Centuries ago...
"Drown you monster!"
No! Nimeth screamed in her mind, she would have screamed aloud if strong, callused hands were not holding her head under the water. Water flooded her mouth as she spewed her precious air forth, it also flooded her ears, muffling the sounds of the battle raging around her.
No! I am equal to Kilili! I am equal to Silili! If she can bring down an empire so can I!
Nimeth struggled, she managed to emerge from the muddy waters of the drying lake. She began to scream the name of her goddess, the one Silili had converted her to years ago. The one that had driven them all insane with lust to the point of self-destruction. "Lilla-" She submerged again before she could finish her call to her deity.
I don't understand, where did I go wrong? Nimeth thought as her lungs began to burn and her body cramp for want of air.
After the disappearance of their immortal high priestess Silili, Nimeth had learned of Kilili's ascent, or more accurately, descent, from mortal to immortal. Kilili had achieved what none of Silili's other followers could manage. She had earned their insane goddess' favour and become Ardat-Lili. Furious, Nimeth had left the city of Akkad and found herself amidst the Lullubi tribe. There she used her skills as a whore priestess to seduce the chieftains and become the main point of reverence amidst the people. With her influence they forsook their old deities and hailed Lillake their goddess, Nimeth their high priestess.
Of course, Nimeth had learned from Silili that their deity cared little about being worshipped by the masses, preferring to favour only a chosen few and breaking those she found mundane. But bringing the worship of Lillake out of obscurity was not her goal, no, she drove the Lullubi tribe to rebel against their Gutian masters. Just as Silili had driven the Gutian tribes to conquer Akkad so she would have the Lullubi tribe take it in turn. Then, perhaps, Lillake would see that she is every bit as worthy as the others to become an immortal harlot.
Her lungs surrendered her remaining air. The world went dark.
******
"That's when I said to him, after reading his Essai sur les mΕurs et l'esprit des nations, that it is not enough to conquer, one must learn to seduce."
Levant laughed, "So he stole that quote from you did he?"
Kilili smiled, it had taken her the best part of the night to coax Levant up the cable-stayed bridge. He had not fully come to terms with the idea that he cannot die. After persuading him he shimmied up the cable so slowly that Kilili rolled her eyes and made her way back to meet him halfway, walking along the cable with expert balance. With a quick shove, she pushed Levant off the bridge, laughing at the hurt and terrified scream he gave as he plummeted to the road below.
To his amazement, he did not end as a red splat on the tarmac. Deftly as a cat, he landed on his feet. Even then, force of the landing should have sent his legs up into his torso, yet his body took the force as though he had only jumped a few centimetres. A slight breeze announced Kilili landing next to him. He looked at her beautiful, laughing face, and laughed with her. Hand in hand, they both ran back up the cable to languor above. Levant gazing at the stars above as Kilili gazing upon the city lights below. "Oh I inspired all sorts in him. Have you read his original La Pucelle d'OrlΓ©ans? You can thank me for its supposedly perverse tones at that time. A shame he grew to become so ashamed of it. I left him when he released the edited version, he spoke of liberty but he was just as shackled by mortal values as the rest of them."
"Perhaps his idea of liberty was different to yours. Tell me," Levant looked down from the sky to Kilili lying dangerously close to the edge, "Are there others like us? Will we meet them?"
"In my centuries I have only encountered two other Ardat-Lili, only one of which had a horde of Irdu-Lili surrounding her. No doubt there are more of us out there but we are rare in the extreme. I am fairly certain though, that I am the oldest Ardat-Lili in this world."
Levant frowned, "But was there not one who changed you to become us such? If we cannot die, what became of those before you?"
Levant regretted pressing her when she sat up sharply. It had been a week since their affair under the tree. Kilili had come to him every night since, and he had been careful not to ask, deciding to let her reveal all when she is ready. But he had been having the same nightmare in the brief moments of what he assumed was sleep and he began craving answers.
She was quiet for a long time, "When weary of us, our mother takes us away..."
Levant felt his skin crawl. Why did that response so unsettle him, "Who is this mother you keep mentioning?" When he saw Kilili start trembling he regretted asking, but he so wanted the answer.
But not tonight, tonight they would revel in one another's company under the stars.
