XXVII: Huntress:

Unholy War:

Simone’s Notes:

Other storm and night demons from a similar class are recorded around this period: Lilu, an incubus; Ardat lili, who would come to men in their sleep and beget children from them; and Irdu lili, the incubus counterpart to Ardat lili. These demons were originally storm and wind demons; however later etymology made them into night demons. Lilith's epithet was "the beautiful maiden," She was described as having no milk in her breasts and were unable to bear any children. Babylonian texts depict Lilith as the prostitute of the goddess Ishtar. Similarly, older Sumerian accounts assert that Lilitu is called the handmaiden of Inanna or "hand of Inanna." The Sumerian texts state that "Inanna has sent the beautiful, unmarried, and seductive prostitute Lilitu out into the fields and streets in order to lead men astray." That is why Lilitu is called the "hand of Inanna." The Lilitu, the Akkadian Ardat-Lili and the Assyrian La-bar-tu like Lilith, were figures of disease and uncleanliness. Ardat is derived from "ardatu," a title of prostitutes and young unmarried women, meaning "maiden." One magical text tells of how Ardat Lili had come to "seize" a sick man. Other texts mention Lamashtu as the hand of Inanna/Ishtar in place of Lilitu and Ardat lili. Lilith is further associated with the Anzu bird, lions, owls, and serpents, which are animals associated with the Lilitu. It is from this mythology that the later Kabbalah depictions of Lilith as the serpent in the Garden of Eden and her associations with serpents are probably drawn. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was said to have driven Lilith, an Anzu bird, and a "snake which fears no spell" from a tree that was in a sacred grove dedicated to the Goddess Ishtar/Inanna/Asherah. Other legends describe the malevolent Anzu birds as "lion-headed" and pictures them as eagle monsters, likewise to this a later amulet from Arslan Tash site features a sphinx like creature with wings devouring a child and has an incantation against Lilith or similar demons, incorporating Lilith's correlating animals of lions and owls. Lamashtu was a very similar Mesopotamian demon to Lilitu and Lilith seems to have inherited many of Lamashtu's myths. She was considered a demi-goddess and daughter of Anu, the sky god. Many incantations against her mention her status as a daughter of heaven and exercising her free will over infants. This makes her different from the rest of the demons in Mesopotamia. Unlike her demonic peers, Lamashtu was not instructed by the gods to do her malevolence; she did it on her own accord. She was said to seduce men, harm pregnant women, mothers, and neonates, kill foliage, drink blood, and was a cause of disease, sickness, and death. Some incantations describe her as "seven witches." The space between her legs is as a scorpion, corresponding to the astrological sign of Scorpio. Her head is that of a lion, she has Anzu bird feet like Lilitu, her breasts are suckled by a pig and a dog, and she rides the back of a donkey.

Another year had started. Dahlia sat in the hospital garden holding her newborn son. The labor and delivery lasted until midnight. Worst pain ever. The doctors wondered if mother and child would survive. Their worries were put to ease when the boy turned out to be a healthy child. Good for them, bad for everyone else in a sense. Well... maybe....

Yasmine, Syd, Ella, Leon, Gemma, Kim, and Gracia went to visit mother and child. Dahlia looked from her happy glow at the crew. The happy little smile refused to leave her face.

“Hi guys!” she greeted them as she held her baby close to her chest. They all made it over to her.

“Hey!” Kim said back. “How’s the little man?”

“Fine thank you,” the new mother answered. “We’re both fine.” Everyone looked at the sleeping baby. He looked like a big boy. That boy had fat little cheeks. Yasmine, Syd, and Ella observed the baby closely. He seemed to have a weak glow to his aura.

“No doubt about it,” Ella whispered. “He’s definitely a half-breed!” Syd thought about that for a moment.

“Hm,” he mumbled. “True, but there’s something off about him…” Ella looked at him puzzled.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, look,” Syd whispered. Ella did so. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“He’s… benign!” she said in surprise. Her dojin nodded.

“That’s right,” he mumbled. “I’m assuming because we killed Mark while he was still fighting his transformation, the baby may be a half-breed, but his power isn’t strong enough to increase the Red Jasmine virus’s power.”

“What should we do?” his woman questioned. Syd pondered that for another moment.

“Leave him,” he replied. Ella looked at him oddly. Her man held up his hand before she opened her mouth to speak.

“We will watch over him however, just to be certain that Manami and her army doesn’t take him,” he finished. “Besides, we have bigger things to worry about this year.” Ella nodded.

“The unholy war,” she answered.

“Exactly!” Syd whispered back. Yasmine, meanwhile, kept an ear on their conversation and her eyes on the baby at the same time. She knew the plot very well, but she didn’t want to startle her fellow WAGs.

“What’s his name?” Yasmine asked Dahlia. The new mother smiled.

