Blood of My Heart, Beloved of My Soul
Chapter 13
Not a Fairy Tale (Daniel’s Awakening)
As Daniel and Kataya entered her chamber, he closed the door and took her in his arms. “Kataya, if you are going to tell me that you had lovers, it isn’t necessary. You have not hidden the fact that you have children, or that you have had lovers. What happened while we were apart isn’t important.”
“I am afraid that it is, Daniel. I think you have the right to know why I am
so determined to kill this particular System Lord. I think that perhaps the others should know
as well. It will be affecting everyone
and everything, involved in this, and I feel that it is right that they should
know more about my personal involvement.
They should know what she is capable of and why she must die. I would tell you privately and there are no
doubt things you will wish to know later, that we can discuss when we are
alone, but I do not wish to have to repeat the story twice.”
Daniel looked into her eyes and saw the
turmoil of emotions there. He nodded his
agreement.
Kataya opened the link to all involved
and soon had agreement to meet in her quarters in half an hour from her other
three teammates.
She walked over to the bed and took off
her boots; then she sat down with her back against the headboard and motioned
Daniel to join her. Once they were
settled comfortably, Daniel took her hand and stroked it gently. “They will not be here for a while, Daniel,”
Kataya said softly.
Daniel smiled and pulled her into his
arms. The kiss was soft and gentle with
none of the aggressive sexual overtones they had known before. This was a kiss that said, ‘I love you and I
accept you as you are’. It was exactly
what she needed.
When the kiss ended, Kataya sighed and
rested her head on his shoulder. “Is
there anything in particular that you wish to know, Daniel?”
He shook his head. “No.
I’ll wait, and if I have questions still unanswered when you are
finished, I’ll ask you then.” He noticed
that some of the gems in her circlet were glowing. “I guess I do have a question. I’m assuming that what you want to talk about
probably won’t cover this, but if it will just tell me
and I’ll drop it.”
“All right.
What do you wish to know?”
He reached up and touched the amethyst
that was beginning to grow brighter. “Why
do some of the stones glow sometimes, while at other times they don't?”
“Ah.
You are correct. That is not
something I was going to cover tonight.
The stones represent different energy pulses, or waves. Over the millennia, we have learned to
harness the power of the energy around us.
It has become second nature to us to absorb energy.” She smiled at him. “When the stone glows for a short period and
then goes out it simply means that I am unintentionally absorbing energy into
an area that is not at full strength.
When it is glowing as it is now, it is a deliberate accessing of the
power or energy of that stone. In the
case of the Amethyst stone, it is the power and energy of the Universe. Would you like to feel it Daniel?”
He looked taken aback for a moment and
then he said, “Can you do that? Transfer
it to me, that is?”
“Yes.
It is how we sustain someone with our life force. Since you are not ill or injured, you will
feel the power of the universe flow through you.”
“All right.
What do I do?”
She placed her hands on either side of
his head, and then she brought their foreheads together. As she chanted in the beautiful tones so
reminiscent of Gregorian chant, Daniel suddenly felt the power and wonder that
Sam had felt, just a few days before. He
realized that he felt energized, as if he could go out and take on the
world. He felt great.
As it became almost overwhelming, she
broke the contact and settled back against the headboard. The stone still glowed. “How do you stand that much energy flowing
into you? I thought I would explode
toward the end, but it was…I don’t know how to
describe it. Wonderful, even fantastic
seems too dull a word to use.”
Kataya smiled at him. “How about glorious,
awesome, and enchanted? Would
they do? As for the other, I was
channeling into you, Daniel, so I was not amassing it as you were. Now I am, but it will stop soon.”
“I see.
That makes sense, I guess. Your choice of words were a good description of the feelings,
too.”
“I just feel the need of some extra
strength. It takes quite a bit of energy
to talk to my father, and my emotional outburst later did not help. I replenished the others earlier though, as
they are much easier to do, since they come from nature. Tapping into the universe is much more
difficult.”
