Eye of Saturn (The Daughters of Saturn Book 1)

by Raso, Idalita Wright

  Zaybeth’s eyes anxiously searched for Felipe. Surely he would come and save them.

  “Felipe,” she said, her voice barely audible, lips quivering. She squeezed her eyelids shut, bravely fighting back tears that had collected at the bottom rim of her eyelids.

  The crowd grew impatient, grumbling to one another, anticipating the executioner’s torch to the pyre.

  Zaybeth opened her tear-filled eyes, looking just over her right shoulder at her mother who was sobbing quietly to herself. Her face bore many bruises and scrapes.

  The inquisitor stared coldly into the panic-stricken faces of Francisca, Alejandro, Maria, and Zaybeth. He gave a slight nod to the executioner.

  “Leave the de Hayos family to the Devil, who is waiting at the very threshold of hell to receive their worthless souls and carry them with him into the pit of flames of hell-fire,” he said, as he sat next to the archbishop.

  The mob shouted, waving makeshift flags and banners in the air.

  The executioner smiled as he lit the priests’ torches that were on long poles. Each priest took their flaming torch, thrusting it against the faces of Francisca, Alejandro, and Maria. This was repeated until their faces were burnt severely.

  “Let the dogs’ beards be made!” a priest said.

  Francisca, Alejandro, and Maria screamed out in pain, begging the priests to stop.

  One of the priests smiled and thrust his flaming torch to Zaybeth’s hands and feet. She screamed and cried out for mercy.

  The priests and the executioner come down the ladder. With a single, swift movement, the executioner and the priests pitched their torches into the pyre. A small wisp of smoke curled up where the first sticks began to catch flame.

  There was a collective murmur from the townspeople as the smoke and flames grew.

  “Let them burn! Let them burn!”

  Zaybeth tried to see through the ripples of rising heat distorting the face of the mob below. She turned her head to the right, looking past her mother and Francisca. She saw Tomás’ emaciated body had sagged on the stake and his body was first to succumb to the rising flames. It sank down instantly, burning away most of his flesh, exposing his bones, adding fuel the fire.

  Flames reached the bottom of Francisca’s torn dress. Her body writhed as the heat from below rose and enveloped her. She started sweating profusely. Her breathing was rapid, and low moans emitted from her lips. Francisca struggled to free herself, but the heavy chains would not allow her to escape the burning, inevitable flames that were about to consume her. The tender flesh of her feet and lower legs crackled and blistered as the flames rose. Francisca let out a horrifying scream as her flesh began to blister and burn.

  Children pointed and laughed.

  The flames had finally found Maria. She coughed, stinging her blistered lips. Her feet blackened and singed as the flames reached higher and covered her lower body. The flames reached up, running along her legs and hips, scorching her flesh, climbing up her body. She struggled as she screamed helplessly. Her screams had ceased by the time the flames lapped at her bosom.

  THE PENTACLES OF SATURN

  It was early afternoon when Felipe returned to the cave in the Pyrenees Mountains to Diomira. He looked down, smiling at the small wrapped gift in his hand. Blasts of brightly colored lights poured out of the mouth of the cave. Felipe eyes widened.

  “Diomira?” He dropped the small wrapped package into the grass. He dashed inside the cave, expecting to confront the Daughters of Saturn Felipe, but instead he found Diomira sitting in the middle of the floor holding her divination mirror, sobbing.

  “Diomira, what’s wrong?” he asked, running to her side. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

  She looked up with saddened eyes. “Felipe, you must hurry, my love. You must go to your family before it is too late. I saw them being burned at the stake, along with the redheaded girl.”

  “Zaybeth!” he said, standing abruptly.

  “Be forewarned.” she said, grabbing hold of his hand. “The dark one, Lilith, she knows you’re coming.”

  There was a slight breeze and Felipe had vanished.

  * * *

  Felipe appeared on a hillside in Toledo, looking frantically in all directions, and then he saw the black billowing smoke coming from the town square. He vanished, reappearing in the middle of a cheering mob. He pushed through the multitudes of spectators, making his way to the front of the crowd. There, Felipe stood horrified at the sight of his family being burned alive at the stake.

