Nanae, the healer, shimmered into existence slightly to Nathalia’s side. Having tabalu’d here, he was of course, naked. He certainly had nothing to be ashamed of in that area, Nathalia thought in passing. He was tall, like all Nephilim (they weren’t called giants in ancient times for nothing), but he was shorter than most at only six foot. Stockier than Eiran, his muscles rippling beneath taut tan skin when he moved. His dirty blond hair was tied back and lay down his spine in a tight plat.
His voice was like that of all Nephilim, beautifully mesmerizing and frighteningly inhuman, “I knew of these Daughters, though I have no family line here.”
He had not hesitated to come to their aid, but his steps did falter when he saw who had sent the plea. He went down to one knee. “Abbess Primo Nathalia. I heard a rumor that the first had been converted, but had no idea it was you. I am the servant and healer to all our brethren family and am truly honored to be called upon by the first Sinnis Ina Ummum Zumru.”
Nathalia remembered him too. He had come to Austin to help Marcie recover when she was abducted by an Akhkharu. Marcie had been a prisoner of the evil one for many hours, sustained horrible wounds, and seen what most people couldn’t even imagine. Nanae helped save her life and that of her unborn daughter.
“The change suits you well. I am honored to serve you under any name.”
Thank you. Please don’t stand on ceremony now. Not when there’s a woman that needs your help.
She gestured that he should come forward and he did. He knelt on the opposite side and ran his hands the length of the woman’s body, pausing briefly over her worst wound. He was mere inches from Nathalia but showed no hunger for her.
“She will live. I cannot replace the organ that is missing, but she will be able to bear children.” He began singing and the smaller slices healed up immediately.
Have you found your mate? Nathalia sat back on her heels. She did not see any other way this one could resist her when the others could not.
Nanae never looked up from his work. He said, “Sadly, no.”
Perhaps there’s a magical reason keeping you from finding her. That had his attention. His eyes locked with hers now and she could see there was hunger deep within them. The beast was there, but carefully leashed. Perhaps it was from his years of healing, his extreme exposure to blood. The man I killed had a binding over me so strong it kept my mate from locating me, but once it was broken, he pinpointed me instantly.
She did not tell him that the binding spell had only been achieved by the brutal murder of her parents nor that it had been wielded by a man who used it to torture her for years. He would not want to think of his loved one, even if she was unknown to him, in that kind of life. She also didn’t share with him her sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t the binding that blocked Eiran, but something the Igigi were doing. “Those who see and observe” meddled a lot more in human life than anyone else realized. She planned to end that interference.
“Thank you, Ereshkigal.”
Nanae paused his work for long enough to take Nathalia’s hand and bring it to his mouth. He laid a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. It felt chaste, like a subject might treat his queen. It obviously didn’t look that way to Eiran because his growl shook the walls of the sanctuary.
Eiran had come back from dirty disposal of the bodies of Eitan’s children to find another Nephilim kissing his beloved. That sight brought the beast close to the surface. He had not just taken a small portion of the beast and its hunger from Nathalia after seeing the slaughter. He had taken it all unto himself. Now it threatened to take control. He let out another growl and the wounded sister murmured.
Nathalia snatched her hand back from Nanae, but he knew better than to make any sudden movements. “I am no threat to you, Keeper of the Betrayers, and I meant no offense. I can see the battle has left you both tired and hungry. I offer my residence to you. It is near here and there are servants from whom you can take nourishment.”
The thought of Eiran with a female maid or cook in his arms made Nathalia quiver with jealousy. We take our nourishment from each other.
Eiran had Nathalia up and behind him in what could have been described as a fluid almost dance-like movement, if Nathalia wasn’t so aware of the anger radiating from Eiran. She had brought Nanae here and now he was in danger. She thought to disarm the situation with some flirting. Come, Eiran. I need your prana and maybe a bed to lay on while I take it.