"What about his other epic Henriade? Did you have influence on that?"
Kilili blinked at the change in subject, then gave a relieved smile, "Bah, of course not! There is no drive, no passion in that piece. When I finally give him that though he becomes ashamed! No pleasing you men."
Levant settled back and gazed skyward. He would need answers sooner or later, but right now he was just happy to finally have a friend and lover whose company he so enjoyed, and, to his amazement, seemed to enjoy his own.
******
Kilili could not recall feeling so happy and content.
Her loins were warm and wet, ever hungering but freshly slaked. After leaving Levant for the night, in a good mood as she usually was after seeing him, she had stopped by an apartment, scenting fresh arousal there. Entering through the open window she saw a young couple asleep, the frustrated husband twitching as he dreamed sordid dreams inspired by her presence. Putting the woman into a deep slumber where she dreamed her suppressed depravities Kilili proceeded to wake the man by sucking his pleasantly large phallus. Bringing forth his darkest thoughts she brought out the beast in him and coaxed him into fucking her ruthlessly. Kilili screamed in ecstasy and delight. She is a harlot, had always been proud of that fact, even when the profession became something no one would speak openly about. Even as a mortal she had revelled in her role as whore priestess, despite knowing who she is a priestess for and what would become of her. But lust had never quite managed to fill the void in her. Only Silili had managed that.
And now Levant.
The man gasped and ejaculated. Kilili bucked violently as she fell into ecstatic rapture whilst her womb absorbed the seed. Only when vaguely satiated did she allow the man to fall back into his dreams. Rising, she took her leave back to her own dwelling.
She needed to feed many more times that night, already her loins burned fiercely, demanding more. But there was something she wanted to try first. Once back home in her bookstore, she went to her bedroom and approached the mirror. After what occurred before she had covered it with black silken cloth, not daring to look into it again. With a trembling hand, she pulled it back and regarded her naked form again.
She smiled at her reflection. When she became Ardat-Lili, her body had changed imperceptibly to arouse lust in men. Her breasts had swelled to a generous size, her frame had become voluptuous, her red hair long and rich, her hips swayed with her walk. She was the walking epitome of harloty. But that was not why she smiled at the reflection.
She did not feel the call. Felt no urge to leave this realm. She was stabilising.
Kilili was struck by a sudden spike in arousal, he thighs became slick. Her knees buckled slightly as she steadied herself against her bed. An alluring scent filled her nostrils. It had been centuries since she had felt such a sensation, but she had not forgotten what it meant.
"I wonder if you would recall me after so long, sister."
The words had been in the Sumerian language. Kilili rounded to face her window, now open. There, casually sitting naked on the sill, was an elfin creature. She was wan and thin, like a willow stick. Her copper eyes were set in a youthful and unearthly face, her pale hair long and flitting in the gentle wind. It took Kilili a few startled seconds to register what she was seeing and who she was, "N, Nimeth?"
Nimeth gave a toothy smile and clapped her hands, "Oh, I'm touched. After all these ages you still recognise me, but then I recognise you of course."
Impossible, Kilili thought, only she of Silili's troupe had become Ardat-Lili. Of all of them, they had thought Nimeth the least likely to change. She had always been a touch mad, too unhinged to survive the orgiastic power that flows through them. "How? Last I heard you were killed when the Lullubi tribe attacked Akkad."
Nimeth smiled again, coldly, "How? Why, the same as you sister. As I died I beheld our mother on her throne." Nimeth's eyes turned vacant, "I learned the purpose of our existence, saw the wonderful horrors that will be done to us when we go to her realm, and I embraced it. It is where creatures like us belong, afterall."
Astounded, Kilili sat on her bed, gaping at the ethereal form she had not seen since ancient times, "How have you resisted the call for so long?"
"Again, you must surely know this?" Nimeth gave a girlish chuckle, "You know, Silili became the first Ardat-Lili in nearly a century. But she only became as such for a few years before surrendering to her fate. Yet you and I have continued on for how long? The reason is obvious. Silili sought only ruin, she did not seek anything more, did not cling to that urge for something we cannot quite grasp. The something that keeps us bound to this world. No, her only goal was to go to that world and be eternally fucked. You and I on the other hand."
