“Use your wings!” Lilith shouted in a desperate tone.
In his panic to release his legs, Samael did not think to use his wings, and now it was too late because they, too, were stuck in the quicksand. His eyes rolled to the back of his head.
Lilith scanned their surroundings. “We must find something––anything—a twig or vine—which could aid us in pulling Samael out of the sand.”
Gadreel ran in circles her eyes flickering in every direction. “There is nothing but shallow plants.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks.
Samael appeared dazed. They only saw his head, neck, and the upper part of his chest now. Lilith held her breath and clenched her hands. “If we do not act soon the sands shall consume him,” she murmured under her breath.
She suffered a strange sensation in her legs and tumbled face first to the ground. When she glanced at her lower body her legs had been replaced by a snake’s tail. Her shoulders slumped. She stared at Samael with woeful eyes but she did not have time for self-pity. She rose quickly, coiled her tail around him, and with a mighty tug, pulled him onto secure ground.
Samael was unconscious when Lilith laid him on dry sand. Gadreel ran to him wailing and lamenting.
Lilith closed her eyes. She willed her unsightly snake form to transform back into her beautiful lower half, and her long, shapely legs reappeared. Thus, she became aware she possessed the power to choose which appearance to take at will. She was content that Samael was oblivious to her transformation into the snake creature.
Lilith strutted to him. She grabbed Gadreel by the arm and shoved her aside. “You must give him space to breathe and stop the sniveling at once. Are you not aware that I have saved him?”
Gadreel bobbed her head and wiped her eyes.
Samael opened his eyes and glanced at her. “How was I able to rise from the pit?” he asked with a raspy voice.
“You did not rise.” Gadreel giggled. “Lilith pulled you out with her snake tail.”
Lilith glared at her.
Samael lifted his head to glance at Lilith. “She no longer has a tail, Gadreel.” He smiled and reclined his head on the ground.
“No, you see, Lilith did––” Gadreel met Lilith’s glaring eyes and kept quiet.
“Rest here a moment.” Lilith tucked a lock of hair behind Samael’s ear. “I shall walk ahead to find a safe passage for us. There may be other such traps ahead. I must figure out the difference between this sand and the sand that bites and swallows. I shall be back soon. Gadreel, you stay with him.”
“But, what if you do not return?” Gadreel frowned.
Lilith flaunted a smug smile. “Of course I shall return.”
Gadreel was about to go after her, but Samael grabbed her arm and shook his head. He waited until Lilith was a short distance away and whispered, “Let her go. I have been waiting for a moment when we could be alone. I have something to share with you.”
Gadreel opened her eyes wide in amazement. “Why not wait until Lilith returns and tell the two of us what is on your mind?”
“I am not sure this is the right moment to reveal it to her,” Samael said.
Gadreel beamed. He had a secret he wanted to keep just between him and her?
Samael gazed into her eyes. “What I am about to tell you is of vital importance, but you are not to say a word of it to Lilith or anyone else we come in contact with later.”
Gadreel stared at him.
“Do you understand?”
She gulped and nodded.
“I have been inside the Garden of Eden.” He waited for her reaction. Gadreel gasped. “I have also seen Eve––I spoke to her.”
“Eve understood your words? What was she like? Was the Garden of Eden as beautiful as the Triumph Gardens in Floraison? How did you get in? Where was Adam?”
Samael chuckled. “I shall answer every one of your questions in time. For now, I simply wanted to tell someone.”
“And you chose me.” Her face was radiant with felicity.
“I do not think that now is a good moment to tell Lilith about my encounter with the humans in Eden.” Samael’s expression turned brooding and dark. “Her mind is focused on finding the others, which is what we all want. I believe she would change her focus if I told her that I have been to Eden. She would forget our current goal, and a new one would spring in its stead. I am convinced she would want to conquer Eden to take it for herself and destroy Adam and Eve in the process.”
Gadreel pressed her fingers to her lips. “God’s wrath would surely fall upon us then.”
