Transit of Ishtar,(Book 2 of Sinnis)

by Gibson, Natalie

  Nathalia didn't wait when Eiran released her. She was running faster than lightning across the desert floor instantly. She outran the sun, and it sank below the horizon behind her. She felt the ground change from sand to dirt and rocks. She stopped running. Eiran stopped right behind her.

  Directly in front of them was exactly as she had sensed it. There was a sole man and 109 sheep all sleeping soundly. She was puzzled at first because as she looked at him, she began to feel convinced that he was dead. Eiran gave Nathalia further instructions, “Conceal yourself from him and the animals. Just project an image of a peaceful night, and a feeling of safety from any predators. You will find it effortless.” He didn't tell her this was how he provided the clothes she wanted when she asked to be labasu. There were never any clothes there, but he projected the image of them and the feeling of modesty to her.

  Without allowing her to sense it, Eiran aided Nathalia in creating the camouflage needed. They both together skirted the sleeping herd without alerting even one ewe to their presence. A few of the lambs, young people and animals were the hardest to hide from, picked up on their proximity, but were reassured by their mothers calmness and settled back down.

  When they were close to the shepherd, Eiran dampened the hunger so that Nathalia could think straight. He left it strong enough to overcome her fear and repulsion of drinking blood. He instructed her so that only she could hear. Hold his mind and thoughts steadfast with yours. Tell him not to wake up until we are safely away. Take what you need from him slowly. I will be here to make sure you do not accidentally kill him.

  Nathalia didn't respond aloud nor silently, but walked forward. She took hold of the shepherd's mind. When his arms dropped to his sides and his staff fell to the ground she took him in her embrace. Bending his head to one side, she sank her teeth into his neck.

  Life poured into her mouth and she swallowed it in great gulps. Colors exploded all around her and as she fed she could see the different measures of life in everything around her. Lizards and beetles under the dirt, plants and cactus clinging to the sandy topsoil: everything was counted and recorded by her as possible prana providers. Her eyes fell on Eiran and he glowed differently than anything else. He was somehow more alive than anything should be.

  Again, thoughts she did not recognize as her own rang out in her head, voiceless. Yes, it is good, is it not? His blood would taste even better. Don't fight the hunger. Kill the man and then move on to the Nephilim. He is weak and would not fight you.

  The humans hands brushed Nathalia's bare skin, and she heard a deep growl come from Eiran. She jumped at the sound, breaking her seal around the bite. Blood began to flow from the two pricks. She did not know what Eiran had done, but the man sagged against her, his arms dropping to his sides once again. The hunger was not gone, but reduced to a manageable level. She felt strong and maybe a little high. Nathalia heard Eiran's instructions again, Bite your lip or tongue and rub your blood on the wound. It will heal him and he will have no physical evidence that tonight was different than any other.

  Nathalia did as he said, but as she kissed this human's neck, Eiran growled again. She pulled away, sensing the danger was to the human and not to herself. She laid him down on the ground and crossed to meet Eiran. The Hunger, is that how it is for you all the time?

  “It is worse. Especially since your conversion. You are incredibly tempting and I must hold the whole hunger beast until you are prepared to manage your half.”

  That was only HALF?!

  “We have had the whole beast within us since the dawn of civilization. Only our Sinnis Ina Ummum Zumru Warki Sessu Sessum-Esrum can carry her half, dividing our burden.”

  I can't imagine anything stronger than that hunger. I'll try to learn to carry my half quickly. Nathalia felt amazing. She couldn't stay somber under the influence of her feast. She giggled. Mentally. What's a Sinnis Ina...

  “It is what you are. What every mate will be. It means 'woman from mother's body after sixth six-ten, or 360, generations'.

  Nathalia's mind was all over the place. It was impossible to stay focused. She was really horny now. What was all that growling about? I was only doing what you told me.

