The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy) (21 page)

‘Why did Shock call me your prince?’ Emmett asked, made braver by the lack of light.

‘Because he suspects that you are,’ I replied honestly.

We kept moving forward in silence for a while, but I could feel that the palm of his hand that gripped my own so tightly had begun to sweat.

‘And what do you think?’ he said timidly.

‘I think…’ I had to consider carefully how to put this. I didn’t want to shock him with too much information, and all the walls in the Underworld had ears. ‘I think that the supernova that occurs when you hold me close isn’t just because we relate well.’

Emmett chuckled at this, then noticed a light in the distance. ‘Look there,’ he said, and pointed.

Instantly, the light rushed towards us whereby we were swept up and deposited in a dark and squalid cavern. There were human
remains around the periphery of this chamber also, only, unlike the corpses before Shock’s doorway, they weren’t dismembered; rather they were huddled in fear. The doors here were made of glossy black onyx and even larger than the stone doors we’d passed through previously.

And so they found themselves at the gateway of Denial
, said its demon guardian. When Killian Labontè manifested before us, I nearly had heart failure.

Women!
he appealed to Emmett.
You just can’t trust them; they are so very fickle.

‘This isn’t Killian,’ I warned Emmett.

Can you deny that up until you saw that trinket our friend here has around his neck, you were just as sure that I was your prince
? Killian demanded.

I could not deny it lest I fall straight into the demon’s trap. At the same time, I could not tell the truth lest I confirm the true worth of the marker containing the soul essence of my beloved.

‘It is our sonic resonance and not an heirloom that will identify my prince to me,’ I replied.

Really?
he challenged in a very charming manner.
And what if I told you that I also have such a pendant.
Killian ripped open his shirt to show me.

‘No,’ I said, refusing to believe the demon.

Yes,
he stressed.
I showed the pendant to Emmett once and he admired it greatly.

I looked at Emmett, who was staring at the demon in utter bewilderment. ‘No,’ he said, turning to me, ‘it was the other way around.’

Denial,
teased the demon, delighted by his victory.

‘One usually does deny a false accusation!’ Emmett said angrily.

‘What do you ask as toll?’ I intervened, wishing to get beyond this demon before it shattered our trust in one another.

The demon assumed his true form. He was tall and emaciated, with long, greasy grey-streaked hair that fell around his sun-deficient naked body. Despite being all skin and bone, he moved so fluently that it was creepy—like watching a skeleton dance.

You could not pay my toll,
he warned, approaching me and running his bony fingers over the jacket that covered my nakedness.
Goddess indeed! Ishtar was not afraid to walk naked into Irkalla
, he challenged.

I removed the jacket and handed it back to Emmett, who politely averted his eyes. The demon eyed me with relish and jerked at his erection with one hand while he reached out with the other to stroke the smooth dark hair that fell over my breasts.

I prevented his hand from making contact with a forearm block. ‘What do you want as toll?’

I want your hair.
He grinned, as this would leave me entirely exposed.
Do you agree to my toll, princess, or will you deny me?

Denial chuckled at my predicament, and continued to jerk off vigorously before me, licking his cracked, dry lips as he awaited my reply.

I drew deep upon my Anunnaki resilience and nodded. ‘I agree to your toll, gatekeeper.’

The demon ejaculated, groaning with delight.

My head instantly felt lighter as my beautiful healthy hair appeared on Denial’s head. He looked delighted by his acquisition. The chill of complete nakedness enfolded my body and I looked to Emmett to catch his reaction. His eyes were still averted from me and his jaw was clenched in rage. I put a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

‘It’s just hair, it will grow back.’

‘I just wish I could contribute to the cost of this quest,’ he explained, offering me his coat once again without looking at me.

I gently pushed his offering back towards him. ‘I am not ashamed,’ I said. ‘And I am not afraid.’

The black onyx doors began to part.

‘I’ll walk ahead of you,’ Emmett announced gallantly. ‘I trust you’d find that arrangement more comfortable?’

‘I would,’ I said, but in reality felt that Emmett was more discomforted than I was about my predicament.

