NEW DAY - Chapter 3 (PG-13)

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Penina Spinka
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Location: Sun City Arizona, USA

NEW DAY - Chapter 3 (PG-13)

Post by Penina Spinka »

This is a fan fiction which means Mick and Josef do not belong to me. They both appear in this story, but in earlier incarnations. If you read it, please post any thoughts you have on the chapter. Some day, in my dreams, WB might allow me permission to borrow some Moonlight ideas. Mick appears, in a way, in the last 2 paragraphs.

New Day (2407 words)

Chapter 3 - PG-13

A month after their dedication, King Marduk-Nadin-Akhe, the Avenger of His People as he was titled, arranged a party for the newly dedicated priestesses. Attending added to the status of his guests, all of them officials in his regime. The new priestesses’ chastity would be strictly enforced by armed eunuchs, but there were to be compensations. Others would service them and besides, the finest foods and best wines from all the provinces of the empire would be laid out for their dining pleasure. The newest priestesses would provide entertainment in the form of song and dance.

Several of his ten wives sat behind Marduk who paused in his chewing to listen to the benediction with bowed head. He eyed what remained of a honeyed and tender shank bone of ewe while the high priestess made the invocation. She asked the Goddess’s blessings on the city and the empire. “Bestow fertility to field and womb, Mother Ishtar. Increase our numbers to overcome any obstacle, conquer any insurrection, and keep our Avenger King Marduk on his throne as revered on earth as the God Marduk is in heaven.”

King Marduk lifted his goblet and shouted his agreement to the prayer, then downed a large gulp of his spiced wine. He was a little drunk. I sat at his left side and his prime minister at his right. “Let the dancing begin,” he commanded.

A line of musicians played kitharas and flutes for melody, drums and sistrums for beat. To me, the other priestesses might have been invisible. All I longed for was the sight of the lovely Serali. When she stepped from behind the curtain. I closed my eyes over their involuntary loss of color at wanting her. I was careful to keep lips over fangs. Blood drinkers have involuntary reflexes to strong emotions. Whether it is anger, fear or lust, the reflex is the same, a whitening of the eyes, the ashen complexion of death, and an elongation of the canines, useful for either fighting or drinking blood. In this case, I’m sure you can guess what emotion was uppermost in my mind.

Such provocative beauty drew other eyes as well as mine, so I need not have been too concerned. Who would notice the court physician with all eyes on the entertainment? “You take in everything,” the king said. “That is why you are my advisor as well as my physician. Who is the lovely girl fourth back from the beginning, Radu?”

She’s mine, I wanted to shout, but I dared not if I intended to keep my nature hidden. I told him her name and her lineage. “That is your niece Serali, your younger sister’s daughter,” I said. “You saw her last when she was 10 or 11 at one of your wedding feasts. Majesty, remember Divine Mother Ishtar does not approve of bedding near relatives. You don’t want to lose her favor.”

The king sighed. “It’s good I have you to keep track of such things for me, Radu. There are so many royal children, I lose track of them all. Too bad we’re related, for I would have enjoyed bedding her. Who is that one then, third after Serali?” He pointed to another and I told him her name. The king was 45 then, but still enjoyed a tumble with his wives or concubines. There were times I had to feed him certain concoctions to increase his vigor for he wanted more than one each time he felt a rising in his private parts. When he was twenty, he could satisfy four of five in one night. He had a reputation to maintain. Serali would have been little more than part of a night’s amusement to him.

Although Serali’s soul once resided in my brother’s body, she was another person entirely now. She did not know our history and would not unless I tugged at her memory. Doing so did not seem wise at the time. She was too young and inexperienced to deal with it. She had no suspicion of what we once were to each other, and dedicated to her Goddess as she was, it would have been wrong of me to tell her.

Except for that first time in the Paradise of Ishtar’s Mountain, I intended only to watch over her and protect her. It was only for her protection that I noted her every move as she danced gracefully across the smooth stone floor. I could not help but see how the lamplight shimmered off her golden skin. Small copper bells tinkled on thin chains around her ankles and wrists. Her bare feet were shapely enough to make my resolve falter. The priestess wore garments of colored netting arranged to accentuate pert young breasts, rounded hips and inviting bottoms.

In my lifetime, we had no such form of worship. We knew about the Divine Mother and thanked her for the gift of fertility, but our devotion was more general. It had to do with thanking her for the season of springtime and renewal. The sensuality of Ishtar’s worship, as the Divine Mother was called here, had been refined in Babylon. I found myself wanting to pull Serali away from the line to ravish her.

The king’s hall was full of ministers and governors, courtiers and priests. As Marduk’s royal physician and advisor, I had to seem calm and unperturbed. The other officials of the court knew I had not taken a wife. That was an oddity in those days and times, but to do so would put my secret in jeopardy. No one must learn of my requirements or they would know me for other than human. It was my medical skills and wisdom that kept me in office. In my thousand and more years as a vampire, I had developed control over my behavior and demeanor, but the memory of Serali’s honeyed breath that night in the Gardens of Ishtar, and the confidence she placed in me to see her through her first trial assaulted my resolve.

The priestesses sang a song to make hearts race and turn our thoughts to acts of procreation. It was what they were about, after all, but only at prescribed times. After the song, the maids of Ishtar danced again to the music provided by the players. They bent and swayed like flowers in the wind.

Serali lifted her eyes to the dais. I don’t think the others noticed when I blew her a kiss, but she did. She smiled. When the other women changed direction to continue the dance, she left the line. At first, I thought she might walk away and I wondered if she were ill. Instead of leaving, she approached the drummer among the court musicians.

