He looked up toward Nathalia, noticing her when all other eyes were on him. His eyes glowed red. He snapped his stained teeth at her and then pointed a burning crooked finger her way.
Eiran quickly hid her body behind his camouflage and focused his energy on the betrayer. He pushed at the other’s mind, forcing him to accept punishment but also easing his pain. The Akhkharu’s chest stopped heaving and his shoulders slumped.
Couldn’t he just tabalu away from here to a place that’s dark?
“He cannot go to ground nor tabalu because Ki no longer recognizes him as her child. She will not accept nor protect him. This one betrayed his brethren long ago and Ud’s light will make short work of him. That is why freshly turned Akhkharu are so dangerous and unstoppable. Ki could hold them, as she could hold us all, if she chose, but Ud’s light would not reduce them to ash. It would hurt them, but not enough to destroy them, only enough to give them more strength.”
The Akhkharu died. As he passed from a recognizable shape to a heap, his children dropped to the ground too. The sun and earth would work together and soon there would be no trace of the abominations.
Eiran, Keeper of the Betrayers, attended every Circle but never participated. His duty was to gather the ashes of the fallen brother and carry them back to the prison. He watched over them as their bodies reformed slowly over time and then, when he judged the time was right, he released them back into the world hoping they would choose the path of righteousness. They seldom did. It seemed that a man was either weak or strong in his very core. Even when given a second chance, they mostly chose the same as before. Maybe the arrival of the Sinnis would change that.
Would Ki listen to me if I ask her to hold someone for justice?
“She only answers to the Circle, never a sole Nephilim.” Eiran thought that was to keep one brother from using their common Great Mother against another, but he did not know for certain. She did not explain Herself.
Nathalia closed her eyes. Ki’s soil crept up over Eiran’s ankle and half his calf. It solidified, holding him tight.
Eiran looked at Nathalia with surprise. Ki answered to Nathalia alone. With the weapon made for her to wield, she could obliterate Nephilim and Akhkharu alike. There would be no rejuvenation.
Some would see her as dangerous, some as tempting, some as an escape from this long lonely life. They would want to hurt her, or incite her to hurt them. Neither of those would be pleasant for Nathalia. Eiran intended to keep that from happening. That is why they kept their distance.
“I think that it is more likely, my brother, that you are afraid she might choose one of them instead of you. That is why you try to keep her from us.”
NATHALIA JUMPED at the sound, spinning around to face the voice. Her heart skipped a beat. All the color drained from her cheeks. The man who had feasted on her blood and made a dessert of her bone marrow stood within touching distance.
That face would be etched in her memory forever.
“Come to me.” His voice commanded her. It held a strong compulsion. “I would hold you again, my sweet.” His voice was slightly different than she remembered, but she didn’t think about it for long.
Before she knew what was she was doing, she found herself standing right before him. His arms opened, as if expecting a hug, but her greeting was remarkably less welcoming. He and she both looked down in shock at her hand that pierced his side. She slashed to the left, spilling his guts. Then she pulled it out and stepped back.
When she leaped to him, she unconsciously transformed. She’d pulled the metallic elements in her body and focused them into her hand, changing it to a small dagger. Without planning to, she did what she found impossible when Eiran tried to teach her.
Horrified, she screamed telepathically to Eiran.
Ki released him and he jumped to her, covering her mutated appendage with both hands. Nathalia felt his soothing thoughts even as he changed her hand back to its normal form. Her fingers, her own again, were slick, covered in the other man’s blood. She felt the hunger rise at the sight. She pushed it down but could not keep her incisors from lengthening. She kept her mouth shut so that no one could see.
