Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One (43 page)

The female searched
his eyes.  Her hand trembled as she took his outstretched hand.  A feeling of
joy made his heart flip-flop in his chest.  He smiled down at her as Shay’tan’s
priest read the vows, already envisioning the future they would have together. 
Him.  Her.  And their attractive black-skinned, white-winged children.  Or
would that be white-skinned, black winged children?  One of each?  Yes!  He
would beget hundreds of offspring upon her, each child more magnificent than
the one before. 

Zepar turned an
interesting shade of purple as the Sata’anic priest pronounced them husband and
wife.  Lucifer couldn't wait to see the expression on his father's face when he
found out not only was he married … to a human … but that he'd done so in his
adversary’s name.  Hah!  All he'd to do was keep things quiet until he'd
figured out how to prevent the Emperor from retaliating by snatching her away
from him.

“May the blessings of
Shay’tan smile upon your union,” Ba'al Zebub said.  “And may she bear you many,
fine sons.  Her fertility cycle ends in the next day and won’t re-emerge for
another 28 days, so I recommend you don't waste any time.”

Lucifer forced his
feet to remain on the deck of Ba'al Zebub's ship instead of fluttering down the
hallway as he shepherded his new wife down to the launch bay.  With a snarled
dismissal, Zepar stayed behind to argue with Ba'al Zebub in private.  Lucifer
felt a perverse thrill of pleasure at annoying the controlling Zepar.  What was
his problem?  This development was good for everyone!  Not for the first time,
he wondered whose interests Zepar was
really
looking out for? 
His?
 
Or his own?

“Hello, my wife,”
Lucifer touched her hair and relished how coarse and curly it felt compared to
the silky tresses of an Angelic .  “Do you have a name?”

“Tafadhali,”
the woman nervously glanced
out the hatch at the Sata’an lizard people standing guard outside his shuttle. 
“Mimi nataka kwenda nyumbani.” 

He'd no idea
what she said, but it appeared to be a legitimate language.  The Sata’an bridal
outfit hid her figure, but she'd curves in all the appropriate places.  Ba'al
Zebub knew better than to lie about the merchandise he traded.

“You have no
idea what just happened, do you?”  Lucifer took her hand and squeezed it.  He
prattled on, as nervous as a cadet.  “You'll be the first female I've ever had
to woo completely on my own.  Zepar has always set these things up for me, you
know?  I'm not even sure you'll respond to my ‘gift’ if you're not able to
understand my language.”

“Tafadhali,”
the woman pleaded. 
“Kuchukua yangu
nyumbani.”

“Will you stay
with me once you no longer need me, my wife?”  Lucifer used his gift to send an
image of the question which had been in his heart with every female who had
ever started to catch his fancy before Zepar made him come to his senses.

“Tafadhali
wala maudhi kwangu,”
the
ebony skinned female trembled. 
“Nitakuwa tiifu Mke Kama huna kunidhuru.”

He could
detect the subtle pattern of longings which his gift enabled him to see
underlying the speech in all sentient creatures.  She was frightened and she
wanted to go home.  If not fully sentient, she was close.  With training,
perhaps he could pass her off as a fully sentient race instead of an emerging
one?  He didn't want to be the laughing stock of the Alliance, but then again,
his people were so desperate for a solution to their problem that they would
overlook a whole
host
of shortcomings in the root race so long as they
were even marginally sentient.

“You have
beautiful eyes.”  He touched her cheek, amazed at how her skin could be so dark
and yet feel so much like
his
.  “I see the features of the Centauri in
your face.  Their skin is not nearly as dark as yours, but darker than my own. 
Are they descended from your people?” 

He projected
an image of a caramel-skinned Centauri mare into her mind as he spoke,
wondering if she understood.  The female got a puzzled expression on her face,
tilting her head as she reached up to touch first his temple, and then her
own.  Did she
really
understand that he could communicate
telepathically?  The Emperor had always led him to believe the ability was one
he'd
engineered
into the hybrids ... and then eradicated when he
discovered the ability was linked to defects lurking in the Seraphim
bloodline.  Was the ability innate?

He touched her
cheek.  Caressing her chin with his finger and thumb, he leaned in and gave her
a kiss.  She didn't respond with the heat-enhanced hunger of the Angelic
females during mating appointments, but she didn't reject him, either.  She
reached up to touch the leading edge of his wings, her eyes round like an owl's
as she realized they were real. 

Lucifer
shivered under her caress.  He felt like
he
was the cadet about to be
fucked and he looked forward to it.  Yes.  He would wait however long it took
for
her
to want
him. 
This one would be different.

Zepar scurried into
the ship and ordered the pilot to get the hell out of there, giving him a
disapproving look.

“I'm sorry, Sire,”
Zepar said.  “I had no idea he would make such a ridiculous demand!  If I had
known, I would have refused to even schedule the meeting.”

“Like hell!” Lucifer
said.  “Look at her!  She bears the genetic features of the Centauri.  If my
father tries to quarantine her, I have legal grounds to prevent it.  She's my
wife!”

