Stigmata

by L M Adams

  “What did your mother’s people wear traditionally?”

  “The thobe…”

  “But your father’s people?”

  “The shendyt.”

  And I understand his reluctance. Do you honor your dead mother who stole you away from your father? Or honor the father you hope to build a relationship with?

  “Are you ashamed of your mother and her people?”

  “No,” he says sharply.

  “Then honor her on the day that you meet your father. Remind everyone that you are also Zahra’s son.”

  “Which color then, Bloodsucker?” He asks more confidently, letting me know that was the problem, where he was stuck.

  “You’d look good in either, but if you want to stand out? Red and gold.”

  “Should I want to stand out?”

  I reach for his irritating little cloth, pushing it from his waist to fall down around his feet.

  “Yes,” I whisper as I turn him towards me and get to my knees for him.

  “Thank you,” he whimpers as I suck him into my mouth.

  His flesh quivers as I hold his waist, forcing him still as I use my mouth to make him weak.

  “Ra!” He screams as I suck him off, moving my head back and forth and using my tongue to press on the underside of his shaft.

  “Please,” he whimpers, not taking long to reach his peak, soon he’s pleading with me with all of his heart to let him come… gone are the worries about an absentee father and a dead mother. All that matters to him is my mouth on his cock and my ability to suck him off without letting him finish.

  By the time I allow him to come he’s grunting like the beast he is, he was born to be. I swallow him down with a moan as I pull my lips from him.

  “Ra as my witness I’d take you now…”

  “… If we weren’t already running late.” I smile and leave him satisfied; yet dying for more.

  130

  Jack – Jae returns

  “Keep your hands to yourself!” I push his hand away from me… he’s trying to undress me.

  “I’ll be quick in the rose; you know I will.”

  “No, Lucien!”

  “I won’t come inside of you… no need for the messy clean up.”

  My blood begins to boil, “No!”

  He raises an eyebrow seeming curious, “Is this one of those hard no’s you really mean?”

  “Yes,” I say exasperated.

  He sighs and turns away, but finally gives up his merry chase.

  I straighten out my black thobe and smooth my hair back. I didn’t wear a thobe to match him, but because it seems to be the custom of the children of Isis and I am one of them. I’m not wearing the customary all white, because I’m still cursed. Instead I chose one that is all-black except for a bit of red embroidery at the short stiff collar and down the front – representing the Children of Blood.

  Lucien appreciates the way I look; he tells me by trying to lift my thobe every chance he gets.

  This thing was made for easy access. I’m wearing the customary pants underneath, but they’re so loose and easy to pull down.

  Maybe this wasn’t a good decision but there’s no time to change as Jaevia finally shows up looking a vision in a form fitting black dress that loops around her neck with two bits of cloth barely covering her breasts. Gold clasps connect the two bits of cloth in the front but leave plenty of flesh bare. The dress is long, sweeping the ground as she walks; she turns for us to get a better look, her back is completely bare, down to right above the swell of her plump bottom.

  Her purple hair has been braided up into a beautiful design and decorated with gold and jewels. She’s even wearing makeup, outlining her purple eyes in black liner that reminds me of the Egyptian style.

  Lucien growls low, ready to pounce on her.

  I huff, “You’d better watch out,” I poke a thumb towards him, “he needs his loins tended to,” I add in a mocking whisper.

  Jae’s purple eyes light up with laughter, “Tonight, my kings, I am all yours.” She does a perfect curtsy, sweeping low, letting her décolletage dangle before us. My own mouth goes dry.

  The need fills me, the need to have her, to hold her, to fuck her into oblivion. Both Lucien and I have the same thoughts about what exactly we want to do to our wife and the link fills with an accord. The room fills with the smell of us, the three of us joined. We smell of honey and spice and chocolate covered lemon slices; a perfect blending of us and we.

  She stands up straight and I whimper, taking a stuttering step forward, my vision narrowed to only her.

