The Dying Art of Magic

by Natalie Gibson

  We have plenty of time for that. I have something better to pass the time. She opened the line of communication to Eiran, allowing Eitan to listen in, It is time for your death. I am prepared to pass judgment and dole out punishment for your sins. Come to me. I am with your brother in the room where I met my human death.

  Nanae tabalu’d into such a scene of chaos that no one noticed his sudden appearance. If the sect was under the attack of an Akhkharu, there was no telling what horrors they had witnessed. Some of them cried. One girl struggled with a Nephilim, though it was no struggle for him. He carried her to the far end of the room and held her there. She tried to reach the elevator, which was locked open. The floor of the cage froze at eye level, between two floors, rendering it unusable. It would have been a very good defense against anything other than superhuman enemies.

  The capacitor’s magical storage room was much too small to house all these refugees. Everyone tried to steer clear of the golden glowing sphere but there wasn’t enough space outside it to accommodate. Most of them looked as if they had never seen the living statues that collected the communal white energy. As an ancient, he knew of them, but had never laid eyes on them. They weren’t why he was here anyway and paid them no notice. The yelling and moaning to his left told him where he needed to be.

  Two visibly pregnant women lay in one corner surrounded by other women and a few of his brethren and he was pretty sure that meant the human healer, who was such a threat to the One was in the opposite corner. That view was blocked by the throng of people. Nanae tried to approach, but knew he’d better announce himself if he didn’t want to be attacked by He Who is for the One.

  He spoke loudly and when he did the tide of noise receded. “Nathalia, the former Abbess and the first female Nephilim, Ereshkigal, sent me here to protect the One and her mother.”

  The woman who waived him over did not look well. Her skin was gray and her once lovely hair lay in sections pasted to her face, arms and back, by sweat. Her fellow mother-to-be looked worse. Blood stained the floor between her legs where she lay. Nanae knelt between the two and went right to work. One hand on each belly, splayed wide, it took him no time to find the magical links trying to force the babies from the mothers. He severed them both and began to heal the damage. The placenta had started to tear away from the uterine wall in the bleeding woman. She had been close to aborting her unborn.

  Nanae immediately felt the female healer’s connection trying to make contact again with the more damaged woman. “Instruct your Panacea to actively direct her healing abilities to someone else. Gather anyone with an ailment around her.”

  “There’s no one sick. We already tried that.” The man behind the less damaged woman spoke but never took his eyes off her.

  “That’s why I told Camilla to focus on me.” The bleeding woman spoke for the first time and the man with her erupted.

  “You did what?!” he yelled.

  “She is carrying the One.” She explained. It sounded perfectly reasonable to Nanae but not so much to the father. He did not know the importance of the One. He only heard how little the mother of his unborn cared for it.

  “Do not fear. Neither of you will lose your children. Are you men willing to help?”

  When both men acquiesced, one verbally, one silently, Nanae put his ability in reverse. He caused several cells in each of them to grow and multiply in an alarming rate. He formed and hid a half-dozen tumors in both men. “Go to the healer. You now have cancer. Healing your bodies will keep her occupied.”

  At a gasp from one, maybe both of the women, Nanae assured all of them, “I can completely remove every trace of the disease after all this is over if your healer does not. Neither of you are in any danger.” The two men pressed their way through the crowd.

  “And if you die before healing them?” The Holy Mother was not pleased that Nanae had taken liberties with her mate’s body.

  “I cannot die except by the hand of Ereshkigal. I am Nephilim, uncorrupted.” He glanced up at He Who is for the One who had taken the Holy Mother’s mate’s place behind her. “Surely your Guardian has told you of our nature.”

  “My Guardian rarely speaks. He certainly doesn’t talk about his ‘nature.’”

  Someone bumped into Nanae, he stumbled, balancing himself with a hand on the floor, only to have it stepped on. “Holy Mother, is it damaging for people to stand within the glow?”

  Maeve’s voice was weak, “Please don’t call me that. My name is Maeve. And, no, it wouldn’t hurt anyone, but it would be unsettling for children to experience that ecstasy. No men or Guardians—it could be damaging to the Capacitors, but I don’t know. It’s never been done. That’s just not allowed.”

