High Noon – chpt 15.
by: sifi.
OOooOO
"Get him in the pool," Cernunnos directed, guiding Bobby and Shep to the edge, helping them maintain balance while they descended into the water supporting Dean between them.
"What's this gonna do?"
"It's a healing spring... it'll finish the job," the woodland god explained.
"Will it get rid of my arthritis?" Bobby snarked then looked at Shep, "What? Can't tell me you don't have a few aches and pains of your own..."
Reluctantly Shep nodded then looked questioningly at the horned deity.
"It'll ease your pains as well." He smiled.
Imdugud shook his head, a smile playing on his hosts' face, "Humans..."
"They really don't have a clue do they?" Ammit asked.
"If they did do you think they'd be so much fun?" Cernunnos asked guiding them away from the spring, "Come..."
"Hey! How long..." Shep called as the others started moving away.
"Until I come back," the woolly headed man returned before he and the two demons slipped into the nearby tree line.
"I wonder if this is how John the baptist felt..." Bobby grumbled looking back into Shep's eyes while they supported the unconscious eldest Winchester on his back between them.
"Soggy to his shorts?" Shep asked cocking an eyebrow, "Just be glad you're too old t'be mistaken fer 'im."
Bobby nodded then sighed, "This is weird... I don't know about you Shepard but all this has got me a little off balance..."
Shep rolled his eyes, "Oh well hell Bobby I wonder why? I mean just that two of the kids we watched grow up... one of 'em from diapers are supposed to be some kind of God's incarnate? I mean HELLO!"
"Course it explains why this one's got groupies all over the lower forty eight..." Bobby shrugged and chuckled, "Heh... the church of Dean... the first commandment'll be, 'Thou Shalt Debauch'."
Shep shook his head smiling knowingly, "You're a dirty old bastard," then seemed to sober a bit, "And somehow the other one's supposed to be some kind of a demonic Pied Piper? C'mon Sammy's about as evil as... Tommy!"
"Yeah well, it practically blows the back of my brain out... but apparently not all demons are evil..."
"Hey, you've seen those two in action," Shep nodded toward the trees indicating Imdugud and Ammit, "Why do you think they're really following our boys?"
"Mmm," Dean groaned at the same time his body bucked in the water.
"Dean?" they asked together.
"Mmnuh!" He bucked again his back bowed upward straining. His jaw clenched and his fists flailed. The woods trembled at the sound of his screams as the pain of physical torture and emotional agony poured out of him in a black river of unacknowledged torment turning the previously crystalline water into an inky mess.
OOooOO
At the same time the eldest Winchester began his cleansing throes; in the safety of Ereshkegal's throne room a thousand white hot agonies shot into the youngest of the boys while outside the walls a furious battle raged.
He effortlessly picked Inanna out of the melee, his eyes caressing every visible inch while his mind imagined every bit of flesh he could not see. This isn't right... I love her, I want...no... I can't...it's wrong... he told himself, and yet the taste of her kiss lingered like a mellow ambrosia in the back of his throat, the full flavor drawing on something deep within, she's my brothers'... my father's wife... the mother of my soul... he tried to remind himself, to force away or deny what had been aroused in him, but every effort to do so was a lifetime of fire and pain.
Ages folded fluidly backwards through the deepest origins of him. The body meant nothing. The heavy, salty, viscous matrix of his beginning churned; red, white, and waxy flesh toned, pulling and tearing, and un-making the man inside.
An underworld away he felt his father scream for the torments of his own cleansing and gasped in accompaniment. Each breath cut away the layers of un-learning that had bound his very nature so completely out of his reach for over three thousand years.
Ohgodohgodohgod... he thought the instant it all stopped.
A breath later he knew everything. In that breath he was everything; his father, his mother and the being yet to come.
I understand... he nodded and felt himself beam his delight into the amber colored eyes that smiled back.
He looked down at himself sheathed inside her and knew in this moment, just as certainly as he would be born to be Marduk, that he was also the essence of Enki, and the essence of Inanna. He was each of them in turn at this instant of perfection in which the separate being he would become was conceived.
He saw himself fill her and felt her rapture. He thrilled as Enki gave his seed to her. And as she captured the mouth of her king with absolute devotion and the surety of a goddess's possession, he burned with fire borne of their eternal love and began to form in her womb.
