Dark Rain: Book 1 of The Aetherium Saga

by Jilly MacKenzie

  Though the thought of himself at full power once again, was hard to believe, Marduk secretly vowed to try and see himself as everybody else saw him. A royal prince. Son of Enki. Liberator of Nibiru. And thinking about Nanaya’s constant assurance, Marduk also decided to try and have faith in those that have faith in him.

  Chapter 35

  Reunion

  She was dancing alone in her dark chambers when Marduk had aetherated to her. The windows were open, allowing the Atlantic wind to blow the opulent, claret drapes. The undulating red, her flowing white gown, and her wild golden locks, created a hypnotically beautiful image from which Marduk could not avoid. The familiar sound of the current age’s popular music, dark-indie, was lilting its rhythmic pulses, and low, melancholy lamentations.

  Anubis was twirling and flowing with the music, a dance which could rival Nanaya’s own legendary dances.

  She twirled to face his direction, and was momentarily startled to see him watching her. She placed a hand on her hip and glared at him with a smirk.

  Don’t stop, he groaned, annoyed with himself for causing her to cease. She turned away from him slowly, her feminine shape was tantalising beneath the delicate Nibiran silk of her ivory gown. He huffed in amusement and impatience at her teasing, and then aetherated behind her, inhaling the salty breeze in her hair.

  Should you really be using your power as frivolously? She jibed, and he twirled her around to face him. Her smooth skin excited him, and small sparks of static erupted from his fingertips. She noticed the two tell-tale signs of his aetherations. Dark, charcoal symbols on the hardwood flooring. Years of curiosity finally burst into her thoughts, what do they mean?

  He smiled, and slowly stepped away, walking over to his first aetheration mark. She followed him as he knelt down at the edge of the crude lines.

  ‘This... is me,’ he revealed, waving his hand over the complex triangular shape. Then he delicately touched a small star symbol with eight prongs, located within it.

  ‘Dingir. The mark of a god,’ and then his hand moved above a line of scratch-like cuneiform.

  ‘Amar-utuk. Calf of the Sun. My birth name,’ and then he shrugged, ‘But I prefer the Babylonian version, Marduk. What my people called me, long ago.’ Anubis was once again aware of just how important Marduk was. His lineage and his age. Mark of a god. He is a god... and she looked upon him with astonishment. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. She was the only person that he wished would not view him as a god.

  Don’t think of me like that, he pleaded as he rose to his feet with a sigh, you are my equal.

  She snorted with amusement, maybe, if I was like you... He gently pulled her over to the other aetheration mark, and held her close.

  ‘Do you know what this one is?’ he quizzed her, gazing over the stark etching. She eyed the familiar symbols in confusion.

  ‘No. But I’ve seen it before, I think... At the masquerade,’ she pondered.

  Think, and feel it’s lines. Open your mind to your ancestor language. You will know its meaning, he urged.

  It suddenly hit her like a blast of warm fragrant air. As if someone had just opened a door, which lead out to a shower of hot summer rain.

  Love, she realised, and looked up into his blue eyes, ‘It’s love,’ she breathed.

  He nodded, gazing down at her with a soft expression, ‘And in this, we are equals,’ he emphasised, ‘I am not your god.’

  She reached up on her tiptoes, and planted small kisses along his stony jaw. He stiffened with a sharp inhale of surprise.

  ‘It was just a matter of time until our lonely, isolated souls, found company with one another,’ he purred. ‘It seems it was my destiny to Fall. To be in that cave, at that moment, waiting for you,’ he revealed, and Anubis could feel the light-headed feeling of relief and completeness, emanating from him through their unseen connection.

  ‘In all my 447 millennia, I never loved anybody. I was incapable of it.’

  ‘You told me you had a wife once,’ Anubis pondered, ‘Sarpanit. You never loved her?’

  ‘Our union was one of convenience,’ Marduk admitted, ‘I needed an heir. She was the sister of Nanaya, and a close friend to me, until she left our ranks and eloped with her true love. A human king called Dumuzid. I helped them escape to their new life, and I haven’t heard from her since.’

  ‘She loved a human too,’ Anubis smiled.

  ‘Yes, but it was forbidden back then. Humans were still considered far below us in every capacity.’

