First Estate

"You trust me," Mariha told her.

"I know you aren't going to hunt me down and kill me. What if one of these sons of bitches decides he would be doing God a favor by killing me or Parker or one of the girls? Hell, no, I'd rather run and hide. We could just pull the hole in after us here. They don't know about Parker or me. We could keep you all safe here."

"Thank you, Lilith," Boston said, "but we can't hide here forever. It would turn from something wonderful, being with the people I love, into being in prison. I feel hunted. I think it will eventually drive us all crazy. We can't let this steal our joy."

"No, please don't think like that Boston. I can't risk losing you. I can't risk losing Sagan or Parker. I can't protect you against the whole host of heaven. They'll destroy us all. Tell her Sagan."

"I'm sorry, Lilith, but I agree with her. I love you and I don't want to risk losing any of you either. Sometimes you have to take a risk to get what you want. I took a huge risk on Parker. He scared me to death when I found out what he was. I thought he was worth the risk. I remembered that he saved our lives and look what I have now. I have you now; I have Parker and Mariha. I wouldn't have had any of that without taking that risk."

"I don't think we're going to get out of this by hiding," I told Mom. "I think we're going to have to take a chance. We'll take precautions and if they betray us we'll kill them all. I think we should repeat what we just did with Barachiel. Let's take him somewhere, set up wards and see how he reacts. Can we tell whether or not he's telling the truth?"

Mom began sobbing quietly. She stood up and started to leave. I ran after her and picked her up in my arms. I kissed her lips, her eyes, her nose, tasting the salt of her tears. I held her tight and she shook with sobs in my arms.

"I love you, my beautiful mother. I love you more than life. I always will. I need your help. Please help me."

She buried her face in my chest and cried like her heart was breaking. I felt a little arm slide between us and we both looked down. Tears were streaming down Boston's cheeks.

"Mama..." her voice trailed away.

Mom knelt down and embraced her. "My sweet baby, I'm so afraid. I'm 6000 years old and I've never been so afraid in my life. For the first time in my life I have a family that I love and that loves me. I'm so afraid I'm going to lose that."

Mariha and Sagan were kneeling beside her and they wrapped their arms around her.

"Lilith, life isn't that precious." Mariha told her. "I'll probably be punished if anyone ever finds out that I've told you this. You do have a soul, Lilith. Yours was in trouble, 500 years ago. You were broken, bitter and lost. Not any more. There are Nephilim in heaven. Do you remember Arba?"

"Yes, he helped me get away from my father. I heard he built the city of Hebron and was murdered by his sons."

"That's all true. All he wanted was to be left alone. He escaped right after he helped you get away. He helped a lot of people remain free of the influence of the Nephilim and Hebron became an enclave for your people that wanted no part of the wars. He is in heaven and so are a lot of his people. What if they kill us? They can't destroy us. God has a place for us in heaven. It's a promotion, Lilith, not something to be dreaded. Your people made it into that. I love you more than life and I'm willing to die to make you free from hiding and skulking around. Do you love me?"

Mom continued to weep hopelessly for a while. She gradually quieted and composed herself. She wiped the tears from her face and hugged us all, one at a time. "I'm acting like a little bitch. I'm sorry kids. I won't do it again. I'll help you any way I can."

"It's okay to love and be vulnerable, Lilith. We love you for it." Sagan said. Let's concentrate on how we can do this and live. No one is going to lose anyone."

We discussed a plan and Sagan wrote everything down. We went over it repeatedly until the girls were yawning and out on their feet. We decided to go over it in the morning and Sagan and I went to bed. Boston went off to Mom's room with her and Mariha stood in front of the window looking over the river.

Sagan turned in the doorway. "Mariha, will you sleep with us?"

I lay on the bed with a naked Siren on one side and a naked angel on the other, legs and arms draped across me and drifted off. If I was going to die tomorrow, this was the way to go.

Chapter Twelve

When I opened my eyes in the morning, Mariha was lying with her head on my pillow, her nose touching mine and our lashes mingling. She was watching me. She pressed her lips on mine.

"You're beautiful Parker. Let's wake Sagan up and make love. It's a good day to love and fight, and I want to start it off right."

An hour later we were in the sauna. Mom and Boston joined us. Boston couldn't stand the heat for long and she went and lay in the tub. I was surprised at the way she was growing. It seemed like she had shot up a foot overnight. I mentioned how much she had grown.

