Scenting Hallowed Blood (47 page)

Sofia visualised that shining
strings emanated from each of her fingers and connected with the
souls of her puppets. All she had to do to get them to perform was
lift a finger and tweak a string. Simple. Occasionally, she longed
to make herself known to Shemyaza, but knew it was best not to
intrude on his dreamtime with Tamara. As Barbelo, she experienced
Tamara’s adventures second-hand. It was not enough, but there’d be
time in the future for her own adventures with the Fallen King.

The land itself, sensing the
change to come, shuddered in its sleep and dreamed strange dreams.
The Grigori and Pelleth alike observed the weird phenomena with
excitement and vigilance. The tides became unnaturally low, almost
as if the sea was drawing back from the land to disgorge the lost
cities hidden beneath its waves. A new pole star appeared in the
sky. Freak weather occurred: the sun burning bright by day, while
at night, freezing storms tore slates from the roofs and broke the
backs of trees. There were minor earthquakes as the serpent turned
over in its sleep. A child was swallowed by a fissure on the beach,
which closed up again before the child’s screaming parents could
pull it free.

Emma announced to Aninka that
she was now staying at a bed and breakfast in the village with
Daniel, because Daniel had been upset by the way the Parzupheim had
treated him. Aninka was furious about this, as she missed having
her new friend around. She told Enniel what had happened, hoping
he’d rectify the matter, but it seemed Daniel was no longer
important to the Parzupheim. ‘He’s just a plaything,’ Enniel said.
‘Get that straight, Aninka. He’s worthless without Shemyaza, and
Shemyaza could use anyone for Daniel’s purpose, anyone at all.’

Daniel carried on working with
the Pelleth, attempting to reach Shemyaza in the underworld, and
help and guide him. His efforts continued to be frustrated, but he
trusted that the love and strength he directed at Shem would have a
beneficial effect. Like the Parzupheim, the Pelleth believed that
the serpent would finally awake on the solstice. On that night,
they would enact a ritual on the cliff edge at the bottom of the
Penhaligon garden.

Meggie had sensed that Daniel
was a very special person. She suspected that, like Emma, he had
been given extended life. His power was great, and she couldn’t
understand why he was failing to reach his master. Perhaps it was
destiny that Shemyaza should travel alone to his fate. Meggie would
have liked to keep Daniel as the Pelleth’s oracle for years to
come, but sensed that he might have to be sacrificed on the
solstice night. She felt regret about this, but knew that the
serpent might demand it, and if the Pelleth were to take control of
the serpent power, they must satisfy its hungers. Still, if the
sacrifice could be avoided, it would be an added bonus. Daniel was
unlike any other oracle she’d known. He was no unformed youth, but
a vibrant young man. If he survived the solstice, he might well
survive for a long time to come. There was something feminine about
him that suggested he could be trusted with women’s secrets. Unlike
Delmar, he was far from virgin, but she realised that this did not
affect his abilities. If anything, his sexual experiences had
enhanced his sight. She sensed that no woman had touched him and
never would. Her beliefs balked at what this implied, for the
worship of Seference revolved around the male-female polarity of
nature. Anything else was regarded as impure and unnatural. A man
who turned away from women could not, in Meggie’s eyes, have
magical power, yet Daniel clearly did.
Times are changing
,
she thought.
The new age brings new ways.
She was wise
enough to know that the death of one belief system and the birth of
another sometimes entailed discomfort on a spiritual level.

At Pharos, Lily sensed the
rising tension in Salamiel. One night, after dinner, she offered to
massage his shoulders for him, to ease the tightness in his
muscles. In the drawing room he sat on the floor between her legs,
while she sat on the sofa above him and dug her fingers sensually
into his flesh. His silky red hair fell over her hands. He felt so
young to her touch. She asked him to remove his shirt, for she
couldn’t reach his shoulder-blades properly. Smiling, he obeyed
her, revealing a torso liked furred marble. Lily asked him to lie
on his belly on the carpet. She knelt beside him, working her
fingers up his spine.

‘Do you like women?’ she asked
him.

‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Why
shouldn’t I?’

She shrugged. ‘Well... I just
wondered. Because of how you feel about Shem.’

Salamiel rolled over and fixed
her with his dark gaze. ‘I make no distinctions concerning gender,
at least not when desire is invoked.’

Lily carefully put her hands on
her knees. ‘And is it?’

