Books by Maggie Shayne (134 page)

"Older than any, except Utnapishtim himself, who made me. You ought to be careful about angering me."

' "Utnapishtim made me, as well, great king of Uruk. Only moments after you."

Da mien looked quickly at the gaunt-faced man.

"He wouldn't have " ' "He had no choice. His exchange of blood with a young madman left him weak. I forced him to repeat the ritual, only so that I would live to see you die."

Eric's voice came into Da mien's mind then, and he knew his friend yes, friend was on the way, monitoring events mentally, offering advice. The blood was diluted then, when this Anthar was made. You 're still stronger.

Da mien nodded, sensing Eric guarded his thoughts from Anthar. He tried to do the same. Maybe.

"What crime have I committed to anger you so much that you'd follow me into eternity just to see me pay?"

"Do you recall Siduri? My beautiful Siduri, who gave her heart to a beast?"

Da mien nodded, stepping a bit closer, only to wince as Anthar pressed the tip of his blade harder into Shannon's neck. "Answer aloud, so that the gods present may know of your sins."

He licked his lips.

"I was half out of my mind with grief when Enkidu, my friend, died. I went on a quest in search of immortality, thinking I could somehow bring that gift back to him and raise him up again. When I came to Siduri's cottage by the sea I was near starved, sunburned, travel-weary and all but insane. She brought me inside, washed the sand and the sweat from my skin. She fed me and clothed me, restored my health and part of my senses."

Anthar grimaced, his thin lips drawing away from his foul, uneven teeth.

"Is that all she gave you, heathen?"

"She gave me comfort, Anthar. We shared a bed."

"She was my betrothed!" he screamed, nearly rattling the brick walls.

That declaration shocked Da mien. But still it didn't seem reason enough for so much hatred, "I didn't know" -- "You used her as chattel and cast her aside to resume your mad quest. She begged of you to stay, but you turned a deaf ear to her tears."

"No. She knew I'd go on from the day I crossed her threshold. She knew" -- "You killed her. She thought herself in love with you, gave you all of herself as proof of it, even though she'd promised herself to me."

"And that was no crime!" Da mien stepped forward once more, staring at this shell of a man.

"You know as well as I do that in that time it was a king's right to take the virgin brides before their husbands did. Right or wrong, it was the law. So how can you say that I committed some crime by bedding your woman?" A flimsy argument, he knew, but all he could think of at the moment.

"Bastard, she lost her soul when you left her. But you wouldn't know, would you? You never looked back to see how she fared. You didn't know that she walked into the sea the very next dawn, walked and kept walking.

Drowned herself for the love of a worthless king who would make himself a god! "

Eric's voice came again, like a solid hand clasping his shoulder. It wasn't your fault. Don't let it distract you.

But Da mien felt the blow. He staggered a bit, then caught himself.

"I didn't know. She... she was kind to me, Anthar. I cared for her. I am sorry. More sorry than I can say."

' "Your sorrow will not suffice, Gilgamesh. You must suffer as I did."

Incinerate him.

Da mien shook his head quickly, responding to Eric in the silent form of communication he'd so recently mastered. I'm not sure it would work, and it takes an unbelievable amount of energy to incinerate anything. If it failed, I'd be practically helpless.

Da mien had gone utterly still, watching the way the firelight played on Shannon's skin, in her hair, a terrible fear of what this bastard intended settling like ice water in his veins. " " What are you going to do, Anthar?

"

"I'm going to take your woman as you took mine." He glanced down at Shannon as he spoke.

"And then I'm going to drain her, and let her die.

And you are going to stand witness to it, Gilgamesh. For I want to see you suffer, before I kill you. "

"You haven't got the strength to kill me."

"We'll soon see."

The man, blade still in his hand, bent over Shannon, and she screamed.

At the same instant there was a tremendous crash and a rain of footsteps at the entrance. Da mien knew without turning that four immortals had entered the cella. A powerful female voice echoed like that of In anna herself. For a second Da mien wondered if the statue of the Queen of Heaven had come to life. "Exactly what kind of death wish do you have, you sorry excuse for an immortal!"

"You're in for it now, Anthar," Tamara stated flatly.

The rogue was distracted for a bare instant, and that was all Da mien needed.

He spun in a circle, becoming a blur, and an instant later, a massive wolf launched itself at the evil vampire, sending him crashing to the floor, the knife skittering away.

