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

by Natalie Gibson

  The mighty ancient king stood, leaving the doctor drooling, and motioned to the two monsters hiding in the shadows. “Come my children. Tonight we hunt.”

  ***

  Eiran stood patiently at the gisig where soon Ereshkigal would come through. It had been Nathalia who went in to meet the Igigi, but it would be the warrior Ereshkigal who would come back. She would have been given the answers to all of her questions. She would know her duty and would fulfill her destiny.

  He could feel her approach the other side of the doorway. He knelt. He bowed his head allowing his hair to fall from it's usual knot into a curtain around his face. He did not want his last vision of his love to be when she was so filled with hate. The Igigi would have shown her the sins of his kind and he could not bear to see their judgment reflected in her eyes.

  She stepped through. He could see the tips of her toes and feel the anger radiating off of her. This was his last moment on this earth. He had lived for 7140 years and he was now breathing his last breaths. He knew it, because the Igigi had told him that they would bring Ereshkigal back, but once they did and had met with her, she would show her devotion to them by executing each and every halfbreed she encountered. He would be the first.

  She spoke Sumerian. Do you know what they've done? Ereshkigal's voice was practically a roar in his head.

  “Yes, my love. The abominations must be destroyed.” Eiran took what he assumed was his last breath and was joyed to find his nose filled with the scent of her. What a pleasant last experience.

  I agree. Now I must discover how to do just that. Destroy the abominations. She paced away from him.

  He heard her turn and stop behind and to his right. She was about to take her death blow. The Igigi must have given her the weapon.

  Won't you even look at me?

  “I am your servant, my love. I will do whatever you wish. If it is my choice, I choose to meet your blade and die with an image of your face filled with love. I choose not to see the stroke coming.” He moved his hair slightly, parting it and exposing the back of his neck fully for her to have an easy shot.

  She knelt in front of him and reached out to take his hands in her own. Do you really think I would kill you?

  Still Eiran did not move. “Choice is an illusion, my love. I can chose the manner of my last moments, but not that they will be my last. We all do what we will do.”

  Look at me. Nathalia did more than push her words into his head. She compelled him to obey. She was more powerful than when she left and he was powerless to disobey.

  Eiran looked at her. She was a vision of beautiful vengeance. She had learned to dress herself in his mental way, but did not wear the gown he usually gave her, but a warriors outfit. The leather bodice and skirt were ornately, but he knew also protectively, decorated with hammered copper. She wore an arm shield on her right arm, her sword arm. She looked beautiful and strong.

  They told me the same thing, but I have proved them wrong. I will not kill you.

  Nathalia had been stunned at first when the Shinar had said, 'You think you have choice? It is like when a mother of your planet asks it's child if it wants to wear this garment or that. The child is happy and goes through it's day thinking it has exercised free will, when really it has done exactly what the mother wanted. It wears clothing. What matter is it what color it might be? Choice is an illusion, child.' Then she had laughed at them.

  She now looked at Eiran and could see the evidence that they were wrong. She reached out and traced the line there on his chest over his heart. It looked like rolling hills or the humps of a camel to those who knew.

  Eiran looked down at the tattoo. He could remember Ereshkigal giving it to him the night before she had died, but he could also remember the conversation he'd had with Nathalia yesterday concerning the lack of this tattoo. “What does this mean? How can I have this?

  She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. They hugged there kneeling on the ground. It means that choice is not an illusion, at least not mine. I decided to change something to test if it could be done. I can do it.

  She pulled back and put her forehead on his. She looked him straight in the eyes. Those beautiful eyes. Eiran, I love you. Ereshkigal chose you then and I choose you now. I chose not to kill you.

  And just like that, Eiran's choices were no longer illusion either. He loved her. More than that, he was made for her. His destiny had changed. He would not die by her hand, but fight by her side. “Why were you so angry? Why did you agree that we half breeds must be destroyed if you did not intend to kill me?”

  Nathalia stood and turned to face the door where she had just come from. Behind the gisig, the Shinar were there. Eiran stood too and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He found that even one step separating them was painful. He needed to be in contact with her. The night had been hard and he was only able to stand it because of the wonderful afternoon of feeding he'd had with her.

  I did not say 'half breeds'. The Shinar are the abominations that must be destroyed. Nathalia heard a great laugh in her mind and felt an overwhelming wave of satisfaction at her statement. They say that choice is an illusion, and that they only watch, but they are selfish and dangerous creatures. They would never punish one another. Their criminals break the 'Watch only' rule, hurting millions, with no retribution. They have the power to do anything and they know the pain and suffering of every creature on earth and they do nothing, except when it suits them. They can not be all powerful, all knowing and all good. They allow the horrors of this earth to happen. Since I know them to be all powerful and all knowing, they must be evil.

