The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy)

by Traci Harding

  ‘Mathu!’ I dropped down beside him, my heart breaking as I saw that he looked half dead.

  ‘I’ll find out what’s going on,’ Polaris said, and headed into the crowd, Dexter hot on his heels.

  ‘I’m going to get these ladies to Murias,’ Taejax said quietly. He was the only Dracon at this stage evolved enough to withstand passage through Giza’s portholes.

  ‘All my best thoughts are with you in your quest this day, Mistress,’ Jezabel said, and blew me a kiss.

  My other Draconesses did the same as they followed her and Taejax through the porthole to the Otherworld.

  ‘I will see you all on Sirius B, in the not too distant past,’ I vowed to them, grateful for their faith in me and their encouragement.

  Mathu stirred as I cushioned his head in my lap and kissed his forehead gently. ‘Kali?’

  ‘Yes, my love,’ I replied, my cheek against his forehead. I was so thankful to be able to hold him in my arms and feel him close.

  ‘You must stop Ill,’ he said, and pointed towards the crowd of Anu warriors. ‘He has the Staff of Amenti.’

  The news passed through me like a shockwave. As I looked towards the entrance to the Giza complex, Polaris came running out to give me a report.

  ‘Ill and Ki are fighting it out in the Hall of Records. It seems Killian finally figured out how to get both sides of his brain to operate at once—he’s channelling both the Sanat Kumara and Ill at the same time. Ki is trying to convince Ill that his dream of ruling over a shadow universe will never be. They keep running all the possible scenarios through the Hall of Records, but no matter how many times it predicts Ill’s destruction, Ill won’t consider the path of light.’

  ‘The Staff of Amenti, however, is back in our possession,’ said Solarian, who’d followed her partner.

  My father and Levi put in an appearance soon after, looking as if they were on a mission.

  ‘What are you lot up to?’ I asked.

  ‘We want to do something nasty to Ill’s ship,’ my father said. ‘But I need to know what the control deck looks like, in order to teleport us there.’

  He crouched beside me and I smiled, happy to assist. He placed a hand over my third-eye area and closed his eyes to receive the image of the control deck as Kali remembered it.

  ‘Thank you, sweetheart,’ he said, and kissed my forehead. ‘We’ll be back.’

  As my father joined hands with his teammates, he warned Polaris, ‘Now be sure to let me do the driving or we’ll end up somewhere in World War II.’

  Solarian and Levi looked amused, but Polaris wasn’t so happy. They vanished before I could catch his retort.

  ‘I fear Ill will never choose the path of light by choice,’ Mathu said, sitting up and gazing into my eyes. ‘He’s never loved anything.’ He leaned close to kiss me, but I jumped up. ‘Sud!’ I cried. ‘We have to go.’

  Mathu suppressed his disappointment and dragged his long-suffering body to its feet to accompany me on one last tiny quest.

  CHAPTER 42

  MICRO-DEATH

  ASHLEE GRANVILLE-DEVERE—SOLARIAN

  On the control deck of Ill’s mother ship we were confronted by half a dozen Nefilim warriors, Erragal and Namtar among them. Although I had never seen the latter in his Nefilim form, I’d heard talk of his golden cape. All three of us began firing liquid-light darts and, with no Dracon to protect them, the Nefilim were sitting ducks.

  ‘Where’s Polaris?’ I called out to the others. It seemed we had lost my partner en route.

  ‘I told him to let me drive,’ Arcturus said drily as he took out the last of the Nefilim.

  Erragal was not among the bodies now purging themselves around us, and Namtar had pulled his famous disappearing trick the instant he saw our liquid-light guns.

  ‘Erragal must have escaped into the ship,’ Arcturus cursed, needing another man to back him up. ‘Where’s Polaris?’

  ‘You don’t know where he is?’ I said, horrified. ‘I thought you and he must have planned his absence.’

  ‘I’m going after Erragal,’ Levi said, without waiting for our agreement.

  Arcturus and I were torn. If Namtar was with Erragal, it would be two against one. If Arcturus left me here, I might have to face Namtar alone.

  ‘Go after him,’ I urged Arcturus.

  ‘I won’t leave you,’ he vowed, as he had many times before. He had spent so many years in my service, protecting me from danger, that he seemed to forget I was now very capable of taking care of myself.