While Eiran tended to her hand, the man she hurt tabalu’d. He reappeared in the same spot, but without wound. He’d done it so fast that not one drop of his blood hit the ground.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am…” He paused before giving her his name. “Eilam.” Another pause, his eyes locked on hers. She held his gaze and he was the first to blink. “I was wrong to doubt that you were to be feared.” Eilam bowed to Nathalia, but instead of backing away from her, as his words would indicate, he took a step forward. “You are quite tempting and I find myself unable, or perhaps, unwilling to battle my hunger for you. Perhaps that is your strength. We know we should stay away, but are loath to do so.”
Nathalia spoke to him in her way, I would have thought your hunger for me was satiated at our last meeting.
Eiran cleared up the confusion. He said, “Eilam is my brother, as is the Akhkharu that attacked you. They are womb-mates. Two halves of the same.”
Twins?
Yes. This is the one who spoke to you through me when I could not. He is the Guardian of our family line.
Eilam admitted, “I was unaware that you had met my other half. I am sorry you met him first in this life as I am sure to lose favor in your eyes at our likeness. My twin chose the wrong path. I, as second born, took his duty when he abandoned it.”
Nathalia made no acknowledgment that he had spoken, but continued to speak to Eiran. How many brothers do you have?
Just the twins. We are three when most of our kind are the sole offspring. It is both a blessing and a curse.
“I apologize for interrupting your internal conversation, but…my blood.”
It began to run down Nathalia’s hand, forming little droplets at the ends of her fingers. Soon it would drip onto the ground, which Eiran had told her was against the rules.
“I would gladly clean your hand for you, my sweet.” He smiled at Nathalia and she noticed his incisors. He licked his lips as he shared his thoughts of sucking his blood off her fingers.
It was his blood. Do I have to let him, Eiran? She tried not to think about how arousing it had been when his twin brother licked her palm.
Of course not. I can tabalu us and the blood will go back to Ki.
Do it. I don’t want him to touch me. Nathalia shivered, but kept her eyes on Eilam.
As soon as permission was given, Eiran acted on it. He wrapped his arms around her and took them away, reforming them a few steps from Eilam. Nathalia kept her eyes closed, trying not to broadcast her sexual delight to the stranger. Knowing that she found such intense pleasure from tabalu, Eiran tucked her behind his body. Eilam could not see her there and she felt secure. She wrapped her arms around Eiran’s taut stomach, pressing her breasts against his back.
“What’s wrong, Eiran? Afraid she might enjoy the feel of my mouth? Scared of a little competition?” Eilam baited Eiran.
“As always, she commands and I obey. She does not want you to touch her and so I will not allow it.”
“You could not stop me, third-born. She does not wear your mark.”
“Why do you try to anger me? You know I am hers. You were there when she chose me. I gave her my birthmark then. She will wear it again when it is time.”
Nathalia didn’t know what they were talking about. She got a flash of memory: herself wearing a necklace when Eiran said “birthmark,” but she had trouble focusing on anything except her own body after tabalu.
Electrically charged.
Every cell infused with Eiran.
“Maybe she wants to wear another’s mark. Maybe mine or maybe our br—”
A growl coming from deep inside Eiran cut off Eilam’s remarks.
The same sound Nathalia heard from him when she fed for the first time. That shepherd had come out of his stupor for long enough to touch her and, apparently, endanger hi
s own life.
The sound scared and comforted her at the same time. She knew Eiran would never hurt her, but would destroy anyone who tried. The growl signified a line that no man should cross.
When Nathalia opened her eyes, after the joy of tabalu passed, she realized she was protected from view from all angles. Eiran did indeed have wings and they cocooned her, without touching her. He used them to make a little booth for her to stand in. She reached out and fingered one and a shiver went across it. They were indeed made of skin. Soft, sensitive, skin.
How come you never showed them to me before?
Eiran spoke to her in an intimate voice that softly tickled her mind. When you were alive, before, you did not care for my wings. You said they incited devotion when it was undeserved. You said they made men into religious fanatics. Since then, I only appear with them when necessary. I am sorry if they frighten you. I do not want to be worshiped, only loved.