Shannon tried hard to cling to her sanity as the horror played out before her eyes. The wolf snapped at the man's throat, but then they rolled, and a second later the wolf backed away from a coiled king cobra, cape unfurled, poised to strike. The wolf leapt into the air, and as it hurtled earthward, it became a hawk that swooped and dove, drawing the snake away from her. She rolled her body off the stone table, pulled herself to her feet, both hands working as one, and began hopping toward the two who fought. The snake had the hawk cornered now, and would strike at any second. She had to stop this.

But a tug at her hands brought her to a stop. The woman, tall and slender, regal as a queen, with her ebony hair all swept to one side and diamonds and onyx dripping from her ears, leaned over the rope at Shannon's ankles.

"You fledglings are nothing but trouble." With a flick of her scarlet-painted, dagger-tipped fingers, she freed Shannon's ankles, then her wrists. "I'm Rhiannon," she said, as if she were saying "I'm Queen Elizabeth." She pulled Shannon toward the corner where Eric and Tamara waited with another man Shannon didn't know. At their feet, a sleek black panther crouched, watching the struggling beasts with predatory eyes.

"None of them for you, Pandora." The woman stroked the cat's head lovingly, but her eyes were on the floor where the two battled.

Shannon whirled, half expecting to see Da mien dead on the floor. But there was a lion now, and a jaguar, ripping at each other's throats, rolling in a tangle of claws and teeth.

"Do something!" She screamed.

Tamara touched her shoulder.

"I don't know what we can" -- She broke off when Shannon jerked away from her touch. Shannon had spotted the glittering dagger on the floor, and she lunged for it, falling to her knees to snatch it up. Rising slowly, her gaze on the combatants, she started forward, lifting the blade high above her head, giving a little growl she'd never heard herself utter before.

The tall woman caught her shoulders.

"Fool, you'll be killed! Come with us. Da mien wants us to take you out of here, someplace safe."

Shannon turned on her, the blade between them an unspoken threat.

"I'm not going anywhere. You try to force me and you'll wish you hadn't, lady."

Tamara's eyes went saucer-wide. The two men, who'd been talking urgently, went silent.

The woman eyed Shannon for a moment.

"I'll forgive that fledgling. Once."

Shannon ignored her imperious words and turned once more. The forms on the floor had become men again. They stood, facing each other, panting, bleeding from various wounds. Eric and the strange man both lunged forward, but Da mien held up a hand to stop them.

"Get Shannon out of here, for the love of In anna!"

"I won't go!" she shrieked.

"Anthar, stop this at once. You're no match for all of us!" It was the stranger who shouted it.

"Care to put that theory to the test?"

Anthar whispered. He looked at the stranger, his gaze hardening, intensifying in a way Shannon had never seen. It was as if an energy pulsed from his sunken eyes.

"Roland!" Rhiannon threw herself at the stranger, sending him sprawling to the stone floor just as a ball of flame exploded in the air where he'd stood.

She rose, facing Anthar, rage in her eyes.

"Oh, now you will pay" -- He laughed at her, and Shannon thought the woman's rage was so full-blown it made the air around them quiver.

Anthar turned away from her and lunged, shoving Da mien onto his back on the floor. He yanked a blade from his boot and lifted his arm to plunge it into Da mien's throat.

"Noooo!" It was a battle cry, emitted as Shannon launched herself. She landed squarely on the man's back, both hands gripping his wrist, pulling it away from Da mien with every ounce of strength she possessed.

Anthar flung her from him like a dog ridding itself of a flea. She felt herself fly through the air. She landed brutally hard. Her head connected with the stone offering table, sending her senses reeling. Dizzy, her head exploding with pain, her body weakened by it, she forced her eyes open.

Da mien growled his rage, flinging the man away from him, then focusing his eyes on the bastard as he struggled to get to his feet.

The man seemed to feel that heated gaze. He froze for an instant in time, and turned to face Da mien.

"Can you do it, do you think?" His thin brows rose, and he moved forward, menacingly. The black panther growled deep in its throat, crouching low.

"Better question, can you do it fast enough?" Anthar sprang forward, arm swinging in a deadly arc, the knife he clutched on a collision coarse with Da mien's neck. He'd behead him!

Da mien stood his ground, staring harder, not backing away even an inch, and Shannon shrieked at him to move.

