Marrakech, the Red City of Morocco, is a melting pot of history, architecture and rich culture from great restaurants and food to marketplaces and Hamams. Jemaa El Fna Square of Marrakech Medina has many bustling markets, and the Souk Semmarine is the main souk leading to other connected bazaars.

After coming to Marrakech and checking in at hotel, I went to Jemaa El Fna Square wandering through its alleys and streets, and witnessed the beauty of Moroccan bazaars with vibrant display of colorful rugs and textile, ceramics, brass, copper, glass and leather work. The aroma of spices in Magic Market of Rabha Kedima, and dried herbs was a sensory experience as women bustled to bargain with the shopkeepers. As I walked through the market, I saw many  tourists wearing either traditional Berber dress or Caftan. It was relatively hotter during day in Marrakech than at night, and I wore a loose red dress, and knotted my hair into braid to be at ease. I walked from one alley to another, moving through the maze like souks and almost got lost. There were stalls of henna artists and fresh juice, and the performers on the streets caught attention of the tourists.

I entered Souk- Al Attarine from the main square and kept on thinking why Dylan had asked me to find a souk. I travelled far off just to see someone who I didn’t know even existed or not. I looked through the teapots and lamps, spices and perfumes as well to see if I could get any clue about coming to this souk. I moved through the archway to another street, and saw some acrobats performing on the street. I paused to enjoy their thrilling performance along with the onlookers, and then saw someone standing in the back among the crowd. His face was half-covered, and I couldn’t see that person clearly, then, he turned to leave. Finding him familiar, I went after him as he walked through the streets, and I got myself a headscarf from a street vendor to cover my face as well in case I’d alert him. I hurried after him as he took a turn to his left, and I lost sight of that person. I looked around the street to see that person when a hand smeared something on my cheek catching me off guard.

“Looking for me?” He said smirking. It took me a second to process it was him dressed in a red djellaba. He had a light stubble on his face, hair longer than before and the dress itself  made him blend perfectly among the locals.

I instinctively touched my face find it smudged with something yellowish and powdery. I looked behind him and saw a stall of spices. My eyes widened in a surprise.

“Did you…” I glared at him, and he let out a laughter seeing me all riled up. “It’s turmeric.” 

I immediately wiped my face in disgust, then remembered that he got injured last time and had a wide gash in his stomach. I placed my hands on his body searching for his wound and earned a shout of protest from him.

“Hey, you can’t harass me in the broad daylight.” He jumped back at the touch that got us stares from the passers-by.  I smiled embarrassingly at them and turned back to glare at him.

“How did you survive?” I inquired to which he acted confused.

“What?”

“You literally had a hand slashing through your stomach.” I reminded him. “How are you even alive?” His mannerism suddenly changed and said, “Are you that disappointed?” His intense gaze pinned me down.

“Why would I?”  I retorted back. “It’s just that—“, he cut me off again.

“It’s just that the place to which I belong is no ordinary. I healed myself in a month time.”

“A month?” I became puzzled. “It’s been only two days or so.”

“Time moves differently in my world than yours.” He explained no further. I got curious again, but he beat me to it.

“So, you have actually come here.” He smirked again, and I elbowed him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, but I rolled my eyes at him.

 “Stop pretending, you’re perfectly fine.”

“Yes, but are you not happy to see me alive?” His voice had a tinge of fear.  What was he afraid of?

“I’m relieved.” I told him. A part of me wanted to see him again regardless of who or what he was. For the first time of my life, I felt less lonely. Pushing aside those thoughts, I composed myself and asked him,  “Why are we here?”

“I’m looking for something but I don’t know what is it.” He grinned sheepishly. “You called me here to look for something which you don’t know about yourself!” I burst out at him, and the stall owner behind us shook his head at us.

His hand reached for something in his robe, and pulled out an hair accessory.

“You forgot it  last time.”  It’s my hairpin that I had lost when we fought with the blood-drainers back then.

“I—”. I suddenly forgot how to speak. The hairpin had been important to me, and he had kept it safe with him. I blushed at the gesture, but he broke the moment.

“Let’s get out of here!” He led me through the market, and we came out to a food street. The aroma of rich and steaming food made my stomach growl.