  Eiran tried hard not to show his emotions but did not hold back the truth. “You did very well for your first feeding. Everything was done in accordance with our laws. I did not properly anticipate how great my jealousy would be. When he touched you and you healed him with your mouth, the rage built within me. I am sorry. I will try to control my emotions better, but in the future perhaps we will find women for you to feed from.”

  I like women better anyway. Nathalia said snidely. She gave him images of herself with various female lovers from the Abbey. I'm not innocent. My virginity is a technicality. I still have my 'maidenhood' as you called it, because I've never slept with a man.

  Nathalia felt downright giddy from her first feeding. It was exactly like being high and she wanted to talk about what she was feeling. I didn't expect it to be so delicious. Did you do something to make me think it was so good? I know you helped me with my first feeding, but not how. I would probably have killed him if you hadn't.

  Eiran knew it was difficult for Nathalia to admit that he had helped her. He pointed to the right and they started walking where the desert met the range. “Yes you would have.”

  Nathalia was shocked that he could be so flippant about her killing someone. And if I had killed him?

  “Almost all of us killed our first donor while trying to master our fully matured hunger. The others would understand your difficulty in stopping. We eased into it throughout puberty; you were converted and so had not time to acclimate.”

  Did you kill your first?

  “Yes. It was a servant boy. His name was Etu and he had always been kind, never showing his fear of me. We were going to battle and I needed strength. He volunteered. I felt so terrible that I tried to change him. I thought I could save him and arrogantly broke the law. My blood reanimated his dead body. I had to kill him again.” Eiran was clearly shaken from telling her this story, but it had to be done. She had to be taught their ways and their laws. He came to a stop and pointed up toward a rock ledge twenty or more feet above their heads. “That is where we are going.”

  Nathalia looked around for a way to climb up, but found none. She turned back to him to ask how. Eiran was nowhere around. She heard his voice from on high and looked to find him standing above her. “I tabalu because I have not fed. If I moved you too, you would lose your added strength and satiety. Jump up.”

  Nathalia was eager for physical exercise. The blood seemed to encourage it. She felt she could dance with abandon for hours, as she had heard people on ecstasy could. She effortlessly jumped straight up and landed on her feet on the ledge next to Eiran. “We only feed when we are going into battle or need strength for important tasks.”

  The full moon rose over the mountains behind them. They both felt her rise and Eiran explained, “Annu is our sister and strengthens our abilities.”

  Nathalia sat, hanging her legs over the edge. They swung like a child's. Will my cycle still follow the moon's?

  Nathalia had never bothered to go on the pill. She didn't have sex with men and didn't see the point. Her period had always been a regular as clockwork, if clock's ran on moon time. She also felt it was deeply wrong for the male dominated career of gynecologists to be so insistent that every woman take medicine. Medicine was for when you were sick. They were saying that there was something wrong with all women, something that had to be controlled. Yes, at first it had been a great step in women's rights, but it'd taken a turn for the worse when men began to use it as their control over women's choice.

  “I do not know if you will have a cycle at all. You haven't had one yet.”

  Nathalia's legs quit swinging and she turned back to Eiran. Am I barren? She may not have wanted kids before, but she liked having the power of choice.

  “You are the first female of our race. We have never been
able to impregnate human women. We don't know if it is because we, as a race of half-breeds, are barren or if we are just not compatible with human women.”

  Half-breeds...half what and what? Wait, are you telling me that you really are a biblical Nephilim, born when the angels saw that the 'daughters of men' were beautiful and came down to have sex with them?

  “My father loved my mother more than anything. He defied gods and started a holy war with his maker to be with her. He didn't do that just have sex with her. The bible is a misguided collection of stories and myths gathered from many cultures. Some are accurate, but most are tainted by the men who wrote them down.”

  I agree with you there. Nathalia had known that since she was very young, but keeping your mouth shut about those beliefs was smart when you grew up in the bible belt.

  “I will tell you what I can. My mother was a human, and she was very beautiful. She was born in a time before religions existed, other than ancestor and the great mother worship. She was very revered even at a young age and was seen as a symbol of holiness because of the many children she had successfully bore.”

