Transit of Ishtar,(Book 2 of Sinnis)

by Gibson, Natalie

  Nathalia stood, Very well. If you can control yourself, you can stay. Continue to take small amounts, when she allows it. No more healing. Never feed her your blood, or curse her to the existence of a succubus. You have the blessing of the First but it will be some time before the blessing of One is possible.

  Nurzhan bowed, turned and walked away with Gwyneth following closely. Nathalia wasn't sure she had done the right thing by leaving them together, but tearing them apart seemed more decidedly cruel than waiting to see if they made it. She also knew that if it came down to it and Gwyneth was badly hurt, Nurzhan would do everything in his power to see her through, even if it meant breaking the law. Even if it meant his own death. That's what love was like.

  ***

  The sun was just setting in Texas, but on the other side of the world where Nathalia and Eiran appeared, it was just rising. Nathalia didn't really feel funny about traveling that way anymore. She realized that the high she was getting from it at first wasn't sexual. It was more about that connection that she made with Eiran every time he tabalu'd.

  Finding the Daughters compound was easy enough. Nathalia was, as Abbess of one branch, made known of all the units. Alisha, after recovering from her seizure amnesia, had given them a pretty good description of the location of the dagger. The Sisterhood kept it on display in their sanctuary with other ancient treasures. This area of the world was rich with human history.

  Gish Abay was the town nearest to the Daughters of Women compound. Their actual land lay near the three natural springs that fed the Blue Nile. Those springs were considered holy by pagans and Christians alike and were known to possess healing powers. The Christians claimed it, but Nathalia knew it was because of the Sister's sacred burial grounds.

  Magically charged women granted special properties to the land where their bodies were buried. In Texas they had a sacred ficus grove. Those trees bloomed and produced figs year round from the secret in that soil. The fruit had healing powers (and they didn't taste too bad spread on toast in the form of preserves either). Here, the bodies blessed the spring water.

  The compound sat up in a very remote and hidden area. It was very difficult to navigate to. The location protected them from the frequent conflicts, especially religious in nature, so common to this part of the world. Luckily, Nathalia could point to it on a map and Eiran had a natural image of the world in his mind. They walked out of the surround of trees expecting one scene but getting quite another.

  Blood. There was blood everywhere and the hungry beast rose to the surface. Fangs erupted into Nathalia's mouth. She was getting used to her hunger and was able to push it down more easily. Eiran was handing it over for her to carry her own share more and more. This was more intense than usual and he reined in the portion she could not handle herself. Eiran watched as she doused the fire in her eyes and the heat was replaced by the cool calm of the normal opal-like multicolored sparkle of a Nephilim in control.

  That is why we allow ourselves to feed before a battle. These conditions bring up the beast and with enough blood on display it can come out, winning the contest for control, even with the strongest of us.

  She turned and asked, Is this too much for us?

  The fire in his own eyes was not as well under control. This is manageable. Horrific loss of life, mostly female and of family lines. Tragic yes, but not as...stimulating as an ancient battle. Consider the nature of the battles we fought long ago.

  It was true, Nathalia thought. This was nothing when compared to the carnage of a B.C.E. battle. All the spears, knives, battle axes and clubs brought tremendous damage whenever they made contact with the enemy. If she had felt that unshared level of hunger at this carnage, the unmated Nephilim must have been truly suffering at the battles she took part in as a human in Sumer. She took another look at the scene now that she could see anything other than the blood.

  The place was destroyed. It looked like a small bomb had gone off. There were rubble piles and small fires all around them. Nathalia recognized that type of hot blue fire consuming some of the bodies as the same type that had burned the vrykolak on the first night of battle with her new Nephilim status.

  She could see the Sisters had not done well against Eitan and his 'children'. Their bodies laid scattered around the buildings. Some where whole, others not so much. They all had the commonality of having some type of bite mark. Some of them had a flaming monster laying on them, as if the abominations kept killing and eating (not always in that order) even after Ud's light started to burn them. Nathalia shuddered to think what these women's last minutes were like.

