. Both of us'.

'With all pleasure. It's a good thing to meet you, Bro... Which of the two is your name?'

'Japheth...'

'Good. Nice meeting you Bro. Japheth', she said as her mind began to creep back to her desire. If she got what she wanted, the thought about him could follow. She glanced at Stella's seat and saw she had one more person to attend to.

'Nice meeting you too' Japheth said. Then, Matthew led him away after lamenting about the poor evangelism of the Church, and how he might start a prayer meeting soon to ensure that the Church came back to sense.

She reverted to her thought, and didn't care about the way Christiana, sprinted out of the church. She wanted to be alone, in her coldness and desire. When she saw Stella strutting out of the building, she wanted to follow her, but she saw that the other woman was also waiting. She saw the shadows of the chairs on the floor, and wondered at the mysteries of the world. How was it that the sun could give a clear reflection of people's body? Some people have even learnt how to manipulate to form different objects and animals. What could she do? Nothing. She was so useless that nobody was thronging to her like they did Stella. If she got the power she so much craved, the whole mysteries of this world and of God would be laid before her like a field of herbs. She would know the deep things of God, and have the power that he had endued his own with.

However, she was soon accosted by the assistant Bible Study Secretary, who came to ask her to join their unit. Upon seeing this, the Prayer coordinator rushed down to her side and playfully asked her not to accept the assistant Bible Study Secretary's offer, that the prayer unit had a better offer for her. The two of them rambled on, and tried to engage her in other drab worthless discussions until the Pastor's wife, Mrs. Praise, came around that she needed to see her.

'Do you mean you two are here fighting as if you're dogs and she's bone? Didn't you hear the commotion outside the church?'

'No, ma', the prayer coordinator said and glanced at the door that led out of the church.

'See you. Divine had convulsion outside now. It wasn't funny. Only God saved her. God really saved her. Even Mama, that old woman that plays a blue fishlike tambourine...'

They nodded.

'...Her fingers were injured because she dipped her hand into Divine's mouth. God! That woman. I feel for her'.

'Our same Divine?' The assistant Bible Study Secretary bemoaned, and hurried off to meet Christiana, who was leading her daughter into the church. She had a mark that always made her smile look like a frown when she wasn't showing her beautiful white teeth.

'Yes o. Thank God for Pastor, and one brother like that. I think he is the newcomer. The man is good. He quickly attended to her, and he helped stabilize her'.

The Prayer Coordinator also joined Christiana and her assistant as they kept trying to make sure Divine was alright.

'Please have your seat', Mrs. Praise said as she squeezed her fat self into a plastic chair. Gladys glanced at the leg of the chair and felt for the chair. It was bent to a side. If she were the chair, she would probably give in to the heavy weight.

'Well done ma', Gladys said.

Mrs. Praise started out by asking for the unnecessary things like how was her work, and a lot of rubbish that Gladys was sure would eat into her time and prevent her from meeting Stella before someone else came to get counselling from her. Her three-year-old son ran to her with a packet of chocolate to report someone and she waved him away, but not before she tore the wrap, and munched part of the bar of chocolate. Her son ran away mumbling how he would report her to his father. Gladys was sure she would never use her as a mentor. She didn't want chairs under her to scream in disgust as well.

'Mummy, I have an appointment with Sister Stella, after that last woman'.

'So you're saying I should say I want to say and leave', Mrs. Praise joked. Gladys smiled.

'That's not what I mean'.

'I know. The thing is that...' Mrs. Praise said with a serious face as she tried to sit well in the chair. The chair winced and quaked. Mrs. Praise adjusted herself.

'Sorry ma'.

Mrs. Praise waved her hand. 'Don't bother about that. I know it's not in my place, but I think I should hint you. Pastor ought to have called you about this, but I guess he is so busy and the person that sent him to you really wants the reply soonest'.

Gladys felt the urge to glance at Sister Stella but she held herself in place like the taproot of an herb would firmly do.

'How often do you pray?'

Gladys blinked severally, she never expected such question from Mrs. Praise. 'Regularly, daily'.

'I mean about him'.

'Who?'

'Him. The him', Mrs. Praise said and winked. Her closed eyes made her look like the bark of an old tree. The new suits she wore was in no way able to cover her fatness up. Unfortunately, she wore a small blue camisole that made it hard for her cleavages to get any covering, and because of that she kept covering the cloth with her sweaty hand.

Gladys blinked severally and gurgled. 'There's no him'

'Seriously? At this your age, with this kind of beauty?'

Gladys blinked again. 'Erm... It's not on the top of my list at the moment. It's still in the store and would be later placed on fire, but for now. I'm not in a rush'.

Mrs. Praise sighed. 'Mr. Akanni, you know him right'.

She nodded. He was extremely rich and was a good singer, handsome and played with kids a lot. Who wouldn't know him? Most of the ladies in the church referred to him as husband material, 50-yards.

'He believes the Lord wants you to be his wife'.

At first she stared at Mrs. Praise, then she scoffed and burst into laughter. 'Mummy, that man...He must be engaged now. Maybe he just said it in passing. I mean...'

'No. He meant it. Don't think about it. Just pray...'

'Mumm...'

'Just pray'.

'I won't lie. I'm not ready to pray. If he can wait, I'll pray.'

'He will wait...'

'For like two years'.

'Are you joking?'

'No ma. My desire is different at the moment. And I'm not ready to pray on such frivolity?'

'Marriage? Frivolity? Are...'

Stella came forward and Gladys felt like jumping on her as if she was her mother, who had arrived to save her from a wicked older neighbor. 'Mummy. Gladys. Good evening. Sorry for disturbing. Gladys, when you're ready.'

'We're done already'. 'Just pray about it'.

'I've heard you, ma. Tell him my stand, ma'.

Gladys rose. Even if she would pray, it would be for a bolder man, not for one that hid under a fat Pastor's wife. She looked at her blue midi skirt and dusted off wrinkles from it. She had ordered her outfit from Fundel Collections, along with the bell sleeved striped top she wore on it, and a Hermes bag. The collection was transported to her from Ibadan, and she wouldn't want Mrs. Praise to stain it with her ungodly news. How would it be that her clothe that didn't have any blemish on it when it was transported to Black Town, would now have stains from the rubbish Mrs. Praise was spitting. No wonder the man always wanted to give her a lift despite knowing she had her own car.

Gladys scurried after Stella, who walked away majestically. When they closed the door of the Church's prayer room, Stella asked, 'What do you want?'

'Power. I want power'.

Stella gave her a bland gaze that made her anxious. She sighed as if she had no other option. 'Okay. Let's start'.

Chapter 2

Seeking a Greener Pasture

Stella shook her head despondently. Despite the power she wielded, there was nothing she wished more than to stop being a witch, to stop being in hiding, to stop looking over her shadow, and to have control over her thought. In reaction to her thought, Heetah sent pain to her chest. She winced. Lucifer had placed Heetah in charge of her, to monitor her progress and imaginations. When she started with it, she assumed she was in control, but as she came to grow in her knowledge of its work, she knew she couldn't control it one bit. Instead, it was the one in charge of her. The pain died down almost as if it never happened.

'Gladys, I understand you', Stella said as she flashed a painful smile at Gladys. She was fair in complexion and had a body structure that always taunted Stella's frail body. Despite the fact that she ate a lot, her body refused to grow bigger. Even her father, the recent one, had a saying that she was a septic tank. Gladys was blessed with a kind of power that could destroy the whole world; that could bring men down to her feet. She was a typical definition of a goddess. She had red lips, dilated pupils, fit body, good skin, long legs, hourglass structure. What more did she want power for? To destroy the lands? Stella guessed Lucifer was about to get another replacement for her. He had tried many times, and all those times the girls had been stupid enough to fail woefully. She would do her best to train Gladys as much as she could, but would also prepare to have another year added to her years because like the others, Gladys had the potential to fail.

'I don't think you understand me. I think God isn't ready to use me. Maybe I'm worthless. Why can't I get the power to heal the sick or is it truly fiction?'

'Gladys', Stella faked a frown and moved about in her long, queenly, black adorning-pink-stone-filled gown. After living in Fortune City for years unnoticed to the witches living there, Stella felt she should be happy to have a protégé. If eventually Gladys became the new wife of Lucifer, Stella would have the chance to go to the mansion Lucifer had promised her. Despite visiting the place many times, she had a nagging feeling of doubt. Demons were masters of illusion. Their master, Lucifer, was an illusion himself.

Stella had moved from one territory of Fortune City to another. Now, being in Black Town had opened her to something she never had the chance to do - having a protégé.

'Yes. I've read about it on different websites, where many atheists proved that God doesn't exist. I'm tired'.

Stella studied Gladys's spiritual hedge. Her spiritual doorways were ajar, and that was good for the entrance of demons into her body. A new demon could enter her without much trouble. Gladys was foolish, even Lucifer was aware of God's existence and couldn't dispute the fact.

'Gladys, calm down! Let me pray with you. Rather, let me pray for you. Calm down'.

They were in the prayer room, and it gave Stella an ample opportunity to do whatever she wanted. Heetah displayed to her spiritual mind the demon tormenting Gladys, and she couldn't believe her eyes. Gladys kept shouting in the physical. However, the demon shouting at Gladys' spiritual being was as small as a rabbit. Her spirit was crouched on the ground in a corner, whimpering and crying in fear when she was supposed to scare the demon away. Her soul saw her position and transmitted it to her reasoning as torments.

Stella asked her to kneel down. Gladys hurriedly did so.

'Say spirit of the power of the lord', Stella said after she had told Gladys to raise her hands. Gladys repeated the chant.

'Say, I desire you today, lord. Take over', Stella said and Gladys repeated it.

That's one thing she loved about Christians: they were so naive to believe the Lord would allow another spirit into them aside from the Holy Spirit.

Stella did the sign of the inverted cross to mock Jesus' death on the cross, and to make the demon coming know that she had given it access to Gladys's spirit.

Gladys began to shiver. Stella smirked. She hadn't even done anything. Another thing she hated Christians for. They allowed emotions to be in charge of their soul and invariably their spirit. That was how she watched a video that detailed the life of a fake evangelist. The wicked man made the video among his drunk friends. He played a video of how he would touch people and they would fall as if something had touched. Whereas, he merely played with their emotions.

'Receive power'.

'Amen'.

'Let it begin to move from the top of your head to your belly'.

'Amen'.

Stella watched Heetah conjure a demon of power and directed it into Gladys body. Without wasting time, the demon connected her soul to her spirit, and it took control of her soul. Normally, a supreme being ought to be in charge of the spirit. So, if one allowed one's soul to be in control of the spirit, one was subject to whomever one had sold one's soul to.

'Shout Glory'.

'Glory'.

'Gladys, you will begin to see things. Tell me, can you see anything?'

This time, Gladys' eyes were still closed and she was vibrating. 'I can see a light going off. We need to pray. Everywhere is dark'.

Stella smiled. She had no need to destroy the newcomer any longer. Her new protégé would.

Gladys looked excited and the joy that radiated in her heart poured out through her face. She couldn't stop saying 'Glory, Hallelujah' as they headed for their cars. They greeted the security men who answered them excitedly. Leaving the church was a relief for the lazy gatemen. Stella headed to her car, and saw Mr. Akanni, the rich businessman, their church member, walking towards a tired, power-drunk Gladys.

Stella smiled warily as cold breeze brushed her, and a storm began to disturb the peace of the night. If she hadn't known better, she would have agreed that it was a normal rain breeze. Despite the darkness that cloaked the whole area, she could still see the backyard of a house because of the bulb the occupants placed there. The back of the house had many trees, which shook vigorously in tune with the storm. Even the plantain stalks among them danced terribly. She sighed and started the car. The process of taking over had begun, and it would soon eat down into Black Town. If given the chance, she would have loved to be the one in charge of overseeing Lucifer's next plan for Black Town. Suddenly, one of the plantain stalks crashed.

She sighed again. There was a popular knowledge that a fallen plantain does so to give room for a sprouting one. She had just received her confirmation. Gladys' training must start in earnest.

***

When Gladys got to her doorstep, she met her thirteen-year-old friend, Elizabeth, sitting there, waiting for her, gazing into the grey sky. The light from the white bulb under which she sat was not helping matters. A lot of insects danced around it.

'Baby, what? Why are you here?'

'Miss. G, I told my mum, I would sleep over at your place. We have a visitor'.

'Oh!' Gladys said and shook her head. Elizabeth's mother was a typical harlot, and she had just proved herself to be one. How would she allow her daughter sleep at her neighbour's place because a man had come to her place?

She led Elizabeth into her room. She lived in a room and parlor self-contain. If not for her sisters' school at Greencity, she was sure her mother would have lived with her. Even at that, the woman still had ways of disturbing her peace. For that reason, Gladys visited and slept at her place every Friday, to return to Black Town the next day. She looked at Elizabeth, and knew the only thing the little girl needed was power to be free from her mother's clutch.

As usual, before she slept, she called her mother, who ranted that she should have called earlier. They discussed and talked about little things. Gladys reminded her to watch out for the merchandise coming from Fundel Collections. Those clothes were special to her. Her mother whined about how she wasn't her servant; yet, Gladys knew she would collect it on her behalf.

Gladys disconnected the call and slept off in peace. One day, she would be free from her mother's insistence on them talking to each other each day. But today, she had to be the mother of a girl, whose mother was in bed with another man. That night the storm howled terribly and it rained heavily.

***

Japheth moved about impatiently with Matthew, and wished he hadn't raised his hands when the announcer was calling for first-timers. He had only felt the need to overcome his urge to always have sexual intercourse. It had taken him off course, and made him lack the will to talk to Mirabel, a nurse at the hospital he worked.

After he attended to the little girl that was convulsing, he tried to explain what the mother should do to avoid the repetition of such, but the mother wasn't in the mood to listen to him. She grabbed her daughter and stormed into the church as if he was wrong to have saved the little girl. Matthew flashed him a smile as if he was used to the woman's temper, and he led the way outside, limping.

'So, Mr. Japheth, we would be in touch with you. Nice having you around. We would be expecting you on Wednesday. You would come now?'

'I'll try'.

Matthew turned, limping terribly. 'Don't miss it for anything. You know it's painful you missed our three days of worship. It comes up every first three days of the month. The November edition held last week. You don't want to miss December's own. Then, you almost missed our seven days' program. I'm even happy you didn't have to wait till 2017 before tasting the greatness of God in our Church'.

He nodded and Matthew explained how God was in need of him. In fact, Matthew might have kept rambling if a lady hadn't hurriedly whispered into his ears. Japheth exhaled as he entered his car and drove off.

If he hadn't seen the Church, he would have been with a lady. Not just any lady, a young girl, Alexis, whose life he ought to impact. But, he just couldn't control his urge around her, maybe because they explored different sexual fantasies together. He was driving to pick her up when he saw the Church. He stopped and reconsidered his plan as his mind dashed back to one of the numerous messages Mirabel sent to him through WhatsApp. He had never for once told her about his sexual escapades; yet, she always had a way of sending the precise message to him. How would one tell the lady he was falling in love with that he couldn't control the little man within his zip?

Immediately he saw the Church, he called Alexis and told her he had to attend to something in the hospital. She ranted about how he made her prepare, but he knew she would get over it. She always claimed she was in love with him, and he knew he loved her, maybe not as much as he loved Mirabel.

Now that he had told Alexis that he wouldn't be at home he couldn't go home early. She knew whenever he called like that, he would return home late. If he returned early, she would compel his gateman to tell her the truth about his time of arrival, and that would be a cause of trouble for him. So, he dialed Mirabel's number, and she informed him that she was about to leave the hospital.

'Don't get a bike, I'll come for you'.

She joked about how he wanted to act like Superman. He laughed at her joke and headed for the hospital. When he almost got to the hospital, he sighted her from afar. She was still putting on her white nurse uniform, and had a red bag dangling from her hand as she glanced from side to side. He honked immediately he stopped in front of her. She was intimidatingly tall, straight, fair, and had two deep dimples that drew him to her always, that always gave him the inspiration to make her smile. Her big glasses were shaped in the same way the animators designed the eyes of Jasmine of the animation 'Aladdin'. She had her fair share of bust.

'Hello, Beauty'.

'Hello Beast', she said as she slumped into the seat beside him. 'How long did it take you to get here?'

'Ten minutes'.

'That's five minutes short of the time it would take you to get to my Church from here. It takes me like fifteen minutes on a bike'.

'You and your Church'.

She brought out her phone and began to type into it, claiming she had to reply all the WhatsApp messages she had received.

'What's for dinner?'

She looked up and hissed. 'You should have told me earlier. Now, I'll be going to a restaurant with my uniform'.

'Hey! I never said we were going for dinner'.

She bared her teeth at him, and smiled, revealing her deep dimples. If he should go down the lane of arguing about dinner with her, she would win. So he chose to take her to a fast food around the corner.

'Nah! Let's go home first. I have to change my dress'.

They drove to her house, which she shared with her mother. However, her mother had travelled to Greencity because her sister, Mirabel's aunt, had gone missing. They said she saw the vision and someone kidnapped her.

Mirabel changed into blue jean trousers, and a plain red shirt. By the time she was coming out, he was outside his car. He stared at her hungrily, and wished he could find a solution to his problem on time. She had tied her loosed hair to a bun and now looked amazing to him. Her glasses adorning her face intrigued him the more, broadening his smile.

She glanced at herself and at him in the little light from the streetlight shining over him. 'What? Is the cloth not fine? You can't expect me to wear a gown after the whole day's business? I'm not even your girlfriend'.

'Of course. You're just my sister'.

She bared her teeth at him.' I'm your mother'.

'Do you know you always look like a rat when you bare those teeth?'

'Ah!' She yelled and hit him repeatedly as he kept giggling.

They drove off into the night, and they went to have a nice dinner. They talked generally. Whenever he was with her, he was always free. When he returned her to the house, she refused to allow him to enter.

'Jaf, I'm not a virgin. Not proud of it, but I can't... You', she said and stared into the little lamp her neighbor placed near the tray of bread she displayed for sale. Japheth rubbed her shoulder as he crumpled the bunch of keys in his other hand.

'I just wanted to while away time. So, don't bother'.

She sucked in air as if it was cooling off her steaming body. 'It's not your fault. I don't know why I can't stay in the same room with my best friend when I can stay around a lot of other guys'.

He smiled and tapped her cheek. 'The feeling is mutual'.

'Then we need prayer'.

He nodded in response.

'And I know where we can go'.

'Where...? Don't say it. I know. Your Church?'

'My Church. Or we can go to that Prayer group we used to go before you suddenly stopped due to what happened.'

'Are they not the same people in your Church?'

She nodded. 'So let's go to my Church'.

'Your Church', he nodded and entered his car. She glanced at her phone and typed a reply to someone as he started the car. 'Did I tell you I have a Church now?'

Her eyes widened. That was the expression he wanted to see. He drove off before she could react. And she did react, running after his car, but he was far gone and didn't stop until he got home.

When he got to the gate, Chuks, his gateman, hailed him. The man always reeked of alcohol, but he still couldn't understand how he still always remained sober. By this time, a cold breeze had begun to gather.

'Tonight. I won't sleep', Chuks shouted as Japheth walked towards the house, playing with the bunch of keys. As against his custom, he turned to Chuks, 'You better sleep. Tomorrow is Monday. I'm leaving for work early. And stop blabbing. I've told you to stop drinking'.

'Boss. The strongman'.

He shook his head as he marveled at how God made two good things happen to him that day, if not three. He ditched Alexis and went after Mirabel. From the look of things, Mirabel was ready to accept his offer, but he still wanted to bid his time until he was sure he was ready. Alexis would have expected his call for him to explain how work was hectic and so on. Instead, he dialed Mirabel's Glo line. He just loved their network above the others for no reason.

Being a Christian had been his priority since he got saved in his final year at school. He derailed but he had to retrace his path back to Christ and had to start living like a Christian. He had to gain his life from the claws of fornication before it was too late. He had to pick himself off the ground, dust his body, and return to the feet of God.

Whatever he planned got scraped out of his mind as he inserted his key into its hole. The door wasn't locked. Does that mean he left the door open like that when he left home? Although he trusted Chuks, few people have authority over temptation, especially if they weren't Christians.

He unbuttoned and pulled off his striped shirt as he dumped the key on the center table in the sitting room, and increased the sound of his stereo player. He was fond of switching off the stereo player, and locking the door before leaving home, but he didn't do any before leaving home. That means that in his desire to get to Alexis, he had left the song playing.

The stereo was playing Sade Adu's song 'Jezebel' as he slung his shirt over his shoulder and dragged himself to the room. The next day, he would get some Christian songs to supplement his desire for God.

However, what he met in the bedroom made him shout. Sitting on the bed, naked and beautiful, was Alexis. He bit his lower lip as he stared at her. She was once his savior in her little way, but now he couldn't classify her as one. She was becoming a disease; one he must treat before she caused his demise.

'Why are you staring at me? Come to mummy. Come and take cowbell'.

'Not today... I went to church'.

'What? Awwwnn... Jaffy is becoming a husband material. Good. But now that you have scabash, come and lash me too'.

'Lash...?'

'Must I describe everything with my mouth?'

'Whatever... Just put on your clothes. I'm driving you home. What's the time?'

'It's...'

'10:43. We can still make it to your house'.

'What's this levels? Why are you acting like this? Stop telling me Jack Robinson. Come here... Why must we always act this film every day. The series is over. Let's play the game of obedience and you go first'.

'I'm not a virgin, but this is not cool at all. We should think of something better'.

'Shhh... Come to bed, now'.

He held his breath and closed his eyes as he hoped he would be able to hold himself. But she was becoming saucy and that one thing about her excited him.

'I'm not doing you any good?'

'If you're not doing me good, no one else will. Come here now, boy'.

He blinked repeatedly as he climbed the bed, unzipping his trousers, hoping God would forgive him, that he would get victory over his love for fornicating with her. Maybe he should leave home for a long time, and go to Mirabel's Church. They were best friends; she could even help get a place to sleep till he could overcome Alexis' control over him. But how would he be free if he ran? Running wouldn't help in anyway. He had to fight for his freedom before January 1st.

He came back to the pleasure of the moment when Alexis meowed like a cat, while rain started to fall outside.

***

Stella's parrot, Jiggs, shrieked and flapped everywhere in the house. Bits of its feathers sprinkled the room, some of them dropping on her lips. She rolled off her bed. Spitting the bits that fell into her mouth, she hurriedly switched on the light, and stood in a safe corner of her room to see Jiggs.

'Jiggs... Jiggs... Shut your trap. Can't a girl sleep without your disturbance?'

Jiggs kept raving about something and she yelled for him to stop.

'I can't get you. What's the time? It's...' She glanced at her wall clock.

'They are coming. The witches are on their way here', Jiggs shrieked.

'It is 1.46a.m. What? Who? Who is coming? The Witches... Oh!'

Her first reaction was to sit back and watch them crash into the mighty protection she had placed on the compound. Then, it occurred to her that no matter how deceptive her protection was, the witches would know the source. A typical Christian home is always surrounded by a type of fire that no witch can duplicate, and fierce angels, who would take it upon themselves to sometimes preach to the witches. She ran out to the sitting room, and with a wave of the hand, opened the door. She ran outside. In her haste, she didn't wear a slipper. The consequences of which was that she would climb the cold ground. Despite the cold rain, these witches still had longing to have a party at her house. Nigerian witches are big time fools. She waved into the sky and sent energy into the sky, destroying the protection.

'Lucifer, I hate you', she screamed. The protection on her house took her three whole week to build. It was a special type that required a lot of sacrifices. She had done it to make every activity in her house obscure to the world. Now, the protection had to be removed because Lucifer wanted her to keep the act. Like the Christian Bible said, it is always hard to build but easy to destroy.

She rushed into her room, and glanced at Jiggs that flew right at her. With a snap of the finger, she turned it into a bible and didn't give it time to oppose.

'Now, be useful for the first time', she mumbled. If she hadn't made it inanimate, it would have reacted. She hurriedly got down on her knees and began to pray. All alarms in her body blared as the witches landed in her compound, using the body of their familiars. They weren't knowledgeable about how to use those familiars, they only turned to their familiars in the night. They hurriedly transformed into their body, about five of them, Christiana leading the way.

She focused on the traditional prayers that had been known to be cloaked like the Christian's prayer. Immediately they barged into her sitting room, she changed her prayer from the traditional method to ancient curses. She would have gone deeper, but she preferred the one used by the mothers of the unforgiving shed. The witches screamed immediately they heard it, and began to yell. Their noises could be heard outside the house, but she was lucky that her house was somehow secluded to the corner of the street.

'I beckon on all the mothers of Nigeria, and Fortune City to destroy this woman. She is disturbing us with the name Jesus', Christiana shouted as she seemed to get control of herself.

Stella had to pretend as if she didn't see them. That was frustrating. She could have sent one straight plain English curse to them. But hurriedly, she sent a counter-curse to them, and Heetah surrounded her with blazing fire. Christiana, who was advancing towards her with a rusty knife that was once buried in the cave of the ghosted, yelled and crashed into the chairs. The other witches, seeing this, rallied round and burgled her outside.

'The great one is coming. She would destroy you. She would destroy your power and the name you look up to', Christiana yelled as the others pulled her out.

They transformed into their familiars and disappeared. Stella yelled in anger and frustration that she didn't get the chance to enjoy that moment. If she had been allowed to use her hands on them, they wouldn't have breath left in them anymore. She slumped into the chair that wasn't tampered with. Now, she had to rearrange the house and start her protection spell again.

With a snap of her fingers, she turned the bible into a parrot. Jiggs complained and ranted about how cruel she was, as if she didn't know. The work the demons have left for her wasn't that much but it would have been better if she got someone to help her. She was tired because of using a lot of energy.

'Heetah, you're so useless. Simple house chore you can't do'.

He made a sound, like a leer. She hissed, crawled back to bed and checked the time. It was 1.51a.m. They didn't even spend a lot of time. The longest fight she had ever had, that had almost made her lose her life was with Nancy, and that was 50 years ago.

Chapter 3

Battle on This Side of the Gate

Gladys stared at her Bible for hours. Something was wrong but she didn't know what. Ever since she got that power, she had stopped having a desire to study her bible. When she received the ability to see visions, she felt good, excited. That was her third week of getting into the realm of this power; yet, it still felt fresh, rich and heavenly. She now imagined things, and saw it happen like a coincidence. However, for no reason, she had been extremely busy and hadn't had time for her quiet time. Who could have time for a quiet time when one had recently been promoted to the post of the managing director, to lead the best marketing team since the inception of the company?

But being a Saturday, a work-free day, she picked up her Bible to read, but the words were becoming blurry to her. More so, the usual joy and hunger that accompanied reading the Bible were missing.

At first, she attributed the new development to pain and stress from her weekly activities, so she took some seed of Opium Poppy, the herbal seeds she got from a store on Jumia, a Nigerian store, to help relieve such things as pain. Now, that she was awake, agile and fit for any work, she still couldn't get herself to study the Bible. She slapped herself and repeatedly said, 'Gladys Bolawole, the devil cannot control you'.

