She hit the end button and tossed the cell onto the end table. The mushroom texture couldn't possibly hurt the phone's electronics. Oren spoke softly, “Ereshkigal will kill your vrykolak.”
“Fuck Ereshkigal”
Oren smiled. “I believe I said something similar when word of her law reached me.”
“Nathalia's not in charge anymore. Billy's the only one who can go.” He already had security clearance. They didn't know Melody or Hurrit or Charly Boi. Kay certainly wasn't going back. Not tonight, not ever. “Kiyahwe says it has to be him.”
Tara Kay grabbed a needle from the pin cushion she kept in the kitchen. She went outside and Oren followed her. She needed to make an offering. If it worked and the earth answered her, a plant would grow. She couldn't have plants growing willy-nilly in her house, even if it was furnished with mushrooms.
She pricked her finger and a solitary drop landed in the grass. She put the throbbing digit in her mouth. She spoke silently to Kiyahwe, telling her about the woman and what she needed.
Billy came bounding up in wolf form with Melody behind him. His tongue was hanging out of the side of his mouth comically. He stopped a few feet in front of Kay and Melody stopped beside him. She gave the impression of being out of breath but when she spoke it was smooth. “He's damn fast.” Vitala didn't really have to breathe.
The Billy beast stretched out, his belly pressed to the ground, his forepaws as far forward as possible and his hind paws back. There was some popping and quick convulsions. Then it was human Billy stretched out on the grass. “And getting faster.” Billy said, trying to keep the grimace from his voice.
“I was talking about the running. I've never run with a vrykolak before. Hurrit told me weres existed but I've never met one, only vampires.” Melody handed him is clothes which she had stashed on a rock before their run.
“Very quick change, Billy. Your improvement is astounding. You will be flash changing soon and with the slow change goes the pain.” Billy beamed at Oren's compliments. The promise that the painful changes were short lived didn't hurt his mood either.
Billy pulled his shorts on so fast Kay didn't even get a glimpse of his junk. He slipped his sneakers on and shoved his socks into his pockets. He didn't bother with the tee shirt, just flipped it over a shoulder. “I'm not sure about leaving you. It seems like a bad time. What, with the cross burning and all.”
Kay started to tell him that she could take care of herself but Oren beat her to it. “The need for you to stay by her side will lessen once she releases you from her service. Sarrum Sinnis TeRAkay is the chosen of the great mother. Ki would not allow her vessel to come to any harm. I am here and my powers are not insignificant. I can move her across the globe in an instant if need be. Plus she has her three vitala should anything happen to me.”
“Two vitala,” came Hurrit's voice from the porch. “I don't know what Charly Boi has become.” Oren beckoned them with a twitch of his hand. As they came down, Hurrit tried to work it out. “He can't be vrykolak since the full moon didn't shine at his making. He doesn't want my blood so he's not vitala.”
Oren wrapped his arm around the progeny in question. Charly Boi made no objection, even melting into the Nephilim's embrace. Oren sniffed his skin and then bit his neck.
“He's insatiable in bed, almost like a...”
“Lilitu,” Oren finished Hurrit's sentence as he pulled away from the sampling. He had only taken a drop but it had enraged Tara Kay and inflamed Charly, who now rubbed against the Nephilim.
“...but it can't be. Maker and progeny must be in love for the conversion to result in a Lilitu.” Not just love, but sexual love. Hurrit only had his experience with Oren to pull from.
Charly Boi continued to act like a cat in heat and Oren allowed it. He even petted the new Lilitu.
“Hands off. Seriously Charly Boi. You know I love you but I will tear your head off if you touch my Oren again.” Hurrit rushed forward, grasped Charly Boi by his shoulders, and pulled him back. Charly was still high in the throws of the bloodlust. He couldn't take the threat as seriously as Kay intended it. She had said it jokingly but half way through the sentence she realized it was the truth. She turned on Oren. “And you! Don't you ever drink from anyone but me. That's my rule. Fuck-all good your powers will do you if you break it.”
