by J. F. Penn
Lilith gasped and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, her skin rising in goosebumps. The inland taipan had the most toxic venom of any land snake in the world, ten times as venomous as the Mojave rattlesnake. The venom was also a legendary hallucinogen, incredibly dangerous but also rumored to give the user an experience out of time.
"You'll see the other side, Lilith. You'll experience pleasure unlike any you have before. Just come with me tonight and learn more. If you choose to leave later, then of course you can go back to your old life."
Sam put the vial back into the vacuum flask and sealed the top again. He walked around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her.
Lilith saw a new future in his eyes. One she wanted to be a part of. She had spent too long in the labs, clinically milking the snakes, reducing them to chemistry. She was easily replaceable by any other lab technician. But Samael offered a chance to be part of something greater. She had glimpsed the Great Serpent, and now she would tear down the veil to reach him.
And she wanted that venom.
Lilith got into the car.
They headed south until they reached a private airfield. A helicopter sat waiting, the pilot ready for takeoff.
"I'll bring you back if you change your mind," Sam said.
She walked towards the chopper. "I'm ready."
Grand Canyon Snake Valley Retreat, USA
Two hours later, they landed at a private helipad and Sam helped Lilith from the helicopter onto a path that led towards a lodge. The wind blew her hair about her face as they walked up the path. Artful spotlights in cactus beds lit the lodge in a subtle manner, giving the wood and stone a mottled effect that made it almost blend into the rocky ground.
"The Colorado river winds like a snake through the very earth of the United States," Sam said, as he led her into the lodge. It was stark inside, the walls decorated with a few chosen pieces. An Aboriginal dot painting of the Creation Snake. An enlarged photo of the head of a green mamba, the brilliant color bright against the white wall.
"Come outside." Sam beckoned and Lilith followed him out to a wide wooden deck that stretched out over the edge of the Grand Canyon.
The breeze wafted the night air over them, bringing the scent of sagebrush and ocotillo, the heady aromas of the mesa. Lilith stepped closer to the edge and looked down into the darkness below. The black deepened as the valley fell away before her and Lilith held the edge of the railing to steady herself as her vision adjusted. It was a long way down.
Sam came and stood behind her, his breath tickling her neck. Lilith wanted him to touch her, craved his lips on hers, but there was a question in her mind.
"How did you find me?" she asked softly.
"Viperex is my company," Sam said. "I heard the call of the Great Serpent when I was deep undercover in Africa years ago. I was drugged and scared, tied up in a cell, under threat of execution by terrorists. But the King of Snakes calmed me and when I made it out of there, I returned to the US and started Viperex."
He put his arms around her and she could feel his arousal against her back.
"The company attracts those who feel drawn to the serpent, and I let vials of venom be released for the mithridatists. I wanted to find those who could take it. Those who could take all of it."
He brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed her softly.
Then he bit down and she shivered at the sensation of his sharp teeth on her bare skin. He lifted his head and turned her to face him, his eyes dark with longing.
"I've been watching you for so long, Lilith. When the Babylon tablet was uncovered, I knew it was time."
Her name was soothing on his lips and as he bent to her, she closed her eyes, giving herself to the serpent within.
4
London, England.
Once they were out of range of the lab, Morgan put a hand out and stopped Jake in the corridor. "Are you sure you're OK with this mission?" she asked, acutely aware that not so long ago, Jake had been bitten by a nest of vipers in the hunt for the Gates of Hell. The poison had left him on the edge of death and she knew it had broken something in his mind too, a phobia of snakes re-awakened from his childhood in South Africa.
Jake looked down at her, the corkscrew scar above his left eye crinkling a little as he smiled. His brown eyes were warm and inviting, like the first chestnuts of autumn. Morgan trusted him implicitly, but she couldn't let his phobia jeopardize the mission or their lives.
"Something happened when I was in New York," he said quietly. "I haven't told you, or anyone, the details." He shook his head in disbelief. "To be honest, I'm not sure how much of it was real. But you know I came back changed, you saw evidence of that in India. My body has healed and my mind too. I can't explain it, but –"
Morgan put a finger up to his lips, stopping his words. "If you're sure you can handle the whole snake thing, then I'm happy." She moved her hand to his chest, acutely aware of how close he was. She could feel the beat of his heart, slow and steady, and smell his pine forest aftershave. "Most of what I've seen with ARKANE has been inexplicable anyway," she continued. "If we ever have time to stop and think too much about it all, we'll both go nuts."
Jake smiled and put his hand over hers. "Maybe we can go nuts together."
A noise came behind them in the corridor. They broke apart quickly and walked away to get their gear for the mission.
Berlin, Germany.
Morgan shivered as they walked the back streets of Berlin towards the Pergamon Museum. The night air was cool and a light rain fell. She pulled her leather jacket closer about her as the sound of laughter drifted out of an all-night bar as they walked by.
"Fancy a drink?" Jake said, his voice low.
"Absolutely." Morgan smiled, wishing that they could just forget everything for a night. Jake raised an eyebrow and she gave a rueful smile. The apocalypse waited for no one. "But I guess we'll have to leave it for another time."
