Transit of Ishtar, Paranormal Erotic Romance / Urban Fantasy (Book 2 of Sinnis)

by Natalie Gibson

  The snake was wound around her arm and ducked it's head behind her neck under her hair. Nathalia had never really been afraid of snakes. The Daughters had many housed on their compound. They were seen as a holy animal by many ancient cultures and their venom had many uses. Nathalia noticed that it wasn't just the snake and the lizard who were seeking out her company. There were a lot of insects making their home under her legs and butt.

  “They are attracted to your warmth. Our bodies are much warmer than the average human. Insects and reptiles are very simple minded. Focus your ability on them and fill their minds with wanting to be away from you.”

  As soon as she had decided to try, the bugs were gone. I'll let the snake stay. It's scales feel good on my skin. But what if it bites me?

  The first streaks of orange began to signal the sunrise over the desert. “It won't. All animals recognize us, but snakes have an unusually high attraction to us.”

  Ud's trip up over the horizon's edge was slow and beautiful. Nathalia was sure it was the most beautiful she'd ever seen. She'd certainly never seen one with the kind of detail she was capable of perceiving now. She watched the line of light move across the desert floor and up the rocky mountains where they waited. Nathalia turned to the vrykolak's body. It was smoking gently. It seemed to be burning from the inside out; the blood and veins were catching first. The body was quickly on fire, being consumed by the bluish flames along with every drop that had landed on rock, plant and sand.

  Eiran held his hand out in front of him. It had been coated with tarnished blood when he chopped off the head. That blood was now on fire and his hand along with it. Nathalia could see him crying and knew why. It wasn't because of the pain, and there was plenty of that; it was because of what that fire symbolized to him. He used it as a reminder of the law. The wrong path led to only pain and violence. He spent every waking moment resisting the hunger, but he was tired.

  Come lay down.

  The flame had licked his arm clean and it healed very quickly. “I will. I need to protect you from the Akhkharu before I do.” He came to stand behind her. “In the ruckus of battle, it has come very near to losing the protections I wove into it.”

  She couldn't sit silently as he so tenderly redid her hair. She wasn't comfortable with how intimate it was. Speaking of the battle, Why did you change into a wolf?

  “Sometimes it is easier to get close to your enemies if they think you are one of them. It is a trick to use when you must hunt alone.” He sounded exhausted.

  Can I...change into different things? She held a strand of hair for him when he didn't have enough hands for the intricate procedure.

  “I don't know what you will be able to learn to do. It takes many years to learn to manipulate your body. I will teach you because...” He stopped speaking but she heard his thoughts. She would have to learn to hunt alone because the brothers would never accept her into a justice circle. They would be afraid of her.

  Why would they be afraid of me?

  Eiran didn't answer her. He tucked the last strand into the knot while saying the last of the spell. Nathalia could feel his anxiety and knew it was for her. He was hoping this binding of hair was enough to protect her from the Akhkharu's influence.

  Eiran walked back around to examine the burning body from another angle. The sun fueled flames were doing their job. He helped it by moving a few rocks here and there.

  I'll watch it while you rest. I'm not tired at all. I guess that is the up side to sleeping for half a month.

  “It is not the sleep that gives you energy. You fed.”

  And you didn't. How long's it been?

  “I feed every month before the new moon.”

  Right before I let the Akhkharu out.

  “No, I did not feed then. I did not want to leave you. I was afraid of how our separation would effect us and stalled until the last minute. I was proud, thinking I did not need to feed to control the betrayers. I did not know you could come through the veil. When you were hurt I was too weak to do my duty and save you at the same time.”

  He laid down on the other side of the smoldering rock pile, leaving her alone to think. She had plenty to think about.

  Chapter 6

  Nathalia felt the other, the moment Eiran brought her back to the mother's tomb. She could feel the mind, the other receptacle for her thoughts and feelings, somewhere in the cavern. We aren't alone. She warned Eiran. There was another Nephilim here.

