She sat back and regarded me carefully. "What do you know of the goddess?" she asked.
"Which goddess?" I asked. "I know of many goddesses."
She looked shocked for a moment "I mean our goddess, Lilith. Surely your maker told you of her, gave you a copy of our bible?"
"Well, she gave me a copy, yes. She said that it had been given to her by her maker, but to be quite honest I doubt if she had ever bothered to read it!"
"Did you read it?" she asked.
"Yes, I read it. It claims that Lilith was a vampire who was created before Adam, created in the image of God. It claims that she was destroyed by the sons of Adam. I assume that this was after she had created others of our kind."
As I watched Berenice I realised that, whereas I looked on this as an interesting legend, a way of explaining how vampires came into existence, she believed it without question.
She smiled at me. "But you do not believe this do you William, I can see it."
I looked down, not wishing to meet her eyes. "Well, I tend not to believe anything without some evidence, not now anyway..." My voice trailed off into silence. I had believed, I had been a good Christian all my life. But Lorena had shattered my faith into pieces in a single night. I simply could not think of anything I had done in my life that was bad enough for a supposedly compassionate God to punish me with the horror that Lorena had brought.
She reached over and put her small delicate hand on my arm. "You did not choose this did you William?" she asked softly. "You are still very young, you miss your human life, this is why you still feel the need to be with humans rather than others of your own kind."
I looked up into her big dark eyes and saw only sympathy and sorrow. "Yes" I sighed "that's probably true."
"Poor William, you think that your God has punished you by making you what you are. But perhaps you are wrong. Perhaps the Goddess has a purpose for you."
I looked at her earnest expression and smiled. "Perhaps." I said.
To my surprise she leaned forward and kissed me gently on the lips. I must have looked slightly shocked as she backed away, but I slipped my arm around her and pulled her back. Her lips were soft and full and tasted strangely sweet. She seemed to hesitate for a moment and then leaned into me and began to kiss me more eagerly. I felt her arms move around me as she clung to me and then suddenly she released me and sat back.
"Forgive me!" she said a little breathlessly.
"Please, don't apologise!" I said with a smile. I tightened my arm around her shoulders. "What's wrong?" I asked.
She looked up at me, her eyes wide with what seemed like a suppressed excitement. "I'm sorry, it's just that it has been a long time since...since a man held me in his arms."
"I find that very hard to believe!" I said. "You clearly haven't found the right man." A thought struck me. "You're not alone though are you? What about the two vampires I met, they seemed to suggest that they served you?"
"Oh there are many who know me, who serve me" she said "but they know me as the Guardian, their High Priestess. They love me, but they also fear me."
"Should I fear you?" I asked gently, leaning towards her.
"Oh no!" she said softly. "I should much rather you loved me William."
For just a brief moment I wondered if I was being foolish, then she smiled shyly at me, hopefully, and I knew that she was telling the truth. I knew that the vampires in this area must all know her as this mysterious creature, "The Guardian". An ancient and powerful vampire to be respected and worshipped but to be placed on a pedestal. I was a rarity to her. A newcomer. Someone who knew nothing of her or her reputation, her purpose. And she clearly wished to take advantage of my lack of reverence for her position.
I stood up from the couch, picking her up in my arms. She weighed no more than a child and she slipped her arms around my neck trustingly and let me carry her into the house. I strode into the main bedroom, kicking off my shoes and sat down on the edge of the high bed with her in my arms. Looking around I realised that I had never actually been in this room before!
Berenice sat comfortably on my lap and reached for the top button of my linen shirt. I smiled as I watched her unbutton my shirt, her quick fingers flickering over my chest in the dim light from the hurricane lamps beside the bed. She tugged the shirt out of the waistband of my trousers and leaned forward to kiss me while her fingers began to fumble with the buttons of my fly. She made a little sound of frustration as she struggled to free my, by now substantial, erection. I smiled down at her.
"Easy, sweetheart..." I murmured. "We've got all night, remember?" I stood up, setting her down before me, and wriggled out of the trousers. She looked down at me and smiled happily. Then with a shrug of her shoulders the pleated linen robe slid down into a pool at her feet and she was suddenly naked before me her long black hair falling down across her shoulders and in glossy waves over her small, neat breasts. I put my hands on her slender waist and lifted her up onto the bed, sitting down beside her.