  A knock at the door breaks the spell our wife was weaving by just being here.

  Lucien clears his throat, “We should… we should go.”

  “Okay,” our wife smiles sweetly, yet none of us move.

  Lucien looks at me, eyebrow raised.

  I huff, “You go first.”

  He sighs, “What? Am I not to be trusted with my own wife?”

  “Nope,” I smile, “you’re like a bee to the honey right now.”

  He rolls his eyes at me and moves towards the door, pausing when he reaches me, “I’d just as soon take your honey as well.”

  I bow my head looking away.

  “Mm hmm,” he hums full of cocky attitude as he goes to open the door after thoroughly embarrassing me yet again.

  One day I will have my vengeance on him… one day.

  I go to collect our smiling wife. She’s absolutely radiant.

  “You are breathtaking, my Queen,” I murmur as I hold out my arm for her to take.

  “You clean up nice yourself, you look very handsome in a thobe.”

  “Thanks, but I think Lucien looks better in his.”

  She chuckles, “Maybe, but you’re the one with the chubby, so you get extra points.”

  I look down and notice that my arousal is very evident against the dark material.

  “Fuck,” I hiss.

  “The funny part is… that wasn’t there until Lucien whispered naughty things in your ear. You like his attention… don’t you?”

  I sigh, “He’s got his claws into me, Jae. Don’t worry, you will always be first it’s just…”

  She huffs, “I’m not jealous…”

  “You aren’t?” I hear the surprise in my own voice.

  She shakes her head no, “He’s always been enough man to share.”

  I clear my throat and look away shyly, “Can you then? He’s… he’s sort of… wearing me out.”

  Her laughter fills the room as she pats my arm and urges us forward, “We’ll make a schedule. You can put it on your little spreadsheet when we get home.”

  I laugh as I think of it and how to color code it.

  “Jaevia! Capaneus!” Lucien roars.

  “Master beckons,” I mumble under my breath. My slight erection is gone and its safe for me to go in public now. Maybe I should have tied my cock to my thigh.

  Lucien stands with the waiting Nassor in the large open concourse. Nassor, for once, actually seems somber. He’s dressed in a black and gold shendyt and wesekh, his powerful body on full display.

  Standing next to Lucien, he still seems smaller. Even with the thobe, Lucien’s muscled form is gently pressed against the red and gold cloth, outlining his muscles perfectly.

  I decide to look at Nassor before I end up with another ‘chubby’.

  He bows his head, “You both are visions of Ra’s grace, happy Solstice.”

  “Happy Solstice, Nassor,” Jae smiles at him but doesn’t leave my arm.

  “Happy Solstice,” I nod towards him.

  “I am to escort you to the royal chambers. Henenu will be there to introduce you to your father.”

  Lucien nods, “Then… let us go.”

  I feel his worry and apprehension fill our link… not something I’m used to feeling from Lucien.

  Nassor keeps up a steady chatter as we follow him, “Most of everyone are already on the Walk of Gods, ready to make the pilgrimage.”
>
  “Pilgrimage?” I ask wanting to learn more about the customs, so I don’t make a fool of myself.

  He glances back over his shoulder, “Yes, the Raja will walk with the people to the temple of Ra, that is where the beginning of the celebration takes place.”

  Nassor gives us the general schedule, the walk, the words from the Raja, the feasting, then the performance from the Ishtars. After that the children leave the area and well… things can get wild after that.

  I glance at Jae.

  She smiles up at me and mouths, ‘I’ve got it.’

  I nod in thanks.

  Yes, I’ve made leaps and bounds when it comes to sharing my body with Lucien – but I’m not ready for public sex with him and when Nassor thinks something is going to ‘get wild’ I can only imagine what that could mean. He is the resident horny toad.

  131

  Jaevia – Meeting Apedemak

  It feels good to be with my men again, even knowing that they were not far, I was ready to be with their energies. I am more me with them.