Just before he reached Da mien, Anthar's body froze. It began to tremble, then vibrated head to toe. His eyes bulged and a wisp of gray smoke writhed from his hair. A tremor rocked the temple floor, and then a roar, as Anthar burst into a blinding ball of white flame. His keening came more loudly than the blast, and seemed to echo within the temple chamber even after he was silent. It died slowly, an eternal prisoner of the cella walls. And there was nothing, just nothing. Anthar was gone.

Da mien sank to the floor as if the act had drained every ounce of his energy.

Shannon struggled to her feet and ran to him, fell to her knees, not caring that the stone floor scraped them raw. She pulled him to her, her hands cradling his head. She couldn't speak. She only moaned softly and rocked him against her as the tears flowed. God, she loved him. She hadn't realized just how much until she'd thought he might die trying to save her.

If he had, what would she have done? How could she have gone on?

His arms went around her waist, his face nestling in the white linen that covered her, nuzzling her belly. His hands stroked her back again and again.

"It's over now. Shannon. It's all right. You're safe now." He pulled himself up a little, pressed his lips to her wet cheeks, to her burning eyes.

"Safe now," he whispered again, as her arms encircled his neck. "And free of me. You'll leave with the others. One more day, Shannon. You'll recover from all of this while you rest tomorrow, and then I want you to go. I just hope you can find some kind of contentment in this life I've condemned you to live."

She blinked, her tears ceasing abruptly.

We're stuck here for the day," Tamara observed, her voice soft with relief.

She sat on the cold floor, her knees drawn to her chest, and watched as Eric approached Da mien. Shannon had withdrawn suddenly, going silent after Da mien had told her she could leave him soon. He couldn't look at her to judge her mood, whether she was happy at the news or angry to have to wait through one more day. He couldn't stand the thought that he might see her eagerness to leave mirrored in her eyes. Eric reached out a hand and Da mien clasped it, letting Eric help him to his feet.

"I wasn't much help, I'm afraid," he said aloud, and silently he said more.

For God's sake, Da mien, she jumped on the bastard to save you.

"You were more help than you know." It was true, Da- when thought, a little surprised. Not just the distractions their arrival had provided, breaking Anthar's concentration more than once and probably saving Da mien's life.

But the feeling of support. The warmth of friends. It was something he hadn't felt in centuries.

And she tried to help me because she feels she owes me, for saving her life in the past.

"Well, at least I can patch up the worst of these injuries for you."

Normally, Da mien would have turned away, insisted he could take care of himself. But not now. He stood still while Eric ripped a sleeve from his own shirt and began tearing bandage-size strips.

"Tamara's right, you know," Da mien observed, loudly enough so everyone, including Shannon, could hear. He wanted her to understand that he wasn't deliberately prolonging her presence here.

"We couldn't make it far before sunrise, and who knows what kind of shelter we could find out there? It's best to stay here, rest tomorrow and leave at dusk."

He chanced a peek at Shannon to see if she understood. But she was kneeling now in front of Tamara, and a second later, hugging her.

"I thought you must be dead. "

"I almost wished I was when I landed." Tamara smiled at her.

"But I'm fine now."

Shannon shook her head slowly, mutely. The newcomer, Roland, stood with his back against a stone wall, while regal Rhiannon tore a strip from the hem of her floor-length satin dress and used it to make a sling for his arm. He must have injured it when she'd knocked him to the floor. He winced in pain, and Da mien saw the woman wince along with him. Her eyes were dark with concern when she looked at him. Jealousy stabbed Da mien.

Why couldn't Shannon look at him like that?

She did a second ago. Eric again. The optimist.

No, she didn't.

"He should see a doctor," Shannon whispered. She glanced back at Da mien, who was currently using pressure to stop the bleeding of a small cut on his forearm, while Eric wrapped a makeshift bandage around it.

"And so should you, Da mien."

Tamara ran a soothing hand over Shannon's hair.

"Any injuries we have heal while we rest during the day. Hasn't anyone explained that to you yet?"

She shot Da mien a slightly accusing stare as she asked it.

He only shrugged.

"Shannon has a lot to learn, and plenty of time to do it." Da mien glanced at his watch.

"It'll be dawn in a few hours. I think I'll move to one of the smaller chambers now. After that battle, I don't feel like doing any thing but lying down." He avoided Shannon's eyes. The truth was he didn't want to see her anymore. It already hurt too much knowing she'd leave him so soon.

Rhiannon left Roland's side to approach Da mien as he turned to go. She wasn't smiling. She seemed to float over the stone floor rather than walk, until she stood before him, chin lifted, eyes blazing.

"Not until we've been introduced, at least."

