Those Arabian Nights... And the sand! ((Finished))

Rayne barely sleepy at all that night. She kept thinking about what if Omar found out about the necklace? What would he do? After all, one only got so many chances. She stared at her ceiling into the wee hours of the morning. And when she finally slept dreams of people who shall never be mentioned plagued them.She woke up exhausted to say the least. But, she got up and dressed.

She chose her abaya with with silver star weaved around the edges. Rayne pulled her hair back and thought about leaving her bangs. A hand caressing her hair. She pinned the bangs back with a small clip. She felt immensely guilty, though she had done nothing wrong. She slipped her headdress on and unlocked her door. She made her way to the dining room where Omar was already waiting for her. He took notice of the lack of bangs immediately.

"Aziz, you look amazing. Though your hair is unique, I love to see your eyes." Omar said warmly as he kissed her cloth-covered cheek. She pushed the guilt down and smiled underneath the abaya.

"Well I do my best, for your happiness is my happiness." Rayne replied and Omar laughed shaking his head.

"I think you have that backwards." he said helping her into her chair. She just shook her head warmly. Omar really was her prince charming.

After breakfast Omar went to his office in the higher levels to work. Rayne walked out back of the palace. She was greeted by a lush green forest. Omar's palace was built directly in front of the east side of the oasis. A wise decision. Rayne could explore the small, but serene jungle all day. She started on the usual path, just walking straight. After she came to the end of the path, she turned right and followed the sound of water. Before she reached the water source however, she took many turns and twists that she like the back of her hand. Rayne finally came to a place of peace and serenity.

It was just a small clearing, barely even noticeable. But Rayne had. She had a knack for noticing things that other didn't. Picking up on smaller details. And this place had been her spot ever since she found it two months ago. This was where she came to get away. She could be herself here and reminisce about all the things she had done.

"Who are you Rayne? And who will you become?" Rayne asked herself. thinking about who she used to be and who she was trying to be.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol found himself in a lavish room wtih marble flooring a large canopy bed and warm pool. There was a door off to the side and he looked quickly enough to see the last of the women slip through it. He smiled and gave himself a mental congrats. Sol had successfully located the harem of the palace's lord.

Sol cracked his knuckles. It was time to make the palace lord's women his own. He went into the room where the women had gone and he found them fast asleep in comfortable one person beds. Completely silent, Sol crept up to the nearest of the women.

Sol picked her up gently and she stirred slightly in her sleep. Sol carried her to the nearest window and opened it. The other women stirred slightly at the sudden draft but they did not wake. Sol grew back out his wings and he flew away with her in his arms. Later, in the morning, she woke in an unfamiliar room. her first instinct was to scream but Sol made her rethink that idea.

Rayne ended up catching up on her sleep that morning on the soft grass. She woke up around mid-afternoon. Around lunch time. She should've been home earlier. She stood and stretched, before dusting herself off. She made her way through the canopy and back to the palace. As soon as she walked into the main part of the palace, a place filled with pillows and sofas and small tables, she caught sight of a pacing Omar. Once he caught sight of Rayne he stalked up to her an engulfed her in a hug. She hugged back surprised.

"I'm sorry, I'm back so late. I fell asleep by the water. Is something wrong?" Rayne asked as she pulled back slightly to get a better view of Omar's relief stricken face.

"Rayne, I thought you went missing. After Anya disappeared I thought maybe you had been taken too. When you didn't come back I was...." Omar cut off and Rayne became more worried.

"What's wrong with Anya?" She asked suspiciously. Omar's face filled with sorrow.

"She's gone. She's disappeared. The other girls said she went to bed with them, but was gone when they woke up. Why would she run away? She was so happy here." Omar sat on a nearby couch and rested his head in his hands while his elbows rested on his knees. Rayne sat down and rubbed his back.

"Maybe she went to town. If she did runaway though, I'm sure it was not because she was unhappy with us. She loved you like most people do. Almost as much as me." Rayne said and Omar laughed.

"Aziz, how you brighten my world. Perhaps you are right. She might return, yes?" Omar asked and Rayne nodded smiling.

"You see, I came here for something and I'm not leaving until I have it."

Rayne frowned as the words echoed through her head. He couldn't have possibly wanted a concubine. You could get those anywhere. She looked over at Omar who smiled, but still looked worried. She had to at least try. She stood.

"I think I'll check town for Anya. I know her favorite spots and maybe she just lost track of time. You know your birthday's coming up soon. She probably wanted to pick out a gift. I'll be back soon." Rayne said brightly and left before anyone could stop her.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol opened his eyes. He had slept in a bed this morning. Sol rolled out of his bed and stretched his arms as if reaching for the ceiling. He reached up with one hand to brush a few stray strands of hair back from his face.