"She's a Siren, Parker. She'll be fully mature in probably a year. She has hormones dumping into her at an accelerated rate because she's a Siren. They weren't meant to be little girls and she's not a little girl any more. She'll grow taller after that, but you can't take in angel blood and expect nothing to happen."

"She's a baby," Mom said. "She's my baby."

"Yes, but she's becoming a young woman, too. I suspect she'll always retain some of that baby in her. It's part of the Siren charm. I've sweated enough; I'm getting in the shower. Anyone care to join me?"

We all did. I had never seen Mom naked before and it was a little embarrassing. She was gorgeous. She laughed at my discomfort.

"In the palace at Nineveh, I rarely wore clothes. I lived with dozens of boys and girls and I don't have the nudity taboo, Parker. Am I such a crone that you can't stand to look at me?"

"No, it's the opposite of that. I look at you and forget you're my Mom. I just see a beautiful naked woman."

"Good, I would worry about you if that weren't the case."

We toweled off, collected Boston and got dressed. We went over the plan again and everyone had their part memorized. Mariha zipped us off to Austin and we drove the Bentley back to our spot. We were using Sagan for the lure and she was masterful. Barachiel showed up right on time and we loaded him into the trunk. We took him to an abandoned storefront that belonged to a friend of mine from work.

We used some of our angel tears and some of his to draw the symbols. We warded the place to withstand a siege and Sagan let the song die as we all went out of Presence except Mariha and Boston.

Barachiel slowly lifted his head. He strained for a moment and relaxed.

"Well, Mariha, you're got me. Who is your beautiful little friend?"

"Barachiel, this is Boston McDonald."

"Hello, Boston," he said. "You're the little girl at the center of the storm. I hope it doesn't blow you away."

"I'm fairly substantial," she told him. "It seems to me that the wind is blowing a little stronger toward you than me at the moment."

He laughed. "I suppose you're right. I'm trapped here and you have the gun, so to speak. Do you know that I wasn't in favor of looking for you? We don't have any orders about you and I think we're interfering in something God won't be pleased with."

"Yes, I know that. That's why you're sitting here comfortably, and not screaming in agony."

"I suppose that since you're here with my sister you know that I am a Watcher? It's a sin to make a Watcher scream in agony."

"It depends on the Watcher, doesn't it? If you're a threat to me or Mariha or anyone I love that's how you'll end; screaming out your agony."

"Well, that sounds unpleasant. How can I convince you I'm not a threat and how did you plan to kill me? Mariha can't come inside this symbol."

"I can, and I know others who can."

"I have nothing to fear from humans."

"Who said anything about humans?"

"You aren't human? You look like a human. Are you a demon? If so, I can't imagine that Mariha would be working with you or that she would let you kill me if you could."

"I'm not a demon."

"Then I'm afraid I'm out of guesses."

"I could sing you a song. If I did, you would kill yourself to please me."

"Father of all, you're a Siren. I thought you were all dead."

"No, we're very much alive; some of us anyway."

"I see. Well, that changes things. I really mean you no harm, you know."

"Convince us," Mariha spoke for the first time.

"In the name of Yahweh, I swear I mean you no harm."

"Will you help us? Will you swear to that?"

"No, I don't know what you need. I won't kill Watchers for you. I won't kill demons either. It's your turn. Convince me that you deserve my help."

"Isn't that your job?" Boston asked him. "Aren't you supposed to help humans; watch over them?"

"Yes, but I have no orders about you."

"Then why are you here? You're acting without orders now."

"I'm here to make sure we don't act without orders. The others are trying to capture Mariha. I'm here to make sure they don't harm her or do anything we don't have orders for."

"How were you planning to do that? Can you stand against 20 watchers from Special Projects?" Mariha asked.

"I am the prince of night. Darkness is my specialty. I planned to take you away from them."

"What were you planning to do with me?"

"Something along the lines of what you're doing to me."

"Let me tell you a story," Boston told him.

"I like stories. Is it a fable or a true story?"

"It's a true story in the form of a fable."

"You're delightful, little Siren. Tell me the tale."