“It's a pre-sentient
farm animal,” Zepar said.  “A tool to solve a problem.  Don't allow yourself to
get attached to it.”

“Screw the
consequences,” Lucifer said.  “I'll do as I see fit.”

“Of course you will,
Sire,” Zepar said.  “But you heard what Ba'al Zebub said.  She is only fertile
for the next 24 hours.”

'You must mate with
her as quickly as possible…'

“He also said her heat
cycle is only 28 days,” Lucifer said, “not the two years or more between
Angelic heat cycles.  She doesn't understand what I'm saying, so my gift won't
work.  How can I woo a female who has no idea what I'm saying?”

“She is little more
than a trained monkey,” Zepar said.  “Don't read more into her behavior than is
really there.”

“After 225 years of
shooting blanks,” Lucifer said, “I'll risk taking a few weeks to get to know my
new wife before I throw her down upon the bed.  I've had my fill of meaningless
sex!  Planned or not, I have every intention of enjoying her!”

“You're falling into
Shay’tan’s hands,” Zepar warned.

“I just made a deal
with the devil,” Lucifer retorted.  “Let me enjoy the up side of having sold my
soul to Shay’tan before my father rains down his wrath upon me!”

The migraine which
exploded inside of his skull felt like a white dwarf going supernova inside his
brain.  He staggered, pain forcing him to sit down.  He gripped the bridge of
his nose and squeezed, breathing through his mouth to prevent himself from
vomiting.

“Wewe ni
sawa, Mume wangu?”
the female
reached out to touch his forehead.  Her eyes went round with fear.

“Migraine,”
Lucifer whispered.  “I get them a lot.”

“
Nyeusi uchawi!”
she hissed.  She turned towards Zepar, holding her
hand in some sort of sign, fingers folded in and index and pinkie finger
pointed towards him. 
“Mimi naona katika mchawi nafsi yako, na kuona kwamba
wewe ni mbaya!  Ibilisi!!!  Ibilisi!!! 
Wangu hadithi ya watu Je, Ubaya Mnyama, na mtakuwa
kushindwa.”
 She moved to
stand between Lucifer and Zepar.

“She's just a
pre-sentient farm animal,” Zepar crooned, his voice almost hypnotic in its
reasonableness.  “A means to an end.”

'Think of
how much power you'll garner amongst the hybrid armies if you can to gain
access to more of these...'

“Of course,”
Lucifer said.  Zepar always made sense.

“Ba'al Zebub
trained her to act like a sentient creature,” Zepar said in a calm voice.  “Of
course she appears to be sentient because she's your distant ancestor.  But she
is no more sentient than the funny little creatures Hashem keeps in his
genetics laboratory.”

'She is
just breeding stock...'

“Just breeding
stock,” Lucifer said.

“It's critical
that you impregnate her as quickly as possible, Sire,” Zepar said, the voice of
logic and reason.  “Think of how much power you'll gain once you have living
proof these humans are the solution to their problems.  They'll have no need
for the Emperor anymore.  The Alliance will be yours for the taking.”

Darkness
crushed in upon his brain from every angle, stealing his ability to command his
body to move or even think.  It felt as though he were being buried alive. 
That small, nasty voice grew louder, taunting him for his weakness.  He
couldn't longer
see
what was standing right in front of him and Zepar's
voice sounded as though it were far away.

“I ... I need
to lay down...” Lucifer whispered.

The crushing
migraine made the world go black.

~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~

Neutral Zone:  Sata’an/Alliance Border

Diplomatic Carrier: 
Prince of Tyre

Alliance Secret Service:  Special Agent Eligor

Eligor

Eligor stood
at attention as the Prime Minister’s shuttle cruised into the launch bay of his
diplomatic carrier, the ‘
Prince of Tyre
.’  For some reason Chief of
Staff Zepar had radioed ahead and demanded the entire crew assemble in the
launch bay.  A chill of anticipation rippled through the men.

The door slid
open.  The gangplank slowly extended.  The Prime Minister stepped off,
shepherding a female wearing an ornate, jeweled wedding dress.

“Figures,”
Larajie said.  “With him it's always something female.”

“A Sata’anic
female,” Eligor whispered.  “The only one who has ever seen one is General
Abaddon.  Shay’tan won’t let them out of the Hades cluster.”

“So now he's
going to fuck a lizard?” Larajie scoffed. 

“Wouldn’t
surprise me,” another crewman said.  “We all know there are two Lucifers.  The
one he shows the cameras, and the one we see the minute he is out from
underneath the Emperor’s thumb.”

The Prime
Minister guided the terrified female to stand in front of the line of men,
three-deep, and stood, a feral glint in his eyes as he grinned like a cat who
had just swallowed a bird.  He waited for his men to recognize what was
standing right in front of their eyes.

“That’s no
lizard,” Eligor said.  “She's ... “

“Human,”
Lerajie finished.  “Shit ... he did it!  He found the root race!  We're saved!”

Eligor looked
into Lucifer’s eerie silver eyes and shivered.  What stared back was so
malevolent and cold he could swear it wasn't mortal.

~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~