  The Holy Mother called over an older woman and whispered in her ear. The woman then talked to the groups of people, separating the genders and ages. The orders were carried out efficiently. All women of age moved inside the sphere, all men, Guardians and children outside it.

  During the last few organizational seconds, the previously struggling girl, slipped away from the Nephilim holding her and bolted across the room for the elevator door. Her path took her directly through the center of the golden glowing globe. A funny look crossed her face just before it went slack and her body crumpled.

  “Gwyneth!” The Guardian’s voice rocked the cavern and people all around covered their ears. He jogged toward the girl’s fallen body.

  “No!” Maeve’s voice rang out across the room. “Don’t cross the boundary, Guardian. I forbid it.” The Guardian froze, his gaze locked on the lifeless body of his beloved. Ancient Immortal or not, when the Holy Mother gave someone an order, they followed it. “Whose daughter is this?”

  Several people answered, “Alisha’s.”

  “Well then, she’s just experiencing her first ethereal projection. A little earlier than most Peregrinus, yes, but she’ll be fine as long as we can get her back here soon. The Capacitors and their white energy will keep Gwyneth’s body alive while you go and entice her astral self to come back to her body. Does anyone know where she might have traveled?”

  “Alisha’s still in the medical ward and couldn’t be taken off her machines.” Ingrid replied as she laid Gwyneth’s limbs straight and tidied her hair and dress. The girl looked peaceful, but a little too like the dead for her Guardian’s tastes. Ingrid tried to reassure him, “She’s fine, but you should hurry.”

  He vanished. No preamble, no pretending to use a human escape; he just disappeared. There was a small breeze that no one would have noticed if they weren’t in an airtight room, and then he was gone.

  Maeve’s dismay bloomed. Her Guardian spoke quietly to her, “There is much you do not know about us and that is my fault. I promise we will remedy your ignorance on the subject of Nephilim once Ereshkigal has removed the enemy.”

  Nanae assured them both, “That will not be long. She has a plan. Though I don’t know what a woman can do against a freshly turned Akhkharu.”

  He Who is for the One spoke, “She can do anything. She is more powerful than any of us. You were away at war when the first of us turned. I have seen her kill a new Akhkharu with the weapon. If she regains it, there is no limit to what she can do.”

  NATHALIA SLICED through the last vitala, its corrupted blood spewed from the now headless neck. She dropped it in the pile with the others. Some of the bodies had been people she knew and loved. Inside she wept for them and the sanctuary that had seen such violence. The petrified Capacitors stared at her with blank eyes, but she could see they were indeed alive to varying degrees. Even the pieces of the one that a vampire had thrown down from its marble stand glowed with prana.

  That shattering sound had brought her running from the office. She had to protect the others. She tried to make Eitan think she’d craved violence and that’s what made her come looking for a fight. I’ve had my fill. If you have more children, we should probably save them for our escape. They must come in useful for causing distraction. I’ll have to make s
ome of my own someday.

  Eitan stood to one side. He leaned against the door frame, but once the killing started, his stance had become a little more attentive. He practically quivered with excitement. He puffed with power, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. All this violence had added to his strength; it was like steroids to the Akhkharu. It also acted as a beacon to other corrupted Nephilim. Eitan thought he had tricked Ereshkigal into enticing them this direction, but it was what she wanted. She wanted all Nephilim, corrupted and pure alike, to witness what she was about to do.

  Nathalia’s hand returned to normal and she flexed the newly reformed fingers. They were a little sore from the extended time in short sword shape. She was covered in blood and patted her hands dry on her jeans when she felt their arrival. His arrival. She breathed a breath of relief at having him close again before sending a message to the Nephilim below. I am preparing to rid this world of the first. Ereshkigal request that all who can, come bear witness.

  She called out to Ki silently asking her to once again hold her own children, Nephilim and Akhkharu alike this time. Nathalia left herself, Eitan, and Eiran unencumbered.

