by Marcus James
Kathryn tried to go to him, to reach out for him, but Sheffield pulled away from her quickly. The last thing he wanted was to feel her touch on his skin. He didn’t want to look deep into those eyes and lose his resolve. He couldn’t let her keep winning.
“Sheffield, I had no choice. You don’t understand what is really going on- what those guys are-what they can do!”
“I don’t fucking care Kathryn! We’re supposed to be a team. We’re supposed to be healing all of this shit and building a life for ourselves, and you fucking hexed me-or whatever it is you did-and just fucking left!”
“It was the only thing I could think of doing to keep you safe!” Kathryn threw her hands up in the air and looked at him, silently imploring him to understand. “You don’t know what these guys are capable of-you don’t know them like I do! As intimately as I do!”
It struck him hard across the face, and he could see by the look on Kathryn’s face that she realized what she had possibly confessed to.
“Did you fuck one of them?” Kathryn’s eyes fell away from his own and Sheffield suddenly felt sick. “You did, didn’t you?”
“Sheffield, it was before you even showed up! It was before I even knew you were here!”
“When?”
“I don’t understand what that has-”
“When?!” he cut her off. He wanted to know. He needed to know. Whatever this was-whatever she was involved in-as far as he was concerned, she had invited it.
“The other night, when I thought I saw you on the sidewalk outside of the Whiskey.”
“That was me.” Sheffield sighed and shook his head. He could feel the tears coming, and his bottom lip began to quiver. “Shit.” He knew he had no right to be upset, but he was. He couldn’t understand how she could have slept with someone else after she had thought that she had just seen him on the street.
It wasn’t logical. It was immature. He knew it was, but it didn’t change that fact that it still hurt.
“Sheffield, I’m sorry... but there’s so much more that we need to deal with. Things that are so much more important.”
He walked over to the bed and took a seat on the mattress. Kathryn was looking down at him. Even though he refused to make eye contact, he could still feel her gaze burning into him.
“I need you to leave.”
“What?”
He looked up into those beautiful eyes, those eyes that were now glassy with tears and nodded. “I love you Kathryn, but I just need to be alone right now. I just need to sort my thoughts out.”
“Sheff-”
“Please. I’ll see you later.”
Kathryn turned and made her way aggressively to the door, shaking her head as she did. “Whatever you say Sheffield.”
His heart jumped as she slammed the door behind her. Whoever or whatever these guys were-this band-he was going to kill them for touching her. He knew that it had nothing to do with him, that they were not together, they weren’t even in each other’s lives at the time, but if these things were in league with monsters, or murdering people, or whatever it was that they were doing, then it only made it all the more worse and sordid.
“What the hell am I doing?!” Sheffield threw himself back on the bed and stared up at the miniscule cracks in the ceiling. They weren’t stars that he could look to and whisper his prayers to, but for the moment, they would have to do.
XIV
Kathryn returned to Bungalow Four, emotionally drained and seething with anger. She understood that Sheffield was upset with her, and that he had every right to be, but the fact that he wouldn’t even let her attempt to explain why she had done what she had done, or tell him about the things that she had discovered aggravated her.
“Hello? Magdalene?” she called out while she placed her purse and the book on the dining table. The living room was awash in afternoon gold which slipped through the sheer curtains and warmed the white walls and the floor. The living room reeked of stale cigarette and pot smoke that lingered in the air like a phantom, and the brick of the fireplace blazed like terracotta in the desert sun. It made her think of the city in her dreams that was brought to ruin by those creatures.
Kathryn walked over to the patio door and unlatched it. She hesitated for a moment before pulling the door open, thinking of Arish, Niiq, and Kuri, and of all of the things she had ascertained; all of the visions that had assaulted her and the lingering mystery of Angelina’s disappearance.
“What am I going to do?” Kathryn pulled the door open and let the warm, fragrant air and the tranquil chirping of the birds in the trees that lined the yard to come flooding in. It felt good to her to be surrounded by so much beauty, and the silence was a welcome reprieve to the noise in her head.
She turned and looked back at that old and mysterious book with its yellowed pages and leather jacket. What was this thing? What had it brought and what did it have to do with Nephilim?
“Anunnaki...” she repeated the word over and over again. It rolled off of her tongue like a melody, and Kathryn could sense the power behind the word. She knew she needed to look it up, but she was too tired to track down the nearest library.
Kathryn took the book in hand and walked down the hall to her room, thinking about the shadow creature that had stalked her from the moment of her arrival and the vision of Kuri and the rest of the guys when she had sex with Eddie in her room.
She had seen the same form in her room that night while pressed against the wall, her body writhing in pleasure as Eddie’s cock moved inside of her, and within the dark she had glimpsed that shape watching her.
At the time she had thought it as nothing more than a trick of light and imagination, perhaps the ghost of John Belushi or some other soul lost to misery and drugs in the Marmont’s sordid history, but now she knew with all certainty that it was one of them.
“Kuri...” saying his name and thinking again of his handsome face with his chiseled jaw, lush lips, golden bronzed skin with perfect stubble, and those stained-glass eyes that stared out from under the curtain of long black hair, made her body tremble with equal parts fear and desire.