Sol glanced back at the bed and smiled. His smile was not one of warmth, it was one of conquest. Luckily she was asleep, peacfully, and she did not, could not, hear him.

Sol had convinced her to stay and she obviously was satisfied with her decision. He had learned that her name was Anya, the palace lord was Omar something, and the red haired woman from the night before was Rayne.

Sol had no official plan of what he was going to do to Omar yet, but he had already decided that he was going to take all that was his.

Sol quickly and silently got dressed. He decided to go out into the city, confident that Anya wouldnt leave. She didnt want to leave.

Rayne was going to every shop, stopping every single person, and asking if any of them had seen a pale guy with black hair and blue eyes. Of course all of them had seen him, but no one new where he was. So she asked if any of them had seen Anya. The latest any of them had was three days ago. So went through the village several times searching for him. Or Anya. Rayne was growing tired.

She really wanted to figure out what happened to Anya. She wanted to know where she went. Anya was a nice woman above everything and she wouldn't just run off. She was in love with Omar. More so then Rayne could ever wish to be. And despite everything, Anya still treated Rayne good. And Omar treated all of his women good. There was no reason for any of them to leave, more so Anya.

But what if the man didn't take her? What then? She would walk back empty handed and back at square one. But if he didn't take her, what did he take? He seemed pretty confident about getting whatever it was he was getting. Then the next day Anya comes up missing? Nothing else reported stolen. Was it really a coincident? Rayne wasn't so sure. She stared at the bustling village and vendors persuading customers. Rayne sighed and stood. One more sweep through the village wouldn't hurt. And if anyone saw the pale man, they would surely inform her of his whereabouts. Or maybe they would inform him of hers. Either way, he couldn't stay hidden for long.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol finished trying on his new disguise. He stared down at his new brown skin. He had pulled a man into the alley and taken his clothes, afterwards he dumped the body in the sewer.

Sol now looked like any other resident of the city, and it was big enough to where not everyone knew eachother so they would not be suspicious of a stranger. Sol walked out of the alley and was headed back towards the palace when he saw the woman with red hair, Rayne, Anya had told him she was.

Sol smiled at her and waved in a friendly manner. For a moment he let his brown eyes flash blue, just to tease her. After all it was hardly noticable to a normal person and she would probably dismiss it as her eyes playing tricks.

Sol kept walking and smiling. Tonight he would go back for another woman. She wouldnt want to leave him either. And he would keep doing so untill he had them all. Sol just had a way with females possessed of less than powerfull wills. They just couldnt seem to resist his wishes. Some women seemed attracted to this while others seemed to hate him for it.

Rayne had been walking around for the nth time that day asking about a man with pale skin and Anya. Everyone promised if they saw him of Anya that she would be the first to know. She smiled and continued. Afterward she sighted in defeat and was walking home when she passed a familiar patron Zak. She waved and he waved back. Blue.

Rayne stopped. For the briefest moment, just the most minuscule of seconds, his eyes were blue. She turned around and stared at the man walking away from her. The pale man had eyes like those. But it was clearly Zak. Rayne followed the man she thought was Zak.

"Zak!" Rayne called after him and when he didn't reply she frowned. She didn't know what was up, but that man was not Zak.

But who else could it be? Maybe it was a trick of the sunlight. She hadn't eaten anything besides breakfast and she had been wandering under the hot sun. Maybe she was just tired. She needed sleep too. But.....Zak didn't even hesitate or pause at the calling of his name. He just kept walking. So Rayne walked faster until she caught up with him. She grabbed his arm and hooked it with her own. She smiled up at him.

"Zak, I haven't spoken to you since last Thursday. Could you escort me back to the palace, I would appreciate it very much. I skipped a meal, you know me, so forgetful. Anyways how's A'yan? I heard she had a fever last week." Rayne babbled on as they walked towards the Palace. She would figure this out.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol shrugged. There could be no harm in it. He was heading towards the palace anyway. "Sure. I would be happy to. Please I would rather not talk about my wife right now." Sol told her, mimicking the man 'Zak's voice, inflection, and accent perfectly. He was pretty good at it. When Sol impersenated someone it was perfect.

Sol attempted to walk in silence and appear worried as if something was troubling him. It seemed obvious that Rayne knew the man he was impersenating.

Sol would have to steer away from personal topics and questions. He may have the mans body but he did not have his mind and memories. No, that was a technique Sol had yet to perfect.