She stopped speaking, but remained
searching his eyes. Very slowly, he
leaned towards her and captured her lips with his. He pulled her into his lap and continued to
ravish her mouth. His hands went to her
breasts and he moaned deep in his throat.
She offered no protest. Why
should she? This was what she hungered
for, needed, wanted.
She returned his kiss, moved her hand down his hard flat stomach, and
slid it downward. He caught her hand in
his and moaned, “Oh, God, not now. We don’t have time.
Later, though, my love, promise me later.”
“I promise, Daniel,” she said, as she
took his mouth with hers again.
Daniel pulled his lips from hers, moved
her body around, and settled her between his legs. Now she was held closely in his arms with her
back pressed against his chest and, he realized, the hardness of his
erection. He ached for her.
However, those thoughts aside, in this
position, he would easily be able to give her encouragement and support as she
talked to their teammates and told them what she felt needed to be said. He knew that doing this was going to cause
her great distress.
On the other hand, this position also
gave him access to her breasts and the tempting curve of her neck and
shoulder. Not to
mention the apex of her thighs.
He had to stop thinking about that for now. He determinedly pulled his mind away from
there. Later he would explore this
woman. For now, he tried to calm both of
them. His hands gently caressed her arms
as he held her. They sat quietly,
comfortable in the silence, drawing and giving acceptance to one another.
By the time the others arrived, they were both calm and comfortable. Their three teammates came into the room and helped themselves to coffee, port, or mead, as was their custom.
At the solemn look on Kataya’s face,
not even Jack made a wisecrack. As he
sat down, he looked at her and said, “You have something to tell us that you
feel we should know.”
Kataya seemed to be lost in the distant
past. She tilted her head back against
Daniel and closed her eyes for a moment.
When she raised her head and opened her eyes, she began to speak.
“Yes, I do,” She said. With those words, she started to tell her
story. “Almost two hundred years ago, I
met a Heartmate. A
Heartmate that I loved passionately and with who I chose to entwine. We were together for eighty years. For fifty of those years, I was blended with
a Tok’Ra named Siesha. I will not go
into details, suffice it to say she chose to die that I might live. I stayed with my Heartmate for another thirty
years. We had two kits together. Taesha and Lanwin.”
“Taesha is very much like me and someday
she will become a truly great warrior. She
is also passionate about helping her father’s people. It is her wish to blend and go to help the
Tok’Ra when she is knighted. Lanwin,
too, will become an exceptional warrior and he feels much the same about the
Tok’Ra. It would not surprise me if he
also chose to blend someday soon. I will knight both of them before our mission
against Bastet for they have both volunteered to go."
She smiled ruefully, “As I am sure you
have guessed by now, all four of my kits have chosen to follow me on the path
of the Katteri-enti. My oldest son, who
is much like Merdwin and will rival him in power in a few thousand years or so,
is Katteri-enti, but he has chosen to cloister himself with the Ancients for
now.”
She shook her head, “I am sorry, I know
I seem to be rambling, but I want you to know everything that might in some way
affect our mission, and I feel that our ties to the Tok’Ra do affect it. It makes this mission even more important to
us. If we cannot stop Bastet, before she
launches her fleet against the Tok’Ra, we will again send them to Avilion. Since we cannot do that with the population
of Earth, we will stop her before she comes here,” She said in a grimly
determined voice.
Then, deliberately relaxing against
Daniel and his comforting warmth, she continued, “You have met Gwennetha, my
daughter with Merdwin, and you will meet the other two. The offspring of my Tok’Ra lover and I.” Kataya looked at
Daniel’s hand holding hers. He was
listening intently, she knew.
She continued, “Dominic was a wonderful
person. In many ways, Daniel reminds me
of him, of what he was like while he was blended. I loved him and his symbiote deeply and
passionately. They meant more to me than
I can ever express with words.”
Averting her eyes as tears welled, she
swallowed and slowly began to speak again, “Dominic and I were both very
involved in the war with the System Lords.
He was assigned to infiltrate Bastet’s stronghold. He succeeded all too well and was soon a
trusted member of her household.”