  Yhwe had choice. She remade herself in woman's image. She created a hoard of Gregori to love her, but when they abandoned her to come to earth because they had seen that the daughters of men were beautiful, the Shinar did nothing. They did nothing when Yhwe filled mens heads with crazy religious zealotry and the need to control women nor when she tried to destroy us all. They did nothing to help me. They set up the perfectly horrible life that would lead me to kill for the first time and build the character for a killer that they desired in me. What they did not understand is that the human mind has changed in the last ten thousand years. No longer do we do what the gods say without question. I will not kill against my conscience just on their order. Ereshkigal would have and did, but she was not as strong as me. She could be killed. They expect me to clean up their mess and I will, but not because they command me to and not in the way they think is right.

  I told them what I thought of them and that I would not be their pawn. They sent me away and would not tell me the location of the DakuAhu. Again the thoughts came unbidden into her mind, 'Come to me, my sweet. I will have the weapon ready for you.' The Shinar fear me and rightly so, for as soon as I find a way, I will destroy them.

  The other voice in her mind was cheering her even as Eiran voiced his doubts. “It is not possible. They cannot be killed.”

  Ereshkigal ignored his doubt. He had lived a long time believing the Shinar were gods. I may know where the DakuAhu is. If not, there is a woman who can help me find the weapon, but first I need my necklace. Until I bear your birthmark I will appear available to every Nephilim, Akhkharu and Succubus who hungers for me. I hid it in my room in the temple before my execution. Was the city evacuated and hidden in the desert sand?

  “Everything was done according to your commands. I can fly us there immediately. It would be faster to tabalu, but I am reluctant to give up your prana.” As soon as he reminded them of their time together in that hotel room, it was all either could think of.

  She leaned her head back and rested it on his shoulder. I can still feel it too. How's that possible? I spent years with the Shinar both before and after they sent me back to live Ereshkigal's lifespan.

  The thought of her short but happy life with Eiran made her realize she was inappropriately dressed for their reunion. No wonder he had thought she was going to kill him. She was dressed as a warrior; she was dres
sed as the Shinar had wanted. With that little thought, her clothes and the barriers they represented, were gone. It was just his hot flesh against hers.

  Eiran bent his head forward to kiss her neck. He spoke softly, scraping her neck with his teeth and teasing her ear with his breath. “I ached for you last night more strongly than in all my centuries alone.” His palms held her hard against him. One hand drifted up to caress the swell of her breast. He traced the line where it met her ribcage and then cupped the soft weight of it. Eiran rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

  The sensation, a little like licking a battery, forced the air from her lungs. Just a small touch and she was ready, hungry, for him again. She felt a rush of moisture between her legs and knew what she wanted. How long was I away?

  “You stepped through the gisig last night before sun down and came back to me slightly after sunrise.”

  She had lived all that in just one night. Amazing. Nathalia hadn't been a science fiction geek like Maeve was. She longed to ask her friend how all this was possible. Nathalia had lived both lives, but in a different order than Eiran remembered. In neither life could she remember the other one, but she had little flashes, tidbits of knowledge that seemed out of place at the time. Now she had the knowledge of both.

  Eiran's wondering hands brought her back to the moment. He had switched to the other breasts and the small electric current was making her heart skip around. His other hand had drifted to her lower stomach and was pressing her back on his arousal. It was hard against her backside.

  She reached around and rubbed his length with her palm. Just tabalu us. She needed to end both of their torment. I will choose to give you my virginity, as soon as I have the necklace, and then you may have your fill again.

  Eiran didn't hesitate to begin breaking them down into their elemental parts. “That is a choice I can fully support, my love.”

  ***

  Nathalia directed Eiran to the bedroom that had served as her home in the ziggurat easily enough. He knew where the temple was hidden under the sand and with her help, he easily reformed them in her chamber just as requested. Their feet touched down where none had trodden since the time of her death when Eitan was king of this city state. She didn't jump when she felt a lovely gown flutter down her calf.

  She was clothed as Eiran always dressed her. She noticed that he was still naked. What's with the dress?

  “If you are giving me your virginity, I require the pleasure of undressing you.” He had hunger in his eyes and as his gaze drifted across her nipples pressing against the delicate fabric, his excitement could be seen in a place other than his face.

  Eiran could not resist and reached out to rub the thin silky cloth on her breast and backside. Just a graze, but it sent a ripple of pleasure through Nathalia. I see. To a man from a mostly nude society, a covered woman is pornographic. Then she remembered that he likely didn't know the meaning of that word. A covered woman is tempting, provocative, erotic.

  A brief fire broke out in Eiran's normally cool opal eyes and Nathalia felt a tiny brush of the hunger he was keeping at bay. “My love, you are all of those things at all times to me.” He reached out and took her hand and held it to his heart. The visions started. He showed her all his favorite moments from when they were together here in this ancient city. They were the memories that kept him sane, kept him from breaking the covenant. Vague old memories to him, still fresh on her mind.

  They were lewd to say the least. Nathalia could feel a rush of blood and a heavy emptiness inside her and knew she was already wet with anticipation. Eiran's voice came out hoarse and deep as he reminded her, “the necklace. We came here for the necklace.”