Nanae offered again, “Then please use my home to do so. I will be here with this one for a few hours so you will have complete privacy.”
Eiran gave the competitor one last growl before taking Nathalia in his arms. As he dissolved their molecules, Nathalia realized Nanae was being spared Eiran’s anger but there would be no escape for her.
NANAE’S HOME was small, but richly furnished and refreshingly cool in the incredibly hot Ethiopian summer. Nathalia warned the servants and compelled them to go away for a while. Eiran had not spoken a word since he found Nanae kissing Nathalia’s hand. He only growled and snapped at her when she had insisted they retire in the bedroom. He set up his magical safeguards on the bedroom door.
Nathalia eased herself down on the bed and slipped under the covers. She moved her arms and legs around soaking up the cool of the sheets. It felt like ages since she’d laid in a real bed, and this one was certainly that. The bedding was a high thread count but felt light. It had a rich mahogany headboard and a brass bed crown with hand woven mosquito netting that could be closed to protect the sleeper from pests. Well, Nathalia thought, they couldn’t have everlasting mosquitoes flying around out there.
You’re hungry. I can’t feel it, so you must be holding it back. We’re alone now. Just let me have my half of the hunger.
Eiran sounded like he was trying to speak but couldn’t. His voice rumbled like a lion and Nathalia thought she caught a couple of words through the roar. The bed felt so good. She kicked her leg out from under and laid it on top of the covers, exposing everything from toe to waist on the right side. She closed her eyes and patted the bed next to her.
Her lids snapped open when Eiran emitted a rumbling that sounded more like an avalanche than an animal growl. He had finished his precautions on the entrance and was standing to her side, not the side she wanted him to take but the side with her naked leg. He was staring at her skin and he looked different to her.
His chest heaved and he was sweating. She tried to slip her leg back under the bedding, but he latched on to her ankle and kept her from concealing herself. He leaned over the bed and sniffed her from toe to knee, then thigh to waist. His other hand shackled her wrist and he brought it to his face. It was the hand that Nanae had kissed and Eiran did not enjoy the smell of another man on her. He rubbed his face on her hand, replacing the smell with his own. When he looked up and met her gaze, she did not see the leashed savage. Though not the solid red of an Akhkharu, full flames raged in his oculus. His jaw hung loose and she could see his incisors were fully extended.
Eiran? she asked softly. When she reached out she saw his mind was ablaze like his eyes. He had lost the battle with his beast. It was at the surface now and she had to find a way to tame it. But why? Why did she have to tame it? Nathalia enjoyed this show of jealous intensity. It was so unlike Michael’s brand of the same. His was borne from confidence and a feeling of ownership. Eiran’s was based in his doubt and uncertainty that if given a choice she would chose him.
The beast that was Eiran tugged her foot, jerking the lower half of her body from under the duvet. Nathalia let him, after all the beast would be satiated after a feeding. It was what they came here for. She wanted this too.
Holding one of her ankles in each hand, he pulled her to the edge of the bed and planted her feet firmly on the ground. He knelt, putting his knees on top of her feet to keep them there. He ran his palms up her calves to the very sensitive spot behind her knees. He pulled her knees even further forward and separated them.
He inserted his shoul
ders between her sprawled legs and slid his hands up the backs of her thighs to her ass, lifting it, forcing her to her tip toes. He brought her opening to his mouth instead of bending his head to taste her. He launched an all-out assault on her clitoris.
He sucked it inside his mouth and raked his teeth over it again and again. This was not the gentle lover that took her virginity and Nathalia enjoyed it. Maeve had often commented on how odd it was that Nathalia liked such rough clit play and it had taken a long time to convince her that really was what Nathalia wanted. Not so with Eiran. Just a few sessions with him and he knew exactly what she wanted. His aggression sent waves of oscillating anxiety and arousal down her spine. Deep inside her something melted and she moaned in a way that only he could hear.
