Babylon

In Chapter 3, Babylon attempts to make a good first impression by showing the girls her goods. If you're still reading, please say hi with a review! o_O Forum thread on Babylon is here: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/31561-babylon-notes-replies-questions-etc/

--------------------

The Bounty of Babylon

     The steps were steep, smooth, dark. Abi squeezed her flashlight, trying to see, but the darkness didn’t yield. All she could see was lights flashing and darkness. She was the last of the line of girls descending step by step into the deepest beer cellar ever. High above, the light of the fire just showed the outline of the door. At least it hadn’t slammed shut behind them.

     In front of her was Raven, the pretty girl with goth style make-up and white nail polish. Raven had made a sarcastic comment about Abi’s flashlight, a little kid’s light in the shape of a penguin. Abi hated the stupid thing. Why hadn’t she brought a real light?

     The other girls were all much older than her, in university, most of them. Inga, the paranormal journalist who had arranged the ritual, was twenty-six. She had her own website, and wrote articles for various magazines, even though she didn’t seem to believe in a lot of the paranormal stuff she was supposed to investigate. Abi nearly stumbled, grabbed Raven’s shoulder for support.

     “All right?” Raven asked.

     They descended quietly, talking in hushed voices, feeling their way, fingers brushing the walls. One of the girls, tall, Meredith perhaps, held a hand on the ceiling to keep from bumping her head. The hand cast dramatic moving shadows in the flashlight beams.

   

Suddenly, someone cried out in pain.

     “My head!” It was Inga. Then one after another they yelped or gasped as if hit in the face.

     “What? What is it?” And then it hit Abi too. It was a blow to the head, a cold, iron blow, like a stamp, like the press of a metal object to the forehead. Then it was gone. Confused whispers echoed in the concrete tunnel.

     “There’s something on my forehead!”

     “I can see it!”

     “I can’t get it off.”

     “Let me look at it.”

     Finally, Terry cut through the hubbub. “You guys, it’s the seal!” she screeched.

     Silence descended.

     “Stop trying to get it off, it’s protecting you.”

                Raven looked up at Abi.

                “Can you see it?” she whispered, but she was shining her flashlight in Abi’s eyes and Abi saw nothing.

“Oh, sorry.” Raven lowered the light. “You’ve got one, too.”

Abi could see it. It was a red circle of what looked like sealing wax. The stamp was like the symbol they had drawn on each other’s foreheads, a circle with a cross in it, but elaborated with letters and frilly bits. She felt her own forehead.

Although it looked like sealing wax, it felt like skin. She could feel her own fingers exploring the bumps and ridges, as if the seal was part of her body. As if the shape was the shape of her bones.

“This feels so creepy!” Raven whispered.

“Is everyone OK?” Inga asked from down below. They sounded off, more or less, breathless, disorganised.

“We’re nearly there,” Inga said. They continued downwards.

Inga was holding the door open at the bottom of the stairs. They spilled out into a lit corridor with lush carpet, wooden panelling and oil paintings on the wall.

“Let’s take a note: we came in through the door opposite the sad angel,” Inga said.

Abi realised it was a good idea to remember that: their door was one of many identical doors, all side by side. The corridor curved, as if it ran around a central chamber that each door led into. On the outer wall were the paintings.

The sad angel was a naked man with blue wings in a dark forest. He faced the viewer with a wide-eyed look of shock and grief.

“Why did you leave meeeeee?” Anna mocked in a high-pitched voice.

“It’s a little dramatic,” Abi agreed.

“Have you seen that one?” Anna pointed down the corridor where some of the other girls were looking at a different painting. It was a fairly normal looking woman getting naked in her bedroom type painting, except the woman quite clearly had a penis.

“Girls, pay attention a moment,” Inga said in an authoritative voice. They turned to her. Terry was standing next to her, shorter, stockier than Inga and lacking her natural Nordic grace. She looked ugly to Abi, although maybe that was just the grave look on her face.

“We don’t know where we are,” Inga started.