"Once there was a little girl that lived in a medium sized American City. She was her parent's third and youngest child. She had a sister much older than her and a brother in between. Her parents loved her very much. They weren't rich but they worked hard and gave their children everything they could. Her father worked at two jobs and her mother worked long hours as well to make ends meet.

Most of the little girl's time was spent in the company of her older sister who loved the little girl as if she were her own child. She was mother and father to our little girl. They lived quite happily until the little girl was five-years-old. One day she was playing at school and bumped against a bike rack. It made a large bruise. The bruise didn't go away and week by week, she gathered more bruises until her sister became alarmed. She took our little girl to the doctor and they did some blood tests. Two days later they discovered the little girl had lymphoma."

"I begin to understand," Barachiel said. "Please continue."

"She was given the standard cancer treatments and went into remission. It lasted six months and the cancer returned. She underwent a second and a third treatment. When she was seven, the doctors believed that her only hope was a bone marrow transplant. A donor wasn't available and she received transfusions to keep her alive until one could be found. Just before Christmas, when she was nine, she and her sister were Christmas shopping when a stranger driving a car had a heart attack and ran through a crosswalk. Our little girl and her sister would have both been killed but for the actions of a kind stranger who teleported them to safety on the sidewalk. He did this quite innocently, not even knowing what he had done.

He entered the lives of the little girl and her sister and they, all three of them, fell deeply in love. Over the course of the next six months, the kind stranger became our little girl's savior again. He healed her cancer.

"I know," Barachiel said. "It was an unauthorized miracle. The angel that did it acted without orders. Was it you, Mariha? I understand why you did, after meeting Boston. I don't understand how a Siren developed cancer or how so young a girl could have a child. It's a sin for a Watcher to impregnate a human. Someone is in a lot of trouble."

"It wasn't me," Mariha told him. "The child is a virgin. You should let her finish her story."

"Continue, little Siren."

"The kind stranger was not a Watcher," Boston said. "Would you like to meet him?"

"Very much. This is fascinating."

I manifested the Presence and Barachiel stared at me.

"I don't know you. You're too young to be a Watcher unless you are deceiving me. Are you a demon?"

"What's with you and the 'are you a demon' routine?" I asked him. "I'm not a demon."

"Once again, I find myself at a standstill. You aren't a Watcher, you aren't a demon, there are no male Sirens. I have no idea."

"I'm a Nephilim," I told him.

He struggled visibly against his binding. "Mariha, you must release me. Child, you are in terrible danger. He is controlling Mariha and he will kill us all or enslave us. Release me and I will help you."

"Relax, dude, I'm not controlling anyone. Sagan, this might be a good time to drop in."

She shimmered into visibility. "Hello, Barachiel. My name is Sagan McDonald. Boston is my sister. I'm not a demon either. I'm a Siren. Do you really believe that Parker is controlling two Sirens and a Watcher?"

"No, I wasn't thinking. I don't suppose he could control any of you. Have you borne his child, Sagan?"

"No, he gave Boston a blood transfusion and healed her cancer. The side effect was that she became a Siren. I became one voluntarily because I'm going to marry him and your people were hounding us across the face of the earth because of an 'unauthorized miracle.' It was a matter of survival. I did it to protect myself from creatures like you."

"Well, do you have any more surprises for me?" he asked.

"Just me," Mom popped into visibility. She stretched languidly.

"I know you," he said. "You are the demon goddess Lilith."

"Oh my God, you must have a demon fetish. Must everyone you meet be a demon? I'm not a demon, for God's sake. I'm Parker's mother."

"Much that was hidden becomes clear," he said. "Parker healed Boston. Lilith told him his history, somehow you met Mariha, I suppose because she and Lilith are still lovers and when Arian snooped around you killed him."

"You're an idiot," Mariha told him. "I've had enough of your snide remarks. Lilith, would you mind breaking his arm?"

"It would be a pleasure," Mom said.

"Wait, I apologize. There's no need to become violent. Tell me what happened and I'll refrain from snide remarks."

"Arian coerced demons to help look for us. They helped him kidnap Boston and we killed him in the fight. We killed the demons and took Boston back. He was way outside orders, Barachiel, He used demons to kidnap a human girl. Well she was already a Siren, but he didn't know that. Demons, Barachiel."

"I see. That certainly puts a different light on things. I was hasty; I apologize. Swear to me that these things are true, Mariha."