She sighed and went to the safe, unlocking it and sticking the book inside, setting it carefully on top of her own grimorie. She knew it was too dangerous to leave this book out and if they came looking for it-if they could somehow get past her barriers, then perhaps this book would be the only leverage that she had to keep them at bay.
Kathryn thought about the album she had taken from their home the night of the party. It was sitting in the seat of one of the dining chairs, and she thought of the messages of the Orishas and the words of the Shade, and she thought of her family and of Sheffield and Richie.
She thought of all that had been revealed and the truth of the band, and the terrible fate that it seemed Angelina had come to and she realized more and more, that she couldn’t live with herself if anything more happened to those she cared for.
She had to put a stop to this. She had to find Angelina, and she knew that she had to do it alone.
The bungalow was empty, save for her, and with everyone gone, it was the perfect time to try to bring an end to all of it once and for all. She needed to find Angelina-even if it was just to recover her body-and she needed to be able to do so without the opinions and interference of everyone else.
Kathryn walked back out to the living room and grabbed the record. For the first time Kathryn looked at the album cover, and beneath the name and the band’s insignia with its grinning skull and black feathered wings in a black cloud-filled sky, was a painting of an ancient beige city in ruins and mangled corpses amongst the rubble, and a river of blood in the stone street.
It was just like her visions. Every detail of brushstroke created a visual rendering of all that had fallen before her in her dreams.
Kathryn walked over to the record player, and took a deep breath before putting needle to vinyl and letting it play. She turned up the volume as loud as possible, and took a swig from the last bit of whis
key that was left in one of the bottles of Jack that Richie had brought over the night before.
Then, recalling the words of the women in the temple, Kathryn closed her eyes and summoned her witchcraft. It moved through her, starting from her toes and swirling inside of her like a cyclone. She could feel her power make its way through her body. It traversed the path of her nervous system and rode the lay lines of her veins; making its way up her chest and throat.
As if she could feel the power approach her mouth, Kathryn parted her lips and began to sing.
“Anu-Anu-Anu-Ki...” that power rushed out of her, and as it did, she could feel the warm summer wind curl around her body and she listened to the rustling of the drapes.
“Kuri-Kuri-Anu-Ki...” She sang over and over, adding Kuri’s name in hopes to call him specifically. Kathryn didn’t exactly know why, but she felt that with Kuri she had the better chance to reason.
Perhaps it had been the instant attraction. The undeniable lust and hunger for one another. Perhaps it was because they had slept together-she wasn’t certain-all she did know was that he was the one she wanted to talk to.
Kathryn continued to chant, loosing herself in the melody of her song, and like offering oneself as a horse for the gods; Kathryn began to sway with the rhythm.
Two songs in on the record, and a whistle answered her back.
Kathryn opened her eyes and listened. She was certain she had heard it. Somewhere outside, but distant. She was about to turn down the volume on the speakers when she heard the whistle again. It was near, and yet distant. Not within the bungalow but still near.
Perhaps the bedroom? Kathryn walked slowly down the hall, her heart thundering in her ears and the back of her neck was warming in anticipation. Carefully she walked into the master suite, and found it empty. The afternoon sun gave it an almost dream-like quality and the bed invited her to crawl under the covers and sleep.
Kathryn shook it away and then the whistle came again. It forced her to turn her attention quickly to the patio, and there, behind the silhouette of the sheer drapes was the shape of a man on the border of the concrete of the patio, standing on the lush green and staring at her.
She knew it was Kuri. Her body cried out to him. Her sex began to ache. Everything inside of her was waking up to him and the memory of the pleasure that he could bring.
Kathryn walked over to the patio door, her legs desperate to buckle, to bring her to the floor in trembling excitement, but she ignored it and pressed on.
She pushed the curtain to the side and took in the full glory of him. He was dressed in faded and torn black jeans and his chest was bare under his leather jacket. There was a black bandanna tied loosely around his neck, and those brilliant eyes were hidden behind those impenetrable aviators.
His thick mane of black hair was disheveled, and his hands were resting on his hips.
“beautiful and cunning witch...” he said to her without the slightest hint of malice. His lips were curved in an approving smile, and Kathryn cheeks became flush with passion.
“What are you?” Kathryn demanded, fighting against everything to go to him. The wind brought with it the intoxicating perfume of his skin, and as she breathed it in, her mind seemed befuddled, as if she were being weakened by it, and she had to fight to keep focused on what she sought to do.
“So much more than you have conceived.” He said in a near-whisper. “Let me in...”
Kathryn shook her head. He was like the Big Bad Wolf of the Three Little Pigs, and she was the sow in the brick house. He couldn’t blow it down, and he knew it, but he was determined to cross the threshold one way or another and devour her until there was nothing left but a mangled and dismembered carcass.
“What happened to Angelina? What did you do to her?”
Kuri shook his head. “Not until we can meet on equal ground.”