  No. He who is for the One comes here bringing holy women to speak to the Igigi. He is like us and has chosen the path of the right. He is no danger to me, but.. Eiran put himself between Nathalia and the other. He managed to effectively hide her body behind his in the hallway that led to the main room.

  He greeted the other in the ancient language that Nathalia couldn't fully understand. Then the other spoke in turn and Nathalia was stunned to realize that she knew him. It was the guardian who served the Voice of the Council. Margaux had been the voice of the Council while Nathalia was Abbess of the Austin, TX sect. He had been placed with Maeve, once the French woman chose to join the ranks of the Holy Capacitors.

  I know him. Let me by.

  NO. He has come to inform me of a Justice Circle and to deliver a message from the Igigi, but should not lay eyes on you. He knows that I found ...you, but not who you are. He knows you are the First and therefore dangerous to him.

  The guardian began to speak to the air, having been given permission by Eiran. “You have been deemed worthy to meet and serve the Council of Esteemed Elders as their representative with all chapters of the Daughters of Women. You are the long awaited First, and embody hope for me, my kind and all of humanity. Keeper of the Betrayers is your mate and will serve as your guardian. I have been relieved of that duty. Giving you this message and summons is my last act as Guardian to the Representative. They will see you now.”

  Having given his speech, he was gone.

  You said he was here to give me a message from the Igigi, but he serves the Council.

  Eiran walked forward out of the hall, towards the gisig. Not the one that led to the prison, the other door. “Shinar, the Igigi, the Gregori, 'Watchers', your Council of Esteemed Elders: they are all different names for the same. They have waited for this moment in human evolution since Yhwy broke their law, gave herself a name, and gave birth to our fathers. You are what they have been waiting on. You will right the wrongs of their betrayer by destroying ours.”

  Nathalia was stunned, but didn't have time to question before the next visitor dropped through the ceiling. Eiran was between them before Nathalia blinked. He was hiding her again, shielding her presence from the other woman.

  Nathalia knew it was a woman by her thought patterns. She felt like a woman. But like Eiran felt like a man but more, so did this one. Eiran had said that Nathalia was the first female Nephilim, but that was exactly how this woman seemed. She was supernatural somehow. The superwoman spoke and something in her voice made Nathalia nervous.

  “I am no threat to the Mothers. I was tracking He who is for the One. He has been many months without a lover. He is gone now?”

  Eiran answered her, “He is”. Nathalia crouched behind a stalagmite.

  The woman's voice melted a little and Nathalia could tell she was moving toward them, “I can see you have been even longer without, He who is Keeper of the Betrayers. Maybe my visit can be mutually satisfying.”

  Nathalia peeked from around her obstruction and could see the woman. Not exactly. She could see the woman's light. She was glowing and gave off light in the ways other people gave off shadows. She was close to Eiran and her illumination lit up his face. He did not look pleased.

  “Not this time, Lamashti.”

  “Ah, yes, I had heard that you have found your mate, the first of those that will replace us. If it is true, where is this perfect woman? Why is she not caring for you? Can she not feel your hunger, as I can?”

  Lamashti was holding the evidence of his hunger in her hand.
Nathalia caught a brief glimpse of lust from Eiran's mind before he banished it. He immediately tabalu'd away from Lamashti's offer and embrace. It left the two women looking at each other.

  Nathalia felt at a disadvantage for a split second before Eiran caught her feeling and gave her clothes. She felt the gown grazing her body and it gave her strength. Nathalia stood up to meet the glowing woman.

  The women were eye to eye, but Nathalia was taller by quite a bit. Lamashti was hovering off of the ground. The much smaller woman was light skinned and most of her long blond hair hung to her waist. The rest of her hair flowed up and around her, as if she were under water and the current had a hold of it. She was glowing, but her eyes were black.

  “Well, well. Is this her? She looks delicious. She has more life than any I have ever seen. She is almost irresistible. Perhaps I can tempt her where you resist. Maybe she will give me what I need.”

  Lamashti's body seemed to be changing. Nathalia watched as the thin woman's body became more rounded. Her breasts and hips got full, but her waist stayed tiny. She looked very much like Maeve with someone else's face.

