The Dying Art of Magic

by Natalie Gibson

  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 uncertainty. 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 thought she was going to kill him. She was dressed as a warrior. With that little thought, her clothes and the barriers they represented, disappeared. 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 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 switched to the other breast and the small electric current made her heart skip. His other hand drifted to her lower stomach and pressed 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 of my prana again.

  Eiran didn’t hesitate to break 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, monster who’d used her to escape the betrayers prison, twin of Eilam, eldest of the Kafziel family line, was king of this city state.

  She didn’t jump when she felt a 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 opal eyes and Nathalia felt a tiny brush of the hunger he kept 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 insi—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 indestructible fingernails into the cracks around it, she slowly pulled the brick out from its cubby in the wall. She reached back into the cool darkness of that void and pulled her hand 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 its 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, placing it around his neck, and 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 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 a 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 asked, “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 one into his mouth, biting 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 member 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, 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 between 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 manhood. 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 kept her legs apart and the sight of her open like a budding flower left him completely defenseless. He struggled to contain his excitement. He wanted her 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 clitoris and her G-spot at the same time, he brought her to the precipice of a great orgasm quickly. Never stopping his movement between her thighs, he reached with his other hand and firmly grasped the neckline of her dress. He bit it and tore until the gown lay in shreds down to her waist.

  He grabbed at her firm breasts, rolling them with his free palm. When her hips began their tell-tale rocking and her thoughts came to him breathy and jumbled, he knew it was time. He replaced his fingers with the head of his organ, and pushed into her warm untried opening. As she wrapped her legs around his waist, he felt the blockage inside her. He hesitated, not wanting to bring her pain, but she used her legs to push him further.

  When Nathalia started to topple over the cusp of her orgasm, he drew back and pushed hard, penetrating the barrier. It hurt but she was so lost in her climax that she enjoyed the pain. He thrust into her again and again, building her pleasure so high that when she heard his own strained cry as he released his pent-up need inside her, she came again with him, the second orgasm tripping on the heels of the first.

  Eiran, as if in a type of trance, spoke in Sumerian, but Nathalia needed no translator to understand him. She had lived then. This body and mind remembered the language. “I, Eiran Kafziel, give you my name freely and the power over me that comes with that knowledge. I can do none other than invoke your name, Nathalia Ereshkigal of the Kafziel family line, binding my Sinnis to my side for all time. Depending on Ud and Ki no longer, we will hunger only for each other. What has been joined together, none can put asunder.”

  Even as his much heavier form lay resting on top of her, Nathalia knew that something had changed. The power structure altered. She was sexually satiated but hungered for more. The necklace felt heavy against the hollow of her neck and she felt it slip from his shoulders to lay resting over her clavicles. She felt the cold weight of it settle against her skin and then it grew warmer.

  She brought her hand up to feel it and she came against nothing but skin. Eiran’s head raised slightly and his breathing slowed, but he stared at the place where the necklace had become a part of her, looking very much like a birthmark. He fingered it lightly and it hummed in response to his touch.

  He spoke softly and she knew it was ancient prophecy. “Each Grandson of Heaven will find a daughter of the same line. Only one for each will survive the change. Joining with him she will take his birthmark. Once there, it cannot be removed nor changed as long as the birthright is not broken by his greedy thirst.”

  Flying back to the tomb in Eiran’s arms, Nathalia noticed a figure half hidden in the sand to one side of a most active excavation site. She felt his mind long before she saw him. Her ability was greatly strengthened by both the conversion and her time with the Igigi.

  Put us down over there. That man needs help.

  Eiran followed her orders without pause. Now that the exchange had been made, her virginity for his birthmark, he could not but obey direct orders. Suggestions and desires, yes he could question, but when she told him to do something, he did it. He lowered her feet to the ground, but kept her arm clamped in his. He took a deep breath through his nose and stiffened.

  What’s wrong? Nathalia asked, through underestimating Eiran’s value as both a man and a hunter.

  “This place stinks of Akhkharu.” He jutted his chin out, using it to point to the injured man. “He is tainted by my brother.”

  “He’s in direct sunlight so he cannot be turned.” Nathalia tried but she couldn’t smell anything. She approached the man slowly none the less. She shielded her presence just in case it was a trick.

  Nathalia probed into his mind. A jumble. She caught a few things here and there and then she felt it. This man’s mind’s been contaminated by Eitan. She could feel Eiran’s surprise behind her. Yes, I know his name. I know all Nephilim names. It is a gift from the Shinar to help me in my hunt.

  “His name will not help you so close to his turning.”

  Nathalia knew that Ki would hold him if asked, but it would be many, many years before Ud’s rays would reduce him to ash. Nathalia had a plan. It was risky. Eiran wouldn’t like it so she kept it to herself. It would be easier to execute that way anyway.

  She did not need to ask how Eitan had done this. She knew she and Eiran could also pour madness into a human brain. It was one of their family abilities. She also knew that this man of the Paion had intimate contact with the Akhkharu but the insanity ruined her chances of discovering any secrets. I need to open my mind to Eitan.

  “It is too dangerous.” Eiran’d had enough. His wife might be the Warrior of the Igigi, but it was his duty to protect her from evil, especially that of his brother.

  Eiran unceremoniously picked her up and flew them away. She sent out a call to the nearest man, giving him the urgent need to head in the direction of the doctor. His mind might be destroyed, but she would not leave him to die.

  She went back to the argument. I have to know his plan.

  Eiran spoke in their intimate way, You know his plan. He wants the weapon. He wants to plunge this earth into darkness and violence.

  Then, we better find it first. I know a woman who can send herself out into the world in search of people and things. She sent out a message to Harith Samsiel, Maeve’s Gua
rdian and the future mate of the One. He should prepare her for a visit from the new Voice of the Council. Nathalia would take the place of the Representative, but she would not follow the orders of the Igigi. They posed as Esteemed Elder humans and she would not honor them. Tabalu us back to my old home.

  Back to the place where you died?

  Nathalia could tell the thought of going there was repugnant to him. Don’t think of it that way. Take me back to the place where you saved me from death. She flooded him with her peaceful memories and happy feelings from that moment when he had tabalu’d her the first time, changing her into darisam baltutu. But put us outside, not the inner sanctuary. We must enter as guests.

  He grinned down at her. I will tabalu us only if you promise to let me feast on your prana again once we are there.

  She could not keep the shiver of excitement contained. We have work to do.

  All the better reason to be well fed, my love. Eiran quickly landed and began to break them down as soon as he made contact with Ki. He took them away to Texas, although he did not know it by that name.

  Nathalia allowed herself to fantasize for a moment about how delicious Eiran’s blood would taste. She heard male laughter in her head and was flooded with the promise of euphoria if she would take another Nephilim’s blood. Just before she dissolved into nothingness and pleasure, Eitan told her, I must see you do this before I will let you by my side, my sweet. Together, powered by family blood, we will cross the gisig and destroy the Shinar.

  Nathalia wanted to get to work right away, but then so did Eiran. They materialized in a small grove of ancient oak trees to the west of the main compound. He laid her down after spreading his own right wing out under her. The feel of this flesh blanket was more erotic than Nathalia thought it should be. It was no lame appendage, but had feeling and purpose. Right now that purpose was seducing Nathalia.