by Maya Daniels
“Not so fast, little witch,” he growls, and my knees go weak. He turns around and starts walking towards the altar, dragging me behind him like a dog, which raises my hackles.
“Hey, let go!” I dig my heels in the grass but that doesn’t stop him. He keeps moving. I turn around to ask any of the others to help but they are nowhere to be found. What the fuck!
“They obey their God, unlike you, little witch,” he says in answer to my question.
So much for sister love, I guess. I’m on my own here. I stop struggling and follow behind him. I mean, what else can I do, really? We get to the altar and he turns around, grabs me by the waist and picks me up, sitting me on the edge like he was sitting earlier. Then he lodges his body between my legs and we are face to face now.
“The Priestess was speaking the truth, I have not seen a witch dance like that,” he says and watches me straight in the eyes, which makes my mind go blank. I just stare at him. He really is so beautiful.
“And so are you, little witch. No wonder my daughter picked you for her vessel.” He is touching my cheek with the back of his finger and my insides shake.
“I am very pleased with this offering. Very pleased, indeed.” With his hand between my breasts, he pushes me down onto the altar, and now I’m lying there like a virgin sacrifice with my legs dangling off it, around his hips. He leans over me on his forearms and I can feel his erection through the non-existent pants I’m wearing. His loincloth doesn’t help at all. My breath is coming in little puffs in his face, and he closes his eyes and takes a long sniff.
“Mmmmmm, jasmine. I like it.” He looks back at me and I still just stare at him.
“I think this is an offering I would like to sample.” He says it like he’s talking to himself more than me, and judging by that thing I feel poking me between my legs, I can imagine what kind of sampling he is talking about. He looks up and follows a line with his finger, from my forehead down my nose, then he rubs it on my lips a little before he follows down my chin, neck, all the way to my breasts, and with one movement, he grabs the scarf and rips it off my body. He hums to himself and touches me like a sculptor would clay that he is shaping. I don’t want to, I really don’t, but my body is reacting to him on its own, and he seems pleased by it.
“Very responsive, little witch.” He quickly looks up at my eyes, then down again at my body. “I can’t remember the last time I desired to taste a mortal,” he says, looking up at the moon.
As soon as he is not looking at me, I can think clearly, and for a second there, I remember why we are doing this. And I remember what Inanna said, to entice him. Well, if he’s going to grope me anyway, I’d better make sure I get what I came here to get. Here goes nothing, I think to myself. Reaching up, I place my hand on his chest. It’s shaking and I know he can feel it, too, but he doesn’t say anything. I look at him with half-closed eyes.
“You don’t have to be the only one tasting,” I purr, and it sounds strange to my ears, but I guess it’s working, because now I have his full
attention.
“Is that so, little witch?” he growls at me.
“That is so,” I smile and he smiles too, but he looks like a cat that ate the canary.
“Well, don’t let me stop you, then.” He rips off his loincloth and my jaw drops. Holy Mother. Well, you asked for it, you dum-dum, I tell myself.
“You are a funny little creature,” he laughs.
I lift myself up on my elbows and look at him. All of him. He steps away to give me a better look. Modesty is not a strong suit with gods, and with good reason, I might add.
“Are you going to just look at me all night, little witch?” he says, and I can hear the laughter in his voice. Oh, you’ll lose that laugh very fast, I think as I sit up. I curl my index finger in front of my face, calling him closer, and he raises his eyebrows but comes. As he is coming closer, I reach with my legs and pull him to me like that, placing my arms around his waist, sliding one onto his back and the other onto his butt. His perfect butt, if I may say so myself. He is breathing more deeply now. I start raining little kisses on his chest and he throws his head back, enjoying it.
“Your lips are very soft and soothing, little witch,” he says up to the sky. Here is my chance.
“I’m happy you like them, but too bad you can’t enjoy them for more than tonight,” I say as if it’s just small talk.
“And who will stop me if I want to enjoy them again?” He looks down at me.
“Oh, well, Tiamat, for example,” I say, while I’m looking at his eyes, and I bite gently on his nipple. I see flames of a thousand suns in his eyes. He can burn me to ashes if he so pleases.
“What does that evil creature have to do with you?” he asks.
“Ummm, well, she thinks I know where the potions are, so she can find the realm where Anzu is hiding the Tablets of Destiny.” I’m proud of myself. I’m talking like we are discussing the weather.
He laughs.
“That’s ridiculous. Only I know where they are, no one else,” he says, and you can hear the arrogance from miles away.
“Hmmm. Well, I’m not so sure about that. You see,” I start kissing up his neck, giving little licks and as I hold him with my thighs, his hips flush to mine, I rock my hips gently and bite on his ear a little. He growls louder at that and starts rocking his hips, too.
“She sent a warlock to kill me if he gets his hands on me, because she is sure I know,” I whisper in his ear, and he shivers a little. Look at me, making a god shiver. I want to pat myself on the back. I’ll do it later, if I live. He grabs my hips and grinds himself on me.
“Don’t worry, little witch, no one can find them,” he says, and kisses me with such passion that I forget everything—what I was saying, why I’m here, absolutely everything, including my own name.
