The scent grows richer, he knows he must be near,
He finds a long passageway lit by chandelier.
Each step he takes, the perfumes change
From familiar fragrance to flavours strange.
A magnificent chamber meets his eye.
Inside, a long rose-water pool is shrouded by fine mist.
Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze he's gently
kissed.
Thinking he is quite alone,
He enters the room, as if it were his own
But ripples on the sweet pink water
Reveal some company unthought of -
Rael stands astonished doubting his sight,
Struck by beauty, gripped in fright;
Three vermilion snakes of female face
The smallest motion, filled with grace.
Muted melodies fill the echoing hall,
But there is no sign of warning in the siren's call:
"Rael welcome, we are the Lamia of the pool.
We have been waiting for our waters to bring you cool."
Putting fear beside him, he trusts in beauty blind,
He slips into the nectar, leaving his shredded clothes behind.
"With their tongues, they test, taste and judge all that is
mine.
They move in a series of caresses
That glide up and down my spine.
As they nibble
the fruit of my flesh, I feel no pain,
Only a magic that a name would stain.
With the first drop of my blood in their veins
Their faces are convulsed in mortal pains.
The fairest cries, 'We all have loved you Rael'."
Each empty snakelike body floats,
Silent sorrow in empty boats.
A sickly sourness fills the room,
The bitter harvest of a dying bloom.
Looking for motion I know I will not find,
I stroke the curls now turning pale, in which I'd lain entwined
"O Lamia, your flesh that remains I will take as my food"
It is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate fingers.
Looking behind me, the water turns icy blue,
The lights are dimmed and once again the stage is set for you.
Rael touches his face to confirm that he
is still alive. He writes Death off as an illusion, but notices
a thick musky scent hanging in the air. He moves to the corner
where the scent is stronger, discovering a crack in the rubble
through which it is entering. He tries to shift the stones and
eventually clears a hole large enough to crawl out of. The perfume
is even stronger on the other side and he sets off to find its
source, with a new-found energy.
He finally reaches a very ornate pink-water pool. It is lavishly
decorated with gold fittings. The walls around the pool are
covered with a maroon velvet up which honeysuckle is growing.
From out of the mist on the water comes a series of ripples.
Three snakelike creatures are swimming towards Rael. Each
reptilian creature has the diminutive head and breasts of a
beautiful woman. His horror gives way to infatuation as their
soft green eyes show their welcome. The Lamia invite him to
taste the sweet water and he is quick to enter the pool. As
soon as he swallows some liquid, a pale blue luminescence drips
off from his skin. The Lamia lick the liquid; very gently as
they begin, with each new touch, he feels the need to give more
and more.
They knead his flesh until his bones appear to melt, and
at a point at which he feels he cannot go beyond, they nibble
at his body. Taking in the first drops of his blood, their eyes
blacken and their bodies are shaken. Distraught with helpless
passion he watches as his lovers die. In a desperate attempt
to bring what is left of them into his being, he takes and eats
their bodies, and struggles to leave his lovers' nest.