He just raised his eyebrows,
lying there with his arms behind his head.

Oh well,
thought Lily,
in for a penny...

She leaned over and took his
face in her hands, lowered her lips to his. He curled his arms
around her and drew her to him. After a while, he broke away from
her and said, ‘Do you want to make love with me?’

Lily couldn’t suppress a laugh.
‘Well... I thought we were.’

He sat up. ‘Not here.
Come.’

He took her to his bedroom and
left her alone while he went into his dressing room. Lily tore off
her clothes and climbed into the high bed. Where was he? What was
he doing? After some minutes, he returned, wearing a silk dressing
gown decorated with embroidered peacocks. Lily had to smile. She
felt like a bride on her wedding night, being given a few minutes
to prepare herself discreetly for her new husband. Salamiel sat on
the edge of the bed and removed his robe. Lily admired the long
curve of his spine, the shining fall of hair whose longest strands
caressed his waist, the sweet cleft where his buttocks began. He
turned to her and cast back the quilt. He laid one hand flat upon
her belly. ‘You are lovely,’ he said.

‘So are you.’

He smiled and lay down beside
her, ran his hand down her lean flank, let his fingers lightly
tease the hair at her groin. She opened her legs for him.

‘The temple of the goddess,’ he
said, and gently slid a finger inside her. She felt her belly
convulse in a single stab of pleasurable pain. He seemed to touch
something deep within her soul.

For a while, they played in the
outer court of the temple, then Salamiel placed himself sinuously
over Lily’s body and slowly slid inside her. Buried to the hilt, he
paused, resting his weight on straight arms and looked down into
her eyes.

Lily reached up to his face. ‘I
love sex,’ she said. ‘It’s the best thing in the world.’

‘It is,’ he agreed, ‘and with
the right person, it’s true magic.’

Lily sighed and closed her
eyes, surrendered to the bliss conjured by his slow, deep
movements. Even when she wanted him to thrust harder, he kept the
rhythm lazy, until she stopped wriggling beneath him and matched
her movements to his. Her orgasm came like a slow dawn breaking
over the sea. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, before
allowing his own climax to occur. He uttered a single sound of
wonderment, and lay down upon her body, his hair covering her face.
She wrapped her arms around him and, perhaps a little belatedly,
the earth shook beneath the house.

On the eve of the solstice,
everyone in High Crag was so jittery that the atmosphere sparked
almost visibly. The Parzupheim, who had been coming and going from
the house all week, were all in residence again, and psyching
themselves up for the ceremonies to come.

Emma came up to the house in
the morning to have coffee with Aninka. The sun was unseasonably
bright, hanging in an aching blue sky. They sat outside on the
patio at the back of the house, on either side of an old, wooden
table.

‘It’s like August,’ Emma said,
lighting a cigarette. She was wearing sunglasses and a sleeveless
dress. ‘You know, it was a bit like this in Little Moor. When
Peverel Othman arrived the weather went freaky. It was very
hot.’

Aninka’s stomach turned over
as, nearby, the ground rumbled and slightly shook. I’m scared the
house will fall off the cliff!’ She poured coffee from a silver
pot. ‘Anyway, I want to know why you haven’t been here much this
week. You’ve been really off with me. What have I done?’

Emma shrugged. ‘Nothing. I’ve
just been with Daniel.’

Aninka knew Emma was lying. She
wished she could see her friend’s eyes. ‘Do you blame me because
the Parzupheim were nasty to Daniel?’ She pushed a mug of coffee
across the table top to Emma.

Emma shook her head, picked up
the mug. ‘No. But you don’t like him either, do you?’

Aninka leaned back in her seat.
‘I don’t know, Emma. He was very cruel to Taziel, and I just feel a
bit strange when he’s around.’

‘He wasn’t cruel to Taziel,’
Emma said. ‘Taziel got greedy, that’s all.’ There was a harshness
in her voice to which Aninka took exception.

Aninka made a sharp remark
back, to which Emma responded hotly, and within seconds they were
arguing heatedly about Daniel, about Emma’s opinions of the
Grigori, about Emma and Daniel’s closeness to Shemyaza, and its
undoubtedly contaminating effects.