  Eitan appeared. He was wearing a cloak that covered his head and whole body. Modern tennis shoes peaked out from under it's helm. He spread his empty hands in surrender.

  Nathalia called out to Ki. Ki heard and agreed.

  “No!” Eiran tried to warn her, but Nathalia was too quick. Ki acknowledged her requests quickly too. The earth had Eitan in her grasp and Nathalia yanked off his moving shelter. Eitan was naked beneath his clothes but did not recoil at the sun's touch.

  Even at a distance, Nathalia could feel the heat radiating off of him, but he did not burn. He was obviously in some pain, but Nathalia couldn't tell how much. Not enough. Not enough for Nathalia. He might not be able to die without the weapon used against him, but he could feel. She wanted him to hurt. She wanted him to bleed for what he'd done to her and what he'd done to Ereshkigal The little voice inside was egging her on. Do it. He deserves it. Cut him. Spill his blood. Weaken him.

  Eitan bated her. “Is this all you have? My brother should have better informed you. Ki will not hold me forever if Ud's punishment does nothing.” Before she knew what was happening, Eiran had a hold of her. He had her arms clamped to her sides just as he had done when he first let her hold the hunger. He was pulling her off of and away from Eitan, who was bleeding from a dozen slices on his arms, chest and legs.

  She looked down at her sword-hand. She had done it again. She'd called the metals in her body to the surface, bent and formed them to her will. She had done it without a thought. Eiran tabalu'd, resetting her body to normal and allowing Ki to cleans her of the corrupted blood.

  When they reformed, Eitan was laughing. And stretching of all things! He was using his fingers to hold open the wounds, keeping them from healing too fast. His body seemed to shimmer and then solidify again. Nathalia became aware of Eiran speaking but her body was still reeling from tabalu and her mind was still trying to figure out how to handle Eitan.

  What?

  “He counted on you not knowing that he feeds on violence, even violence against his own body. That which does not kill him, only makes him stronger.” He continued silently, That is why Akhkharu make their children. They perform unspeakable acts that provide him with the pure physical violence he needs. It is what feeds him.

  Nathalia couldn't help but think about Michael. He had 'fed' on the pain he caused her. She had managed to kill him, but Eitan was invincible, for a while at least. She couldn't just wait around for his perversion to progress far enough for sunlight to burn him. How many cities would be destroyed, how many lives demolished by then? But she had killed Michael, she would find a way to end this one. She just had to keep her head about her.

  Think. She told herself. Violence didn't work. It just helped him. She looked up and saw the waxing gibbons crescent moon and thought, Sister Annu, help me. How do you combat a villain that feeds on pure physical violence? It came to her swiftly, With pure physical pleasure, but had the answer come from within her or without?

  Of course. Nathalia just happened to have a supply of pure physical pleasure, or the power generated from it, at her disposal. She sent a quick message to Maeve, I must try something using communal power. If the capacitors get drained, cut me off from them, but not before their lives are in danger. She had lived lifetimes since she had pulled from the holy capacitors, but it had once been her only power source and the process came back to her easily. She felt the power ga
thering in the back of her head, making her feel warm and tingly, like the rush before an orgasm and then the flush was on her face. She enjoyed the strangely familiar old sensations as she formed a mental connection with Eitan.

  He went stiff. He had not expected this. “You cannot. It is not allowed for a Daughter to use holy power for death and destruction.”

  Nathalia shrugged one shoulder before speaking to him telepathically using the collected communal power supply, Have before. Words were difficult with this source and a waste of the limited power, but feelings weren't. She siphoned that pure white power through herself and into Eitan, using it to broadcast all the love and happiness she could pull from her memories. Not long ago those images would have been dominated by Maeve, but now Eiran was the key player.

  It was working. Eitan's strength seemed to be fading. He was writhing, turning this way and that, trying to get away, but the earth held. He clutched his head and yelled, “She breaks the law of the Daughters. Brother, how can she be trusted to follow ours? You will see...she will break Ereshkigal's law as soon as it suits her.” His voice's volume tapered off toward the end, sounding dry and raspy.

