The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy)

  ‘But how is that possible?’ It took me a moment to figure out that one of the Nefilim must have been a double agent—an enlightened Anu posing as one of the fallen in order to protect the stargate that provided a back door into the realm of eternal darkness.

  ‘We all have little secrets from our past,’ Dexter said, and grinned at me.

  Red liquid light broke the surface of the crystalline porthole beneath our feet and we dropped into the depths of darkest density.

  We landed in the middle of a beautiful garden thriving inside a huge dark tower, which was constructed from massive stone blocks not employed since the most ancient of times. High overhead, the porthole was set into the ceiling the tower and beamed infrared light down upon the flourishing plants.

  ‘Not exactly what I’d expected Irkalla to look like,’ Castor commented, then spotted a beautiful Anu woman waiting to welcome us. Her blue aura was radiant amid the red light of our surroundings. ‘Hello,’ he said, charmed by her beauty.

  ‘With eyes like bluest cornflowers and hair as white as snow, she was tall, slender and elegant, and a wonder to behold,’ Dexter quoted before embracing her. ‘Ereshkigal…I did not expect you to meet us.’

  She returned his fond embrace. ‘Heracles, it seems an age since I saw your friendly face.’

  ‘It has been an age if that’s the name I was using last time we met,’ he joked. ‘It’s Dexter these days.’

  ‘This is not Ereshkigal!’ Killian exclaimed, then watched, shocked, as she morphed into the ugly Nefilim demon he knew, and then into Co-co Yamamoto. ‘You’re the double agent?’ he cried. ‘You killed my friend!’

  ‘I took her life in the short term in order to protect the chance of saving her soul in the long term. Would you have done differently?’ she asked him. ‘I’ll bet you have done the same yourself and turned a blind eye to injustice for the sake of the larger plan.’

  I knew for a fact this was true.

  ‘I, like you, have learned to separate the best of me from the worst,’ Ereshkigal went on, ‘in order to alternate between the worlds of light and shadow, and maintain my sanity and my cover.’

  Killian was suddenly seeing Ereshkigal in a whole new light. ‘I would never have guessed you were really on my side,’ he said.

  ‘I would never have imagined that anyone could beat the Montauk mind-control program,’ she said in return, grinning broadly. ‘That’s very impressive for a human.’

  I hated to interrupt the reunion but I was concerned. ‘Is Tamar all right?’ I asked. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘Follow me.’ Ereshkigal led us through the garden towards the high stone outer wall of the tower. ‘Ill has put her in the Hell of Eternal Sleep and Darkness.’

  ‘That’s a drug-induced brainwashing program.’ Killian was concerned, having undergone such torture himself. ‘Where is Mathu?’

  ‘I have been unable to siphon that information out of Erragal yet, but I will,’ she assured him.

  ‘It must be difficult hiding who you really are from the man you love,’ Killian said sympathetically.

  She laughed. ‘I hold no love for Erragal, beyond hoping to save his soul like the others’. My Underworld was once a beautiful place…before I was forced into marrying Erragal and surrendering my realms to him. Now all that is left is this garden, one tiny oasis of light in a realm of utter darkness. I despise how Erragal, Ill, Namtar and the rest of them have corrupted my elementals and turned them into destroyers instead of creators! But not all my elementals have been turned; there are still a goodly number that are loyal to me and protect this place from discovery.’

  At the wall of the tower, Ereshkigal joined her hands in the prayer position, her middle fingertips touching the stone. Her hands passed through the solid barrier and parted it as if it were a curtain of silk.

  ‘I was going to ask how you had managed to keep this place secret for all time,’ I said quietly as we followed her into a dark stone walkway.

  ‘No need to whisper yet,’ she replied. ‘We are still in my secured zone.’

  Ereshkigal allowed the wall to close and the corridor fell into utter darkness, until Dexter cracked a glowstick. Our hostess moved across to the opposing stone wall, which she opened for us in the same manner as the first. This time we stepped into an entire labyrinth of dark halls.

  ‘This is my labyrinth, which leads absolutely nowhere,’ she said, and patted the wall that had closed behind us. ‘Only I have the ability to move through these walls and find my way without getting lost. It is the one part of my kingdom that Erragal never claimed, simply because he doesn’t know it exists.’

