The Seven Kings of Jinn

Charlie caught Nick and together they shoved him into the back of the SUV. He dug in Nick’s jeans, pulling out the keys, glancing around the lot to make sure no one had witnessed the attack. As they jumped into the front of the vehicle, he asked, “You okay?”

She nodded, clenching her teeth together to stop them from chattering. Her pulse throbbed in her neck.

Charlie decimated the speed limit and they pulled off at a quiet spot in Vicker’s Woods, where Jai waited at the edge of the trees. Together, he and Charlie dragged Nick’s body into the woods to the clearing where the Aissawa Brothers waited. Ari watched from the sideline as Jai gestured for Charlie to get back. He stepped beside her and she tried to capture his attention, but his eyes were glued to Jai, Nick, and the Brothers. He seemed mesmerized. Feeling a tingle of unease at his expression, Ari focused on the group of jinn, watching as Jai tied Nick’s hands and feet and left him to lie on the dirty ground. He stepped out of the circle the Brothers made around Nick’s body and took his place at her other side.

“What happens now?” she asked him, watching curiously as one of the Brothers produced a small drum and began beating on it. She winced, hoping it wouldn’t attract any attention.

“Don’t worry,” Jai murmured in her ear and she couldn’t help shiver at the feel of him so close, his intoxicating scent tormenting all her senses. “I’ve put up an enchantment to muffle the sound. The Brothers will do their thing and probably make Nick drink an herb called Indian Costus. It repels jinn from the possessed.”

Ari frowned. “Couldn’t you have told me that? I could have just slipped the stuff into his Coke at the cinema or something.”

Jai shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that. There’s a whole ritual. You’ll see.”

And she did.

The Brothers chanted ominously in a language Ari couldn’t understand. The sound of it, however, made her teeth chatter, her body suddenly covered in a cold sweat. It was like she was coming down with the flu. When she threw a quick glance at Jai, she noticed he looked similarly affected, his skin pale, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. She touched her clammy forehead with a trembling palm and fought to keep upright. She wasn’t given much time to ponder the ill feeling that came over her so suddenly because at that moment, the Brothers each produced a knife from their boots and drew the sharp blades over their wrists.

Ari gasped at the horrifying action and looked at Charlie to see what he was making of all this. It terrified her that what happened here would reflect badly on her and he would never want to speak to her again. But he watched in utter fascination, his eyes rapt on the scene, chewing on his lip, something he did when he was concentrating. Shaken, Ari looked over at the Brothers. Her stomach turned as they drank from each other’s bloody wrists and began chanting again. Blood slipped down their chins. Nick’s body shuddered on the ground, his eyes rolling back in his head.

“No,” he croaked. “No, stop it. You can’t…”

One of the Brothers stepped forward, a cup clasped in his hand. Carefully, he tipped a vial of the herb Jai had spoken of into the cup and bent down next to Nick. He whispered something in that strange language and then pinched Nick’s nose closed, tilted his head back, and forced him to swallow the drink. When he was sure Nick had, he returned to the circle and the Brothers chanting grew louder. Nick began shuddering harder until he was thrashing on the ground, groaning and choking on screams. Ari tensed, disturbed by the sight, and was glad for the warm hand Jai placed on her shoulder. She flinched as a weird black substance oozed out of Nick’s eyes and mouth and ears. “Dear God,” she whispered. Jai squeezed her shoulder as if to say ‘I got you’.

Finally, to Ari’s everlasting relief, Nick cried out one last time before flames burst from his body. A Brother dropped to his knees, a bottle, like the one Sala was trapped in, clasped in his hands as he muttered frantically. The flames gave off a high-pitched squeal, almost like they were screaming, and then they spiraled tighter until they were sucked down into the bottle. The Brother promptly stoppered it and gasped out one last chant.

The woods were deathly silent.

The Brother with the bottle stood and turned to Jai. “It is done.” He bowed formally and he and the Brothers made their way past the three of them like they hadn’t just cut open their own wrists and exorcised an evil spirit from a teenage boy’s body. A Brother stopped before Jai, who handed over a wad of cash. Ari frowned. She hadn’t known this was going to cost Jai money. Great. Now she was even more in his debt. Literally and figuratively.