  ‘I don’t carry the ringstone any more, so let that damn curse go, can’t you?’ I said, and pushed him towards the door where he finally relented. ‘And don’t worry about me,’ I added. ‘I believe Polaris isn’t here because he knew something bad was going to happen—’

  And then I felt the spike against my neck and every hair on my body stood on end.

  The look on Arcturus’s face was one of utter bewilderment and horror.

  A shock like a bomb blast shot through my entire being and all my lives flashed before my eyes as the Orme spike pierced my skin and shot into my brain…

  ‘Let that damn curse go, can’t you?’ I said, and pushed Arcturus towards the door where he finally relented. ‘And don’t worry about me,’ I added. ‘I believe Polaris isn’t here because he knew something bad was going to happen—’

  I felt an eerie sense of déjà vu, and knew it meant something, but by the time I remembered, I felt the spike against my neck. Too late.

  The look of horror on Arcturus’s face turned to relief at the soft sound of a light-bullet being fired. I felt the spike scrape a large bloody scratch down my back. Polaris. My eyes filled with tears of love.

  My foe dropped to the floor and my husband moved into his place behind me, where he kissed my bloodied wound. ‘I’ve always got your back, my love,’ he told me with heartfelt relief, and I turned and kissed him passionately.

  A whistle distracted us from our momentary indulgence.

  ‘Erragal,’ Arcturus prompted, and we stepped over the convulsing Nefilim bodies to venture into the ship after Levi.

  When we found him, he had Erragal backed up in a small storage room and was aiming a light-gun at him. Rather than force the disgruntled warrior to convert, however, Levi was giving him the option to come willingly. We sat quietly out of the Nefilim’s view, not wanting to disturb their discourse.

  ‘Why won’t you give up this dead-end path of darkness and step into your true destiny in the light?’ Levi asked.

  ‘You angels are all fucking pussies!’ the warrior spat back.

  Levi was amused. ‘How do you figure that, when we’re the ones winning this war?’

  Erragal growled, resistant to the truth. ‘Wait a second…I remember you,’ he said, suddenly intrigued. ‘You’re the timewalker that blew up Montauk!’

  ‘Aye, that was me,’ Levi said, rather proud of the fact.

  ‘How did you do it?’ It sounded as if the demon respected the feat.

  ‘I can summon and emit EM pulses,’ Levi said, trying not to sound like he was boasting.

  ‘Fuck me!’ Erragal forced a laugh and then looked regretful. ‘I had true power once.’

  ‘You still have true power,’ Levi enlightened him, ‘it’s just been dammed.’

  Erragal slid down the wall and we heard his large form land with a thud on the floor. He invited Levi to shoot him. ‘Come on then, let’s get it over with.’

  ‘Do you repent of your sins on Earth?’ Levi asked before he would fire.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Erragal sounded agitated, as all Nefilim were when confronted with emotional issues. ‘I’ve had a gutful of living this way—is that the same thing?’

  ‘I guess it’s a start.’ Levi was looking for any sign of remorse and thought he’d try the oldest trick in psychiatry. ‘What about your mother, don’t you miss her?’

  ‘No! Treacherous snake!’ Erragal spat back.

  Levi wasn’t convinced. ‘That’s Ill talkin
g. Try digging a little deeper.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Erragal protested.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because…because…’ Erragal strained to get his words out, then choked on his remorse and broke down into tears. ‘Because it hurts!’ he wailed loudly.

  ‘That’ll do it.’ And Levi pulled the trigger to speed the Nefilim through the painful purge.

  ‘Well done,’ I said to Levi as Erragal went into spasm.

  He acknowledged my praise with a nod. ‘I believe our work here is done,’ he said.

  Arcturus raised both brows in anticipation. ‘Only one more to go.’

  CHAPTER 43

  MACRO-LIFE

  MIA DEVERE—MERIDAN

  In the Hall of Records, Killian stood perfectly still inside the light-tube of the control panel. The celestial bodies of En Ki and the Lord of the Underworld were visible on the liquid-light walls on opposing sides of the rounded chamber as they continued their debate, whilst their futuristic scenarios played out in full technicolour on the ceiling. It was like watching the gods play chess with history.