Go forth, goddess, into Irkalla,
Denial bade me, stroking his long silky hair.
You have honoured the ancient rites of Ereshkigal.

As I entered the tunnel, I shuddered to think how much more disgusting and degrading this journey would become, with five gateways left before I reached my destination.

We found ourselves before two massive doors of steel, in a prison cell cast of the same metal.

Emmett took in the repressive environment. ‘What stage is this?’

Now that really makes me mad!
The guardian’s voice boomed around the room.

Emmett guessed the response to his own question. ‘Anger.’

No aspirant to Irkalla ever has the common decency to appear in my chamber clothed!

‘Shock took my clothes,’ I appealed.

That’s what they all say!
Anger appeared before us as a gladiator, hung about with weapons and wearing a metal helmet that protected his skull, ears and eyes but left his ugly mouth exposed. His extremely muscular body was naked and glistened with oil, but, unlike his two predecessors, his penis hung limp between his legs.
I am sick to death of Shock and Denial getting all the best spoils.

I looked around the chamber—there seemed to be an excess of bodies here. Anger was obviously not easily appeased.

Well, at least you have a weapon!
he roared.

‘Yes, I do, don’t I?’

I fired upon the demon thought form and infused him with love. His penis became instantly erect and a smile of pleasure graced his face.

Wow…a weapon that actually makes you feel GOOD.
The demon was intrigued, and discarded his own weapons before confiscating mine.
I haven’t felt this good EVER!

‘Gate?’ I prompted him to unlock the metal doors before he shot himself again and became so high he couldn’t function.

Of course, lovely lady,
he leered, admiring my naked form.

‘You’re only allowed one toll,’ I said, and pointed towards the doors.

May you find love, peace and contentment in Irkalla, my friends.
The demon waved us goodbye.

As we departed through the gateway of Anger relatively unscathed, I looked back to see the demon dancing about admiring his new weapon.

‘I think that toll might have rendered that gatekeeper completely useless,’ Emmett commented as we entered the metal tunnel. ‘You’re getting better at this.’

‘Perhaps, but I’m running out of items to barter.’

Emmett rooted around in his pockets to see if he had anything of value, and pulled out a set of car keys, his wallet, some gum and a portable games unit. Nothing of much value to the Underworld there. ‘What about my pendant,’ he said, returning the items to his pockets and going to take off his treasure.

‘No,’ I insisted. ‘If that’s the authentic item—’

‘If?’ He questioned my doubt.

I ignored him and went on: ‘We can’t lose it or allow it to fall into Nefilim hands.’

‘Why not?’

I came up close behind him and whispered in his ear. ‘The Nefilim would do terrible harm to my prince with that pendant and I’d rather give up my life than see any more horror befall him.’

Emmett seemed appeased, and touched by my resolve. ‘I hope he appreciates you, your prince,’ he said. He wasn’t yet confident about it being him, but obviously wished it to be the truth.

‘My prince gave for me until there was nothing left of him to give,’ I said. ‘I desire nothing more than to find him and reward his aeons of selfless devotion to me.’

The next chamber was bronze and held very few skeletal remains. Either not many aspirants made it this far, or the demon of Unfinished Business had more mercy than the gatekeepers before him.

Hello, princess.

As the evil voice of the demon echoed around the chamber, I realised my first assumption was the truth. Shudders ran through my being as I recognised Pintar’s lecherous tones.

‘It’s not possible. You’re dead,’ I said, wanting desperately to convince myself of the fact.

‘Who’s dead?’ Emmett asked, looking everywhere but at me as he searched for the source of the voice.

The huge, hideous, half-human, half-reptilian beast that had been destroyed centuries ago by Amenti’s staff and my prince, manifested before us.
You think I’m dead? I’m not. I live on in your memory, little girl; your own DNA ensures I can always come back to haunt you.

I was frozen with fear as the monster loomed closer.

Emmett dashed between us. ‘What do you want?’ he demanded of the Lord of the Dracon. ‘State your toll and cease tormenting her.’

Pintar burst out laughing.
You don’t really aspire to be the mighty Mathu, my creator and soul brother, do you?