  It was working but Nathalia could feel the collected power dwindling. If it held out, she could win this. She pulled harder than she had before and forced it forward. Eitan was getting older right in front of her. His hair was graying and falling out. His flesh was whithering and his skin was wrinkled and discolored. His joints seemed enlarged and as age spots appeared, he hunched over.

  Then she felt it click off. Maeve had done what Nathalia told her to. She'd held off as long as she could, but did what was best for the capacitors. She had severed Nathalia's connection with the holy ones and the white energy they held. Nathalia had pulled hard and fast from them, draining them in mere moments. It was done now. Once this limb had been amputated, it couldn't be reattached. That had been Nathalia's one shot and it was spent.

  She had almost made it. At least she had learned something from it. Some Daughters who had abilities like hers could be taught to defend themselves against Akhkharu. She wished... she wished for a lot of things. More time, more power, the weapon, more training, more time with Eiran. She could store up the physical pleasures of their time together to use next time. She hoped there would be time for her to reflect. Pushing all those feelings through herself and into the Akhkharu had forced her to put a name on what she and Eiran had. What they had together was real. It was love.

  “I love you too.” Eiran's voice broke her out of her waking coma.

  Eitan's brought her back to the task at hand. “Love is overvalued. It makes us weak. I am glad I had the strength to snuff mine out when I found her.” His body was filling out again. It puffed with the memory. “Yes, my sweet. You heard correctly. I found my Sinnis ages ago.”

  “She does not need to hear that.” Eiran looked scared. He knew what story Eitan was about to tell and was frightened for Nathalia and how she would take it.

  “Ah, then I see you have not told her yourself yet. I disagree brother. She does indeed need to hear.” He turned his attention back to Nathalia. “Your precious Nephilim mate is not as innocent as he would have you believe. He is not Keeper of the Betrayers purely out of a sense of duty. Do you know how long he kept me there this last time? When you released me, my sweet, I had been entombed for over 500 years. That is longer than any have ever had to endure. The body and mind are rejuvenated after only two, so you can imagine the anguish that solitary confinement of half a millennium brings. Shocking, I know. Everyday I called out to him, begging for release. Do you know what he said? He would smile and say that I would never be released by his hand. He said that by killing Ereshkigal I had sentenced him to an eternity in solitary. He was punishing me the only way he could.”

  But, I commanded that none should avenge my execution.

  “Yes, but he did not care for that order. It did not make any difference to him that Ereshkigal had been my Sinnis. He stole the woman of our mother's body and made her his own. Where is your law against that? What justice am I entitled to?”

  “That is not what happened. I did not know that Ereshkigal was your Sinnis when she chose me. I only found out later, after you had returned to the prison time after time. I may have said some unkind things to you, brother, but we both know why you could not be released.” He struggled to defend himself against his brother's attacks to his honor. He could not bear to see the disappointment in Nathalia's eyes. “He killed her... you.”

  Nathalia remembered. As Ereshkigal, she remembered in more vivid detail than she wanted. In his twenty fifth year as Sarrum, Eitan had started a war, sending away all Nephilim not as dark as he. That included Ereshkigal's husband, Eiran. Eitan had exchanged blood with those that remained, becoming and creating the first Akhkharu. They had not known weakness and had gorged themselves on violence. They had created scores of children. No one was spared. Every citizen was killed or converted.

  Ereshkigal had come out then. Alone, save the woman on her dagger, she'd gone to the ziggurat steps. She'd had no supernatural powers being human as she was, but she wouldn't let them soil her house of worship. Her ability was so undeveloped that she couldn't even call for Eiran's help. She had stood on that step knowing all the women inside were dead. She was unwilling to let their bodies be reanimated and so she guarded them.