“Do you want to eat something?” He asked and took us to a food stall. We sat ourselves at the table as he ordered some dishes. A young boy served us with grilled lamb skewers and beef kefta along with two bowls of Bissara with bread. My mouth watered at the sight of food and I delved right into eating.

“It was a tunnel.” I said.

“Huh?”

“It’s at first a tunnel, then, the hallway, and now the archway that led me here.”  I told him while chewing on meat. “Those passages act as a portal causing  shift in space and time, and bring me to your dimension.”

“So, you’ve got it all figured out.”  He sounded amused and asked for two cups of spearmint tea.

“Not entirely.” I put away the skewer and looked him dead in eye. “I still can’t tell what are you exactly.”

“Are you a djinn?” I asked him in curiousity. Djinn is an entity made of smoke and fire, an invisible being apart from humans and equivalent of a demon in Moroccan and Arab folklore.

His eyes darkened and the sudden silence made my heart drop in stomach. I couldn’t have possibly attracted a malevolent entity, could I?

He leaned over the table, holding my gaze and said, “I am Shamharoush”. The Sultan of djinns.

His serious expressions could’ve made fooled me if I hadn’t known him any better.

“I am Kandicha then.” I scoffed at him. It’s a female demon. He himself let out a laughter and said, “Someone is doing their homework.” He took the tea from the stall boy, and handed me a cup.

“Of course, I am! Who knows what creature I might encounter next after those soul-eaters and vampires?”  I shuddered at the thought of encountering a female demon or a paralysis  demon, Bought whose very idea gave me nightmares.

“You need not worry when you’re with me. I’ll handle them for you.”

“You’re the one I’m worried about here.” I  gave him a glance as I took a sip of my mint tea. “Well, I’m not a djinn if it assures you.”

“Why, thank you! Glad to know that you’re neither human, nor a djinn.” I remarked.

“I’ve told you all the phenomena in this universe and I are of one reality—“.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re this and that.”  I interrupted him and his mouth hung open in shock.

“You’ve destroyed the whole essence of it.” He looked cute when he complained.

 I put away the empty cup on the table and got down to business. “Enough of chit-chat, tell me what it exactly you are looking for here.”

“A dagger.”

“What type of dagger?” I demanded.

“I don’t know. Haven’t thought about it yet.” I was already at the end of my wits with him, but stood up at the table and said,  “Let’s look for the dagger so that I can go home sooner.”

“The sun is about to go down.” Dylan remarked. “We need to find a place to stay for the night before it gets dark here." Having lost track of time during our conversation, we didn’t realize that it’s almost dusk and we needed a place to stay.

Dylan turned to the stall-owner and asked, “Brother, Is there an inn nearby?”

“The one across this street is full.” The man told us. “Others close down before dark and don’t take in guests.”

“Why? Is something wrong with this place?” I asked the man.

“Qandisha lurks in the shadows at night, so people are generally cautious.” He answered.

“There’s one down the two streets at the city’s outskirts.” The stall boy cut in as he came to collect the bill. However, he told us that place isn’t doing well and doesn’t take in guests. Nevertheless, we thanked him, and paid for the meal before leaving to look for the inn.

The inn was a small dilapidated building cramped between the old abandoned houses and the city ruins. This part of the city was mostly desolate, and if not for the few children playing on the street with a tyre and a woman shouting to call them back inside before the dark, one would think that this was deserted place.

When we went inside the inn, there were two men drinking at the table who gave us a strange look as we walked past them to the counter where the owner was busy with the ledger.

I had not expected the innkeeper to be a beautiful, young woman in mid-twenties struggling to manage such a run-down place in her husband’s absence. She caught me staring at her and cleared her throat as a sign to get straight to the business.

“Two rooms for the night.” Dylan told her, but she looked sideways at the men who asked for her another jar of wine.

“We are closed for the night.”

She had a cold demeanor, and a sullen look for someone who's trying to do business. Hadn't Dylan insisted on getting the rooms and offered more money, she would’ve turned us away under the pretense of being full for the night.

The inn-lady gave us two rooms upstairs that were adjacent to each other facing the main street. The business of the inn did not seem to be doing well. Aside from us, the inn-lady, a porter-boy and the other two men drinking downstairs, there’s no one else in the inn.

I went inside my room that had a small bed in the middle, and a chair and table in the corner. The window opened to the quiet side-street and gave a good view of the setting sun behind the old buildings.

