so that we can be easy

Isaac received two very simple orders.

Avoid witches.

Lay low.

The first one seemed rather hard to do considering that Okonidiok had somehow become a permanent thorn in Isaac's side. He was there when any human came in to feed Isaac. He was there when Isaac wanted to go into town. He didn't enter the mansion or go anywhere near it, but once Isaac took a step out, Okonidiok was by his side asking, "Which car would you like to take today?"

As for the second order, well, Isaac wasn't exactly sure what the parameters for lying low were. Because, as he understood it, the Chieftaincy was in need of results. Josiah was under pressure. He mentioned it to Isaac whenever they spoke. He needed answers and the only way for Isaac to get them was to leave the mansion. 

Since Bassey was from Akpata, Isaac knew that was the best place to start.

However, Okonidiok was under strict orders not to take any vampires near Akpata. 

"I can take you anywhere. Even out of Calabar. Look, I can drive you across the country. But I can't take you near Akpata."

If that wasn't a glaring neon sign, Isaac didn't know what it was.

Why else would Ansa want to keep the vampires out of there? What other reason beyond it being the raring ground for countless bushers? After all, Ansa had already admitted that she had four bushers to spare. Four bushers just lying around to hand out to her baby vampires.

And they were all in Akpata. Locked safely away in a remote village that no one would ever think to care about.

He knew he had to find a way in there. Without Okonidiok.

"I don't know why you're still driving me," Isaac said, as they left the premises that night. "I have this wretched toy in my neck, I've just fed. I can't bite people. My bloodthirst is under control."

"I'm sorry," Okonidiok said, shrugging as he spared Isaac a glance in the mirror. "Owa is worried about you."

"Just me?" Isaac asked. "Not the others? Not Pan who drinks blood every second? Me?"

"Pan drinks from a cup. His feeding staff is safe."

"Mine are safe," Isaac said, tapping at his neck furiously. "How the fuck am I going to bite anyone when I've just fed?"

"What is it you want to do that you have to go alone?" Okonidiok asked. 

Isaac licked his lips and looked out the window.

"Eh?" Okondiok prodded.

"It's nothing. I just want to look around."

"Then let me show you around."

"I don't want you to, Jesus fucking Christ," he yelled. "Look," he said, leaning between the front seats. "I want to go out. I want to go to a bar. I want to see what the night life in Calabar actually is like instead of staying stuck in this fucking car every night."

"You're the one who wants to stay in the car. I can take you places."

Except the one place Isaac wanted to go. 

As the car rolled to a stop at a traffic light, Isaac looked out the window, wondering how hard it would be to just get out of the car. Had Okonidiok spelled the door not to open? Were there safeguards in place to keep Isaac from leaving unless Okonidiok gave permission?

He'd never thought to try because he was dealing with witches? Who knew the extent of their powers or what they'd already set in place?

No one trusted him. While Pan was skating at the park and Maryam was sulking around the mansion and Daniel was drinking his feelings, everyone seemed very focused on what the volatile Isaac was doing. When he hadn't even done anything yet.

Okay, so he'd fed on Bassey. And lost control with Monday. And insulted Ansa.

But all that was to be expected, right? All that was in the past. He'd been good for days now and it irked him that he was still being carted around by a babysitting witch.

"What if I wanted to do something private?" Isaac asked. "Would you follow me to the bathroom? Would you watch if I got my dick sucked?"

"Now you're just being disrespectful."

"For crying out loud," Isaac said, exasperated. 

He'd either get punished or not. He'd either go free or not. If he was going to do this, then this was his chance to check out Akpata. He held the lever and opened the door, surprised to find that it was actually open and that Okonidiok hadn't locked it.

"What are you doing?" Okonidiok asked, already raising his hands.

But Isaac didn't wait till a spell was cast.

As soon as the door clicked open, he sped right off, leaving a shocked Okonidiok in his wake.

—

Isaac ran as fast and as far as he could, pushing himself more than he ever had since he'd become a vampire. He had no idea what the range of a witch's power was, so choosing not to risk it, he ran till he was sure he couldn't hear Okonidiok's heartbeat anymore.