"How have you been lately? Anything strange happen?" Sol figured if he could get Rayne to do most of the talking she wouldnt be able to figure out that it wasnt Zak she was talking to.

At 'Zak's' response Rayne felt her eyes narrow. She continued walking though. He refused to answer any of her questions which was fine. She already had what she wanted. As they neared the palace Rayne made a sharp turn heading straight for the jungle.

"I'm doing good. However, with Anya gone, Omar is not. I don't want to disturb him so I think we'll take the back entrance. You know the way right?" Rayne said sweetly pulling 'Zak' into the thick trees. Once they were concealed she shoved the man away from her and towards the nearest tree.

"You've sworn off marriage for years and A'yan is your sister." Rayne said glaring at the man. Her voice was ice. "I don't know who you are, but I want to know. And I want an explanation. Now." She crossed her arms prepared to get the truth out of whoever he was.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol shrugged. The game was over. That fast too. He hadnt even gotten to have any fun yet.

Sol sighed and he reached up and rubbed his face. The place he rubbed became white as if he was rubbing off some makeup. "Do you know how long it took me to prepare this disguise? And learn this voice?"

Sol shook his head. "Now I have to go through the effort of washing all this off." he gestured at the 'makeup' he was wearing.

Sol shrugged himself out of the borrowed clothes he was wearing. He stretched and reached down. He pretended to scrub himself with the clothes and whatever was covered shifted back into Sol.

Finished Sol looked at her and winked with one blue eye. Standing in all his perfectly definded musculature he darted behind a tree and dissappeared, turning into an ant.

When 'Zak' who wasn't really Zak wiped his face off, Rayne fainted. There was nothing else she could do. People didn't just change into other people. It wasn't logically possible. And since her logic had just been shattered in front of her very traumatized eyes, she fainted.

She woke up hours later. It was dark. The first thing Rayne thought was that Omar was going to be worried sick. She then thought about the pale man. He was nowhere to be seen. Good. She couldn't deal with his right now. She pushed her broken logic aside and hurried back to the palace. Omar was waiting by the front door. He did not look happy. She walked up quickly. When he caught sight of her, his eyes blazed with anger. Her eyes widened and she actually stopped mid-step. Omar didn't mind, he walked up to her and grabbed her by the upper arm, dragging her into the house.

"Omar, you're hurting me." Rayne yelped as she was dragged into the living room and all but thrown on the couch. It was deathly quiet. She gave Omar a confused look.

"You are late, Aziz. And word around the village is Zak walked you home, but you went towards the jungle rather then the palace." Omar growled at her. Rayne felt her eyes widen.

"No, it's a very big misunderstanding I-!" Rayne stopped. She placed a hand on her covered, now bruised cheek. Her eyes widened. As did Omar's. They both stared at each other for a long time. Then after a moment Rayne fled the room.

She didn't know what else to do. She had never been slapped before. She had been beaten down and yelled at and almost had her hand cut off for stealing. But she had never had someone slap her open-palmed. She went up to her room and locked the door. She collapsed on the floor and just layed there. She couldn't even think. The day had been too much for her.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol arrived back at his place shortly after multiple transformations to speed his journey back to his temporary place of residence, he was naked after all and a naked white man would attract way too much attention.

Sol quickley opened the door and let himself inside. Anya was still asleep but at the sound of the door closing she seemed to stir slightly. Sol dressed himself with haste. He hoped that the makeup and disguise ruse had worked on Rayne. There was no need to attract unwanted attention to where it was unnecesary.

There was nothing that Sol feared but one could never be too careful. If Sol were to expose the existence of non-humans such as vampires, demons, and such, the price on his head could never grow to high.

Of course there was very little danger of him doing that. It may be a city, but it was a small one. Sol was confident he could wipe out the population if neccesary. Croatoan did it back with Roanoke. Sol's handiwork would be alot more messy of course, but it would get done.

Sol decided to take a nap. He would leave Anya to her own devices for the day, she wouldnt leave him, permanently at least. Come night time Sol would awaken and head back to the palace for more women. This night, now that he knew where they were, he would take the rest. It would be difficult but Sol could do it. If any demon could it was he.

Sol woke up in the early night and he immediatly headed for the palace. He got there just in time to see Rayne dragged into the palace by Omar. Sol reasoned she must have just been returning and Omar was not pleased.

Sol slipped inside and followed them, discreetly of course. Sol hid while Omar yelled at Rayne about going into the jungle with 'Zak'. He smirked, apparently when Omar had heard this his mind had immediatly gone to dark places.

