3.1 | Undead

16

February 26, 2021.
Victoria island, Lagos, Nigeria

Lara's screams seemed to go on forever while I lay there and watched with my elbows supporting my weight and my fist grabbing the sheets underneath us. Eventually, she paused screaming and turned to me with a scared expression.

"This isn't my blood," she choked out, tears brimming in her eyes. "This isn't my blood! Someone's dead! She's killed someone!"

I swallowed, trying to calculate my next move.

I could have hurried to the bathroom to get a bucket of water and help scrub the blood off. Or I could calm her down first because she was practically vibrating with fear. Or, I could give Yemi a call.

Instead of choosing one of those options, I just watched her. Watched as fresh blood dripped down her face. Watched as she desperately tried to get the blood off her hands.

Lara held the hem of her nightdress and pulled it over her head still shaking with terror. Now clothed in her night shorts and sleeping bra, as she called it, she turned to me again and began crying.

My formerly dead brain came to life instantly making me hurry to wrap my arms around her and hold her shaking body. I was going to be covered in blood after this but I didn't really care. The only thing on my mind right then was that Bukola was behind this.

She'd killed someone and doused Lara in the blood just to scare her off.

All my beliefs about her got tossed out the door just like that. A new worry tugged at my heart: how far was she going to go? How many people was she going to kill?

Stephan was right.

Lara whimpered, hiding her face in my chest and pointing to the mirror opposite our bed with a shaking index finger. "What is that?"

All the blood drained from my face when I looked where she was pointing. On the mirror, scribbled with blood, was a message from Bukola.

It read, "I'd kill for my love. Would you?"

She was coming after us. And for the first time in a while, I felt defenseless. Again.

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At two in the afternoon, Lara was still a shaky mess in my arms.

I'd called Yemi quite a while ago and told him everything that happened after I'd managed to get Lara out of bed. After explaining my predicament to him, he'd told me to hold on for a while. That he knew how to fix this.

And then he'd hung up.

"You need to eat something," I said to Lara. She pulled herself closer to me and shook her head quickly. A sigh left my lips as I rubbed her back slowly to hopefully ease the tension. This wasn't a good sign.

Lara never said no to food.

I'd never seen her this shaken up (no pun intended) since we'd gotten together. It made me want to rethink our relationship. But there was hope, there had to be.

If there wasn't, then there might have been need for drastic measures. I couldn't loose Lara. I'd already lost Bukola.

We both jumped when the front door burst open and Yemi ran in looking very sleep-deprived. He rushed to Lara, who was already on her feet by now, and engulfed her in a hug which she didn't return. She just stood there, frozen, with her fists at her sides.

Yemi pulled away from her and turned to me as is stood up, eyebrows raised. "Has she eaten yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "She's not listening to me when I tell her to. You said you could fix this. How?"

Both lara and I stared at him expectantly. With the way he'd said it over the phone, it sounded like he was so sure. And even though I wasn't sure what he wanted to do, I decided to trust him.

Yemi pulled out a spoon from his back pocket and waved it at us. "I found Stephan. Paid him a visit before coming here."

Lara gasped. I blinked in shock.

When he'd said he was going to fix it, if thought he was going to get another juju priestess, or, he was going to find another way. But finding Stephan?

"How did you do it? Where did you find him?" My voice sounded less surprised than I felt, but it didn't matter. Right then, I was so happy that I could have hugged him.

"It was difficult, and I had to ask Google a lot of questions, but, I found him. And even though he was reluctant at first, he has promised to help." Yemi's gaze danced between lara and I. "He went to fetch some woman named Dami, who supposedly knows how to end this."

"This could be it, Jacob," Lara said to me in an airy tone. A twitchy smile came upon her lips. "This could be the end."

"It could," acknowledged Yemi.

There was hope.

"Now, could you please eat something," Yemi said to Lara. "You look like you've lost a lot of kilograms."

Lara elbowed him but smiled otherwise and nodded. "Thank you, Yemi."

He grinned back, eyeing me. "It's what good friends do for each other."

I couldn't help the smile that came upon me. Good friends: that was what we were if not more. Yemi had to be my best friend at this point.