  Eiran bolted through the open door, both hands out as if he would strangle Eitan, and ran toward his brother. His war cry cut off abruptly and he found he was stuck in mid-stride. His body, seemingly of its own free will, turned slowly and walked back to Nathalia, who stood in the center of the room amidst the remnants of a slaughter. Her arm outstretched toward him. Her bloody fingers extended in a claw-like fashion. Their slight movements brought his body to life, inching to her and his death. She had developed the virginity-control bond so that she could manipulate him with not only a word, but a motion.

  Eitan’s laughter rang out. The great hall filled with it. “I am glad you took my advice. Eiran was always a sucker for a virgin, allowing them to rule his life for the remainder of theirs. He should have killed you after, as I would have, but I find myself glad he did not. You will make a fine companion for me, my sweet. You are much more suited for the life I can provide. Your scars tell me your human life prepared you, gave you a taste for it.”

  He took a few steps forward, slipping between two trapped Nephilim. Again he laughed. “I would wager that he was sweet with you, sensitive, not allowing you to experience the painful tearing of your maidenhood. Such a shame. To take that from you is a crime.”

  He continued, his voice filled with disgust. “Did you speak of love, brother? I am sure you did. Here is a little secret ‘your love’ has been keeping from you. She does not want amour and pleasure but pain. I share her mind like you will never do. Her psyche was damaged by her human man, suiting her to my desires exactly. That, at least, I have to thank the Igigi for. Think back to your time together. Did she respond better when you were gentle or when you were aggressive, giving your beast rein to take her roughly? Your eyes tell me you hear the truth of it. Drain him quickly Ereshkigal. We heard the anguished scream of a Nephilim calling to a dying child. Our work here is done. We must move, build our strength through the pain of one another along the way, and then confront the Igigi.”

  Nathalia lengthened her incisors, allowing every being in the room to see them, as she drew Eiran closer. He spoke to her on a private link, Your trick will not work this time. He will not fall for a fake feeding like the vitala.

  That’s why I don’t plan to fake it. Everything slowed for Nathalia then. As Eiran crept closer, she could smell the dirt clinging to his body, signaling what area of the world he had rested in while they were apart. She could hear his heart pumping his prana dense blood throughout his chiseled masculine body. She could see the fear in his eyes now that he knew what she intended to do. There was another emotion behind that. She could sense that he was excited by the idea of being bitten and fed from.

  Nathalia reached up with her right hand, fisting the hair on the top of his head, and tugged it to the side, exposing his jugular. His pulse jumped at her touch. Her left hand slid up his arm and came to rest on his shoulder, holding it for her feeding. Her tongue darted out, tasting the sweat first, and he shuddered. She scraped her teeth along the ridge of his neck, sending his nerves into overdrive. Enough foreplay; she could no longer contain herself. She bit down hard, slicing through every layer, opening the vein.

  The first gush came with such a rush that she barely tasted it. It went straight to her head, an immediate high like she had never known. She floated. No. More than that. She was air. Everything dissolved, including her body. She was made of the elements and they fueled and consumed each other at an incredible rate. The second gulp brought her back to reality as the blood rolled across her tongue filling her thoughts with the taste of him. He was everything delicious she had ever tasted. Spicy and soothing, savory and salty, sour and sweet, she could not imagine ever craving another thing. His blood was more than water to a man in the desert; it was more than air to a drowning man. It was the ailment and the cure, the desire and the satisfaction. It was pure prana and could replace all of life’s necessities. There was only the blood and the pleasure and she drank both up.

  Nathalia knew she would need this again and again. If this was what it was like for all Nephilim when they drank the blood of another, no wonder they had little resistance to it. Once they had given in to the beast, it knew what it was fighting for. It was more than an instant addiction. It was as if by taking a drug, she had become the drug. She was the dose and the drug was the universe.

  When the flow stopped, her head cleared. Doubtless this was why Eitan had moved on to her bone marrow, once her blood was gone. The high only lasted as long as the feeding. The room around her was silent. The Nephilim and Akhkharu had been forced to watch as she broke the law. Their Ereshkigal, who was supposed to judge them all fairly and execute them humanely, was now tainted by evildoing. She had told them she had choice but none thought this would be it.

