FicWad

Drip. Drip. Drip...drip.
Christine lay back in the tub, the lavender and rose scented water relaxing her body as she finally felt warm. She looked over at the small pile of clothes the priestesses had removed from her. The bloodstained T-shirt and shorts were little better than rags now, and she hated the thought of putting them back on. The bronze tub she was lying in was a treasure in itself; a perfectly preserved piece of ancient history, and she was bathing in it. The vessels and tools the women had used to prepare the bath were all ancient, but the preservation was better than any museum she had ever seen. Her mind wondered as she looked around the room.
Suddenly she sat up, splashing water across the marble floor. There on the wall was a Doni, a mother figure. Carved into the wall and painted with bright paints, its large belly, breasts and hips highlighted by images of birth and death painted across the figure. She scrambled out of the tub to look at the figure. The priestesses grabbed her arms and tried to force her back into the tub.
"No, you don't understand I just want a closer look." She said, in English as she struggled against them. They lifted her up and gently placed her back into the tub.
"Relax." Said the one wearing a collar of beaten bronze, "You will see her in time."
Christine lay back as the women began to wash her hair. She couldn't take her eyes off the Doni. There right in front of her was proof. God, she wished she had her camera.
The women gently prodded her to get out of the tub. They wrapped her in a large white sheet to dry her, and then began to dress her in a long chiton. Her hair was wrapped with beaded strands and left to curl naturally down her back. The stood her in front of a large bronze mirror. She looked like one of the many statues she had uncovered at her recent dig site. She stood there in awe for a moment, and then the priestesses lead her along a path of rose petals on the ground, into another room.