  I was surprised to see that she had retained her tall, angelic Anu form. ‘Isn’t it dangerous for you to wear your true form here?’ I asked.

  ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘But if I am seen in your company, I’d rather my kin believe I am an invader rather than reveal myself as their trusted ally.’

  I saw her point.

  We followed Ereshkigal through her maze and eventually came to an archway that led into a huge chasm. In the middle of it I could see the huge, hairy behind of a sleeping beast; I couldn’t define the species from this distance, but its stench was all too apparent. ‘What’s that?’ I whispered as we moved through the cavern to get to the cave beyond.

  ‘Oh, that’s just Cerberus,’ Dexter replied.

  I knew that name from mythology. ‘The three-headed hound?’

  ‘The very one.’ Dexter let out a loud whistle to get the beast’s attention and its large snake-like tail began whipping around in an annoyed fashion.

  ‘Don’t wake it!’ I appealed; too late, for the beast began to growl.

  With a wave of her hand Ereshkigal sent the multiheaded pooch back to the land of Nod. ‘Now is not the time, old friend.’

  ‘This beastie and I go way back,’ Dexter objected.

  ‘So you do,’ I said, recalling the legend. ‘Heracles was loaned Cerberus by the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone.’ And suddenly I saw the story of this goddess in a new light: why she lived half her life in the dark and half in light. It was a metaphor for being a double agent in the inter-time war. I began to outline my theory but Ereshkigal said, ‘Shh,’ and winked at me as we moved into the arched corridor ahead.

  ‘We are fortunate in that the porthole is underneath the main palace in Irkalla,’ she explained, ‘as are all the halls of torture and the science labs.’

  ‘So we won’t get to see outside the palace walls?’ I asked, a little disappointed. Irkalla existed in one of Earth’s possible futures, and even though this was the planet’s worst possible future, I was curious to see more.

  ‘There is nothing to see!’ Ereshkigal scoffed. ‘The planet is covered by lifeless oceans of toxic water and blanketed in cloud. Nothing of beauty survives.’

  ‘You survived,’ Killian piped up.

  Ereshkigal forced a smile. ‘Some blessings are truly a curse.’

  At the end of the stone corridor was a very modern elevator, whose doors opened on our approach.

  ‘This will take us straight to the labs,’ she advised. ‘Most of my kindred are distracted by some mysterious disaster that has befallen their HAARP project in 2003,’ and she looked at us, obviously suspecting our involvement. Each of us looked about aimlessly and whistled innocently.

  ‘I believe their biggest fear is that they will never be able to retrieve you from the past,’ she said to Killian, and expressed her own curiosity as to how he had managed to save himself without extraterrestrial assistance.

  ‘Surprise!’ Killian said, not wanting to give any details without a full understanding of how much this double agent knew about the staff of Amenti, our means and mission.

  Ereshkigal grinned. ‘While you are here, my elementals will shield you all from the awareness of my kindred’s demons, which serve as the security system in Irkalla. They may sense something is not right, but they won’t be able to perceive what it is. Hopefully they will remain baffled long eno
ugh for us to get Kali out.’

  The one-time goddess of the Netherworld closed her beautiful large eyes and waved her arms before her in a subtle gathering motion. ‘ETa’-TA HA’-A’Rha KE’-a…’ she chanted.

  ‘What’s she saying?’ Killian quietly asked Dexter.

  ‘It is the Anuhazi language,’ Dexter explained. ‘She is summoning the beings of the Eternal All-One to her.’

  ‘OOR, UN UR’-A-Or’-Nam…’

  ‘Anchor in this moment,’ Dexter translated in a whisper, ‘the Divine Sea of Liquid Light.’

  ‘A’-DA Um-A’-Ta!’ Ereshkigal concluded.

  ‘Empower and strengthen my will.’

  A wind filled with a dazzling display of tiny coloured lights came rushing towards us through the still air of the dark tunnel. It swirled itself into the elevator with us, filling the small space with the scent of a spring garden and the goodwill of a Christmas Eve. It was a delightful sensation, causing me to tingle all over.

  ‘Ah-Ta’ Ah-Sha-Lum,’ Ereshkigal instructed the elemental body.