“He was an extremely handsome man and
his symbiote transformed him into a man who was not only handsome, but also
virile and charismatic. He could charm a
rock into rolling up hill and you would swear you could hear laughter when he
smiled. Bastet became infatuated with
him and took him as a lover.” Again,
Kataya swallowed painfully. “Had he
refused, she would have known he was not what he appeared to be.”
“Bastet had never made a secret of the
fact that she planned to be the one who succeeded at eliminating the
Tok’Ra. She was making plans to attack
one of the Tok’Ra bases. Dominic was
relaying important information to us. We
could not afford to pull him out. It
would have taken months for someone else to work into a position high enough to
gather the intelligence we needed. It
was unlikely anyone could have gained more information than he could. She loved to brag to him while they were in
her bed. It is where he got most of his
information. How can you replace
that? He despised her and wished to
leave, but could not. He was in an
impossible situation.”
Kataya stared bleakly at the far
wall. Sam made an inarticulate sound,
but didn’t interrupt.
“Bastet managed to infiltrate the Tok’Ra ranks with one of her own
people, much as she has done now. There
was no chance for Dominic to escape. He
was caught. Being a spy would have been
bad enough. She thought he loved her. When she realized that he had been using her
and felt nothing for her, but hatred and contempt, she was completely enraged.”
“The other infiltrator we had in her
household was not in a position that involved being close to her, and she
managed to escape before she was detected.
She told us what had happened.
She also told us that Bastet had decided to attack right away, instead
of waiting until her entire fleet was available. We had very little time before the
attack.” Kataya stopped speaking. Daniel hugged her gently, letting her know he
was there for her. She regained control
of her emotions and continued her story.
“The situation was very bad. We knew Dominic would be tortured. I contacted my father and we evacuated the
Tok’Ra to Avilion, the Sanctuary, where they would be safe. We also contacted Lord Yu, to tell him that
Bastet planned to attack him next.
Although those had been her plans, we did not know if they still
were. We told him anyway. He, of course, attacked her before she could
do that.”
“I was sent to the Stronghold with a
small hand picked group of Warriors.
Lord Yu was on his way. Bastet
had been alerted. She was escaping even
as we fought our way into her palace. I
neither know nor care how many
Kataya’s voice had become a cold flat monotone. “Dominic had been tortured so badly that he
could not survive. It was a miracle he
was still living when we got there. Even
with the two other Katteri, and the Wiccadian that were with us, we could not
sustain both of them until we could get them to Avilion. Perhaps if Merdwin had been there we might
have been able to save them, but he was not.”
“I have seen much in my years as a
Katteri-enti Warrior, but I have never before, or since, seen anyone so badly
tortured and in such a way that their death would linger so long or so
painfully. Of course, she had used the
sarcophagus on him numerous times so this was only the last time he had been
tortured and left to die so painfully.
Bastet had taken it with her as she escaped, so we did not have that
option either.”
“Dominic begged me to save his
symbiote. But, he was too weak to leave
Dominic’s body, let alone blend with a new host.” Kataya took a deep breath before continuing. Her voice became soft and low. “We had no other choice. Dominic pleaded with me to do it, to save the
<i>other half of me</i>
as he always called him." Her voice
almost inaudible, as she relived the past, she murmured, "his words to me
were, “We have lived as one and we have loved as one. I do not wish to die as one and leave you
forever. You can save him, and I shall
live on in him and love you always.
Kataya, adored of my heart
please do this one last act for us with your own hands.” He was whispering, as he had no strength
left. His voice was filled with
agony. He was in so much pain.”
Silent tears streaked Kataya’s
face. “In the end, I did as he
wished. I slit my love’s throat, killing
him by absorbing the last of his life force and taking his soul into
myself. And then, I removed his
symbiote.” Sam gasped and even Jack
looked stunned. Teal’c was apparently
unmoved, but if one looked closely, they would discern the muscle jumping in
his jaw. “The symbiote was dying. I held him in my arms and sustained him with
my own life force until we could get to Avilion. The two Katteri and the Wiccadian had to
channel energy to me several times on the journey to the portal. If they had not done so, I would have died
with him.”