While he is kissing me, he lifts me up a bit and rips the pants off, too, with one flick of a wrist. Now here I am in my birthday suit, with only the necklace, armband, and the shackles he put on me, sitting on the altar in front of a god. What has the world come to? I wonder. I need to think, but I can’t. He is messing with my head. He pulls me up, then places me flat across the altar. Moving slowly, he comes to my feet, takes hold of my ankles and pulls me towards him while placing my feet apart on the edge.
“No more talking, little witch. Now I sample my offering.”
Before my mind catches up, his head is between my legs, and I feel his tongue moving, circling, sipping like he is drinking from the chalice of life. My eyes roll to the back of my head, and I reach with both hands to get a hold of his head. He hums, and my entire insides shake from it. I feel his tongue enter me, and it’s so warm, it feels wonderful. I arch my back and he puts his hands under me, holding my hips up while taking his time sampling the offering. At the moment, I don’t mind at all. In the middle of the haze, I hear Meda’s voice in my head. “The potions” is all she says. Huh? What potions? I’m thinking. I have no idea what she’s talking about. Sin lifts his head and I look down at him. His face is flushed and his lips are all glossy from my juices.
“Don’t worry about the potions, little witch. I have hidden them very well. No one can find them, of that you can be sure.” He dives back down, and I reach over my head for the opposite side of the altar, holding it so tightly my fingers may start bleeding. Meda’s voice interferes again, and it’s starting to annoy me. Can’t I enjoy this?
“Where are the potions?” she says, and then she’s gone again, thank the Goddess. Sin lifts his head again, and I’m about to tell him not to worry about it but keep doing what he was doing, when he says “No snake can go into the depth of the ocean, little witch. She will not find them unless she learns how to breathe under water.” He goes back to his sampling, but the mention of water zaps me like a thousand watts. He hid the potions in the ocean, but where! Think, Al! My mind is screaming. I squeeze his head with my shaking thighs.
“There are many oceans on Earth.” I look at him.
&nb
sp; He seems preoccupied with his sampling, so he absentmindedly says, “In the Pacific, so deep in the ocean where only the merpeople live, but even if she gets there, little witch, they will not give them unless she is Semiramis. Only the gift of the sea can take them.” With those words, he slides two fingers into me, starts sucking and that’s the end of the thought process for me.
My mouth opens in a silent scream, and my entire body starts convulsing on the altar while he hums contently like I’m giving him life between my legs. I don’t know how long I was shaking, but eventually the tremors subside, and he lifts his head up, licking his lips. I look down at him, trying to catch my breath.
“You are an offering fit for a god, little witch. I shall come back for more another full moon, but for now, I must go.” He lifts up, comes around the altar towards my head, and all I can do is follow him with my eyes. I can’t move a muscle. He places his hand on my head and looks into my eyes.
“I bless you with the fire of passion, little witch. May it burn in your heart with the strength of a thousand suns.” Flames come out of his chest and enter mine. Then he leans down, giving me a soft kiss on my lips and I can taste myself on them. Lifting his head now, we look at each other nose to nose.
“I shall see you soon, my little jasmine witch.” He winks at me and he is gone.
I stare at the sky full of stars, the full moon above me. Who would’ve thought the Sun God was so good at going down on a woman, I think stupidly. I’m sure if the goddesses knew, there would’ve been a line at his gates. That thought makes me laugh, and I continue looking at the moon. I mean what else can I do, right?
11
The soft fabric covering me makes me open my eyes and look up at the concerned faces of Remi, Meda, and Jezzinta. I didn’t know I had closed them.
“Are you okay?” asks Remi, and her voice is quavering like she’s about to start crying. She’s tucking the cloak around me like I’m about to freeze, and I guess it’s for her own piece of mind, because it’s actually very warm.
“I’m okay, thank you. I mean, I’m sure you saw how okay I am.”
I say it dryly, and they look at each other first, then they look around them. I lift myself up on my elbows to see what they are looking at, and I take a sharp breath in. The clearing is not much of a clearing anymore. There are trees ripped out of the ground and thrown every which way. Others look like a giant has pushed against them and are leaning on the one next to them for support. There are piles of branches and leaves everywhere.
“What the hell happened?” I look at the three of them with shock. I didn’t hear anything. I couldn’t have been that gone in my head.
“After Sin put the shackles on you, he somehow created a barrier
between you two and us,” says Meda sadly.
“I think he saw or felt us all getting ready to intervene, and he made sure we couldn’t. We tried everything to get past it, but we couldn’t see or hear you. It was like everything vanished, including the altar,” she continues, and I look from one to the other. Meda looks sad but Remi and Jezzinta look like they could bite a metal rod in two with their teeth. I’ve never seen them that angry before and it warms my heart.
“And all this destruction and mess is from that?”
“Ummmm, that’s actually from Jezzinta and me trying to break the barrier. Obviously tornadoes, thunder and trees thrown at it don’t work when the Sun God doesn’t want to be interrupted,” Remi says angrily.
“What did he do to you, sis?” asks Jezzinta, and I can see she’s bracing herself like someone is about to shoot her point blank. I sigh and lay back down, looking at the stars again.