  ‘We both were incapable of love, it seems,’ Anubis lamented, recalling her tumultuous marriage to Deryk. ‘We loved our sons, of course, and friends, but we never felt the fiery consuming love of lovers.’

  ‘Until now?’ his deep voice rumbled like a landslide.

  ‘Until now,’ she concurred with a sly grin, and he pulled her roughly to him in frustrated amusement.

  ‘You have a darkness in you that matches my own. Your inner demons know the names of mine, and they dance together,’ he spun around with her and placed her down, blue eyes gazed into blue eyes, ‘And they no longer consume us,’ he whispered, brushing his lips over hers.

  His resonating low voice was like liquid velvet to her ears, and it both soothed and excited her. She quivered with desire and pulled away from him teasingly. His aether pulsated beneath his skin, and his rising pleasure became more evident. He could take no more, and with an agitated huff, he pulled her to him in a furious kiss, scrunching his starving fingers into fists in her thick hair.

  She laughed against his lips, as an amused smirk spread across his own. You’re intoxicating, he groaned into her mind.

  And infuriating? she mocked.

  He grabbed her face firmly, ‘Intensely so,’ he growled at her through a strained grin, and furiously kissed her once more.

  ‘There’s a skycraft outside...’ Finn informed from a huge dark window in the main hall.

  ‘The Cirrus,’ she replied with a laugh, ‘Obviously.’

  He frowned at her with annoyance, ‘Not the Cirrus. Obviously.’

  Her amusement quickly turned to surprise and apprehension. Deacon? IGS? Have we been found? She jumped up from her fireside seat and joined Finn at the window. The skycraft was an IGS craft which had been modified and painted red. She did not know its meaning. Finn was motionless with Lenore’s closeness, as she peered out at the uninvited guest. He eyed the white steak in her wavy red hair, and could smell her lavender wash.

  ‘Two males approaching,’ she stated in a hushed tone, slowly taking out her pistol from her thigh holster. Finn did the same, and they took up positions on either side of the main doors.

  The heavy bronze horse knocker rapped on the large wooden doors, echoing through the main hall. Beatrice and Jenny hurriedly appeared from the kitchens, and Lenore mouthed ‘back!’ and gestured for them to retreat back into the kitchens, but they only went as far as peering around the corner with curiosity. The soft patter of Cat’s footsteps descended down the staircase, and upon seeing Lenore and Finn locked and loaded by the main doors, she sat down on a step and made herself small by the banister. Waiting. Everybody was waiting.

  Emile and Johnny were watching from the top of the South Light nearby. They had seen the strange skycraft approaching and sought safety inside the lighthouse. They watched the two figures exit the skycraft, wearing holstered weapons, and they feared for themselves and the others. Johnny expected a fight, and held Emile close to him as she began to weep in fear. They felt helpless as they watched the two strangers swing the knocker once more.

  Lenore’s hand moved to the door handle, and Finn nodded in mutual understanding and readiness, bringing his pistol up to his face. Ready when you are, Norey, he thought with determination. Her grip tightened, and Finn’s body tensed, ready to defend when it finally opened. In one strong pull, Lenore swung the door inwards, shielding herself with the heavy wood, and her right hand outstretched, aiming at the strangers. She glared with only half of her face vi
sible from behind the door. One intense, defensive green eye scrutinising the two silhouetted figures in the doorway. The lights of their skycraft drowned their details, and Lenore couldn’t make out anything more than their armoured shapes.

  Finn remained hidden behind the other closed door, watching Lenore intently for any sign of hostility. She remained still, and defiant, until one of the strangers spoke.

  ‘Lenore?’ a familiar voice asked in surprise from the doorway. Her eyes narrowed as her mind worked on recognising the low husky voice. The figure stepped forward into the light of the main foyer, revealing a face to the voice. Cats small voice from the stairs beat Lenore to a gasped exclamation.

  ‘Axel...’

  He looked past Lenore and locked eyes with Cat as she stood up, grasping the stairway banister. He almost fell to his knees at the sight of her. A vision from his mind, made real. She’s alright. Thank god she’s alright.... The blissful scene before him blurred, as his eyes filled with guilty tears.