Maybe she would have garnered a lot of knowledge from the church, but her insatiable desire for more of God and the power that followed him had so much encompassed her being that even if Stella hadn't compelled her to pray, she would have gone to the prayer room herself.

The ordeal that was the most intriguing, yet the scariest of them all, was the moment they started praying one Tuesday. Stella asked her to speak in tongues and blank her mind. It wasn't hard to do. At that moment she wished she had used the lovely rosemary herb or Brahmi herbs, they would have helped her focus.

'Just feel like water, feel everything becoming empty...', Stella said and reduced her voice gradually like the dying down of a storm amidst a roaring forest.

That instant, things began to happen. It was as if she saw herself like a leaf flying in the sky. Everything was happening so fast. She saw herself moving into the church. She became two. A cord was attached to her praying self, and the other body was moving towards the church. The experience was so cool. She was excited. She could feel herself from both sides. It was a silver cord. Immediately she got home, she searched the Bible for it, since she had read something around that. Her problem didn't start with her inability to read the Bible. It started like a sprout. The moment she sat to read the bible, something would surely happen – at first, it was only phone ringing, neighbors chatting away, dogs barking, birds chirping. But today, she was tired, which was absurd because she had enough sleep. Being tired, when it came to reading the Bible, wasn't one of her features. That was unusual. Something was wrong. She had to talk to someone, and there was no other person than Stella.

'Gladys, hope all is well?' Stella said as soon as Gladys' call got through to her.

'Please, can I come to see you?' Gladys said as she stared at the City Flower laying in a corner of her room with the hope she would get excited about her new ways, but she couldn't feel the joy in reading it.

'This night?'

'Yes. I really need to hear your comments on something'.

'My comments? Of course, you can. Just state it'.

'So, can I come to your place?'

'Not right now, I'm only receiving your call as a courtesy. I want to lock myself in a room to pray. If it was someone else, I wouldn't answer'.

'I am having a bit of trouble here. Remember that day we were praying at the back of the Church?'

'There are many times we've done that'.

'Yes, this last Tuesday meeting'.

'Oh yes. I felt God's glory radiating through you. The energy you exuded was so great that I was refreshed'.

'Yes, I think I have a problem. I saw myself and I could feel myself in two places at once. I have been seeing for a while now, but it became more pronounced that day'.

'Hmm... That's a spiritual transportation'.

'I know. It doesn't feel right.'

'Why do you think so?'

'Ezekiel, in his book, said, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and then he would proceed to describe things of the spirit'.

'Yes. That's right'

'But I feel mine'.

'You are meant to feel it'.

Gladys rose from her fluffy bed, which she had covered with a blue flowery bedspread, and she paced about in the room as she adjusted her hearing aid. 'You don't understand me. I'm not supposed to feel it'.

'Who told you so?'

'It's not consistent with the word of God'.

'Hmm... Gladys, what are you now? A guru of God's consistency'.

'No'.

'Did you notice anything strange?'

'Yes'.

She stared at her giant mirror and stared at her perfect body. She mindlessly used her finger to trace the curve of her body.

'I saw a silver cord'.

'Like a thin line...Silver?'

'Yes. It was like hands. They were two, actually. Each one was attached to the two bodies. I could feel it in both ways. It was amazing, wonderful and great but scary'.

'Wow. That's a feat many Christians in this generation would not be able to achieve. Even at the peak of their walk with God. That's a big gift'.

Gladys smiled. The mirror was right: she was beautiful.

'The first record of such was in Ecclesiastes by Solomon. Is your Bible close?' Stella continued.

'Yes'.

'Ecclesiastes 12:6. It says remember your creator now while you're young before the cord of life snaps...'

'Yes.'

'Do you now see its consistency with the word of God?'

'Not yet'.

'It means we ought to have it. It has to be a part of us'.

Gladys always knew when things were right. Even when she was an unbeliever, she always had a nagging thought that always led her into doing the right thing. Something wasn't right. She was soon becoming wrapped in a trap of weeds, and if she didn't do something about it, she would end in the bottom of the mountain.

'The silver cord is your link to the spirituals', Stella continued. 'You have to learn to use it. It's an exciting thing, really'.

'Thank you. Just that I don't...'

'Gladys, don't bother, I'll be here all the way'.

'Thank you'.

Then, Matthew called to confirm if she would be available to visit Japheth. Although they promised to visit him for more than two weeks, she had been terribly busy and Matthew insisted that she must be the one to follow him up because he wanted Japheth to see someone he was acquainted with.

She stared into the mirror and traced the bulging head of her hearing aid, and wished it wasn't in her life. It was true that every human had a sort of imperfection, but of all the imperfections that ever existed, why was she cursed with ear problem.

She had been drawn to Japheth for no explainable reason. After she got the power she had always craved, and had gotten ready to know more of God, she just found herself always staring at him during Church services. Although the church was big to an extent, she still could see his figure at the front. He loved sitting at the front. Sitting at the front was a characteristic of every first-class student in her school. She was sure he was a goal-getter, and from the look of things he wanted to grow spiritually.

Knowing that they would soon go to his place, she rubbed the cream she made from cinnamon and hot pepper on her body to have a glowing, wrinkleless skin. Even if God would want Japheth to be the one for her, she had to go prepared.

She paused. Why was she suddenly obsessed with her looks? Something was wrong. She had to quickly talk to Sister Stella again. Not today, but definitely on Sunday after the Church service.

Just then, she received a message from Mr. Akanni. He said he wanted to greet her, and said so much rubbish that should be weeded out of his head. The most painful part of his message was that all the words were in capitals. The men of the present age ought to be flogged, and tutored on how to send messages to women. She couldn't fathom why someone would be obsessed with lies, telling her that God wanted him to marry her. Despite the numerous times she said 'no' to him, he kept returning with the assurance that God had sent him to marry her. Even the Sunday after their revival program, he waited till she finished praying with Stella. Gladys hissed as she checked herself in the mirror again.

Suddenly, Elizabeth banged the door and called from outside. She rushed out of the room, and wasn't concerned if she was putting on only her bra and pant. Elizabeth had seen her like that many times. And she had no fear of being seen, no one knew her house, not even the church members. They saw her as someone big in church, someone that was already grounded in the Lord.

'Baby, what hap... Oh my God!' Gladys shouted as she ran back into the room to get her key. Elizabeth's face was blackened, and her fair face had the mark of her mother's hand on it. Her hair was scattered as if they were pulled in different directions. She was weeping without shame.

'Enter. Enter', Gladys said as she opened the door for Elizabeth. Immediately she opened the door, Elizabeth hugged her. She continually patted Elizabeth's head as she locked the door and led her into the house. She set her down on her bed, rushed to her fridge, and returned with a glass cup and a carton of juice.

'Drink', she muttered as she poured the drink for her. Elizabeth was heaving repeatedly as she tried unfailing to stop crying. She would hold the tears for a while and burst into tears again.

'Miss. G, I'll kill my father', she said after gulping down the drink.

'Don't say that. What happened again today?'

'She was drunk. Then she met me watching TV. She thought I hadn't done my assignment, so she started yelling at me'.

'Have you done it?'

'Yes. I did it yesterday, immediately I returned from school. She then came near me and slapped me and started hitting me. She said my dad left her for another woman. That she would show me pepper for what he has done. God will pu...punish my daddy'.

'Shhh', Gladys said and buried Elizabeth's head in her chest. 'You don't need to say it'.

'Why can't God just kill him?'

'Hey! That's okay. I'll talk to your mummy'.

'No. Don't talk to her. She likes you. Anyone who tells her the truth is always her enemy'.

'But she can't let this bad behaviour destroy your love for her'.

Elizabeth glanced into her eyes, blinked and shook her head. 'She is only angry. She will change'.

'God pays everyone their due. Now stop crying'.

***

Birds in their large numbers flew over her house, and made Stella angry. Her house was like a no-flight zone for birds. They were one of those that always sensed when something had happened. They knew she had removed the protection spell, and decided to have a field day. One of them dropped by the window and continually poked the window. Stella jumped down from the seat she placed on the balcony, and looked about. Different animals scampered from different directions and were passing different pieces of information to her. Someone with a powerful strange evil energy was moving towards her house.

How was that even possible? No one was supposed to know where she was. Lucifer said he had hidden her well from the whole lot of them outside and within Fortune City. He had either lacked power, which wasn't possible or had shown this person where she was. She could wager her life on the latter.

'Jiggs, we would be having a visitor', she said to her parrot. It rattled in its cage and flew out. Immediately Jiggs flew off into the air, Stella connected to it. She always connected with all her familiars far and wide.

She rushed to her underground room to get her cauldron. Someone was coming to her place using an elder tree as a medium of transportation. She had felt the vibration in her spirit. All the demons located in her familiars around Africa had connected to themselves and were trying to get information about this person. She checked her latest spell and played with it. The truth was that even if the person was the most powerful witch in the world, she had the home advantage.

Jiggs croaked and flew towards the house like a mighty wind and crashed into the wall, shrieking. Stella had to hold its beak to keep it from shrieking. She wished the witch had come the next day. At least, she would have met Stella's protection spell. She was supposed to pick the concoction from the coffin she buried it in.

'What is it Jiggs?'

It projected the image of Nancy, the mother of Gregory the third, the high priest of an American coven. She killed him in a battle in 1997. Now, his mother was coming after her in 2016. She dropped Jiggs and jumped about, wondering how she would deal with Nancy. The last time she had an encounter with Nancy, they had both ended seriously injured. Stella spent more than six weeks drinking lavender herb. She looked around to be sure she was ready to take Nancy on. She wasn't really prepared for a battle with Nancy.

She looked around the underground and hoped she would ever live to see it again. However, she wouldn't want her neighbours to see what would happen there. So she tried using a cloaking spell. At least, that would help for a while.

Just as she poised herself in front of her house, the elder tree appeared and Nancy strutted out. Immediately she strolled out, the energy of wickedness exuded from her. Cloud began to gather in the background. Her body was looking fresh, a sign that she recently drank a fresh blood. Her cold eyes scanned the whole compound and rested on Stella. Her red long full hair began to dance in the wind that was howling behind her. Crumbs from the elder tree flew towards her.

'Nancy', she squealed, smiled brightly, and waved at her. 'Hi'.

Nancy glared at her as she moved forward with her rugged staff, which she carved from cedar. The pendant Nancy wore on their first fight now hung from the staff she held. 'Stella, the greatest witch ever lived, who has always been in hiding. How does it feel to always be in hiding?'

'It's boring and awfully peaceful. Sometimes, it always makes me lazy. Just last three weeks, I burnt my head while trying out a new spell', she said and parted her hair, trying to show Nancy. 'You might not see it. It's becoming too small like your life'.

'I can see craziness is still hiding in that tiny head of yours'.

Stella giggled. 'Meanwhile, you forgot to say whose life has been dedicated to doing the most horrible works for Lucifer'.

Nancy growled. 'Oh, I forgot that horrible and foolish part. The part where you don't have a life, where you don't have a family'.

Stella nodded. 'Family sucks. They reduce the level of efficiency. At least, my hiding does not always bring about their death'.

'Yes. That's why I'm here to know why you killed Greggy'.

'Oh! I almost forgot, I had a hand in the death of one of your dead children'.

The dark cloud above had begun to grow darker. Nancy's hooded eyes were turning red as the purple dress she wore suddenly began to change to red. 'He was my pride'.

Stella stared at her for a while. 'You're still proud. So how did I kill your pride?'

Nancy's grip tightened on the staff as if she was squeezing a piece of paper. 'You killed my son'.

'But I heard he was a bastard like his mother'.

'You bastard... I'll make sure even the earth refuses your dust'.

Stella bared her teeth as she withdrew to give herself the chance to enjoy the view of her house. Jiggs was poised to aim for Nancy's raven. It would have been a great fun to watch the two familiars have a great tug of war, but she just had to deal with Nancy. Her regular self wouldn't have had a desire to destroy Nancy, but Heetah wanted her to and she was desirous of doing just that.

She should have guessed Nancy was reciting a spell in her mind as she stared at her without making any move, but she was still rummaging through her head for what to start with when Nancy pointed her ugly staff at her and shouted, 'deliver my revenge'.

Purple energy transcended from the staff, and hit Stella hard in the chest. She screamed and bent in pain. Her bones began to cackle as if they were boiling. Blisters and cuts began to appear on her body. Nancy had just used the spell of many cuts on her, and that enraged her.

Stella screamed, 'Sylphs of Air I conjure thee, enter Nancy and make her air leave her, now!'

Nancy gasped and choked and grasped her staff as if it would remove the demonic force from her. Stella hurriedly cast a spell that restored her strength. She shook her head.

When she was fine, she knew she didn't have much time before Nancy regained her strength. So she prepared to cast another spell. Probably one that would make Nancy end in a terrible way.

However, as she wrapped her hands in preparation to send a curse at her, Nancy pointed her staff at her and shrieked, 'Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust'.

The energy was so much that it took a great effort on Heetah's part for her not to be obliterated immediately. Yet, her hands began to crumble into dust. She shrieked and as she began to cast the counter-spell. The hand gradually began to reform. She cried in pain as the bones began to form again. From above, the familiars were having a great fight, and their feathers fell once in a while. She would have loved to see who was winning, but it would be at the expense of her life, which she still loved over fun.

'I told you. I'll send you back to the dust'.

Nancy repeated the curse, and held her there for a while. Her hands gradually changed into dust and poured on the ground. Stella yelled. That was the crux of it. She focused her energy on the mental picture of Nancy and yelled, 'It's the plague, and it's going to kill Nancy now because there is no cure. It's the BLACK DEATH!'.

Nancy shrieked and fell, her staff rattling beside her. Stella wasn't going to allow her rise again. It was high time she used the Medusa curse she just learnt. 'I call upon medusas bones, turn her flesh into stone'.

Immediately, Nancy became stone. At the same time, a bird dropped by her side. She turned to watch Jiggs land on the dead raven. It placed its foot on the dead raven and raised its head into the sky. Stella would have laughed, but her hands were growing slowly and painfully, and were sending tears to her eyes. She yelled and rushed to repeatedly kick Nancy. She had always been the one that knew how to send much pain to her. Now that she was dead forever, they would meet in hades.

Although the hand was fully formed, the injury remained as fresh as a knife cut. She crawled into the house to sip in some Lavender. Ruminating on her life, she couldn't help but cry. There was no joy anywhere. Her grandmother had made her a witch almost a thousand years ago so as to avoid the pain and trouble of the world. But every corner of the earth was rigged with pain and trouble. She rested her head on the wall of her room, glanced about and laughed heartily.

'I made it again', she said with tears streaming down her small, tiny head to her tired, slim body. When she was refreshed, she made the elder tree disappear and then dragged Nancy's dead body, rather, body-turned-stone into the house. That was when she had Heetah's and Lucifer's time.

'Why did you allow Nancy find me? I thought I was well hidden'.

'She sacrificed ten little children for Lord Lucifer to reveal where you are', Heetah said.

'That's bribery'.

'That's how we roll'.

'That means I need human sacrifices to stay hidden again'.

'On the full moon'.

She knew that she should enjoy every bit of it, but maybe going to Church in Fortune City was having a toll on her. She needed an escape from her way of life, from Lucifer.

However, she didn't have time to really think of it before Heetah sent pain into all parts of her body. She squirmed and crumbled to the ground. In those few seconds, her spirit went from being the agile woman she was to the sick old woman her spirit really was. When Heetah released her, she saw her phone's light blink. She answered Gladys' call, and later helped Jiggs carry its bounty into its cage. Afterwards, she went to get more Lavender. She hurried into the room to fix her hand, but Heetah wouldn't help her heal it fast.

***

'Who is that?' Mirabel said and peeped nonchalantly into Japheth's phone. He pulled it away and smiled. They were seated in his car, getting ready to go home. But one of the nurses pleaded with him to give her a lift to her place and was delaying them. Since they weren't in a hurry, they waited and were busy typing into her phone until Alexis called Japheth and he answered grumpily.

'It's nobody'.

'Seriously?' She said and looked up from her phone. She was sitting cross-legged in her white gown, and he wished it was her waiting for him at home, and not Alexis.

'Seriously'.

'Then, let me see it'.

'It's Aunty Gbemy. You remember her'.

'Yes. That your very beautiful Aunt'.

'I won't really call her very beautiful'.

'That's your babyish opinion. Let me see her number'.

He gritted. 'It's true'.

She opened her palm.' Picture or I don't believe'.

She dumped her phone on her laps and turned to him.

'OMG. You have a girlfriend'.

He swallowed hard and wished she wouldn't find out about Alexis this way. 'She is not my girlfriend'.

'What's her name? Let me see... The... Phone', she said as she yanked the phone from his hand, rattling hers, and making it land on the floor of the car. She picked hers while she firmly held his phone as she scrolled through his call record. 'Alexis. Fine name', she said as he tried to collect it.

'She is just a friend'.

She winked at him. 'How many times have you called me?'

'We meet...'

'Come on. You should be happy, fish'.

'She is not my girlfriend'.

He nodded and was saved by the other nurse, whom Japheth wanted to give a lift. He couldn't take his mind off what must be running in Mirabel's mind. She had just acted as if she didn't discover something big. After they dropped the lady, Mirabel talked generally, but refused to talk about Alexis. When they got to her house, she cuddled his shoulders.

'If she is the lucky lady, congrats. And remember to bring her to our Church'.

He nodded and watched her walk off. She didn't turn back to say goodbye.

'She is not my girlfriend', he shouted after her. But she didn't turn still.

Whatever he had in mind about Alexis vanished when he met her in his bedroom, dressed like a pin-up model.
Chapter 4

First Touch on the Hot Gate

Gladys, as well as Matthew, waited patiently for Japheth at the door. His compound was beautifully adorned with various flowers and had about three palm trees; yet, the compound was neat. The dry leaves that were supposed to litter the ground had been packed to a side of the house. The flower that first caught her fancy was the bird of paradise. It was well-trimmed and the arrangement was beautiful. He had placed the Bird of paradise beside the Ixora flower. When she was younger, she used to make garlands from them to her mother's chagrin, but to her drunk father's joy. According to him, it made her look like Indian ladies. He loved to watch a lot of Indian movies because of their beautiful women. Her mother always ensured that she never stayed with him alone. Those days, she always cried to stay with him, but her mother never allowed it. She wouldn't tell her why either.

Japheth said he was coming, but she could hear the way he was running about in the house. She shrugged. Despite the neat, beautiful compound, Japheth must have a disorderliness issue. If God made them be together, she would make sure he became better.

'If God...'She muttered.

With a recently dried face and a big smile, he opened the door. They stepped in. His apartment portrayed wealth. Although he dressed well, his clothes never depicted him as someone with such great wealth. He must be a lover of flowers because a purple heart flower laid in a vase on the beautifully designed center-table. Her heart bubbled.

'Come in'.

'Thanks', Matthew said, limping into the room. Gladys felt for him, and wondered why God had refused to heal him. Even her, she had prayed about her ear to no avail. She had the power she desired, but it wasn't enough to heal anybody. It only helped her bring things to pass, and not to do some divine things. That meant she needed more in-depth knowledge of God. And one of the ways to do that was to fellowship with the right Christians.

She was surprised as she entered the parlor. It was neater than a recently cleaned room. He wasn't rough after all. His large stereo players stood at the four corners of the room and his air conditioner was also placed in a corner, but he didn't put it on, probably for the little cold that still lingered around from yesterday's rain.

'You have a good taste in flowers', she said aloud before she could stop herself.

'I wish. My friend, a female, did all this'.

'Oh!' She said and made a face.

'No', he said, laughing. 'She's just my friend'.

If he wasn't rough, then something was wrong. There was only one way to know. She had to learn not to close her eyes to things regarding him. While he went to get them refreshments, she controlled her spirit, and navigated it through the house. She felt alive. It was exciting. Using the gift of the 'holy spirit' like that was deep and exciting. Then, she saw what he was hiding and held her breath. She became sullen.

She felt irritated even when he returned. Matthew did most of the talking, giving her a chance to remove herself from the pile of irritation that was forming in her head. After a while, they decided to leave him.

'Thanks for the visit', Japheth said excitedly as he waved to them and turned towards the house.

The seed of anger had been planted in her, and she felt he must see what she saw: how disgusting his actions were. The second annoying thing was that when he saw them, he should have told them about his sins, for them to pray with him. Even James said that they should confess their sins one to another.

'Sister Gladys, I'm happy that God wants to use that Bro. Japheth. I feel he should be a member of the Bible Study unit for a starter'.

'Ehen?'

'Yes. He looks excited to do something for God'.

'Hmm', she said absentmindedly, and her mind wandered off the thought of him. She had imagined that with his sullen look, that he would be a person without any sin. And even if there would one, it would be something that wasn't really deep.

'Wait. When did he become a Christian?'

'It's hard to say. I think he said in his final year in school. He only rededicated his life last month'.

She scoffed. Japheth was playing them. How will someone whose life just got rededicated be sent to the most vital part of the church? It's not done. It's not proper and should be kicked against like an infested plant.

'That's not right'.

'What?'

'Him. He's a new convert. You can't just put him in front of the church to teach them. How will you allow a baby feed babies? It's like asking a cub to feed its fellow cub. It has to either get its food from lions with strong teeth'.

Matthew glanced at her, shrugged and continued ranting about how exciting it was to have people return to Christ, especially in this perverse generation. Matthew was a tree; he wouldn't stop howling until the wind of excitement died down.

When she was sure Matthew was out of sight, after they had said their goodbyes, she returned to Japheth's house. When a child is sick, herbs can resuscitate him. Japheth needed spiritual herbs. But before she would first present the heat of the herb to him, let him soak the aroma into his olfactory lobe. Then, she would later point him towards the right spiritual herbs he needed to reshape his shape-shifting life.

She knocked, waited and they exchanged pleasantries, and he asked to know if all was well.

'Bro. Japheth, the lord is telling me that you've committed the sin of fornication. You've sinned against God and yourself'.

He looked down. 'Will God go about telling people what I've done?'

She was trying not to explode. Despite the hold on her fear, she had to spit it out. She couldn't explain what was wrong with her. What he did disgusted her.

'While I was here earlier, the Lord showed me how you have turned your room to Sodom and Gomorrah, how the ways of the heathen still embodies your way of life. You brought a whore to your house, to soak in the goodness of her being. You better pray to God for forgiveness and cleansing', she said and walked away. The relief of saying that was good. It was really good. She felt good.

She had begun to hope something would happen between him and her. But there he was, defiling the temple of God. That was the problem with choices. When she was looking for the perfect husband, he came out to be a whoremonger.

She hissed. At least, even if God would have said no to his request of asking her hand in marriage, Japheth should have made her have reasons to go to God to know if he was the right person for her. Now, nothing in the world would make her love him the way she intended to do. She froze. She had never acted like that before. There was a sort of edge on being the one to bear the truth, to be a prophet of doom, angry and holy. The feeling was exciting but bad, extremely bad. She walked home. Why did she even allow Matthew talk her into walking to Japheth's place? She couldn't cope with the journey from his place to her home. When she got home, she met Elizabeth in the house watching TV. She rubbed her little friend's hair.

'Have you gone inside to check on your mother?'

Elizabeth nodded and gestured at her own clothes. She was putting on something different from what she was wearing earlier. Gladys slumped dejectedly beside Elizabeth and drew her closer.

'What happened?'

'She vomited everywhere in the house, on the bed.

'Yuck'.

'Don't worry. I've cleaned it up'.

Gladys sighed as she stared at nothing and rubbed the unplaited hair of Elizabeth. 'This life knows how to throw things that are not deserving at us. We suddenly love them and want them to become better. We would use all our energy on them and hope they would love us in return. You know you should follow me to church tomorrow'.

'Will she allow me?'

'She will. After that, you'll plait your hair for school'.

'Okay. My Daddy didn't deserve my mummy. She is in this mess because of him. He left her alone'.

'I know Baby. I know'.

She fixed her gaze on the movie playing in the TV. Life was the real movie and movies were wrong about life. At least, most things in movies have logical explanations, but life has an illogicality planted in it. You have to watch this illogicality grow without much access to change how it was doing. They all were part of the stunted growth.

That evening, she made sure Elizabeth was safe, and tried to enter their house, but Elizabeth told her it was inadvisable. The next day she would visit her mother after service. Stella would have equipped her with enough word of God that would last her for the week. She would equip her beauty with the clothes that were delivered to her mother.

***

'Is she crazy?' Alexis shouted as she began to wear her clothes. She crashed into the bed while trying to draw her jeggings on. She was fuming and panting heavily. 'I would have shown her what fornication means. I would have shown her that her body will feel fornicated by the time I finish beating her to nothing. I will beat her to the extent that even compressed hot bread would call her its senior. Bastard of no generation. Who does she think she is? Me. Alexis. A prostitute'.

'Alexis, calm down. She...'

'Even if I'm a runs girl, she's not my class. I'll brush her anywhere. And I'm not a runs girl. I'm also a Pastor's daughter. How many bible verses does she have in that useless head? I won fifteen national Sunday school competitions'.

Japheth felt bad. He rededicated his life to Christ three weeks ago. Being saved from sins was exciting. That feeling of redemption from everything he used to do was sweet. But now again, like before, everything came crashing down. He couldn't explain what happened, but he allowed himself do what he had stopped: fornication. Yet, they said he was dead to sin. Maybe if he had a way of controlling his urge around Alexis, maybe then and only then would he have the chance to be called free. He was in bondage, and the most annoying part was that he loved the bondage. Alexis dumped the pin-up models clothe into her bag, and picked her other things.

He had sent her away for a few days, but Alexis had her way with his most trusted gateman; yet, he couldn't send the gateman away because it was his own fault. Even though the gateman allowed her to enter the compound, it wasn't his fault that she had the key to the main building. Until he deprived her of that, she would still have access to his house.

'Are you deaf?' Alexis shouted as she kept fiddling with the button of the lower part of her clothes, which kept popping out of its hole.

'And what do you want from me? See, I'm off to work. You need to start preparing for school. We would see later in the day, hopefully'.

'Jeffy, let your head remain on your neck. Be wise. I'm talking about us and that foolish girl, you're talking about one foolish lesson'.

'Well, she's right. You're just 19 and ought to be in the University, if not because you failed JAMB twice before getting this admission'.

'Why not become cable news- CNN or Sky News? Tell the world I failed'.

'That's not what I meant. I'm saying this relationship is not a good symbiotic relationship. It might look mutual, but I think it is more of parasitism. I'm only using you to satisfy my sexual urge, which is not ideal'.

'I've told you, times without number. We're in this together. Stop this Jack Robinson you're saying. If you break-up with me, I'll kill myself'.

'We're not supposed to copulate or even...'

'Do you see me with any other man? What's this fish saying? Are you afraid that I do the same with other men?'

'What? I'm saying you're too young to be led into the wrong path'.

'Like... I'm seeing other men?'

'No. I'm teaching you something unhealthy for you'.

She sniggered. 'You? I'm your trainer baby boy. See...'

She walked slowly towards him, her eyes fixed on him, her tongue sliding back and forth around her lips, and her clothes slipping off.

'Let's not do this today. It's detrimental to both our...'