  “No!” Felipe screamed.

  His eyes widened and the whites of his eyes turned translucent, then his pupils dilated and turned pitch black. He arched his back and enormous black wings replaced his shoulder blades. Felipe had made the full transformation into the vampire. He sliced through the crowd, ripping out throats and hacking to pieces anyone who dared get in his path—leaving the town square littered with dismembered bodies and severed limbs in the wake of his fury.

  Soldiers spotted the vampire and brandished their weapons, charging the creature.

  Felipe vanished, reappearing on the platform of the scaffolding. His keen, vampire eyesight made it easy for him to see through the smoldering servants and thick black smoke.

  Felipe first caught sight of his mother’s silhouette. He fought through the high flames to free her, but discovered she was badly burned and not breathing. Felipe looked to his left at his father’s charred body being consumed by the fire.

  Felipe made his way to his brother, who had slumped over on the stake. But in a whoosh, Alejandro’s hair caught fire. He let out a piercing, violent scream followed by dead silence. Felipe heard crackling sounds. He turned and looked over his right shoulder. It was flames jetting up the stake, engulfing Maria.

  Felipe growled angrily. He was too late. His eyes anxiously searched through the thick, black smoke for Zaybeth, but he could not find her.

  “Guards, kill the beast!” General Ramírez ordered.

  Soldiers propelled streams of arrows at Felipe. He growled and disappeared, reappearing behind the soldiers, slashing their heads right off their shoulders with his talons. The heads of the soldiers flew into a crowd of spectators. Blood spurted from the dead men’s headless bodies, which were still walking aimlessly in circles before collapsing onto the ground.

  Soldiers brandishing swords, lances, and pick axes began attacking Felipe from all sides. Felipe raised both hands and launched a powerful energy blast, killing the men instantly.

  Felipe looked at his hands in amazement.

  An overzealous soldier managed to run Felipe through with his sword. Unfazed by the blade lodged in his chest, Felipe gave a sinister laugh. Slowly, he pulled the weapon out of his chest, leaving a gaping hole. He held the sword up high in the air, its steely blade dripping with blood. Felipe opened his mouth wide, showing five rows of razor-sharp teeth and two giant fangs. His black, thread-like tongue darted out of his mouth, licking the blood off the blade. The gaping wound in the center of Felipe’s chest instantly healed.

  Felipe’s eyes narrowed as he grinned evilly and then turned the sword on the soldier who had stabbed him, thrusting the sharp, steely blade through the man’s chest with such force, the blade run through to the other side.

  The crackling, hissing, and popping sounds coming from the fire diverted Felipe’s attention away from the enjoyment of watching the soldier die. He unfurled his wings as he roared. His eyes darkened as another wave of soldiers charged him. He held out his hands and sorcery surrounded the men, turning their very weapons against them, leaving only the executioner standing.

  “You don’t frighten me, vampiro,” the executioner said, brandishing a skull-shaped, double spiked, iron flail. He griped the leather-covered, wooden handle and took aim, hurling the deadly weapon at the vampire.

  Felipe vanished before the flail could make contact with this body.

  The executioner spun around looking for the creature.

  “Show yourself, devil!” he
said, gritting his teeth.

  A low, evil growl echoed.

  Felipe could see fear mounting in the executioner’s eyes. How ironic, Felipe thought, the most-feared executioner in the land is now the one who is afraid.

  A rolling, dense fog surrounded the executioner. The man quickly turned around checking behind him, then to his right, and to his left.

  Felipe appeared behind the executioner and seized his head, twisting it until bones began breaking and snapping. In one continuous motion, Felipe wrenched the man’s head right off his shoulders. The headless body of the most-feared, Executioner Brother Carlos Diego made a loud thud as it landed hard on its knees before slumping to the ground.

  Felipe gave a toothy grin and hurled the bloody, severed head in the direction of the archbishop, who sat in his chair on the balcony of the Catedral de Toledo.

  The inquisitor and several attendants rushed to protect the archbishop, whisking him inside the church.

  Felipe heard a weak scream coming from the scaffolding.

  “Zaybeth!”