I don’t know if I can love you Eiran, but I certainly owe you devotion, with or without the wings. You saved me from death. Then a thought occurred to her, If Eilam is supposed to be the Guardian of our family line, why didn’t he watch over me? Guard me? Or my parents?
She wasn’t angry at Eilam, just curious why she didn’t illicit protection. Eiran, on the other hand, grew furious. She felt his rage.
He had been betrayed. How had his own brother, this one at least, allowed anything so horrible to befall a woman of their line. This was a woman who could have been, and turned out to be, one of their mates.
“She would like to know, as would I, why you did not protect her from Michael, the man who hurt her and murdered her parents.” He spat out the words.
Eilam stroked his dark beard. “I can see now that she is one of our line, but I knew nothing of her branch in the family tree. I did not know she, nor her mother, existed. There is no record of them in our Great Family Records.” Eilam obviously felt no guilt, only confusion. “Will she not speak to me herself?”
Eiran waited but when Nathalia didn’t, he answered for her. “I see no need for you to become better acquainted with her mind. You should not have a pathway to her thoughts. Our other brother has already forced that on her.”
He did what? Nathalia asked.
He took your blood and now is constantly attempting to contact you, to persuade you to his lifestyle. I have been careful to keep your hair bound in a way to keep him out, as well as garnish that effort with my own strength, but still I feel him there. You already felt him and heard him inside your head. He lurks, waiting until you or I or both of us are weakened. If that happens then it will be difficult for you to distinguish your own thoughts from his.
“Yet you speak to her in our way. You have a pathway to her mind. Why you and not us?” Nathalia heard Eilam’s voice inside her head, What do you think, my sweet? Does my presence please you? Would you like to come out and tabalu with someone new?
Could he do that, Eiran? she asked.
I do not know, my love. It is possible, since we share the same blood, that he could. Is that what you want?
Nathalia answered them both, No, only Eiran is for me.
As soon as she said it, she heard Eiran echo her, I am only for you, Ereshkigal.
They both felt something magical in those words. Her last bit of resistance to him disappeared. She felt it go. She and Eiran were together and nothing could undo it.
“You are Eiran’s true mate and I should have protected you from your parents’ murderer. I am prepared to take your judgment. I am prepared to be the first to meet his end by your instrument of destiny.”
“Eilam, she has not yet found the weapon. We have work to do and then a long flight back.”
Flight? Why don’t we just tabalu back? Nathalia asked from her hiding place. Suddenly very anxious to be alone with Eiran, her heart—and other places—ached for it.
Because we will be transporting a prisoner. Come, we need to go down and collect the ashes before the wind carries them away. Would you like to stay hidden?
Can I? Nathalia asked. I didn’t like the way he looked at me, like a cat at a canary.
The others are likely to look at you the same way. You are the most tempting thing alive. I am sorry; I shouldn’t have brought you here. I just thought you should see a justice circle before you make it obsolete. Here, sit. Eiran adjusted his mammoth wings. One swept around and made a hammock type seat. The other moved to completely block the view of her as she sat. As her bare backside and thighs touched the wing, she thought it might be the softest thing she’d ever felt.
Eiran started walking. Nathalia saw the grass rushing by under her dangling feet. She leaned her head back and looked up to see the bluest sky. Eiran adjusted his wings again so that she could see more of the sky. She chuckled to herself at how silly Eiran must look to everyone else. He was carrying the world’s largest leather backpack. With a woman inside.
She felt him bend down, but, whatever he was doing, Eiran was careful not to jostle her. Why did you use that name before when you spoke to me? When you said you were only for me?
“Ereshkigal was your name when we met. We said those same words to each other on our wedding day. I…it just felt proper to use your old name. I hope it did not upset you, Nathalia.” The tip of his wing curled up and stroked her cheek. She leaned into the caress, even laying a soft kiss on the tender skin. Eiran stiffened.
I’m sorry, was that wrong to do?