She gave a little sigh, climbing up onto my lap again and running her hands across my chest, seemingly fascinated by the fuzz of soft dark hair. Before I knew it she had swung her leg over my hips and pushed me back across the bed, kneeling astride me and rubbing herself against my stiffness. "My, you are keen aren't you!" I whispered. I slipped my arm around her waist and rolled over pulling her slight body beneath mine. She reached up and pushed her hand into my hair, pulling my head closer to hers.
"You don't like me on top of you do you William?" she said. "Why is that I wonder? Does someone else do that? Someone stronger than you? Someone you dislike?"
I stared down at her, surprised. "Yes actually, you're right." I sighed. "It's foolish of me I know, you are so unlike her." I ran my hand down her body and she shivered. I began to trail tiny kisses down her body as she wriggled underneath me, drawing up her legs and wrapping them around my hips with a little grunt of satisfaction.
"Oh no you don't!" I murmured holding her by the waist and using my tongue to tease her taut, rose coloured nipples until she was moaning and wriggling desperately against me. After another kiss I relented and, lifting her hips towards me, I eased myself gently inside her. She gasped as I pushed myself deeper feeling her tight sheath stretching to accommodate my length. I moved slowly and carefully at first, afraid that I would hurt her, but soon I realised that I was being overly careful. Despite her appearance, she was thousands of years older than me, I probably could not have hurt her even if I had tried! Sooner than I expected I felt her flesh begin to contract around me and she cried out, thrusting her hips upwards to engulf each stroke. I placed one hand on her shoulder, pinning her down on the bed and driving into her harder and deeper for just the few final strokes that brought me to my own release.
We lay on our backs, side by side looking up at the ceiling. I watched a tiny gecko run across the ceiling and down the wall and saw Berenice's eyes following it. She turned her head and her eyes locked on me. "Thank you William!" she whispered. "That was very...satisfying."
I laughed weakly. "I was a pleasure I assure you!" I said.
She rolled onto her side and leaned over to kiss me gently. Placing her hand on my chest and trailed it down across my stomach heading downwards. "Do you think we might do it again?" she asked softly.
I stretched out, feeling her fingers brush lightly against me. "Do you know...I think we might!" I said.
Much later that night we lay on the old iron bed, our limbs tangled together and I felt Berenice sigh happily in my arms. "I know that my people love me" she said "but I still miss the ...the intimacy of being with a man, with a lover. You are such a sweet and gentle lover William. Even though you know I am much stronger than you, still you are so careful with me. As though you are afraid that I will break!"
Suddenly my mind flashed back across the years to a room in New Orleans, to a young boy, a boy who had just become a man. I smiled at the memory. "I had a very good teacher" I said. I settled her comfortably beside me. "Now then, you never quite answered my question, did you? Though you did an excellent job of distracting me I must say!"
"Question?" she asked, looking up at me innocently. "What question?"
I kissed the tip of her nose and said "the question of what exactly it is that you are guarding." She blinked at me. "You asked me a lot of questions about my beliefs but you never quite answered me did you?"
She lay still for a moment in my arms, considering. I wondered what this secret could be, astonished at how important it was to her if I was good enough to have possession of her body, but not her secret. Then, quite suddenly, she came to a decision.
"I am the Guardian of the Shrine of the Blood" she said simply. "The blood of the Goddess."
I didn't know quite what I had imagined but it wasn't this! I lay staring at her in amazement. "The actual blood?" I asked. "The blood that was collected..."
"Yes"
"It still exists?"
"If you wish, I will show it to you" she offered. "I believe that the Goddess has a purpose for you William."
"And what purpose might that be?" I asked.
She smiled. "I do not know! She will make her purpose clear to us, in time."
A few nights later I was on my way back home just before dawn when I saw a dark shape on the verandah of my house. I slipped back into the shadows and watched carefully for a moment. After a while the shape moved and I recognised the young vampire whose head I had threatened to rip off during our earlier encounter. I watched him suspiciously, wondering if he were lying in wait for me, intending to do me some harm, but he did not appear to be attempting to hide at all. He was merely waiting.
I crept carefully up to the verandah, checking that there was no-one else, hiding in a dark corner. When I was satisfied that he was alone I mounted the steps and greeted him pleasantly. "Good evening! What can I do for you?"
He bowed to me politely and said "Mr Compton, I have a message from the Guardian."
I stood quite still watching him until he continued. "She will meet you after dusk tomorrow night at the foot of the path which leads out of the Valley of the Kings to Deir el Bahri and the temple of the Great Pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut. Do you know this path?