"Rhiannon..." Roland's voice held a warning.

She ignored it.

"So, you're the great Da mien I've heard about."

"And you're Rhiannon, princess of Egypt." She was beautiful. Not as beautiful as Shannon, of course, but lovely just the same. Elegant.

"I've heard of you, too."

"You nearly got my friends killed." It was a simple statement of fact.

"It wasn't his fault, Rhiannon." Tamara's voice didn't douse the hint of fire in her eyes. But Roland's good hand closing on her shoulder, his words, spoken low and near her ear, did.

"I don't think it's my imagination, Da mien. The wolf I just saw fighting a cobra looked awfully familiar to me. We've met before, that wolf and I.

Haven't we?"

Da mien averted his eyes. Rhiannon frowned hard at To- land.

"Wolf? You mean..."

"In France, my love, when you'd been captured by Lucien and I lay immobilized, watching the sun come up to fry me. The wolf that came to me, pulled me into a cave as I clung to its furred neck. That wolf with the wisdom in its eyes..."

Roland let his voice trail off. Da mien said nothing, only nodded once, and turned to go into the nearest chamber. He'd gone against his vow of seclusion to help Roland back then. But he'd been in the area on tour and sensed the man's distress, loud and clear, though he hadn't been listening.

Even when he'd decided to step in, knowing he couldn't let someone die when he had the power to save him, he'd done it in disguise. He'd wanted no one's gratitude. No one's friendship.

He'd been wrong. He had their friendship now. Even Rhiannon's. Her hand rose and cupped his face. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. No words were needed. Da mien nodded a confirmation to himself. He had their friendship, and he was better for it.

But he didn't have what he wanted most. Shannon. Not just her, but her heart. Her love. And he couldn't deal with the fact that he was about to lose her in front of them, friends or not.

"You should all find a place to rest, be sure no light can penetrate." He turned once again and walked into the first darkened room within reach.

Roland lowered his head and disappeared into another one. The cat left Rhiannon's side to lumber toward Shannon. She stood, her back to the wall, a little thrill of alarm jingling her nerves. It sat on its haunches in front of her, lifted a forepaw and playfully batted Shannon's hand. She felt her eyes widen, but she stayed still as the cat rose and moved forward, shoving her head against Shannon's hand and pressing upward, eyes closed. She stroked the animal, blinking in shock.

"Her name is Pandora. She's... usually a very good judge of character."

Shannon met Rhiannon's almond eyes, saw the ruby lips curve just slightly.

"Not everyone has the courage to shout defiance in my face. Barely anyone, actually."

Shannon lowered her head.

"I'm sorry about that. I know you were only trying to help me, but I..."

She glanced toward the chamber where Da mien had gone, a lump forming in her throat.

"I couldn't leave him."

"You threw yourself onto the back of a creature that could have killed you."

"I had to try."

Her lips curved a little more. Her eyes glittered. She sent a meaningful glance toward the chamber doorway.

"Yes. A woman in love always has to try." And then, the picture of elegance, she floated into the room where Roland had gone. The cat trotted along behind her, a slight limp in her feline gait.

Shannon glanced down to the stone floor where Tamara sat, Eric now resting on her opposite side. Their hands were joined, fingers interlaced. Tamara met Shannon's eyes and nodded once.

Licking her lips, squaring her shoulders. Shannon turned and entered the dark chamber where Da mien had gone.

He heard her come in, knew she was there even before he heard her. He felt her presence. He groaned inwardly, but there was another voice in him, one that was thrilled to have these few moments with her, alone, before she left him forever.

He'd brought a torch in here, mounted it in the sconce on the wall near the back of the room. He sat on the floor, back to that wall, watching the play of shadows on the small carved figures and the play of light on their eyes.

They seemed alive.

She crossed the room, sat down beside him. By Anu's power, she was a goddess come to life, still dressed in the sacrificial gown, with the golden bands on her arms. She didn't look at him, so he was free to study her until it hurt.

Her golden tresses tumbling over her shoulders, her satin skin, her velvet lashes.

"I've lost count now of the number of times you've saved my life."

He said nothing. She was sitting very close to him, but not touching. He longed to reach out, to run his hands through her silken hair, to bring her face to his and taste her mouth one more time. He clenched his hands into fists that trembled. She was here out of gratitude, he told himself.

nothing more.

"I've been thinking," she whispered.

"About a lot of things. About you, mostly. The man I got to know, and the man I know now. And I realized that you're the same. Da- when or Gilgamesh, mortal or immortal, you're the same."

