Stuck With You

Part 1

Chapter 1

“I release you.”

He looked at her in disbelief.  “You can’t do that.”

“What?  Yes, I can,” she told him with absolute certainty.

He shook his head with a glare.  Glancing into the shadows, he took a step forward.  “You cannot release me.”

“And why not?” she questioned.  “They did it in Aladdin.”

“I am not a genie!” he hissed every word slowly, hoping that the idiotic woman would understand.  “I am Jinn.”

She let out an indignant huff.  “It all means the same thing, I may look dumb, but I do read.  You want more synonyms?  I’ll give you a list: djinn, jinni, genii, jinun, supernatural being.  It doesn’t matter what you call yourself, it doesn’t change the fact that I release you.”

“You have three wishes,” he mumbled.  “You cannot release me because you have three wishes.”

He could feel the anger coursing off her body as she took a step forward.  “I will not use the three wishes you have bestowed upon me because I have no need for them.  Now, I release you.”

“Do you think talking formal will do anything?  I am bound to you, because you are my master until you complete the three wishes.  Once you do that, I will happily go back home.”

“In Kaf?”

“The fabled emerald mountains in which Jinn are said to live?” he asked in genuine surprise.  “You do read, but you know that the earth is not flat; therefore, the mountains are, in fact, fable.”

“You were created from the smokeless flame of fire, and you are not something that I want following me around.”

He took a step closer to her, attempting to see why she kept her body shadowed.  The woman could not be any older than his human body, a good thirty years.  So, why was she hiding from him, and did she read the information as she claimed?  Or had she known one of his kind before?  “I will not harm you.”

“I know you can’t.  You aren’t strong enough.  It is rumored that there are three different kinds of Jinn.  Tell me, which are you?  The kind with wings who can fly through the air at speed too fast for human eye, or are you the kind who resembles a snake, or maybe you are one of the ones who travel eternally?  Maybe, that is all a lie and you are a tall man with long hair, but not even a hint of stubble on his chin.  Tell me, which is true?”

He stepped out of the shadows, showing off his black hair and blue eyes.  “Sorry, but I am my own.  I may be bound to an object that you chanced upon, but I am nothing of which you claim.  I have to admit, you do know your folklore.”

“Here is another tidbit,” she said with what he could only describe as amusement.  “It is said that there were three beings created, two of which have free will.”

“Humans and Jinn,” he replied with a nod.

She took a tiny step forward, but it was still not enough for him to see her clearly.  “What is the third?  Which one has no free will, has no choice but to follow the orders of their maker?”

“Angels,” he replied and watched as she stepped out of the shadows.  His eyes widened.  For the first time in centuries, he was shocked.

She sent him a chilling smile.  “Tell me, do you think we have no free will?” she asked with a flicker of her wings.  “Or do you think I can kill you without asking for permission?”