“Not at all. It was very right. I would have every kiss you wish to bestow. It is only that a little of you given, forces my thoughts to taking more. I want all of you.” Eiran spun around, shifting her from the hammock. They stood face to face within the privacy his wings created.
His thirsty gaze drank her in. “I have a great need to be alone with you.” He gently brushed a stray hair over her shoulder. His finger traced her collarbone, leaving a warm trail. He leaned in and Nathalia felt his breath on her neck. He wrapped his arms around her, resting them on the curve of her backside, forcing their bodies together.
She hardly knew what she was doing, so filled with sexual tension as she was. The words they had spoken did something. She closed her eyes and angled her head to the side to give him a better angle at her neck. She actually heard his incisors lengthen at her offering. She should have been scared but she wasn’t. Eiran gently scraped that sensitive skin over her pulse with his teeth. Her breath hitched and held. His touch turned her skin inside out, left her nerves completely exposed. She shivered as Eiran laid a soft kiss there where her neck met her shoulder.
He asked, “Are you afraid of heights?”
What an odd question. No. Well, maybe a little. Why?
“Then I would not look down.”
She looked down.
The ground passed under them faster than she thought possible. Then again, she’d been doing a lot of things lately that she never thought possible. She laughed. When you said we had a long flight, I assumed you meant on an airplane. I didn’t think you meant you were “flying” me home.
“We could take a flying machine, but it would take some time to procure. The Igigi have summoned you and they do not like to wait.”
That sobered her quickly.
From what Eiran told her, the Igigi would have answers. The Igigi could explain. Her first thought, after being told that her death quickly approached, had not been that it was too soon to leave the ones she loved but that this world held too many mysteries yet to solve for her to die. She had died, but maybe that was the only way she could decipher the great secrets of the world.
Lamashti found herself in a library. She couldn’t remember how she got there, but the trip had been most pleasurable. She stood before the Keeper of the Betrayers and his mate, the First, and then here, across the globe, in a Daughters’ compound. Had she tabalu’d? Surely not. Lilitu might be children of the light, but she could not move in the way of the Nephilim.
Her attention shifted.
The Nephilim she sought stared a
t her with what took her a minute to recognize as shock. She had managed to surprise him. The pregnant woman standing next to him tempted Lamashti. Whoever she was, she certainly wasn’t carrying a purely human fetus.
Lamashti streaked to them, never touching the floor. The woman gasped and He Who is for the One moved to intercept Lamashti. The mother-to-be reached out and stopped the all- powerful Nephilim with a simple touch to the arm. “I am Maeve, Interim Abbess Primo. The Daughters of Women welcome all females of power.”
This Maeve mentioned Lamashti’s abnormality without questioning it. Lamashti felt no obligation to explain herself. “You are Holy Mother of the One?”
“That’s what he keeps telling me.” Maeve gestured toward the Nephilim with her head.
“It is true. I can see that the One is inside you.” Lamashti turned her attentions back to He Who is for the One. “I am hungry, as are you. Come, let us feast together.”
“No, Lamashti. I am not responsible for your nutrition. I am for the One. You must go.”
Maeve elbowed him in the ribs. “Rude, much? Of course, Lamashti is welcome to anything she needs. All I have is yours. We do not turn away hungry women here.”
“She offers to give what you do not.” Lamashti felt irritated. The One wasn’t even born yet. She couldn’t provide and yet he still rejected Lamashti, just as Keeper of the Betrayers had. These Sinnis presented a problem for her and all like her. Perhaps the Lilitu should put a stop to this before it started. It would be easy enough to kill them. There was only the unborn One, and the First.
The First.
Lamashti looked at the Holy Mother again and imagined her without child. This was the woman that the First remembered with lust. Lamashti’s body began to morph. Toned hardness replaced her usual thinness. She grew taller; her legs more shapely. Her face changed.
The Dying Art of Magic Page 10