  Eiran hesitated. Nathalia prompted him, Your father was not human? but still he paused. Eiran had mentioned Yhwy before but, Surely the Jewish god is not the one true god as they claim?

  “No, humans throughout the ages have assigned attributes to us, our fathers and their makers to help them explain the world. They are incorrect. My father, along with others, was created by a being named Yhwy to be her lovers.”

  Yahweh's a woman?! Then we're created in god's image, not men.

  “Yhwy had no gender. She recreated herself in your image when she looked with jealousy at the way women create life after physical pleasures with men. She was a member of the Gregori, and was only supposed to watch. She was a selfish creature who broke the law many times. The Igigi will teach you more when you meet them.”

  Nathalia lay back and crossed her arms behind her head. Eiran fought to keep his gaze straight forward and his mind off of how tempting she looked laying there in the moonlight. Her breasts were almost offered up, pointing to the sky and her smooth tight stomach begged to be touched. He could barely think of anything other than how he wanted to have those same physical pleasures with her here, now and for all eternity. He, like his father, was willing to go to any length to have the love of a woman. Not any woman, this woman, Eiran's Sinnis.

  When will I meet them?

  Eiran's voice cracked a little from the pressure of his passion, “Soon”.

  Not trusting his own strength of will, Eiran took two steps toward the edge and leaped. He landed silently on the ground below. He had to get away, but couldn't. It was time to train the woman that he loved most, the one that would be called to kill him and all like him. She had much to learn and the hunger would not stay down for long on the blood of one human.

  What is that? Nathalia dropped down to the same level as Eiran and turned toward the disturbance she had felt.

  Eiran was kneeling and both arms were plunged into the earth elbow deep. His head was turned slightly, like he was turning an ear to the earth.

  Nathalia closed her eyes and her other senses took up the slack. It was not a sound but a vibration she could feel. The earth was speaking. When Nathalia opened herself up to it, she understood Ki no worse than if she had an audible voice. She was telling Nathalia of all the atrocities being committed by Akhkharu around the world. They and the men they influenced were spilling the blood of innocents all over Ki's flesh. There was something evil very close by and Ki was warning her and begging for her help too. When Nathalia opened her eyes, Eiran was standing again.

  He took her hand and started running, never giving Nathalia the option of not accompanying him. Where are we streaking off to? The blood got the better of her again and she giggled. They were running so fast that the word streak had come to mind, shortly followed by the realization that they were nude. It wasn't even funny but she couldn't stop herself.

  What she saw when they came to a halt sobered her up quick. There were seven nomadic houses erected here. One was on fire. There was yelling and screaming coming from the others. There were a few people meandering around. One stumbled and fell into the flaming tent. He stood up and walked off, taking no note that his head was on fire and making no attempt to put it out. What's happening?

  “The dead have risen.” He bolted, leaving Nathalia standing, gawking. She watched as he attacked the burning man from the rear. Eiran wrenched the man's head hard to the right, tearing it loose from the body. The body did not stop walking. Eiran jumped up and landed a kick square in it's back, propelling it into the fire. He tossed the head after it. He grabbed a pole from the now skeleton like structure and used it like a spear, running it through the chest of another man. He used it to push the shiskabobed man back into the fire, laying him on top of his headless buddy. He stabbed through them both, securing the point end into the ground.

  What the hell are you doing? She ran after Eiran. He was obviously on some kind of killing frenzy. He had another one decapitated before she got to him. He tossed the head to her and she unwittingly caught it. It's unseeing eyes blinked. She stared at the totally cataract white pupil and iris and knew she was looking in the face of a zombie.

  Zambi. Made when our blood is used to animate a dead corpse or if the human dies during conversion, a zambi is a truly mindless creature and will not even fight to protect itself. It knows no fear and feels no pain. It only exists with one thought: binging on human flesh, namely the brain.