  Ill didn’t seem any closer to conceding the truth about his dark plans for the universe; if anything he was becoming more determined and more irate.

  ‘You can take your god consciousness and shove it up your arse, brother!’ he yelled. ‘I will defeat your precious cosmic light if it is the last thing I do!’

  ‘To do so is to defeat your own creation,’ En Ki advised, his voice filled with compassion as always, ‘and therefore—’

  ‘—it will be the last thing you do,’ finished a female voice.

  We all looked around to see Sud, better known as Ninlil, walk into the middle of the chamber to confront the huge image of Ill being projected, via Killian, onto its wall.

  At first Ill looked stunned, then his smug, careless demeanour returned. ‘Nice try, Kali, you deceitful moll!’ he said, then stumbled on his words as Kali stepped into the chamber and gave him a wave. Mathu, who was with her, waved also.

  ‘Ninlil?’ Ill sounded a little panicked.

  She nodded and smiled warmly at him. ‘It is I. I have come to take you home.’

  For a split second I could have sworn I saw joy in Ill’s face, but aeons of scepticism were not so easily overcome.

  ‘You abandoned me!’ he told her, letting his hatred fly. ‘You’re a contemptuous whore and I loathe you!’

  ‘Only because I bring out the good in you,’ she replied. ‘You know that I know the truth about you, and if you cut me off then you’ll never have to deal with that part of you that wishes only to be trusted, to be recognised and rewarded as your half-brother was.’ She motioned to En Ki. ‘You need not fear your father’s wrath—’

  ‘I fear nothing!’ Ill roared.

  Ninlil shook her head. ‘If that were true, you would be on the side of the righteous, who truly fear nothing. The truth is, Ill, you fear everything, to the extent that you have become fear itself. There is a big difference between inciting fear in others and being fearless.’

  ‘You left me!’ Ill squeezed out the angry words through gritted teeth.

  ‘Yes, I left,’ Ninlil defended herself, ‘so that I might find a way to free you. I sought out Lamhfada, and he sent me through the Hall of Amorea, home, to Sirius B!’

  ‘Bullshit,’ Ill said. ‘The Hall of Amorea is a myth.’

  ‘No, it isn’t. And you know it must be true if I can be standing here before you. Queen Kali of the Anunnaki, who rules the race that the Anu will evolve into in the next harmonic universe, arranged with the staff of Amenti to build the Hall of Amorea so that we all—Nefilim, Dracon and Anu—might return to our soul group and no longer suffer for our selfish, impetuous mistakes of the past.’

  Ill’s sons entered the room, barely recognisable in their glistening Anu forms.

  ‘No,’ whimpered Ill, ‘not my sons!’

  ‘Mother!’ Erragal led the charge to hold her, and within seconds the goddess was lost amid the throng of her four huge Anu sons.

  ‘My boys!’ She squeezed each one and kissed them in turn. ‘How I have missed you. I’ve been so worried…I thought I was going to lose you all forever!’

  ‘It seems like forever,’ Erragal said, hugging her again.

  Ill cried out in pain and vanished from the screen, and inside the light-tube Killian began convulsing.

  ‘Help him!’ Ereshkigal called out.

  ‘I can’t do anything from out here,’ Denera told her. ‘There’s no external override.’

  On the screen above us, Ill’s dark life and deeds began flashing across the screen. So horrific were the memory transferences that we all turned away to protect ourselves from their potentially harmful frequencies.

  Inside the light-tube Killian had changed to Ill’s demon form and was spewing black muck everywhere; thankfully the light-tube was containing the mess and holding him in an upright position. It took some time for the beautiful Anu spirit to emerge. When it did, Ill’s defunct demon body did not vanish from existence as was usual after the conversion process; he simply floated apart from it. And as he looked at his family breathlessly awaiting him, he smiled for joy.

  ‘I am ready to go home now,’ he said.

  The light-tube deactivated, spilling black bile all over the floor, and Ill’s demon body fell to the ground. His Anu self floated forward to embrace his family.

  It was heart-warming to watch. Spying my daughter, I moved to embrace her from behind; I had been so very worried about her.