  ‘Kitten...’ he croaked, as he began to stride forward to meet her. Lenore and Finn let him pass with an uneasy exchange of looks, but Cat quickly backed away, retreating up a few steps, causing Axel to stop in surprise. Cat’s reaction hurt him, but he understood the reasoning behind it, and he nodded respectfully, backing up slowly to stand beside Lenore. He was surprised to see guilt and regret in Lenore’s eyes too.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she apologised in a strained voice, ‘I went back for you. But you weren’t there.’

  His strong chiselled face softened, and his amber eyes forgave her before he even spoke.

  ‘You have nothing to explain to me, I would have done the same,’ he admitted. ‘For my friends,’ he glanced once more at Cat, ‘And loved ones.’

  A weight that had been crushing Lenore for weeks had suddenly evaporated from her, and she grasped Axel in a strong embrace.

  ‘So good to see you again, Axel,’ she muttered into his strong shoulder. Finn clapped him on the back in greeting.

  ‘Welcome back,’ he grinned, before quickly resuming a defensive aim of his pistol at the remaining stranger lingering in the darkness of the door entrance, ‘This a friend of yours, Axel mate?’

  A chuckling blonde man stepped forward into the house, illuminating a resigned grin, and narrowed grey eyes which regarded Finn with concealed annoyance.

  ‘This?’ the blonde stranger repeated, offended at Finn’s choice of wording, ‘Really? You greet all potential allies that way?’ Finn scowled at the brashness of the intruder, his aim remained trained on the grinning grey-eyed face.

  ‘Yes, he’s a friend,’ Axel moved over to Finn, ‘My Commander actually,’ he chuckled as he lowered Finn’s aim gently.

  ‘Ambassador Falkirk I presume?’ the stranger thrust his hand towards Lenore, ‘I’m Wyatt Nolan. Commander of The Saboteurs.’ Lenore nodded and she grasped his hand with a relieved smile.

  ‘The Saboteurs!’ Lenore exclaimed with raised eyebrows, ‘I would say welcome, but that honour is not mine to give. This is not my island you’re trespassing on,’ she explained with a sly grin. Her jibe was met with an amused smirk from Wyatt who enjoyed her humour.

  ‘Then who’s island is this, Ambassador?’ he quizzed.

  ‘It’s mine,’ a steady female voice sounded from the stairs, and everybody turned to watch Anubis descend the grand staircase. Like some wild ghost, she was garbed in flowing white. Her voluminous brown hair cloaked her shoulders in tendrils and curls, like the mane of a great lion. Lenore smiled to herself, she’s healed well, both inside and out. A living, breathing victory of strength, and resilience.

  Anubis’ ethereal beauty matched that of her male companion who stalked down the stairs beside her. If Lenore, Cat, and Finn did not know otherwise, they would have instinctively mistook her for one of Marduk’s kind. A primordial goddess. It wasn’t until the beautiful pair stood before them on level ground that true details were drank in. The greater height at which Marduk stood, coupled with his strange, dark armoured clothing, gave him an air of importance. The golden flecks in his jet black hair, and the ancient language tattooed on his ivory skin, was evidence enough that he was something other than human.

  But Anubis’ scarred face, etched forever with pink lines of a previous abuse, spoke all too clearly of her true nature. Flawed, imperfect, human.

  ‘I know you,’ she narrowed her eyes in recognition at Wyatt, and he almost buckled under her beautiful, intense gaze. She was a dirty, bloody mess the last time he had seen her. Demasked, and fragile. A shivering, broken doll. Now she stood before him, reassembled in a way he could never have imagined. Healed, strong, and beautiful. The sight and sound of her thrilled him to his core. Almost inconceivable to his eyes.

  ‘And I know you,’ he answered in awe.

  Anubis regarded him with a soft expression for a moment and then turned to Lenore and Finn to explain.

  ‘He helped me escape the IGS. Where they...’ she gestured to her face with a bitter smirk. Marduk tensed beside her in confusion, he helped you out to where I encountered you?

  Yes. But then... she remembered Wyatt wrestling with an IGS guard. The sound of pistol lasers.

  ‘I had feared you didn’t make it out alive,’ she revealed to him.

  He grinned, ‘I did,’ and he lifted up his red headband from his forehead, displaying a long deep notch in his skin which disappeared into his hairline, ‘But not without a fight.’ Cat quietly gasped at the sight, and Axel shifted uncomfortably as he realised she had crept closer to the group to gain a better view of the bizarre reunion taking place.