“Babylon,” someone offered.

“Yes, but we don’t know what that means. I didn’t expect this to happen. This isn’t a vision, or astral travel of some kind, it’s more like an alternate dimension. We may be in more danger than we realised.”

Terry said, “We do have the seals protecting us.”

“—Yes, but we don’t know exactly what that protection is, or how we might lose it. We don’t know who we may meet or what they may do to us. We might lose our way or get separated.”

She paused, looking around at the circle.

Abi considered the danger. Inga was probably right: if this was really an alternate dimension, and it certainly seemed like it was, then they could lose their way. They might not be able to get back.

“What I’m trying to say is,” Inga continued, “this is a bit more than I thought we were in for. And if you want to turn back now, this may be your last chance. The door is still open.”

Terry gave Abi a stern look. Abi looked back, defiant. Terry had allowed her to be part of this. She wasn’t going to back out now, just because something unexpected happened. She was a bit sick of Terry telling her not to do dangerous or difficult types of magic.

Then Abi noticed Inga was looking at her too. Inga said, “If anyone wants to go back up the stairs, it’s OK. It’s probably the wise thing to do.” The suggestion hung in the air, waiting for someone to take it.

“No, I want to see this,” Meredith cut through the silence.

“I guess we all do,” Terry said. She wasn't happy, but she wasn't going to say anything.

“OK,” Inga declared. “It’s your own choice. That means it’s also your responsibility. We walk into the unknown –- let’s hope we’ll make it back.”

And that was that. Abi could stay.

They passed a painting of a muscular man with black skin, raising his arms to a dark sky with poison-yellow clouds. Green liquid ran from his open hands and over the ground.

Was he a demon? Abi wondered if Babylon might be a place in Hell, as Terry had at one point suggested. If it was, then how could they hope to escape if they didn’t turn around immediately?

But then again, how could hell be a real place? Was that possible? From another tall, dark portrait a pale man gave her a knowing look. His black hair stood out in tufts like feathers, and the collar of his cloak was lined with shiny black feathers, too. He held the cloak across his hips, but it seemed like he was naked underneath. Naked and gorgeous.

She walked a little faster to keep up with the group. Was he a demon? Would they be tempted, as the ritual text suggested? Here is the hour of your temptation drawn near…

The circle stopped at a large, double door in the outer wall. Terry’s compass was pointing right at it. She waited for everyone to catch up. A hush hung over the group.

Abi wondered if she were the only one who barely knew anyone. She had read Inga’s website, but she had never met her before tonight. She knew Terry, who had been teaching her magic, and Meredith was in Terry’s old coven.

She didn’t know anything about Raven though, except her name, or about Anna, the large girl in the corset. She didn’t remember the name of the last girl, with the fantasy make up and wavy brown hair. She was looking at her phone.

“There’s no reception,” she said, her clear voice cutting through the silence. “—not even… there’s no network.”

“This is an alternate reality,” Raven said, “of course there’s no reception.”

The first girl put her phone away.

"Are we in hell?" Raven asked.

“Maybe,” Terry said.

“No,” Meredith interrupted. “This is Babylon. I think Babylon is a Goddess, as well as a city. She has something to show us, a mystery, a riddle, a…” Her hands moved nervously while she spoke. “An answer! This is a gift, girls, we have to accept it with grace. This is a sacred thing.”

Her confidence was reassuring to Abi. And, after all, nothing scary had happened yet. They were just… off the map.

“Open the door, Terry,” Inga said. “We’re here to see it, so let’s look.”

***

Terry turned the handle slowly, carefully, as if to avoid making any noise. Abi found herself holding her breath. Then the lock clicked and both doors flew open with a bang. Abi let out a little yelp and covered her mouth.

On the other side of the doors was a great hall, cavernous, but lavishly decorated like the hallway was.

Rows and rows of tables filled the room, and piles and piles of food covered each table. Fruit, jellies, joints of meat, flasks of wine and water, silver bowls of soups and stews, sweets, pies, sausages, cakes – every conceivable type of food was artfully arranged on stands, serving plates and layered cake-stands.

