"Listen to me carefully," Aset said, her tone soothing as she held Damali firmly. "When the cramping started, it was because a dark force began the siphon. Ask Carlos what was spilled onto the floor in the place we do not name. He was bound to a wall, impaled by stakes, and he cried out to Heaven for mercy, which is the only way we know."
The ancient queen dropped Damali's arm and focused both hands over her lower belly, allowing Nzinga to go to her side to keep Damali from falling. "A daywalker is the least of our concerns if that bitch, Lilith, comes up. She used to be able to breed a hundred demons a day before she married Set and ultimately betrayed him." Aset removed her hands slowly from Damali's abdomen, leaving a gentle, healing warmth in their wake. "It is done."
Shocked by Aset's language, and the miracle the elder queen had just performed, Damali touched the now-calm surface of her belly, marveling at the soothing sensation that filled her. She somehow knew the ancient queen had not harmed her, but had healed the part of her that had sustained injury. But her soul was still wounded.
She stared behind Aset as she made her way back to her throne. Oh, yeah, something really bad was about to go down if the queen mother had cursed. "Lilith?" Damali murmured. "I've never heard of her." It was the truth. One of the other queens had mentioned the name in the club, but she couldn't figure out what this new threat meant.
"We do not speak of her, for she defames our gender," Aset said without turning. "Tell her, Eve."
"Yes," Eve said, looking at Damali with gentleness. "My husband's first wife. After she disgraced Adam, she ran off to a cave near the Red Sea and began birthing demon seed a hundred a day."
Damali couldn't contain herself. "Adam's first wife? But you were the first-"
Eve waved her hand, stopping Damali's words. "She shames us because it was the way she did it." Eve let out a hard sigh. "We all agreed, by rights, Lilith was made simultaneously with Adam. She was a copartner, a coruler, and should have never had to submit to him. When he tried to force the issue, she should have taken her complaint On High, and had it resolved legally in the divine courts. But then she took matters into her own hands; rage made her crazy. She turned against the Light. Unacceptable. Then in jealousy, she even turned against all women by stealing children, killing the innocent as they grew in our wombs. That bitchhas to be stopped."
Nzinga nodded. "Fact. This female knows no bounds, and has no compassion for her sisters. A woman like that who goes against all of us cannot be considered one of us. She's your kill, baby. Do her and finish it. We've been searching for her for years, but she's crafty. You may be the only one who can get to her, because now you share something in common."
Joan leaned forward. "Damali, she's coming for you, honey. Eve's transgression was nothing in comparison to what she did, and our sister Eve took the weight of most of it. Many distortions have been made in the biblical texts about Eve." She glanced at Eve with a firm but tender gaze. "That was wrong, and Lilith gave them the wherewithal to cast all blame at her feet for biting the apple. Now, from some convoluted, distorted logic, all women are blamed for the transgression of one-and they have even blamed the wrong sister! The whole world became paternalistic, and they stripped our contributions from the holy books, stopped giving women their due, and stopped seeing the importance of our energy, after that."
"I went to the tree for knowledge.That's it ," Eve said with pride. "True, I wasn't supposed to, but I had to know about Lilith and what had made my husband go into this 'the man must be in charge all the time' thing. He was never the same, after her. That much I've gathered," she added in a sad voice. "No one wanted me to know his shortcomings, and the fact that I stumbled upon an additional situation while gaining insight... well that, as they say, is old history."
For a moment, all queens remained quiet as Damali and Eve stared at each other. A deep abiding compassion bound them. Damali could feel the elder queen's pain from where she stood. "They need to let that snake thing rest," Damali said with care. "If there was something going on with my husband, I'd want to know, too."
Eve nodded and the Amazon reached across the table and held her hand.
"She knows what you've been through," the Amazon said quietly. "In Brazil she had to learn it and even feel it, just like you did."
Eve looked away. "That's why this one is so special to me, Aset," she said, addressing the queen mother without looking at her. "I don't want Damali to suffer like I did. It's a new era, a new millennium, and she's from a new generation of queens."