By the eternal name of Yahweh I swear that every word we have spoken is true."

"Okay, then I swear by the name of Yahweh that I will help you clear your name, intervene on your behalf and protect you from all danger to the best of my ability."

"Is he telling the truth?" Mom asked. "Are we sure he isn't a demon?"

That last remark was hilarious and we all laughed ourselves to tears. The tension was broken and we all relaxed.

"Turn him loose, Boston," Mariha said.

She got a mop and a bucket and erased the symbol. He rose and stretched.

"I notice the walls and doors are still warded. Are you keeping me prisoner here?"

"No, we'll take them down," Sagan told him. "Do you want to leave right now?"

"No, I was just trying to discern my status. What do you want me to do for you?"

"We want you to kick this upstairs," Mariha said. "You're a friend of Adonael. Tell the archangel what's going on. These are righteous people, Barachiel. They just want to be left alone. They are under my protection and now your protection. I answer for them. Let him come and weigh their hearts. They are no danger to humanity and represent no threat to God's plan. You know that because we have no orders about them. Arian's people are the problem. If they will just leave us alone you'll never hear from us again."

"Us, Mariha? Are you with them?"

"For as long as they'll have me. I love them more than heaven, Barachiel. Lilith is old. You know that and she's never caused anyone any trouble in 6000 years. Parker is her son and these two girls are dear to me. I will protect them with my life. We're going to drop off the face of the earth. We're going to collapse the tunnel in on top of us. If God wants you to find us, he'll tell you where we are and we'll submit to his decree no matter what it is. If he doesn't give any orders about us and you can call off the dogs, we'll come out. I'll give you my prayer. You can let us know."

He embraced her. "It's been too long sister. If this all works out, can I come visit you? I would like to get to know these people better."

"You'll be welcome," I told him. "You seem like a good dude, Barachiel. I'm sorry we had to treat you so rough. We don't know who to trust."

"Well, whoever the lovely creature was who called me, I'm guessing Sagan, that was a pleasure. I'd never heard a Siren's song. It was... moving. The rest; not so much. I hope so see you under happier circumstances. If you would take down the wards, I'll see what I can do.'

I took the mop and washed the door. When I turned around he was gone and in the next second, we were back in River House.

Mom sat on the sofa and propped her feet on the coffee table. We all joined her. She leaned her head back and sighed. "It's good to be home."

"Yes, home," Mariha lay back on Mom's lap.

The two girls sat on either side of me and draped their legs across mine.

"Mariha, did you mean it when you told Barachiel you were going to stay with us?" Boston asked her.

"Every word, dear. I lost Lilith once before. I'm not losing her or any of you again."

"That's wonderful," I told her. "Mom, does 'home' mean that you'll stay with us, too?"

"No, I won't live here. I hope you'll let me be here most of the time, but you're too unrestful for me, kids. I'm sorry, but I need my own place."

Boston lay across my lap and she was stroking my face. It became distracting. "Boston, stop," I whispered.

"Don't do that, Parker," Mariha said. "You're being unfair to Boston."

"Unfair, I don't understand."

"I know that, but she's not a human, Parker. She's a Siren. Sensuality and physicality is part of her nature. If you don't let her explore she'll become sad and confused."

"You mean she needs to touch me? Jesus, Mariha how far is this going? She's a little girl. I love her but she embarrasses me sometimes. Some things are just immoral."

"Swans mate when they're two-years-old. Do you think they're immoral? They mate for life, by the way."

"Swans aren't people."

"Neither are you, if by people, you mean human. Neither is Boston, or any of the rest of us, for that matter. What makes you think human morality applies to us?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me what morality applies to angels, Nephilim or Sirens."

"Sirens, by nature, are very sexual. They are meant to be very attractive to those with Watcher blood. That's what they do. Haven't you noticed the changes in her and Sagan? They are attracted to the strongest male figure available with the blood. They mate for life. Boston has chosen you. She will never love another. If you force her to repress her nature, she will sing only sad songs, full of longing and unrequited love. It's cruel. You made her what she is."

"I didn't mean to. I love her with all my heart, but I never meant to make her love me. I mean, not like that."

"I know that, Parker," Boston said. "I love you even more because of that. I don't want to embarrass you, but I need to touch you and I need you to touch me. We're not human. Remember that. I loved you with all my heart before I was a Siren."