  I guessed she had requested that they be still and at peace, for the lights vanished, their pleasant smell faded and the excitement level in the elevator—and in us—returned to normal. Ereshkigal’s elemental taskforce had gone into camouflage mode in order to conceal us from the spies of our enemy. Still, they wouldn’t be able to hide us from the eyes of the Dracon guards nor the Nefilim. We would just have to hope that the disaster Levi had created at Montauk kept them distracted long enough for us to achieve our goal.

  The lift doors opened into a corridor that was entirely white, but lit with deep red lighting—the colour frequency most effective for keeping base desires thriving.

  A couple of demonic elementals came flying down the corridor to check who was exiting the lift. When they could see no one, they hissed in annoyance at the wasted effort and flew away up the corridor and around a corner at the end.

  There were doors off both sides of the corridor, but no peepholes in them or any windows. Although the place was deathly silent, I knew in my soul that behind the closed doors were souls suffering immeasurable pain and torment; I could sense their distress even though I couldn’t hear it.

  ‘Quickly,’ Ereshkigal urged, leading us to the third door on the left. She opened it wide and ushered us quietly inside.

  ‘Dear goddess,’ I gasped when I saw my daughter. She was suspended, naked and unconscious, inside an upright transparent flotation tank full of a heavy golden liquid. Tubes extended from her nose and mouth, connecting her to a life-sustaining apparatus. A tentacled helmet encompassed her skull, with a long tail that dropped down to hug the nape of her neck.

  ‘Shut it off, drain it!’ I felt suffocated by anguish.

  Before anyone could react, the machinery responded to my will.

  ‘You still have power here?’ Ereshkigal said, stunned, then she looked at me more closely and smiled. ‘You are the Blue Flame bearer. I was wondering why I felt such an affinity with you—we resonate to the same frequency.’

  This was true for all of the Anu race. I was the first human ever to resonate to the frequency of the Blue Flame.

  I watched as the metal headgear detached from Tamar’s head, leaving bloody marks at her temples and at the base of her neck where its long spikes had penetrated her skull. I whimpered, wanting to disintegrate the transparent shield between us and hold her in my arms.

  ‘Wait for the fluid to drain,’ Dexter warned. ‘That is diluted liquid Orme, designed to deaden the psychic senses. If your powers are still working here, it’d be best not to coat yourself in that stuff.’

  ‘Here.’ Ereshkigal removed her long velvet cloak and handed it to me. ‘Use this to dry her and wrap her.’

  As the fluid drained away, Tamar collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the tank. I used my will to make it and all the tubes disappear, then enfolded her in the cloak and hugged her to me. ‘Tamar?’ I couldn’t feel her breathing, so I shook her.

  Killian gave her a sharp slap on the back and she vomited fluid all over the place. She remained unconscious but her breathing stabilised.

  ‘Oh thank you, goddess!’ I burst into tears of relief.

  ‘She’s going to be out of it for quite a while,’ Killian advised, ‘so we’re going to have to carry her out of here.’

  I looked at my unconscious, helpless little girl; it seemed she did still need her mother after all and I wasn’t going to let her down.

  ‘We can’t leave without Mathu,’ I said, knowing her one desire. ‘He’s one of our major objectives, and if we don’t take the opportunity to find him now, we’ll regret it later.’

  ‘But we don’t know where he’s being held,’ Ereshkigal reasoned.

  ‘And we need to get Tamar out of here as quickly as possible,’ Dexter added.

  ‘Make your best guess about Mathu,’ I said to our Anu guide. ‘Of all the hells the Nefilim have created to torture the unfaithful, which would hurt Mathu the most and aid Ill’s cause at the same time?’

  Ereshkigal thought a moment. ‘A virtuous prince, devoted only to his queen, would most likely be broken in Ishtar’s Hell of a Thousand Pleasures.’

  ‘Do you know the way?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, but we’ll run into opposition if we venture that far. Ishtar likes to watch the torture, and she won’t take kindly to us waltzing off with her victim.’

  The mere mention of Ishtar’s name made my blood boil; she’d already hurt my husband, and now she was probably doing the same to the love of my daughter’s life. I looked at Dexter, Castor and Killian. ‘Take Tamar back to the porthole,’ I said. ‘I’ll deal with Ishtar.’

  ‘Like hell you will,’ Dexter said.