  Lamashti looked pleased with Nathalia's reaction. “Then I have it right?” She gestured to her body, “This is someone you would like to have sex with?”. She began to rub her newly reformed body enticingly. “Oh, Keeper, what a poor choice in mate you've made. We've been worried for no reason. She'll never replace any Lilitu. She wants my kind, not yours. If your brethren choose as poorly as you, we will never have any reason to worry.” She reached toward Nathalia, arms open.

  What do I do, Eiran?

  Do what you will, my love. I do not judge.

  What exactly were her options? What did Eiran think she would do?! She was not about to have sex with a stranger, no matter how lovely and much like Maeve she may look. This thing was glowing, for Mothers sake! Oh, Great Ki, I'm too tired for this right now. Take her away. Nathalia gathered power and sent a strong message to Lamashti, backed by strong feelings.

  Suddenly Lamashti did not want this new female Nephilim. She was quite repulsed by her, in fact. Lamashti had come looking for He who was for the One and that was who she really wanted. She had just become distracted by the new creature converted by the Keeper.

  Just like that, Lamashti's feet fell to meet the ground. They did not stop there. Her ankles, then knees and hips sank into the earth. Lamashti's face was one of confusion and ecstasy rolled together. It was almost comical if Nathalia wasn't panicked about what was happening to the poor creature. The woman's waist, elbows, and shoulders went the way of her lower joints. Poof. She was gone and Nathalia and Eiran were alone again.

  So it had come to pass. Nathalia would be the one to eradicate the half blood's stain on the earth. She had just destroyed a Lilitu with only a thought. She could fight children of the betrayers using the normal method, but she had a way of removing the children of the light too. He had wondered how he was to teach her something he himself did not know, but he didn't have to. She somehow knew instinctively.

  What in the Mother's name was that?

  “Lamashti is a Lilitu, a child of the light. She was a human woman long ago. A Nephilim fell in love with her and, in hopes that she might be his mate, broke the law and made her darisam baltutu. He fed from her and then fed her his blood. She lived on prana, like all of our progeny, but could not take it from the blood nor flesh. If she were to 'feed' from a human multiple times, it would surely kill him.”

  Then she gets prana through sex? Sex with a magical woman that could kill!? Lilitu are a race of succubus.

  Eiran shrugged. He was unfamiliar with the word. “How did you get rid of her?” Eiran asked as Nathalia paced the great central room of the Mother's tomb.

  I don't know. I just wished she would go away. Then I used my ability to change her desires. I sent her after the guardian she came here for. Will he 'feed' her?

  She did not realize what she had done. “Yes, of course. To leave Lilitu unfed would force them to hunt among humans. We have all taken vows to protect mankind from all of our creations. Some of our children can and must be killed, for instance zambi and vrykolak, but Lilitu are children of the light and do not burn at Ud's rays. So we have vowed to provide for them, until...”

  Nathalia was getting used to Eiran's half finished sentences. So who's child is she? Did the one that was here, I don't know his name, create her?

  “It is possible that he was her maker. I do not know.” Eiran seemed to hesitate over some bit of information. “I do not know his name either. Our names are our most valued secret. To possess that knowledge is to have power over us. Our names can be used against us, to bind and hold us.”

  I know your name.

  “Yes.” Eiran looked tired, old suddenly, and a little sad.

  Eiran, but I would never...

  “No, of course not.” But he knew in his heart that she would. The Igigi had told them all she would come. She would come and erase them, good and bad, from the face of the earth. She had just done so. She would destroy even that which the Nephilim could not, themselves. Their stolen time in a foreign land would soon come to an end.

  ***

  They have wings!

  The dozen or so nude Guardians stood in a circle around a small building. Some had light hair and some dark, but they were all men of epic proportions. Even so, they all were dwarfed by their own wings. Each one had a set attached to their shoulder blades that matched their hair color. They didn't appear to be made of feathers, like in all church renderings of angels, but more like cloth, or canvas. Or skin.

