Susan Krinard - Dark Journey

If he thought Isis was a seductress who commanded reverence with her influence, Ishtar would quickly prove that Isis had nothing on her sister of the Nine.

“Is this my new interrogator?” Daniel asked Isis in a calm, cool voice.

Unlike ordinary Opiri, Isis could blush. Even Daniel’s few, cursory words carried her back to his bed and into his arms...and reminded her of his final mockery: I am honored that you chose to suspend your noble chastity with me.

Ishtar had no concerns about chastity. She moved very close to Daniel, her eyes heavy lidded.

“I am Ishtar,” she purred. “I doubt you will find my questions unpleasant.”

Daniel smiled a cold, almost cruel smile, ignoring the brush of Ishtar’s full, barely covered breast against his shoulder. “Are you finished with me, Lady Isis?” he asked.

She lifted her chin. “I thought it was you who was finished with me.”

With a throaty laugh, Ishtar looked from Isis to Daniel. “How interesting. Did she not please you, Daniel? Was she reluctant to share her many gifts?”

“You seem eager to share yours, Lady Ishtar.”

“I have no prejudice against humans,” she said, stroking his chest with a plump forefinger.

“But you’re like Lady Isis,” he said. “A Bloodmistress used to getting your way.”

Instead of showing offense, Ishtar merely laughed again. “I see why Isis had trouble with you,” she said. “But if you have any secrets, you will give them up. If not to me, then to another.”

“My choice of pleasure or punishment?”

Isis flinched, thinking of the scars. “I told him there would be no punishment,” she told Ishtar.

“Then by all means, let us try the former.” Ishtar smiled at Isis. “Do you care to watch?”

The room filled with the smell of lust, and Isis couldn’t bear it. If she’d had any courage, she would have dragged Daniel out of the room. But Ishtar might succeed where she had failed, and all Daniel would lose was his pride. The city must come first.

She quickly left the room, locking the door behind her, and sat in the reception area. Endless moments passed. The Opir guards offered her warmed blood. She declined.

At last she heard the sound of a door opening and quickly closing again, with no little force. She rose as Ishtar entered the waiting room and swept past her to the door.

“Ishtar,” Isis called after her.

The former goddess paused, her beautiful face thin lipped and set. “He did not respond,” she said, as if she were speaking of something quite impossible. “He must be made of stone.”

With a silent sigh of relief, Isis took Ishtar’s arm. “You learned nothing?” she asked.

“Only that he has come for sanctuary, but wished to learn if Tanis was all that he had heard before he let himself be known here.”

“As he told me,” Isis said. “Surely there can be little more to tell.”

“Not if he resisted me,” Ishtar said with a toss of her black hair. “But perhaps that alone makes him dangerous.”

“He is different,” Isis said, “but we learned long ago that not all humans are the same.”

Ishtar blew out a puff of air. “I did note the scars upon his neck. His history must be quite interesting. I should advise Anu to keep Daniel in custody until he has the chance to interrogate the human himself, but I see that you have some concern for him.” She smiled slyly. “What draws you to this human, Isis? Perhaps you wish to take him as your consort? I would not blame you.”

“You know I have no need for a consort,” Isis said, “even if he would agree.”

“Yes,” Ishtar said with a faint scowl. “By all means, let us not forget that mortals are now our equals.”

“It was our goal when we arrived to take charge of Tartaros,” Isis said. “To guide, but not to rule.”

“Like Bes, you spend too much time among humans.”

“If you would look upon them as students rather than casual bed partners, you might see the value in their company.”

Ishtar snorted inelegantly. “Let me handle my charges in my own way. They are content enough.”

Isis knew she would gain nothing by arguing. At least Ishtar took a personal interest in some of her humans, and it was largely benevolent. She seduced, but did not coerce...though perhaps, with her, there was little difference.

For Daniel, there obviously hadn’t been.

“I will go back,” Isis said. “Tell Anu that Daniel will be my responsibility.”

“I will do as you ask,” Ishtar said, her voice silky with insinuation. “But do not let him get into trouble, or we shall both be in trouble with Anu.” She shook out her robes. “I think I shall seek out more willing company.”

Once Ishtar was gone, Isis returned to the Center. Daniel was still in the interrogation room, standing against the far wall with his arms folded firmly across his chest. His expression seemed carved in stone, as Ishtar had described, but his eyes held an almost feverish look.

He had not been totally unaffected, after all. Isis didn’t know whether she should be disappointed that he had felt Ishtar’s sexual appeal or pleased at his strength of will in resisting it.

“Why did you send her?” he asked her. “Did you think that since you failed, she would succeed?”

Isis sat in one of the chairs, angry and ashamed at the same time. “I could not rely entirely on my own judgment,” she said.

“I admit that I wasn’t expecting tactics like these from you, Lady Isis.”

“There are others I could have sent to question you,” she said sharply. “They might not have been so accommodating.”

“And all without punishment,” he said. “That would have been interesting.”

She closed her eyes, wondering how this human could defeat her so easily. “I have made myself responsible for you,” she said.

“Responsible?” he asked. “Why?”

“It is my decision to set you free, under my recognizance. If you commit any disturbance or prove to be an agent from an Enclave or another Citadel, I will be blamed.”

“By whom?” he asked, stepping away from the wall. “I have met two Bloodmistresses in the short time I’ve been here.” He took a step closer. “How many of you are there, Lady Isis?”

“How many of whom?”

“You said you were ‘among those’ who came here when the Citadel had fallen into chaos. Are there others like you and Ishtar?”

“Yes,” she said. “Nine of us were traveling together after the War, seeking—”

“Do they all look like you, more human than Opir?”

Isis paused at the question. The most ancient and powerful Opiri had always borne a closer resemblance to humanity than those who came after. That was the great irony most Opiri did not care to examine too closely.

“You’re an Elder,” Daniel said, speaking into her silence. “You didn’t go into the Long Sleep with all the other Opiri hundreds of years ago.”

“How would you know this?” she asked. “How many of my kind have you seen?”

“One,” he said. “But we all knew there were more still walking the earth.”

“You learned this in the Enclave, before you were exiled?”

“In Vikos.”

The serfs there had spoken of it, he meant. But whom had Daniel seen? There were other Elders who had chosen not to join the Nine in their quest, but they had seemingly vanished.

“Nine of you,” he said, before she could speak again. “All Elders. Who better to enforce the peace? Who better to rule than Opiri wiser and more experienced than nearly all others of their kind?”

“No!” she said, rising quickly. “Yes, we founded this city. But an elected Council of humans and Opiri makes the law and enforces it through the Darketan and dhampir Lawkeepers. The Nine only observe and occasionally advise.”