go anywhere without us.” He sighed and nodded. I turned back to Aseem. “He’s my, well, protector and my father would kill me if I lost him.”
“Okay,” he replied sharply, “whatever, come on quickly, we might get to him before he gets into the warehouse.”
I took another mental note to talk to Aseem later about Johnny. How I’d explain who he was without exposing the fact he was a Djinn I didn’t know but I’d have to worry about later as I had a big hulk of an idiot I had to go and save first.
It soon became apparent that Johnny had got himself into the building. We were just dithering around the entrance when Aseem grabbed me and dragged me behind a skip. He put his hand over my mouth and indicated with his other hand that I should stay quiet.
“I don’t know how that fucking pair got out,” Joe spat as he walked past, “I don’t understand it at all.”
“Who cares?” His brother shrugged. “We’ve got what we wanted and Aseem’s mother’s going nowhere. Once we’ve got the master’s key out of that asshole in there we’ll go and pay her a visit.”
They laughed in a stereotypically evil kind of way. Truly, I’m not just saying it for effect. You could tell from their laugh that they were bad and rotten through to their hearts, if they even had hearts.
We waited for them to reach the other end of the alley before darting out and using my amulet to open the door once again. We both hesitated before stepping over the threshold, Aseem much more than I.
“I understand if you want to stay there.” I gulped and tried to smile bravely.
“No, I’m not letting you go”—he paused significantly before continuing—“in there on your own. Come on, let’s be quick.”
We heard Johnny before we saw him, though at first I thought it was a tortured animal as the wailing screams that echoed round the high ceilings of the building were eerie and animalistic.
“Johnny,” I screamed and ran across the room to him, “what have they done to you?”
I was ripping at the cuffs around his wrists before I realised he was in Djinn form. Well, that cut down on the explaining I’d have to do with Aseem.
“He’s a Djinn, he’s not dangerous. Aseem, can you help me?” I smiled over in his direction. He was stood stock still, shock written all over his face. “And Johnny, will you stop wailing, I’m trying to get you out,” I snapped.
“You don’t understand,” Johnny gasped, “the bonds are nothing to me right now.”
“Yeah, they look it.” I grimaced as I pulled at one manacle and Djinn skin came away with it. “Will you turn human, please, you’re scaring Aseem and I need him to help me rescue you.”
Johnny lost the red, scary Djinn look but managed to look just as dejected in human form. It was easier to get the manacles off then, they dropped off with just a little tug.
“She’s been kidnapped,” he moaned, “I don’t know where she is, I don’t know what happened to her and they won’t tell me.”
“Who?”
“Josh and Joe’s sister, I guess.” Aseem said off to my left, “they talked about her quite a lot.”
“What do you know about my soul mate?” Johnny growled and grabbed Aseem’s arm.
“Whoa, easy, tiger,” I whistled. “Aseem’s a good guy.”
“I don’t know much, dude, just what I’ve overheard, but there’s this letter they kept in the office.”
“I need that letter.”
“We need to get out, Johnny, our kidnappers could be back at any minute,” I gasped.
“But this is the love of my life, she needs me, Kiya.”
“All right, all right. Aseem, take Johnny and find the letter. I’ll wait by the door. Hurry up.”
Johnny and Aseem ran across the warehouse and I watched them go. Love was a weird phenomenon.
I waited anxiously for them to return. I jumped at every noise. I imagined the door knob twisting so many times, imagined Josh and Joe discovering us a thousand times before the boys barrelled up the corridor towards
Learning to Kill: Stories