“Some of Bastet’s forces were still
around. We were involved in several
firefights on our way back. My grief was
intense, and I have had over one hundred years to feed the fires of my hatred
and need for vengeance.”
Sam asked in a strangled voice, “What
happened to the symbiote?”
“For several days, we did not know if
he would live or die. He survived, but it took many months at Avilion for him
to recover enough to blend. Justin, the
young Wiccadian who had been in the rescue party, offered to become his host
when he was well enough to blend. We had
thirteen more years together before I was recalled to the war in the Pegacian
System, and it was time for the kits to start their formal training at
Avilion.”
“I left, and I have not seen or heard
from him since. We both knew that I
would probably not be able to return. I
was needed by my homeworld. I would have to stay until I was no longer
needed. As you know, that circumstance
has just recently happened. However,
time did not stand still for him, either.
His host was killed and he blended with a new host. After that, he met his new mate. I was told he loved her very much. I am very thankful for that. I—lost track of him, and I have not heard
anything about him in almost ninety years.”
Kataya looked unbearably sad. No one asked any questions, but they all knew
that these facts of an event long passed were still coloring what would happen
in the near future. Daniel indicated to
the group that they should leave, with a look and nod toward the door. Only Sam stopped and turned around. She came back to Kataya and held her for a
long moment as their spirits spoke one to the other, giving assurance and
acceptance without saying a word. The
tears in her eyes and on her cheeks and the quiver of her lips said all that
needed to be said.
Daniel held her for several minutes
after everyone had left without saying anything. Then he turned her slightly towards him, and looking
into her eyes that looked so desolate, he spoke to her. “Kataya, you did what you had to do. Why do you feel guilt over it?”
Kataya took a deep breath and faced
Daniel squarely. “Because I am guilty,
Daniel.” As he went to speak, she gently
placed her fingers over his lips to stop him.
She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them to gaze into his
eyes.
“I loved Dominic, Daniel, but even if
he had not asked me to kill him, I probably would have. Although I loved Dominic very much, the love
I had for his symbiote was even more powerful.
And, although circumstances were such that there was no choice, I know
in my own heart that had it been different and either one could have survived,
but not both, I would not have chosen Dominic.
I believe that Dominic knew this, and he asked that I kill him thinking
it would keep me from being and feeling guilty.” She pulled out of his arms, got up and walked
to the mirror on the wall. Daniel came
up to stand behind her. She nodded at
the image of herself. “There are days I
have trouble looking in there.” Her eyes
met Daniel’s in the mirror. “If I cannot
forgive myself, how can I expect forgiveness from you?”
Daniel wrapped his arms around her from
behind and held her closely in his arms.
He rested his chin on the top of her head and kept their eyes locked in
the mirror. “How can you not? I have nothing to forgive you for, and you
have nothing for which to forgive yourself.
You had no choice and even if, as you say, you’d had a choice, still
there would be nothing to forgive. You
had to do something that no one should have to do, Kataya. I can’t imagine anyone sitting in judgment of
you and your actions. What you did,”
Daniel sighed, and held her closer, “I don’t know if I would have the fortitude
and the courage to do what you did. I
can only hope I would, if the circumstances were reversed. He obviously loved you very much, and you
loved him in return. A love like that is
rare.”
“And yet, it is as a candle to the sun
when compared to what I feel for you.”
She said slowly.
Daniel was aware of his heart stopping
for a moment before it began to pound within him. This lovely, complex woman was telling him
how much she loved him. Telling him that
her love for him meant she would literally die for him, should the occasion
arise. He realized, that on some deeper
inner level of consciousness, he had known all along who she was. Sha’uri had told him, too. She was the woman. The other half. The mate.
Hindsight was showing him what Sha’uri had tried to tell him in his
dream. Sha’uri had been a Heartmate, but
this woman, this Woman, was a part of his soul and he was a part of
hers. His Soulmate. Her Soulmate.
