Ishtar Anomaly

by Natalie Gibson

  The balloons made that squinking hollow sound when they rubbed against each other as Israel pulled them out of the car door opening. They were at the hospital thanks to the cab who had stopped at the nearest party store on the way. The cab, a van thank goddess, was already crowded with Nanae's oversized frame even with tiny Camilla to balance it out. He took up the whole middle row and Izzy and Camilla crowded into the back with the stuffed elephant. They didn't have any luggage. Their only plan would be over in a few hours anyway. None of them had thought past that.

  Israel looked uncomfortable. Camilla gave him a good luck kiss and tidied his homemade 'Make A Wish' tee-shirt. What they were doing was very illegal. It wasn't unethical though. What could be more moral than saving a dying child. Nanae was the only one who seemed calm. Izzy watched his two lovers turn the corner, leaving him standing in front of the main entrance to Pioneer Regional Medical Center.

  Israel hadn't been without them for any real length of time since his turn, especially in large groups of strangers. He had made it through the plane ride without shifting, only by sitting between them. The flight attendant had given them a scary moment by lusting after Jake Gylenhaal, who was on the cover of Israel's magazine. He was anxious about going in by himself, but he'd practiced and Camilla assured him that the desire levels in a children's cancer wing would be low enough for him to ignore. Nurses there wouldn't be thinking about sex.

  He strode in past the admittance desk and a formidable looking matronly nurse. He nodded at her, getting only a scowl in return. She started checking her paperwork as he checked the directory hanging net to the elevators. He pushed the button before knowing what floor room 1578 was on. By the look of that head nurse, he might only get one chance. He had figured out that the pediatric wing was the fourth floor by the time the lift binged, signaling it's arrival. He maneuvered the balloons and elephant into the elevator. When he turned and hit the '4' button, Izzy could see she had picked up the phone and dialed up to warn them.

  Maybe they shouldn't have announced where he was going with the shirt, balloons and giant stuffed animal.

  He rode up with the muzak version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal playing softly. He looked at himself in the reflective surface of the elevator doors. He looked past the ridiculous trappings and he actually looked better than he had in years. Maybe better than he ever had. His thin frame was well defined, muscles sculpted, skin blemish free. Even his hair was shinier. His eyes had a sparkle to them. Maybe being Lilitu wasn't the curse Nanae thought. It certainly looked good on him. Israel had never felt better in all his life. It was as if he was born to be a Lilitu.

  Level 4. The moment of truth. The doors could open to an ordinary sedate hospital hall or a dozen security guards could be waiting to arrest the 'Make-a-Wish' impostor. 'Bing' rang the elevator and the doors slid open painfully slow. What met Israel was neither of his possibilities. He was met with clapping and cheering and maybe every nurse on duty that night. They ushered him in and up to the desk where a much more pleasant, if still matronly, head nurse greeted him.

  “Who's the lucky child?”

  Israel, still shocked that they were going to get away with this, just stared at her.

  “Honey, who are you here to see?”

  Shit, he thought. Izzy had no idea what Camilla's maiden name was. Daughters took the last name of the organizations founder, Clairice Lovejoy. He put on his most confident smile and said, “I'm here to take Tom in room 1578 to see the elephants.”

  The cheering stopped.

  Israel had said something wrong. Maybe that wasn't how 'Make-a-Wish' granters talked. How the hell was he supposed to know. The nurses voice jolted him back from the edge of panic.

  “Someone should have called you, Sweetie. Tom Brewster fell into a coma a few hours ago.” She added quietly, “He's probably not going to make it through the weekend.” She pointed down the hallway to her right. “Right down there. Only his Dad is with him but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you dropped off the balloons before you left.”

  Israel turned and walked stiff-legged towards the room. He really needed to get the boy to Camilla but their whole plan was ruined if he couldn't get Tom outside the hospital. He didn't relish trying to steal a dying child. Time for plan B.

  Too bad they hadn't come up with a plan B before dropping Israel off at the hospital.