"Yes, I know it" I said. "You may tell her that I will meet her there."
He bobbed his head in another little bow and slipped off the verandah into the darkness. I sat on the verandah for a while, wondering if I was being dangerously foolish, putting myself at risk by meeting an unknown vampire, one so ancient and powerful, alone. I was fairly sure that she meant me no harm, but still it was with some trepidation that I passed through the entrance to the Valley the next evening. I walked past the guard post with a nod to the Arab guard on duty. By now they all knew me and he simply lifted his hand in a vague salute as I slipped across the valley floor and into the shadows at the base of the limestone cliffs. A few minutes walk took me to the start of the cliff path which wound up over the escarpment and down into the desert on the other side and, sure enough, as I neared the base of the path I saw a small figure standing, quite immobile, in the shadows. She appeared to be alone. Had I not been expecting her, she would have passed quite unnoticed, which was doubtless her intention.
"William! I was beginning to think that you would not come" she said with a smile.
"How could I resist?" I asked, returning her smile. "So, why did you wish to see me?"
"I have spent some time in meditation" she said "and have learned that the Goddess approves of my offer to show you the Shrine of the Blood. We will go now if you wish."
"Why...of course. I should be honoured" I said. Though she had mentioned this a few nights ago when she had come to my house I had not really thought that she had meant it seriously. I was a newcomer, an outsider. She reached out an took my hand.
"Come then" she said, and we began to climb the steep path. A short walk over the escarpment brought us out on the cliff top looking down to Deir-el-Bahri and the magnificent Temple of Hatshepsut. It was built tucked up under the base of the cliff and, in those days, one side of the three storied, pillared structure was buried under the drifting sand. We however, headed in the other direction along the cliff top, out towards the desert. At one point Berenice left the path and started down into a narrow hidden valley.
I followed, looking around me. "Has no one ever stumbled upon your shrine by accident?" I asked. "There must be dozens of expeditions every year now, digging in this area?"
"Oh yes!" she answered, carelessly. "The shrine is well hidden but still occasionally humans will stumble across it. Usually Arabs from the villages, searching for items that they can sell to the westerners. They always come back under cover of darkness and then they are food, provided by the goddess."
"What happens to them?" I asked.
She turned back to me and smiled. "The desert is wide William. It hides many secrets."
My disapproval must have shown on my face as she stopped and turned to face me. "You disagree William? How do you dispose of your victims? What did you do with the girl my men gave you the other night?"
I was silent, watching her face as she saw the truth in my eyes.
"You let her go, didn't you!" she said, her own black eyes wide with surprise. "Why would you do that?"
I sighed. "She was just a child and besides, I knew her, she worked on the dig, her father is the foreman." My voice trailed off as I realised that I was making excuses for my behaviour. "She didn't deserve to die!" I said firmly.
"What does that matter?" she asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. "They are just food William, nothing more. Lilith tells us that they were placed on earth merely to slake our thirst."
"They are individuals, people, each with their own lives, their own concerns, their fears. We were all like them once" I said.
She smiled patiently. "You are very young William, you will see the truth of this in time." She turned away from me and began walking again. I stared after her. Perhaps I was foolish to believe that I could live like this. I knew that older vampires generally had very little regard for humans...and she was, after all, very old. I sighed and followed her across the little valley to the cliffs on the far side.
She was heading for a particular spot on the valley floor, beneath a sheer cliff. When she reached it she paused and turned to me. "The entrance to the shrine is here" she said looking up. "About halfway up the cliff."
I stared up into the darkness but I could see no break in the smooth cliff.
"How do you get up there?" I asked.
"Like this!" she said with a smile. As I watched in astonishment she began to rise into the air. She laughed at the expression on my face and held out her hand to me. "Come, William! Take my hand. You will have to climb as our younger ones do. I will help you."
I took her hand and she rose slowly pulling me upwards. I grasped the rock with my other hand and began to scramble up the sheer face. When we reached the halfway point I saw that there was a narrow ledge running across the cliff. I clambered onto it clinging precariously to the rock. "Now what?" I asked.
"The shrine is here." she said. "Look to your right."
I turned my head and saw a narrow fold in the rock. Stepping carefully around the edge I eased my body into the narrow gap, Berenice close behind me. The narrow passage turned back on itself and as I eased myself around the corner I saw light ahead. The sharp bend in the passage ensured that, not only could the light not be seen from the outside, but the fold in the rock was almost invisible from the ground.