“I am calling him Raphael,” she answered in pride. And so it was. Raphael Winston was born on New Year’s Day, 1918. He was ten pounds and thirteen ounces and the first half-breed born into this rising unholy war. The war began to squeeze down on everyone. The military were now blind-sighted with the growing problem. They knew about the incubi and succubi and that Edward was now the enemy. Yet, that was all that they knew. Some of them had heard of the Red Jasmine virus. Yet, they didn’t quite grasp the details. None of them knew about Manami or Ai-Oni.

Ella bit her lip. She had no choice but to admit it: this problem had now spiraled out of control. It was time for some back-up. That meant telling the military everything and relying on the girls of Aizen Myo-o Academy. One problem stood in the way of that however: Syd’s pride. There was no way in Hell he would ask either group for help. She knew him that well. Time to steal control from him, however. Lucky for Ella, she e-mailed Mustang last night…

The next tasty idea came to Manami from a string of incubi, succubi, and an old friend. She was a bit bored with how things were going. Sure, she had achieve momma’s dreams of the birth of the Fallen World through war. But, where is the fun after that? The Fallen Princess wanted some new excitement. She sat in her apartment kitchen with gaping hangover from last night’s parties. She sighed aloud to herself. “I’m so bored…” Manami thought. She played with the rim of her wine glass with her long graceful fingers. This had been too easy. Maybe Manami should raise the stakes a little bit. But how? How?

“My lady,” a voice cooed behind her. The Fallen Princess quickly whipped around. Envy stood in the kitchen grinning at her. Manami sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, it’s you,” she mumbled as she turned back to her drink. Envy raised an eyebrow at her.

“Aw, you don’t seem happy to see me,” he said, mocking her. Manami sighed again.

“It’s just…” she began.

“Just what?” Envy challenged. The Fallen Princess shrugged.

“We opened the gate, got the first half-breed more, multiplied, and blah, blah, blah,” she mumbled.

“So?” Envy asked. Manami whipped around to him.

“I feel like there’s nothing left to do,” she complained. “And I’m so bored.” Envy smirked at her coldly. Manami kept it right away.

“You’re plotting something!” she pointed out. “What are you up to now?” Envy raised an eyebrow at her.

“Me?” he asked, pretending to be innocent. “Why would you assume that?” Manami didn’t buy it at all.

“Okay, out with it!” she commanded. “What scheme are you and momma cooking up?” Envy shrugged with some mischief to him.

“Kill the pets!” he shrugged harmlessly. Manami looked at him slightly odd.

“Why?” she asked. “I thought they were just fir pleasure toys.”

“They are,” the homunculus said. “But why stop there?”

“I thought we killed them after we were through with them.”

“I don’t mean f**k and torture them and then kill them. I mean just kill them.”

“Why would I do that?” Envy shrugged again, smirking.

“Well think about,” he said. “You could torture them in some way and watch them die in misery. Dr. Pierce does it on a regular basis. I have heard some of slaves complaining about wanting to just kill some of their pets just for a game. And besides, you might find it… oh, say… quite arousing.” Manami thought about it for a moment. Envy watched her smirking. A wicked smile came onto her face.

“I guess I could try it out,” she replied. The homunculus smirked at the Fallen Princess again.

“Good girl,” he muttered to her. “I’ll look forward to see how this game turns out.” He turned and left the kitchen. Manami sat all alone, grinning to herself as she plotted everything. Now, she had a new game to play. Still, the squeeze didn’t stop there.

“Oh yeah, more, more!” Damon moaned aloud against a dirty motel wall. “Don’t stop! You’re so good! Oh!” He and Katherine had spent New Year’s Eve together last night. Now, they were “greeting the new year” this morning.

“Uh oh, I’m coming!” the lt. col. yelped. “Ahhhh!!!” Cum spilled wildly into Katherine’s mouth lovely mouth. Sanders leaned against the wall panting.

“Oh wow!” he said. Katherine swallowed her prize and licked her lips. She looked up at him smiling. They both chuckled.

“That was great,” he said.

“Yeah!” his new squeeze replied. Damon gave her a warm smile.

“I wish could begin every new year like this,” he said.

“That would be great,” Katherine said as she rose to her feet and stood next to him. They shared another kiss.

“I love you,” she whispered to him. Damon smiled at her as he gently played with her nose.

“I love you too,” he said back softly. Both smiled at each other warmly. Katherine stepped away from the wall.

“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said. “Maybe after that we can have breakfast together. Sound good?” But as she said this, Damon noticed something disturbing about his date. On the back of her left shoulder, she had the Fallen Mark tattooed in cold black. Damon’s widened in deep fear. “She’s one of them…” he thought in panic.

“Something wrong?” a voice asked him back into reality. Damon snapped out of it and looked up. Katherine looked at him slightly concerned. Her man quickly shook his head.

“N-Nothing!” he lied. “I’m still a bit out of it from last night and this morning. Yes, breakfast sounds good!” Katherine smiled at him overjoyed.

“Great!” she hugged him happily. Then, she quickly headed into the bathroom. Damon watched on nervously as the fallen mark on her back mocked him ever so cruelly. What was he going to do now? He should have known… He just… should have known… The squeeze of the unholy war kept getting tighter and tighter. It would only be a matter of time before it popped…