'In fact, give me money, and I don't ever want to see your pathetic face for the rest of the day', Alexis shouted. 'Don't come for me today'.

'Try not to do anything rash at home', he said as he gave her money enough to cater for a lot of things.

'Like you care'. She grabbed the money and stormed out, still ranting about Gladys.

He went on his knee and prayed. 'Lord, I'm so sorry'.

Somehow, the people that got him saved explained the concept of God forgiving all his sins – past, future, and present – and that was why he joined the fold immediately he saw the chance. Mirabel had been trying to bring him to Christ for months before those ones finally did, but he guessed she only prepared the way for them.

His sorrow arose when his parents, his wife, pregnant with their child, died in an accident. Since then, his life had become boring. That was a time he needed expressions of love from people. His other family members had tried their best, but their effort wasn't enough to make him happy. Mirabel who would have helped, travelled to take care of her Aunt, who had now gone missing. Her mother ought to have gone but there was a little dispute between them that made her refuse to go. So, Mirabel took her place. Those times, she tried to call him per time, but it wasn't enough to help him.

He would have committed suicide that night, but a drunk Alexis staggered towards him while she was returning from a night party. She met him on the edge of a bridge, trying to jump into a river. She laughed at him and promised to follow him if he jumped into the canal. At first, he thought she was babbling, but when she began removing her clothes, he stopped. Immediately he got down, she went into a vomiting bout. That was how he brought her to his house.

The next day, when she was sober, she explained that she was another spoilt disobedient Pastor's daughter. Rather, her parents were strict, poor Church owners. She only wanted to escape their cage. And that was how she got stuck with him. From then, she started experimenting her fantasies with him at every turn. Being an unadventurous person, he did it with her, hoping that it would cater for the void in his heart.

When he became a Christian, he saw an avenue to restore her to Christ. So, he made her stay, as a friend. But she had her ways, terrible ways, of making him return to his vomit. All he needed at that point was freedom from her, and a good reason to make Mirabel happy. He hadn't even called her to check her state of mind after she discovered that Alexis was in his life.

He wanted to be free from his lustful desire, from Alexis. Japheth kept praying. Even if God had forgiven him, there was no way he could forgive himself.

Gladys said he should talk to someone. Who could he talk to?

The Pastor of the church had the same character as that of Gladys, who came back to him ranting as if she was jealous. He had only seen that trait in vengeful prostitutes and wives whenever he was dealing with them at the hospital.

He needed to talk to someone. No one had shown any form of care in that church except the follow-up unit members that came visiting. Matthew was spiritually naive. His words weren't as deep as that of Gladys. Despite her rant about confessing his sin, he still found her intriguing; beautiful yet modest, holy yet without the nerdy look of most Christians. Her dress sense was captivating on its own. But truth be told, she wasn't as beautiful as his naughty Alexis, whose beauty couldn't match Mirabel's. Even without her extravagant make-up, she still had that edge over them. Nevertheless, Gladys seemed soaked in God's word and that was what he needed at that time of his life. Mirabel had what both of them had, but how would he explain to the woman he wanted to start a relationship with that he was fornicating and that he needed her help?

Although the next day was Sunday, he would wait till Tuesday to talk to Gladys, and would boldly tell her his problem. He was sure that once it was shared, it would be half-solved like he used to tell his patients.

Just then, a WhatsApp message alert popped on his phone.

Jaf, tomorrow is another Sunday. Come to church for God, and a blessed wife *winks*. In case the Alexis is the one, bring her too. Come and experience the real power of God, and total freedom in the Holy Ghost'- Mirabel.

He smiled and slumped into his seat.

***

Alexis returned home to the rants and complaints of her overbearing parents, and the only thing that consumed her mind was how to return to Japheth's place. He thought she was joking when she promised to kill herself if he ever left her. He was like the control over her desire.

'She's changing a little', she heard her father whisper to her mother one of those days she was having issues with them.

'Yes', her mother said. 'I think our prayers and corrections are having effect on her'.

'I'm sensing something else'.

If only they knew that God would never answer their prayers on her the way they wanted. Japheth was the answer to their prayer. They had better intensify their prayers because he was beginning to drift. He seemed to have started having a liking for Church than for her. She hoped it was another foolish phase of his self-discovery, one that he always quickly returned from.
Chapter 5

The Problem That Lasted

Stella shook her head dejectedly as she watched MTV base, and saw the demonic activities in play there. She smiled as she remembered that those American Witches – high priests and high priestesses – had been doing that for years, and only a few people have made a right guess about their numerous activities. They knew how to hide behind the TV scenes to control the heart of people, chanting deadly incantations at people. How convenient was it for them to play the music videos at midnight, when they knew that demonic activities were fully activated?

It was better the world didn't know about witchcraft or of its continued existence because the people might reverse to their old ways of handling witches, which was to kill them at sight, and burn them at stakes.

Yet, she smiled because it was a good thing to know the devil, to know he is a liar. It was a good thing to have read the Christian Bible. She knew that Lucifer was the father of all lies, and she knew from time that Heetah, her other small demons, and even Lucifer couldn't read her thoughts. Despite that, it wasn't easy thinking too much with Heetah inside her. It had intertwined its tentacles with her feelings to the extent that any feeling not produced by its incitement could cause punishment for her.

'Two thieves are about to enter', Heetah said joyfully.

'Why are you happy?' She whispered. 'You are happy that I will be robbed'.

'Yes. Happy, you have what you need for Lucifer's sacrifice for the new moon'.

Stella smiled. She sat straight and nodded. They would be used for her sacrifice. And that was the reason she envied the witches in Africa especially Fortune City, they understood how to get things done. If only they knew the right incantations to invoke the presence of Lucifer. The thought of that made her slouch into the chair. She was supposed to be Lucifer's top wife in the world, but there she was, awaiting his world domination. Every time, he reassured her of her place in his life, but she wasn't ready to believe him anymore. The only thing he had successfully done was to hide her in hideous places, and make her live a long life, probably the longest life any witch had ever lived. But she wanted more, the glory, the fame and everything that came with being the wife of the supposedly richest person in all realms.

He had deceived her, and she would really make sure he suffered. All she needed was the information to ensure he lost a lot of things.

'What are you thinking about? Who do you want to make suffer?'

'The thieves?'

'Are you depressed about it?'

'No'

'That's a lie. I'm a demon. You don't lie to me'.

'I want something spectacular. I want...'

The door broke open. Two hooded thieves entered, equipped with fake guns.

'If you move, I'll shoot you', one of them shouted.

She scoffed. 'And do you think that gun even if was real can kill me? I'll show you'.

The one nearer to her was angry, and he removed the hood on his face. 'What? Do you think I'm afraid of you?'

'Heetah, show this thief what we do to intruders'.

She felt energy leaving her body towards the thief. He stood still, firm and unperturbed.

'Woman, you're mad'.

She tried different tricks in her book but he was unscathed. Stella was perplexed. 'Who are you?'

The thief moved closer and pressed the muzzle of his fake gun to her forehead. 'Bring out all the money on you'.

The other thief turned sporadically as if he felt other presence in the house.

'Heetah!' She shouted. 'The table'.

She watched Heetah make a smaller demon carry the table and fling it at the first thief. The thief crashed with a cry. The other thief squeaked in surprise and made to run away, but her magic got him. He writhed on the floor for a while and became unconscious. His still body reminded her of the body of every child she had ever given birth to. They laid, still and hopeless, in the same fashion. For years, Lucifer had tried to give birth to another Nephilim but they just couldn't. The sexual intercourse between the repugnant, foul-smelling, fierce demons and her always left her weak for days. Lucifer made her keep trying because, of all the witches they've tried it with, she was the only one that had ever given birth to a child that even cried, though they gave up the ghost almost immediately.

Stella was perplexed at what happened in the parlor. The crashed table laid scattered in different places. Now, she had to get a new table. That one cost her over 500 dollars to import. Yes, she was rich enough to import anything from anywhere in the world. But she couldn't flaunt it like most of those outside Fortune City. Even if she wanted to flaunt it, it had to be minimized. Foolish Heetah was always like an alarm, giving her signal for any extravagance in her lifestyle. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but commend its effort. It had kept her from dying a lot of times.

'Heetah! What the...What happened there?'

'He is stubborn. He is an atheist. His demon says his mind is so hardened that the only thing they can do to him is to make him hate God. The bible says that Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and Stubbornness'.

'But I thought Atheism is caused by the demon of hatred and pride'.

'That's the problem. He just doesn't believe in anything. Even if he wakes, his mind is made up'.

'But that's impossible'.

'Very possible. But he's still coming to the Lake of fire'.

A vision of the lake of fire brushed through her imagination. She had meticulously followed the writings about heaven and hell and the kidnappings happening at Greencity, but she wasn't interested in any of them- the kidnappings, the people. All she cared about was the visions they saw. She knew what she wanted. Though most of them were not fully true, she couldn't help but notice consistency in their visions of hell.

Lucifer promised her more of everything whenever she joined him in the lake of fire. She was totally tired of her continued existence. Eternal life was boring. Most times, she had nagged on why he kept making her spirit move from place to place. He replied that 'you're very efficient. You are unlike most others. You don't seek too much power and obey me regardless who I ask you to hurt'. Regardless of the fact that she had stayed alive for ages, she still couldn't fathom how it would have been if she was alive for so long in the same body, the same place. People would have died around her and she would have gone to their graves per time. At least in her new body, she was made to meet and love new people, which was painful on its own. But she had learnt how to live with men without much love for them.

On many occasions, he had promised her good things. She was his secret. He believed if anyone knew where she was, they might come for her. And that was the reason she had been given Heetah. He was the best demon at shielding itself. Even to the Christians and the witches, it was a spirit of light. She couldn't count the number of times witches had tried to kill her because they assumed she was a powerful Christian.

'I know that feeling?', Heetah said.

'But those Christians that returned from hell say that Lucifer denied some witches of their true home'.

'But you know they lie. They are meant to scare Christians to fear. Fear is the main tool of making those Christians commit sins'.

'How's that?'

'Job of the bible said, the things I feared has come upon me. And even Paul said the thing I don't want to do, I do'.

'What should they have done?'

'Why are you asking? You are not a Christian?'

'I pretend to be and if we want to bring them down, I need to know what I must do'.

She felt the intensity of Heetah's anger in her head as it began to ache badly. She screamed as she bent down, holding her head firmly. The headache increased.

'I know you. You are tired of living. After living for many years of serving Lord Lucifer, you want to give up'.

'No', she screamed. 'No. I swear to God'.

'Shut up! He doesn't know you. He doesn't know you exist. Remember times when your friends were killed especially Maria Parker. Have you forgotten Anne Pedersdotter, how she was burnt by those Christians? How you cried, that pain? He made Christians kill you, witches. Then, you had no second chance'.

'But we are celebrated', she screamed and held her head still. The pain surged through her body and was like wildfire. Tears were already streaming down her eyes as if they wanted to join the beads of sweat on her body, gathering like townsmen who were being summoned by the town crier's gong.

'Shut up! We are in charge. We help them make a lot of money from witches. We. We, the demons help those Christians make money from demons. Idiot. Buffoon. They are making money and using them to bring people to their Churches. The Church listens to their testimonies and trembles, just like what is happening in Greencity. We are making those ones see visions just for fear. Fear. So you have to fear. Or don't you know we are the ones who run the world and make things go on smoothly, even for you? How will those ones work without us? We pretend to release those witches, and allow the Church use them and indirectly bring fear on the Church. We've made them do what God hates- being afraid. To survive with us like you know, you must tremble'.

'Leave me. I hate you. I hate Lucifer'.

'You are now talking'.

The pain eased off her. Hatred was a virtue in their kingdom. It excited demons and Lucifer. It was one of their best weapons against anyone. By this time, the only that reminded her of the pain was her mind. There was nothing again that pointed to the fact that she had just gone through an excruciating pain.

'That means you hate God too'.

'I hate all of you- Devil, you and even God. He created you'.

'That's a fallacy. God didn't create us. We were the product of his creation. Lord Lucifer is the only creation. Well and those big guys... You know who now'.

She hyperventilated and reduced her breathing pace. Heetah was talking about fallen angels. She slowly rose to work and hissed. Every time, these demons would continually make her do works that she wasn't supposed to do. Yesterday, she had worked to clean the mess Nancy caused and now, she was to clean the mess by the thieves.

Stella panted as she returned to the parlor after she dragged the unconscious thieves to her underground room. She winced as she attended to her injured hand. Although the flesh over it had returned, the pain still lingered. The funniest thing about Lucifer was that his tricks were still the same, but his book of tricks was used all over the world and people still fell for them. All the demons have mastered them. Lucifer believed the witches didn't need them. Having access to them would make every witch in the world desire to control him. Demons are loyal to him, by force. God had rejected them and the fallen angel and had made them stay with Lucifer in the lake of fire. So they were bound to him forever.

'You are an idiot', she muttered as she began to sweep the splinters of the glass center table.

'That's a good observation'.

'I own you'.

'I know.'

'I command you and you do what I want'.

'Yes, I know'.

'So why did I ask you to lift him to the underground room and you refused? That's rebellion'.

'That's my nature. Meanwhile, I told you to never think of heaven. It's belittling your potential. Why will you think of a lovey-dovey place where there's no excitement?'

'What's exciting about the lake of fire, you dullard?'

'To me, it's fun. There, you break bones and tear at people's souls. You punish souls, not flesh that rots. That is pure torture. We torture the souls of bad people in the lake of fire. That's our job'.

'Has it ever occurred to you that God can decide to take away all those people from the lake of fire and take them to heaven?'

Heetah squirmed. 'That's impossible. He would keep to his word. He always does'.

Stella marched off to the underground room, grumbling about how he refused to help her, and how she was reconsidering changing him. Then she went out of the house, and cast spells on the compound. The spell was capable of deceiving Christians and witches, who came too close. Tomorrow, she would bring out the spell she had soaked and use it on the compound.

She returned to her room to change her dress into a robe, and walked slowly into her underground room. Just as she was about to lock the door, she felt a presence. She smiled and cast the spell. The night would be long. The bad thing about being a witch was that most of them started with dreams and astral projections, for those whose minds were always ready.

Christians too can do that, but it had to be done by the Holy Spirit, not them. Yet, it was just for those humble enough to heed to his leading.

She entered the underground. The room was filled with demonic activities. The stench and aura was rich in the room. They were always disgusting.

'Do you people not take baths or something?

'After all these years, won't you stop asking this question? There are better questions like 'what is the devil's latest trick?'

'Like I care'.

'You should...'

'Get me out of this crazy earth to my part of the kingdom'.

She moved gracefully, taking her time as she grabbed her knife. The full moon reflected into the room. She had been waiting for the new moon since the month started. It was a portal and it meant anything she needed would surely come to pass. If she was a Christian, she would see to it that she made the most dangerous prayers those times.

The room was lit with candles that were arranged at the edge of the circle she made. The circle in the midst of a pentagram. She didn't want those demons crossing into her room to do anything without her permission. The ones that had infested her home were enough.

The pyre, on which she laid the first thief, was also in the circle. He had woken, but she didn't want to hear his scream until it was time for her to enjoy the sweetness of the torture. So, she allowed him to moan from the gag in his mouth. She made him lay there in the form he first was when he came to the earth. It was just unfortunate that she couldn't make him as small, fragile and fresh as he was when he was a baby. Since she couldn't do that, she would make sure his skin crawled with blood, his blood.

She sat in the middle of the circle and recited the first incantation. The recitation almost took forever, she heaved from side to side, and then changed her direction to the front and back. The heat in the room increased per time. The dread that followed the presence of demons increased and she longed for such power, to have the ability to command fear.

'Heetah, I need more power. To protect my house, and to start the destruction of the Church at Brown Valley', she said. Reports have been reaching her that some people were teaching the true Word of God in that part of their Island. She hated that she wouldn't be the one to finalize the total destruction of the Church.

'Give me the demon of utter destruction', she said and her mind blanked out. Many people didn't know that when they blanked out their mind, they unleashed evil on themselves. She always blanked her mind because that was the doorway to do that. But many people, Christians especially, blank out their mind in expectation to fall under the Holy Spirit.

The demon appeared, bearing fangs, then many more others came out. She gave them instructions to enter her. Their entrance into her body was painful and brutal. She screamed as their foul smell overshadowed her nose. They fought their way into her so hard that if Heetah wasn't serving as a source of strength to her, she would have died there.

Afterwards, still swaying from the power of the demons that had encompassed her, she rose, dangling from sides under their weight. Her eyes were now streaking with blood. She grabbed her knife and advanced on the thief. The other thief was unconscious, and laid in one of her cages. For strange reasons, she made sure he was lying face to face with the stone of Nancy.

However, she left the other thief on the pyre for a moment like this. She needed something sharp that could send vibes into her bloodstreams. The only thing that could do that at the moment was his scream. So, she removed his gag and shifted back. He screamed his head off and she watched him as if he was an experiment. Sucking in air loudly, she moved her head from side to side as she stared blankly at his heaving chest.

'No one will help you', she whispered, and licked her lower lips. With a force she couldn't fathom its source, she sank the knife into his heart. He screamed and screamed louder and screamed with all his mind, but she didn't remove it; instead, she twisted it until he gave up the ghost.

'Welcome Gladys', Stella said as she raised her head to look at Gladys' spirit-body dangling in the air. She was a fast learner.

***

The night had become eerier and birds chirped from every corner of the street. A strong wind passed where he was and rested on the house. Kingsley was freezing out in the open, and he was feeling bad for not following them into the massive house. But he was afraid to heed Gerald's plan in the first place. Yet, he followed him because they needed the money to save Gerald's mother, and there was no way he wouldn't be caught if anything happened to them.

He checked his timer. They had spent two hours in the massive house. That could only mean one thing: his friends were dead. Kingsley checked where he was hiding to be sure he was safe. At least, the woman living there would call the police the next day to inform them of the death of his friends, Kingsley and Rauf. Gerald's mother insisted that they should go to her Church 'Wild Fire of God' for help. But being an atheist, Gerald wouldn't hear anything about it.

'Patience, son of the soil', he muttered to himself.

Although he didn't hear any gunshot, Kingsley was sure that whenever the police came around, they would confirm his fear. But for now, he would keep waiting for them, hoping they would come out, praying he was only being paranoid. The storm around the house howled and made him withdraw into his hiding place well. He muttered as he found a perfect place to hide, 'son of the soil, you will get your reward'.

Chapter 6

Staring at the Gate

Gladys reminisced on what happened at her mother's place as she sat in her car, since no one was in the Church yet. The woman would never cease to amaze her. The only reason she went there was to see how she was doing. As usual, her mother had taken her coming as if it was that of a president. Gladys had cautioned her to no avail with the way she stressed herself to prepare one of her favourite dishes for her. 'Can't I feed my daughter again?' Her mother chided.

Like every other time, she sighed and she traced, with her tongue, the morsel of pounded yam in her mouth. The aroma of the pounded yam, alongside the vegetable soup, made her swallow hard. Her mother's food always topped the reasons she went to Greencity.

'Mama, I saw a vision', Isabel, Gladys' sister, whispered through a mouthful.

Her second sister, Roselyn, chuckled.

Gladys glanced at Isabel, then at Roselyn.

'She is joking right, Mama?' Gladys glanced at her mother whose face was gradually becoming red. Roselyn threw a knowing glance at Gladys. She muffled a laughter when Gladys couldn't see the reason for the amusement. She threw a glance at their mother's face, signaling to Gladys to watch the event unfold.

'My God will burn your vision to fire. I call on the God of Elijah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Ayo-Babalola, Kenneth Hagin, Adeboye, Chintok, Selman, Okonkwo, Copeland...'

'Mama, that's okay'.

'Gladys Omobolanle. That's not okay. That's not okay', she shouted as dropped the morsel of pounded yam into the bowl in front of her. Then pointed to Isabel. 'Isabel... Isabel... If I'm your mother. If it's I, Josephine Imole Bolawole, that gave birth to you. If I born you well, I must never hear you talk about seeing any vision in your life. Now or Forever. My God will burn your vision'.

Roselyn burst into laughter, while Isabel kept a straight face. If Gladys knew her sisters well, she was sure they were playing a prank on their mother.

'But Mama if I saw a vision, won't I talk again?'

'No. Don't talk'.

'Mama...' Gladys said, but was cut short by her mother's sharp wave.

'Don't Mama me. Are you people deaf? You've seen the happenings. People are disappearing. May God punish that vision of yours. He will burn it with brimstone and fire'.

The two girls exclaimed, and Isabel gave up on the act. She burst into laughter, and began to cough terribly. Yet, she didn't stop laughing at her mother. The reaction aggravated Roselyn's laughter the more, she fell down from her chair. Isabel grabbed a cup of water, gulped it down and erupted into another bout of laughter. Gladys chuckled as she tried hard to be an adult. They all knew that their mother's reaction to everything always went like warfare.

'Mama, they were joking. You've been living with these two clowns for years and you can't tell when they are playing with you'.

Their mother flared up as she realized she was being played. 'You bastards'. She threw a morsel of pounded Yam at Isabel, who bent to make it splash on Gladys' face. The girls burst into laughter.

'Oh my daughter', her mother said, scurrying out of her seat to wipe the morsel off Gladys' face.

'It's okay Mama'. She had to hold herself from shouting at her mother for always being too overbearing and over-caring. 'I'm fine, Gladys' mother. I'm fine o. I said I'm fine, Mama'.

Her mother turned quickly to slap Isabel, but she seemed prepared for it as she jumped out of her chair. They all returned to their seats, and Gladys asked for the full details of the people being kidnapped.

Her mother took up the position of the storyteller, she informed her about the way those who saw visions of hell kept disappearing. Later, she told Isabel and Roselyn to excuse them because she wanted to talk to Gladys. They grumbled but left.

Gladys guessed and was right about her mother's reason for doing so.

'Gladys', her mother said. 'A flower that hides from butterfly would forever live in isolation'.

'Mama', Gladys said. Her mother wanted to start her normal talks on how Gladys should and must be married in her prime.

'See your late Uncle, Gabriel, he didn't marry because he was still biding his time, and it affected him...'

Suddenly, Roselyn poked her head into the room. 'No matter how important what you are saying is, I don't care. You've got to come outside now'.

Gladys felt like stoning her with a shoe. 'Rose, must you always interrupt us whenever we are having a private heart to heart discussion'.

'But Mama...'

'Scram...' Her mother yelled. 'Get off'.

'It's the Landlady. Madam Joana'.

Her mother's face was flushed with a tempting desire to go outside. Gladys knew her. The landlady, Madam Joana, was her friend. So whenever someone informed her about her, she was always ready to see what was happening.

'A minute', she said and rushed off after Roselyn. Her voice resounded as she rushed off. 'What happened?'

Sighing, she followed them. Her mother would surely rant if she never showed her face at whatever was happening outside. She believed one must have a little knowledge of whatever was happening in one's environment. The woman was Gladys' nightmare.

Upon getting to the farther end of the passage, she saw one of her mother's neighbours, Claudia, clapping repeatedly at Joana, who was also shouting that they would leave her house.

'You'll leave my house', Joana shouted and faced the other lady, Tracey. Tracey was a tall dark, beautiful girl whose face could make a lady wish to be a man. Gladys shook her head to keep such nauseating thoughts out of her mind as she watched Claudia, the slim, short lady, whose frail body seemed suddenly enlarged by her rage, with the veins under her skin protruding in red lines around her skin. Tracey was speechless as she glanced at Gladys with guilt written over her face. She and Tracey and even Claudia weren't that close, but they have had reasons to discuss on general issues once or twice. Gladys made face at Tracey to know what happened. Tracey shook her head. Gladys felt like hugging the beautiful innocent face. She shook her head again and faced the other side.

'You two. In my house. That is sodomy...You are sodomites'.

Gladys' mother was trying to tear the two of them apart, while her sisters continually made crazy insulting gestures behind Joana's back. On a normal day, she would have shouted at them to stop.

Claudia steadied herself as she brushed Tracey aside. 'What does this woman think she is? A sanctimonious... Is she Jesus? Even Jesus was a good person. I will show you pepper and fire. Do you think we don't know your history? We've heard how you were once a prostitute'.

With her round short body moving about like a ball, Joana jumped and shouted, 'thank you. But now I'm saved. See the two of them, Lesbians. And I know who taught who. You this short tiny devil. The Lord forbids you'.

'Oh!' Gladys said as she glanced at Tracey with scorn. Tracey's eyes widened and she attempted to explain herself, but Gladys shook her head and stormed back to her room. Everybody is crazy. Everybody is dipping their hands into bowls of marshy sins. She slumped on the bed and slept off, thereby avoiding her mother's call. But the most memorable and horrifying thing about that night was the fact that she saw her body dangling into a place that looked like the home of a rich person. Then, that body followed the woman to a hideous underground room. The dream was fuzzy, but she could still remember how she saw a woman with a knife stabbing a man to death. The man was laid on what looked like an altar. Although she didn't get the chance to really see the woman's face, she looked like Stella.

Staring out of the car, and waiting for someone else to enter the Church premises before she did, she tried to keep her mind off her nagging fear. Everything she did was consistent with the Bible; yet, there were some irregularities.

She must have been so deep in thought that she didn't know when Japheth's car drove into the parking lot because the first time she saw him was when he was alighting from his car. He was unusually early for a fornicator. She sat up in her car as she watched him stand in front of the massive Church building. She honked, and Japheth looked up towards her direction. She sized him up.

He was very handsome and would surely make a good husband, but she just couldn't take him or have any thought about him. In fact, she couldn't afford to have thoughts about him until she was sure he was holy, righteous, purified, sanctified and justified. And with all her energy, she would do everything to make him reach the right standard, of God. She would make sure of that. One of the implications of that was that she wouldn't go easy on him. She stepped out of her car to honour him, smiling.

He walked briskly towards her with his hands in his pocket, and they exchanged pleasantries, though he did it with a little reserve.

'Come into my car', she said, and tried to avoid suggesting that they moved to his car though she longed to see how neat it was.

He nodded. 'Thanks'.

After a few awkward seconds of silence in the car, she turned to him. 'Why are you in Church so early? And I hope you have prayed about what I told you?'

He fiddled with the dashboard, and swallowed hard, staring at the figure on her dashboard. 'I came early to talk to you'.

'Oh! That's good because you need to really talk and confess your sin'.

He nodded repeatedly. 'I have prayed to God. I hope he just forgives me because I'm so tired of going back'.

'Bro. Japheth, do you want me to tell you the truth? Only Confession wouldn't solve your problem'.

Surprised, he turned to face her. She loved the fact that he was attentive.

'See, what you did is that you nailed God to the cross afresh. It's like perdition. That's why you have to pray for a new heart. That will be refreshing', she said and tore her eyes away from the mirror she was staring at.

'But the people that helped me become a new person in Christ said that I don't need to even ask God for forgiveness because we've been forgiven the sins of the past, present, future...'

'Ah! Who told you such lie? That's preposterous and heretic and a sin against God and man. First John One says if we say we have no sin we lie and the truth is not in us'.

'I'm not sure I get you. Are you saying the truth is not in me?'