  ***

  Camilla and Nanae stood in the alley next to one of the many side entrances of the hospital. Like most hospitals, Pioneer RMC was a sprawling network of tentacle-like wings. They were where they told Izzy they'd wait but they had no idea how close room 1578 was to their chosen exit. It was the closest to their prearranged hotel room.

  Camilla was anxious and Nanae held her close. She didn't see Genevieve's guardian, Samseil, appear. He had promised to meet them at this exact moment and was right on time. He was the only way this plan worked. So far from the Capacitors, Camilla couldn't pull from their stored power. She could absorb the ambient lingering power of those around her but that was slow. Tom was dying and she needed to work fast. Sam had volunteered to meet them saying that he couldn't be away from Genevieve for long enough to travel with them. Why he thought leaving later without them would give him less time away from Genevieve didn't make sense to Camilla. Maybe he flew there. They all had wings. She'd forgotten to ask Nanae about it.

  A low growl from Nanae warned Camilla. She spun around but Nanae kept his arms around her, effectively caging her to him. He traced a design on her baby bump with one finger. Camilla could see Sam on one knee in the alley, his cloak pooling around him covering everything but his head. He had stopped quite a distance from them. She held out her hand to him but when his gaze lifted from the ground to her offered appendage Nanae growled again. She elbowed him but as short as she was, it hit his hip, hurting her more than him.

  Sam moved toward them more slowly this time. He kept his eyes averted and his shoulders slumped in a submissive stance. Camilla felt Nanae tense once the other guardian was close enough to touch them.

  “Sam,” was all she said. Camilla might be a woman of few words but those words were fraught with meaning. She had greeted him, thanked him and asked him to proceed all with one. Her hand was still out but he didn't take it.

  Instead he avoided looking at her. He looked around and over her to Nanae. “I will have to touch.”

  “Of course.” Camilla had used Sam's power before. A few times, actually. She was almost used to their slightly charged bodies. She wondered why he was acting so timid. She didn't see the slight incline of Nanae's head but she felt the rumble in his chest and wondered at it. It wasn't like they were going to do anything. Why would he be jealous of a little hand holding?

  Sam took her hand and turned it. He put his lips to her wrist but never took his eyes from Nanae. 'He who was for the One' was clearly afraid of the healer's Guardian, but why she wondered. She considered it for a fraction of a second before she was too distracted by the transfer of power. It felt good, like the afterglow of sex but it waxed instead of waned away. It built, warming her almost to the level of pain like a roaring fire after an afternoon in the snow.

  Camilla was vaguely aware that her cell phone was chirping at her. She was very aware of Nanae's hand as it slipped into the pocket of her maternity dress. She let out a small moan at the pressure of his hand on her hip bone.

  Sam apologized, “I am sorry, brother. Your blood has made her sensitive to us. She is able to accept more power than before. I was unprepared for that. I did not know you had claimed your Sinnis.” His breath on her wrist made Camilla's knee's weak.

  “I have no Sinnis Ina Ummum Zumru.” He opened the tiny phone. “Yes?” He paused. “Stay there. I will find a way.” The cell clicked closed. “Samseil Maru, we have further need of you. Can you spare a few minutes more for a child of my mother's line?”

  “For the Nephilim who delivered my Sinnis into this world? Anything. What would you have me do?”

  Camilla h
eard the two talking but was so lost in her stupor that she couldn't follow what they were saying. Was that even English they were speaking? Was she drunk? She couldn't remember. No, certainly not. She was pregnant for goddess sake. There was an ache inside, a hollow place that needed filling. She leaned back into Nanae. She didn't care if Sam was still there or not. She realized she was speaking. She heard herself say, “Where's Izzy? I need him. I need you. I need ...something.”

  Nanae murmured that Izzy was on his way, that he would give her what she needed, that he understood and was sorry. For what, she thought, this felt great. Nanae was moving them both then to the one car in the alleyway. Camilla remembered it. It must belong to a doctor on call because it was so close to the door in a special spot and it was nice. Very expensive. Then she was inside. The leather was soft on her backside. Her dress was up around her ribcage and her panties had disappeared. She arched her back and may have said, “yes” when Nanae slipped his hands between her knees, spreading her thighs.