  ‘Look,’ I took a deep breath, trying to work out how I could state my reasons without causing offence, ‘I don’t mean to sound condescending, but men are completely useless when it comes to handling Ishtar.’

  ‘That is so true,’ Ereshkigal said before the men could protest.

  ‘Ereshkigal and I are the only ones with any psychic power down here,’ I went on.

  ‘That’s not true and you know it,’ Killian interrupted.

  ‘Please, you’ll just have to trust us girls to handle this one.’

  Dexter was concerned. ‘I don’t know…I imagine you have a lot of pent-up anger towards Ishtar.’

  ‘That won’t be a problem,’ I assured him, hoping to reassure myself in the process.

  Dexter sought a second opinion. ‘What do you think, Castor?’

  ‘My Lady du Lac has never steered me wrong before,’ Castor said with a shrug, ‘so I’ll go wherever she asks me to go.’

  When Killian nodded to agree with Castor’s reasoning, Dexter took my unconscious daughter from my arms. ‘Be careful and be quick,’ he said.

  ‘I can send word to you in the porthole cavern via one of my elementals should the situation get out of hand,’ Ereshkigal assured him.

  ‘It won’t,’ I said, and kissed my daughter’s head in parting. ‘Don’t worry,’ I whispered to her, ‘you saved my love and now I’ll save yours. I promise.’

  CHAPTER 26

  TAMING THE SHREW

  Ereshkigal assumed her Nefilim form as we moved towards the more densely populated part of Irkalla. ‘You’ll need a disguise,’ she said, and was considering where she might obtain one, when I made myself invisible.

  ‘Will this do?’

  ‘Perfect. Now be warned: Ishtar’s little corner of hell is all about lust, debauchery and betrayal, which you might find shocking.’ She kept her eyes dead ahead as she spoke to me.

  We entered the palace proper, which was a spiritual architectural nightmare with all its sharp edges and clean straight lines, lack of natural light and growth of any kind—no plants, no fish or birds, no nature period. Due to the freezing temperature of Irkalla there were huge open fires everywhere, run on gas; no doubt there were no longer any trees left on Earth to burn.

  ‘The fires of hell,’ I comme
nted, realising the relevance of the term.

  There were statues all around, depicting the now fallen gods in their glory days, torturing their human victims via various means. Instead of paintings there were large screens on the walls displaying live footage of souls being tortured with painful and perverse acts. I felt as though I was taking a tour through the darkest depths of cyberspace.

  We passed several sets of Dracon guards, but the palace seemed devoid of the Nefilim. I was beginning to hope I’d get really lucky and find that Ishtar was no longer here, for then I wouldn’t be forced to deal with my hatred and contempt for her. These were detrimental feelings and I knew it; it was horrifying to think that I doubted my own ability to live up to my high spiritual awareness in this instance.

  ‘How do you forgive your kindred in order to do what you do?’ I whispered to Ereshkigal once we’d reached an empty corridor.

  ‘Empathise,’ she replied in a word, and it was a revelation to me—a reminder of a lesson I had learned long ago. For with empathy came compassion, understanding, unconditional love and forgiveness.

  ‘We must be close,’ I commented; the live feeds on the screens were depicting sexually and emotionally torturous atrocities and the statues were more erotic. I stopped before a screen showing a young man, more Anu in appearance than human, being overpowered and seduced by many human females. ‘Where’s that taking place?’ I asked.

  ‘Main chamber, end of the hall.’ Ereshkigal nodded ahead. ‘Once we’re inside that room, you’re on your own. I must protect my cover at all costs.’

  ‘I understand,’ I said and sped up the pace. I hoped Ereshkigal had more of a plan than I did.

  We entered what I could only describe as a fully equipped porn studio, where Ishtar was the director and Mathu the star stud, but one that wasn’t being very cooperative.

  ‘Leave me alone!’ he was yelling through his tears as naked women slid all over his restrained body, trying to engage him in sexual activity.

  ‘Enjoy yourself, my lovely…the camera adores you,’ instructed Ishtar, who was still sporting Sabine Labontè’s body. She was standing at a console of screens, monitoring the recording of Mathu’s seduction from all angles. ‘In the whole of Earth’s history this may be your only chance of getting laid…as your little princess is now fulfilling the needs of Ill’s mighty erection.’