by Aja James
Anunit sighed. “Ah, to be as simple-minded as you, little Star.”
And laughed when Ishtar threw a rolled pillow at her, smacking her full in the face.
“Honestly, though,” Anunit continued, tucking the pillow under her head. “You should not have missed the formal appointment. It impacts our relations with the Maganian Hive. They are our principality but only just. We have always allied ourselves with them through Matings.”
“And I suppose Mother wants to betroth me to the Ensi’s son?” Ishtar said with a distasteful curl of her lips, joining her sister on her gigantic bed, raised high on a platform that had to be climbed with a stepping stool.
Anunit turned to look at her sister, smiling.
“The Ensi’s son is already a full-blooded Dark male in his prime. He is quite magnificent. Not as beautiful as my Enlil, of course, but almost. He is worthy of your consideration.”
Ishtar straightened and scrunched her face.
“Do you not think it ridiculous that our future Mates are already being selected for us?” she said, an impassioned flush coloring her face and neck.
“We are only ten this summer! I don’t know why you’re interested in ‘full-blooded males’ and the like. Or how you can take interest in all those dusty old tomes the Sage makes us recite. Don’t you want to run free outside and enjoy the night air? Don’t you want to do what you please without restriction? You’re like a songbird who enjoys her cage.”
Anunit did not take offense. Instead, she calmly turned her gaze to the ceiling and stacked her hands over her small, flat chest, looking philosophical and wise beyond her years.
“I take interest in whom Mother is considering for my Mate because I want to influence the outcome. She would never present me with any but the best Dark males, and I get to choose who I want in the end. So I take all of my appointments very seriously. I meet and talk at length with each of the prospective candidates and I carefully make my selection.”
“Why did you choose Enlil, then?” Ishtar asked, for the first time curious.
“Because he is the strongest of them all,” Anunit replied readily. “The power of his Gift is unfathomable. It is no coincidence he is called ‘Lord Wind,’ for he can transform himself into air, into shadows. He does not have a favored weapon in battle because he doesn’t need one. His bare hands and feet are enough to bring down dozens of foes. Moreover, he commands the most lethal warriors in the entire empire.”
Ishtar was slightly amused at her sister’s bloodthirsty delight.
“And, of course, he is perfectly beautiful. He is the embodiment of everything we prize as Dark Ones—long, midnight black hair, slanting brows and large, almond-shaped eyes. Tall and lean, with shoulders so wide they’d span three of mine. He’s a rare, glittering treasure among our Kind, and he is to be all mine.”
Huh.
Ishtar had glimpsed the mighty Enlil before. He was certainly not hard on the eyes, but she didn’t think he was all that irresistible.
In fact, the boy-man she’d met tonight on the outskirts of the city was far more beautiful in Ishtar’s opinion than her sister’s betrothed.
A hundred, thousand times more attractive.
Not that she was attracted.
She didn’t care for boys. But one day when she would, she couldn’t imagine any Ensi’s son to rival the splendor of that common blacksmith.
“I take interest in our histories and laws because I—we—must prepare to succeed the throne one day,” Anunit went on patiently, as if she were decades older than Ishtar, not just seven minutes.
“It is a serious and weighty responsibility, and I want to be able to do the job right. Mother has ruled this empire for almost three thousand years. She’s won countless battles and several wars. She’s brought peace and prosperity to a troubled land, uniting different cultures and languages, keeping upstarts and Rogues in line. Though we Dark Ones are outnumbered by humans a thousand to one, ten thousand to one, we have managed to keep the cattle in check, keep them productive, ensuring the future of our race.”
Anunit turned towards her sister, her eyes bright with an inner flame.
“Don’t you wonder how she accomplished all this? Don’t you want to continue her legacy?”
Ishtar shrugged again, and it was her turn to peer at the intricate, gold leafed ceiling.
“You’re going to do a fantastic job as her Chosen Heir,” Ishtar returned with not even a smidgeon of jealousy.
Indeed, she was thankful she had an older sister like Anunit to take up the ruling mantle so that she didn’t have to.
“Why should I bother when you’re here? You will be an even better Queen than Mother,” she said loyally, “You’re the most beautiful girl in the land, the smartest, the best fighter, with sound reason and good judgment. I, on the other hand, would make a terrible Queen, so why bother learning about the things I would never have to do?”
Anunit took Ishtar’s hand in hers and hugged her sister’s arm.
“But I want to rule with you at my side, Little Star,” she said, her voice warm and wistful. “You’re my favorite sister, after all.”
“I’m your only sister,” Ishtar reminded her.
Anunit grinned, undeterred. “My favorite sister and best friend. Enlil might be my Consort and then my Mate, but you will always take precedence in my heart over any male. We are twins, after all, even if we don’t look or think alike. We shared the same womb. You will always be the closest to my heart.”
Ishtar answered with a grin of her own and wrapped her arms around her sister in a great big squeeze.
Anunit squealed and pretended to suffer from lack of air within Ishtar’s tight hug, and then she really did suffer a little because her sister didn’t realize her own strength.