'The Bible says so, Bro. Japheth. You're getting angry quickly. You need to receive the Holy Spirit. I'm sorry if I come as harsh but it's the gospel truth and I'm one of the few around here that tell it'.

He frowned and she could feel the tension in the air. Even if she wanted to bring her voice down, it was useless. He needed to hear the raw gospel truth to grow.

'I don't get. But I have the Holy Spirit... They told me. I have the Holy Spirit'.

'Are you kidding me?' She said as she stared at him in surprise. Whoever had been filling his head with rubbish had failed because she was now there to put things right. With the real word of God, she would wash him clean, and make him strong enough to stand on his feet. 'What's your evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit since you believed?'

He stared at her, glanced at the roof of the car, opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

'You don't know...'

He nodded.

'Do you read your bible?'

'Yes'

'How?'

'I just read it. In fact, I spend 20 minutes on it'.

'Wow...20 minutes', she said and stared at him. 'And you've been a Christian for just two months?'

His face brightened. He was delighted in his mediocrity.

'I make sure I'm consistent'.

She chuckled. 'You're funny. This is your second month; you should be able to have at least...at least, two hours of studying the bible'.

'Ahan. Will I not go to work again?'

'That's sacrifice. That's the sacrifice. You can't be here at this level any longer'.

She bit her upper lip, and wished he could quickly go through all the stages of growth like a hybrid poplar. Then, she would feel the need to pray about him, about any possible chance of him being the man for her.

'I'm trying. I'm just new. I don't know who will guide me. Everybody has abandoned me'.

She felt like badgering him, but thought otherwise. 'You need a mentor'.

He sighed. 'I think that will do it'.

She smiled. He was ready to learn. Maybe she was too harsh. In fact, she didn't always do that to people or even strangers, but he was becoming special to her.

'Will you be my mentor? You are knowledgeable about the bible'.

'Me?' She muttered as she touched herself. 'I'm...I'm...'

As if God answered the quick prayers that ran through her mind for an escape, Stella knocked her side of the car, and poked her head.

'What are you doing? The service will start soon. We need to start pre-prayers. Good afternoon Bro....'

'Japheth'.

'Sister Stella, meet Bro. Japheth. He is a new member'.

Stella's face brightened. Gladys felt like taking a picture of that smile, especially as the sun reflected on Stella's face. The picture, as a wallpaper, would fit perfectly beside the vase of City Flowers in her room. Seeing both of them would make her happy always, for long. Stella had the sweetest smile she had ever seen and she craved it.

'Welcome, Bro. Japheth. It's nice meeting you. I'm Stella'.

'Welcome ma'.

Gladys' face brightened as an idea struck her. 'I know this is an awkward situation but Bro. Japheth is a new Christian and he needs a mentor. But what he really needs is a discipler. Can you be his discipler?'

She glanced at Stella then at Japheth, whose face was lit in awe.

'Yes. Let's talk after service', Sister Stella said.

Gladys felt like hopping about like a frog throughout the service. Her most prized man was becoming a gold. Stella would purify him with the word and power. Now, she would watch him grow and then they would pray about relationship. It was babyish for her to think of this, and this feeling was strange, but she needed it to ward her mind off the dream she had overnight.

The scariest part of the dream was that she loved what the woman in the dream was doing and she wanted to be the one killing the person tied down. In the spirit, she drank the blood and desired for more. She hoped to God it was just a dream, and nothing else.

After service, Mr. Akanni came again with his disturbance, and she warded him off, disgusted at his desperate promise to do anything for her.

'What? Are you that desperate? Common, man. Nothing must happen to me. The way you are acting is sending cold down my spine'.

He backed down. 'No. Nothing. I only mean to help you'.

She gritted at him and smiled. She would give him something illegal and impossible to do.

'So, my mother's landlady at Greencity has these lesbians in the house. Evict them'.

He opened his mouth, awestruck. That was definitely an impossible request. He didn't know her mother, her mother's landlady, or even where the house with the gay occupants was. Was he supposed to just go to Greencity, moving from street to street in search of her mother's house?

She smiled at him, and walked away. She had kicked another man in the balls. When Japheth was still under training, how would she stop getting ready for him?

'Where... Where is her place?'

She shrugged, not looking back. 'That's your problem, not mine'.

***

After exchanging phone numbers with Stella, and thanking Gladys for being a path to his becoming a changed person, he drove to the hospital. He wasn't one that always went out to parties and places of fun, but since he had been trying to escape being around Alexis, the only way he could get her off his head was to be with the one person that really loved to be with him for the fun of being around him.

Mirabel wasn't on duty that night, but they were heading for a restaurant again. Although her mother wasn't around, she still wouldn't allow him to enter their house. So, when he met her outside, typing furiously into her phone, he had to honk to bring her back to the world.

'Welcome back to the world and my car'.

She looked about in it and sneered at him. He knew she was still shocked by Saturday's discovery. But she had assured him she believed him.

'How's our wife?'

'She is on the way'.

'She's coming?'

'No. I mean I'm yet to have a wife'.

She hissed and hit his hand. 'Fish'.

They went to a restaurant, had a nice time, and were returning to her house, when he saw Aunty Gbemy buying something at an event planning shop. He stopped the car, and jumped down.

'Where to?' Mirabel shouted after him.

He stopped behind Aunty Gbemy, and whispered into her ears, 'that's how my aunt would come to Black Town and not inform me'.

She jumped, frightened. Then, she turned towards him and giggled, holding her chest. 'You this naughty child. Don't you want to grow up for once in your life? How can you frighten me like that?'

He laughed and rushed to hug her, lifting her a bit. 'Aunty Gbemy...'

She giggled and slapped his shoulders repeatedly, 'drop me. Drop me. Japheth. Japheth'.

He dropped her, panting. She was slightly huge. Her plump body had always made him desire to never be as fat as she. Although she was still fit, and better than a woman in his new Church, he still always pondered on why she loved that stature. People around threw them side glances and smiles. Even, Mirabel had dropped out of the car. He turned to see Mirabel as she came towards them just in time as he saw a bright smile smearing her face, showing she was accusing him of something.

'Aunty meet my friend, Mirabel'.

His aunt's face lightened up. 'Oh! The Mirabel. Wow! She is beautiful, more beautiful than you even put it'.

He had never told his aunty about Mirabel. He stopped telling her things like that since he got to Black Town, two years ago. But then he remembered that someone made that statement in one of the animation DVDs he sent to her. She loved animations, so he sent so many from his collections to her as birthday gift in March. She was definitely using a line from the animation 'The Lorax'.

'Mirabel, don't mind Aunty Gbemy. Aunty... Playing the Lorax with me?'

Mirabel's eyes brightened. 'The Aunty Gbemy'.

He heaved in disbelief. He had only mention Aunty Gbemy maybe twice in front of Mirabel. So he couldn't fathom the reason she was mimicking his Aunty.

'Yes', he said sarcastically. 'The Aunty Gbemy. The two of you are troublemakers. Mirabel, this is the Aunty I lived with during...'

'So she is the one. You're the woman', Aunty Gbemy exclaimed.

'No, Aunty'.

'No, ma'.

'What do you mean?'

'Aunty, we are just friends'.

'He's my best friend', Mirabel said, and winked at him. 'In fact, he has a girl he is eyeing'.

He raised his hands to heaven, dejectedly. 'I've told you, she is just a girl, a friend. She is not a prospective wife and can never be'.

Aunty Gbemy stared at him as if she was staring into his grave like she did her brother's, his father's. She turned to the woman selling the things to her, and informed her she would return to pick the goods. She dragged Japheth off, and told Mirabel they would be back.

Immediately they got out of Mirabel's earshot, she dropped his hand and snapped her fingers repeatedly in front of his face. He blinked.

'Good. You can see that. What's wrong with you?'

'Nothing. I'm fine'.

'You're not fine. If you're fine, you wake up and smell the wifey in front of you. See her there'.

'Aunty, she is my best friend'.

'Shut up. How will a boy and girl be best friends? Tell me, what's wrong? Is her character bad?'

'Mirabel? No. No'.

Aunty Gbemy scanned his eyes through her glasses, in the dim light.

'Truthfully, she is good'.

'Then what is happening? Why are you two not in a relationship?'

'Aunty...'

'Or is it your dead wife? May her gentle soul rest in peace. Sweet girl. I know you might not have a desire to have any other relationship after the one you had with her, but you have to try'.

'I'm trying. I'm really trying. See me, I want a relationship'.

'That means, it is truly that other girl'.

'What? No. No. She is not the one. Alexis. Ouch! She can't be the one. Never'.

Aunty Gbemy looked about. 'Or has that thing. The memory. You know what I mean. Is it back? Is the memory of that thing flooding back?'

'What memory?'

'Secondary school'.

He batted his eyelids repeatedly to ward off the pain of that memory. He hadn't thought about it for a long while now. She was talking about him being raped by a man, when he was in secondary school. Those times, no one believed him. Only three people believed him, Usman, his junior in school; a friend, that used it to his advantage and caused trouble for him; and his aunt, who fought his case and even helped him overcome the feeling by paying for his sessions with a psychiatrist.

'No. I'm not disturbed by that'.

'So what's wrong? Talk to me?'

'Let's forget it. The saleswoman will be waiting for you.'

'To hell with her. Tell me why you're refusing to tell her'.

'I will tell her. I'm just bidding my time'.

'In this dispensation. How old are you? About 36? Do you want to have grey hair before finally telling her how you feel about her?'

'I will soon'.

'How soon? Four years is also soon'.

'Before February'.

'Are you serious? Are you out of your mind? By January first, when you come to celebrate the new-year with me, you must have told her. Or else I'll...'

'Dis-aunty me?'

'Naughty boy', she sniggered. 'He knows my words'.

'Then I'd better dis-nephew you'.

'But on a serious note, ask for her hand in marriage'.

He promised to do soon. They returned to the stall, and said their goodbyes after Aunty Gbemy had collected Mirabel's contact. But Japheth was sure he wouldn't utter a word about his love for Mirabel to her until he was sure he was free. Mirabel couldn't stop disturbing him about how she had never seen him happy to see anyone in his life. She even promised to change his name to Aunt's little baby.

When he got home that night, he asked the gateman if Alexis came around, and he dejectedly replied in the negative. Maybe he was becoming free at last. Maybe he wouldn't have to wait till February after all.
Chapter 7

Dragged Through the Steaming Gate

The little fear that sprouted in Gladys' heart when she entered the compound dried off as she entered the parlor.

Her work at RexusHerbs as the Managing Director had exposed her to a lot of herbs, so she could attest to the fact that most of the flowers and herbs Stella planted outside her house were many of those her company rarely had access to. Even the few they had access to were gotten at expensive prices, all of which the Indians working with them referred to as the plants of the witches.

However, entering the house to meet a nice grey-painted, highly-decorated parlor, made her fear deplete. Looking about ravenously, she wondered what more one would need. The parlor contained everything that could make one comfortable in life.

The moment she entered Kojo Dray Close, Stella's house was the first to catch her attention. Kojo Dray was said to be the most expensive close in Black Town because of the wealth of the pioneer of the street. It was a huge house and it spelt money. Though the street was busy, her house looked secluded from the others.

'Sit... What would you like to drink?' Stella said in her motherly manner. 'How was work today?'

'Don't bother ma, work was fine. How was your work too today?'

Then, it occurred to Gladys that she had never ever considered trying to find out what Stella did for a living. At least one ought to have a good knowledge of his or her mentor. In fact, it wouldn't be a good thing to hear that she didn't know what her mentor did for a living.

'Are you fasting?'

'Yes ma'.

'Then, I break your fast right now. How will you fast when you know you would come visiting?'

'Err... Ma, technically, I'm an invited guest'.

'And that's the main reason you must eat something'.

Stella left to get her something to eat. Her beautiful wide gown had pictures of two beautiful flowers on them. Gladys tried to remember their names. She had seen them in one of those books those Indians brought about witch herbs. They had to bring the book to teach the company about rare herbs during their company's workshop. But she couldn't remember their names.

When she sighted it at a corner, Gladys went over to the parrot's cage and played with it. But, what she saw scared her. A dead raven laid in the same cage as the parrot. That should have only raised sympathy from her; instead, it raised premonitions in her heart.

'Oh! That', Stella said dismissively as she placed a tray containing a carton of Hollandia juice, and a packet of biscuit, in front of her. 'Don't mind, Jiggs. The Raven is its award'.

Jiggs clicked excitedly and whistled Stella's reply.

Wide-eyed and holding her breathe, Gladys walked slowly to her chair. Her sleeveless blue straight gown suddenly became useless because right there she needed a jacket to cover the hair that was raising on her arm.

'It's a dummy', Stella whispered.

Gladys released her breathe, sighed and burst into laughter. 'Why?'

'Why does it look like that?'

She nodded.

'I had to paint it and make it think it had won a price. Jiggs likes to win'.

Gladys laughed again in the realization that she was afraid for nothing for the second time. She sat, relaxed, as she glanced from side to side to see the different paintings and picture frames hanged on the wall. One of the paintings was that of a woman, who was being set ablaze. She saw Stella's picture, her late husband's own, and some paintings with no serious value to her recognition.

'How's Bro. Japheth's progress?' She asked. The curiosity had been biting the top of her mind for close to a month, she kept it to herself.

'You just deemed it fit to ask me after his fourth week of learning with me, well done'.

'I'm sorry'.

'For what? But he's growing anyway'.

They sat and began to gist on different topics as if they were opening pages of the Bible, expounding it on the go. Along the way, Stella gave her a lot of advice on spiritual matters.

'So, Gladys, when you came to celebrate the new year with me, there were a lot of people here preventing me from doing what I wanted to do today for you', Stella said as she sat upright in her seat. Her gown curled around her body as if it was her baby and it needed her cuddling. 'I've seen your desire to have this power. You want to see the raw power. You want to be in the system'.

'Yes, ma. I feel alienated. I feel drawn to the spiritual, but I'm not getting a grasp of it. I want to feel the power of God. To have the ability to touch the realms of the spirit', she replied as her mind wandered to the pictures on the wall. How could someone as powerful as this not have children of her own?

Stella nodded. 'You're right. You haven't been able to reach realms, which our fathers have reached, and it can be devastating'.

Gladys nodded. Her desire was to have more of everything. She had the ability to visualize things in the spiritual realm, and would want more of God, and of such ability. It made people know one was closer to God. Despite the fact that God can make one suffer even with his power, she still wanted to have a grasp of the hot power. Gladys was using a hearing aid despite serving God faithfully, while Stella remained barren. But she was sure that if she got the power, she would have the ability the fathers of old had.

'I have what you need. You don't need to climb the mountains the fathers climbed. You have the knowledge they never had. God is not a fiction, and you're not worthless', Stella said as she rose from her chair and stretched her hand. 'Follow me, let me take you into my prayer room... Are you ready to be like Jacob?'

Gladys's heart warmed. Her excitement level spiked. Her eyes roved over the flowers that patterned Stella's cloth and she failed to remember their names again. Forgetting about those flowers made her angry at herself. She took her hand and rose.

'When we enter that room, we would be there for three days, praying like our fathers. We won't see the sun until you're filled and fulfilled'.

Gladys didn't plan for that. She had work to do. She stared into Stella's eyes, and shook her head.

'Can we plan this tomorrow?'

'You only have the weekend to yourself, remember? You will have to wait till next week to do this again'.

She hurriedly calculated next week. Her mother's birthday fell on Saturday, the next week, so there was no way she could possibly miss it. It would mean war. She was sure her mother would call everybody to report her and accuse her of dishonoring her. More so, how would it be to live in her valley of dry bones for another week, when she could easily get an army there and then?

'Okay. But I have to call my mother to tell her I wouldn't be available until Monday'.

Stella nodded, and Gladys called her mother, who was curious about why she would just go off the radar for three days without even calling her. They argued for a while, and the matter died. Even if it didn't the woman mustn't be a hindrance to her glory.

'Do you know that one lawyer mysteriously would soon give these girls...what're their names?' Her mother said and tried to get the names.

'Tracey?'

'Yes o. That was how I saw Joana coming to praise God in my room that a lawyer came and said he was interested in helping in the eviction of those girls'.

'What was...', she said and kept quiet as it occurred to her that Mr. Akanni's hand was involved. Was he that desperate?

'That woman is really serving God. I fear her'.

'Yes ma'.

Afterwards, she switched off her phone and turned to give Stella a stiff smile. Mr. Akanni was really terrible. How could she live with such a man?

After the call, Stella guided her towards the farthest part of the room. The neatness of the house intrigued her. That was one advantage of not having babies. The house looked new as if Stella barely walked within it, but those were frivolities. King Solomon called those vanities; yet, he enjoyed life than anybody on earth.

'I'm taking you to the place I touch heavens and make the earth shake. It is here I shake the foundation of the power with which we use to minister'.

Gladys' interest was piqued. Her eyes lit with hope. She had been a Christian for most parts of her life; yet, everything seemed awkward and plain. She always wished for God to give her more and had fasted and prayed, but all she got was just a glimpse of this power. She wanted to deal with sickness and make demons tremble. She wanted to see visions like others. Although her spirit connected with visions more than before, she needed more. Power so real, that others would see it ooze out of her.

Stella fiddled with a lock for a while, opened a trapdoor, and gestured for her to enter. Gladys looked at her in fear of the darkness, but Stella smiled reassuringly. Stella nodded as she climbed down the first step. Then, she remembered the name of the flowers on Stella's cloth- Knotweed and Horsetail. One was used for binding things and for health, while the other was used for snake charming. She blinked repeatedly and shook her head. All were the imaginations of her fear.

Immediately Stella switched on the light, Gladys held her breathe. The room was a home to the scariest objects she had ever encountered. It wasn't a room on its own. There was a pyre and there were a lot of statues. Different tools laid on the pyre. There were two cages that hung from the ceiling of the room and some were on the floor. The hanging cages were big enough to take ten full-grown people, but the scariest part was that it hung over a horribly dark hole, from where simmers of smoke climbed out in the shape of rats. Gladys stirred to face Stella.

Stella entered the room slowly, her eyes were fixed on Gladys. Everything seemed to fade away. The terror of the room was grounded out of existence as Stella's blood-red evil eyes stared back at her.

For some absurd reason, she turned again. Her fear wasn't about the ominous room or the fearsome way Stella stared and advanced towards her, it was for the fact that she remembered that place from her dream.

'What is this?'

'The seed has been planted. You know where you are'.

'Do you mean?' Gladys asked and hurriedly glanced about to see if there was any way to escape. It couldn't be true. There was no way she drank part of the blood. She touched her lips and excited laughter from Stella.

'Yes. You know where we are', Stella said with such grace as she strutted towards her as if four hefty men were behind her.

Gladys shook her head, hyperventilating and panting. Stella's body frame was thin and if she rushed into her, she would definitely be able to escape. Sweat covered her body. Stella kept edging towards her and Gladys withdrew. 'It's a lie...'

'Tell me which part is a lie. I think you know I'm not lying. This is the major inconsistency with the word of God you should have looked out for'.

'You are a liar'.

'It's not in my nature to want to say the truth, but this is the truth. I guessed I've sinned against lord Lucifer for saying the truth, but he wouldn't be as mad as if I told you it was a figment of your imagination'.

'I'm dreaming. I'll wake up'.

Gladys ran to the pyre, touched it. It was real. It couldn't be real. She jumped, screamed, turned to check if she would at least wake from her dream. Everything was real in the house. What of herself? She pinched herself and the pain lingered to show her they are real.

'I'm a child of God. You can't do anything to me'.

'Well, in your words, technically, I'm not doing anything to you. I told you I would be here with you all the way'.

Gladys felt her mouth become dry. 'Please, let me go. Whatever'.

'Gladys, fear not...You are in safe hands. You will get raw power'.

'No. I don't want. I invoke the curse of God on you. In the name of Jesus, I am freed from whatever thing you have done and want to do to me'.

Stella laughed hysterically. 'You know my father or one of my fathers as I have had many fathers; the Australian father once told me about the story of a soldier who left the shore of America to fight the Germans. When he got there, instead of accepting defeat he kept invoking the power of being an American. In other words, he had left American soil and no longer had the protection of their power especially as he went AWOL'.

'I'm a child of God'.

Stella shrugged. 'Well, it depends on which God you're talking about: You have no right again as a Christian to make any demands. You've broken the edge and a snake has entered. I have entered. In fact, the snake is so pregnant within you and would soon give birth'.

'Shut up! I rebuke you. You're nothing but a liar and I will show you what stuff I'm made of'.

Gladys ran towards her. If the name of Jesus wasn't working, the strength Jesus gave her would do. She struck Stella's head. She was thicker than the frail Stella, her punch should have brought Stella down, but Stella was as fast as light. She side-stepped and rammed her fist into Gladys's ribs. The pain surged through her body to her head. Gladys yelled and crumbled to the ground, holding her side, but she tried to rise when she saw Stella advancing.

'You're a devil...', she said with clenched teeth as she grasped the pyre for support, groaning. A hammer rested on the pyre. Gladys picked it and stood straight, still panting heavily.

'God forgive me', she muttered as she poised herself to strike Stella. Although it was painful to do, she used all her strength to slack the tight blue armless gown she was wearing. People had commended the clothe after she got it from Fundel Collections, now Stella was making her tear the beautiful thing. She would crush her, and beg God for forgiveness later.

'Wow. I've never been called a devil in my 950 years plus on earth. Even Lord Lucifer would agree that I'm the next in command'.

Gladys stared at her in awe. What was she doing? How did she get involved with someone like this? Was she crazy? Was she blind? But she couldn't give herself an answer before a kick sent her sprawling on the floor. The hammer flew out of her hand while her hearing aid rattled away to one side, and Gladys was so sure she heard another rib-cracking before her hearing aid fell off. She crawled towards the Pyre to pick her hearing aid. With quivering hands, she positioned it in her ear, firmly. There was no way she would die without trying to fight off this evil that called herself her mentor. Stella sneered at her and punched her jaw thrice before bending near her bleeding head.

'It's a simple thing. You can either take it compulsorily or willingly'.

'No', she grunted.

***

Kingsley opened his wallet, stared at the few crumbled naira notes remaining in it and closed the wallet again. He had switched off his phone to avoid the incessant call of Gerald's little sister. If she were an adult, who could cater for herself, he would have told her to also source for funds for their mother's operation. The little girl had recently finished her secondary school examination, and was awaiting her Post-UTME result.

He crumbled the can of malt he was holding, and hoped to crumple his fear like that, so that he could be bold enough to enter the huge ominous house. That night, he talked his friends out of such rushed effort. They didn't have a serious plan, but Gerald's mother's health was seriously becoming critical, and they needed the money for the operation.

'Solution was coming, son of the soil'.

When that new lady that went into the house came out, he would surely recruit her help. She seemed like a lady that might help. He took another nylon of chin-chin and tore it. All he needed was evidence to show the police.

***

Alexis was in her room the whole day to the chagrin of her mother. It only took her father's order to make her stay alone. She had been crying all day. She was like that until her father knocked on her door. If it were her mother, she would have stayed till Jesus returned.

Although she tried to clean her nose, she couldn't bear the thought of telling her father she had someone she loved. He had stopped beating her since she was done with her secondary school education, but if it was up to her mother, he would have continued.

When he entered and slumped into her bed, she hurriedly wiped away the tears.

'Daddy pray for me'.

She could see the exciting thought that ran through her father's mind displayed on his face. He stared at her for a few seconds, and stretched both of his hands. She took it, and wholeheartedly said 'amen' to every of his prayer.

After the prayer, he didn't bother to ask her what was wrong, which she was happy about. He strode out of the room, and turned to her.

'If you need anything, anything at all, ask God'.

She nodded and watched him leave the room. Her mother's murmur sieved into the room. Alexis locked the door, and crumbled to the floor to pray.

'God, if Jaffy accepts me tomorrow, I'll serve you forever'.

Chapter 8

Hopelessness

Gladys screamed from the cage Stella had placed her. If she thought the smell of the room was horrid, now it had worsened. Somethings that looked like monkeys were flying all about the room, and were laughing at her. She had repeatedly called the name of Jesus, but she didn't get the reply she wanted. Maybe Stella was right? Maybe she had become another witch? But whatever the case was, she would never comply with her wish, no matter the power Stella wielded. She didn't have time to tend to her injured jaw as she followed the erratic movements of the demons.

Another monkey-like object appeared near her cage, she screamed and crawled away from its fang. Others copied its action and decided to surround her. She yelled. They shrieked and made horrible faces. Some of them had snakes culling around their hands, and emerging from their noses and mouth. The one that was a source of maggots and cockroach placed its hand near her. Maggots and cockroach followed its shriek and began to troupe out of its hand to the floor. She tried to crush them with her feet, but for everyone she killed, three more surfaced.

The ones she crushed would suddenly become liquid and begin to spread to the whole path of the room. For every part they spread to, a new maggot would emerge. She shrieked again and pranced as cockroaches began to fly to every part of her body. She brushed them repeatedly as she screamed 'Jesus' as if her body was on fire. Every of her anguish excited the demon the more. Quickly, she hanged on to the head of the cage, and kicked repeated as the demons with the snakes began to direct them to her. This time, her hearing aid was about to drop from her ear, but she couldn't remove one of her hands to replace it.

Like a ray of hope, the door opened and Stella walked down gracefully. She waved at the demons, and they all disappeared. Gladys sighed, dropped and placed her hearing aid firmly into her ears. Immediately she touched the ground, she crawled to the edge and wailed.

'Please... Please... Let me go. I swear to God and everything you serve. I will not tell anybody. I promise. Please...', she cried. But Stella only came nearer and turned her head as if she was looking at something around her body. Gladys turned about to see what she was staring but couldn't see anything. She grabbed the bar of the cage with her sweaty hands, and poked her head to plead with Stella.

'Are you ready to be a witch?'

'Is it by force? I want to be Christian. Calvary conquered it all, my sins and shame don't....'

'Shut up. God has left you to us'.

'God is...'

'Shut up. You are now ours. Become a witch', Stella said as she moved nearer. If Gladys had ever seen anyone with red or bloody eyes before, this would be the first to make her wet her pant. Her body shuddered as Stella moved nearer. 'Accept Lucifer as your lord. Demons have been operating in you since you were a child. Your uncle raped when you were just a child'.

Gladys was surprised at that deceitful statement. 'How will my Uncle rape me? When he died when I was just two?'

'He died because your father killed him when he discovered it. That's why your father drank before his death to keep the information to himself. Even your mother didn't know'.

Shocked, Gladys stared at her, and wondered the pain that would have come from that knowledge.

'So you see that demons existed in you all these while, and would even take lordship of your soul very soon'.

'No'.

'Okay then. Try not to scream, it's like music to their ears', Stella said as she stepped back and snapped her fingers. The demons reappeared and advanced towards the cage. Gladys screamed. How could she not scream, when they lurched at her from different corners.

'I told you not to scream', Stella shouted as she switched off the light, and locked the door.

The darkness excited the demons and they shrieked. Gladys screamed till her voice was hoarse. She inhaled to catch her breath and to regain her strength as she tried to shout. But she didn't have to catch her breath before something slimy fell on her laps. She shrieked and jumped up.