Oren tipped his head and bowed to her, as if it was perfectly reasonable that she set rules and threaten him if he should break them.
Kay thought about the way having someone drink from her felt. She wasn't ready to have Oren feel that way about anyone else. “And another thing, no one draws from Oren except me. His 'making' days are over.”
Another bow from Oren was followed by agreement from the others. Something in her voice told them she was deadly serious. That something was mirrored in the way Oren looked at each of them. Billy shrugged. He'd been unconscious the only time he'd taken blood and he'd never let anyone drink from him. He didn't really know what all the fuss was about.
“Look!” Melody shouted.
There, at Tara Kay's feet a plant was growing at an alarming rate. Very quickly it went from a bare stalk, to having a handful of branches each tipped with it's own flower. The petals fell off, leaving a small white lump that grew in length. The plant stopped growing when it held six cylinders. Kay quickly harvested them and when the last was plucked, the plant retreated back into the ground.
“I guess that answers the question of my abilities. Here Billy. Break this under the sick woman's nose and when she wakes, she'll be on her way to recovery.” She placed one pod in his hand.
Billy looked at it. “That's it?”
“That's it.” Kay put the others in his hand. “You better take all of them, just in case they're easily snapped. Don't want you driving all the way there, just to have to turn back around.”
Billy gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Speaking of driving all that way, just where can I rent a car around here.”
The thought that there was a Hertz around here was laughable. “You can take my car.” When Billy just stood there she added, “Keys are in the ignition. Oh, shit, sorry I forgot.” She used her most official sounding voice to say, “I, Sarrum Sinnis Tara Kay Woods of the Arakiel family line, do release you, vrykolak Billy Barnet, my first progeny, from my service.”
There was no great thunderclap but Billy and Kay both felt the shift. Billy needed to go to Austin and, for the first time since the attack that had almost cost him his life, he could go. He was able to leave his maker. He didn't even feel sick about it. Billy took all three porch steps in one and disappeared inside. He came back out with his hiking pack. He was tucking his cell in his pocket. His mind was clearly on something else because he got into the yellow Chevette, started it and drove off without another word.
Chapter 11
Billy didn't stop for anything other than gas. He was desperate to get home, specifically to his own room and his own bed. He felt sick all the way home, like he had eaten something rotten. Worse than that, it felt like he had done something rotten and was waiting for it to blow up in his face. He drove that car hard, speeding the whole way. It came to a shuddering stop and he barely had it in park before he was out. He left the door open. He didn't turn off the engine. It died with a loud clang.
He parked on the side closest to the library and his family's quarters. He didn't go through the front entrance. He didn't stop to check into the Abbess' office. He didn't go straight to the medical wing where they no doubt had this very sick woman he had made this trip to bring medicine to. He went straight in the library entrance. He didn't acknowledge his mother when she called to him. He went through their living room, down the small hall and into his room.
His heart skipped a beat.
In his bed lay his mate. He recognized her as such immediately. She was why he had needed to get home so urgently. She was the sick woman. She had mate sickness and it was his fault. He had left to hitch-hike across the country taking away her ability to follo
w the call spell and come to him.
He knelt by her. He took the pods from his pocket and broke one immediately. He waived it under her nose. Her eyes fluttered. They opened for a second, flashing with recognition, before closing again.
“Oh, Billy.” she whispered.
“It's me. I'm here.” He broke another under her nose. “I'm so sorry it took me so long. I'm so sorry...” He paused.
“Minali,” his mother's voice came from behind him. “Her name's Minali.”
Minali's eyes opened again. “I am so sorry, Minali. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you, just please don't die. I'm here and I'll never leave you alone again.” She smiled weakly at him before shutting her eyes again, as if they were too heavy to hold open. Billy noticed the gap between her front teeth. He had always loved that in a woman's smile. He broke another cylinder but before he could put it under her nose someone snatched it away.