"You say that humans have found this place!" I said in amazement. "By accident!"
"The locals search the cliffs for tombs to rob. It has been going on for thousands of years. Come William" she reached for my hand, "let me show you."
She took my hand again and we stepped out of the narrow passage and into a broad corridor. There were small lanterns placed at intervals along the walls but I barely noticed them as we turned the corner into the corridor. The walls were covered with paintings but, unlike those I had seen in the tombs, these glowed with brilliant colours. The ceiling was curved and painted the deep blue of the night sky, with a scattering of stars in constellations that I did not recognise. I turned to examine the wall paintings and was startled to realise that, although superficially they resembled the painting found in Egyptian tombs, these were not paintings of humans. The flesh of the figures I had seen in the tombs was a warm earthen colour but these were stark white. These creatures had not spent their lives working in the Egyptian sun. They were vampires!
The colours glowed in the flickering light of the lanterns. I could easily have spent hours examining them but Berenice was walking down the corridor ahead of me and I hurried to catch up. At the end of the corridor was an arched doorway with two elaborately carved wooden doors. On either side of the door stood a statue. They were carved from a pale creamy wood and each had a linen skirt wrapped around its hips. They stood with one foot forward and each had a long wooden staff in his outstretched hand. Berenice pushed open the wide doors and stepped through.
I closed my eyes briefly, blinded by the gleam of gold reflecting the lanterns which were placed all around the room. I had only a moment to ponder the incongruity of a shrine to a dark Goddess being full of blinding light. The room beyond was wider than the corridor and contained what looked like a wooden tent made from panels coated with beaten gold topped with a pointed roof. Berenice turned to me, her face solemn.
"Are you ready to face the Goddess William?" she asked.
I was unsure quite what she meant by this but I hadn't come this far to turn back now!
"I am ready! I answered.
She stepped forward and opened the golden doors to the shrine. For an instant I could not move, or speak. Inside the shrine was a carved stone throne on which sat a woman. For a moment I truly believed that I was in the presence of the Goddess Lilith herself. Then, feeling slightly foolish, I realised that it was merely a statue, but the most incredible statue I had ever seen. It was in the form of a life size, seated woman, made of a deep earth coloured stone which gave her flesh the colour of blood. On her head was a wig of black hair, plaited into intricate patterns and her eyes were fashioned of ivory and blue lapis lazuli. Her hands rested on her knees and between her hands she held a stone jar. The stopper was a piece of alabaster carved into the head of a jackal.
I made an enormous effort and tore my eyes away from the statue, turning to Berenice. "The jar?" I asked.
"It contains the blood of the Goddess" she said. "It was used to collect her remains when she was destroyed by the sons of Adam. It was brought here thousands of years ago by my maker Mekure. He brought the blood here and created the shrine. He was the Keeper before me."
"And your task is to guard her?" I asked. "Forever? Do you have no existence of your own?"
"I exist only to serve her" she said. "But...I have my own...diversions." She ran her hand down my chest, making me shiver. "But it is written that one night my vigil will end when Lilith is resurrected. When that night comes we will take our true place and rule this earth as we were meant to do."
"She will be resurrected? Come, Berenice – you cannot believe that surely?" I laughed.
She reached up and placed a cool hand on my cheek. "Were you not a good Christian William?" she said softly, "Did you not believe that Christ died and was reborn on the third day?"
I sighed. "Yes, I believed. But I have learned much since then. You must be aware that many cultures have this same legend of a resurrected god. Attis, Adonis... Mithras, the soldier's god of the Romans. He was said to have been born at mid-winter, died and was buried in a cave from which he rose on the third day. Your own legends of the ancient gods of Egypt. Osiris, who was murdered by his brother Set, his body cut into pieces and scattered throughout the land. The legends say that the pieces were collected by his grieving widow, his sister Isis, who brought him back to life long enough for him to impregnate her with their son Horus. It's a circle, life, death, life. Humans have always been obsessed with a need to know what happens after death."
"But we are not human William! Death is no mystery to us." She turned and walked towards the statue. "Perhaps I believe because I am a woman and Lilith is a goddess."