'No... I'm not doing'.

***

Stella told her not to scream, but her stubbornness would mess up her beautiful body. If she had accepted her offer, she wouldn't have to go through all these troubles. Now, she would have to go through horrible torture, which she never intended for her first protégé.

In their world, top and powerful witches know that getting drunk was at the expense of one's life because another powerful witch might decide to strike at that time, but she wasn't ready to care. She checked her protection spells, and strutted to the fridge in the parlor. Then, she grabbed a bottle of Diva Vodka, a glass cup and headed to the front of the television, and began to drink. The demons were under strict instruction from her to only scare but not touch Gladys. Although they might try to be disobedient, Heetah was ready for them. She gulped down another glass cup, and felt the hotness sip through her throat.

***

Japheth saw her in time, and reversed into the darkness of the night. Alexis was going to his house, that night. He was so lucky to have gone to welcome back Mirabel's mother, who had finally returned from taking care of her sister, who was one of those who escaped from the kidnapper unscathed, but was still traumatized by whatever she saw at the place she was kidnapped from.

He watched Alexis enter his compound, and expected her to come out in no time, but after waiting for a long while, he knew he was done for. The moment he saw her, every of his desires to make them both end in bed flooded his mind, and he felt his trousers becoming tighter by the second. He checked his wallet and headed for the nearest hotel in town. He hated his lifestyle, he had to leave home, and move to a hotel to sleep. Tomorrow, Chuks will hear the story of his life.

***

Alexis entered the compound and pleaded with the gateman. The man kept pleading with her to leave. She knew he loved her because of what he always got from her, and knew she needed him to allow her to stay. So that God would answer her prayers.

'I will give you what I always give Japheth'.

The man swallowed hard and stared intently at her. He bit his lower lips and looked over the gate for any ray of light.

'Quickly, enter', he said and opened the door. He rolled his shirt above his head, which was hanging from his shoulder. She would give him he wanted to see Japheth, anything at all.

Chapter 9

The Painful Desire

Japheth sat still in the magnificent sitting room and hoped everything would be fine. He loved the way Stella handled their various meetings. If not for her, he would have given up on himself. However, at this stage of his life, if she told him to do anything not logical, he would. With her motherly way of handling things, she had nurtured him to be better till he was strong enough to tell Alexis it was over between them. At first, she assumed he was lying until he pushed her towards the door. She yelled and cried and pleaded and promised to never seduce him or have sex with him until after they marry. But he sent her away because his heart desire for Mirabel was becoming stronger per time.

'I'll kill myself', she shouted and he was happy she didn't use one of those slangs she was fond of using, many of which he didn't understand. Notwithstanding every one of her threats and pleas, he pushed her out of the house.

That was last time, he spoke to her. Ever since, she had bombarded his phone with messages through SMS, Facebook message, WhatsApp, BBM, and Instagram.

He gritted happily that he was free from her shackles. Despite being younger than he, she had that power over his desire. Truth be told, she had played her part in making his house look presentable and had always made him happy when she was demanding that he experimented a new method of sexual intercourse with her. But, one cannot eat a pot of rice that had a drop of poo.

Stella had taught him all that and how to become better in his race for spiritual perfection. She had a more reserved manner in dealing with him. He couldn't really place his fingers on what caused his relapse into fornication whenever he saw her. Alexis was his trigger. He needed Jesus to save him. The pain of even dealing with his desire was a punishment on its own.

The previous day, he made sure he left the hotel early to know when she would leave. He was even accosted on the way by the street's vigilantes, but when they saw he was the driver, they stepped back, and allowed him to pass. He sat across the street, and made sure he did everything to remain awake. Immediately the daylight began to peep, the gate opened and she rushed out. He would have loved to know where she was going, but he would have gotten his reply on his bed, with her riding him. Even seeing her alone sent vibes into his body, but he had to keep himself from going back to his vomit.

When he entered the compound, he scolded Chuks and instructed him to never allow her to enter the house again. But he knew Chuks wouldn't obey such instructions. She always had her ways around him. The man's love for alcoholic drinks would soon ruin him. The next time he had another encounter with Alexis, he would make sure he collected his key. Immediately, he prepared for church, and ran off. And after service, Alexis didn't return and he left for Stella's home.

Despite the way he was beginning to hallow Stella's ways, she had this queer behavior that didn't go well with him. He was good at studying people, and could easily know their faults. Gladys, for example, was judgmental. But Stella had no fault. She was spotless and he hated that. A person shouldn't be blameless, it made him feel worthless around such person. His own pride fed on their fault. They couldn't be perfect.

Stella rushed into the sitting room with a bottle of water and a glass in a tray. 'I'm sorry. I assume you don't take drinks because of sugar'.

'Yes. How...' he said, paused, stared into her face and hissed. 'Oh! Ma, is it that the Holy spirit tells people everything about anybody?'

She smiled and sat on the sofa. One thing was sure about her. She was beautiful but oddly so. She wore long big skirts which would naturally have turned some women into beasts, but she was ravishing in them.

'No. He doesn't do that to everyone'.

'Good'.

Stella laughed heartily. 'You don't need to be afraid'.

Japheth gazed at the expensive tiles and traced them with his eyes. They were very neat as if she always washed every piece every second. 'I don't know how it will feel to enter the church after let's say I fornicate. I won't even be able to enter'.

Stella nodded and placed her hand on his lap. 'I understand'.

Then she proceeded to explain some bible verses to him. He sat still throughout her teaching, and asked the necessary questions. She gave him a big smile as she explained them to him. He was ready for her. He came with his notepad that had the first five of its pages filled with medical terms, while some others had been torn away by Alexis whenever she wanted to use them to describe a new sexual fantasy to him. He listened to every of her words and jotted into his notepad enthusiastically.

She didn't stop talking until his phone rang, indicating Alexis was on the line. At first, he snubbed the call, but when Stella insisted after the repetitive call, he picked it.

'I'm in your room, and I have come to stay. I'll never leave'.

'Wait for me. I'll show you that the only you have the right to stay in under your father', he yelled. The way she uttered the words were really disgusting. If she was saying that in front of him at that instant, he would have beaten her till no one could pick even her cell from the ground. Whatever plan she had, it would be foiled. But she wasn't running away from the house. He would deal with her whenever he got home.

'Hope all is well?' Stella said after he disconnected the call.

'She is the one. Alexis... She said she is at my house?'

'Do you want to leave?'

'No. ma. Let's continue'.

Stella led the prayers that Sunday and she had looked for a way to make the church pray about him. Although she avoided mentioning his name, he really appreciated her effort. For that reason, he would sit still and listen.

'Please ma, I have to leave', he said after ten minutes of frequently losing concentration.

'Hope all is well? Can you handle this?'

'Yes ma'.

'My father always said never trust a man who says Yes to the question ' Hope all is well?'

'Then, your father must be a psychologist'.

'Don't mind the man. He would always have a saying to give people. He believes that a man without a quote would soon lead the life of a goat'.

'What does that mean?'

She shrugged and opened her hands. 'Even me, I don't know. I always try to fathom what he meant, but most times he would just munch on his tobacco pipe and snooze off as if I never existed. Yet, he would never let me be. He promises to come here one of these days'.

'Oh I would love to be with him', he replied absentmindedly as they got to the gate.

'Then you have to come with more than a notepad', she said and they both laughed. She unlatched the lock of the gate, and opened it for him.

'Why don't you get a gateman?' He asked just as he stepped outside the house. 'This house is too big for you alone to live without any security man'.

She smiled at him with a different kind of joy. 'Thieves once came to this house when I had a gateman. Ahhh... See that look on your face'.

'Was he part of them? I mean did he have a hand in...'

'No. Not at all', she said dismissively. 'In fact, the man's own was more than the thieves. At least they knew what they came for. The gateman said he was a gateman, and wasn't in charge of security. I would have asked the police to apprehend him, and make sure he ends up in one of those horrible dungeons, but my father would say let a foolish dog loose, the wolves shall deal with it'.

'That's deep', he replied, smiling warily.

'I'm not that good at telling joke, I know. So, don't let me delay you'.

He smiled and turned to leave, then turned again. 'Thank you, ma'.

'You're welcome'.

She rested on the dangling pedestrian gate, and kept watching him like someone that had a lot to say, but needed to be quiet. He nodded and left.

'Japheth, you know all about confession, right?'

He turned and nodded.

'Good! Please come nearer'.

He did and she seemed as if she was about to tell him a big secret. She gritted.

'You have demons in you, a lot from fornicating and from the man that raped you when you were small. Your Aunty only helped you overcome it psychologically, but didn't cleanse you spiritually. Rather, she didn't help you close those spiritual doorways. That is why you fall easily. When you get home, read aloud the book of Revelation chapter 19-22. Demons hate to hear about the fall of...' She said and went into a bout of cough.

'Are you alright?' He said with fear as he moved nearer. She waved and gestured for him to leave.

'It will...'

She went into another bout of coughing.

'Just go...'

'Are you sure...?'

'I'll be fine'.

'Okay...But...'

'Go...Don't worry'.

He turned and left the house even as she slammed the gate, kept coughing and kept battling with the lock of the gate.

He battled between rushing home and insisting on helping her. But he must battle the external demons before he even faced the demons within. He walked to his car and was so focused on getting home that he didn't hear someone running after him. Normally, he would have parked within her compound, but he didn't want to stress her, seeing that she had no gateman.

The person touched him. He turned hurriedly and backed away from the person. 'What? Who are you?'

A lanky man stared at him. His eye bags were full and his eyes were red. He was holding a nylon of Minimie chin-chin.

'Please, help me'.

'I don't have my wallet on me so I don't have money', Japheth said and was sure he wasn't lying. That couldn't be a lie. He had explained the situation to the man.

'No...No money. Not money. The son of the soil doesn't need money now', the man said and glanced at Stella's house.

'What do you want?'

'Two of my guys entered that house, December... December 5, and I'm yet to see them'.

'Which house?'

The man looked at the different direction of the empty street and pointed toward Mrs. Stella's house. 'That big house. Please, I haven't seen them in five weeks now'.

Japheth felt like walking away, but he felt the man was saying something worthy of his time. At least if anything was truly wrong, though he prayed it was a lie, he would have, a knowledge of something bad about Stella. Her good behavior and everything made him feel like a dog when he was in her presence. 'Are you sure?'

'I'm not lying. The son of the soil followed them but I stayed outside. I was...'He said and ran forward to point at a corner of the street.

'What were you doing there?'

'I'm not proud of saying this but we came to steal'.

' Ah! What if they ran with the money?'

'They can't', the man said aggressively and tears began to run down his eyes.

'How are you sure? Calm down. There's surely...'

'I know what I know. Gerald's mother is sick. I followed him and Nnamdi to get money for her operations', he said, trying to make himself audible enough for only Japheth. 'On Friday, three days ago, I saw a lady enter the place. Son of the soil saw it with his own eyes. A lady entered the place, and had not come out. Something is happening. There is something about big houses, I told them. I told them Big houses are bad. People with big houses have gone through a lot to erect such houses'.

Japheth had wanted to catch her doing something bad, but not this. 'I don't believe you. She's a Christian'.

'I swear to God, I saw the other lady on Friday', the man said.

'Describe the other lady'.

The man vividly described Gladys, who wasn't around in church that Sunday. No matter what, he trusted Stella. This man was a con.

'You're lying. If you follow me, I'll shout that you're a thief'.

The man burst into tears.

***

There were things that many considered to be wrong in this world, and shouldn't be meddled with. One of such was trying to enter the place one had been afraid of entering initially. There were repercussions, not from the law but from the world of one's fear. Kingsley looked at both sides after the guy had gone and moved to gate. He tried to push the gate, but it was locked. Suddenly, someone shouted, 'who is there?'

He had always been considered by his friends to be light on his feet. Without further ado, he sped off the road and jumped into the nearest drainage on the road. The gate creaked as it was opened. A woman coughed and shouted, 'who is there?'

She reverted to coughing and banged the gate. Luckily for him, the drainage was dry, maybe because it wasn't near any house. He dusted his cloth as he rose, and then, he peeped again into the house. He should always listen to his intuition.
Chapter 10

Springy Gate

Stella sprawled on the ground, still coughing and gasping for air as Heetah's seemed to tear from within. When someone tried to open the gate, and she opened it, she met no one there. She tried to scan around to see who it was, but Heetah's grip on her throat tightened. She had allowed her emotion take over, now she must pay. When Japheth came around earlier, and she started teaching him, Heetah allowed her to teach him basics of Christianity then directed her to teach him misleading facts about God. The teaching looked real to him; the teaching was for him to believe some facts about God, then her demons would make a lot of things happen to him that would cause him to question and later hate God. They would make him encounter bad occurrences that couldn't be explained with any basic fact of the Bible; thus, he would gradually stop believing in God.

However, two hours later, the demons torturing Gladys in the underground room informed Heetah, which informed her that Gladys was ready to break. So, Heetah sent a smaller demon to the demon around the lady with whom Japheth was fond of fornicating. The demon made her suddenly find her parents obnoxious and made her go to Japheth's house. While she was on her way, she called him, and Japheth reacted the way she and had planned.

Japheth once told Stella that he had given the girl a key, but he trusted her not to invade his home any longer. The demon's job was to compel the girl to think she was so in love with him that she couldn't live without him. The demon had been planting seeds in her mind, and had been waiting for their activation. When it got the command to activate the seeds in her, she made the call that rattled Japheth. And owing to the fact that he felt a need to show his own demon, the girl, that he was freed from her chain, he decided to leave to confront her.

However, when they got to the gate, she saw in Japheth a man that sincerely wanted to have what she also needed: Salvation. She knew Lucifer was lying, but to renounce him at her stage meant a lot, meant her life. But if she gave Japheth what he wanted, his salvation can make God find a way to bring her to Christ, to forgive her. So, she told him what he needed most- the truth.

'I told you to let him go, didn't I?' Heetah roared from within as he continually tore her from within. It had the right. She had given it the right by accepting it into her soul. It was ripping her flesh from within and was tormenting her with horrible images from her past. She screamed as she was made to see things that had happened to those she loved in her past years. Many of her friends being burnt at the stake by the Roman Catholic Popes for being a witch. She also saw most of her family members and friends being tortured to death with grave illness through her. She cried in distress, but it could only come out as a cough. She sprawled on the floor.

'You told him the way to get rid of the devil within him'.

'I'm sorry'.

'I don't need that. I need you to undo what you've done'.

She kept coughing as if she would vomit her stomach. The pain was everywhere in her body. No matter how much she shouted, no one would hear her. She had put a spell on the house that immediately she locked the gate it became soundproof. At least, if it wasn't there, the person that tried to open the gate would get the chance to save her. Now, she was in her own cage, in a place she would die without help.

'I'll undo it. I'll send Gladys to him...'

Cough.

'She will do my bidding.'

'As if you have any power. I own you. If you think you control me. You know it's a lie. My thoughts are linked to yours, you think what I think', Heetah bellowed loudly from within her, through her voice.

She snapped back into her normal self and screamed, 'I don't want that again'.

'I know it's a lie. You love to remain Satan's eyes and wife. You love the wealth and enjoyed the fact that no other witch is after your life. That's because I, Heetah, have given you the chance. So that you can do the devil's bidding.'

'I'm sorry'.

'You're still whining like a baby'.

'I hate you. I hate you, Heetah. I hate lord Lucifer'.

The pain subsided. She crumbled to the ground, panting heavily. Unlike the other times, the pain stuck to her like needles. She staggered up and moved towards the house. Then, she stumbled into the dungeon, where she met Gladys, who looked ragged. Her eyes were puffy from tears. Gladys' hair was scattered. Demons were useless. They have only one job: to destroy. She sat at the edge of the staircase, and burst into tears as she saw the haggard look of the one that would soon become her protégé. Gladys joined her to cry, but this time, because she herself desired freedom. Although she wasn't wailing like Gladys, every part of her cried. She cursed the day her grandmother passed the demon into her. At least her grandmother died in peace, and must be probably in the lake of fire. But she grew up with an insatiable desire like Gladys, and no one had ever met that hunger, no one had gotten to the height of her own hunger. Very soon, Gladys would be the one in charge of that power. She had seen the hunger in Gladys already. Very soon, things would turn sour for her too. ***

Gladys laid on the floor of the cage, panting and sweating as she fondled her hearing aids. It took her a long while to find. If not for the good quality that characterized Fundel Collections, her cloth would have been torn with the way she was swatting at the Cockroaches and the irritating maggots, and the way she had to escape the sizzling hands of the demons. She had quoted all the scriptures she could and none of them was effective. She tried every means, but wondered why God had forsaken her. She remembered every of Stella's word, but didn't want to agree with her.

'How do you think you've been doing the stuff you've been doing? By the spanking power of the Holy Ghost?' Stella bawled that morning. 'God has forsaken you. You're in our care. Your hedges have been broken and serpents are inside. You've been empty since you were raped by your uncle. All the demon within you did was to make allowance for this'.

She screamed and begged but nothing happened. Before Stella proceeded to use the demons, she had used every method, but none worked. In fact, she pleaded with Gladys to accept her offer before she used her last resort, but Gladys was adamant.

When Stella noticed that Gladys was adamant, she did something strange. She drew a pentagram (five-pointed stars) on the floor, and placed a bulky candle on each point of this pentagram. When Stella was putting on a black robe, she felt she had given up on her, and was there to kill her. But when she didn't come to her cage, she scrambled to the edge of the cage to watch her do whatever she wanted to do. Even if watching her wouldn't prevent her from dying, it would give her the chance to see her death whenever it came towards her.

With a baleful grace, Stella waved her hand and all the candles were lit. Then she started saying something that looked like an incantation. Her voice sounded like howling of bats.

In her tiredness and weariness, Gladys could only stare at her as she did whatever she did. Gladys was so sure nothing would make her recant her love for God. Without anything being poured in it, the pentagram was suddenly engulfed in murky smokes and a blurry type of light that one sees when one opens one's fridge in the middle of the night. Suddenly, the room smelt of Sulphur. She cowered to the extreme of the cage and covered her nose, but she made sure she watched Stella as she did whatever she did. It was intriguing as well as frightening. Suddenly a dark monstrous head emerged from the smoke. Gladys batted her eyes thrice, then screamed. With a wave of the hand from Stella, the gate of her cage sprung open. Gladys screamed louder. The demon was huge and stood about 8.5 feet tall. He stared at her as if she was another prey, and it knew how to tear her to pieces as it swayed from side to side. She screamed louder.

'Don't worry, I will not allow it move near you now, but by the time I return and you're not ready I'll release it', Stella said dejectedly as if she didn't want to do it.

Gladys stared from the fang-baring demon to Stella. This woman was definitely joking. There was no way she would leave her with the demon.

'You can't force me. I love God. I'll die and die again before I do this'.

'Good! Keep digging your grave', Stella said as she climbed the stairs out of the underground.

Gladys began hyperventilating as she watched Stella's head disappear. She loved to have a taste of this type of power and ability, but it should come from the right source- God.

'I'm ready'.

Sister Stella stepped down and stared menacingly at her and shook her head. 'You are not ready. Demon, move forward a bit'.

'No... Not at all. I'm ready. I swear'

Stella stared at her. Maybe she was reading her thought. Oh! God, I'm sorry, she thought. Stella should see that she was ready. Gladys glanced at Stella and at the fierce demon. There was no fear that had overtaken her like this. What was wrong with this woman? She was a witch and should detect that she was ready? Closing her eyes reminded her that she hadn't gotten the chance to sleep for close to three days.

'I'll be back. Demon stay put'.

'No', she screamed and cowered back against the wall of the cage. 'I'm ready. I'm ready'. Her hearing aid clattered off her ear to the floor, and, even without her hearing aid, the demon's voice roared into her ear.

***

Japheth returned home to meet Alexis seating at the edge of a chair in the parlor. A pink traveling bag sat on the floor beside her. Her puffy eyes should have called his attention to her, but he wasn't in the mood to even look at her. He had made sure he fought the gateman for allowing her into the house, and that one had promised to never allow her again.

'What are you doing here? I told you the last time that we are done and over. That you should never come back here'.

'I can't go'.

'Then you are calling for fire'.

'I need you'.

'You have mental...I'm a Christian. I don' have time for frivolities. I've given my all to Christ. We don't even know one another. In my world, you are darkness and I am the light of the world. The bible says what shall light have to do with darkness?'

'Jaffy, I know you. A dog that knows one before cannot suddenly stop wagging tail at one's presence'.

'One. I'm not a dog, I'm a live-grown man. Two. I'm like the masquerade. I don't know you, but you know me'.

'I don't know what got over me. Since Wednesday, I can't stop thinking about you. I'll do everything you want'.

'You will?'.

'Yes. I've been studying hard', she unzipped the bag and picked books from the bag. 'I'll be good to my parent. You've made me good to them. I'll be better. See I'm preparing for the University. If my post Utme result comes out well, and I do well, I'll make sure I do well at school'.

'Are you sure?'

'I'll be a Christian'.

'That means you are saying the truth'.

'Good. So what do you want?'

'I want you out of my life'.

'I can't do that. I just can't. My heart is fixed on you'.

'Then, let's get a scissors or blade. Get out. I'll be a Father of a Catholic church soon. I won't have or I can't have sex anymore...'

'I will be a nun in that church. I'll love you. I wasn't always like this. I remember everything you told me after that day. I can't forget them'.

'Get the... Your dirty body out of my house'.

He pushed her out after he opened the door. 'Get out of my house and my life. I should not see you again'.

'I love you'.

'Shoot me... I'll rather die than love you again'.

'I'll be a changed person for you', she cried as she resisted him. 'I love you'.

'I don't...Get out. Go'.

Chapter 11

The Gate Fell

Japheth glanced at the door for the umpteenth time to be sure it was locked. Alexis called again from outside, crying and begging him to give her a chance in his life. Her fist hit the door repeatedly along with her incessant call.

He was happy that he was finally free from her after two weeks of sending her away with the load she brought with her, and was going to ask Mirabel to be his girlfriend, and invariably be his wife. Aunty Gbemy felt bad when he took Mirabel to her place as a friend, nothing more. She complained that she suspected he was relapsing into the thought of those days he was raped. But he had promised her that he would surely do something about it before February. So, when she came knocking the door and he opened it to see, he almost fainted. When she knocked the door, he assumed that Richard came back to pick his small phone, which Japheth forgot in his own car because he used it to call Stella to give her his progress report as they were both accustomed to. Richard had squatted at his place for two days because their house was razed by fire three days ago. They were friends from his University days, and had only recently discovered that their houses weren't far from one another. They both went out with Mirabel the previous day, to make Richard stop worrying about the razed house.

The moment the knock came, he hurried off, scolding himself for unconsciously knocking the door.

'Richard. Guy, I'm so sorry for...' He said as he was opening the door, but had to stop himself when he saw Alexis standing in the passage. He stretched and shouted at Chuks.' Chuks, your salary will suffer'.

Chuks scratched his head and stared at him with guilty written over his face. Alexis must surely have something over him to make him always allow her into his compound. Alexis crumbled to her knees and positioned her hands like those of the praying mantis. She began to cry and tell him that God had saved her. She firmly tied a scarf around her head, making sure the scarf covered her hair. Her blouse covered her neck, and had a round shape to depict a certain Pentecostal church in Nigeria. Even in her kneeling position, her skirt covered her legs. The clothes looked as if she was thrown into a sack, and was forced to wear the clothe to his place. Her face that was usually designed with makeups was now drab, and wasn't even adorned with any pieces of jewelry. Her dressing overkilled its moderation. She had also removed her human hair attachment, but a leopard can't change its skin. There was no way he would take her pretense as the truth.

'Get up. Get up and Get out, now'.

'Please... See, I'm saved and I'm changed. I'm a new creature'.

He stared at her for a moment and hissed. 'Indeed'.

He banged the door behind her as she shouted that God had really saved her. If God had saved her, she wouldn't even have a reason to come to his place.

Time was like a baby. If unplanned for, it would crawl off the edge until one had to cry for its demise. He had to use this period to plan how he wanted to woo Mirabel, and ask her to be his girlfriend.

'Japheth', Alexis cried again, banging the door. She was now heaving like one that had recently lost someone close to her.

When he noticed her plea would soon break him and melt his heart, Japheth ran to the sitting room and connected his laptop to the home speakers and searched for a good preaching to play. Mirabel had encouraged him to follow some Pastors, whom she felt are worth listening to.

He heard of Pastor Natalie Ikeremadu (from Fortune City), Apostle Joshua Selman, Apostle Johnson Suleiman Kenneth E. Hagins, Benny Hinn, Sekou Abodurin, Moyo Akin-Ojo and so many others. He chose one of Apostle Joshua's Selman's Miracle Service.

The persistent knock increased. He was done for. However, in a short while, the noise was drowned in the overwhelming tongues with which the message began to play. He felt elated. Time was essential and there was no way he could waste it believing the lies of a girl, who only wanted him for sex. Maybe later in his life, he would preach to her, but for the main time all he needed was freedom from his desire, from her.

Two weeks ago, when he was about sending her out of his life, out of his house, she promised to get saved. Now, she had returned, claiming God had saved her. She promised to get saved, and was saved already. How did that even happen? Was there a conviction or something?

'Ah!' He exclaimed as he continued praying along with the preaching. The vigor with which the Apostle was praying was enough to make anyone pray along with him. Japheth wasn't able to speak in tongues yet, but he would give in to the prayer in his understanding. He would pray with English, in his understanding. The fire was burning within him. That's it. He had overcome his worst distraction. Even when she was around. The best way to test if a drug was working was to place the pathogen on the same host as the drug meant to cure it. He was tested and trusted. She would never be his downfall.

He wouldn't hear anything, but the knock became harder and louder. Whatever she was using was definitely hard, probably a stone. He forgot to instruct Chuks to send her away and that was what he would do. Flee from all evil, the Bible had admonished, and that was what he would do.

'You're still here', he said, opening the door as if he wanted to remove it from its hinges.

His hand shook the moment he saw her. Quickly, he pocketed it, happy that he wore trousers that allowed him do that. Her behavior was extremely absurd. What kind of love would make such alpha-female become a beta for him, become a Christian? No, that was unusual and unacceptable.

'You are an idiot. Get out of this house', he shouted, stepping closer to her, to be sure she would listen to what he was about to say.' I don't want or love you. Get out of my house'.

'But we both know that I'll do anything for you, you know I'm not a jambito. You love me and I love you', she cried.

He inhaled and exhaled loudly as he rubbed his fingers with his thumb. 'You want to make me happy?'

She nodded.

'Give me my key'.

She became still. 'But that means...'

'That means you don't want to make me happy', he said as made to lock the door.

'Okay. I'll give you', she searched a part of the bogus skirt and removed his key. The head of a pocket knife poked from under the skirt. Was she planning to kill him? With a trembling hand, he tried to yank it off her hand. She grabbed his hand and kissed it continuously. This was becoming absurd, very odd.

'Chuks', Japheth shouted and pulled his hand off her. 'Chuks, come and carry this girl outside'.