  He knelt beside the open door, and leaned into the car. The world melted around her and there was nothing but Nanae's hands, big and warm, tingling against her open thin thighs. Her left knee rested against the backrest of the backseat, her right foot fell to the floorboard. Without preamble, Nanae slipped his pointer finger between her labia, up and circling her clitoris, already swollen, brought it back down on the other side. That finger slipped between her folds again only to disappear inside her slick opening.

  Sliding in and out while his thumb drew designs around her sensitive mound felt out of this world to Camilla. She made some indistinguishable noise and all she could think was 'more'. She wanted more of Nanae inside her. Understanding her wordless request, Nanae obligingly added his middle finger.

  He pumped, wishing he could replace his fingers with his cock. She needed something else. He could feel her teetering on the edge of a great orgasm but she needed more to tip her over. He couldn't use his mouth: she needed the prana and power to heal her brother. Nanae thought about what Izzy would do and realized: Camilla had become accustomed to having two men with her. Nanae slipped his not so small pinkie finger into her ass on his next thrust forward.

  Camilla's orgasm ripped through her body and sound tore through her throat. She had no idea what she screamed. The world went white and she was flying. Maybe she was falling. She couldn't breathe. As she regained consciousness after the biggest orgasm she'd ever had, she realized she was being held.

  Nanae was holding her like a baby with her knees over one of his arms and her neck against the other. He cradled her to his chest and kissed her softly when she sighed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and forced him close for a harder kiss. With that mega sized climax added to whatever Sam had given her, Camilla had enough power for a full night of healing. Easily.

  Her legs were steady enough for Camilla to be standing by the time Izzy came through the automatic doors pushing a wheelchair. “Daddy?” Her father sat in the chair holding Tom. It had been years since she'd seen them and she barely recognized either. Her dad was an old man, his usual black hair and mustache were gray and his shoulders slumped. He looked thin but not as thin as Tom. The boy looked closer to seven than ten years old. Tom wasn't awake and Daddy didn't look all there.

  “What happened?” Camilla asked when Izzy got close enough to hear.

  “The nurse said he fell into a coma a few hours ago. They said he couldn't go anywhere. Your dad didn't want to risk moving him out of the hospital at first but by the time I convinced him you were here to help him, the nurse was suspicious. She said we couldn't check him out without your mom's signature. I called your cell but Raphe said to wait there. Then, out of nowhere, Sam showed up. Your dad hasn't said anything since he spoke with Sam. Sam helped us get loaded up and then just walked us out right past the nurses station and guards. It was like nobody could see us.”

  “No one could.” Sam having just walked up, spoke from behind Izzy. “I must get back to the One.”

  “Of course.” Nanae's voice was gruff. Curt even. Camilla looked up at him and could clearly see his jaw muscles clenching. She turned back to say thanks to Sam but the Guardian to the One was gone.

  ***

  “I am quite certain.” Samseil said to Nathalia and Kafziel. He had tabalu'd directly into Genevieve's nursery, the room he most often occupied, checked on the sleeping baby and then gone right to see the First couple. “He denies her but it is clearly read on his face. He loves her.”

  “Love does not a Sinnis make.”

  “No, but you did not see how she reacted to my power source nor how protective he was of her. They have exchanged blood. He drinks from her and though she has not tasted his blood, it courses through her veins in such great quantities that it has almost completely replaced her own. I am uncertain if she even knows he is giving it to her.”

  She must not. I gave all the Daughters warnings of the effects of Nephilim blood. She would not have taken it willingly, not while her baby's life hung in the balance. I suspect she is his Sinnis but because of his odd relationship with his beast, he cannot admit it. We will find a way to convert her without raising the beast's alarm. Nathalia doubted they could achieve it without ending her productive and fertile years. Nephilim didn't procreate.

  ***

  Getting into the hotel was easy. Nanae kept them hidden so no one would report the sick boy's location. The suite they paid for had three bedrooms. Camilla's dad hadn't wanted to leave Tom but his need for sleep was obvious. Nanae removed the man's fear and now they could hear dear old dad's snoring three rooms over.