  The room was pitch black. No light or fresh air had reached here for thousands of years. They could both see perfectly well. The hunger in them accelerated all their senses, like a predator on the hunt. Nathalia could see by the prana glow Eiran gave off and she knew he was seeing a similar thing.

  He sat down on her bed and she caught a glimpse of the bed coverings turning to dust before he overlaid his image of luxury over them. She knew they weren't real, just his thoughts projecting over reality, but she knew they would feel soft on her bare skin when he laid her down and pushed himself deep ins... Damn it. She really needed to find the necklace. Eiran's birthmark was the key to relieving both of their pent up frustrations.

  Nathalia sent a prayer out to the earth, sun, and moon, that the necklace hadn't been moved. She walked over to the wall behind her bed and found the brick she was looking for. Pushing her now indestructible fingernails into the cracks around it, she slowly pulled the brick out from it's cubby in the wall. She reached back into the cool darkness of that void and pulled her hand back out closed around something.

  She turned back to Eiran and opened her hand, holding it out to him. There, resting in her palm, was a leather throng with a single teardrop shaped ruby hanging from it's center. The necklace had not been disturbed or destroyed over the years. Looking at it now for the first time with her enhanced vision, she could see it glowed with prana too. This inanimate object had life in it, and not just a little bit. The leather shone like a human and the red stone like Shinar.

  Eiran stood and crossed to her, taking the necklace in his hands and placing it around his neck, tied it loosely. “The birthmark is me, my essence. Made from both a part of my human mother and my Shinar father, the owner of this necklace also will own myself. If that owner be a Nephilim, she will be called my beloved, my twin, my wife, my own. She will carry a part of me with her along with the ability to bend my actions to her will.”

  Nathalia wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. Her eyes focused on the jewel laying in the hollow of his neck. You gave it to me before, when I didn't have my virginity to offer.

  Eiran wrapped his arms around her, lightly rubbing the gossamer gown over the sensitive spot in the small of her back. “I gave it to you then for the same reason I will give it to you again. Love.”

  He tipped her chin up, forcing her to look at his face. “I am only for you, Nathalia. Virgin or no, I am yours until my last day, whenever you should decide that will be.”

  Then he dipped his head and kissed her. It was soft at first, just a brush of his lips on hers, then he pushed his tongue inside her mouth to taste her. He slanted his mouth over hers and deepened the kiss, sliding his hand down from her chin to her neck. He fingered her pulse there and felt it quicken.

  He tried to choke it back, but failing, a low growl emanated from his throat as she reached down to lightly touch the luscious length of him. She tentatively stroked him as they continued to kiss. He poured as much tenderness into the kiss as he could before parting and asking, “Are you ready, my love?”

  Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded. Her knees were weak from his kiss and his loving words.

  He kissed her again. This time it was with more passion. He trailed hot kisses across her chin and down her neck, that left a smoldering path on her skin. She threw her head back, trusting him entirely to keep her from falling. She arched her back, offering up her breasts to him. The movement pushed her already aroused nipples against the almost see through material. He rubbed his face across those mounds, teasing them to further firm peaks. She grasped at his shoulders when he breathed hot steam onto one and then the other, taking the second on into his mouth, bitting it gently and pulling it with his teeth.

  His hand migrated down over the round firmness of her rump, to her thigh, hoisting one leg up over his hip. He began to gently rock, the head of his cock pushing rhythmically against her already moist opening. The silkiness of her dress between them, stimulated them both. Wherever it touched her skin, moved by his gentle thrusting, she tingled.

  He lifted her gently, never changing their positions, and walked her back and laid her on the bed. He leaned over her, still pushing against her increasingly swollen clit with the head of his cock. He bent again to her breast and took the material betwe
en them in his mouth. He let his incisors lengthen, slicing through the cloth and leaving one nipple naked. He circled her areola with his raspy tongue, felt her nipple contract, and then sucked gently, teasing her with his sharp teeth.

  She let out a little mental moan that tore through him, almost removing his resolve to be gentle with her on her first time. It had been so long since he had been with a woman that he wanted to take her that instant, driving into her, tearing both her gown and her hymen with his cock. He resisted.

  He slid his hands up along her long tan legs, pushing her dress up, allowing it to caress her as he went. It pooled around her waist. His hips were keeping her legs apart and the sight of her open like a budding flower, completely defenseless, made him excited. He struggled to contain it. He wanted her so crazy with pleasure that the pain of her first time would be forgotten.

  Eiran put his hand between them, touching her warm slit, and found the small throbbing nodule. He circled it with his fingers, slippery with Nathalia's arousal, teasing the erectile tissue that surrounds it, until she begged him, Please Eiran.

  Still he did not, knowing she was not near ready for the full size of him. He continued to rub her with his thumb as he slipped one finger just inside her opening. Stimulating both her clit and her G-spot at the same time, he brought her the the precipice of a great orgasm quickly. Never stopping his movement between her thighs, he reached with his other hand and firmly grasp the neckline of her dress. He bit it and tore until the gown lay in shreds down to her waist.