Places where Omar apparently thought Rayne and 'Zak' had gone into the jungle to have a little carnal fun. Sol laughed silently to himself at the thought. Omar couldnt have been further from the truth. But Sol's amusement ended when Omar slapped Rayne. His eye twitched. His body ached for action but he held himself back. When Rayne fled the room, running right past Sol, he snuck in behind Omar.

Sol tapped him on the shoulder, his face grim. When Omar turned around Sol punched him straight in the jaw, hard enough to give him a concussion and cause him to forget the incident but not hard enough to kill or cause permanent damage. While Omar was on the floor taken a Sol granted nap, he arranged things to look like Omar had tripped and knocked himself out on a nearby table.

Things looking perfect, Sol set off stealthily to retrieve the consorts.

Rayne layed in her bed, not moving, not speaking. She stared at her ceiling. Her cheek was bruised, but it didn't really hurt. She had taken worse. However, she was more beat up on the inside. She felt bad. She didn't mean to betray Omar's trust. She just wanted to know what was going on. Her mini obsession with the pale man had shaken up her own household. That's not what she wanted. She just wanted to do her best. For Omar. She didn't blame Omar for striking her, she mostly ran away because she was ashamed.

Omar was a very nice and generous person. Yet he had resorted to hitting her. He never would have done that if she hadn't made him worry. With that in mind, she felt very much at fault. She sighed and rolled over facing the wall. She had to get over this. Her old life is gone. She should be thankful. She's so blessed now. Why was she trying so hard to screw it up?

Rayne heard a low thud from downstairs and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She listened closer, but there was no more sounds. It was probably nothing. She got up anyways, she didn't know why. Rayne made her way down the stair cautiously. She didn't want to further upset Omar. She saw pale out of the corner of her eyes when she hit the third floor, but when she turned her head, it was gone.

"Go away." Rayne whispered more to herself. She was positive he wasn't here. "I'm ruining my life enough without your help. I went without stealing for six months, just for Omar. If you hadn't shown up, I never would have given that necklace two seconds. I'm happy. Don't ruin it." Rayne was angry. She turned to go back up the stairs and sighed, collapsing on the middle stair. She really couldn't believe this was happening.

[Solemn Creed]

Sol found himself slipping stealthily into the harem room. It looked just as pleasurable as ever and at this late hour the consorts had already retired to their rooms. He was practically salivating at the thought that soon he would have an all you can eat buffe of people who trusted him, laid out before him as if they really wanted to be eaten.

A meal wasnt Sol's reason for taking the women, no what he truly wanted was what Omar had. You see, Sol is an incredibly unreasonable creature. That day he had seen Omar in the market, was when he had decided that he didnt like him. The only reason was that Omar's face made him angry for some reason. The sight of it pissed Sol off so bad that he wanted to make Omar suffer.

Sol opened the door to the consorts living quarters and woke them up one by one, convincing them all individually to come with him. They maintained the illusion that they were happy at the palace, but the truth was, and Sol could tell, they were not happy. They were not content with being the slaves of a man who acted out every sick sexual fantasy he had ever dreamed or thought of on them.

So Sol was going to take them away. To a better life they thought, and they were welcome to think such things. The lie was merely to pacify them before the bloody and brutal end.

Sol walked over to the window from which he had made his previous escape. He opened it and took the consorts down, two at a time. Sol led them away in the dead of night and made sure there were no witnesses.

Rayne found Omar unconscious in the main room on the first floor. He woke up dazed and confused with no recollection for what had happened. Once assured by the doctor that he would be fine, he went up to the third floor. He couldn't even look Rayne in the eyes. And she didn't try to catch his gaze either; she was ashamed. She stayed quiet and when he left, Rayne also headed to her room.

She was passing the third floor when she heard Omar in a rampage. He was running around frantically. Rayne paused to see what was going on. Omar was asking where they were. Rayne was suspecting her was looking for the girls. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She stepped onto the third floor and walked over to Omar.

"What happened?" She asked glancing around the room. It looked normal except for the missing girls.

"They're gone. All of them are gone!" Omar said running around the room looking for people that just weren't there.

"Where could they have gone?" Rayne wondered aloud. It was too late for them to be going anywhere.

"I don't know!" Omar bellowed and Rayne winced.

"Let's send a group out to look for them. I'm sure everything will be fine." Rayne spoke gently. Omar, in return, pushed her out of the way and headed back downstairs. Rayne sighed and sunk to her knees. Why was everything going wrong?

Rayne looked at the diamond attached to her right hand. She took it off and looked at her hand again. That freedom. Her eyes grew sad. Freedom was over, reality had begun. Rayne slid the band back over her ring finger and stood. The search party could use more people. She walked down the stairs to help.