  Nathalia tossed the head into the fire, where it continued to work it's jaw. I know what a fucking zombie is, Eiran. She had no idea they were real though. And weren't they supposed to die if their head was removed or their brain destroyed?

  She didn't have time to think about that long. The bite to her upper left arm jolted her. She brought her right knee up and spun around, making contact with the zombie's spine. The crunching sound was telling. She had not just kneed the man in the kidney as she tried to do, she had broken his spine in two. The zombie's body bent backwards, folding in half the wrong way, but he did not go down. He merely started walking towards her, his legs moving opposite their normal way. His head, now hanging upside down was snapping at her and his arms flailed.

  The burning of the bite made her miss the evidence of her massively increased strength. Nathalia dropped to her knees. The burning in her arm had traveled to her chest and neck. It was like a wildfire burning across the prairie of her body. She was temporarily blind. Stars whited out her vision as the heat made it to her face and eyes. She felt a rush of hunger and knew she was becoming one of them.

  Then as fast as it had come on her, the burning pain was gone. He'd said they felt no pain and hers was gone because she was a zombie. She didn't feel like a zombie, but who knew what one felt like. Her vision was back and she saw Eiran remove the head of the zombie she had broken in half. He tossed it into the fire. She looked beyond the still stumbling, very confused body and saw that they were surrounded. She had seen enough zombie apocalypse movies to know that individual zombies might be easily dealt with, but big groups always meant death.

  Get out of here Eiran! Leave me. She stood and looked around for any weapon she could use. She was determined to go down fighting. Eiran ran to her. He held a short sword in his right hand. She gestured that he should give it to her but he only looked puzzled. I need something to fight them while you make your get away.

  Then he kissed her hard on the mouth and she almost forgot they were surrounded by a mob of zombies. Almost.

  “I am sorry you were bitten.”

  Yeah, me too. Now go. She reached down to grab the sword, but jerked her hand back when she made contact. He wasn't holding a sword in his hand; the sword was in place of his hand. She didn't have time to deal with that shock. I need a weapon. Man what she wouldn't give to be back in Texas. Texans would never have trouble containing a zombie outbreak. There were guns everywhere. Everyone had on
e, or two. Or ten.

  Eiran pointed to the ground behind her. She spun, grabbing up the machete and decapitating a zombie on the way down. She struggled a little with the body, not knowing how to stop it's lumbering advance.

  “Do not worry about the bodies. The mouth is the only item of worry. We will deal with bodies after all teeth have been neutralized.”

  I'm afraid I won't be much help later.

  “On your left!”

  Nathalia brought the machete down at an angle, taking the zombie's right arm and shoulder off with it's neck and head. It hit the ground. There wasn't as much blood as she would have expected. It wasn't like in the movies. The hand reached out, grabbing a fist full of earth, and pulled it's shoulder and head towards her. Okay, maybe it was a little like the movies. Annu, help me.

  “I can handle these. There is a group of women and children in that house that are in need.”

  Women and children in need was Nathalia's specialty. She had prayed to Annu and Annu had delivered the motivation Nathalia needed to make it through. Some good to focus on, in all this gore. But, I can't go in there. What if I bite one of them?!

  “You are no zambi. Zambie bites only infect humans.” Nathalia took off running and Eiran continued in her mind. The infection runs it's course through us, causing pain and a moment of it's effects, but our blood burns it out. It is meant to stall us, handicap us in battle.

  Nathalia quickly dispatched the two zombies standing in front of the house. One of them had been stabbed and sliced repeatedly, his arm dangling by a single flap of flesh. It went down no faster than it's partner who seemed whole. Inside she could feel several woman, one young teenage boy and half a dozen children. They were panicked, frantic. Nathalia quickly blanketed them with peace. She only entered once every mind was calmed.

  The women and children were huddled in one corner. The teen boy held the sole blade in the room, but it dangled at his side. He was too peaceful to defend himself against the zombie now lunging at him. Nathalia cursed herself for her thoughtlessness. She hadn't sensed the zombie because it's mind was not something hers recognized as a receptacle.