  He took flight, swooping down and landing on the ledge. Felipe looked in all directions of the enormous platform of death. He heard a stifled cough. He looked and saw Zaybeth slumped over the stake. He Felipe was about to go to her, when a soldier, who had climbed a ladder, blocked his path. Felipe’s eyes turned blood-red, starbursts of Saturn swirled in his pupils as he placed the man in a hypnotic trance.

  “Take your sword and run yourself through,” he commanded, projecting his thoughts to the soldier.

  Felipe’s thoughts echoed in the soldier’s mind. Obeying Felipe’s command, the soldier thrust the sharp, steely blade through his own heart. His body fell backwards off the scaffold into the flames.

  Felipe rushed to Zaybeth. He snapped the thick chains that bound her, lifting her off the burning stake and into his arms. He flew her safely to the ground, where he placed her on a small patch of grass.

  “Please be alive, my love.”

  Felipe held Zaybeth in his arms. Gently, he swept back her hair from her face.

  He was taken aback when Zaybeth regained consciousness and suddenly recoiled in his arms, shrieking in horror before falling unconscious. Felipe had all but forgotten he was in his vampire form.

  “Kill the vampiro!” the inquisitor ordered.

  Soldiers were closing in on them. Felipe took flight with Zaybeth in his arms. He was only a few feet off the ground, when his head and temples suddenly began to throb. His vision became blurry. An excruciating jolt of electrical energy rushed through his body. Felipe’s insides began to tremble and boil. His body erupted in a violent seizure and he lurched forward, causing Zaybeth to slip out of his arms. Felipe reached for her, but quickly had to withdraw his hand in response to another intense jolt of pain. His body shook violently. He was losing altitude, fast. Felipe fell backwards, landing on the ground. Now in his human form, Felipe tried unsuccessfully to transform into the vampire.

  Felipe wondered what caused him to lose his powers.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Felipe saw Lilith. She was leading General Ramírez and his army straight to him. The tail of her black robe whipped back and forth as she marched through plumes of ash and smoke. An intense, blinding light reflecting from a double-sided, gold amulet she was twirling, temporarily blinded Felipe. He shielded his eyes with his hands.

  One side of the talisman was inscribed with the First Pentacle of Saturn, which was used to create terror into the spirits, rendering them powerless. The other side of the amulet was engraved with the Seventh Pentacle of Saturn. A magick so powerful, it could make the entire universe tremble. The magickal inscriptions began to glow and lift off the talisman, surrounding Felipe. Too weak to escape, General Ramírez’s soldiers seized hold of him.

  On the wind, Felipe could hear the faint whispers of a woman chanting in an ancient tongue. It was the language of the Daughters of Saturn. Felipe’s eyes scoured the area. In the distance, he saw Lilith standing over Zaybeth with her right hand on the girl’s forehead and her head lifted up toward the heavens.

  Felipe’s eyes trailed up to a hexagon-shaped vortex forming in the sky. The whirling mass opened up and emitted a golden light that engulfed Lilith and Zaybeth. They both vanished.

  “Zaybeth!” Felipe screamed until his voice broke into an empty sky. He felt his vampiric powers returning. He vanished, leaving the soldiers grabbling onto thin air. Losing their balance, the men toppled onto each other and fell to the ground.

  THE NETHERWORLD

  Zaybeth coughed a couple of times before opening her red, stinging swollen eyes.

  “Ouch!” She clamped her eyelids shut. Her eyes began to tear and slowly she reopened them. Blurry-eyed, Zaybeth raised her hands to rub her eyes, but she soon realized her arms were being restrained. Her heart quickened.

  She was freezing cold, which was in sharp contrast to the hot flames lapping at her feet moments earlier. Although her confinements limited her movement, Zaybeth was able to lift her head. There was a small fire burning in a hearth. The fluttering flames illuminated the room just enough for her to see she was inside a strange temple. It reeked of earth and blood, but it also had the familiar smell of patchouli. The walls of the macabre shrine were an assembly of jagged, protruding stones, covered with moss and vines.

  Nightmarish images of the winged monster, pulling her from the burning stake flashed before her mind’s eye. His leering, black eyes and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. She could still feel his claws on her skin. Her mind raced. The horrible winged creature that rescued her was actually the devil and he’d taken her to hell.