Smelling salts! That's the miracle we've been waiting on? Smelling salts? Nathalia's voice filled his mind even as her body filled the room.
“Billy's her mate. It isn't the medicine that matters. Tara Kay sent just what Minali needed, him.” Libby's voice was calm.
Billy didn't hear it. He didn't decide to change, either. It just happened. Boom. He was a growling wolf, so very out of place in the tiny bedroom. He was glad Minali was asleep. He thought this might be something that he should break to her gently. There was nothing gentle in him now. Nathalia had barged into the room where his unclaimed mate had almost died. Her voice, her stance, her very presence was a threat to Minali and to top that off she was speaking ill of the work of Billy's maker. This was escalating quickly.
Vrykolak? Abomination!
Libby's quick thinking saved them all. She pulled Nathalia out the door, slamming it closed behind her. She spoke softly through the door. “Billy, no one is threatening your mate. We need to talk to you, to understand what's happened.”
They did not see Billy flash change back into his human form. His first change had destroyed his clothes. He didn't bother with replacing them. He crawled into the twin sized bed beside Minali, gently scooting her body toward the wall so that he could put himself between her and the door. Careful of the iv, he slipped his arm under her head and cradled her too frail frame against him. Her breathing already seemed less labored to him. She muttered his name in her sleep.
Nathalia needed to be in the same room with a person to talk to them even less than a vocal speaker. She spoke to Billy quietly but in a way that he could not ignore. Tell me what Akhkharu has done this before I end you. I will kill the breaker of Ereshkigal's Law to give you peace but I cannot allow you to hurt that girl.
“Hurt her? Why would I hurt my own mate?” He whispered, knowing she could hear him. “The only person I want to hurt right now is you, if you threaten my maker again. I wasn't made by an Akhkharu. I'm a child of the light. Oren said you wouldn't understand.”
Oren? Nathalia wondered. There was no Nephilim by that name. She had never known a vrykolak of the light. They were all vicious creatures, hungry for gore and violence. Who would create such a progeny? As soon as she asked herself the question, she had her answer. Only one Nephilim had ever flaunted her laws so flagrantly. The Oldest was in league with Tara Kay, the blood witch.
Eiran appeared behind Nathalia. He wrapped his arms around her. They dissolved, moving through the mother earth cell by cell. She didn't need to tell him where they were going. He knew. He would reform them prepared for battle.
***
“They are and have always been. They did not make life but are made of life. They are one and they are many. They are called by many names but take none as their own. To name is to limit. To name is to detach, dividing life and power, making it the sole property of the named. Those Who See and Observe have no beginning and no end. They have no birth nor death, no children nor parents. They send pieces of themselves out to observe where life exists and could grow to become eternal. They wait until the day they can harvest that life.
“But this story is not about them...
“The animals of the blue planet were as varied as they were numerous. They grew and changed over millions of orbits around their star. Many types were lost but each time two more were ready to take their place. 'The One Who Was Sent to See and Observe' grew tired of watching, forgot what to watch for and why. Then a few of the animals began to use tools for more than survival. They made art, expressed their emotions. They were aware of themselves as finite beings. 'The One Who Was Sent to See' took interest in those few, helped them in small ways so that they could continue to survive though they had no natural defenses. 'The One Who Was Sent' saw that they had an ability none other had: the ability to adapt, not just every few hundred generations, but to remember and apply those memories to new situations. They adapted to change itself. To 'The One Who Was' the most remarkable thing of all was that these animals lived in a way none other had. They enjoyed being alive. 'The One Who Was' desired the same.
“After millions more orbits around the star that gave the blue world warmth and light, what 'The One Who' had begun to call Ud, the animals became more than animals. 'The One Who' grew jealous. 'The One Who' wanted more. 'The One Who' took a name and a form. 'The One Who' became the Goddess Yahweh She severed Her connection to the rest of Her, 'Those Who See and Observe'. She took Her life and power and kept it as Her own, putting up a veil around the blue planet.