From within the melee Nergal froze, every one of his eyes fixing on the copper glow growing in strength and brightness from Ereshkegal's throne room.
For a moment everyone breathed.
Brilliant bands of orange-rose light pulsed through him as his body bent forward and held, one hand on each door of the gate.
Even from their position, a hundred yards or more away, all parties could see the writing illuminated on the backs of the doors, literally gliding over the stone; being drawn through his fingertips and into his body until the last character was gone from the tablets.
They stood transfixed by the sight of a God now fully awoken, and though it was for different reasons, each of them trembled as Marduk arose.
OOooOO
In the pool Dean's body gave a powerful buck before it folded and disappeared into the inky blackness, neither Shep nor Bobby able to keep his grip.
"Where'd he go!?" Shep snapped.
"I dunno!" Bobby shook his head.
They each drew a breath and dove in, searching blindly for the young man.
The hunters broke the surface, fear blazing on their faces as they shook their heads.
A split second later Bobby's eyes went wide, "What the ... hell..." he pointed to his left as Shep treaded to him and watched while the blackness simply started disappearing. A moment later, when they saw that eerie copper glow, they allowed themselves a sigh of relief.
OOooOO
Bobby's Place –
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! He wanted to scream as he crossed the property line of Singer's Auto Salvage. But somehow he knew that if he did, and if he was found, the pain he was experiencing, that made him wonder if his skin was being flayed from his body, would pale in comparison. There was something inside him that had sunk its claws into his very soul and had driven him to this moment. It was the same something that forced him to the airport where the holes in his head slowed their pulsing, where the blood that wouldn't stop, had seemed to only do so because otherwise the mission would be compromised. It got him through the airport, through the flight from Utah to South Dakota, through the process of renting a car, and most importantly, through the process of purchasing the M 16 he had strapped over his back just like the one he'd wielded with savage, terrified recklessness in a foreign desert almost twenty years before.
As he moved through the front yard, to his right, along the side yard he could see men and women, and what looked like a cadre of midgets gathered around a tin roof shelter. From what he could tell, it appeared they were practicing with weapons, though exactly what kind they might be, he couldn't tell.
He crept to the front door, sweat filling his clothes, his heart racing, and his mind trapped in a time that really no longer mattered to the world, or those who held it in their hands.
Slowly he made his way into the house, making a bee-line for the stairs, up and up until he found the pull down for the attic steps.
Oooh my own little version of a clock tower yah? Though he was helpless to stop himself.
Just as he'd known there would be, he moved to the window that looked down into the salvage yard and wiped the trail of blood out of his eye, not surprised that it was flowing again.
If he thought about it, he was certain that the new and growing embryo of darkness in his head was actually pulsing with its own life, maybe even breathing through those holes. And though there wasn't much he was sure of at this point, there was something that told him that if he was successful here, then maybe the pain would stop.
He took a moment to make sure his position was optimal and that each and every one of them was within a short burst and easy sweep of his M16. He braced himself, leveled the gun on the window ledge and put his eye to the site.
OOooOO
Halfway to the fray Marduk stopped, his head cocked to the side and his gaze flicked far away for just a heartbeat, "Tommy," he breathed.
OOooOO
Enki stopped at the edge of the spring, his gaze distinctly elsewhere and his expression loose, "Gader'el!" he commanded.
OOooOO
Massacre Rocks, Utah –
Gader'el shivered and stopped in his tracks, the eyes of more than two dozen demon hosts seemed glued to him. His eyes popped wide as he turned to Marax, "Take over." He ordered as the sidhe warrior beside him opened the veil.
OOooOO
Bobby's Place –
Tommy lurched forward his hand slamming into his forehead with a shot of white hot pain that dragged behind it a terrifying vision of every one of the gathered hunters dead on the ground.
"Take cover!" he shouted as automatic gunfire split the quiet and bullets rained into the target area, tearing up the ground around and in a few cases through a couple of them.
A line of silver creased the air in the middle of the spray admitting the weapons smith.
Without thought Tommy rose, "Gader'el get DOWN!" he called then froze as the host turned toward him with his hand outstretched. At chest height, centimeters away, a high velocity round hovered in mid-flight.