"I agree... reluctantly," Aset said. "Explain to her, then, what's she's up against."
"They sent three warrior angels after Lilith to find her and return her to Paradise for a serious discussion, but couldn't locate her," Eve said, her voice worn with emotion. "That's when the first big war began... Archangel Michael came down and began slaying her progeny, but he couldn't get them all. Her ability to spawn at will was revoked, and many of her offspring slaughtered, but not all of them. A fragile truce was enacted and she was forced underground. That is the only reason she submitted to marry the Dark One, for an alliance against the angels. We have been told that evenhe has difficulties with her."
Damali looked from one queen to the next. "Where did she go? How do we stop her?"
"Babylon, first, then subterranean," Eve said. "She rules over miscarriages, stillbirths, crib deaths-among other things-but you won't find her up here. She's gone into deep hiding since those times, and sleeps with the one we do not name, making demons and creating havoc when she has a chance." Unspent fury hardened Eve's gaze. "But she's sneaky, can slide into men's dreams, can come as a succubus. She breaks the treaty to remain below all the time, but no one can catch her in the act to bring her to justice."
Damali covered her mouth.
"Yes, daughter. That's why we have been so appalled," Aset said in a weary tone. She looked at Eve. "You know the Vampire Council's chairman. Well, am I wrong?"
Eve glanced away. "That was a long time ago, Aset. Donot go there."
Damali's gaze darted between the queens who were now locked in a silent standoff.The serpent in the garden was the chairman? Oh, shit ...
"For this daughter's own good. Tell me. Do you think he was enraged enough to have destroyed whatever he drew from her womb?"
"I cannot be certain," Eve said, her tone cautious and thoughtful. "He was always extremely passionate... and always jealous of his father. His ambitions might have allowed him to be shrewd, with the Armageddon so near."
"A potential coup within the dark realms may be our only hope. His father would not stand for a challenger created by the Vampire Council, but Lilith could be a variable. She has always played all sides of men at war, and even started many on her own," Nzinga said, releasing Damali as she slowly returned to her throne with the others.
"Each one of us has had a turn at this same theme," Aset said. "Ausar and I created Heru who conquered Set the first time. Eve before me was with Adam, and knows the pain of two warring sons."
"Cain was implanted during my transgression and came forward as a twin when Abel was conceived. The deepest heartbreak of my existence." Eve swallowed hard and sat down. "We chastise you not from anger, but from love. We have been down that long and dusty path, and we weep for you. That is why, even above the Isis blades, your womb is sacrosanct." Eve's gaze became steady as it bored into Damali. "They have the embryo. Its light did not flicker out, but remains dormant. Lilith has to be beheaded before she can implant it and figure out how to spark it to life. Her womb is the only one down there capable of bearing what will become an atrocity against nature."
"Say it plain, Eve!" Aset shouted, holding a stunned Damali in her gaze as she addressed Eve. "The embryo is a time bomb. It's ticking as we speak. Your transgression with the chairman so many years ago was only a problem because you and Adam had joined." She spun on Damali. "You and Carlos are the only Neteru pair to grace the planet since our dear sister and her husband. That combination produces a level of energy carried in the blood that the dark realms cannot synthesize. When she had a run-in with the serpent and got bitten, it allowed her to be impregnated with something dark while she carried something from the Light. Thiscannot happen to you, and you cannot sleep with Carlos again until you destroy Lilith. If Lilith gives birth, your child will be born the Anti-Christ. She and the embryo must be destroyed. Shecannot surrogate for you and turn what came from you to the Darkness." Aset flattened her hands against the table. She stared at Damali, her gaze narrowing. "I have given you back your Sankofa. Use it wisely to keep yourself from implantation, henceforth. That can only occur with your intent. In the future, if you He with a male, make it burn bright. Control your births; this is your right as a woman."
Feeling as though her legs would give out, Damali stumbled forward. But a slow, smoldering rage held her up and sent a snap of straight fury through her spine to keep her erect. "She hasmy child? The fruit ofmy womb?Our baby?" Damali's voice was a hard whisper. "I need to know."