“May I?” she asked, her hand out. He seemed uncertain, but it took more than even super human power to tell her no when she wanted something. The man stood away from his tall drums and handed her the drumsticks.

She took them and began pounding a beat to increase the intensity of the dance. Ishtar’s maids moved more swiftly, and tossed their heads more ardently. Serali’s hands moved to create a rhythm both stirring and passionate. Her face took on an expression of ecstasy, one I had not seen since we were locked in a lovers’ embrace before my fangs pierced her virgin throat. I had sent her all the pleasure it was within me to send. When I looked at her afterward, our eyes met. Serali knew what we had experienced together. I could keep nothing from her. She was inviting me to visit her again. If only I dared.

The Maids of Ishtar bowed to the king and his court, then departed for their private meal while we continued with our dinner. The drummer played more sedately now, to help our digestion. It would not have helped mine had I been able to digest food at all. When the conversation turned to the priestesses, I took a sip of wine and kept my eyes low.

The prime minister posed a question, but not to me. It was one I had hoped to avoid. “That niece of yours, my Lord King, the one named Serali? She has more talents than we knew. Her music has inspired me to go home to my wife and remind her why I chose her. Who among us was fortunate enough to enjoy that lovely and talented new priestess at her dedication on Ishtar’s mountain the last New Moon?”

No one answered. “It must have been one of you,” said King Marduk, staring at each of us in turn. “Speak up. I can’t fault any man for desiring her. Since she’s my niece, it’s my duty to protect her honor as it is due to Ishtar. Answer the question and no one will be punished.” Again, there was silence. “I can ask the guards,” he reminded us.

“It was me,” I admitted, speaking softly as though embarrassed that I had succumbed to her beauty. The others laughed and clapped me on the back.

“Old Doctor Radu?” exclaimed the prime minister. “Did you take some of your own concoctions to find the strength?” I had served the king for 25 years and made myself look older accordingly. They believed my studious ways had made me go soft and I did little to discourage their impression. I never bragged about my conquests as was common among them so they thought I had no desires of the flesh. How little they knew.

“The girl deserved someone who really cared for her. I’ve taken care of her family for years. Serali was gentle with me and did not tax my strength overmuch,” I said. The king and his dinner guests laughed and to my great relief, the subject changed.

Later that night, I managed to visit the priestesses’ dormitory. No one saw me slip into Serali’s bedchamber. I whispered her name. She moved on her bed and opened her eyes. She could not see me well, but her inner senses told her who was there. “Radu,” she whispered. “It’s you, isn’t it? You got my message.”

“Yes, my love.” I said.

“I counted the days properly, but I didn’t conceive after our embrace. Why not?”

I told her I was sorry, but that I had not been able to quicken life in a woman’s womb since I was young. Truthfully, it had not happened since I was alive. I had fathered daughters and sons. The sons died in an attack on our kingdom, from people we once considered allies. “Another man will give you children. Are you sorry you shared your first night with me?”

“No. Never. I’ve loved you as long as I can remember. When you came to me on the mountain, you made me feel like I found a part of myself that was missing.” How true that was, but I feared to speak of it. She was too young to hear of the loss we suffered together, or to know how I had found her over and over again for a thousand years.

“It is amazing how young you seemed when you shared my couch,” she said. “You must be older than my father.” Serali and I spent the rest of the night wrapped around each other in sweet passion. When her breathing slowed and we could speak again, she asked me the question I had been dreading. “Why do you drink my blood when you lie with me, Radu?”

“I hope I didn’t hurt you much,” was all I could think to say. Most women were too enthralled by my control of their minds during our embrace to notice the details of what I did. Most of the time, when it would matter, I painted their wounds with a drop of my own blood. The wounds healed before they could be seen. Even without the physical signs of my bite, I could not fool Serali.

“It did hurt for a moment, but when you mouth was pressed against my neck, I can’t describe the feeling it gave me. It was pleasurable, better than anything I could imagine. Combined with what you were doing as we coupled, I thought I could never survive such pleasure. Is this some new kind of lovemaking arrangement they don’t know about in the House of Ishtar?”

I blew out a long breath, wondering how much I dared tell her. She had to keep my secret or both of us might be in danger. There were those who thought my kind were demons. When I was young, I thought vampires were Gods. All of my people did.

“It is,” I said. “They don’t know of this in the House of Ishtar.” I was trained to a different priesthood in my native land. My country was east of here. My priesthood was honored there, but away from my native land, it is not understood. The blood I took helps me feel what you feel. It increases the ecstasy Ishtar bestows when worshipers celebrate her rites. Can I trust you to keep my confidence? If my brotherhood became known, it would put me and them in danger.” I knew of none like myself, but I assumed there were others, equally well hidden among humans.

She swore in Ishtar’s name that I could trust her. “I would never betray you, dear Radu.” I left her with words of gratitude and blessings before dawn, in time to retire to my private and cool sleeping place in the basement of my house.

Late into spring, a trader arrived in Babylon’s bazaar from Nineveh, bearing bracelets and armlets of beaten copper and silver set with gems, tourmalines, pearls and amethysts. Silver was Ishtar’s metal. I heard the trader was called Miceas, and that he was the son of a Ninevan craftsman and a priestess of Ishtar. What could he receive for such merchandise to make the journey to Babylon worth his while?

I saw him plying his wares in the marketplace and knew him by his foreign clothes. When he walked by, women’s eyes followed him. I saw him sell the last item in his basket and take clay coins in exchange. It didn’t make sense. My suspicions began to grow. As self-appointed protector of Babylon, I decided to follow him to the visitor’s hostel to evaluate him for myself.
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