The strength of the mythical snow leopard—descendent from both lions and tigers, the most ferocious and fearsome of predators.
“I love you so, Big Star,” Ishtar murmured into her sister’s hair. “You’re my favorite being in the whole world.”
When they finally let each other go in a heap of giggles as their hug turned into mischievous tickles, Anunit remembered to ask, “Where did you go tonight? Why did you return so late?”
For the first time in her life, in a split moment’s decision, Ishtar chose not to share something with her twin.
She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant.
“I got caught up in the night market’s entertainments and forgot the time.”
She could feel Anunit staring intently at her face while she willed her expression into blankness.
Finally, Anunit said, “You better get some rest while you can. It’s almost dawn. Mother will insist that you meet the Ensi’s son today, so brace yourself.”
Ishtar gave an exaggerated shudder at the prospect and turned to face away from her sister, curling her body around a long, oblong pillow.
“Why do you still have your leopard’s tail?” Anunit suddenly commented, as said tail smacked her playfully in the face.
“How can you have the tail without changing into leopard form?”
“I’m learning my Gift,” Ishtar said sleepily, yawning. “I like to curl the tail over my eyes while I sleep. Makes me doze off straight away.”
To prove the point, she did just that and promptly fell asleep with a mewling snore.
*** *** *** ***
Miles away on the outskirts of the city, Tal cleaned and cleared away the few bowls and utensils he and his recent visitor had used to partake of their late night supper.
“You should not have brought her here,” his father’s voice came from behind a makeshift curtain made of vines. He was resting on the only cot in the small hut.
“She’s a vampire,” he spat the word out like an expletive.
“She’s just a girl,” Tal returned gently. “She was wounded and cornered by bloodthirsty villagers. She wasn’t harming anyone.”
“That you saw,” his father corrected. “She probably takes blood
from humans and our Kind regularly. I can tell; her blood is strong. How can you say that a parasite does no harm?”
Tal sighed. It was pointless to argue with his father, but he felt an inexplicable need to defend Ishtar.
“Are we parasites too for eating the goats and chickens in our care? Or cabbage and lettuce and pears? They are all living things that we may one day be born into in the cycle of life. Why are we so much better than Dark Ones? Our females take the blood of Eternal Mates for Nourishment just like theirs.”
The curtain of vines was abruptly torn open to reveal his father’s furious face, all but black with rage.
“You dare compare us to those fiends! Those animals! What about your mother? Is her death just part of the cycle of life? What kind of heartless ingrate did I raise?!”
Tal blanched.
His mother had died two summers ago as a vampire’s Blood Slave.
As she’d already been Mated to, and deeply in love with, a Pure male, her abduction to the Ivory Palace had devastated their family, Tal’s papa most of all.
For, not only would she have to give her blood, but her body as well, however unwillingly. She would have had no physical control of herself after being made into a Blood Slave, even though her heart and mind recoiled from her fate.
They did not know precisely how she died; the Palace sent only a brief note a month after her captivity.
Tal suspected that his mother had taken her own life, for she had been fiery and stubborn, headstrong and proud. She would never have countenanced such shame and humiliation for long.
Either that, or she’d failed in her attempt to kill her Master, and her death was exacted as punishment.
“I’m sorry, papa,” Tal said quietly, head bowed. “I should not have brought a vampire to our home. It will not happen again.”
As if deflated, all the anger and hatred seeped out of his father’s body, and he suddenly looked thousands of years older than his two hundred summers, still very young for a Pure One.
His father tugged the curtain closed again and said no more.
Tal put an extra blanket on top of his sire’s bony frame. He was now half the man he used to be in terms of bulk and strength. He barely ate enough to sustain himself. And there was nothing Tal could do to change it.
It was as if his father wanted to die too, but was waiting for Tal to grow into a full-blooded male before he quit this world.
Tal spread out his own roll of woven straw on the dirt floor beside the cot and lay down to sleep.
Why did vampires take Pure Ones as Blood Slaves?
Humans were not subjected to such cruelty and debasement. There were vampires who were sometimes overcome with bloodlust and killed humans in their feeding frenzy, or took their souls. These Rogues would be hunted down by the Dark Enforcers and punished with their own deaths.
But Pure Ones had no rights, not even to their own bodies. Most were born into slavery to supply vampires with stronger, vital, endless blood. Those who were allowed to live on their own, away from noble households and the Palace, could be taken at any moment into captivity as a powerful vampire’s Blood Slave.
Just as Tal’s mother had been.
And if a Dark One killed or mistreated his Blood Slave, he was accountable to no one and received no punishment. For the Blood Slave was his property, to do with as he pleased.
Even so, Tal knew that many Pure slaves who belonged to Dark households were fiercely loyal to their Masters. They nursed the vampire children, taught them, played with them, laughed with them.
Many Pure Ones were treated well in these situations, almost like a member of the family. The most educated Pure Ones—the artists, musicians and scribes—they all came from vampire households because that was the only way a Pure One could receive education, taking lessons alongside their Dark Masters.