Emmett was confused by the question, but was too smart to be drawn in by it. ‘It doesn’t matter who I am, great ugly one. Just answer the question.’

His cocky response actually brought a smile to my face. The demon didn’t like it one bit, and raised a hand to strike Emmett down.

‘Ah-ah,’ Emmett cautioned. ‘I’m to travel toll free, Ill’s orders. If you strike me down that would be considered a toll, would it not?’

The beast roared, vexed by the truth of it.

‘Still,’ Emmett continued, ‘I will gladly pay such a toll on behalf of my companion, if that is what you desire?’

Shut the fuck up!
Pintar roared.
I am not interested in making you appear gallant, horny boy! So go fuck yourself whilst I extract my toll from little Miss Modesty here.
Pintar eyed my naked form.
We have unfinished business.

Emmett spread himself in front of me, and I huddled to hide myself from the lustful eyes of the demon. All I had left were my prince and my virtue; at this rate I would lose both and still not make it to Irkalla.

The soul who oversees this pyramid
has many names and seven faces,
she is the feminine aspect of all
that moves through the matrix.

She is the Earth Mother,
the creator of life and evolution!
She perpetuates reality
in which souls may manifest.

Among the Elohim, she is Hathor
and her pyramid brings the matrix full circle,
for she is Creator and Destructor
all in one.

A
SHLEE
G
RANVILLE
-D
EVERE
—SOLARIAN

Upon arrival in our predesignated year, Polaris and Levi joined the rest of Amenti’s staff in the
Klieo
’s rec room.

‘Where’s Meridan?’ Arcturus was immediately concerned when the two men entered without her.

‘She’s resting,’ Polaris advised quickly, hoping to skirt around the issue.

‘Meridan doesn’t need to rest.’ Arcturus was wary. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing is going on!’ Polaris insisted. ‘Meridan wore herself out powering the ship for the last leg of this journey. The electromagnetic cloud we flew through on re-entry would have forced us to land, but she intervened.’

‘And you conveniently had her on the control deck at the time!’

‘Arcturus!’ I strongly advised him to take a breath, and, due to our continued mutual respect, he refrained from taking a swing at my partner. It didn’t stop him haranguing him though.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you intended to use my wife as a battery for your ship?’

‘Meridan was fine with the arrangement,’ Polaris rebuked. ‘And I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d be a girl about it.’

‘
Excuse me
?’ Talori, the woman closest to Polaris, thumped him. ‘Let’s get back to the essentials: we’re currently functioning within the time continuum, which means the Nefilim can see the Signet stations and this ship,
speed
is our only advantage. So…where are we?’

‘Mount Shasta,’ Polaris replied, returning his attention to Arcturus.

Arcturus was delighted that his was the first Signet station on our mission agenda, as he was the only male member of Amenti’s staff not to have activated his pyramid. ‘So we’re all going?’ he assumed.

‘All except Castor and Talori,’ Polaris said.

The pair immediately demanded to know why they were to stay behind.

‘Because Meridan has had word from Tamar: the Nefilim are seeking Castor,’ the captain explained.

Talori was appeased, Castor was not. ‘I’m not going to spend this entire mission babysitting the ship,’ he objected.

Polaris gripped his shoulder. ‘Face the fear, my friend…accept it.’

‘Goddamn it.’ Castor turned away to quietly curse his misfortune.

‘That leaves five of us to cover Arcturus,’ said Polaris, nodding to Dexter, Thana, Vespera and me. ‘Let’s make it snappy, folks…we need to get this job done yesterday.’

He turned to Talori and Castor once Arcturus had left the room. ‘This
should
take less than an hour, but I’m expecting a delay.’

‘Why, because this is Arcturus’s station?’ I asked, thinking he was underestimating our old friend.

‘Precisely. I just worked it out,’ he said with a confident grin and headed out the door.

‘Worked what out?’ I asked, making haste after him, but he just shook his head.

The entrance to the great labyrinth beneath Shasta was a little stone annexe comprising two standing stones with a capstone. The annexe was inset into the east side of the mountain and at present was filled with rocks. As Arcturus moved ahead of us, the boulders shifted to form a tunnel leading into the mountain.