Kathryn’s body trembled with both terror and hunger for him and the feeling of his cock inside of her once more. She knew that he knew this. It was all over his face. It was in his smile and the way he spoke his words without the slightest hint of rancor.
It was as if he was whispering love to her.
She shook her head. “I can’t let you in...”
“Then there is nothing I can share with you... that is the trade. You want your answers; you want to know everything that I know, so you can try to fight against the inevitable? All of this I am willing to share with you... as long as you let me in...”
The inevitable. It shocked her in delicious fear, and her body shook at the thought of it. Perhaps it was inevitable. Perhaps there was no fighting against whatever they were; these Anunnaki. Perhaps her end was now.
“I...”
“You feel my hunger for you-my love for you... my beautiful witch. My bringer of death...” he took off those glasses and his eyes came into brilliance in the sun-those hues of iridescent green, gold, and blue-all of those colors dazzling her in the magnificent light.
“I can give you the passion that no mortal man can give you... I can love you unguarded and uninhibited. Your curse cannot touch me... I can let you feel it flesh against flesh... you can have me inside of you and feel me and only me...
“And I can show you everything.”
Kathryn’s limbs became weak, and the melody of his voice with its mysterious and lyrical accent, along with the pungent and delicious scent of his golden skin, made her eyes close.
She thought of Sheffield. She thought of his love and his deep goodness and the tears slipped down her face. “Forgive me...” she whispered.
“I allow you to enter.”
He moved on her fast and fierce, and as soon as he crossed the threshold of the patio, stepping over the barrier she had created, the ground beneath her feet seemed to tremble, and the room around her felt as if it were melting and becoming a puddle on the ground.
She became limp as his arms wrapped around her, crushing her body to him, and his lips met hers and she pushed the jacket off of his body. He growled in her ear as he covered her body in kisses, and tore her dress and ripped her bra, exposing her breasts and devouring her nipples.
Kuri laid her out on the bed and was quick to remove his jeans. There was no underwear, and his hot silky cock was hard and pressing against her, desperate to get inside of her.
Kathryn spread her legs to him, and he ripped her dress completely in two, and she was certain that he had slashed her panties with his finger. She was hot and grinding against him, and he kissed her neck and held her wrists as he entered her.
He was thick and as he stretched her lips, she sat up and her back arched as he gave that first thrust of his hips.
No condom. No precautions or fears of killing him. There had always been the clinical feel of latex and now, for the first time in her life, Kathryn felt free and unhindered. She gave herself to this passion, to the feeling of Kuri deep inside of her, and the harder he fucked her, the more the world seemed to drift away.
“Be with me... come with me...” he growled in her ear, and as he did, she began to have flashes of that temple. With every thrust of his hips, the room disappeared and in its place was the polished ceiling of the temple and the open walls that looked out on the night and that ancient city with large pillars of fire lighting the nighttime kingdom.
“What have I done?!” She asked allowed as his cock burned inside of her. It was a delicious burning-the type that only comes from unbridled passion-and she could feel his orgasm come as surely as she could feel her own.
“My beautiful witch...”
Kathryn squeezed her eyes shut just as wave after wave of orgasm came on her, and Kuri braced her shoulders and brought her naked body against his own as he spilled inside of her.
Her body quivered under the power of his lust and the fevered hot press of his lips. Kathryn’s heart raced and she continued to shake. It had been like an electric current that was still lingering. Every sensation, every wave of orgasm assaulted her and pushed her deeper and deeper into a
thoughtless dark.
XV
Kathryn opened her eyes, and nearly screamed out as she beheld the sight before her. The room was gone. Los Angeles was gone, and now here they were, naked on the cool stone floor of that temple; the fire burning in the giant hearth in front of them.
She looked at Kuri. He was grinning and his eyes were looking deep into hers. He was still inside of her, and he laughed and brushed her hair from her face.
He slipped out of her and got to his feet. His beautiful bronzed skin glistening with sweat in the firelight, and his cock was slow to soften. She wanted to go again. She wanted to take him into her mouth and she wanted to taste him.
Kathryn got to her knees and crawled towards him, reaching out for his body, slipping her hands around his buttocks, and he let out a strong moan of pleasure as she slid his cock deep into her mouth, sucking him hard and fast, until once again, he was cumming, his seed erupting in her mouth and spilling down her throat.
It tasted like nothing she had ever known before. It was delicious, and filled her with that same electricity as when he had cum inside of her only moments before.
She fell back to the floor, and once again, Kuri was on top of her, dragging the tip of her tongue down the cavity of her chest and stomach, his long black hair caressing her like feathers as he found his way between her legs and began to fuck her with his tongue.
After she came, Kathryn tried to steady herself and organize her thoughts. She was lost in delirium and fear and she thought of the women of the temple-those priestesses-and she remembered the things moving inside of them. It made her entire body cringe.
“Oh, God...” she curled into a ball and felt her stomach, fearful that at any moment she would feel one of those things inside of her.
“You are safe...” Kuri said to her with kind assuredness. “I cannot do to you what was done then... and not in this form.” Kathryn turned and looked at him. She looked into his eyes, searching for any sign of deception. There was none.