"Holy shit," Tom breathed then watched astounded as the smith turned, seeming to follow the projectile's path up to the attic window.
With a wave of his hand the bullet sped back to where it came from, and the unmistakable sound of backfire left the yard in sudden silence.
"How? What... huh?" Tom muttered mystified as Gader'el frowned at the window.
"I am THE weapons master. There is no weapon that can be or will be that I cannot command," he smiled, "Nergal's tool is suffering. His body is still alive with the traitor's poison running through him."
"Thank you," Tom cocked his pistol and nodded, stopping and turning back in mid-dash to the back door, "Hey, how'd you know?"
"The kings are awake," he smiled.
OOooOO
Outside The Seventh Gate –
Marduk's gaze returned to the moment in a fraction of a second and he continued to move forward, his eyes blazing copper.
"You failed Nergal. Give up this quest, you can NOT succeed."
"I already have! One by one the universes have begun to fall and fragment. Even if you drive me back... this one will shatter soon enough!"
The deity shook his head, "You're wrong. Return to exile and I will spare your life."
"You are PATHETIC AND WEAK!" the exiled demi-god roared, its swarm of igigi descended on the gallas and battle goddesses. Swords, darts, and arrows flew, felling the smoky creatures in mid air, some of them dropping with billowy bits of deific life essence hanging partway out of their mouths.
Nergal spread his wings, his hands raised palms outward to Marduk who stood his ground, unflinching until the stony onyx of the marauders' flesh split wide. Coils of sinew, each strand capped with a segmented talon to match those on his fingertips whistled toward the mortal body.
Marduk! Inanna thought, her heart racing as a shot of bile rose into her throat before his hand came up and the coils, with their deadly glistening barbs parted around him, each strand breaking free and falling to the ground as dust.
With a beat of those wings Nergal smiled, the stony bolts of his leather breastplate shot out a dozen leathery ropes that closed around Ereshkegal, while others kept Inanna at bay. The goddess of the underworld screamed as the ropes tightened, until she could scream no more. When there was no struggle left against him they retracted, drawing her to him even as the others simply retreated, called back to the breastplate leaving Inanna panting and bloody.
The gallas closed on him while Inanna continued to wield the sinuous blade. Each flick cut through or warded off the igigi that were still trying to keep them occupied.
"One more step and I will fling her pieces to the four winds," the marauder warned the avian headed guards.
"You cannot kill death, and you cannot kill its Goddess," Marduk reminded him casually and stepped forward.
"But I can make her BEG," his center mouth sneered before each of the other two echoed the sentiment.
Inanna coiled the red/silver whip the sword had become in accordance with her need and met her son's eyes. The faintest flick of the blue-greens told her to stay her hand. This was not over yet.
"You cannot win Nergal," he reiterated.
"Your allies are dust! Even now their bones and the bones of their hosts are a feast for the feral beasts of this world! And when I have had my fill of this creature," he held up Ereshkegal's inert body, "I will then take the rest of my revenge on what is left of Enki and all those of his line."
With his oath made the marauder and his prize, in a flurry of earth and stone sank into the ground to assemble his troops.
Marduk strode purposefully to Inanna and the gallas, "Come, he will gather his followers and be drawn to us... there isn't much time."
A line of silver split the air behind his finger opening the way to Cernunnos' grotto for them.
OOooOO
"Son!" Enki grinned opening his arms for his boy.
"Father," Marduk smiled folding easily into the warm embrace.
"My King," they sighed together then chuckled.
Bobby looked at Shep who shook his head, "Apparently it just IS..."
"...what it is," Bobby nodded.
"Now they're getting it," Cernunnos smiled elbowing Imdugud.
"Holy mother of God..." Bobby craned his neck up and backed into Shep as Laura and the avian headed gallas joined the group.
"Well technically if she's Inanna... then yeah..." Shep nodded trying to figure out exactly what was different about her now. There was definitely something, but nothing he could put his finger on.
"I don't mean her! I mean them!" Bobby pointed at the enormous mythical creatures and swallowed hard.
"Bobby..." Laura smiled softly and wrapped her good right arm around him.