  For this defiance, Eitan had rewarded her with an order of torture and execution. She fought them, and even managed to kill an Akhkharu. Her knife had slid through his neck like it was made of butter, severing his head and shocking everyone there. Even she had not known what the weapon was capable of. The body and head decayed while they watched, returning to the elements of which it was made. When the sun set, the streets were filled with the dark children. There were too many and they overtook her. Eitan had arrived to take what he said was rightfully his: her blood. He had drained her slowly and then tossed her down the steps to the waiting mob who took care of the flesh and bones.

  She had managed to get a messenger out of the city before that. What he carried were Ereshkigal's Laws along with instructions for Eiran to kill all of the dark children and bury the empty city. The Nephilim had tabalu'd home but it was too late for anything but posthumous obedience to her instructions.

  Eiran filled her in on what happened after her death. “He developed a taste for women of the bloodlines and set out to eliminate each one. I gave him many chances to prove himself noble, but he always chose the path of darkness. I had to keep him imprisoned for the safety of the family lines.”

  Eitan argued, “He did it because he enjoyed it. Even now, he enjoys my pain. He wants to see you reject me again, but he fears you will not.”

  Nathalia could see the truth of both men's hearts. Ereshkigal had chosen Eiran. She had seen that Eitan was evil even if on some level she had known she belonged with him. His beast was too strong and Eitan allowed him too much freedom. She could not align herself with such a creature. Eitan may have recognized her as his Sinnis, but he had not loved her.

  “Love is a useless obsession of humans. It is not for gods such as I to worry ourselves with. It is dangerous, in fact, as your attempt has shown me. Thank you for that lesson.” And with that, he was gone.

  Eiran started after him, but Nathalia stopped him. Her thoughts immediately went back to the situation. Eitan had been a distraction. Maybe he hadn't found the weapon. He certainly had not had it on him. She sent her mind out in search of cognizance, anybody who might have survived this blood bath. There might be hope of saving a few. She reported to Eiran even thought she knew she was in charge and didn't have to, I can only sense the holy capacitors. I'm sure they're safe, but I still feel like I should go down there. I need to.

  The pull was strong and Nathalia started to run. The main building was in shambles but more or less held it's shape. The metal door to the stairs (there was no elevator like in Texas) was rolled back shaped into a cylinder still attached to the wall by massive hinges. Nathalia
dropped down the stairwell without much thought to her own safety and without touching one step. Her feet thudded on the ground after free falling for three or so flights, but not nearly as hard as they should have. A normal human would have broken their feet and legs at the very least, maybe even died. Nathalia stepped forward as Eiran landed just where she had. His landing was silent.

  He grabbed her upper arm, holding her from going forward, Our brother has been here. Can you smell him? He could have laid traps.

  She pulled her arm away, I feel very strongly that the only safe place is with the capacitors. We need to get there right away.

  She knew her reasoning was faulty. She knew Eiran knew it too. But she couldn't get rid of the overwhelming desire to move forward and so she went. She knew that other areas of the world boasted different abilities. She knew the desire was artificial, so maybe it was a type of security beacon. In case of emergency, it would call the nearest Daughter to the capacitors.

  It was dark here, only lit by the luminescence of the holy women. They were fine, although the murder of their sisters had allowed the blackness to seep into their golden power. The Akhkharu had not entered this room, but his children had. A couple of bodies lay on the floor and they carried the same vicious marks of the violent animal attacks outside.

  A small noise alerted Nathalia to a woman crouched in the corner hugging her own knees. She was nude save the blood covering her smooth dark skin. A look of panic shot across her face when Eiran entered the room. She started making whimpering noises and tried to get further from the door by scrabbling back against the wall.

  Nathalia held up her hand, motioning back to Eiran, Stay there. Don't come any closer.

  Eiran's voice was loud and out of place here in the holy collection room, “But she”.

  Not another word, Eiran. Not another step. You're scaring her to death. Nathalia began her slow approach toward the girl as soon as Eiran was held fast by her command. Be not afraid Sister. I'm here to help you and take you some place safe.