Tseju's Bayo

Excerpt From TYDU: Taming Femi

Chapter Three.

Three months ago.

Babafemi Charles Makanjuola knew the minute the spell was lifted. It was an orun ayeraye (eternal sleep) spell afterall and the minute it lifted, it awakened him from his 30 years juju slumber.

Although the spell had expired and he was awake, and he knew that the two other people with him in the dimly lit room knew he was awake, he kept his eyes firmly shut and didn't budge. He honestly didn't want to be awake because of what awaited him once he rose.

He turned 230 years today, and despite the fact that he had been asleep for the last 30 years, upon his awakening today, he was to leave his home once again and transfer to another state on the Coterie Council fulfilling one of the stipulations of the Inter Coterie Peace Agreement.

As the curse of Iku spread and more vampires rose across the land, violence had become the order of the day. After centuries of lawlessness and bloodshed, humans cried out to the deities for help. The deity Orunmila and the orisha Oya called for a truce meeting between humans and Iku's Offsprings.

After months of clashing, they finally made headway with agreements on two sides. One between humans and Iku's Offsprings and the other between Iku's Offsprings themselves.

The Inter Coterie Peace Agreement was signed in blood and Iku's Offsprings were split into Egbe's - covens or coteries with a council of elders who answered to a central governing body made up of Iku's Offsprings and Mamalawoos across the Yoruba Nation. Rules governing their interaction were set. The punishment for breaking the rules differed at varying levels.

After the unification of Nigeria and boundaries between Coteries overlapped and tensions rose, the stipulation of the ICPA that had vampires transfer between coteries became more important than ever.

The first person to speak and break the silence was of course Iya Egbe, the mother of the Coven. "I heard you inhale the second you woke up. Get up, feed and prepare for your journey." Iya Egbe, always one of few words said and turned to walk away.

Before she turned completely, Babafemi had gotten up and was kneeling at her feet. "Mother, is that all the welcome i will recieve?"

Iya Egbe rarely smiled but she did today. Even her eyes lit up with love as she bent to lift up her 6ft 7 giant. "You should have thought about that before you decided to abandon me for 30 years with these morons over there," She pointed to the door behind him where she knew because of her keen hearing that the brothers and sisters of the Makanjuola Coterie had gathered to welcome one of their warriors. Even as she said those words, she had pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

Indeed five bones crushed, including  2 from his ribcage. Babafemi winched as they popped back in as his body healed itself. "Yes, i missed you too Mother."

Once outside, he exchanged pleasantries with his Coterie family. Babafemi knew he was lucky to have such a warm Coterie Family. Usually Coteries were cold and devoid of love. Not that his was full of love but at least, it wasn't a cold harsh environment. Iya Egbe made sure of that.

At the age of 1497, Iya Egbe was one of the oldest mamalawoo and vampire hybrids alive and had been in enough Coteries as member and leader to know that enemity, violence or hate was a wasted emotion in light of eternity and she employed strong diplomacy tools in every Coterie she had been appointed leader of to see to it that peace reigned.

After he had taken his first bath and meal in 30 years, Babafemi got dressed in the official Coterie attire and headed down to the Tomb Room where he would be given and briefed on his next appointment.

As this was his 7th time in 230 years, the process this time was fast and easy. Thankfully this time, he was relocating as a businessman, not a fighter. He was to stay in one of the Makanjuola Mansions in the city he was relocating to. This time, he would be there for 50 years before returning back to his own Coterie in Ile-Ife.

Once inside his room, Babafemi took off his clothes and took a quick scalding hot shower, not because he needed it but because he enjoyed the heat as it pelted his skin from the shower head.

Dressed in all white, he reached for his appointment letter and scanned the contents of the page. His lips stretched into a grimace when his eyes fell upon the designated state of appointment.

He'd heard things about this state but he'd never been there physically. The war between the two empires had been the worse of all the blood wars. They fought over everything down to ancestry. It had been 2000 years since Iku's first Offspring, in all that time, these two Nations, once empires still fought over where the first vampire had emerged from.

This peace mission was very important and the consequence for disobedience cost more than Babafemi could afford. He would go. He would be peaceful. He would make his Coterie and Iya Egbe proud. He would also make sure he enjoyed everything the state had to offer, most especially its women. He'd heard about them. Edo women were divine, almost as divine as Yoruba women. They were also very easy to handle especially as their state was a headquarter of patriarchy.

Oh, Babafemi smiled to himself, licking his lips as he felt his fangs emerge. He was gonna enjoy the next 50 years of his life. He picked up the paper again, eyes smiling now as he read the city he had been assigned to; Benin City.

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