"Good t'see you girl," he kissed her cheek then winced at the sight of her shoulder where a quarter inch thick leathery looking strand flapped over the blood spattered armor she wore.
"Good to be seen..." she smiled at Shep then hugged him too, "How're you fellas holding up?"
"I'm pretty well freaked..." Shep nodded.
"Yeah... it was one thing... what went down at the yard... but..." Bobby started.
"Then again we never did figure on hiking through the different levels of the underworld either, so what's weird right?" Shep finished.
"Grrr..." Enki growled smiling playfully as he approached the trio, grabbed the woman before him and pulled her close tasting the flavor of her exertions, "Mmmm mine..." he chuckled eyeing the tree line behind her and starting to maneuver her toward it.
"Hey! Hey we don't have time for that!" Bobby chased after them, sliding his arm between the obviously enamored couple, "We got a WAR going on here!" he turned to Enki, "So keep your pecker in your pants till we're done saving the universe here alright?" he turned away as they pressed their foreheads together chuckling, "Damned freakin' horn dog..."
"He's right, there IS a war on," she nodded grasping his lip gently between hers with a smile.
"Yes..." he sighed grinning lasciviously, "And what better reminder of what we're going to be fighting for, especially on the very eve of battle?" he spocked his eyebrow, "I know you agree..."
"That I do my love..." she licked her lips and took his hand to guide him into the trees.
"You've got FIVE MINUTES!" Shep called, "After that I'm sending Sammy after you!" he turned back to glance at Bobby, "See if they wanna keep screwin' in front of the kid..."
"I'm not sure even that would stop 'em," Bobby shook his head as if to dispel the arrival of an untimely image.
The attention of the two fully mortal men was brought around to Cernunnos, Imdugud, the gallas and even Marduk, all of whom stood in a loose group chuckling and shaking their heads.
"Awww come ON! Et tu Sam?" Shep asked wondering how they could all be so amused when the very survival of the universe was on the line.
"Nothing has EVER been able to stop them... besides," Marduk smiled, "they'll be able to concentrate better afterwards."
"The act itself is the epitome of death defiance... Fertility and Rebirth... it's the essence of all things," Cernunnos shrugged then motioned to the stump where the wood surface had altered to represent the plain behind Massacre Rocks, complete with the troops Gader'el and Marax had assembled.
"We can fill them in when they're done," Marduk nodded, "Nergal won't move until morning... he is amassing his troops... not just the igigi... he has many of the feral creatures under his control as well as those who would not follow me." He looked at the small group who would act as his highest Generals, "He doesn't know his puppet failed at your yard," he looked at Bobby, "There were a few small injuries but everyone survived. The sidhe will have everyone recovered and ready to fight by morning."
"Don't you think some HUMAN is gonna find out what's going on? Y'can't have a war in the middle of the freakin' desert and just hope no one finds out about it!" Bobby argued.
"There's a reason Massacre Rocks was chosen. The sidhe will have the area camouflaged as well as they can... unless someone stumbles directly onto the battle field..." he shrugged, "the wards will distort any radar images that planes flying over head receive... AND the fact that there is a gateway there already where the ley lines cross... suspicions should be few at best." Marduk explained.
"Gather 'round," he motioned to all present. From humans to demi-gods to the king himself, the duties of those assembled, and the instructions they'd take back to those already in the field were adjusted, reiterated and confirmed along with contingencies.
Imdugud stepped forward, "My king?"
Marduk nodded, "My father's safety is your priority, if you fail it will only be because you are dead."
The Assyrian nodded, "And you?" he asked.
Marduk nodded, "Kitsune is still nearby as he instructed her to be when he was still Dean."
"He IS still Dean," Shep couldn't stop himself from snapping in spite of the withering look he got from the demon.
"Someone take one of my names in vain out here?" he strode with his arm around his woman, to the gathering. Grinning, he grasped Marduk behind the neck and pressed their foreheads together, "I do believe you're right... I think his pride will drive him to press his greatest strength first then shore up any weaknesses with his lessers. If we counter in waves of increasing intensity we can keep the life cost to a minimum while you and I handle him directly."
"You know as well as I..." Inanna began.