The priests lead Gabriel into a room with a large bronze tub full of water. They began to tug and pull at his coat, trying to remove it. He struggled against them but the five servants held him down, and quickly removed all his clothing. They lifted him struggling into the warm water of the tub, and he hissed as the water hit the cuts on his chest.
"If you stop fighting this will be much easier on you as well as us." The priest with the heavy silver collar said in perfect English.
"Why should I believe you?" Gabriel said, as he sent one of the servants flying across the room.
"Because we have no intentions of hurting you. We need both of you to complete our ceremony. Please relax, enjoy the bath. When the ceremony is complete your clothes and weapons will be returned to you and you will be allowed to leave. Those are the Master's orders."
"Why? What ceremony?" Gabriel leaned back in the tub, whatever they had put in the water, his chest had stopped stinging.
"The Ceremony of Dona, it is the celebration of the union of Zeus and Dona, the conception of Aphrodite. It guarantees the fertility of these valleys, the oak grove where the priestesses interpret the words of Zeus, our women and our children to come." The priest stepped back to show him a carving of Zeus on the wall. "The great Father came to this land, found Dona here alone and weeping. They shared a goblet of wine, and she became enamored of him. They consummated their love, and Aphrodite was born."
"What do you need me for?" Gabriel asked. "Don't you people reenact this ceremony amongst yourselves?"
"Usually, yes." The priest said. "But every hundred years we need a true representative of the Gods to enact the ceremony for us for our continued fertility. The woman is infused with the spirit of the Dona by consuming the Elixir of Life. The man is either supernatural in origin or is also infused by the Elixir; but neither participant can be of our bloodlines."
"What, exactly, is this ritual?"
"The Dona will be ritually cleansed, dressed and prepared for the meeting with Zeus. When she is ready, you will be taken into the room where she is. We will sing welcome to the gods, she will be lead to the alter, you will be lead to her, you will share a goblet of wine and then will consummate the union of the gods."
"Consummate?" Gabriel asked, shocked.
"Yes, it is the conception of Aphrodite we celebrate, usually it is childless couples from nearby villages who participate in the ceremony, but once a century, as I said, we need someone more powerful."
"So you kidnap people and force them to enact this ritual?"
"The Master promised to ensure our ceremony, by providing a god, or at least as close as possible to one to play Zeus. He told us you are an Angel, created by God, cast out for defying him, acting on earth to redeem yourself in God's eyes. Is this not true?"
Gabriel stared at the man. "I don't know. I don't remember."
"The Master has assured us of your divinity that is all that matters to us."
"What happens if I refuse to participate?"
"The woman dies."
"What?"
"The Elixir of Life must create life, or it destroys the vessel into which it is poured." The priest looked at him. "If you do not participate in the ritual, she will die an agonizing death."
"I can't." Gabriel whispered. One thing Mephistopheles had said rang true, he was forbidden, if only by his vows to the church, to know a woman. He was a man of God, perhaps not a priest in the literal sense, but he had taken vows of chastity and celibacy as a part of his service to God.
"Then she will die. We have no other here who can perform the ceremony, and she only has six hours left." The priest signaled the servants to leave the room. They picked up his clothing, boots and coat on the way out. "We will leave you to your decision.
He sat there in the cooling tub. Leave it to a demon to come up with a way to torment him. If he didn't act, an innocent would die, if he did he would break his vows, and for all he knew, the demon was telling the truth, and the penalty could be even worse.
"Well, well. I see you are thinking this through. Not at all what I expected from you." The smell of sulfur permeated the room. "The Gabriel I knew always acted first and thought second. Of course that is why God would send you to do his dirty work; he didn't have to worry about you questioning orders; until you did." Mephistopheles stood at the foot of the tub. "We all laughed in Hell when you refused to obey, refused to kill that young girl. Who would have thought that such an innocent young girl would cause so many problems for God? But without her medicine wouldn't have advanced as far as it has now. Poor Marie. Poor Gabriel. She wasn't evil; you wouldn't kill her because she wasn't evil. And, you know what, you were right. But that is why you were the Left Hand of God, you didn't question, you obeyed."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to choose. No God telling you what to do, not your instincts; they won't help you in this. If you let her die, her death will be on your soul. YOU have the power to save her, not an angelic power but a human one. If you save her, you will be forsworn to the church, and disobey one of God's commands for the angels. Angels are not allowed to know the daughters of man. It was this temptation that caused many of my brethren to be where we are now. The temptation of a moment's pleasure can lead to an eternity of torment. Are you still and Angel, Gabriel? Are you still The Left Hand of God, or are you a man?"
"I don't know what you are talking about." Gabriel stood up, spraying water across the marble floor. He grabbed a large white sheet lying near the tub and wrapped it around his waist. "What I do know is as soon as I get my weapons; I am hunting you down, and sending you back to Hell."
"I look forward to it, Gabriel. Of course I will be waiting for you to join us. Either way you choose, you will be completely cut off from God. Either you will kill an innocent woman, who's life is in your hands to save, or you will save her, and damn yourself." Meph handed Gabriel a simple short chiton. "Get dressed. Dona awaits her Zeus." And with a puff of yellow smoke he was gone.

Drip...drip...drip
This time it was oil dripping slowly from a cracked vessel. Christine looked around the room she was in. The priestesses danced and chanted in front of her. They had shackled her to a chair with chains of gold. Her head was fuzzy for some reason. She kept looking around the room at the carved figures on the wall. She knew they were important, but couldn't remember why.
Her skin tingled, and the fine silk of her chiton felt like raw hemp on her arms and body. She just wanted to take it off. Every nerve ending in her body felt like it was on fire. The priestesses would stop the dance and rub oil on her arms and legs; the musky scent was driving her insane. She wanted to ask them what was wrong, but somehow her mind couldn't get her body to talk.
She watched the hypnotic dance of the women as they watched the far door of the room. They seemed to be waiting for something, keeping the room in a fever pitch until whatever was supposed to come through that door did.
The small part of Christine's mind that wasn't tied up in whatever drug they had given her wanted to run. She was terrified.
The door cracked open, and a procession of priests began to enter the room. They wore gold masks, and white chitons. They joined the dance of the priestesses, chanting to Zeus and the women chanted to Dona. Suddenly everything stopped. The only sound was footsteps coming down the corridor toward the room. Everyone seemed to hold their breath.