Why had it taken him so long to come to this realization, he wondered? How could
he have been so blind? Kataya saw the
realization come into his eyes.
Slowly, Daniel turned Kataya to face
him. Equally slowly, he lowered his lips
to hers. One touch of her lips and he
was on fire. He couldn’t drink enough
from her lips to quench his thirst for her.
He teased her lips until they opened for him and then plundered the
sweetness within with his tongue, before stopping to suck on her lower lip,
nibbling, tasting, and finally crushing them in his need.
He had to have her. He had to join with her. He wanted to be whole
again, and only with her could that happen.
Once again, the feelings he’d known the day she arrived enveloped
him. This, she, was completion;
it was inevitable and he wanted it. He didn’t recognize the low, feral growl as coming from his
throat; he didn’t even hear it, but she did, and she recognized it for what it
was. It was the sound of a Furling male
calling to his mate, demanding surrender, offering the same in return. It was a primeval, ancient, almost savage
sound, and it called to her deeply.
He wanted her. He forced his lips to leave hers, so that
they could explore the soft golden skin of her throat. He found himself biting her neck, leaving
marks that would not fade anytime soon, but he didn’t care. He sucked on the side of her throat until she
cried out, in pain. Suddenly, he was an Alpha
Male and she was the Alpha Female, he knew it, sensed it, and
reveled in it.
He wanted her to feel him, to know that
it was him, her mate, and that she belonged to
him as no one else ever would. The
bruise he’d left on that soft throat was his brand, the outward sign of an
insatiable, arcane desire to mark her as his.
The proof that she belonged to him; she was his. Vaguely, he knew, somewhere in the back of
his mind, that later he would be appalled by the fierce, barbaric
possessiveness that overtook him, the archaic, pagan need that drove him, but
for now, he could not and would not stop.
He leaned down, and lifting her high into his arms, he strode to the bed
and laid her there. Then he turned,
locked the door and came back to her.
She watched him in silence, knowing
that when he had finally realized who and what they were to each other, it had
released something wild within him. He
was driven by a need as old as the beginning of time. He would not understand it, but he would
follow it. Need, desire and instinct
drove him. Rational thought was lost to
him for now. Perhaps she should stop
this. She knew there was a chance he
would feel guilty later. She decided it
was a chance she was going to take. She
had waited centuries for this man and she wanted him as much as he wanted
her. She welcomed him and the ferocious
wildness that burned within him.
Feverishly he worked at the buttons on
her shirt. There were to many of the
damn things and his hands were shaking so much he couldn’t get them
undone. Finally, in frustration, he
simply ripped them off and threw the shirt to the floor. The T-shirt was whipped over her head and
onto what would soon be a pile of discarded clothing. Her bra followed them both.
They had removed their boots earlier
when they were sitting on the bed. All
that was left were socks, which were easy to dispose of. His hands next went to the belt at her waist. It was quickly undone and he stripped her BDU
pants and her underwear off in one fluid movement. She lay back onto the pillows as he gazed at
her in wonder. Her body was his to worship
and to plunder; he planned to do both.
He dragged a ragged breath into a body
that seemed to have forgotten how to breathe, then proceeded to do to himself
what he had just done to her.
As she watched him rip his shirt and
T-shirt off, followed by his pants and briefs, her own breathing became quick
and shallow. Hurry, she wanted to tell
him, hurry. As the last of his clothes
hit the floor, she looked at him in awe.
His was a truly beautiful body, well proportioned, and while rippling
with muscles, not overly developed.
As he stood naked before her at the side
of the bed he raised one knee and placed it on the bed in preparation to
climbing onto the bed. She halted him by
reaching out and taking his shaft in one hand and gently cupping him with the
other. As she stroked him rhythmically,
he drew in a breath and clenched his teeth.
“Kataya, I don’t think that’s a good…”
He got no farther as she leaned over and swiftly took him into her mouth
one hand still holding him, and the other going around him to stroke and knead
his buttocks. His words were strangled
in his throat, and he clasped the back of her head. He was dying.