“I’m sure Meda replayed everything she read in my mind,” I tell them tiredly. I don’t need to explain, they know.
“Actually, I couldn’t read anything, A-ma. I was trying my best to talk to you, hoping you would hear me, even if I couldn’t hear you,” she says, and when I look at her, she has tears in her eyes. I reach for her hand and squeeze it gently. She’s such a beautiful soul.
“Well, he did but he kind of didn’t,” I tell them. They stand around me, quiet, waiting for more detail. I don’t need to make them feel worse than they already do.
“If you knew how good that god is with his mouth, you wouldn’t have worried so much about me.” I try to turn it into a joke. “I mean, really, who would’ve thought, right? If witches figure this out...I feel bad for mortal men.” I smile at them, and Meda starts first, followed by Jezzinta and finally Remi, and all three of them laugh for a while. Good. At least the tension in the air has lessened because it was choking me.
“I guess she’s less of a bitch after an orgasm,” Jezzinta joked, poking me with her finger in my thigh.
“Ouch! Hey! And you’re saying you’re not?” I laugh with them. She just shakes her head.
“Let’s go, vixen. We need to get inside, it’s almost dawn,” says Remi as she helps me up.
“Dawn?” I’m shocked. It all seemed like it took fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, max.
“Yeah, well, when barriers are put like that, time moves differently inside and outside of it,” explains Meda while grabbing my other arm. With Remi’s help, they pull me off the cold rock that we’d used as an altar. I shrug on the cloak and wrap it around me like a blanket.
“And this?” I wave my hand towards the mess they’ve made. “We’re just going to leave it like this? My heart hurts for those trees.” I’m not lying. It really does.
“Oh, right!” Jezzinta starts waving her arms, chanting, joined by Remi after a second and the trees start lifting in the air, floating peacefully towards their rightful places while the piles of branches and leaves get distributed around them perfectly. Within minutes, it looks just like when we got there. Like nothing took place, and it works for me. I’ll just act like nothing happened and concentrate on what needs to be done. Then again, that god really knows his stuff. That will be a little hard to forget, but I’ll do my best. Shaking my head at myself, at Meda’s giggle, I start helping with closing the circle and collecting all of our tools that had been thrown around the altar by Sin. We gather everything and hand in hand, all four of us start walking back to the house. It’s a little difficult weaving between the trees without wanting to let go of the others just yet, but we manage. Back at the house, we drop everything in our altar room. We will set it back where it belongs tomorrow. We go to change real fast. As I come back down, I can hear the three of them already in the living room talking, and as I walk in, I see Jezzinta has already made tea. I gratefully accept a cup and bring it up to my nose.
“Mmmm, peppermint tea! My favorite.” I smile at Jezzinta.
“I figured you could use it,” she smiles back.
“I can always use peppermint tea, sister.” Sitting down in the armchair I usually take, I bring my knees up and take a deep breath.
“It’s done!” I say, and look at them.
“He told you?” asks Remi. It feels like all three of them are holding their breath.
“Yes, he told me, and it won’t be an easy task to find them. Which reminds me,” I narrow my eyes at Remi. “What does my name mean?”
“Alexia? It means defender,” she answers with a straight face.
“No, not Alexia. Semiramis, my family name.” I’m watching her face, her body language and I’m checking her energy. There, a little spike in her energy tells me all I need to know. She knew.
“Well, from what I’ve heard...” she starts but I cut her off.
“Don’t bother. I know you knew.” She looks shocked, which I actually find offensive at the moment, and in the way her whole demeanor changes, she knows that, too.
“Yes, I know, and I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t think it was the right time,” she said defensively.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Remi. Sin told me.” I take a deep breath. “He said that the potions are with the merpeople in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, and even if Tiamat and her puppet warloc
k manage to breathe under water, they still can’t have them because only a Semiramis,” I pause for dramatic effect and all three of them widen their eyes, “the gift of the sea, can take them.” I finish and stare at them.
“So that’s why Margaret died to protect you,” Jezzinta says quietly, and I look at her.
“What does that mean? She died because she loved me. That’s what people do when they truly love each other, they protect. Isn’t that right?” I’m upset. I know I’ve died violent, untimely deaths in most of my reincarnations and people I’ve loved and trusted have let me down, but they don’t have to rub it in every day. Geez, I get it. I’m unlovable or not good enough to receive what I offer to everyone and everything around me. I get it!
“Take it easy there, sap, that’s not what I meant and you know it. What I’m trying to tell you is that you’re the last Semiramis. There are no more from your lineage. They either died natural deaths or were killed,” she says, adding, “Mostly killed, come to think of it.”
I just stare at her. I don’t know my biological father and never bothered to learn much about his part of the family until my grandparents found out about me and decided they should be part of my life, although they didn’t make much effort apart from teaching me the Druid ways when they had time. I never really cared, to be honest, as long as I had my other grandmother. Now I wonder if there’s more to it than I was led to believe.
“So what does that mean for me exactly? We already know they want me dead, but this changes everything. If they find out about this, I’ll wish they just want me dead,” I say solemnly.