Emma was aghast at the
bitterness spilling from Aninka’s mouth, but couldn’t rein in
enough to think about the reasons behind it. She leapt to her feet.
‘I’m not staying here to listen to this crap!’ she cried. ‘We’ve
made new friends in the village, Aninka. Neither Daniel nor I need
you or the Grigori now.’

This surprising revelation
eclipsed Aninka’s anger. ‘What new friends?’

Emma too sensed the winding
down of emotion and realised she had spoken without thinking.
Still, what harm could it do if the Grigori knew about the Pelleth?
No doubt they’d simply scorn them. Briefly, she explained to Aninka
how she had met Meggie Penhaligon and that Daniel was now working
with the Pelleth.

Aninka took this information in
with incredulity. Like most Grigori, she’d had no idea that humans
in the area were aware of Shemyaza’s existence.

‘So that is where I’ll be!’
Emma concluded. ‘When, or if, you come to your senses and want to
apologise for being so rude to me, you’ll find me at Meggie’s.’
With these words, Emma stalked away. In some ways, she’d rather
like Aninka to turn up at the Penhaligon house, because Meggie and
Betsy would be astounded. Emma did not agree with their view of the
Grigori, and felt they really should make contact. But she doubted
Aninka would lower herself to coming to the cottage. Did this mean
her friendship with Aninka was over? Emma realised she didn’t want
that to happen.

After Emma left High Crag,
Aninka went straight to Enniel and informed him of what Daniel was
doing. To her intense gratification, Enniel was furious. ‘That boy
is a liability!’ he raged. ‘What in Hell is he playing at? Tonight,
Shemyaza will return, and his vizier is grubbing around with a
coven of old hags! No doubt he’s betraying Grigori secrets too.
Wait till I get my hands on him!’

Aninka watched from the front
porch as Enniel stormed from the house, jumped into his Range Rover
and smoked off towards the village. She considered following, then
decided against it. She had a feeling she’d be seeing Emma again
soon.

Emma was still walking back to
the village when Enniel’s Range Rover careered past her. She
recognised the vehicle and guessed immediately what had happened.
‘Damn!’ she said aloud and began to run down the hill.

By the time Enniel reached
Meggie’s cottage, the whole village was aware that trouble was
afoot. Not everyone who lived there knew what the owners of High
Crag were, but those who did soon found out that Enniel Prussoe had
come tearing through, in an obviously enraged emotional state,
demanding where Meggie Penhaligon’s house was. No-one, not even the
ignorant, would have dared to respond to his questions with surly
silence and dark looks. Enniel, in his fury, was a terrifying
sight; an avenging angel who might have stepped from the frame of
an apocalyptic painting.

‘I don’t think he’s going to
Meggie’s to buy a corn dolly,’ remarked a woman to her friend as
Enniel’s Range Rover roared away from them.

Tom Penhaligon answered
Enniel’s wild hammering on the front door. Enniel appraised him
coldly and demanded to speak with the ‘old woman’.

Tom was unnerved by the tall
stranger and felt he should get rid of him quickly. ‘There’s no-one
here,’ he said.

‘Don’t waste my time!’ Enniel
spat. ‘Fetch the old witch now or suffer the consequences.’

Meggie, who was in the kitchen,
heard raised voices and ventured into the hall. She recognised
Enniel as Grigori immediately, and for a moment, leaned back in
shock against the kitchen doorframe. Then, she mustered her courage
and surged forward. ‘What is it, Tom?’

Tom glanced round at her with a
mixture of relief and alarm. ‘Someone to see you, Mam’ he said.
‘Someone with no manners.’

Meggie came to the door,
purpose emanating from her large frame, and Enniel took a step
back. She was not going to let this creature step over her
threshold. ‘What do you want?’ she asked.

‘I want the boy,’ Enniel said.
‘Don’t bother denying you have him.’

Meggie folded her arms,
although she was not as calm as she appeared. ‘If you mean Daniel,
he’s happy enough here. Leave us be.’

Enniel uttered a snort of
contemptuous laughter. ‘Look, old woman. I don’t know what you
think you’re doing, but you’re dabbling in matters that are far
beyond you. If you’ve any sense you’ll back off.’

‘I don’t like threats,’ said
Meggie bluntly.

‘You really have no idea, do
you! You dare to speak to me like that? Don’t you realise what I
could do to you?’ Enniel’s lips peeled back into a sneer. ‘You’re
just a grubby beach witch! What is it you’re after? Youth for your
decaying body?’