  Tom lay on the bed and Camilla sat beside him. She ran her hands over his prostrate body, her eyes closed and her mouth moving, muttering. She didn't have to consciously heal, it would happen from proximity, but her concentration sped up the process. Already the boy's color was better. It would take at least a day or two to get him healed, Camilla estimated after taking stock of his condition. Nanae could heal him quicker with a small blood donation and would if something happened. That was a last resort, they had decided since Camilla wanted to be the one to save her brother.

  With her healing ability so focused on another, Nanae had said that it could not attack the baby she carried. He could relax his guard a little and when he did, Nanae fell asleep. When he made a whimpering noise, Camilla looked up from her work. Israel was snuggled with him in a love seat, their legs tangled on the extra wide foot rest. Izzy smiled at Camilla. Neither had ever seen the Nephilim sleep. Months now they'd been together and he'd never been able to let his guard down enough. Camilla gestured with her head that the male couple should go lay in the third bedroom.

  Izzy raised one eyebrow at her. It said, 'Seriously?!'. Then he actually thought about it. He looked at the sleeping giant and wondered if he could carry the much larger man. Nanae had said that as a Lilitu Izzy held a portion of the Nephilim's power. He knew he could move quickly, found it impossible not to, if he lost concentration. He was stronger, but not sure how much he could lift.

  Camilla watched as Izzy decided to try it. He carefully pried himself away, extricating his legs from the knot they'd formed with Nanae's. He stood next to the chair and looked down at his own body. Israel had never been big, but he was muscular and completely lacking in body fat. Every muscle was visible beneath the tan skin of his chest and stomach. Camilla's two men matched, both shirtless expanses of masculine meat called out for her touch. Shoeless with skin tight black jeans, they both looked so sexy that for a minute Camilla lost herself in fantasy.

  Izzy bent down, slipping one arm under Nanae's knees and the other around his wide shoulders. He took a deep breath and pushed it out as he strained to lift the man twice his weight. He let out a little gasp when he tossed Nanae a foot further than he needed to. Nanae fell back into Israel's arms and Izzy found him easy to handle. Nanae's head rolled to rest on Israel's shoulder. Their Guardian never stirred.

  Izzy shrugged at Camilla, both a little shocked he had
the strength. Camilla smiled and crossed to open the door. It took her longer than she would have liked to stand from the chair. Pregnancy made her balance so off. Izzy stood patiently and waited as if he wasn't holding 400 pounds of dead weight.

  She watched, her head poked out of the door, until Izzy had Nanae in bed. They said good night to each other and then closed their separate doors. Camilla got back to work. She needed to stay focused on Tommy if Nanae wasn't going to be around for a while.

  She did not notice the sun coming up. The door opened. Her father's voice startled her. “You did it.” She looked up to find the old man nearly unrecognizable as her father looking down at her and her brother. He had tears running down his sunken wrinkled cheeks. Clearly the worry over his son had aged him.

  She stood, stretching. She went to the small coffee making station each bedroom contained and put one individual serving cups into the fancy machine. She closed the lid, piercing the paper lid. The smell of coffee soothed her nerves but only after her first sip did she speak. “I'm not done but he won't die. Not from this.”

  She walked back to stand next to her father. They stood there gazing at the sleeping boy and her dad slipped his frail arm around her and squeezed ever so slightly. She rested her paper coffee cup on her protruding belly. He wanted to tell her that caffeine was bad for the fetus, but he kept his tongue. She was an adult; she'd grown up while she was away. He side hugged her again. Besides, she was a healer. If she could cure stage 5 cancer she could certainly protect her unborn from a little increased heart rate.

  There was something he needed to tell her, though he didn't relish the conversation. “Israel is the father. Will he marry you?”

  Camilla's mood switched. She pushed his arm off of her shoulders and left his side to stand opposite of the bed. Religion. He was about to give her the morals speech about doing what was right for her baby. Her eyes narrowed. “We already consider ourselves a family, Daddy.” She said it through a tightened jaw and the last word held all kind of accusations.