He was sure of it. For some
reason, she wanted him dead, and he was about to oblige her.
She began a slow rhythm increasing it
only to stop before he found the release he desired. She changed her rhythm and started all over
again. When he could stand it no more,
he pulled her mouth away from him and pressing her back onto the bed, he
followed her down. As he lay next to
her, his hands began to caress her, and his lips followed where they led. His fingers quickly found her nipples and his
lips and tongue followed their lead.
With trembling hands, he gently
caressed her silky skin. It felt exactly
as he’d known it would. She smelled of
roses and musk. His fingers found the
pot of honey they had been searching for, and he dipped first one and then
another in to test the richness that was there.
His thumb found the nub that was the center of her pleasure, and he
heard her gasp and then groan as he found a rhythm that pleasured her. He brought her close to the edge, only to
back away and start over. Finally, he
heard what he needed to hear.
“Daniel. I need you.
Come to me.” He left her breasts
and brought his mouth to hers in a hard passionate kiss. When at long last he
broke it, she was whimpering her distress.
She was wild in his arms, raking his back with her nails. He captured her wrists and held her as he
kissed her deeply once again. Moaning
his name repeatedly, she heaved against him.
Still holding her captive, he said to her in a voice that was hoarse
with longing and denied desire, “You are mine Kataya, now and for always. Forever.”
Still holding her wrists, he used his
knees to part her legs, so he could slip between them. He pressed his shaft against her opening, but
didn’t enter her, teasing them both by staying just outside of where they
wanted him to be. She looked at him with
eyes blazing with love and passion and need.
Finally, she gave him what he wanted, needed to hear from her, “And you
are mine, Daniel, now and for always.
Forever.”
She saw the same wild yearning, the
love and desire flame and burn in his eyes.
Poised tensely above her, he whispered his vow to her, “Blood of My
Heart, Beloved of My Soul, I come to thee.
You are my heart and my soul, for now and through all eternity.” Still he waited, but not for long. With joy and love in her face and eyes, she
repeated her vow to him, “Beloved of my Soul, Blood of My Heart, I come to
thee. You are my soul and my heart, for
now and through all eternity.”
As she whispered the last word of their
vows, Daniel released her arms, entered her, and with one sharp, frantic
thrust, he was buried deep inside her.
Kataya gasped, and then sobbed, when he began to move in her. Her hips lifted to meet his over and over as
their bodies fell into that ancient dance of love and passion. She was hot, wet, and wild in his arms. The marks on his back would not fade in a day
or two. The bites he left on her
shoulders, her neck and her breasts would stay awhile.
Daniel was no longer in control of his
actions as Kataya tossed in his arms and cried his name. With one final thrust, Daniel hoarsely cried
her name and felt the spasms of his climax start, only to be followed by the
deep rhythmic clenching of Kataya’s own.
She cried his name repeatedly, as she lay in his arms, sobbing from the
intensity of the release and the emotions caused by their joining.
Daniel struggled to find and draw in
the breath he needed to continue to live.
Never in this lifetime, had he felt anything so intense. Slowly, they both quieted. Daniel reached down and pulled the comforter
over them both. Later, there would be
things to be said. For now, just being
together, was enough.
They lost count of the times they awoke
to take each other and to make love. It
was as if, now that they had finally come together, they could not get enough
of each other. Come morning, they
overslept. Daniel was the first to
awaken and realize the time. “Kataya,
love, wake up.”
“I am too tired, Daniel, not again,”
she murmured sleepily.
“Are you, love?” Daniel asked teasingly as he trailed his hand
up her leg toward her center again. She
muttered a negative, but her legs opened of their own accord, and her lips
found their way to one of his nipples, which she had been delighted to find,
were as sensitive as hers. At his
quickly indrawn breath, she laughed seductively. “Two can play at this game, Daniel, and one
should never underestimate the opposition.”
With a ragged gasp, he agreed. Then his lips found hers and they were lost
in one another. They missed breakfast,
but neither cared.
TBC