She tried to put her hands in his hair, to clench him tighter against her, but he held them fast, shackling them beside her hips. She kept her hips up without his help, unable to relax. She wanted to see his head between her legs and tried to sit up, but she found that part of her body trapped too. Eiran’s wings, serving as a third set of limbs, both held her shoulders down while teasing her tits with their tips.
Her mouth went dry. Nathalia was completely fettered by Eiran. The control he exercised over her made a rush of liquid heat meet his tongue. He growled when she started to come and the vibration of that rumble only helped her to climax faster. Her legs began trembling up and down like a sewing machine needle. She couldn’t even hang on as he drove her further and further toward the edge. Over the cliff, she was free falling. A forceful wind out of nowhere robbed her of all other sensations and then there was lightning. It struck on either side of her clitoris. The sharp white-hot pain arched and sizzled, mixing with the pleasure of her orgasm.
Nathalia struggled to take in air as Eiran continued to suck at her aching opening. It came to her in gasps as her body was rocked by aftershocks. She was barely aware that he was now on top of her, head nestled in her neck, his thighs pressing between hers. She felt him, hot and hard, pressing into her. He surged forward, a long hard stroke, burying himself deep inside her. Her clenching and unclenching muscles did most of the work. He barely did any pumping at all before pouring into her, allowing her to absorb his life essence.
She wrapped her now free arms around his neck. That was amazing, Eiran. If we keep on like this, I’m not sure I can make it for centuries with you. I’m not sure how much higher I can go, or how much harder I can come. She turned her face toward his and was rewarded with a deep kiss that stole her thoughts and relieved her doubts. She wanted nothing more than to be with him for an eternity and she wouldn’t accept any less.
In one quick movement, Eiran was up and then gone. Nathalia looked around, confused, her mind jumbled from the intensity of their experience. She had an odd taste in her mouth and reached up to touch it. When she looked, there was blood on her fingers. Her blood. The piercing pain had been Eiran’s bite. He drank her blood. He broke the law and then ran.
Eiran, what did you do?
What the beast demanded. What I wanted. His voice was as clear in her head as if he had been standing next to her, though she had no idea how far he had gone. He sounded slightly intoxicated, dreamy. I will gladly meet my end now. I have been to the promise land and tasted its milk and honey.
Get back here immediately. I command you.
I am sorry my love. I kept something from you. The power you have over me only works when we are in each other’s presence. You can always speak to me. I will always hear and answer you. I will only return to you when you tell me it is time to die.
This is ridiculous. I already told you that I’m not going to kill you, she argued.
Ah, yes…choice. I know you are the end of me. I will go to my death with the whole beast, the whole hunger. You will never again feel the call to kill and destroy. I love you Nathalia and this is my gift to you.
Minali was a lovely person, but Nathalia could barely hear what the girl was saying. Her heartache was so severe it was audible. Her forced separation from Eiran was more than she could bear. They hadn’t been apart for any real length of time since her conversion and none at all since his birthmark became a part of her. This was too much to endure. For either of them. She could feel anguish beating at him though he thought it was the blood corrupting him, changing him into Akhkharu, that caused the pain. Nathalia tried to get Eiran to come back to her but he always knew when she was lying. He wouldn’t come back until she was prepared to kill him.
Minali was talking about her parents. Her father was native Ethiopian but her mother was American and white. The former had died in a religious skirmish years ago and the latter, not able to cope with life separated from her matched mate, had passed into the higher plane of existence and was now a holy capacitor. Nathalia asked Minali some follow up questions to keep her talking while she studied her new ward’s face. A true beauty with flawlessly smooth mocha skin and long curly brown sun lightened hair, her delicate facial bone structure was complimented by a striking set of large liquid black eyes and full lips. When she smiled the gap between her front two teeth was pleasant and for some reason reminded Nathalia of Libby’s son.