“I shall not allow her to destroy Eve. She is a magnificent creature,” Samael said. Gadreel’s face fell. He wished to protect the human woman.
“That is not all. I also saw Cam in the Garden. He threatened me with his flaming sword and marked me with it.” He showed her a black heart-shaped mark on his chest. She passed her fingers over the slightly raised mar.
“If we are to return to the Garden of Eden, it should be with Satan and the others and with weapons.” Samael gripped her shoulders. “It is the only way we shall have a chance to survive, and that is why I must wait to tell Lilith. She is impatient. She shall aspire to go to the Garden without delay, and if that comes to pass, we are as good as dead.”
“I understand.” Gadreel looked to the distance. “Do not fret, your secret is safe with me. Now be silent, for Lilith approaches.” Samael let her go and reclined again.
Lilith proceeded to them and hovered over them. She was about to speak when she spotted a small creature near her feet. She peered at it. “This creature is black as night and carries a pair of grasping claws. This is not the same species that attacked you, Gadreel. This one possesses a threatening factor well beyond its size.”
Lilith snatched the scorpion off the sand. The creature stung her hand with its venomous stinger. She howled in pain. Her face flushed crimson with fury, she bared her teeth and snared. She bit the creature in half and consumed it. She grimaced and gagged at the bitter taste. “The flavor is repulsive but I detect some satisfaction as it reaches my middle.”
Gadreel stared at her in awe. Samael burst into laughter. Feeling better, he got off the ground. He got busy wiping the gritty, itchy sand embedded on his body.
Gadreel hurried to his side. “I can help you. I can brush off the areas of your body that are troublesome for you to reach.”
She grabbed his male organ, gently passing her hand across the topside and underneath to eliminate the sand. She proceeded to kneel in front of him. She lifted his shaft and passed her hand softly around the sack beneath it.
Lilith twirled her hair and watched with eager curiosity, as an expression of delight lit up Samael’s face. “You are sensing pleasure from Gadreel’s touch, is this true?”
“I am. When she passes her hands across these areas, I feel a current of pleasure spread through my entire body.”
Gadreel beamed.
“Your male organ is no longer lying dormant. It is rigid and larger than before.” Gadreel smiled at him with a sidelong glance. “Is this a sign that you find my hands on your skin pleasing?”
“Yes, it is,” Lilith interrupted. “The same happens to Satan when I stroke him there. It probably happens to all males.” It was no wonder God feared carnal pleasures so, for it could be a powerful weapon. It was how she planned to control Satan and Samael to do her bidding. “It seems Gadreel is not without her charms.”
Gadreel continued to brush the sand off him, relishing the look of pleasure on his face.
“That is plentiful, Gadreel! We have no time for you to amuse Samael. We must move on.”
Gadreel stopped and jumped to her feet. She did not wish to rouse Lilith’s fury.
Samael frowned and grabbed Lilith by the arm. “You offered such affections to Satan?” His tone was flat.
She wrested her arm from his grasp and ambled away with a smile dangling on the corner of her lips.
Chapter 8
White Nourishment
/> Later, as they hiked under the starry sky, Samael spotted a large creature with a similar but much smaller creature moving along beside it.
“Behold!” He pointed at the animals.
Lilith looked in the direction he pointed and saw a humped creature with long legs gliding across the sand without sinking, despite its size.
“We must go and inspect these animals. They may have something to offer.” She rushed toward the mammals, Samael ran close behind, and Gadreel followed with a wary look on her face.
Lilith stopped a short distance from the camels. “Stop, do not come any closer. We do not want to scare them away.” She inched toward the she-camel.
The large camel nuzzled the calf. Lilith smiled. The calf toddled to the camel’s lower body and reached under the camel’s abdomen with its muzzle, latched on to a teat, and began to suckle.