"A goddess," I said "Persephone was a goddess to the Greeks, the daughter of Demeter the corn goddess. When she was stolen away by Hades her mother laid waste to the earth, refused to allow crops to grow. Only when Hades agreed to return her for half of the year did she relent. This was their explanation for the seasons. In the summer when the crops grow Persephone is with her mother Demeter and in winter, the earth is barren because Demeter is in mourning for her daughter who is in the underworld with Hades." I placed my hand gently on her arm. "Don't you see Berenice, it's the same cycle of life and death over and over again."
She smiled patiently at me. "You have no faith William! But one day you will see the truth." She turned and bent to open a door in the back wall of the shrine, taking out a wooden box about a foot long carved all over with hieroglyphics.
"Take this" she said handing it to me. "It is one of the original copies of the testament. One of the very first to be written down. It is my hope that it will bring you to the goddess."
I reached out and took the box from her hands. "You do understand that I cannot read this?" I asked with a smile.
"Lilith will bring you the knowledge and understanding you need William." She said turning back to the shrine. She hesitated for a moment and then turned back to me. "Just make sure that your friend Theodore doesn't get his hands on it!"
I remained in Luxor for nearly six months. Carter left to oversee another project at Aswan and Theodore's team uncovered the first almost intact tomb ever found in the Valley. That of Yuya and Tuya, the parents of Queen Tiye the wife of Amenhotep III and mother of the heretic Akenaten. I spent part of each night at the dig sites and when I returned home Berenice would be waiting for me. All too soon it was time for me to return to New Orleans and Lorena. I could feel the pull of her, calling to me even over such a great distance. I resisted it for as long as I could but I knew tht I would have to give in eventually and return.
I asked Berenice to return to America with me but I knew that there was little chance that she would agree. On my last night in Luxor we returned to the shrine and I knelt before the Goddess for a while, wondering if it would ever be possible for me to enjoy Berenice's unquestioning faith.
I have thought of her often, but I have never spoken a word of this to anyone before.
I sat back in the leather office chair and looked up at Charles and Ulrich who were watching me in silence. Ulrich got up and began to pace again. A bad sign in my opinion.
"Well?" I asked. "You say that she has come to England?"
"Yes, our sources are certain of it. She has taken up residence in a house just outside London owned by a certain vampire who we have suspected of harbouring religious zealots for years." He turned back to me. "What is she doing here Bill? Why has she come here?"
"I have no idea!" I said "something must have happened, but it must be something serious to make her leave the shrine."
"We have to know what's going on in there Bill. Our human contacts are beginning to be concerned. There have been a number of unexplained disappearances. The Police suspect that humans are being taken by vampires but, so far at least, they have no proof."
Ulrich stopped his pacing and leaned back against Charles's desk.
"I need you to help us here Bill. It looks like you might be the only one who can! I want you to go in there, join the movement, whatever it takes to find out what they're up to."
I stared at Ulrich, stunned. "But they'll recognise me surely!" I said "They'll never believe I've embraced the Sanguinistas' beliefs! I've even been on TV for heaven's sake, backing the mainstreaming agenda."
"Exactly!" said Ulrich. "That's just what they're looking for don't you see? They want to corrupt vampires away from our policies. If they can convert you to the Sanguinista line then they will have made great strides forward, they'll want to use you as a figurehead, an example of Lilith's power!"
"But..." I faltered.
"You're the perfect choice Bill." he insisted. "Think about this. Firstly, you're about the most committed mainstreamer we have. Secondly, you already know Berenice from the past so you have a reason to join them. Thirdly, you're an experienced undercover agent. We have no-one better suited to this than you!"
I gaped at him. "Just when exactly did I sign up to be an agent of The Authority?" I asked angrily. "I don't need this! I just want to go home to Alex."
Ulrich sighed. "Listen Bill" he said "this extremist nonsense, it's spreading, fast. Already The Authority is having to try and cover up disappearances and it's only going to get worse. Yesterday I had a meeting with an officer from the Ministry of Defence. They are seriously worried about this group. If we can't get them under control then the humans will do it for us and that could start a war. It could destroy everything we have worked for." He put his hands on the arms of my chair, leaning forwrd to look directly into my eyes. "What you've just told us is the most information...the best intelligence I've had for months! Please Bill, we need someone who can get in without arousing suspicion."
I sat back with a sigh. "Alright...I'll go and see if she will see me. But if she turns me away, that's it okay? I have no intention of trying to break in and sneak around looking for information for you, understood!"
"Thank you" said Ulrich, standing up again. "You won't regret this!"
Somehow I wasn't so sure of that.