At fourteen summers, Tal still couldn’t read and write. He’d taught himself basic arithmetic because he needed to manage what little coins his father and he had to live on. Their work as carpenter and blacksmith was widely appreciated across the city, but because they were Pure Ones, the lowest of the low, they received very little for their craft.
Even humans looked down upon them, and if not for their superior strength, there were many unprincipled humans who would have taken advantage of young or weakened Pure Ones because there was no repercussion for doing so—yet another reason why many Pure Ones preferred being slaves in powerful vampire households, supplied with bountiful food, soft beds and other luxuries, over living independently at the mercy of jealous humans.
Tal had never understood why things had to be this way, and how they got this way in the first place.
One day, he wished his people could be free. To live without fear. To live for themselves.
He wondered whether he’d live to see that day. It seemed so far away from reality.
But in the meantime, despite what had happened to his mother, despite his and his father’s meager living, he could not find it in his heart to hate vampires at large. Nor the humans they ruled.
Nevertheless, he probably shouldn’t get too friendly with anyone from the Dark side either.
But when he closed his eyes, all he could see were twin orbs of amethyst in a kittenish face.
“Love is a fearsome thing. It lays us naked and vulnerable at another’s feet. Hate is an addictive drug. It protects us with weapons and armor difficult to beat. To love, it takes incredible courage; to hate, only its mirage.”
—From the Ecliptic Prophesies, buried and forgotten
Chapter Three
Ava Monroe Takamura was packing the last of baby Kane’s things to head back to NYC from the Shield when her friend Rain Ambrosius, the Pure One’s Healer, rushed into her room.
“Can you stay?” Rain asked with an urgent note. “I need your help.”
“What is it?” Ava was immediately alert.
Someone must be severely wounded for Rain to ask Ava for help.
A geneticist by training, Ava wasn’t going to add any value when physical repairs were called for. Even though she could do what’s necessary given the prerequisites for her medical degree, wounds, especially the sort that bled, made her nauseous. But she’d been studying the Pure and Dark races for over a year now and might be able to lend some assistance from a molecular point of view.
After all, she’d created and injected herself with a serum that imbued her blood with the same healing abilities as the Pure and Dark Ones, while she remained mostly “human” in terms of her DNA.
In fact, she was on one of her regular visits to the Shield to test her own and her son, Kane’s, blood, to make sure everything was as it should be. And also to continue her research on severe human diseases using her blood as a potential treatment or cure.
Ava knew enough about the intricacies of Pure and Dark genetic makeup to brainstorm with Rain if necessary.
Rain took hold of Ava’s hand and quickly led her down the corridor to the East Wing of the Pure One’s base where the healing chambers were located.
“It’s Tal,” Rain said brusquely, her voice betraying her worry, which in turn scared the hell out of Ava, because the Healer was the epitome of calm and tranquility. Nothing seemed to phase her.
Apparently, this situation with the ancient Akkadian warrior did.
“He’s in shock,” Rain spoke quickly as she walked. “Inanna and Gabriel just brought him from the City. He’s been in the grips of some sort of seizure for the past two or three hours at least. Inanna doesn’t know when the attack hit, just that he’s been like this since she found him close to her apartment.”
“What’s your assessment?” Ava asked, trying to inject distant professionalism into her demeanor, even if she didn’t feel it.
“It’s like an accelerated version of the Decline—if we don’t figure this out, he won’t last another day.”
Holy shit!
Ava kept that unhelpful thought to herself and bit her lip.
The
Decline was irreversible.
It was the “curse of the Pure Ones” as her vampire friends called it, where a Pure One died an excruciatingly painful death within thirty days after giving all of themselves in physical love to one who did not, or could not, return their feelings in kind.
As far as Ava knew, the Decline was programmed into the Pure Ones’ DNA. She’d even hypothesized with Ryu that it was a natural method of population control. There was no stopping it once triggered.
Only two possible outcomes existed: A, the Pure One died, or B, they met the Goddess on the way to the other side and she offered them the choice to become a Dark One.
Vampire, in other words.
But not all Pure Ones were offered this choice. The majority of those who gave of themselves unwisely got option A.
Not good.
Someone caught Ava’s arm and pulled her to a stop.
“What is it, Ava, what’s going on?”
Ryu Takamura, the Dark Assassin, also known as Ava’s vampire husband and baby daddy, took hold of her shoulders and pulled her into a brief embrace, concern etched on his face.
“It’s not me,” Ava quickly said, alleviating his immediate worry for her safety, “It’s Tal. I have to help Rain.”
Ryu gave one nod and kissed her quickly on the mouth, infusing her with his strength.
“I’ll take care of Kane,” he said, “You take care of Tal. I’m here if you need me.”
Ava hugged him back tightly and walked on with Rain.
“Can we do anything to ease the pain while he’s going through this?” Ava asked, focusing on the most urgent concern.
She couldn’t stomach the idea of Tal going through indescribable pain while they tried to figure out a solution. Talk about pressure!
“And where’s Wan’er?” she queried, just now remembering Rain’s ex-handmaiden who was also a resident healer, expert in Eastern medicines, “we could use an extra pair of hands.”
They arrived at the healing chambers, and Rain ushered her inside.