Samael raised his eyebrows and hurried to the long-legged, hairy beast and squatted by her hind legs. His eyes widened as he watched the calf slurp on one of four teats hanging from the camel’s belly. He reached out and grabbed one of the camel’s teats and squeezed it. He gasped when an opaque, white liquid squirted his face. He wiped his face and sniffed the milk on his fingers. The liquid had a sweet, creamy smell. He leaned his head toward the camel’s teat and sniffed it also.
The calf seemed to enjoy the white liquid. Samael licked his lips and gulped. He reached for the teat with his mouth and did as the calf did. He drew the fluid into his mouth. The taste was mildly sweet and light, but warm and satisfying.
“What are you doing?” Lilith gawked at him. Gadreel moved closer as well, taking small, cautious steps.
The calf discontinued its suckling. It wobbled a few feet away to lie on the sand, evidently sated and ready to rest for the night.
Samael continued to suck on the camel’s teat with voracity. He filled himself with as much milk as possible. He became overenthusiastic and pulled with brute force. The camel moaned, but he continued to draw hard until the camel kicked him away with one of her hind legs. He tumbled backward in the sand as milk streamed down the corners of his mouth. The females guffawed, which also prompted laughter from him.
“You both need to drink as I did.” He wiped his face and chuckled. “The white liquid is both thirst-quencher and nourishment. You can both drink at once, as I drank with the small mammal.” He pulled Lilith by the arm and placed her under one of the camel’s teats.
She stared at the animal’s udder. Crinkling her nose she wrapped her lips around one of them and sucked gently on it. Her mouth filled with the sweet, hot liquid. She swallowed, and it was good as it made its way into her hollow stomach. She closed her eyes and hummed as the milk began to extinguish her hunger and thirst.
Gadreel’s gaze fluctuated between the camel and Lilith. The animal did not appear to suffer. She touched her cheek. “I cannot do this, Samael,” she whispered. “What if the animal kicks me, as it did you?”
Samael took her hand. “Come, get on the side of the beast opposite Lilith.” He guided her to the animal. “I shall hold both of the beast’s hind legs firmly in my grasp. The animal shall not be able to kick either of you as you drink your fill.”
Samael got behind the camel and held her two rear legs.
Gadreel dropped to her knees beside the camel. She outstretched her trembling hand and then withdrew it. Wide-eyed she stared at the teat arms crossed. “I am so hungry.” She watched Lilith slurp on the animal’s teat. She attempted to rise. “I have to do this or I shall die.” She grimaced, leaned and draped her lips around the camel’s teat and began to suckle. At once, warm liquid moistened her parched throat and filled her stomach, quieting it.
After they satisfied their hunger and thirst, they let the animal be. The camel walked to its calf and lay beside it to sleep.
Lilith watched the camels as they slept. She walked toward them, her feet sinking into the sand with each step. She sat against the large one and passed a hand across its thick coat.
Samael approached her with Gadreel trailing behind. “Perhaps we should continue our journey while it is still dark and we are well nourished.”
“Yes, you are right, we should move on.” Lilith rose to her feet. “What do you think shall happen the next time the sun shines brightly and weakens us? The night shall not last forever. By what means shall we feed when hunger attacks once more?”
“If we grow weak from the sun’s menacing rays, we can burrow under the desert. The next time hunger takes hold of us, we could find another creature such as this one and drink from it.” Samael held his chin high boasting a satisfied smile.
Gadreel giggled.
Lilith glanced at her and rolled her eyes, and then smirked. “How many such creatures have we encountered in this desolate land, Gadreel?”
“I have never seen this animal before,” Gadreel said in a low voice.
“How many have you encountered thus far in your travels?” She looked at Samael, the brow above her blue eye arched high.
“This is the first time I have come across such a beast.” He cleared his throat and looked at the ground.
“That is why we must take the beasts with us. The large one shall provide us with shade from the sun during the hot hours, so we do not waste time burrowing underground every day. We could drink from the animal before dawn and at night to maintain our strength.”
Samael bobbed his hear.
