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Feed Me
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Feed Me
Dana J Wright
Copyright © 2022 Dana J Wright
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 9798427271806
Cover design by: [email protected]
To Z ~ Each day without you hurts.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
About The Author
Inamorata Series
PROLOGUE
Medusa’s pit vipers hiss, curving into strike mode, their golden eyes are similar to those of my white dragon, Azhi Dahaka. Unlike Azhi, these twitching, twisting reptilian monsters scare me. When one, which must be the leader, raises its head, I take a protected step back.
“Leda do not be afraid. Be still and allow Wadjet to meet you,” Medusa instructs, her voice powerful and feminine.
“But I am afraid,” I admit, “of your living armor.” My voice is low and nonthreatening, hoping to not engage Wadjet or any of his friends.
“Sister, you have nothing to fear. You must allow him to meet you, there’s something he wishes to show you.”
“Sure, I’ll let this imposing pit viper meet me. No problem,” I respond sarcastically.
“Put your preconceived human notions away.”
Although Medusa’s words don’t alleviate my fear, I want to trust her. She’s family, and I desperately want to belong to a family. I want a mother who loves me and a sister who has my back. If I want their trust, I’ve got to be willing to show the same. Meaning, I must accept Medusa, all of her, including those slithering, fork-tongued asps. I hold my breath, plant my feet, clench my fists, and shut my eyes. “Okay, Medusa, I’m ready,” I claim, although nothing could be further from the truth. Sweat forms on my upper lip, my palms are hot and sticky. I wait for the inevitable strike, knowing it’s going to hurt like a mother when those fangs pierce my skin.
When nothing happens I get impatient, wanting this to be over. And then, as I’m about to call the whole thing off, I feel the soft flick of a serpent’s tongue in the middle of my forehead. I do my best not to jerk away, not to move, not to breathe.
Wadjet’s head leans into mine. His long body wraps around my crown, continuing to flick my skin with his forked tongue. Medusa’s smooth-spoken voice instructs me to, “Let go. Release your tension. Learn to trust.” So much easier said than done, but again, I have to trust my family.
With lingering consternation, I focus on relaxing my hands and then my legs before letting my breath slow. While talking myself off the ledge, Wadjet keeps his scaled body loose, patiently waiting for my energy to calm.
Finally, when I’m as placid as one can be, with a serpent coiled around her head, Wadjet slides down my neck before stopping to hover over the monk’s mark, burned into my chest. Although hidden under my shirt, he obviously feels its power, and I’m afraid, once again, he might strike. After an intense few seconds, his head moves to my throat, over my lips and nose, and between my eyebrows. He stops, resting against the middle of my forehead—over my third eye. His body now anchored around my throat, silences the chakra there. It’s not time to talk, it’s time to listen.
Without warning, Wadjet constricts, hampering my ability to breathe. My chest heaves, fighting for air. I’m going to die! Medusa do something!
I’m standing in a beautiful garden with a serpent wrapped around my head. The sun is brilliant. Birds chatter while butterflies flit. There are trees, shrubs, and flowers. The abundant floral scents are soothing. The air temperature is perfect, with very little humidity. Paradise, I think, watching fuzzy mammals scurry in and out of the plants. “Are you going to devour those bunnies?” My eyes dart to the serpent.
“Jussst watch, Leda,” Wadjet hisses.
The sound of voices, heading in our direction catches my attention. Out of the foliage, a tall, human-looking man comes into view. He’s flanked by two even taller, reptilian aliens.
“Anunnaki,” Wadjet informs.
The man is over six feet, and skinny. He has a patch of red hair, splotched in the middle of his concave chest. His matching head hair is combed over in a feeble attempt to hide his baldness.
Wadjet lowers his head until it’s next to my ear. "Adam."
“I’m in Eden?”
“Yesss.”
“Yikes. Adam’s extremely unattractive. What does Eve look like?”
“No Eve. Jussst Lilith.”
“Where’s Lilith?” I’m anxious to see what my mother looks like.
“Essscaped.”
“She is unclean and disgusting,” Adam complains to his alien escorts. “Said she doesn’t enjoy sex, claimed it was boring, I was boring.”
“You must reproduce.” An Anunnaki places a hand on Adam’s boney shoulder.
“How am I supposed to mate when Lilith hides from me?” He squints and bunches his nose; something unpleasant must be on his mind. “She suggested we use fruit in our couplings, expected me to eat strawberries from her…” He points to his crotch. “And that was after she invented sexual positions where she was on top.”
“You must reproduce,” the Anunnaki repeats. “You have to populate the planet with humans. Do you not want to lord over the realm?”
“Of course I do,” Adam scoffs.
“Then you must populate it.”
“You expect me to mate with a vile, vulgar woman? Strawberries, indeed.” He vigorously shakes his head, causing several strands of hair to slip out of place. The long, reedy locks hang off the side, brushing his ear until Adam fingers them back over his scalp, giving them a good pat down before returning his attention to the aliens.