Chuks, who had been watching from afar, sprang forward and was reluctant in carrying her because he knew he always encouraged their relationship. However, with a fierce look from him, Chuks carried her out amidst her numerous pleas and shriek. She screamed and kicked.

Japheth's head was in the sand; there was no way he would go back on his word. There was no way he would allow her to destroy his life. Her inordinate desire was eating deep into his sanity. No matter the love he used to have for her: it was over. Now, they had better things or matters to deal with like his spiritual growth and his communication with God. She thought she was in love, but when her Post Utme result arrived, and she went to the University, she would find a better person. It was one of those teenage-loves; one that many of them trained themselves to believe that was the only love on earth.

He wouldn't meddle with things of the world, her. ' I've got my mind made up and I won't turn back. Carry her'.

Chuks wheezed her out of the compound, and locked the door. She screamed and cried and banged the door and repeated the process again.

'Don't ever open the door for her again', Japheth ordered Chuks, then stormed into the sitting room, and banged the door behind him. Now that he had the key, he was enriched in his freedom. The noise within the sitting room had muffled her noise. As he moved nearer to the heart of the noise, her voice was drowned entirely. He was recovering from sin. God had use Stella to help him retain God in his mind. Therefore, his inordinate thoughts and desires had been tamped. He wouldn't go back to the way he used to be before God presence came and found him.

As he reduced the volume of the player to room level, he heard the incessant banging of the gate again.

'What's with Alexis?' He muttered as he slumped into the chair. She was a wounded Lion, and would soon get over her injury. She used to claim he was the only one that made her happy. With time, she would get over him. Maybe later, she would try to have revenge by flaunting her body at him, and God would help him against her.

He kept listening to the preaching and dozed off in the process.

Suddenly, someone banged his door. He jumped up, surprised, and stared at the window.

'Who's there?'

The person repeatedly banged the door. He shouldn't have asked who it was. He knew who it was. How did she enter the compound? Was Chuks not at the door? He stared at the door and rose with the hope that he wouldn't do something bad to her.

He flung the door open to meet his gateman shaking like a wet leaf.

Japheth sighed. 'Chuks, why were you knocking in that manner?'

'Boss, that girl... Alexis Come...Come', Chuks rambled and rushed away.

'Come back here', Japheth shouted as he glanced at himself and at Chuks. 'What's wrong?'

'Boss come o...She will die. She is dead. Just come', Chuks rambled and rushed away.

Japheth ran after him. 'What's happening? Talk to me'.

'She will kill herself'.

Chuks ran out of the house and Japheth followed. Whatever was happening must be so bad that Chuks would be speechless. Chuks was never short of words.

'Jesus', Japheth screamed as he stopped outside.

Alexis' sat with her back against the black gate of his house, unconscious. Her head had dropped to her chest. A blood-stained pocket-knife suspended from her hand while blood oozed from her other hand onto the dry ground. Lying in front of her was the drawing of a heart with his name inscribed on it, and the letter 'I' was written outside the heart.

A crowd had gathered around her and flies had gathered also to feast, buzzing as they spiraled about the pool of blood.

'Chuks, go and bring my first aid box. No, my car key', Japheth cried as he pushed his way to the front. The time for first aid was too late. The injury was deep. She had lost a lot of blood. But, Chuks was jittering and was moving forward and backward towards her. Japheth pulled off his shirt, leaving his singlet, ran to her and grabbed her hand, applying pressure with the cloth.

'Boss... Mr. Japheth, don't touch her. Police. Police'.

'Are you daft? Come and help me lift her to my car. In fact, go and get my car keys. Go and get those keys'.

Japheth lifted her and raced into the house with her on his arms, the crowd parting ways for him. Chuks ran out, dangling the key at Japheth's face as he was trying to open the car door. A scowl from him sent Chuks scurrying to open the door. He tied the shirt around her hand, banged the door and ran to the driver's side of the car. Hurriedly, he checked her pulse and sighed as he ignited the car. The speed with which he drove to the hospital was faster than the impulse of the body. The way she laid should have seen her heaving like a cranky house in a storm, but she seemed to lay too still. He glanced at her and when he looked up, a truck was heading towards him, honking terribly. He swerved, but didn't stop for a moment as he maneuvered his way to the hospital. He grabbed his phone and dialed Mirabel's phone number, explaining to her that he was bringing Alexis to the hospital. She got the urgency and didn't joke about it. He told her to make sure the doctor on duty was ready to treat her.

The moment he got to the hospital, he began screaming instructions to the nurses. He would have loved to treat her himself, but his hospital was so keen on protocols that they would deny any of his offer to render help to the dying girl. The only person that could treat her was the doctor on duty.

'Oh Jesus, don't let her die', he said.

Mirabel re-emphasized her efficiency and loyalty in front of him.

'She is in one of the best hands', Mirabel said as she made sure he was seated, and that he wasn't moving about, working himself up.

Not knowing what to do, he began to chant the only Bible verse that came to his mind. While his dancing legs did the worrying for him. 'He sent forth his word and healed her of her diseases. Alexis, you shall not die. You shall not die in Jesus name. You will live'.

The only person he could speak to in the hospital was busy saving the only person he used to speak to. However, he must talk to someone and the only person he could talk to at the moment was Stella. Gladys was too judgmental and serious to not find faults. Her behavior always made him feel as if she had a desire to cage him just like Alexis did, her own caging doubling Alexis'. So, he hurried to his car to pick Richard's smaller phone, which he forgot in his car. Luckily, Richard had a lot of call bonus from Glo. So, he hurriedly dialed Stella's phone number. She was the only Christian he could trust to make Alexis survive. How would someone become obsessed with him? He wouldn't allow it. After waking, he was sure she would come out of her delusion and be focused on her bleak future. She was just too young to have an uncontrollable hunger for inordinate affection with him.

Immediately Mrs. Stella's number got connected, he explained everything to her in a manner that showed how fearful he was. His fear was spread on every word he spoke like butter on bread.

'Calm down. You're treading the right path. Just keep making positive confessions about the situation. I can assure you she won't die. God will make you two have a good ending'.

'Ma. She's no longer my lover. Please, don't let God do that...'

' No... No. I meant he would make you have a reason to praise him. It's not necessarily about relationship'.

'Okay. Please ma, pray for me. If she dies, I'll not be happy or be at peace'.

'Where are you?' She asked.

He described the hospital to her.
Chapter 12

The Mirror View

Gladys sat still, watching the sunset, and tried not to revert to the days it took her to get well emotionally and physically. Stella tried to hide her tears as she took care of her, but it streamed down most time. She kept telling Gladys how it was her fault, that in the new kingdom she was to be a member, and also a high priestess, she had to learn that obedience was the key. They weren't like every casual person that roamed the street. They were to direct the affairs of the world, and so many things that Stella saw as a burden, but Gladys saw as something that was worth exploring.

The only thing Gladys was in awe of was how such a tiny woman could wield such great power. At the click of her fingers, the demons kept appearing and disappearing. The energy in that room was so much that it made her lose all her will to agree with God. That was a taste of the power she had always craved. Against her wish, she had to take a coerced two-week leave from work.

Being in the system made her understand how ridiculous it was in Christendom. The power there was controlled by the holy spirit, and for the glory of God, without pride. Here, they had the ability to use power, and not attribute it to the devil.

It took her three days to fully revive, and the only places she did that was in Stella's house. She had placed her in various basins of concoction. She poured drinks for her from what she called a cauldron. Then, she gave her a day to rest at her house. When Stella helped her home, Elizabeth was all over her, asking her why she left without telling her. She could only smile painfully at the naivety of her mind. Gladys was a bomb that would soon explode. Stella had mended the tears in her clothe, and had washed it thoroughly for her.

Afterwards, Stella insisted that she started her lessons immediately. They were very intensive, and many of them left her drained throughout the remaining parts of the day.

Stella, in one of her numerous lessons, encouraged her to always source for energy from nature, and true to her words, her strength was returning. There was every possibility that with the herbs Stella recommended for her, she would gain her energy fast.

She would never have imagined that she would be the one to care less about the future or anything. The only things she had on her mind were power and Japheth. If she could overpower Stella, then she would have control over things. At least if she got enough power, the first thing she would want would be to raise an army or a sort of school for recruits. One of the first lessons Stella made her go through was how to detect other witches. She was surprised to see many people in her church were witches, and tend to do things irrationally.

Stella showed her how illiterate the witches in Black Town, Fortune City were. Even at her amateurish age, she was still knowledgeable about some things they weren't. Yet, Stella forbade her from ever being close to any of them. That was why she needed power, to never be under the paranoid Stella. Since she got the power, she had been having dreams of her teaching young ones how to have a school of witches.

The next thing on her agenda was how to get Japheth. Luckily, he was also trained by Stella, so making him turn over to her side was simply easy. She was biding her time. With the assurance of a Lion, she was sure she would get a spell to use to make Japheth love her. Whatever it would take, she was ready to make Japheth love her. He wasn't the Christian that wouldn't be able to fall to her control. She was, firstly, one that was vast in the knowledge of God. And now, she was a witch, whom all other witches would fear, even Stella.

Then, someone knocked the door as if he or she was afraid of waking the dead. Gladys rose gingerly from her bed, from where she was privy of watching the setting sun, and dragged herself to the sitting room, to the door as she tended to her jaw. When she was a Christian, things like this would have been a thing of joy because no one came visiting. They saw her as one that was great in Christ, one that didn't need visitation. Yet, she wasn't always perturbed.

She opened the door in expectation to see one of her neighbors or maybe a church member. Instead, she saw a lanky man. Upon seeing him, she regretted not sending her spirit to check for her. At least, it would have prepared her for the man who was looking as if he wanted to bore his eyes into her heart.

'What can I do for you?'

'You... Please, help me. My friends, Gerald and Nnamdi'.

Gladys eyed him angrily. At last, she finally saw something to expel her anger on.

'What are you talking about? Do I look like a sorceress or an herbalist? Please, get out of here'.

'Madam, please help me'.

Gladys shook her head, frustrated, and banged the door at his face. Some people are fond of bringing out the worse in others.

'Please', the man said as he repeatedly knocked the door.

She shook her head and meandered to her bed. No matter how hard he knocked, she wouldn't answer him. However, the man insisted. There was no way she could think straight with this noise. He was obnoxiously disturbing her. So, unless she made him leave, she was only deceiving herself.

Pulling the door, she stood straight to face him. 'Mr. Man, please stop disturbing me. I don't know what you are talking about and I don't even want to be involved or see you here anymore'.

The man went down on his knee. 'Please, you just have to help me. You need to help'.

She stared at his black lips and red eyes. Even if she never considered it before, she was sure he was a smoker.

'What are you blabbering about?'

The guy looked all about and stretched to look beyond her, into the room. She smirked and drew her door closer to herself.

'Heys...Heys...What's all this?'

He was a thief and was trying to scan for her properties. How could she be even sure he wasn't there to steal her things or attack her?

The man nodded repeatedly as he rubbed his hands repeatedly, pleading with her. 'My friends. That house. That big house you came out from that day. I have met a police detective, but he said he needed proof'.

She frowned as she tried to fathom what he was saying. 'What house? Which day? Can you stop being a thorn in my flesh this afternoon'?

She sighed and hit her forehead. She would liaise with other neighbors to talk some senses into the skull of the vulture they called their gateman. She couldn't understand how he would direct someone to her flat without first asking who the person was or getting permission from her.

With the way the lanky man in front her was acting, she could understand that he was a beggar. She knew their types; they would use anything to ask for money.

Although people get offended with those that are blunt, it was pathetic to listen to them trying to con her off her own money.

'How much do you need?'

The man looked surprised and shook his head. 'Aunty, I don't need your money. I need my friends. I need to find my friend. I need your help'.

'Are we not saying the same thing? You need my help and that's money. I'm coming'.

She rolled her eyes as she began to close the door to get her money. If she were still a Christian, she would have lambasted him with biblical scriptures about why he shouldn't be living life like that, but she wasn't sure she could do such. So, she hurried to the room to pick her bag so that she could return to her former position.

The guy pushed the door. It rammed into her, causing her to wince.

'Aunty! Oh God. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt...'

Gladys jumped in anger. 'Are you going insane? You're indeed insane. No need to weed out that fact. If not, you wouldn't want to remove my precious nose'.

'Aunty sorry. See that house. That big house you entered that day'.

'Which day? I told you I don't know any house. If you need money, tell me...'

The man shifted forward. ' No. That big house at Kojo Dray Close'.

Gladys stood straight as she realized what the man had suspected.

'You know too...' The man said in fear. 'You know...'

The man hurriedly went on his knee.' I thank God... I said it. I said it. I wasn't mad'.

Gladys was speechless. 'But what do you want me to do?'

'My friend... Didn't you see them?'

Gladys could remember the case of the two men. She was with Stella when she decapitated the two of them. Normally, she would have felt like crying as she remembered them, but she didn't feel any remorse. The man's friends had been innocent stepping stones to the greatness of another person.

Instead of killing him too, she felt she should let him go. Preferably, she would make him doubt what he must be assuming.

'Man... Please leave...If you don't leave I'll shout that you want to rape me'.

The man moved forward. 'You have to help me. I must find Gerald; his mother is about to die. She had been struggling in the hospital'.

She shook her head in dismay and asked with clenched teeth. 'What do you want me to do?'

'I saw you enter and leave there. So, I said to myself... Son of the soil, this is someone that can help you. My spirit always knows the kind people. You're kind'.

'Get out', she yelled. 'Help! He wants to...'

The man scrambled from her passage to the main compound. She banged the door again, and hoped to never see his hideous face anymore.

She sat still until she was sure he was gone. Then. she brought her phone and began to search information about witchcrafts.
Chapter 13

The Path Taken

Stella sensed that something big would happen soon, but she was still drenched in her thought and didn't listen to Heetah as he made noise and tried to stop her from going to visit Japheth and the girl, who tried to kill herself at the Hospital. Of late, it had made her do ridiculous things. One that still baffled her was the training of the Grave mothers and those of the sisters of light that he compelled her to teach Gladys. Those were extremely intensive lessons that only the experienced witches must have access to. Despite being prepared for handing over to Gladys, she never considered it to be so fast. That showed that in the next three months, she would have to start preparing for the rites of her own final death.

She would have gone to meet Japheth immediately he called, but her father called that his car was parked outside her gate. Of all the fathers she had ever had in her lives, he was her favorite. Even in his old age, even after people speculated that she caused her mother's death, he still loved her. Many of them claimed her mother became seriously sick after she flogged Stella for not disobeying her. Yet, he still showered her with love.

He was the first person that made her have her first thought about changing path. He might have his own flaws, but unlike other Christians she had ever encountered, he tried to be good to everyone he met.

When he entered her massive compound, he was furious that she didn't come to visit her.

'You built a massive house for your father and dumped him there, alone'.

She directed his driver to the parking lot, and guided him into the room.

'But you have workers. Jacques, the driver; Mensah, your gardener; Idowu, your cook. You are not alone'.

'Only a fool makes strangers his family, and forgets his family'.

'I'm sorry. I've been busy'.

'Busy. Even busy bees still have to copulate, and have a family. The worker bees have time to sleep, and work with their family'.

' I'm sorry papa, let's go inside'.

After scolding her for a while, he relaxed. They discharged the driver, and asked him to return the car to their house in Greencity. She would drive him home the next day, and stay with for three weeks. Still watching her time, she listened absentmindedly as he said he only came visiting to see her, and as he joked about trying to escape being kidnapped for seeing visions. Although he hadn't seen any vision, he said he feared really seeing visions.

'But they have been found', she said after she tried to ensure he wasn't working himself up over a thing that no longer existed.

'They didn't find her, and my people will say that a ram that backs down the arena has gone...'

'to gain more strength. I know'.

When she was about to leave the house, she made sure she reenergized the protective spell on the house to secure him, and she cast some illusion spell on some parts of the house to prevent him from moving into those wrong parts of the house. The Yorubas, her father's people, would say 'he who scrambles into a gourd cannot go with his child'. Even if her father wasn't her child, he was a kind father to her.

She left him playing with Jiggs, while she hurried off to the hospital. She had made it a habit to never drive in the night because of some years before, Heetah made her hit someone, and left him to die for no reason. It made her kill an innocent person and basked in the sadness she derived from doing such. Even if he wasn't innocent, she didn't have the right to kill him. Since the night was already veiling the earth, she decided that it would meet her at the hospital. So she walked down her Estate to get a bike.

Japheth was her project, her prey. Yet, he had a way of struggling, and almost jumping out of her grasp. There were days she assumed his light had fizzled out only to find the fading smoke pop into light again. Then, she realized that to quench the light of such people, she had to increase the way she showered him with love. She had to make him believe in her. And visiting him at the hospital, in his weakest time, was definitely a good way to go about it. She must definitely get to meet him now to increase her hold on his life. He would need help to resolve the problem she caused. Despite that, she still loved to see him suffer a bit before dipping his light into the cold sea of despair. She shook her head as she realized that it was Heetah sprinkling thought into her mind. Despite all, she loved it and said, ' It's time to wreak havoc'.

She was ready to let the world see Japheth's light being quenched. Lord Lucifer should come to meet a whole town in shambles, in their darkest time, with no sign of hope. She had to make Japheth's light quench immediately. The flickers of light were beginning to burn brighter, and it was affecting her mission. After this mission, all she needed was to finally have her rest in Lucifer's home.

She walked briskly across the street and saw a man watching her. Many of those drunk men are always being deceived into seeing her flesh, which looked beautiful. If they ever encountered what she carried inside, they would never even have a wish to become like her. But in that instance, all she needed was to get to the hospital.

So when she saw the same look of admiration on the bike man that gave her a lift, she felt sorry for him. He felt like someone that had lost most of his fortune and grace to the lust of women and alcoholic drinks. Yet, his light increased per time. She wondered where his source of light was.

'Madam, I can see you are a Christian', the bike man said.

'My father would say by your dressing you would be addressed', she said as she tried to decipher where he was leading her to.

'That's good'

She was doing well for now, and wouldn't need any disturbance. As she was on the bike, she had repeatedly begun to chant and to recite the incantations needed to make her visit to the hospital fruitful. So, it would be better he spat what he wanted to say and be done before she got to the hospital for she needed all the time in the world.

'So, are you born again?'

She eyed him. 'I'm a Christian. That means I'm born again'.

'Good. That means I found a sister in the Lord'.

She gave him a plastic smile and continued to chant. If he disturbed her once more, she would make sure he never talked again.

'So I've been reading a part of my bible of late. Can you please explain the meaning of "he has forgiven all our sins..."?'

'It means...' Her voice faded off as she stared into oblivion, realizing the truth in what she was about to say. 'It means that Jesus Christ died for all...'

'I know. I mean which of them...'

'No. It means that our sins of the past, present, and future'.

Heetah nudged her but she didn't budge.

'But if it means of the future, that's a bad thing now. Anybody can sin and would still come back'.

'Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound'.

'That's it'.

The pain that been growing in her began to elate. She inhaled loudly. Demons didn't always want the messages about God to be a total configuration of what God wanted for Christians.

'Then I think I'll just go back to that church that teaches us about what we should do to be holy because since I started this new church, they teach on God's grace'.

'Okay'.

Heetah nudged her. She wasn't supposed to indulge the bike man. She was supposed to snub him, and continue what she was doing, but she had been having a strange desire and this time around she knew how to secretly pray. She had consistently been making prayers to God as regarding such ability to choose.

'They said that I'm not a sinner. How can they say that?'

'I don't get you.'.

'I'm an alcoholic. Before I became a Christian, I used to drink. Even now, I still drink. They said that as a Christian, that I should stop calling myself alcoholic. That God has forgiven all my sins- past, future, and present. The thing is confusing'.

She stared at him and felt bad that another man who was about to come to the light of the truth had encountered her. She felt bad because she would extinguish his light.

'Where's this church?'

'Brown Valley. It's a fellowship'.

'You leave all the churches in Black Town and go to a church in Brown Valley. Are the churches here not more than the grain of a field? That's not wise. That's by the way. The message they are teaching you is wrong'.

'I said it', the man said as he swerved into a tarred road. Here, he began to shout to make himself audible. 'Although, when I started saying the things they told me to keep saying, the desire to drink alcoholic drink reduced, I can't just understand it'.

She stared at the back of the man's head, and felt like smacking him for being such a fool. Instead of heeding to what they told him, he was ranting about their method not being a right one. She felt like embracing or imagining the freedom he must have gotten those past weeks. The excitement that would have followed it would have been a monument, one that would forever ring at the back of her mind.

'That method is not good. If you fail, you won't know what to do again, you need the ordinances: the rules, the laws to keep you in check, to make you stay put in the love of God', she said.

'They said I should say I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus'.

'Wow. That's a big one', she said before she could stop herself, just as they got to the hospital. Heetah must have been cross with her because pain ripped her chest. She groaned as she got down from the bike. Firstly, she disobeyed by going to visit Japheth. Now, she was helping a Christian, of all the people in the world.

'Madam are you alright?'

'I'm fine, thanks'.

She withdrew money from her purse to give the man, but he had already started his bike and turned.

'Your money'.

He stopped his bike. 'Madam you've given me something I can never stop paying for. So I owe you plenty. I'll leave that church'.

As she watched him drive off, she knew she would cry regardless of Heetah's hatred for such show of emotion.

'You should be happy', Heetah told her as he increased the pain in her chest. If only she could get the freedom this bike man was throwing away, all the wealth of the world notwithstanding. There was nothing better than freedom from Lucifer.

She rushed into the hospital and asked for the toilet. Her spiritual senses weren't functioning any longer. Even her physical senses too were getting obscured as Heetah began to choke life out of her. The intensity of the heat on her body made her know she had plunged herself into something worth punishing. But she ran into the toilet, not minding the fact that some people turned to look at her. Many of them might have assumed she was purging, and she was fine with that. But, no matter what they thought, she was definitely going to pray or die trying. When she got into the toilet, she was happy it was empty. She slumped on the floor in one of the cubicles.

'Oh God that Lucifer hates I'm so sorry. I'm a witch. A killer. A murderer. I'm everything bad in the world. I just need to change. Please forgive me. I want to be free from this way. I want to serve you. I want to be free. I confess Jesus'.

She was verse in the way of Christians, and knew that she wouldn't have that a hair-raising feeling or any ludicrous strange, magical happening to confirm if she was still a witch, but she knew that she was definitely saved. The bible said if she confessed that Jesus was her lord, she was saved.

A sudden glow of freedom coursed through her body. She whooped. Freedom was beautiful. She jumped about in the cubicle and wasn't concerned if people came around to the toilet.

Immediately she stepped out of the cubicle, Heetah materialized. He was the true definition of evil. The last time she saw it was when she was first inviting it into her life. It was huge and its head touched the ceiling. She froze, squealed, and ran back into the cubicle. Shaking terribly, she couldn't get herself to lock the door. He yanked the door open. As soon as it towered above the cubicle, courage eluded her, making her scream and run out through the open space.

'You have plunged yourself into trouble', it growled. She screeched and screamed as it materialized in front of her. Her head pounded as she withdrew until her back was touching the cold wall. It growled and puffed, advancing as if it was ready to smother her, making her cower and whimper in the corner.

'Jesus', she cried.

'I will kill you'.

Suddenly, a sort of peace engulfed her. 'You lie, Heetah. You're a liar and we both know your origin. You're a fool and an idiot. I'm a Christian'.

Heetah laughed hysterically, sending fear down her spine. 'You are not a Christian. A Christian that is still using the words fool, idiot in sentences'.

'No... It doesn't' matter'.

It wasn't a child's play that she had lived close to a thousand years, learning the mysteries of Christianity and how to make them fall. But the thing she never knew was how they enjoyed a stupid form of confidence. Despite her not hearing from God, she was so sure that Heetah couldn't possibly attack at that time.

'Heetah, I'm a child of God. The spirit of God beareth witness with my spirit that I'm a child of God'.

Heetah laughed. 'I'm still in there'.

She stood her ground as it advanced.

'No. Christ is in me. I'm a new creature. Old things are passed away'.

'We'll see about that'.

An old woman pushed the door and poked her head, making Heetah disappear.

'Hope all is well?'

Stella nodded stiffly as she straightened her skirt and wobbled out of the toilet. She looked about and burst into tears.

She was a Christian. It was real. Was she dreaming? God had accepted her without paying anything. There was no bloodshed. The only bloodshed belonged to the most divine one himself. She felt free after several years of living in different forms, like an immortal. She leapt like a goat, and didn't bother to check the faces of everyone around. Her heart and mouth quivered with joy as she dialed Japheth's number.
Chapter 14

The Culture of the Other Side

Gladys kept jotting down on her book of spells as she concentrated on the movie about Wicca. When Stella made her get the books, Gladys had done so religiously because she was popular for her retentive memory. However, she understood how much she could do with the book. She saw the activities of some of the witches in her church on Wednesday. They were crude and reckless. If she had her way, she would have made sure they never operated in Black Town anymore till they were schooled in the knowledge of evil.

Gladys began watching the movie after ensuring that crazy man was gone. She didn't know what made him think she would help him. Even when she was a Christian, she had her limit to those she helped. There were things that should be done.

At that point, she remembered she hadn't done an incantation Stella taught her the previous day. Stella was stricter than any lecturer she had ever encountered. She had a perfect, crazy punishment for every offense. Gladys hurriedly got up and went to get candles. Stella had warned her to always hold a weapon to protect herself because this was the most trying times for her. The aura had been emitted into the atmosphere that she was soon to be something great. She claimed that people weren't after her when she was powerless, but now, they would go to any length to bring her down. So, she pocketed a small knife as she winked at her bottles of herbs. They were neatly arranged alphabetically and the sight of them gladdened her heart. She was a regular user before, and now, she would become an obsessive user because she noticed Stella and various websites online recommended them to her. It was as if everything in the world was preparing for this moment of her life, and she wouldn't throw it into the ditch. Instead, she would embrace it like a blanket in the cold.

Upon getting outside, she met Mrs. Jones, Elizabeth's mum.

'Miss. G', Mrs. Jones said. After getting that name from Elizabeth, all her neighbors had taken to calling her the nickname. Mrs. Jones was also going out of the compound. She wore a knotted crop peach T-shirt on a crazy Jeans trouser, which suited her slender body frame, and had a pink sunshade on. At a first glance, one would never assume she was married, especially with her sultry look.

'Mrs. Jones. Good evening'.

'You've been a bad bad girl, and I wonder how you bribed Elizabeth'.

She looked astounded. 'How? My sweet Elizabeth. What did I do wrong?'

'Where were you some weeks before? She even made me call your cell phone, and I even wanted to go as far as reporting to the police until she gave me one Mrs. Stella's number, who told me you traveled home'.

'Oh Yes, my mum was sick, and I returned the following week'.

'My God! How's is she now?'

For every statement Mrs. Jones gave, she always had a perfect lie to suit it. When they got to the gate, she scolded the gateman and told him to never direct people to her place without proper identification. Mrs. Jones garnished him with an insult or two before they departed at a corner of the end of the estate she resided. The moment she was alone, she felt a strange body following her. She would have tried astral projecting, but Stella had warned her against astral projection that it would make her look older before time. And because of this, many African and American witches became old before time. If she wanted to be a better witch, still beautiful and acceptable by Lucifer, she had to maintain her beauty.