“Yahweh grew lonely. She looked with envy at the women of the blue planet and the way they took pleasures from their men and made children with those pleasures. Yahweh birthed for Herself a race of lovers, the Gregori, She called them. She gave them individual names and they were Her equals in all ways but one. Only she could create life within Her body. They gave Her the pleasures to create with but they could not without Her will.
“Yahweh was happy and did not observe the women of the blue planet change. Her lovers, the sons of heaven, looked down and saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. The daughters had the ability to love. The Gregori fell from Her, choosing to live among the animals instead, taking wives from among them. From these unions the Nephilim were born.
“Too late She realized Her mistake. She had made Herself in the image of woman, coveting their ability to make life but in doing so She limited Herself to creating life only with the help of a male. Hers were gone and She could make none to replace them. Yahweh grew angry. She could no longer create life without aid, but She could destroy it.
“And She did. With floods and droughts, fire and ice from above and below, Yahweh destroyed much of humanity but none of Her Gregori would return to her, nor would their halfbreed children die. She planted Her seeds of destruction within the minds of men through bigotry and religious fervor. She disguised Herself as a male God, giving men the desire to control and limit their women. She hoped they would destroy the beauty that was woman, forcing Gregori back into Her embrace. Superstition and hate swept the world, but the Gregori did not return to Her.
“The Gregori taught their wives many things and then made war with their Creator. When they knew they would never defeat Her but that their actions only endangered those they loved, the Gregori contrived a plan with the blue planet, whom they had named Ki. The Gregori loved Ki and felt they owed all happiness to her. Ki heard their prayers when they spoke from a circle of agreement. Ki promised the Gregori that she would ready the human women for immortality. It would take time. Three hundred and sixty generations it would take to evolve. The Nephilim would live to see the animal race of their mothers, become more.
“With that promise, the Gregori returned to Yahweh After a great battle, they forced Her to fall with them and trapped Her within Ki, but to keep Her there they gave up their freedom. Their human wives, to whom they had shared their knowledge and power, lived, as did the children of their love. The Nephilim stayed behind. Forever living, they walk the earth waiting.”
Her voice was soft, reverent, but more than
loud enough for those in attendance. She alone knew the story's ending, which she now shared. “Yahweh had Her Gregori with Her but they refused to help Yahweh make life. This should have angered Her, but being within Ki was soothing. Ki was mother to all life on earth. Ki allowed Yahweh to join with her in all things. They two became One. Together She answers prayers. Together She protects Her children. She is our enemy no longer; She is our Kiyahwe. She will stand with us when the Shinar return to this world. If we cannot defeat them, they will take all prana unto themselves, rendering Ki a lifeless desert.”
Tara Kay finished her story and came back to her senses. She could not remember learning the tale but knew every word by heart. The fog lifted from her mind and she looked around to find herself in the orchard. She was not alone. Her progeny and Oren's were gathered around her. They seemed enraptured by her story, still drunk on the blood exchange.
Nathalia sat nearby in full warrior attire, weeping openly. A stranger knelt behind her and from the way he was touching Nathalia, trying to sooth her, Kay would have guessed they were lovers. Kay had not seen the former abbess join, so caught up had she been in the ceremony. Then the Mother's words had taken over and everything else faded away. Kay could see that Nathalia was not the same as she had been when Kay had lived under her rule on with the Daughters of Women. Nathalia was a Sinnis with a Nephilim of her own, like Tara Kay. She was unsure of what she had said that could upset these magical beings so.
Nathalia stood and the two Sinnis stared at each other. “What do you want?” Kay asked unceremoniously.
I came to speak to the Oldest about his blatant flaunting of Ereshkigal's law.
Hurrit stepped forward and addressed Nathalia directly. “Sarrum Arakiel Maru answers to none. His actions are not questioned for he follows the instructions of the Great Mother. He does not recognize Ereshkigal's Laws.”
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