Then he ran some more.

When he strolled to a stop, he turned back, scared he might see the witch there. But he was overjoyed to find no one. He'd stopped at the cross of two sandy roads where there were no street lamps or paving. Just pushes to separate the roads. He could hear people. He could hear small families, he could hear evening churches. He could hear regular people on the outskirts of Calabar town, just existing.

He wondered how far away from Akpata he was.

As he pulled out his phone to check, he caught a whiff of… something.

Turning on the spot, Isaac raised his head to get a better sniff. He licked the air and his whole body vibrated from the phantom taste of the scent. Because it was… it was… he couldn't place it. But it smelled glorious. He couldn't explain it. All he knew was that the scent called to him like a song, lulling him into a trance as he followed his nose's lead.

Unable to wait, Isaac ran till he reached a main road and then followed it all the way to a roundabout where he cut through the street and entered another side street. He walked into a cluster of small houses, and the closer he got, the more sweet the scene got, beckoning him with pressing urgency.

This close to the houses, he could hear music coming from the one at the very back of the compound. Rushing, he burst into a room full of moving bodies as the music got even louder, pounding against his ears with unforgiving pressure.

Groaning, he turned his ears from the speakers, but he couldn't think of anything else because he was almost overcome with the scent. It was in the room, permeating every inch of it. Surrounding Isaac, causing him to turn around as he searched for the source of that miraculous scent. 

As they danced around, gliding together and laughing and singing in the crowded room, Isaac could smell their blood. He could feel their hearts pounding in unmatched rhythms. Excited, aroused, inebriated party goers who'd thrown caution to the wind.

Isaac's fangs extended before he could do anything to stop them. He covered his mouth with his hands as he turned in a different direction, still searching for the scent that seemed to overpower everything else that ought to have his attention.

Until his eyes fell upon her.

In a room with dim lights, Isaac had never been able to see so clearly in his life. While everyone around seemed black and white and out of focus, she seemed to shine in full color, HD, her scent flowing all around her in a mesmerizing swirl of seduction. 

Swaying to the beat, with her back to another man, she danced. His hands roamed from her hips to her chest to her sides, rocking together with intent as she let him. Her light skin contrasted with the black, skimpy blouse she'd worn that shifted with each movement she made, threatening… promising a glimpse of the underside of her breasts.

Leaning back against the man, she raised her hands to his neck, completely oblivious to Isaac.

He could feel the focused attention of the other man's arousal as he kissed her on her neck. Isaac had never wanted anything in his life the way he wanted to be in the other man's place. The way his body called to her. The way her blood cried out for him like a mate lost in the forest cried out for the other. Isaac could barely understand it, but he didn't need to.

He wanted her. He wanted to drink from her. He wanted to be near her. To sniff her neck and get a direct hit of what her sweat could smell like. What her blood smelled like.

Moving through the crowd, Isaac headed for the two of them, stretching his neck as his fangs dripped at the thought of tasting her. Of biting into her skin and feeling the blood rush into his system. So close. So ready to take her and own her in a way he'd never wanted to own anyone, Isaac opened his mouth to bite.

"Oh no, you don't," he heard from behind him as Okonidiok grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him back through the crowd.

"No," Isaac said.

He shrugged Okonidiok off, about to take off, when he felt Okondiok's fingers against his neck. A soft push at the base where the color resided, made Isaac stand still, unable to move in the sea of moving bodies.

He'd lost total control of his body as Okonidiok held him by the waist and moved him out of the house, guiding him till the night's air hit Isaac in the face.

"Keep walking," Okonidiok said, moving them till they got to the car. He opened it and gently put Isaac to sit before he lifted his legs in and shut the door.

When Okonidiok got into the driver's seat, he turned back to look at Isaac.

"If you want to be difficult," he said with an irritated frown on his face. "I'll be difficult too."

As the engine revved to life, Isaac could finally move his body. But even with that allowance, he was very aware of the fact that he'd not only lost his chance to check out Akpata, but he'd also let the girl whose scent was intoxicating, slip right through his fingers.