Seeing this, she moved onward, passing the shop she had the intention of buying her candles from. She had ordered for bigger, colorful ones online. But before their arrival, she had to get some of them right now, and the only place she could get it was from those traders who sold wares for members of Celestial Church of Christ or Cherubim and Seraphim.

Immediately she turned to a corner, she hid. Even if she wasn't as strong or as fast as Stella she had been undergoing a little taekwondo training that would help her surmount whatever opposition that headed her way. Stella had told her that demons can be funny. They pushed witches to be desirous of taking others' lives, and if she let down her guard, she would be a scapegoat to the others. Gladys clutched the knife firmly, hoping to have her first taste of personal killing. Probably that would give her access to more power.

Suddenly the lanky obnoxious man, who came banging on her door, lamenting about his missing dead friends, sneaked into the corner. She watched him sneak past and peep. She didn't care if she would astral project or something, but there was a need to make him pay for stalking her. She pulled him from behind and placed the blade of the knife on his neck.

He struggled a bit but loosened up when he felt the blade knife on his neck.

'Why are you following me?'

The man stiffened as he heard her voice. 'Please. My friends'.

'What happened to them? I told you I didn't see them'.

'They entered. They entered the place. Miss, you need to understand my plea. They entered. Even if the son of the soil was drunk, he would remember what he saw. I was the watch. We went to steal. I'm not proud of it, but I was with them. So I was sure'.

She detested people like this, who were hungry to die. They were moths and were always carelessly roaming places they would be crushed. If this man had a discerning spirit even from God or Satan, he would have deciphered that something terrible had happened to his friends, and that there was no way he could get them back, get revenge for them.

She released her clutch and dialed Stella's number to know where she was. Stella informed her that she had left home on an urgent business. 'Okay. I have a spare key to her house. We can enter before she comes'.

The man spun excitedly. 'Thank you'.

'We will search the house together. What if they ran away? Have you considered that they might have absconded?'

' Miss... Aunty... They can't run away. We needed the money to care for the mother of one of us. For Gerald'.

She was tired of learning the basics, she needed more power and ability. All the books she had scavenged over the net would play out themselves through her hands that night, and Stella would be perplexed at her dexterity. That was the opportunity she needed. Stella had made her do some crazy stuffs together with her; therefore, she wouldn't object to her first practical class.

She guided the man through the gate of the house. Not just anybody could open the door of the house. Stella had done it that she was the only one able to enter or until she allowed anyone enter the compound, there was no way they would have access to the house. However, ever since Gladys began to enter the house, Stella made her cut herself and drop some of her blood at the doorpost, that would give her access to the house whenever she wanted.

So when they got to the house, she pretended to be on the watch-out for Stella. She let him into the house and pretended to search for anything that could implicate her. In the process, she stumbled on an old man, who was deeply in sleep in Stella's house.

Quickly, she muttered a sleeping curse, the first lessons she learnt. She said,' in a deep sleep ye shall be, remembering not what I hide from thee... Magic work let this be, Let this spell work for me'.

She hurried out of the room, and stared into the inquisitive eyes of the lanky man, who would soon be a sacrificial lamb. She shook her head to his dismay, and they proceeded to battle with the locks of the rooms. The man couldn't open any of the rooms until she took turns to open them. Most times, while pretending to pick a lock, she used some of the door unlocking spells she learnt by rote method online to open the door.

They kept searching the massive buildings until they stumbled on the door of the power room, the underground room. The energy that exuded from that room enlarge her head, and hair rise on her body. The room was oddly smelling nice. Stella had a knack for keeping things clean, and she felt the only way she could enjoy her immortal body was to keep it excessively neat.

'Do you see light anywhere?' The man whispered.

'No' she said imitating his fearful whisper. 'Search around'.

'I'll use phone torchlight'.

Although she wasn't all that accustomed to the room, she still had a bit of idea of where he might be. As he fiddled with the phone, and his phone rang.

'Silence the phone', she scolded and placed her hands on the switch.

He picked the call regardless of Gladys' pretentious call for silence. So, she had to stay her hand. There wouldn't be any fun in making aware of where he was when he was still receiving a call.

'Hello. What? He didn't run away. We're still looking for money. No. What? That's a lie. No. That's a lie. She can't die', he yelled.

'What's that?' She asked impatiently.

'She is dead. Gerald's mother is dead', he wailed for a while and sniffed for a prolonged second. 'Ah! We must find his body. His death can't be in vain. Son of the soil wouldn't accept that. I will...'

'I found a switch', she said, smiled cruelly and switched on the light. He was already siting on the ground, with his back to the place she wanted him to see. She screamed, pretending to be surprised. The man turned also and screamed as he saw what laid before him.

'Where are we?'

'That's Nnamdi. That's his head'.

He rushed to the washed corpse of his friends, and growled as he tugged at their body. Stella would have dumped them in the hole, but she had preserved them for lessons for Gladys. She claimed they didn't really need to have a fresh kill before Gladys learnt what she needed to know.

When she was sure he was engrossed in his grieving, Gladys looked about, grabbed an ax, slowly walked to him, and hoped she was doing the right thing. There were various ways of getting power. She could still go back to God, and not face the trauma of being a killer. But she couldn't easily forget the rawness in the power Stella wielded that Friday night, in controlling that demon that possessed her and those that tortured. She moved slowly to him, and with an open-eye, took a clean swipe at his head; she decapitated him.

At first, she stared at his headless body. She wanted that ax to knock him unconscious, injuring him a bit. She never knew it would be that sharp. His headless body flustered. Though uncanny, she felt excited about it. A regular feeling, according to the internet was that she would feel numb. But her excitement wasn't one of the things that were recorded as what she should experience on her first kill. Was her conscience that dead? Conscience be damned.

Although Stella informed her that the demons in her would make her feel excited about anything she did, she wasn't bothered. She had never imagined it would be as perfect as this. She laid him on the ground and watched with ecstasy as his body vibrated. She should feel disgusted, but everything looked amazing. There wasn't any chance she wouldn't give in to the temptation of using the blood of this man for the incantation. She would use everything in the room to serve her purpose.

She searched the house for a note to jot down the results she would get. She touched her ear, and smiled that she no longer had a reason to use her earring aid. Then, she glanced at the blood oozing on the floor, and jot down things she would need to start the process.
Chapter 15

Cutting The Last Rope

Japheth was so engrossed in his worry that he didn't see Stella walk up to him. There was no way Alexis would suddenly be hungry for God's word. She was definitely having an ulterior motive, and he wouldn't fall for her deception.

'Japheth, how is she?' Stella asked.

She had this unusual joy about her. Her joy exuded in her gaits and that made him wonder why she was that ecstatic.

'She is stabilizing'.

'What happened? As in why do you think she was doing that?'

'I don't know. But I think I need prayers'.

She nodded. 'Jesus can do all things.'

'Yes'.

'He can do all things. Can I see her now?'

'Yes, but she is sleeping'.

He led the way to the sleeping Alexis. Mirabel had helped him remove his stained singlet, and had gotten him a lab coat to cover himself. After saying a little prayer, Stella led the way outside.

'I thought I would stay late but I have to quickly get home to do something. My father is around, and I think he has to return to Greencity tonight'.

'Why so early?'

'Something wonderfully urgent came up'.

He watched her leave with awe. Funnily, Stella was becoming happier by day, while Gladys was becoming moodier and grumpier. He wondered if he won't finally stick with Stella. There was no way he wouldn't have any solution to his problem unless he stuck to his discipler.

As he was about to sit, it dawned on him that the reason he was seeing her in a such a way was because she seemed to look a little younger. The archaic look that always accompanied her being had given up its place for a youthful happiness and glow that was never present.

Still lost in thought, he didn't know when Mirabel got to his side. She tapped him, shifted back, and smiled wearily.

'Doctor Festus asked me to direct the Alexis' parents to you', she said and winked.

He grinned and rose to see elderly woman and man. The woman was draped in an Ankara dress, and had shabbily wrapped her scarf around her head. While the man wore a simple short-sleeve shirt on a bulky striped trouser. He was fat, so wearing something other than that might ruin the simple look he was trying to portray.

'Are you the man?' The woman asked scornfully.

'Mummy Feyi...'The man chided and extended a handshake in a way to show that he had everything under control. Japheth was so grateful for that.

'Please, let's have our seat', the man said and upon a single look from him, his angry wife sat. She looked like a dog that was growling, ready to pounce on him anytime. They introduced themselves as Alexis' parents. According to them, they didn't approve of her name. Her name was Feyisara, but they have come to accept it so far she could do the right things.

'So, what happened?' The man asked.

Japheth took his time to explain how they had been in a relationship and how he tried to break up with her because he found Christ, evading talks about their sexual intercourse. How would it be to tell her parents that he had been having premarital sex with a young girl?

'So, you're the one that changed our daughter', her father said, smiling. However, Japheth wasn't sure it was a good sign.

'I didn't change her...'

Her father waved his hands as if to brush the statement aside. 'In a good way. Our daughter changed even before you rededicated your life to Christ. Howbeit that now that you have the life of Christ in you that you want to send her away?'

'Are you encouraging her seeing men', Alexis' mother exclaimed.

'No. Don't get me wrong. I want you to remain her friend'.

Like an angel, Mirabel returned to inform the parents that Alexis was awake. Japheth rose to follow them.

'Hey, lover-boy, let her see her parent first', Mirabel pushed him back to his seat. Now, he was free from the clutch of Alexis. A few minutes later, Mirabel returned, dusted her gown and sat beside him. One reason he loved being around nurses was how their gown always dazzled him. Mirabel took his hand, and stared into his eyes.

'You're lucky. I don't know how I would have prayed for your release from prison if she ever died'.

He sighed and blinked back tears. She smiled and placed her head on his shoulder.

'Will you come to our church this Sunday?'

'I have a church'.

'They won't miss you'.

'My discipler is there. And she had really helped my growth'.

Mirabel nodded as she fondled his hands. He didn't know why he always allowed Alexis to cloud his mind when he was sure he loved Mirabel. But he couldn't think of her like he did Alexis. He and Mirabel were on different sides of their fields of desire. She wanted him to come to her through the path, but he wanted to cross the lawn.

'Now that she's awake, while she's with her parents, I think you can eat'.

'No...'

'Doctor Jaf, get up. You must eat something'.

He sighed and followed her.

'Why do you still want to remain attached her?' She suggested.

'She is my friend'.

'Indeed, a friend that is in love with her friend. I don't buy it'.

'I'm not joking. She is a friend. I'm still biding my time to start another relationship'.

'Come to my church, I'll take you to very beautiful ladies. No need to pray about them because I'll do that for you. And God will even tell you immediately you enter the church'.

He scoffed. 'I think I'll like to come to your church'.

She smiled as she began to point out things to the waiter across the counter. 'Really?'

' Yes. With a lot of guys'.

She smirked, turned to collect the food and nodded towards a table. Since she refused to accept his offer to carry the food, he pulled out a chair for her as she dropped the plates of food on the table.

'That's cool. I mean bringing guys. For what?'

'To invade your church'.

'Inva...'

'You have a lot of ladies; we need women in our lives'.

She squealed with laughter and tried to hit his hands, which he hurriedly withdrew. 'I'd better unfriend you before something happens'.

He held her hands and said, 'Thank you, Miry Miry powder... You have made me smile after a long time'. He gave her the name after they both watched a video skit by Woli Agba, Ayo Ajewole, a Nigerian comedian.

'Doc... Tor...Jaf, hope you're not seeing marriage visions concerning me?'

They laughed and proceeded to devour the food.
Chapter 16

Against The Callback

Stella was so sure things would work out fine when she got home. There was this tiredness that came after freedom. All one would want to do at that time was to rest, a lot; then, proceed to rejoicing for a long time. She planned on doing it, but she first needed to destroy everything that had ever tied her down to witchcraft. Her total freedom would require a lot of processes. Not only for her sake, so that everyone she would later meet would have a good life, at least something near it. No doubt, she had a lot of money with which she could easily get new things, but there was no way she could live in that haunted house anymore. Only God knew how many demons operated in that house.

The bible said that everything about her was new. For that reason, she would start by getting Papa out of the house, burning her powerhouse and her house and never ever return to her old way of life. Then, get a new house.

She made calls to different people to inquire about available houses for sale. However, they couldn't tell her any tangible thing. Yet, she wasn't perturbed. She would surely get a new one. In the case she didn't get one early, she could live in hotels for years without ever having a need of money. As much as she would have loved to leave the money, claiming it belonged to the devil, she knew that once sanctified, it had become one that was of God.

Not taking anything, she carried Jigg's cage, opened it, swept away the raven within, and locked the cage again. Whenever they left the house, she would pray to God to rid her and her pet of any demons that might have infested them. She dropped the cage on the center table, and hurried to her father's room to wake him. She wondered what was wrong with him with the way he kept sleeping even though she repeatedly woke him since he wasn't a deep sleeper. She dragged him out to her car. Of her numerous cars, she would leave with her Camry. As she dragged him to the car, she felt compelled to use some incantation to wake him, but she refused blatantly. The urge would definitely increase, but she must learn how to start relying on God for her needs.

Returning to the main building, she kept singing gleefully as she boogied into the store to carry one more cylinder of gas. She packed some of her clothes, and made sure she was ready to face whatever would come out of this new experience.

Then, she opened the gas cylinder in the kitchen. As she did so, she didn't feel any remorse or regret; instead, she felt peace and free. One can never know the true meaning of freedom if such person had never been in bondage. She crumbled to her chair and cried as the memory of the wasted years flooded back. God was kind enough to give her the freedom she had so much desired. Right now, she was so happy. 'Thank you lord. You're my salvation. Thank you for my freedom. Devil you're a liar. I have found a glorious light. Wow'.

Heetah was no longer causing her to have pain for saying the truth. She was finally getting blessed. With this same ecstasy, she rolled the gas cylinder to her power room. She didn't need the bloodshed anymore; she didn't need Heetah to survive. Although she had lived over nine centuries with him as her guide, she was sure God would help her. The holy spirit had been guiding people before now.

Upon waltzing into the dungeon, she was surprised to see a big pentagram operational at the center of the room. She saw the smoke and hoped she was wrong about what she was seeing. A demon, probably the same size as Heetah swayed within the pentagram. From the look of things, Gladys was elated to have pulled a feat none of her contemporary- rather, a thing a two-week-old witch shouldn't be able to do. Stella was dumbfounded, and had to close her mouth as the smoke began to choke her. The can of gas rolled out of her hands to the ground, rattling the unbalanced silence in the room. She hurriedly stopped it before it even went near the candles in the room.

'Gladys what are you doing?'

'I finally found human blood'.

'But, I told you to wait'.

'I did wait but waiting can be killing'.

'Gladys I found Christ. You have to go back to Christ. There's freedom there'.

Gladys gawked at her like a wolf who had recently torn a prey apart. Blood dripped from her hands, and was splattered everywhere in the room. Her face was smeared with blood in a hideous way. Despite the fact that Stella had witnessed a lot of blood bath, she was surprised at the propensity of Gladys, a greenhorn, a serious Christian, who was deceived into being a witch, to carry such terrible act of decapitating the gentle man on the ground. Stella always made sure she cleaned out the rotten smell and the murkiness that came with demons.

'Stop staining the floor...' Stella shook her head and beckoned to Gladys to move towards her, away from the enticing power of the demon in the pentagram. 'Come nearer'.

'You see? You can't be a Christian. You made me a witch. I didn't want it. You made me a witch'.

Stella ran excitedly to her. 'Don't you see. We can undo it. In Christ, there's liberty. God knew we would sin someday again and that was why he gave us Jesus. Our future sins are forgiven. Meaning we can come back to confess his forgiveness'.

'You were the devil's wife. You have the power. You were the eyes of Fortune City's Black Town. But you're becoming as blurry as glasses on the face of a 100-year-old grandma. I'll rip you out. I want your power'.

Gladys moved nearer and Stella shifted back. 'I'm not letting you be a Christian'.

She conjured a small demon and directed them towards Stella. Stella stared at her and conjured a bigger demon, which immediately tormented Gladys. No matter who this girl thought she was, she met her in this business. Her strength would never be compared to her in the world of the spirit. She was a giant, while Gladys was a molecule.

'So you think you this cankerworm can take me. I'll crush you. You can't suck out my power'.

Suddenly, Heetah popped out and laugh uncontrollably. She stared at it and released her hold on Gladys, who was now crying in pain like a baby. Stella felt the power surge through her again. It felt good.

'Yea. It felt good. You're not a Christian. You're still under the influence of my power', Heetah roared.

She cringed backward. That was so true. She had just fought Gladys with the authority of the devil. How was that even possible? The power in her ought to have stopped. Then, it occurred to her that the devil's power was more of conjuring and she was definitely good at that. What she just did was a minor conjuring? She scrubbed her hands as if she had dipped it into a bowl of acid.

Gladys, weak and writhing in pain, rose and joined Heetah in laughter.

'I detest you. You're bunch of fools. I'm a Christian', Stella cried as she scampered out of the room. Gladys and Heetah rushed after her. She carried her bag and ran out of the house. She was definitely knowing no peace if she stayed near the house, and that was why she should have sent it into its burning phase. She should have incinerated the house, happily watch it dance in ashes and see the evil that surrounded it fizzle out like the light they wanted her to quench. The house was a demon on its own. Anybody that bought it would have years of fighting demons. She ran off the house and looked back. She shouldn't have left Gladys in the house, the demons would suck out any chance of being good that was in her. But there was nothing she could do at that time than to run away from the house, and she couldn't possibly kill Gladys all in the name of burning the bridges.

'Are you not forgetting something?' Gladys shouted from the top of the balcony. Stella glanced up to see her parrot, dangling from Gladys' hand. It squeaked and made all the terrible noises it could, wriggling.

'Don't. Gladys, don't do this?'

'What are you talking about. This is what happens to neglected students. They do crazy things'.

'I'm not neglecting... Don't... Oh God. No... Jiggs', she screamed and crumbled to the floor. Gladys wriggled the neck of her parrot and allowed its corpse crash on the tiles.

'God does know how to punish people', Stella yelled in tears.

'He would start with the elder witch. Heetah too had a message from Lord Lucifer'.

Heetah growled and, with a click of its fingers, set the car on fire. Her father laid inside, still sleeping as he burnt to death. She cried and edged towards the burning car, and screamed 'Jesus' repeatedly. Now, at this time, she was compelled to try to conjure magic.

'Come on, try it', Heetah shrieked as he repeatedly disappeared and reappeared at her side. His stench overpowered her for those short period of his being near her.

'Do it. Come on'.

She panted heavily. If she conjured another magic, she would give the devil the doorway to her again. She cried as she grabbed her bag from the floor, and ran out, weeping. She had lost two of the things she loved.

'If you don't come back, I swear I will tell the church', Gladys screamed after her.

Stella knew she was in a deep trouble. The first point of call should be Japheth. She tutored him. He had to understand her before he heard about her from others.

'Japheth where are you?'

'Home'.

'Okay. I'm coming'.

Chapter 17

A Man's Shoe

The time to meet her first set of trouble was now. They sat astride each other, staring into each other's eyes after she had explained to him. Stella was so sure that if she faced Japheth now, there was no way she would have any fear whenever she was publicly confessing. Although it might shake them a bit, she was ready to point out the many mistakes many of them made while making requests to God. All in the name of aiming for greatness, many of them allowed their problem overwhelmed them, and made them prayed amiss.

She was sweating all through, and felt she should have run away to Greencity, where Heetah had once informed her would soon be in turmoil because its occupant would start killing one another because of heaven; or Brown Valley, which had been predicted to the be the home of world's problem. But she knew telling him was worthwhile. Paul of the Bible got a lot of souls to Christ because of his numerous public confession.

'So you mean to tell me that...'

'Yes'.

'I'm dead. You are a witch?'

'I was a witch'.

'That's ridiculous. Say someone else was the witch you were talking about, tell me it was something else and not you. Please...'

She went down on her knee and clasped her hands together. 'Please forgive me. I have deceived you a lot'.

'But...But... Does that mean everything you taught me was wrong?'

She nodded repeatedly. 'Everything. Well most of them. They were not a lie, but they weren't something you ought to learn at this your stage'.

He rose from his seat and walked down to the window. She wondered what would happen this time. Gladys hadn't taken it well the other time. There was really no assurance that Japheth also would take it likely, but she had to make sure he forgave her. There were many things that could come along with her confession. One of them was a rejection of the logical people, who would treat like a little child who claimed to have seen Voldemort. They would take it as madness. However, none of them would matter if Japheth too took it badly as Gladys did. She needed him to be on her side.

He was the only Christian that could help her, she felt it in her bone. Yet, he was a baby Christian and would only feed her with the milk of the word of God. The softness of the word she would get would be too small to her desire, and that might make her tread the path Gladys took.

Since Japheth was a baby Christian, she was sure that his reaction would be embellished with tantrums and much bickering. He would react like every other baby Christian would. However, she still had the feeling that after everything he would understand her. Despite the fact that the timing was wrong, she had exposed his soft spiritual baby teeth to the hard bone of God's word. He had once sinned and would accept her like someone that was once in the darkness but had been forgiven. However, he wasn't Jesus.

He sauntered to her side and said, 'You have led me in the wrong direction and for this reason, God will punish you'.

He stormed out of the room. She burst into tears as she imagined what he would be feeling at the moment. She couldn't bring himself to leave town. There was a need for retribution or a need for her to make them know that she wasn't all that a prophet. That she was façade, a lie, and an unworthy person. And in case they accepted her, she would stay back with them to teach them how to come to the light of the word.

Japheth returned to the sitting room, where she was drowning herself in her own tears and guilt.

'You will go to our church, I mean my church and let them all know that you are a witch. That everything they know about you was a lie. You deceived me'.

His eyes were now red and he was sniffing repeatedly as he took his seat opposite her. If she was given the opportunity, she would have loved to clean his tears away, but at the moment he was like a glass that must be handled with care. He wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. She would do that to please him and if that would be her first chance at saving a soul for Christ, she would love that.

'I'm so sorry. But are you saying that if I do this, you would still love God?'

'What do you care about God?'

'I just got saved. The feeling. Oh... The peace. You don't want to face what I've faced for years, for centuries. I was in bondage from within and without. Despite being a witch I couldn't do what most witches were doing. Even when I was able to, there was always someone longing to get my type of power, someone trying to kill me. Now, I have no fear. I was rich but couldn't go about doing what other people were doing. I was like Hera was to Zeus. I was Satan's wife, who had been hidden away and used to do the most perilous of things', she said and tears streamed down her eyes as she watched him hold his head in desperation.

He raised his head and scanned her and shook his head.

'I said it. I knew something was wrong. I knew it. I couldn't place my hand on it. You were too happy, too holy. No blemish at all. That was impossible. That was surely impossible. But I didn't see this in you. You were...' He grasped into the space, trying to gesticulate his words. His face was ragged as he tried hard to put whatever he wanted to say into words. She nodded as he kept groaning for words.

'You could have been too holy. You were my role model. You just... You can't be a witch. I wanted to like you. Now, you're telling all those were... What? A charade. A joke. You were a joke. You were nothing. That's impossible'.

'I'm sorry'.

He shifted to the edge of his chair: His eyes seemed to have a longing. She wanted to read his thought, but refrained herself. It was better to let things work in their natural state. Acting along with natural course would take time, but she had to learn to live like that. She always watched many witches that had gone out of Lucifer's camp, they always had a longing to test their power again. This one that she was now a Christian, she needed to employ every ability to use her natural senses and whenever the holy spirit baptized her, she would use him the way most of those Christian did.

'Don't let any other person know'.

She swallowed. He was choking her with his desire, and wanted her to be the perfect image he had placed in his mind. He wanted her to be the perfection he had always stared at, one he wanted to worship. It was sweet and she would have loved to remain in that position, but she was now a Christian. The first thing she needed right there was to break down that stature and tear down the poster of her that he had placed in his mind. She would trash and break down the images with no mercy. There was no perfection; everything was a plain charade.

'I'm sorry. I can't. God wouldn't be happy. I'm not high up there with the power and the holiness. I'm human. A witch. You should be afraid of me. You might not see my brooms or see me moving out of the river like a goddess. But that's what I am. I am not perfect. I'm a woman. Flesh and blood.'

He rose from his seat while shaking his head terribly. The tantrum would begin soon. She knew, but she needed to hand him a toy. But at this point there was none. She couldn't give him any talk about herself and expect him to back off.

'I have to do it. The many souls I have made miserable. The ones I have crushed in my hand and made cry. The pain I've caused... No... The bible says we should confess our sin'.

'No. The bible didn't say that'.

She stared at him and looked him all over. She had the bible words all scribbled into her memory, and she could recite the bible non-stop for days.

'The Bible says we should ask God for forgiveness. Not the church', Japheth corrected.

She sat straight and felt it was time to yank the cane from him and thrash him with it. 'The bible makes us know that he who keeps his sin and...'

She just didn't see a reason to explain herself to this baby Christian. He didn't know how she would feel the moment she told the world about her ordeal. She rose and carried her bag.

' I only felt I should ask for your forgiveness.'

' See. What did my forgiveness do? Nothing'.

'At least, I felt at peace'.

She strolled out and burst into tears as she closed the door behind her. She felt at peace, but also couldn't stop feeling the pain and the tears.

***

She didn't know if she should cry or remain numb, but she needed to express herself. She needed to tell God how he failed her. She never even trusted him before, but Alexis was hoping he would answer her this time, and make her start becoming serious with him.

For many years, she hadn't seen a need to pray to him. But the only thing that was on her mind was how she would get back at God and Japheth. She turned on her bed, and heard her father trying to calm her mother in the parlor.
Chapter 18

Portal Built

Gladys stared from her window as the morning began to unfold itself. There was only one thing she needed at the moment, and it would take a lot of effort to have what she needed. Many of the other Christian would see Stella's house as one that had been cursed and would see anyone living in it as accursed. Yet, she couldn't leave the house alone and the power it held. She couldn't watch it being sold to another. She couldn't think of how to do. The power in that house was just too good to be true. She felt them like the blood in her veins. There should be a way.

As she took up her phone and began to browse for alternative online, she remembered Mr. Akanni. Quickly, she went to her callhistory, and began to search for his number. She hadn't saved his phone number, and that made it a bit hard for her to get his number.

When the call got connected, he was elated and couldn't express how happy he was. She smiled as an evil thought began to parade her mind. If only he knew what she had in store for him.

'Mr. Akanni', she said with the coyest voice she could mutter.

'Sister. Gladys'.

'I'm ready to marry you'.

'Oh!'

'Yes. But on one condition'.

'Even if the conditions are up to a million, I would surmount them. You're the honey in the mountain, I've sharpened my ax for your sake'.

She giggled and silently sneered.

'Sister Stella, you know her now'.

'Who wouldn't know the fire woman?'

'Yes. She said she didn't want to live in her house anymore, and I love that house. Have you been there? That would be the most perfect place to spend the rest of our lives'.