It made Abi dizzy to look at. They spilled into the hall. It was a banquet without host or guests -– there wasn’t a living soul in sight.

The central table, opposite the door they entered by, was even more ostentatious than the rest. There were giant silver serving bowls, steam curling through the small gaps in the lids. In the middle of the table, rising proudly from the dizzying stacks of pies and pastries and pieces of fruit, was the figure of a woman.

She was carved out of bone – were there animals with bones that big? – and sat astride a beast carved out of red stone. It looked a bit like a Chinese dragon, sinuous and clawed, but with seven heads, one stacked on top of the other, with ape-like faces.

Abi wasn’t the only one looking at the statue.

“Seven bowls,” Terry said, “The beast with the seven heads…”

“It’s her,” Meredith said, her voice breaking into a strange kind of growl.

There was something odd about the statue. It wasn’t indecent – well, the woman was topless and sat astride the dragon in a mildly suggestive way, but it wasn’t anything lewd. And yet, looking at it, Abi felt the way she did when she stumbled onto porn on the internet. Intense, unexpected arousal.

Embarrassed, Abi looked away.

“Look at the detail,” Meredith said, “It’s beautiful.”

She caught Abi looking at her. She smirked and looked away, and Abi wondered if she could see something in her face.

Abi didn’t want to look at the statue, but couldn’t help it. It made her feel like she had to touch herself.

“What about all the food?” Anna asked. Grateful for the distraction, Abi looked at her. Anna's corset did nothing to disguise her generally round appearance, but Abi noticed now that it did present her breasts in an impressive way.

“Who puts on this much food and doesn’t eat it?”

Abi thought it was a funny question coming from the fat girl, but tried not to laugh. She felt bad for even thinking it.

“It’s here to tempt us,” Terry said.

“But why so much?” Anna insisted.

“Maybe it’s a show of power. Look how much food we can afford to waste.” Raven said.

“No,” Inga interrupted, “they are offerings. It’s all sacrificed. All the food is for the glory of," she paused. "...the idol.”

And they all looked at the statue again. Abi felt uncomfortable, like something was pushing at her from the inside. She adjusted her underwear, which was getting wet. She looked around at the other girls. Some of them were red-faced.

Raven was pointedly looking away from the statue, examining the cakes on a nearby table.

“Don’t touch anything,” Terry told her.

Raven took an exaggerated step back, her hands in the air. When Terry looked away, she rolled her eyes.

But they must be feeling it, too. Abi knew it wasn’t just her. Again the statue drew her eye, and she studied it, trying to work out just what it was that made her feel that way.

“Shall we, um, move on?” Anna suggested.

It was no good, she couldn’t work it out. It was just the figure of a woman on a Chinese dragon, and yet she felt lightheaded and out of breath to look at it.

“Abi!”

She looked around to see the rest was moving on. Raven was the one who had called her, she was holding out her hand, smiling. “Come on, babe.”

She caught up, red-faced, and stuck close to Raven.

“Makes you feel a bit funny, right?” Raven whispered.

Anger instantly replaced Abi’s embarrassment.

“I’m not a child, I know what it is!” she hissed, looking into Raven’s dark-rimmed eyes. “But why?” Raven looked surprised.

They had gathered at another set of double doors. The rod’s red arm pointed at it.

“Everyone here?” Terry asked. Her voice sounded high, like something squeezed her throat. She opened the door.

“It’s just a woman on a dragon,” Abi whispered to Raven. “Why does it feel so…” she hesitated at the word, despite herself, “… horny?”

“I don’t know,” Raven said. She was avoiding Abi’s eye by digging around in her bag. Abi wondered if she did know something. Maybe they all knew something she didn’t. They had probably all had sex already, unlike her.

Raven took out her flashlight, because the corridor they were in was dark. Abi left her flashlight in her bag. That stupid thing didn’t work anyway. She stuck close to Raven, at the tail-end of the group.