Still he said nothing. Only watched her struggle for words, waited for her to continue, to tell him why she would leave him.

"I was afraid of something I didn't understand, and angry because I felt you'd taken control." She tugged at the tip of her right index finger, picked at the nail. Nervous.

"I'm afraid to let other people have any authority or control in my life. It terrifies me."

"Because of your childhood," he said softly, unable to keep silent on the subject.

"It's understandable. Shannon. If the man who tried to abuse you wasn't already dead, I'd kill him myself." He blinked, fighting down the rage that had risen inside him.

"I knew how you felt. I had no right to act without asking you. No right at all, and I knew it."

She nodded slowly. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.

"And what would my answer have been, I wonder?" She drew a deep breath, and released it slowly.

"I've been thinking about that a lot, too. And you know, I think if I'd known all there was to know, if I'd had a chance to get to know these people, to accept what seemed impossible to me, I think I would have agreed. I think... No, I know I would have wanted this."

He turned his head sharply, staring down at her eyes, torchlight in amber.

"When you were fighting with Anthar ... God, I was so afraid he'd kill you.

And I started wondering what I would do, how I would go on without you."

"You don't have to be dependent on me. Shannon. I never meant to make you feel that way. Any of them can teach you all you need to know."

She shook her head, staring into his eyes, an- intensity building in hers.

"But I don't want any of them to teach me. I want you to do it, Da mien."

He lowered his head. It was too painful to stare into her eyes for another second.

"So you've decided you can bear to be immortal. You've decided you'd like me to teach you. But, Shannon, I've decided... that I just can't do it."

"No?"

"No." He met her eyes again, forced himself to.

"I can't be around you and not be with you. Shannon. I want you too much, and I'm not strong enough to fight it anymore. I love you. Shannon." He got to his feet, frustration urging him to beat the walls down with his bare hands. But it wouldn't help.

She stood, too, facing him. Her expression so solemn that he had to look at her, had to wonder what she was working up to, here.

She lifted her hands to the brooch that held the white gown in place.

"No, Shannon..."

A second later, the garment was a soft white cloud settling around her feet.

"I don't want you to fight it right now, Da mien."

He wanted to close his eyes. But nothing could make him turn away. She was too beautiful, standing naked before him, torchlight flickering over her pale skin. He reached out with hesitant hands, and paused. But he couldn't stop himself, could he? Whether it was gratitude or just ordinary desire, he couldn't turn her away. Not when he knew so well it would be the last time.

He touched her arms, ran his palms slowly up and down over them.

"Shannon..."

"I told you, I would have taken this option if you'd offered it before I got so sick," she said.

"But you haven't asked me why."

He ran his palms over the perfect curve of her back, pulled her close to him, bent his head to kiss her neck, her jaw, her face. Ah, she tasted like ambrosia! He caught her earlobe between his teeth. She wanted to drive him insane, didn't she?

Her fingers traced invisible patterns in his hair.

"Ask me why, Da mien."

He took her mouth, fed on it, and she responded in kind. Dammit, but he wanted her. Even knowing it would only result in more pain when she left him. He fell to his knees to suckle her breasts, and his blood heated when her breaths quickened and her hands held him to her. He kissed a path over her belly, tongued her navel, then bent lower to taste her secret sweetness.

He wanted all of her, every bit. He'd commit her to memory and never forget.

She gasped, her hands trembling on the back of his head as he worked her into a frenzy with his mouth and tongue. She whispered his name, and he used his teeth, smiling when she shuddered in response. Her knees buckled, but he followed her down, climbing up her body with his mouth as his hands worked to open his pants. He'd have her, one last time. He'd be sure she never forgot him, either, even if she lived ten thousand years, a hundred thousand!

He reached her face, parted her mouth with his tongue and made love to it, even as he urged her thighs wider and nudged into her moistness. She arched her hips to take him inside, and he went, eagerly. Her slick entrance clenched him, squeezed him as he drove deeper, filling her up and retreating. Holding back, teasing her until she bounced beneath him, before he plunged into her once more. It was heaven. It was hell. It was slow, burning torture.

He rode her hard on the path to ecstasy, and when he hovered at the brink, he felt her teeth at his throat. She took his essence into her body, as release pounded through her. His own climax was his reply, and she clung to him as if she were drowning. Then relaxed beneath him. He felt her muscles unwind, one by one. She sighed long and low and her fingers wound in his hair again.