I sat on the window’s ledge and watched the sunset paint the Moroccan sky and its buildings in the crimson hue of red. The quiet streets and the somber air of the night after the darkness devoured the remaining bit of twilight, and dog's bark made me feel unsettled.

I closed the window deciding to rest when a gentle knock came on the door. I went to answer the door and saw the Inn-lady holding a candle lamp and a blanket in her hand.

“It’s dark and cold outside, so I brought these things for you.” She came inside the room and put these things down on the table.

“If you need something, pull the string next to your bed to ring the bell and I’ll be there. Don’t wander around at night by yourself. It’s not safe in here.”

She left the room, and I lay down in bed staring up at the ceiling since there’s nothing to do. The silence at the inn was suffocating, but I closed my eyes and counted sheep to sleep.

It’s quarter past midnight when the clomping footsteps roused me out of the sleep.

I ignored it at first and tried to roll back to sleep, but the footsteps lingered outside the room, then stopped at the door.

‘Could it be the inn-lady?’ I slipped out of the bed to check and opened the door to look both ways in balcony walkway, but saw no one. However, when I closed the door and was about to go back to bed, someone knocked at the door causing me to still in fear.

‘Didn’t I just check outside?’ I thought to myself. ‘How come someone is at the door?’

The knocking came again, and I had to open the door to see who was pulling tricks on me. I opened the door, and in the faint glow of candlelight, I saw Dylan standing in the doorway holding a candlestick in his hand.

“Why are you wandering around like a ghost at night?” I groaned at him.

“I heard the footsteps outside. Were it you?” He asked me, and I became confused.

“No, I thought it’s you.”

“It wasn’t me." He told me. “It’s better to be careful since thieves might be lurking around at night.”

I nodded in understanding and locked the door before going back to bed. However, an hour passed, I woke up to the sound of running foot falls on the roof. I sat up in bed and looked up at the ceiling in horrid. The running soon stopped creating an eerie silence, but then the thudding footsteps appeared outside my room again in the gallery.

I swore to myself I’d kill Dylan if it were him.

I opened the door and saw the Inn-lady standing at his door in a flimsy nightgown holding a candle in and talking to him.

“W-What are you two doing at this hour?” I stared at the two in confusion. I didn’t take him to be a philanderer and interested in married women.

The inn-lady snapped her head in my direction and scowled at me for disturbing them. Her face twisted in contempt, and beautiful features changed into ugly expressions.

My eyes dropped to her feet underneath the nightgown, and I gasped when I looked at the furred hooves of a goat. She’s the demon.

“GET BACK INSIDE!” Dylan shouted. The next moment, she flew towards me in rage, and I slammed the door shut as Dylan threw his dagger in her direction, but missed it by a hair’s breadth.

The door started rattling, and I pushed myself against the door to keep it shut with all force.

“DON’T OPEN THE DOOR!” Dylan instructed me.

I heard her scream outside, and after a minute, there’s complete silence.

Cold sweat broke out on my brow when someone started knocking at the door again.

“It’s me, Dylan.” The person said it, but I refused to believe it. “Rhea?” It’s indeed his voice this time.

 “Open the door. It’s really me.” He insisted, but I feared the possibility that it could still be her.

“I’ll stay by the door. You can return to bed and rest.”

I was conflicted between answering him and going back to bed, and decided against the first. I sat on the chair and kept my eyes on the door for the rest of the night.

I had fallen asleep on the chair when the rooster’s crow at the dawn woke me up. I stretched my limbs and got up from the chair to check outside. I opened the door and saw him resting against the wall with crossed arms holding his sword.

“You’re up!”

“Let’s find your dagger so that I can go back.” I told him. “I want to leave this place.”

We went downstairs, and found the inn empty. The porter-boy wasn’t in sight, and I didn’t see two male guests after the night’s commotion.

“Did those men leave last night?” I asked him

“They were her original target. She must have killed them before coming to see me.”

“Did you take care of her?” I asked him fearing how many people she must have killed at her inn.

“She ran off before I could subdue her. She’s injured during the fight and will hide to recover first."

“Did you just let her off?” I was stunned.

“Those men have violated a young girl.” Dylan spoke coldly. “Sooner or later, they would have faced their retribution. You don’t have to feel bad for them.”

He left the inn making me question whether he deliberately let go of the demon and help her in revenge. I had to be careful.