The city was young, a party town full of start-ups and trendy bars, but affordable enough that the tech and art scenes still thrived. Like London and Paris, Berlin never slept. But at this time of night, it was at least quieter, and they remained in the shadows as they headed towards Museum Island on the River Spree.
Morgan and Jake were no strangers to breaking and entering, but Martin had assured them that one of the local ARKANE agents would meet them at the museum and take them to the Ishtar Gate. They crossed a pedestrian bridge, turning away from the grand main entrance to walk down the side to a goods delivery door. A figure stood in the dark, the glow of a cigarette by his side. He raised a hand in greeting as they approached.
"I'm Christoph," he said, shaking their hands. "Berlin office."
He was young, Morgan noticed with a rueful smile, even though his hipster beard made him look older. His eyes weren't yet lined by the years and there was no evidence of pain in his body as he moved to open the door for them. She felt the scar from the demon's claw throb at her side and, for a moment, the exhaustion of India threatened to overcome her. The darkness made her want to sink down and sleep in a corner of this quiet place.
They walked into the museum along a service corridor, their footsteps echoing in the dim hallway.
"So, you're here to see the Ishtar Gate?" Christoph asked.
"We don't know what we're looking for exactly," Jake said. "But we have a stone tablet from Babylon that dates to the same period so we're looking for cuneiform inscriptions that might match."
Christoph stopped at a doorway. "This way." He grinned and Morgan couldn't help but smile at his infectious enthusiasm. "Brace yourself."
He pushed open the door and they stepped into a gigantic open space with high ceilings. In front of them stood a massive three-sided edifice, a reconstruction of the ancient Greek Pergamon Altar from the second century BC. Spotlights from below touched the faces of Olympian gods battling giants on a sculpture frieze. It was a piece of classical history brought to a modern world, a juxtaposition
of the past in a city that surfed the web into the future.
"Pretty cool place to work, huh." Christoph led them to the right of the altar into another chamber dominated by a two-story marble structure. It loomed over them in the semi-darkness and Morgan was just able to make out ornate friezes covered in bulls and flowers.
"This is the Market Gate of Miletus," Christoph said. "We go through it to the Ishtar Gate. Come." He beckoned them to follow him through the middle arch.
As they stepped through, Morgan thought she heard something clang further out in the museum. It was faint and neither Christoph nor Jake seemed to hear it. But she still checked her gun in its shoulder holster. After some difficult moments in India, she wasn't going on a mission without a weapon for a while.
She stopped and listened for a moment but all was quiet again.
Christoph turned on more lighting in the room ahead.
"Wow!" Jake was clearly impressed and Morgan hurried to catch them. She emerged into another room, through the middle of the Ishtar Gate. After the dark night and the cool white marble of the ancient Greek monuments, the stunning colors of the edifice filled her vision.
The glazed bricks were cobalt blue, the color seemingly unfaded by time. It was decorated with bas-relief dragons and aurochs bulls in gold, symbolizing the gods Marduk and Adad. A flower frieze ran around the base, each petal perfectly rendered.
"It was constructed around 575 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar, the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon," Christoph explained. "These are mostly the original bricks."
Morgan stepped closer to it, running her fingers lightly over one of the dragons. To think that Nebuchadnezzar himself had seen these bricks. She shook her head. It was truly amazing.
"You wanted cuneiform. Well, there is something strange on the side. An inscription that has puzzled Near Eastern scholars." Christoph led them around the side of the gate and pointed at a cuneiform inscription above a pattern of dots.
"The dots could be constellations?" Jake bent closer.
"Yes, they thought of that," Christoph said, "but there were no star patterns like this in ancient times."
"But did they check for when the stars might be in this alignment?" Morgan asked.
Christoph frowned. "I'm not sure, I'll have to find out. But there's something else. Down here."
As he bent to the lower bricks, a sound of movement came from the room beyond. Then a short exclamation of pain as someone tripped, wrong-footed in the dark.
Morgan and Jake pulled their weapons out.
Christoph froze. "I don't know who else could be here," he whispered. "But I'm sure it's fine, just one of the curators."
Morgan glanced quickly around. They were tucked into a corner out of the main line of sight, but if anyone walked through the gate, they would be seen. Perhaps it was just a night watchman, but something made her uneasy.
"I'll deal with it," Christoph said. Before they could stop him, he walked back out into the main hall. He pulled a notebook from his jacket and began to write something, looking up as if in surprise at the noise from beyond the gate.
"Hello," he said. "I'm just catching up on some research before the tourist horde arrives later. I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here."
He walked out of sight between the main pillars.
Round the corner, Jake nudged Morgan. "We've got to get out of here," he whispered, gesturing towards the darkness of the halls beyond, where they could just make out looming statues of Assyrian gods. "That way."
Morgan pulled out her smart phone and took a few silent pictures of the top inscription and the bricks that Christoph was about to explain. There was no time to figure out what they might mean and no way of getting the bricks out of the gate.
Then she peered round the corner.