  I love you, Nathalia. Eiran’s arms, that had been caressing her back as she fed, now fell limply to his sides. Copying the scene carved in the mothers’ tomb to the best of her memory, Nathalia cradled him to her while trying to look triumphant to Eitan, who had clearly enjoyed her little display.

  Eiran, while unconscious and unable to control his body, was not dead. It took more than a draining to kill a Nephilim. Nathalia used her virginity control bond to hold him upright, even demonstrating that she could still manage him if his body had no life in it with a few small jovial marionette-like steps. We can bring him with us, Eitan. He heals fast. He can be our never-ending fount. I cannot die so he cannot rid himself of my dominance.

  Eitan clapped and the sound echoed around the sanctuary. He did not try to stop her or move away when she came to him. “Ereshkigal has returned and this time she has chosen the correct brother,” he called out triumphantly. “Our reign of terror and malice will never end.”

  Eitan kissed his new queen and recoiled at the flavor.

  “Illusionist! You tried to trick me. You taste of your own blood. Did you think that I, having tasted it so recently, would not recognize it? Foolish woman. Did you believe your trick would get you close enough to take the dagger from me?” Eitan held Nathalia tightly with one arm and the other held the weapon out far out of her reach. With a small chuckle, Eitan threw the knife down with all his strength. The bone blade shattered against the stone floor.

  No! Ancient Ancestress damn you, Eitan. There was no trick. I did drink his delicious blood and will do it again whenever I wish. That is truth. I needed that dagger to wage war against the Shinar. Nathalia didn’t struggle to get away from Eitan, but instead used her strength to start the spell.

  “I am not stupid, my sweet. Your little ploy did buy you some time, but what else did it get you? You are in my possession and the weapon is destroyed. You would have used it against us. You needed it to kill me.” Eitan nuzzled her neck, savoring the moment right before he fed.

  That’s where you’re wrong. You could have used it to kill other Nephilim, me inclu
ded. If it weren’t for the coming war with the Shinar, I would be glad you smashed it. I have the ability to kill you with or without the weapon.

  Nathalia heard the click of his lengthening incisors and knew she was out of time. If he drained her, she wouldn’t have the power to finish the spell. She used her free hand to tear the neckline of her shirt, exposing Eiran’s birthmark. It glowed and hummed, live and waiting, beneath her skin in the hollow of her neck just below the jagged scar of her suicide. There was a collective gasp at the sight of it. No one had ever seen a birthmark given, be so completely accepted as to become an actual part of the recipient.

  Eitan froze, enthralled by the ruby red radiance.

  Nathalia spoke so that everyone in the room could hear, I, Nathalia Ereshkigal of the Kafziel family line, Chosen Warrior, have witnessed this, our brother’s, depravity. Eitan Kafziel killed his mate, destroying all hope for his salvation. She turned to Eitan. Having broken the law and feasted on the blood of your brothers, you have lost the ability to control your cells. You are no longer Nephilim, Guardian of mankind, but Akhkharu, addicted to violence, and as such you are found guilty in our eyes. The sentence is lasting death, from which none can regenerate.

  Nathalia called Eitan’s lifeline to the surface, and jumped back away from him, bringing his silver thread of life with her. It arched between them, held fast to Eitan, but unable to resist attraction to Nathalia’s birthmark power stone. No one but Nathalia could see it. That was the power the stone gave her. She had become the Ereshkigal, Atropos, Beletseri and Morta of legend. She could snip through the thread of life of any living creature at the time of her choosing.

  Eitan, seeing his time was short, argued, “You drank Eiran’s blood. We all saw you. You admitted to it and that you would do it again, if given the chance. You cannot pass judgment on me when you too are guilty of breaking the law!”

  The wait is over. The time of mating is upon us. The laws are changed. You should have had the strength that your brothers had, never straying from the path of righteousness, never betraying the brotherhood. If you had stayed true and had not killed your mate, you would not now have to come to an end. She could have provided everything to you, including the blood that you couldn’t wait for, but now she is gone and so must you be also.