“If not Lilith, then mate with your offspring.”
“Whoa,” I whisper-yell. “Did the alien just encourage Adam to impregnate his daughters?”
“Yesss.”
“And Adam claims Lilith is disgusting for wanting oral sex with strawberries?”
“Yesss.”
Adam is contemplative for a few breaths. “Well, I never considered coupling with my daughters.”
CHAPTER 1
In a few seconds, I’ll be dead, and no one will ever hurt me again. Standing on a bridge, peering through the fog, the water beneath me looks cold and sounds angry—its frigid rage invites me to jump, promising, under its surface is the peace I desperately crave.
I’ve considered death for years, but in the last twelve months, it’s become apparent, this is the only option if I want to escape the assholes.
I breathe in the salty wind, whipping my hair with such ferocity my eyes tear. They'll be the last tears I share with a world I was birthed into for no reason other than punishment. Giddiness tickles my stomach knowing once I reach my watery grave, eternally tucked in my Piscean element, I’ll have removed the one thing the assholes need to feel relevant. ME!
I grin, wondering what they’ll do with themselves once I’m no longer around, then raise accusatory eyes to the dark heavens. “You gonna give them someone else, Universe! Choose another you feel deserves abuse but never explain why?” It’s what frustrates me the most, abuse without reason. I’ll never know what the hell I did. What crimes I committed that caused me to be hated? I’ll leave this world without that knowledge, without ever feeling love, without ever knowing loyalty. Under my breath, I add, “’Cause it won’t be me. You’re not using me for your cruel amusement any longer.”
I grip the cold steel wishing I had it in me to begin life anew, especially knowing what I do now. The cruel irony of hindsight—I wouldn’t waste my days enslaved within the dictates of persons who relished my failures. A mother who hated me because she claimed I wasn’t hers. A spineless father who beat me when his wife’s nagging became too much. A sister who used my parent’s hatred to her advantage. An alcoholic momma’s boy of a husband who blew through my money and
left me drowning in debt. And finally, my soon-to-be ex-boss, Mr. Davison, who’s been retaliating unabashedly since I filed a sexual harassment suit. Allowing these people into my head is what led me straight to this midnight bridge, a hundred meters above the crashing whitecaps.
I’m reminded of a vision I had not long ago: the ocean embedded itself behind my eyes after a particularly horrible day, giving me the answer to my depression--calling it quits within my water element. That day I’d reached the point of no return; drowning would be my cause of death and coffin—nature’s perfect two-for-one. As a Pisces, it makes sense I’d crave water instead of dirt for a grave cover. Can’t believe it took this long to figure out.
There’s another vision I’ve been having lately. Initially, it gave me hope, taking place in an unfamiliar world where four masculine beings watch over me from the shadows. I’ve no idea what they look like, I only know they love me. “Ha! Love!” I cackle into the wind, realizing how ridiculous it is. Nobody loves me, it was never in the cards to be worthy of love. Like a child who invents imaginary friends, that vision is nothing more than my subconscious’s way of glossing over the barren wasteland of my life. I'm pathetic.
The inevitable has arrived, time to seal my liquid sarcophagus. With a razor, I pull from the pocket of my black pants, I slice both wrists, watching with fascination as the blood hesitates before streaming into my palms then quickens to my fingertips. The frigid wind whips it away. I take a final breath and let go.
CHAPTER 2
“Leda!” Lilith cried, flinging a hand over her breaking heart. “No!” The Dark Goddess stumbled from the impact of Leda’s aura that had just flared to life. This couldn’t be happening. Leda had to live.
Steadying herself, Lilith mentally ran through the list of beings who needed Leda alive, who could be trusted to save her. There was only one.
“Azhi!” She commanded from the pink marbled terrace of her residence atop the ziggurat in the subterranean world of Malicifar. He was the one creature prepared for what this would mean, the others couldn’t know, yet.
Thunderous, bass-beating wings announced his arrival before Azhi Dahaka broke through the clouds, answering Lilith’s summons. “Your mistress needs you! Find a way to save her!”
The white dragon roared, turning to find an aperture to Shandama, the realm of humans. Lilith watched the beast steer toward the rippling air, praying the Old Ones would ensure he reached his destination in time.
Lilith rarely felt guilt, but the emotion made an appearance. Should she have sent the angel instead? The one who’d lay down his life if he knew the truth? No, she told herself. It was the right choice to send the dragon. She’d manipulated too many life threads, any more and Lilith risked breaking karmic law. The crimes she’d already committed, to get Leda to this lifetime were enough for the Fates to strip her power and return it to Chaos–if they found out.