  God, I’m dead and my soul damned for all time.

  Panic began to grow.

  “Oh, Lord, have mercy on my soul,” Zaybeth begged tearfully.

  “Rest assured, there won’t be any mercy for you,” a woman’s voice said, breaking the eerie silence.

  Zaybeth drew in a breath.

  “Who said that?” Her eyes trailed up to a hexagon-shaped skylight. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a woman dressed in a hooded, black cloak, floating in midair. This was all wrong. Zaybeth shut her eyes tight and reopened them. The woman’s face came into focus.

  “Lilith?” Zaybeth’s voice cracked.

  “You didn’t think I was going to let you burn at the stake, now did you? I just wanted you to get a taste of what it feels like to get burned,” Lilith said, vanishing into rolling smoke.

  Men dressed in black hooded robes, followed by a few men and women gathering around the altar. Zaybeth could feel her heart racing.

  One of the hooded men stood over her and pulled back his hood. His head was bald and was covered in strange tattoos and markings. He also had a tattoo on the left side of his face. Zaybeth noticed the tattooed man kept staring at her, as if he recognized her. There was something comforting in his eyes that made Zaybeth felt she could trust him.

  “Señor, please help me. Unchain me, please...”

  * * *

  Lilith appeared. “That’s enough out of you, homewrecker!” With a wave of her hand, Zaybeth fell into a deep sleep. “Brother Obadiah, I suggest you get on with the ceremony.”

  “As you wish, Elidaelohim.”

  The Daughters of Saturn appeared from out of the misty shadows of the temple.

  Lilith, why have you brought Zaybeth to our temple?” Isis asked.

  Lilith bowed. “Isis, please forgive me, I meant no disrespect, but I had to stop Felipe. He was about to take Zaybeth and I feared he would turn her into a lamsivetalak.”

  “But that is what you wanted,” Dusana said, taking her place next to Isis.

  “Yes, but the curse would have been made permanent. He would have her as his bloodsucking bride for all eternity,” she said, giving Zaybeth a look. “I will not let Felipe off so easily,” she said, placing her hand on her swollen belly. “He should be made to suffer as I have.”

  Asira joined her sisters.

  “The nigh
t of our harvest celebration, Felipe and a nal’huizah, named Diomira came here to steal the scrolls. You were absent that night. Where were you?” she asked.

  “I was detained,” Lilith said in a huffy tone. She did not like the sisters questioning her. She was the High Priestess after all.

  “You never told Felipe, if he turned Zaybeth into a lamsivetalak, he would damn her soul and make the curse permanent, did you?” Isis asked.

  “No, I conveniently left that little detail out,” Lilith replied coldly.

  Obadiah walked over to Lilith and touched her arm.

  Lilith raised her brow and Obadiah quickly placed his hands behind his back and bowed.

  “Elidaelohim, are you planning on killing Zaybeth?”

  “Of course not, I’m going to send the little harlot to the Netherworld. There, she will wait until Father Saturn’s all-seeing Eye reopens and fulfill the curse. Father Saturn will bestow upon her the power to destroy Felipe in a battle to the death—lover versus lover. That is unless, of course, Felipe turns her into a lamsivetalak first.”

  “But Elidaelohim, I really must protest. Whatever you believe Zaybeth and Felipe have done, they have not. Zaybeth is still a virgin.”

  “That can’t be true,” Lilith said, turning away from Obadiah. She leaned over Zaybeth.

  “If you insist on punishing this poor innocent girl, I will take no part in it,” Obadiah said.

  In an instant, Lilith seized Obadiah by his throat. Her eyes narrowed and turned pitch black.

  “Then I suggest you leave,” she growled. “And never return to this temple.”

  “Enough!” Isis said, as she unfurled her wings. “Lilith, you do not have the authority to banish a chief elder. Obadiah speaks the truth. Zaybeth is a virgin.”

  Lilith released Obadiah from her grip.

  “We gave you permission to use the Six Forbidden Scrolls because you told us Felipe had broken your blood covenant. You deceived us,” Dusana said.