  But you don't. Nathalia couldn't take her eyes off of them. They were the thing of legend. They were angels and demons all rolled up into one. And they were real. Her life had become a parade of the absurd come to life.

  What are they doing?

  “This is a Justice Circle.”

  Like the one carved on the wall in our mother's tomb? It's beautiful, Eiran.

  “Yes, my love. It is a lovely sight to behold for all those who have not tasted the blood of a brother. It is quite terrifying to those who have. It means capture, punishment and pain to the betrayers.”

  Eiran and Nathalia stood on a small hill some distance from the other Nephilim. They could barely hear the song of justice being sung in that circle. Nathalia's improved vision made it easy for her to 'zoom' in on details. She noticed that the wings were moving in a very fast pattern. Perhaps her human eyes would have just seen it as vibrating. Or, it was more likely, she thought, that human eyes would never be allowed to see this.

  As the two watched, mounds of earth all around the Guardians and throughout the field began to bubble up. Like a graveyard scene in a zombie movie, hands and then heads and torsos began to spring out from underground. As soon as their flesh was exposed to the light, it was aflame. The decrepit humans began to scream and writhe in what must have been excruciating pain, but they continued to advance toward the Nephilim.

  Nathalia looked away. Why does the sunlight burn them?

  “They are the Akhkharu's children. His creations. They have the same strengths and weaknesses as the one who made them. Our blood in it's natural state converts sunlight into energy, but when one of us ingests the blood of another the process is corrupted. Ud's energy is absorbed, but cannot be used, and it consumes their bodies. They provide what their father hopes to be enough of a distraction to the Nephilim, enough that he might escape his fate. Their pain and the violence of their lives also provide him with added strength as he lays within the structure. The Justice Circle speaks to her, their voices and the vibrations of their wings ask her to hold him once more so that they may bring Ud's light and justice upon him.”

  Nathalia jumped as the building exploded out, destroying any shelter the Akhkharu had, leaving him exposed. This was not an angel, even a scary one like the Akhkharu who had drank her blood. This was a creature like in her nightmare. He stood tall like the others, but he was twisted. His skin was the wrong color and he was h
airy, but it was all wrong too. It was knotted and tangled and stuck out all directions. His flesh was slightly rotten looking and his hands were perverted talon-like claws. Ki held him locked in that spot, forcing him to accept the discipline he deserved. The earth grew up around his split hooven feet, holding him still as the sun burned him.

  He looked up at Nathalia, noticing her when all other eyes were on him. His eyes glowed red and his razer sharp teeth were stained. His jaws were slightly elongated and he snapped his muzzle at her and then pointed a burning crooked finger her way.

  Eiran quickly hid her body behind his camouflage and focussed his energy on the betrayer. He pushed at the other's mind, forcing him to accept punishment but also easing his pain. The Akhkharu's chest stopped heaving and his shoulders slumped.

  Couldn't he just tabalu away from here to a place that's dark?

  “He cannot go to ground nor tabalu because Ki no longer recognizes him as her child. She will not accept nor protect him. This one betrayed his brethren long ago and Ud's light will make short work of him. That is why freshly turned Akhkharu are so dangerous and unstoppable. Ki could hold them, as she could hold us all, if she chose, but Ud's light would not reduce them to ash. It would hurt them, but not enough to destroy them, only enough to give them more strength.”

  The Akhkharu was dying now, and all his children were following suit. As he passed from a recognizable shape to a heap, they dropped to the ground too. The sun and earth would work together and soon there would be no trace of the abominations.

  Eiran was the Keeper of the Betrayers, so although he attended every Circle, he never participated. His duty was to gather the ashes of the fallen brother and carry them back to the prison. He watched over them as their bodies reformed slowly over time and then, when he judged the time was right, he released them back into the world hoping they would choose the path of righteousness. They seldom did. It seemed that a man was either weak or strong in his very core. Even when given a second chance, they mostly chose the same as the first. Maybe the arrival of the Sinnis would change that.