  Not to say I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Nyrobi, but Luey and Jack are my home, they are my forevers. It took a lot for me to stay away as they had their war of wills. I felt their pain and hatred for one another wrapped in sickness and desire.

  I felt Lucien let lose his curse and punish Jack in the most brutal of ways. Many times I wanted to come and intervene, but I didn’t. I didn’t because they needed to figure out if they had what it took to make this work. Sometimes you have to get what you want to find what you need.

  To look at them now, I know that they have learned that as well. Jack still has a lot of healing to do, but I think he’s on the right path finally. He’s ready to accept himself and accept love right along with it.

  I lean into my handsome vampire, dressed in traditional Isis garb nonetheless, as we finally go to meet Lucien’s father.

  Nassor leads us to a large chamber on the eastern side of the palace. The air is full of energy… the power of Ra. Everyone we see is outfitted beautifully in festive colors and dress with smiling faces.

  The first Solstice since the lost son’s return – a day filled with the promise of the future. A future where the power of the gods is returned to the people.

  We reach the dwellings of Apedemak. His massive tower that reaches up to the sky above and casts a shadow upon the lands.

  There is no door into the tower, the wall is solid, wood carved beautifully in small intricate designs, fitting together perfectly. The writing ancient Cuneiform, the hieroglyphs telling the stories of the origin of man and god… filling every square inch of the tower wall. In the center, here at the bottom, where a door should be, the Eye of Ra… glittering gold and steeped in majic.

  Always watching.

  Two of the yummy, muscle-bound, gold spears stand at attention on either side of the Eye. Completely silent, faces serious, the helmets have a metal bar that comes down the center of their faces, covering their noses. The helmets are painted like falcons and obscure their features. They wear black shendyts and black sandals, and although they carry their golden spears, it is their bodies that are the weapons.

  They tap the butt of their spears on the floor three times and take a knee, bowing their heads. The wall of Apedemak begins to move the carvings turning and shifting. I can hear gears clicking and turning slowly… as the wall opens.

  “This is where I leave you,” Nassor says bowing his head, “my Raja.”

  Lucien nods towards him and then straightens his shoulders before walking forward through the now open doorway. Both Jack and I take a deep breath as we follow behind him. Here goes nothing.

  We step into a large room, the ceiling is unbelievably high, stretching up into the sky and the domain of the things that can take flight.

  Low around the edges of the rectangular room a gentle fire burns, the color is odd, more golds than yellow or red. The walls are the same as outside, wooden with massively intricate designs carved into them. The room has only a single window, facing west, a bit of Ra’s sun filters through the opening down into the chamber… a very small bit.

  It smells of a deep manly spice and I wonder if they’re burning frankincense or myrrh in the fire around the edges of the room. The smell reminds me of Lucien, so perhaps a legacy from his father, a race-trait scent?

  The doorway we just walked through begins closing as the pieces begin to refit themselves into a solid wall.

  Lucien stops about ten feet in the room. I tug Jack to the side so I can get a good view around Lucien’s broad back. I’m nosey and I know it.

  Henenu is standing to the right, dressed in a long black thobe, but my eyes become transfixed by the statue of Ra with his falcon head at the front of the room. It’s at least fifty feet tall. Embedded within the chest of the statue is a seal of the gods… the spirit seal.

  A man kneels before the statue, head bowed; naked, with his arms spread out beside him as if he was about to grow feathers and take flight. But he can’t, because his wrists are chained to two short pillars that seem to grow up from the stone floors.

  The bit of sunlight filtering through the small window shines down on him. Dark flesh, impossibly dark, as if it would swallow that sunlight. His locs unbelievably long and graying, done in a thick braid, the tail of it is over his shoulder, leaving the flesh of his muscled back clear… for the whips that fall again and again across his back.