"Yes my love," Enki turned and kissed her temple, "the three of us... you have the daunting task of keeping him busy while we repair the damage he's wrought ... and so help me if you let him harm you I will be disappointed."
"As will I," Marduk nodded.
Inanna smirked, "Then I'll do my best to make sure to stay out of harms way," then cupped each of their cheeks.
"Hey... your shoulder..." Bobby started then nodded as Enki held up the flexible shaft that had been dangling from a hole in her body.
"He has a healing touch," she grinned then looked around, "Where's Ajax?"
"Oh..." Bobby nodded, "he ran off with the sidhe... apparently even he has a part to play here."
"Probably gonna make him some body armor and ride him into the fray," Shep snarked.
"If that's what they're planning they damned well better fix him up with some armor! I've invested a lot of time in that dippy mutt."
Enki and Marduk exchanged a glance as the glade filled up with several hundred sidhe warriors that seemed to shimmer into existence all at once with no sign of Ajax yet.
"Are we ready?" Marduk asked as everyone lined up and nodded.
With the lifting of a finger the veil opened onto the Utah plain. As they moved back into their native realm a sense of anticipation electrified the air. Gader'el, Marax, Tommy, and several new faces approached the group.
"My King."
"My Kings." Marax and Gader'el each gave a nod of the head, both of them knowing better than to bow when the enemy or his agents could be anywhere.
"Shep," Tom couldn't contain himself and raced forward into his uncle's embrace.
"I thought I lost y'boy..." Shep tried to sniff back the mist before it became all out tears but couldn't quite manage the feat.
"You almost did from what I understand...I'm so glad you're okay..." he moved quickly through the line, hugging Bobby, then Dean and nodding his head, "Your arm? You're healed?"
Enki nodded to Inanna, "The woman has a way, you did a beautiful job by the way... thank you."
Tommy blushed furiously remembering what he'd gone through to sculpt the body for her and his hope that Dean would like her, he cleared his throat and though his eyes flicked over her, he couldn't bear to fix his gaze on her, "Mm, hmm, my uh pleasure." He nodded quickly at her, "Glad to see you up and around."
He stood frozen to the spot, very like a deer in the headlights as she approached him and gently pressed her lips to his, "Thank you Tommy."
The others watched, amused as he turned several deep shades of red before finally turning to Sam and wrapping his arms around the boy he could almost feel as part of himself, "Sammy," he sighed.
Marduk clasped the man companionably at the neck and shoulder and smiled, "Are you ready to save the universe?"
Tom cocked his head to the side, his senses screaming that there was something vastly different about both Sam and Dean. He knew they'd both said they were aligned with ancient deities, and he knew what he'd seen at Bobby's but nothing had prepared him for the difference in the feel of being in their presence. They were the same boys he'd known and loved all their lives but it was as if there had been a dimension to them that he'd never known existed, well yeah that pretty much sums it up... it's like growing up playing with the kid next door only to have him turn out to be ... well... the vessel of a God? Or are they really them? I guess that's the question isn't it?
"We're both." Both Enki and Marduk said together in response to the young mans' thought, then grinned.
Tom nodded, "Yeah... we're about as ready as we can get... the other hunters and the psychics who refused to leave are settled into their tents and resting. Anunnaki is in position with his igigi keeping watch for HIS whenever they start to arrive..."
"Just before first light I'd expect... are the demons ready?" Marduk turned and smiled at Gader'el and Marax.
"They are," the smith nodded, "they've been outfitted and are in position."
Enki moved toward the weapons master with the brilliant shimmering sword sheathed at his hip, his hand on the hilt, "I know I've said this before Gader'el, but this is your most incredible masterpiece ever."
Gader'el blushed and dropped his gaze lovingly to the pommel, "She asked me to make her special for you," he glanced at Marduk and Inanna, "For all of you really..." he muttered, barely able to stay his impulse to bow to them.
"You have surpassed yourself my old friend, truly," he smiled clapping the demon's host companionably at the shoulder then taking a good long look around the plain at the muted campfires and nearly invisible sidhe-made tents. "It will be good to fight," he nodded, "Whatever may come of it."
"My lords perhaps you both should rest," Marax suggested, "Your bodies are human and mortal."
"There are tents set up for each of you," Ammit smiled re-joining the group.