“The animals are sleeping. How are we supposed to take them with us?” Gadreel fidgeted.
“We shall wake them.” Samael glanced at Lilith.
“Do it quickly, we have squandered enough nighttime already.”
Gadreel sulked when Lilith yelled orders at Samael, but he was always quick to do her bidding.
Samael woke the animals and pulled the large one to its feet. They resumed their quest to find the source of the shrill sound and their friends.
A full moon glowed over the landscape. The reflection of the moonlight on the sands was intense, and the beauty of the desert at night mesmerized the three. The brilliant stars shimmered upon the rolling red dunes. The shrill sound they followed for so long was alive in their heads and seemed closer.
Chapter 9
Pillar of Sand
Dawn approached and the sun began to rise, bringing the exquisite hues of nature along with it. The fallen angels moved in a steady trot and used the camel to shade them, but soon the midday sun would be directly above them, and there would be no escaping its rays.
Lilith lurched to an abrupt stop. “Behold! In the distance!” She pointed to a gigantic pillar of sand, which swirled with great force toward them.
“What is that?” Gadreel cowered behind Samael.
Lilith shrugged and let out a harsh breath. “I do not know, but I do know we should take notice. We must protect ourselves. This is yet another way God torments us.” She clinched her jaw. “We have to remain calm. Our strength has returned, so we could fly away or burrow underground until it passes.”
Samael shoved his hair back away from his face and crossed his arms. “Your words are wise as usual, but if we fly, we risk depleting our energy much faster. If we burrow underground, we risk losing our beast and our sustenance.”
“We are almost gone from this arid land.” Lilith pointed to the mountains in the distance. “We can fly until we are secure on highland. We can carry the beast with us.”
“Lilith––” Gadreel’s arms remained clenched at her sides as she approached. “We are not strong enough to fly long distances, especially if we have to carry such a heavy load.”
“We are stronger than you imagine.” Lilith’s eyes flashed with anger. “I am weary of your perpetual weakness.”
Gadreel hung her head.
Lilith’s snake tail reappeared. Samael flinched and gawked at her. She wrapped her long, powerful tail around the large camel and zoomed away toward the mountains.
Samael and Gadreel glanced at each other and then at the small camel. Samael lifted his sh
oulder in a half shrug and flew after Lilith.
“Samael––no, wait!” Gadreel stared at the approaching pillar of sand biting her lower lip. She spread her wings and then caught sight of the little camel again. From the corner of her eye, she saw the calf searching the skies for its mother, calling, “Baa, baa!” She snapped her eyes shut. “I shan’t leave it to die.”
She rushed to the small animal and tried to lift it. Her first attempt failed. “I can do this.” The massive sand column rumbled onward. The wind raged around her, flinging sand at her, scraping and stinging her skin. “You are deceptively heavy,” she told the calf.
Placing both arms around the calf’s body from the top, she made another attempt to lift it. Flapping her four immense wings, she carried the little camel off the ground. The force of the cyclone dragged her and the camel, drawing them into its core. She flapped feverishly until she was able to fly away.
Gadreel looked over her shoulder at the desert she left behind. The tall, powerful column of air, sand and rocks blasted through the area where she and the others stood only moments before. She inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. “I am happy I did not leave you behind.” She smiled at the small camel. “You would have been torn apart by the vicious sand twister.”
She flew in the direction she had seen the others go, toward the mountain ranges. Her eyebrows bumped together. “What new perils awaits us in this new terrain?”
Chapter 10
Ice Cave
Lilith arrived first at the mountain range. She chose to land at the highest elevation. After placing the camel on the snowy rock face, she willed her legs to appear so she might land on her feet.
The temperature on the tall mountain was much cooler than the surrounding lowlands, and ice and snow covered the ground. She shuddered and wrapped her arms and wings around her body in an effort to keep warm. She watched Samael fly toward her, but Gadreel was nowhere in sight.
The Fall of Lilith Page 25