Their flight had just touched down at the Bergstrom International Airport in Austin. The two women had been the only passengers on the private cargo jet though the plane was packed. It was mostly filled by giant cargo containers carrying the whole group of Capacitors. The exposure to modern technology damaged them, but there was no way around it. They had to be plugged into a working group or perish. No matter, Camilla’s special healing ability would be able to fix them right up and keep them alive for longer than should be humanly possible. They were coming to join the Austin ranks of holy women since there was none left of the Gish Abay Daughters to pull from them. Minali was the only surviving sister and she had been trying to get permission for a transfer to Texas for some time anyway. She had told Maeve over the phone and Nathalia in person that she just felt like it was where she belonged. The move had been an easy decision but a difficult one to orchestrate. Getting that much cargo out of Africa and into the USA without either country insisting on an inspection had been costly in both time and money.
Libby, her husband, and their son would be there to meet them and get the containers safely back to the compound. Primo level sisters would have to be in charge of getting the fully charged Capacitors locked into the power structure, but the men could handle getting the solidified stone-like older ones set up in the sanctuary. They would just think that Nathalia had acquired a few new statues.
As soon as the door opened, Nathalia breathed deeply of that humid southern air. Nathalia’s sorrow was instantly lessened by her familiar locale, but Minali was anxious. Her exposure to strangers recently had not led to pleasant experiences. Both women unhooked their safety belts at the same time, but while Nathalia moved for the door, Minali moved toward one of the containers. Nathalia stood in the small energizing shaft of Ud’s light and motioned for the other woman to follow her. The Daughters are very powerful here. We own whole companies and have many politicians and law enforcement officers at our disposal. There’s no reason to be afraid. Everyone you meet from now on will be a friend.
“It’s not that. I feel deep down that there is only good to come from my move.” Minali patted the top of the container closest to her. “My mother is in this one. Her ability is the same as mine and was not dampened by becoming a capacitor.”
I never even asked, what is your skill? Nathalia caught movement out of the corner of her eye and motioned that the ground crew should stay where they were. She could feel that Minali’s answer was important.
“I come from a line of Sirens. We can attract people. My mother’s ability is very specific and only works on individuals that she knows. If she wants you near her, that compulsion is impossible to resist.” She shrugged and smiled, showing the gap in her teeth. “I guess she’s not as confident about the move as I am.”
And your ability? Can you call individuals?
“Yes, just not as strongly as her. My unique ability is that I can attract large groups of people and I don’t have to know them first. Our leader used me to acquire new women with abilities, women who are now dead.” Minali broke down, placing her head on her mother’s casket-like box.
Nathalia sent a feeling of innocence to the girl, stripping away her guilt but leaving her grief. After all, grief was a necessary emotion on the path to acceptance. What happened to them isn’t your fault. My parents were murdered when I was 18 by my boyfriend, Michael. He loved to hurt me. After graduation, I left for college without telling him. They wouldn’t tell him where I had gone and he killed them. I suffered that guilt for years but now I understand that it wasn’t me. Even if I had told him where I was going, he would have killed my parents. He needed their blood for a binding spell over me. Michael was sick, but he was still responsible for his actions. You only called the women to offer them a better life. You couldn’t have known that such a monster existed.
“You’re wrong. I think I might have attracted him. Accidentally. A few months ago I found a man in my room. I didn’t recognize him and I should have screamed for help, but he said not to be afraid and he was so incredibly attractive that I wasn’t scared. We talked for hours. He wanted to know all about my family and my ability but mostly my sex life. I told him everything, things I’d never told anyone. I even talked about the Capacitors. I couldn’t help myself.”
Minali paused to assess Nathalia’s reaction to that last bit and Nathalia assured her, It’s ok. Go on. Minali perched on the side of her mother’s container and Nathalia came away from the door toward her. She was fully engrossed now. The man was obviously a Nephilim or Akhkharu and Ereshkigal had to hear what he had done.
The Dying Art of Magic Page 20