Enki glanced around the grounds, "We'll stay together."
"Dean... Enki... whoever you are..." Shep shook his head as he approached them, "Why don't you and Laura take one tent, Imdugud and Bobby can stand watch over you guys, and Tommy and I'll keep an eye on Sam?"
"At least that way all the eggs won't be in one basket... so to speak." Bobby nodded.
Enki glanced between Marduk and Inanna, both of whom shrugged and seemed fine with the idea. None of them were certain to sleep at all, but rest was something they all could do, and something they all needed.
Striding leisurely past a great and ambitious tent they each moved to much smaller units situated side by side.
The recently awakened moved inside while their guardians pulled up stools to nearby fires and kept their eyes peeled for anything amiss.
"Wow, this brings back the memories," Enki nodded smiling at the sight of a straw pallet covered in a woolly animal hide with a coarse woven blanket folded at the foot. He pulled Ina close, wishing he could pull her into his very flesh but knowing even that would not be close enough. "Can I confess something my love?" he whispered against her mouth.
"Anything," she slid the flannel from his shoulders, then the t-shirt over his head and pressed her lips to his heartbeat.
"I am exhilarated," he breathed panting faintly as he undid the lacings to the armor she wore, "To be awoken at such an incredible time, though I can see why the dragon slept longer and longer as the ages passed... I see the road that brought us here with perfect clarity, I am..." he breathed sharply, tossing his head back as her lips closed on a perfectly pebbled nipple, "not sure I want to..." he slid his hands under the simple shift she wore and tossed it aside in a single motion.
"Let go once the war is won," she finished for him as he drew her breast into his hungry mouth. She gasped as he 'hummed' his confirmation, and closed her fist into his hair.
A sheen of sweat broke over her as she removed his mouth from her starved flesh and turned him, "You know even if we do go to sleep, we will always know... the mortals we are, will always know and will always remember, so will we really be so far away?" she stroked him to the pallet, smiled into his eyes and kissed her way from his chin, over his chest and trembling belly, stopping only at the waistband of his jeans.
Once there she stepped back, lowered herself to one knee and bowing faintly, with his hand on her head, his fingers in her hair, removed his shoes, his socks, and finally, gently the rest of his clothes before she rose again.
"Now my love, my king..." she motioned behind him, "Sit."
His senses swam as she washed and cosseted him and in time the tumult of his thoughts began to slow and finally to still until his breath came strong and deep. The weight on his shoulders was allowed to slough off, and the lines that betrayed his concerns were given leave to smooth over for a time.
"But who is there to give such comfort to our son?" he asked as she knelt before him once more.
Without a second's hesitation she strode from the tent startling Bobby who blushed so deeply he momentarily became part of the night, and drawing a pleased grin from Imdugud who openly inspected her form as she cocked her head outside the tent flap then dared a peek inside.
A slow but brilliant smile pulled her mouth wide, making her teeth show white in the night as she let the flap fall and returned to her king.
"Is he asleep?" Enki asked squeezing the excess out of the lambs wool she'd washed him with.
She shook her head, "Kitsune is tending to his comfort."
Enki beamed brightly at her and motioned to the chair, "The perfect concubine, he's a lucky boy. Now... wife," he commanded gently.
By the time he swung her onto the pallet and began to kiss her thighs apart they were slick and glistening in the yellow lamplight. When he finally sheathed himself in her they were both weak with abandon and when he gave his seed to her they were taking a respite from breathing.
With the weight of her king atop her she stroked his back and kissed his smiling mouth, "Do you miss the balcony?"
"Oh god yes... and our bed, and the heat of generations watching, and the waves of bliss that would roll through the tower for days as our people..."
"Followed our lead and built futures and families on passion, joy and bliss," she sighed feeling him slide out of her as she rolled to the side, depositing him onto the pallet beside her, then pulled the blanket over them both.
"Mmm," he hummed then shimmied up a bit, settling her into the crook of his arm. He swept her hair from her face, his eyes shining brightly into hers, "I love you," he smiled before kissing her brow.
"And you never fail to show it," she smiled back and snuggled deep against him as he leaned over and finally blew out the lamp.
OOooOO
tbc.
Please R&R.
Thank You.
sifi