He stopped talking for a moment, and she thought she had sent him away with her request. If he couldn't do it, she would need to find an alternative.

'I'm sorry for the silence. I was thanking God that you've even planned our future together. I will buy the house; I will buy ten if you want. This money is to be spent. And for you, my darling, I will buy the world if you want'.

She smiled as she explained to him that they have to get it urgently as it seemed Stella would be traveling soon. Mr. Akanni promised to be ready whenever she was. All she needed now was a way to find Stella. She would employ all the power she had at her disposal. The first step would be to browse the internet for the right incantation to find people.

Then Elizabeth knocked her door and called her. Her baby was around. Elizabeth would be her first student in her school of Wicca. They didn't have such in Nigeria, in Fortune City. How would it be that the first of its kind in her country would stem from Black Town?

'Baby...' She said as she opened the door. 'Why are you crying?'

'Miss. G, my dad had bought a car'.

'That's good news'.

Elizabeth shook her head. 'No. For his new wife, and my mummy is crying again'.

She looked at Elizabeth and hugged the crying girl as her mind wandered off into how she could possibly help this girl. There was a curse she learnt on how to kill someone. She muttered it under her breathe. The man had caused enough pain for this little girl. It was high time he faced the consequences for his sins, and she would be the one to carry out the judgement.

'What do you want to happen to him?'

'I want him to die'.

'Are you sure?'

'Yes. He is causing too much pain for my mummy', the weeping girl said.

Gladys' smile broaden. The first step to being evil was, most times, trying to revenge or avenge someone. She loved that.

'Okay say his full name'.

Elizabeth said her father's full name while Gladys muttered the curse again.

'Say what you want?

'I want him to die'.

'So moth it be', Gladys said and led Elizabeth into the room.

As she fondled Elizabeth's hair, her mind wandered off to how to get to Stella, and how to make Stella feel the pain of deserting her. There should be something that would make Stella feel that pain.

'You demons that reside in me, what's the best way to get back at Stella', Gladys murmured.

'What's that?' Elizabeth asked.

'It's nothing. I was only feeling bad for your mother'.

'Okay', Elizabeth said and nodded.

The demons told her the best way to make Stella most miserable was to make Japheth fall again into his sins of fornication. And the only way she could do that was to get to a girl named Alexis, the girl he was having sex with. But if she didn't go earlier, Stella would encourage Japheth to talk to the girl and that would be disastrous for them because the girl was passionate and can be instrumental in the restoration of light to Black Town. If the light came back, all the power she craved would be useless against the numerous light that would flood the place.

'Baby, I'm going out', Gladys said.

Elizabeth nodded again and sat upright. That wasn't her first time of being left alone in Gladys' house. She could take care of herself. Gladys hurriedly wore a purple bell gown and a peach heels shoe. Then, she complemented it with a peach bag. She wanted to look her best when she was having her second recruit. Elizabeth would always be her first.

She drove all the way with the guide of the demons. She had her doubt, notwithstanding. Yet, she still drove down there. However, her fear depleted when she got to a house and asked for Alexis.

'From where?' replied a woman, who had come out of the house to answer her.

'A friend'.

The woman scanned her like a mother hen. She poked her head into the house, and shouted for Alexis that she had a visitor. If Alexis replied, Gladys couldn't tell because even after the woman dropped the curtain and stood straight, she didn't say anything. The only thing she did was to scornfully stare at her dress. Gladys wanted to check her dressing to see if she wore something bad.

Alexis came out too, looking distraught. She was putting on a blue denim bump short, and an orange spaghetti. Even if her hair was rough, and her eyes were puffy, she still had a sultry look.

As her orange flip-flop pattered on the floor, Gladys remembered how she always admired such flip-flops on Stella.

'Do I know you?' Alexis said as she moved nearer. Her mother stood poised as she glowered at her.

'Can we talk in private?' She said and glanced at Alexis' mother.

'Yes', Alexis replied and turned to the corner of her compound. Gladys was able to look about for the first time. The compound had varieties of trees and bushes, which must have been intended to serve as their mini-plantation. She felt disgusted by their arrangement.

When they got to the corner of the house, she didn't waste her time by exchanging pleasantries.

'I'm here to help you get Japheth back'.

Alexis dull eyes shone. 'Are you for real?'

'It's a tricky business, but it's essential'.

'Are you kidding me? Anything. I will kill anything killable to get back my boy'.

Gladys smiled and explained to her that all it took her would be a member of a training she wanted to start in the month of March.

'Just that?'

'Just that'.

'I'm all in. How soon will I get Japheth back'.

'Oh that! So soon, and this time it would be a lasting one'.

They exchanged phone number and walked out of the compound. She was preparing for her Wicca school. She was on the path to enlightening the witches of Black Town. Even if she saw nothing in the house, she saw the smile on Alexis' mother's face when she saw her daughter smiling out as they came out of the corner. That meant that even Wicca could make others happy.

All she needed at the moment was the house. She knew Stella wouldn't accept their first offer, so she would quickly go home to draft a second offer.

***

As she paced the hotel, Stella couldn't help but feel grateful that Japheth called that morning to know how she was faring. He made her understand that she had been forgiven and that alone made her heart rejoice. But she still needed to preach to Gladys. Even if anything would happen, she had to give it try. So she dressed up, and boarded a UBER taxi. A lot of commendations had gone into appraising how Nigeria was becoming modernized by the presence of this UBER taxis.

When she got to Gladys' house, she couldn't forget the first day she came there. That was the day she brought Gladys home after being tortured by the demons. The gateman informed her that Gladys had gone out. She felt dejected and was about to look for the bike when she remembered the little girl that was all over Gladys the other time. If this girl became closer to Gladys without the knowledge of God, she would suffer.

'What of that little girl that is always with her?' She asked the gateman.

'Elizabeth'.

'Yes. That's her name. Can I see her? I would like to send a message to Gladys through her'.

The gateman gave her access to the compound, and directed her to Elizabeth's flat. Upon getting there, she told a woman she met there that she wanted to drop a message for Gladys through Elizabeth. Although she didn't like the subtle lie she was telling, it was worth it. Moreover, preaching to Elizabeth was a message to Gladys.

Talking to Elizabeth about Christ was relatively simple. The girl had been having a bit of knowledge about God from staying with Gladys. So, it was easy to preach to her. She gave her life to Christ, there. With starry eyes and a glad heart, Stella left the compound. But before she left, she told Elizabeth to inform Gladys of her visit. Now, she had saved a soul for Christ. She would teach the people of Black Town the reality of Christ.
Chapter 19

Backstabbed

That Friday afternoon, as she sat at the back of the car, with Mr. Akanni at her side, and the lawyer in the front seat, she couldn't help but rejoice that she had gotten the best deal of her life.

When Elizabeth told her Stella came and preached to her, she brushed it off. What message could an old betraying witch possibly preach? She dialed Stella's phone number and called her all sort of names, none of which Stella denied. She got the address to her location and informed her that she had a business proposal for her.

Mr. Akanni got a lawyer to go with them to the hotel. When they got there, Gladys wished she could tear her skin, but she had to rein her emotions till she got what she wanted. People would soon see Stella as a witch, so it was advisable to steer clear of the reputation. She knew Stella wouldn't accept the offer.

So, when Stella rejected the offer, she could only smile. She called Mr. Akanni and the lawyer aside. Then, she explained to them that the only way they could easily gain possession was for Stella to agree that she rented the house from Mr. Akanni, and that he was ready to use the house again.

However, when they got to her, she told them she didn't need the house, and advised them to sell the house.

'Then, sign this thing and let's be done with it', Mr. Akanni snapped. She loved the fact that he was already tuning to her desire. All she needed now was to draft her resignation letter from her place of work, and to start preparing to search for a teaching job. The demons had informed her that she would be really blessed and wouldn't have any need for money or its equivalent.

Stella tried to talk to her in private, but she refused the offer. And when she offered to talk to Mr. Akanni also, he sensed the tension between the two of them and promised to talk to her later.

She was still happy when she entered the compound, and was so happy when Elizabeth came crying that her father was dead.

'That's a good news'.

Elizabeth inhaled sharply. 'No. It's not a good news. You killed my daddy. You're a witch. I will pray to God. He will punish you. I should have been saved earlier. I would have prayed to God to never let my wish about my daddy true. You're a witch'.

By this time, Elizabeth's mother had come out. Elizabeth ran past her into the room. Gladys was surprised at Elizabeth's reaction. She only wanted to help her. How could she feel sad over a man that was consistently hurting her mother?

Elizabeth's mother staggered with a bottle of Moet in her hand as came toward Gladys. 'Miss. G, don't mind the naughty girl. She couldn't believe her precious little crazy father was dead'.

Elizabeth's mother whooped and laughed loudly. Then, she belched and slumped to the ground. She laughed loudly again, and gulped down the drink. She raised the drink to the sky. 'May he die forever and ever and ever and ever, amen. The police said he was killed by a hit and run car'.

Gladys watched her rise and dance in awe, with gladness. That was someone that understood what she had done. Why would Elizabeth be angry at her for making her mother happy? That was one of the best things to happen to anyone that loved their mother.

'Some witnesses said his killer was a woman. He ran from a woman to another woman and was killed by a woman. What a fool', Elizabeth's mother said as she staggered away. She leapt for joy, fell and laughed at herself as she rolled on the ground.

Gladys felt stuck to the spot as she wondered why she would never always be the first. If Stella hadn't preached to Elizabeth, she would still have the chance to recruit her. Now, recruiting her would be like trying to pull-out a tree from a mountain. Stella always had a way to be above her. When she was a witch, she always beat her in power. Being a Christian didn't water that down. She would pay. Elizabeth had lost her position as her first recruit. She was now, probably Stella's first recruit. No. Life was cheating her. And Stella would pay in the most painful way.

She fumed into her room after opening the gate, and pulled her phone from her bag and dialed Pastor Praise' phone number. She would recruit Mr. Akanni to support her claim. He was her newest puppet.

'Hello, sir. This is Gladys...I need to talk to you about Sister Stella', she said as the phones got connected.

Chapter 20

The Never-Ending Journey

Japheth watched Stella as she narrated her ordeal to the congregation that stared at her as if they were spectators watching the final penalty kick of their favorite team, and were afraid that any noise could let them lose the match.

Against his custom, he rescinded to the backseat of the church to catch people's reaction whenever she started her confession.

Upfront, Stella was shedding tears with a bowed head and tried hard to use to her shaky sweaty hands to hold the mic to her mouth. At that point, he understood how it was to escape from a powerful cage or person. It reminded him of a scene in the movie, the 100, where many of them were controlled by ALIE. Immediately Clarke Griffin drew the kill switch, everybody returned to their senses. It reminded him of himself, escaping the cage of Alexis.

When Stella left his place seven days ago, it took a while, but he tried to forgive her. Afterwards, he made sure he followed her progress as she stayed at a hotel. However, he couldn't bring himself to visit her. The pain of seeing her move forward with her plan still nudged his heart. Seeing her alone, could make him tie her down. He wasn't the forgiven type, but only a person that had been really forgiven can understand the true meaning of forgiveness.

That morning before he left home for church, she drove to his place, and requested to go to church in his car because she wasn't sure she would be in a good state of mind to drive herself back.

Suddenly, Pastor Praise came up on stage, looking furious. He yanked a mic off the lectern, and had to steady the lectern because he took the mic with aggression.

'Church, this is why I always preach that we should check every spirit. Thank God that I and the bible study teacher, Sister Christiana and Sister Gladys did a series of prayers. Can you see how my God is bringing them out? The fire of the Holy Ghost is bringing them out one by one and she would rot in hell with the devil'.

'Yes', the bible study secretary shouted from her seat.

Japheth was surprised. That wasn't the reaction he expected from the Pastor of God, and even the bible study secretary. What he expected to see was the joy in their eyes that a sinner was bold enough to declare her new status in Christ. Pastor Praise jumped about the hall as if Stella had just stepped on his tail. His venom wasn't only pouring from his words, they poured from the redness of his eyes, and the way the vein of his neck throbbed, one would be so careful not to taunt him.

He watched with disgust as some women made innuendos and sent insults to Stella. People kept exclaiming from the different corner of the church, railing curses at her. Many of them rambled off as if they weren't one of those that visited her for counseling and prayers.

'We will not allow her to go scot-free. The bible says we should kill every witch'.

'Yes', some people shouted, their voice echoing his fear. He brought out his tablet, he was prepared for this. Hurriedly, he began to move to the altar, and was soon followed by an array of protocol officers.

'See my wife is down there with sickness and I kept inviting this witch to my house to join me in prayers. Not knowing, she was the cause of the sickness. My spirit was telling me, but I was disobedient. Oh! I was disobedient, I need to ask God for forgiveness'.

'Ah...'

Stella kept turning from Pastor Praise to the church as people started rising one after the other to rail judgment at her. The women had begun to drop their bag and some of them had gone to the extent of loosing their head ties, and wrapping it around their waste.

'Please... I'm now a Christian', Stella pleaded. 'I love the lord'.

'You're a witch', Gladys shouted angrily, and threw her shoe at her.

He never saw that coming. The noise and bickers from the people of the church increased. The protocol officers, who were supposed to calm them down also joined them. The ministers rose and began to move towards Stella, where she was drowning herself in her own tears. Even men rose to be a part of the railing. Japheth was surprised. He knew Gladys was judgmental, but he never knew she could easily turn on the one whom she really adored. One man from the choir jumped too, the moment Gladys rose.

Even if what he feared wouldn't happen, he would prepare for any eventualities. He flipped open his tab, and began to stream the live feed of the event in the church. As soon as someone got close enough to spit on her, he increased his pace, and changed it to race. The people had begun to march towards her like Zombies, who had just sighted a living being.

'If you touch her. If you dare touch her', he shouted. 'I'm streaming it live. Yes. If you dare touch her... You that ugly fat woman, get back. Don't touch her. I said don't touch her. Yes. If any of you attack her or me. The camera is in 3d mode. Both sides. I can see you from the back'.

He guided her forward and people screamed at her. The protocol on his ways parted ways. He couldn't tell the source of his sudden confidence, but he had to help her out of there. There was nothing in the world that would make him a party to this barbaric, devilish, incorrigible act.

'People, are you seeing me, Doctor Japheth Adeogun, of Black Town, Fortune City about to witness a mass murder at Wild Fire of God?'

He wrapped his hand around her as he tried to capture their wicked faces.

'Everybody, can you see this? World, are you seeing this? The church that we rely on to shield us from our sin are the ones trying to kill us', he shouted, and led her out as she was still wallowing in her tears. 'No one. None of them to trust'.

Gladys screamed something incomprehensible, but he had to increase his speed because in a few seconds, the congregation had started shouting. 'Witch! Get out!'

They entered his car, and he drove off amidst his people's curses, his own rants, and Stella's cry.

'You're leaving town', he grumbled.

'I'm not leaving'.

'Why?'

'I need to fight her'.

'Who?'

'Gladys. She is the new priestess of Black Town. She would destroy the church. She would destroy us. There is a prophecy. She would give birth to the most dreadful thing that had ever been born since the days of the giants'.

On his way home, Mirabel called to tell him she saw the livestream on her way to her church, and tried to know if he was fine, which he replied in the alternative. She promised to come visiting as soon as she returned from church.

He turned to Stella, ' you know what, ma? Instead of going home to cry your eyes out, let's go to a church'.

She nodded and wiped her face. 'At least, I can still serve God with my remaining age and start in a place I'm not known'.

That evening, when he was sure Stella was safe, when the tension had reduced, he asked Mirabel to be his girlfriend. Like every woman, she told him she would think about it. After their meeting, she agreed to go to his house with him to spend the rest of the evening, to watch a horror movie. Chuks was rude to her because she almost fell while typing into her phone as they walked into Japheth's house, but Japheth let it go because Chuks was drunk. He was free from Alexis, and Chuks would get over her. His life was becoming fresh, and as she marched into his house, trying hard not to get angry, he breathe-in fresh air. Freedom was beautiful.

Mirabel from the room shouted that his room was a disaster, that she would have to arrange it before she left for her house that evening.

He smiled as he turned to Chuks, who was vomiting, and said, ' tonight, I won't sleep'. ***

Everybody accepted the lie and Mr. Akanni sold it well. Pastor Praise spearheaded the prayer session in their new house. She watched every one of them walk about and pray in tongues, trying to sanctify the house.

After they sent Stella out of the church, she informed the pastor that Stella once occupied the house that belonged to her fiancé, that she needed them to come to pray for the sanctification of the house.

Available with her in the house was Pastor Praise, and his fat wife, who held hands like Fiona and Shrek. The prayer secretary and his assistant, the bible study secretary and her assistant, the fornicating assistant pastor, and his wife all moved about like scattered ants. Others prayed fervently, and she wished she could see their spiritual level like Stella could do. When they've all left, she would return to the power house to get more power. Mr. Akanni had immediately handed over the paper to her. She laughed at his foolishness because immediately after marriage, her demon had hinted that he must die in sacrifice for the great work ahead.

She meandered to Christiana's side and walked with her.

'Stop pretending', Gladys said with clenched teeth.

Christiana sighed, and flashed her a big plastic smile. The line above her upper lips made her look ominous. ' Pretending in what way, my dear sister'.

'I'm not your sister'.

'What do you mean then, rookie?'

'I'm your royal highness. I'm the priestess'.

Christiana chuckled, and hit Gladys gently on the shoulder. 'What do you know? You're a baby'.

'There's no need to fight'.

'Are you for real? Are you afraid mummy is not here to save you?' Christiana replied as the two of them walked away from the others to the other end of the house. 'I should have suspected she was a witch, but at least I give her respect for her diplomacy'.

'Like I said, we don't need to fight'.

'Yes, we need to lap from the same bowl and sleep together as if we don't know you're trying to use another type of knowledge to take control of Black Town and Fortune City'.

'We can work together. I'm starting the Wicca school soon'.

Christiana grinned. 'She wants to start Wicca school, so we should jump. We're not taking your offer. We're fine on our own'.

'In your archaic ways that made you not see Stella'.

'She was older than any of us. Let's give her that. You should also give us the fact we are more experienced. See I have to leave you to your painful journey'.

'We will train young girls together', Gladys said and grabbed her hand. Christiana turned red as she glanced at her hand and glowered at Gladys, who released them immediately.

'We are not training...'

'Your young girls too. I have the resources. Lucifer would accept me soon'.

Christiana smiled at her. 'Where's your coven? You need a coven before he can give you his crown. Mummy didn't tell you. No. She didn't. She ran away to the merciful, long suffering God. So, as you can see that you're the Queen of your house, this accursed house'.

She petted Gladys' cheek, and flashed her a big smile. Gladys felt bad again. After getting power from the most powerful person in the whole of Nigeria, she still felt useless. She walked back dejectedly and had to control herself from crying. She had lost in all ways. She saw the way Japheth was rallying round Stella the other time.

She had lost Japheth and Elizabeth to Stella. She had lost control of the place to her inexperience and Christiana. She would find girls, a lot of them at that, and she would have the best school of witches in the world. They would excel and beat any witch that ever exist. She would show them her might. They would conquer the Christians also, anyone that came their way.

Acknowledgement

There are so many people, whose impact on this book, would never be forgotten. The first of them is God, whose breath became this story.

Let me use this medium to thank everyone that made this story a success- to my editors- Glory-Anna Oshafi, and Precious Adejumobi. To Seyi Oni(Imasetng), thank you very much. You're a good man.

Let me remember Karo Oforofuo, with whom I climbed and overcame many hurdles as a writer. I remember the day we talked at length over the phone, how I was getting frustrated, but couldn't even tell you. But talking to you that day gave me the hope I needed, and I sat down to write.

Then, I must remember my own love and lover, Mobolaji Ogunbanjo. You understood me even when I had to disappear into the world of Fortunecity. You always had a way of jolting me back to reality without hurting me or what we've been building. Then, she can promote for Africa.

Then, to my neighbors, and newest family- Bolu, Tosin Fatoki, Ebubechi Chibueze, Seyi Oni, Agnes Babatoye, Dorcas, Grandmas, Olamide Akintayo (as in we bear the same surname).

Then, I must really thank every member of my family- Iya Benjy would pray into the parlor and would say, 'Akin, you've not slept. Hmmm. God would reward your labor o'. My Aunties- Sisi mi and Aunty Funmi, your support was something I can never forget. Then, my uncle, Uncle Reuben- your words of encouragement has its way of holding me to my seat and remembering my family.

Then, to my ever loving course mates, friends and family from the prestigious University of Ibadan- always checking up on me, now and then- thank you. Also, my Classmates from our own Nightingale Academy, thank you, guys.

And to the many stars that I will talk about in #Fortunecity4 series, thank you very much.

Then, Valerie Izuchukwu, what you did was simply to keep tagging me and flooding my WhatsApp status with motivations for the day. It really worked. See we've written a book.

Thank you to the great Nigerian writers and the book clubs on Instagram. Your success was my motivation. I love you all, but I am particular about Ibitola Ojoye-Adebayo(funnily, I logged into Instagram and met her post again), Vision2mision(like I'm definitely looking forward to the release of your book in 2018), Pellura, Funmie Adebayo, Emem Bassey ( I remember when one of my mentors was gushing about the number of books you have), then the two mamas that I just marvel at their type of success- Unoma Nwankwor and Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie. Then, the numerous bookstores, book reviewers, and the book clubs. You're my hero. Doff hat for thee!!!

Now, to the person I've been reserving this place for- ITunes, Itunu Bakare- thank you. My NYSC partner and padi. Whenever I'm going blank, she would be there to listen to me. In her silence and approving nods, I found answers, numerous ones at that. I remember the day after she had finished reading the book, she sat me down and began to interview me about the characters, and the plots.

Thank you all. And I'm sorry if I always went into hiding. Just understand that is my new lifestyle, but come to pull me out once in a while; yet, don't expect it to be a regular thing. Writing is my new home.
About The Author

Akintayo Akinjide writes at Writertain, where he writes ways writers can improve their craft and also serve as a book publishing consultant. He loves teaching and expends his energy on making sure things work for other people. He is also referred to as Divepen, and is also a moderator of the Literature Section of the largest forum in West-Africa, Nairaland.

He is passionate the truth. He started Fortunecity stories as a way to bridge the gap between all the irregularities in this world, and hopes that his books would help anyone in need of solutions and would entertain people.

Other Books Akintayo Akinjide

\- Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening

-A Dread in the Spine

Excerpt

From 'Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening'

Carl opened his eyes sluggishly, and took a long time to understand that he wasn't in a knock place. He tried to accustom his eyes with the thick darkness he was in. His eyes fluttered as he rolled his neck, trying to figure out where he was. At least if one was in a dark place, there was no way the darkness would be so thick, but the place seemed impenetrable by any ray of light, making him assume he was finally dead. One of those philosophy teachers in his school once theorized that when they died that everything might be dark and they might remain in the darkness of the abyss, useless and for nothing. But how could he be dead?

All he remembered was that he was coming out of Joyce's house to get ready for his own part of the plan. He was being careful to check if the street was empty, when he saw a head materialize out of the air. He was so stunned that he couldn't shout before the man covered his mouth. The man wore one of those chameleon types of uniform. They had a bit of struggle, but before he could get hold of himself, another head materialized and stabbed him with a syringe. Whatever was in the syringe made him lose consciousness immediately, but not before he saw the other man putting on a sort of cap that made him become invisible. His fear now was that the uniformed men he witnessed the other time later saw him after they killed the old man. If it were so, he had to find a way to escape from the place he was.

With every part of his body blaring an alarm, he decided to stand, but was stopped by something that held him down. The thing was metallic. It held him in place. There was also metal chains holding his hands and legs firmly to the chair. Staring about to check for any ray of light, or anything to help him know what part he was sitting on, he was sure he might finally meet his demise in this place. The thought of being there was infuriating on its own. His eyes roamed in its socket as he hoped his eyes would blend with the darkness. Everything was silent. He wondered what could have happened, and why they must have wanted him. He wasn't from a wealthy family. He wasn't exceptionally brilliant. He wasn't a geek like Fred. So, he was so sure the person that kidnapped him would see his worthlessness and return him to help Joyce. There was no way she would even believe anything he told her, but he would still give it a trial. She must have been expecting him. No one could tell him how many hours he had been out. If he had been gone for long, then someone other than him must have gone to her rescue, and that meant they would have alerted the police.

Suddenly, someone yelled, 'where am I?'

Carl almost jumped out of his skin, and might have probably jumped out of the metal chair if the metals didn't hold him in place. He never assumed anyone was there with him.

'Who is there?' Another voice yelled.

'Where are we?' Another voice shouted. He would have calmly watched them scream and not flinch, but the darkness was making him falter in his calmness. Everything made him edgy. The noise retrogressed to murmur, then sprung into a full-fledged hysteria. Noises diffused into the dark hole or room or whatever they were in. Carl was very sure the people in the place were mad because they were all getting on his nerve. He held his breathe with a little assurance that the humanity ingrained into them would soon resurface, but none of them seemed to falter. He was so annoyed and vexed now and was sure that the frustration was getting to the 100% of his breaking point. He assumed he would keep his emotions together until a lady began to shriek. That was the crux of the whole matter.

He screamed, 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut your trap! Shut your trap! Shut it!'

Everywhere became silent. He cleared his voice as he tried to stabilize his voice. He still always wondered why humans have to behave like chickens whenever they are in terrible situations. They all kept quiet as if they were expecting an instruction. He wasn't the speech-giver type of guy. He never loved climbing the podium to address people. He was always the background type of guy. There was no way they were getting any word from him again, other than for him to yell, if they mistakenly reverted to their former noise.

Someone got tired of waiting and shouted, 'where are...'

The light came up, making the person's voice fade. Carl closed his eyes, and tried opening it again, slowly this time. His eyes widened in surprise as he glanced about in surprise. Like he suspected, they were in a train-like vessel. The top was rigged with strong metals, and air ducts that looked more like an exhibition than a real thing. Their chair was made of silver medals that held them together. Everyone in the place wore the same grey silver uniform that had semblance with swimming trunks; and the color stretched down the line until what looked like the end of the train, was as if one was staring at a tiny bird in the sky.

He could see the same look on almost everybody in the room. They all looked surprised, and he was sure he wore the same look too. The people that were shouting seemed too shocked to utter a sound. Before anyone could make a comment about where they were and before Carl could try to fathom what that place was, the door beside him slid open. Despite the silence with which the door opened, most people glanced towards the door, and those that didn't see the door open were informed by their neighbors or they noticed what everyone was doing, and did the same.

A woman entered. She was wearing the same uniform as theirs, only that hers was red. She was followed by two people with the yellow uniform. They held guns and looked fierce. The lady was slim and could pass for a model. Only that she had an unusual gait, and balance that would make anyone continually scared of her. And despite her beautifully packed blond hair, she had a diamond shaped face, which looked like that of a robot's. And her eyes were very tiny, black, lifeless; another reason to be afraid of her. Someone whimpered in front of Carl. He hurriedly glanced at the fearful person, and back at the lady.

'Good morning, my name is Diana, and I welcome you to Etyes, the home of Peacemakers' she said into a public address system.