  Two women, Sekhmet women, stand on either side of this god-king, and oscillate the swinging of those instruments of pain between them as they whip their god-king bloody. The rhythm is perfect, the steady thump of the leather slicing into his flesh sounds of drums.

  I glance at Jack; he looks on with… understanding. He knows what it means to suffer, he knows what that feels like. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting this. A king who lets himself be punished? I didn’t know god-kings like this existed, other than Jack of course. But to see this from Lucien’s father? Interesting.

  The beating stops and the Raja shudders, the blood running down his back into the floor reminds me that although he is a god, he is still made of mortal flesh. The blood seems to be absorbed by the stone floor; I’ve never seen anything like it.

  I swallow over the amount of power in the room, not active magic. The place is being smothered just by the presence of Apedemak, the lion headed god-king; he, blessed by Ra… their true god, the god of all that his light touches… or so he thinks.

  The two Sekhmet women go over to a table along the left wall, an offering table, covered in burning candles. They place their bloodied whips in a large golden bowl in the center.

  We watch in silence as they whisper words I don’t understand and begin pouring odd things into two smaller bowls. Are they some sort of priestesses? I think one of them is Malia, the most powerful of the Sekhmets, but I can’t tell without actually seeing her face and so far, neither of the women have turned towards the room, intent on their work.

  They’re both dressed in red dresses, much the same style as my own. Their hair done in gorgeous cornrows with golden beads weaved in. I can just make out their arm cuffs, the symbol of Sekhmet – a golden disc with the image of the lioness headed queen carved into the metal.

  The Sekhmets are the sisters to the Raja. They are his personal guard and before there were the therians to hunt the monsters, there was them – the Sekhmets, and their wrath is legendary, too bad they seem to loath us Ishtars, they seem like my type.

  Each of the women pick up one of the smaller bowls and carry it back to Apedemak’s bloodied body.

  No one acknowledges us, not Henenu, not the Sekhmet women, not Apedemak. Yet I don’t feel any impatience from Lucien, or even Jack. They both respect that this as a sacred thing, I do as well – I get the feeling that not many have been witness to this ritual… to the bleeding of Apedemak.

  The women get to their knees and begin sponging their Raja’s back, washing the blood away to reveal raw flesh. I know he’s powerful
enough to heal it, but he chooses not to?

  After they’re finished, they unlock his wrists from the chains and help him put on a golden robe.

  I exhale a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I wish I could see Lucien’s face; I’m having a hard time picking up what he’s feeling, I think he’s shielding right now and that’s not something I’m used to from him. Lucien is a very ‘it is what it is’ kind of man; he doesn’t spend the energy to hide.

  The two women stay on their knees, heads bowed as Apedemak stands, he lifts his hands up to the massive statue of Ra.

  “Blessed be us father, under your light and your might,” he murmurs before tying his robe closed and turning to us.

  Oh god, he looks exactly like Lucien. Fierce golden eyes, broad nose, full lips, square jaw. Handsome, not cute, there isn’t enough softness in his features to be cute. Yes, he looks to be a bit older than Lucien, but… my goddess… “It’s uncanny.”

  “Hush,” Jack hisses at me.

  I bite my tongue, goddess, I really need to work on not just saying whatever I’m thinking… but that guy is most assuredly the baby daddy.

  Henenu steps forward and bows his head, “My Raja, may I present…”

  “Hari,” Apedemak says and strides forward quickly, arms open.

  Lucien stands stock still as his father reaches him, grabs his head and brings their foreheads together.

  “My son,” Apedemak whispers and Lucien brings up his hands to clutch his father’s head.

  132

  Jaevia – Walk of Gods

  We stand in silence as the two men hold one another, third eyes pressed together, more than words pass between them. What they’re feeling is too large for words. There is a lot of regret and sorrow, happiness and forgiveness, there is simply too much to be said with words and I don’t get the feeling either of them wants to try.

  Apedemak finally pulls back, smiling at Lucien, “You have your mother’s heart.”