Christoph backed into the main hall, his hands held up as if in surrender. He spoke in rapid German. Morgan knew enough to understand he was offering to help with anything they needed.
A man came into view, black hair pulled back into a ponytail and one side of his face drooping and disfigured as if he'd had a stroke. A tattoo of a serpent wound up and around his neck. He held a Glock in front of him, the gun pointing at Christoph's face. Two more men walked out behind him, one of them holding a large bag.
Morgan ducked back out of sight, gesturing for Jake to get down low. They could take the three men out between the two of them, but a firefight in central Berlin and bodies piled up in this eminent museum wasn't quite what she'd planned for tonight.
Plus it would hold them up, and she really needed that drink.
The voices faded a little and Morgan guessed that Christoph was leading the men round to the other side of the gate to look at an alternative inscription. She stuck her head out slowly. Sure enough, they were out of sight.
She indicated to Jake to stay low. They ran quickly and silently around the back edge of the hall, ducking down behind a table with a replica of the ancient city of Babylon as the men emerged behind them.
"Wo ist es?" The gunman's voice was harsh and threatening now.
"Diesen Weg, bitte." Christoph's tone was placating, and Morgan guessed he would have to take the men around to where they had been standing only seconds before.
The group walked in front of the table.
Jake tensed behind her, readying himself if they needed to fight.
Morgan held her breath as they passed and she heard the brush of one man's shoes on the stone by her head.
So close.
"Hier. Schau." The relief in Christoph's voice was palpable as he must have realized they'd moved. But they would be seen easily if the men turned around.
Morgan looked up. The dark corridor was only meters away.
They would have to sprint for it, and she only hoped the men were more concerned with the bricks than with following them. She reached back and squeezed Jake's hand, letting him know to be ready.
She peeked under the table. The men gathered around the inscription and the man with the bag unzipped it, revealing power tools inside.
Morgan ducked low and ran into the darkness, Jake right behind her.
"Scheisse!" A voice rang out in the hall behind them and then the pinging of bullets on stone echoed through the corridor. Morgan raced away down the south wing, along the edge of the Processional Way, past stelae and cuneiform tablets, winged statues with curled beards looking down as they passed.
"Sie waren nur Studenten," Christoph pleaded, his voice fainter now. They're only students.
Morgan could only hope the men believed him.
"This way," Jake whispered and they ducked down a side corridor towards a fire exit. They charged through the door and out into the dawn.
As they ran through the streets away from the museum, Morgan wondered what was so important about the inscription. Why were the men so desperate to take it?
5
Grand Canyon Snake Valley Retreat, USA
Sam's phone buzzed in the balmy night. He unwound himself from Lilith's sleeping form and padded out to the deck to take the call.
"I've sent pictures." Krait, his second-in-command, was gruff as ever. "That should be all you need. If you want the actual bricks, we're gonna have to tear them out the wall. I've got myself a hostage in case we need more time so I can do it, but we'll have to hurry."
"Give me a minute to check the resolution." Sam could barely contain his excitement. Finally, they were so close.
He ended the call and went to his wall screen, logged onto his secure email and opened the images that Krait had sent. The brilliant blue of the Ishtar Gate bricks filled the screen, a series of strange dots superimposed over them. Then the other brick was revealed. A cuneiform inscription he had never seen before.
He called Krait back. "It's enough. Get out of there and wait for me to call with where to head next."
Sam padded back into the bedroom and gently shook Lilith's shoulder. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him, a languid look of satisfaction on
her face from their earlier time together. He bent to kiss her and her tongue flickered over his lips. Part of him wanted to take her again. But there was something far more important for them to do now.
"It's time," he whispered.
She gasped, her eyes widening in anticipation of the venom he had withheld.
"I have a room prepared." Sam handed Lilith a robe to tie about her naked body. "Come."
The sanctuary sat at the very corner of the lodge, with a wall of glass that gave a 180-degree view over the Canyon and a ceiling that opened to the stars above. The lights were dim and as they walked in, Lilith sensed something else there.
She smiled as she heard the soft rattle.
All around them in the walls were snakes in individual habitats. A desert striped whipsnake, a common king and a beautiful wandering garter snake. She would enjoy handling these another time, but right now she craved the venom trance.
Lilith sat on a pile of cushions facing the open glass wall, looking out towards the Canyon. She settled herself, taking long, deep breaths to prepare.
"The shamans call it spirit walking," she said. "Others call it astral projection."
Sam nodded as he prepared the dose, drawing the inland taipan venom up into the syringe. Lilith watched the level fill, higher than she had ever taken before. It would be intoxicating.
Or it would kill her.
She bit her lip in anticipation, speaking softly to calm herself.
"Each time I've seen things I couldn't know of, visited places I've never traveled to. Each time I hear the voice of the Great Serpent more clearly."
Sam turned to her. "I believe you," he whispered. "Hear him now. Find him so we can bring him back to his rightful place."
He walked towards her with the syringe.
"I prefer to administer it myself," Lilith said softly. He nodded and laid it down gently next to her on a tray. He placed the images from the museum by her side and she fixed those images into her mind. Sam moved back into the shadows, out of her line of sight.