She took a deep breath, placed her hands on the railing, and gazed over her peaceful domain. She’d promised her people, after the Titans had finally been overthrown and sent back to Saturn, they’d never suffer under occupation again. It had taken decades to return Malicifar to its magnificence after forty years of Titan ruination. Forty years they’d enslaved her people. Her peaceful citizens had been tortured, women and children raped, their resources stripped, infrastructure ruined. Remembering the wasteland the aliens left behind, justified the crimes she’d committed. Getting Leda to this lifetime, to fulfill her destiny–destroying the warmongering aliens, was worth the lives Lilith cut short.
She turned back to her residence with a smile, the guilt gone, her reserve strong. The Dark Goddess took one step then froze. If she’d felt the ground-shaking impact of Leda’s aura, so would the others. So would Poseidon.
****
The sea nymph queen sensed Leda was in trouble the second her aura ignited. With her colony behind her, the queen gingerly approached the human body as it drifted to the ocean floor, leaving two thin, curly, red trails in its wake. After Leda landed in a thick patch of seagrass, the nymph healers sealed her self-inflicted wounds. Seconds later two serpentine eyes appeared like golden headlights in the murky depths. The nymph queen swam out to meet Leviathan.
Leda’s dragon sent me, the green-and-yellow serpent conveyed to the nymph queen as they swam to Leda. I felt her power leagues away. Leviathan shook her massive head. It was a grave error to have left Leda alone in the hateful world of humans. Her bloodlines are too extraordinary for their simple minds. She let out a snort of disgust.
The Dark Goddess did what she thought right, the nymph reminded Leviathan.
I understand the circumstances behind the decision to hide Leda in the human world, but seeing her now, inviting death, long before her time... Leviathan turned vengeful eyes to the surface, holding back the urge to breach the human world and repay those who'd hurt Leda tenfold.
The queen urged, Take her to Chaos before it’s too late.
CHAPTER 3
The realm of humans, known as Shandama by the Enlightened, is ruled by alien masters, the most powerful of which are the Anunnaki. Presidents, kings, queens, dictators, all governments are chosen by the aliens. They also determine when wars are fought, where to distribute wealth, and the timing of population-control methodologies. This greatest of secrets is kept by a group of humans known as Blue-bloods, who’ve been charged by their alien masters to control the masses. In return for their fealty, Blue-bloods are taught metaphysical truths they’re able to use to accumulate immense wealth and power.
Blue-bloods pay a hefty price to keep their favored status: sacrifices are required to maintain balance, which is why, behind a large, heavy wooden door in a Park Avenue office, Mayer Steinach and his two middle sons meet with their alien master.
“A new player is on the scene. A woman raised as an Ignorant,” Anu, an Anunnaki chieftain, explained.
Like previous generations of Steinach patriarchs, Mayer, when he turned eighteen, oathed out to the Anunnaki, and when his father died, he continued adding to the substantial family empire using knowledge his alien masters provided. But, even after the shady deals, murders, carefully planned hostile takeovers, not to mention sacrificing his daughters in a manner that would make Adam proud, the top of the human hierarchy was still rungs above Mayer’s reach.
“Her Baphomet family will soon attempt contact,” Anu continued.
“Baphomet?” Warren, Mayer’s second eldest son, questioned. “As in Lilith? This is one of her daughters?”
“Her other daughter,” Anu clarified. “The girl thinks herself human.”
“I assume Lilith hid her within the human population to keep Poseidon ignorant of her existence?” Frederick, Mayer’s third eldest guessed.
“Correct. Lilith will go to great lengths to ensure Poseidon never destroys another daughter. Doesn’t want to repeat the atrocity that befell Medusa.”
“So why now?” Mayer questioned, his mind scrolling through what he knew of the Dark Goddess.
Lilith, after rejecting Adam and escaping Eden, aligned herself with Gaia, the first being to be formed from Chaos. It was Gaia and her sister Tiamat who removed Lilith’s alien DNA and birthed a new race–Baphomet, Lilith the progenitor.
“Isn’t the goddess worried Poseidon will discover she has a second daughter?”
“There was no other choice. The girl tried to kill herself. Lilith’s hand was forced when the action ignited Leda's aura and left a psychic imprint. Any magical creature, paying attention, now knows another has joined the ranks.”
“Wait! Tried to kill herself?” Warren’s brows furrowed.
“Her magic grew too strong--had no outlet. Her Ignorant mind couldn’t grasp the extraordinary power,” Anu explained. “It wasn’t easy growing up human when she’s anything but. I warned Lilith this would happen, but she was determined to keep Poseidon away.”
“Have you been watching over the girl?” Mayer asked, knowing Anu and Lilith shared history.
“From afar. I’ve never interfered until now and only because Lilith asked it of me. I immediately thought of you, Mayer.”
“Thank you, Anu. I won’t let you down. What do you need?” Whatever it was, Mayer would agree. Opportunities like this ensured his family stayed on the Blue-blood hierarchy, a ladder he was determined to top and become the most powerful family in the human realm.