  ‘I couldn’t have done it without you all,’ Tamar said, rubbing my arms. ‘I can’t believe that every last Anu soul has now been found and spared from damnation.’

  ‘I couldn’t be more proud,’ I said, and kissed her cheek. She was far too tall now for me to kiss her forehead or her crown as I used to.

  Amidst all the merriment and excitement I heard someone crying and sought the source. It was Ereshkigal. She’d sunk to a seat by the wall to stare at the dead demon. I knelt before her to explain why I had broken the promise she did not remember I had made her.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘Killian told me it was his destiny, and I believe it was.’

  ‘I know,’ Ereshkigal said. ‘I knew from the moment he touched me that day in Central Park that he was no ordinary human being.’

  Then her eyes opened wide in horror as the demon body started to twitch. She pointed, unable to voice her fear that perhaps the demon part of Ill lived on.

  Half the people in the room pulled out weapons and took aim at the creature, myself included; but upon activating my third-eye vision I was relieved to see Killian’s spirit powering the corpse.

  ‘Help!’ he cried, struggling to raise himself from the bile-soaked platform.

  Ereshkigal recognised his voice and was with him in a heartbeat. ‘Killian! What’s happened to you?’

  He sat upright, still in the demon form, and scratched his head. ‘I’m not too sure.’

  He looked up at En Ki’s image on the screen, which was smiling down on the happy scene. ‘Would my lord care to fill us in?’ Killian invited.

  ‘How inspiring it is to me that someone so ill-treated as a lad,’ En Ki punned, ‘could become so selfless that he would give his life for the good of humanity.’

  Everyone in the room sighed, but Killian waved the praise aside. ‘I had many good teachers,’ he said, indicating everyone present. ‘But, my lord, you have not answered my question.’

  ‘Well,’ said En Ki, ‘such a selfless act deserves rewarding, and as you are accomplished enough to shape-shift, I figured this body would serve you as well as any? It’s certainly better than no body at all, in which case your soul mind will just have to reincarnate on Tara. Of course, if you choose to keep this body, it will technically make you one of the Anu.’

  ‘No shit!’ Killian gasped.

  ‘No, I am not kidding,’ the lord said with a smile.

  Killian was a little confused. ‘But won’t that mess with sou
l groups and evolution and the rest?’

  ‘In the great scheme of things, as long as every soul gets back to source and none are left behind, that’s all that counts. We are all one after all,’ En Ki was happy to say. ‘Unconditional love is the most powerful force; it truly can rearrange universes.’

  Those of us who were aware that this was Killian’s greatest wish come true let loose squeals of delight, and cheered the couple who were now gazing adorably into each other’s eyes.

  ‘Would you please get in touch with your shape-shifting ability?’ Ereshkigal requested, not too enamoured by Killian’s demon appearance. ‘I would really love to kiss you right now.’

  ‘I’m so excited I don’t know if I can focus!’

  Still, with such incentive, Killian morphed into his own form; only now his features were slightly more Anu-like. His eyes and hair were still dark, however, and his face and most of his body were still covered in bile.

  Ereshkigal wiped around his mouth with her sleeve then smiled. ‘Better,’ she said, and they finally kissed to the cheers of all present.

  ‘Who is ready to go home?’ Denera called out, and everyone confirmed their eagerness.

  ‘The Kali rift is over! Blessed be all in the Ranna.’

  CHAPTER 44

  END OF THE RIFT

  It was difficult parting from our Anu allies; we had all endured so much together. But as the end of the SAC alignment was only hours away, we knew our goodbyes would have to be short and sweet.

  Arcturus and I were in the process of bidding Killian and Ereshkigal farewell when Polaris interrupted.

  ‘I’ve just had a thought,’ he said. ‘I seem to recall that I promised to take you back in time, Meridan, so you could deliver the manuscript of this tale to your publishers.’

  I laughed. ‘I’ve been a little too busy of late to do any writing.’

  But Killian cut in. ‘It’s already been done,’ he said.

  When I looked baffled, he explained further. ‘I stole the copy of The Black Madonna that Erragal took from your Signet station when I was still undercover with Montauk, and I delivered it to your publisher last week. I thought you’d be pleased,’ he said uncertainly, as my baffled expression hadn’t altered. ‘After all that work you did on it back in the fifth century, I—’