  ‘So why are you here, Commander Nolan?’ Lenore asked, meeting his steely gaze. Wyatt grinned and replaced his crimson headband to its correct position on his head.

  ‘I was told about you, by one of your informers. Lopez.’

  Lenore nodded, ‘I know of him. He’s a contact to the Saboteurs now?’

  Wyatt nodded, ‘He spoke of an... alliance. With an alien prince,’ he turned to Marduk and gestured a thumbs up at him, ‘Guessing that’s you, big guy?’ He then turned back to Lenore with a grin.

  ‘As your collaborators, and allies in arms, the Saboteurs want in,’ he declared with pride.

  Lenore snorted in amusement, and Anubis smirked up at Marduk who merely raised an unfazed eyebrow. Wyatt seemed momentarily confused, ‘What? Am I wrong?’ He puzzled, looking at everyone for enlightenment.

  ‘You're not wrong,’ Lenore chuckled slyly.

  ‘You just referred to Satan as, ‘big guy’…’ Cat uttered a whispered giggle from behind Lenore, and Wyatt glanced at Marduk in astonishment.

  ‘Well... shit...’

  Chapter 36

  Enigma

  It was in Beatrice’s nature to nurture, and she went above and beyond to cater for everybody’s needs. Even the newcomers which were regularly turning up at the Overlook Mansion out of the blue.

  The newest Lundy additions, Axel and Wyatt, had insisted on sleeping in their skycraft. Which was perhaps for the best because the only spare bedroom which remained in the mansion was young Leo’s. And Beatrice knew that his room would stay unused and untouched until the walls crumble to dust about it.

  Emile had been suffering from a minor sickness, but was still drawn outside to Johnny and his adventures, despite Beatrice’s advice of keeping warm and rested.

  Jenny had also been acting strangely. Overly attentive to the new blonde American, Wyatt. Personally offering him various foods and drinks before Beatrice could, and laughing at his brash humour. She was curling the ends of her nut brown ponytail between her fingers, much to Beatrice’s silent disapproval. However, with everybody occupied in lengthy discussions, and explosions of laughter, Beatrice had joyously found time for herself. And she used it to seek out the company of the Conservators, whom visited Lundy regularly due to its status as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

  Beatrice listened to the chatter emanating from the warmth of the library, before she left to meet wi
th the Conservators. And all that she could understand was that, in a few days, there was to be an important gathering of some sort.

  ‘So, in two days then?’ Wyatt sighed, settling back into his armchair and spreading his long legs out in front of the fireplace. Marduk nodded silently, lost in thought of the coming assembly of alliances on Nibiru, while the rest of the group regarded Wyatt with insatiable curiosity.

  He was cocky, and so sure of himself. Not a care in the world. And Lenore admired that about him. He was the textbook image of a mercenary from the 1990’s. The way he wore his clothes. Dark denim trousers, torn at the knees. He had removed his large canvas jacket, to reveal a sleeveless vest which revealed well-muscled arms, and shoulders which were used to carrying heavy loads and weapons. The crimson arm band of the Saboteurs, he chose to wear as a head band around his head, over which flopped his curtains of blonde hair. And his constantly tensed brow guarded a pair of steely grey eyes.

  He had revealed his age to be only twenty-eight but the lines on his face spoke of a hard life. Of toils, and struggles, and the various scars upon his arms were trophies of hard won victories. Jenny was surreptitiously counting the marks on his vanilla skin.

  He was an awesome sight to behold. He had a sort of masculine beauty about him, but in a different way from the flawless perfection of Marduk. Wyatt was an action film ghost from the past. A visage of confidence and self-assurance. His demeanour sang of fist-fights, and brotherhood. From an age of honour and gentlemen, long forgotten.

  The comradery which Wyatt held with Axel, was refusing to take hold with Finn, who watched the cocky American with defiant disdain. He didn’t like the way he strutted about the place like a cockerel, and the way he had implanted himself in their circle, through a friendship with Axel, and an attempt at rescuing Anubis. And now he’s some sort of professional partner with Lenore, through the alliance and shared cause of their organisations, he internally seethed with rejection of Wyatt, but was also irritated at himself, because a small part of him was jealous. He was fearful his usual place beside Lenore would now be compromised.