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In the last two books in the Meridian Chronicles series, I focus more and more on demons. Two demons take center stage in Fairy Nymphs & the Demon Court and Keepers & the Soul Key.
Lahash and Astaroth are those two demons, who historically were lovers. (Fiction, in my book)
Lahash the Demon
Lahash is a demon, who by most accounts, is a trickster of sorts.
According to Paranormalty.com, “Lahash is a powerful angel. Along with Zakun, he led 184 myriads of spirits in their attempt to intercept the prayers of Moses before they reached God. As punishment, they were chained up with fire and given 70 lashes with a whip of fire. They were banished from Heaven by Samuel.”
(Faber. L. 2010. The Book of Angels. London. Arcturus Publishing Ltd.)
Well, that sounded intriguing for my books. He was basically a fallen angel, according to folklore. He seemed to me as trickster more less, and this sparked the idea to have Lahash in my books, as a selfish, arrogant demon, but not fallen. In my books, he is not a fallen angel, but he was born a demon. He does rule many legions on Earth.
Now the prevailing theory is that demons, satan, or whatever the flavor of the week is, that they influence mankind in all our evil ways, must we repent and be saved.
Lahash Gets His Power on Earth
I chose another way. Instead, it is humans of free will commit their acts, and it is merely demons absorb their energy from the downtrodden humans on Earth.
So Lahash, he is a renegade. He does accomplish most of the tasks the dark one sets out for him to do. However, he always has to do things on his terms.
He only sits in with politicians, because he believes they are the superior humans who are evil, that will feed his appetite. Lahash doesn’t quite think he should have to lower himself to draw energy from any other lower corrupt human form.
And he does have his past and current affairs or love interests. His introduction in Black Widow Curse & The Coven appears with his conversation in the club in Salem. He meets Talon, a former spirit guide, cast out as a fallen on Earth.
His interest in what the guides were doing with the fairies was only part. Lahash wanted to know why a fallen would help spirit guides.
Lahash Tells Talon
Lahash tells Talon the dark one sent him to find out why he was helping the spirit guides and why the fairies would be involved. The rumor in the book is that the fairies who have, for a long time, remained neutral in helping lost souls pass over, were now seemingly changing their position.
If that be the case, then the agreement the dark one has with Warrick, the spirit guide’s leader, keeping more lost souls on Earth to keep the balance of good and evil in check would no longer be.
Then that would mean the dark one would become very upset with Warrick, who secretly is a demon.
Readers find this out toward the end of that book, and for the rest of the series, Warrick plots ways to stay in power in Etheria.
Astaroth the Demoness
Lahash has a distant past with another demoness, known as Astaroth. Typically Astaroth is thought to be a male demon. However, in my book, Astaroth is a demoness and the only demoness at court. She has the power to infiltrate human dreams, and she can impersonate anyone she chooses. In Fairy Nymphs & the Demon Court, she makes an appearance, but she takes a good part of the stage in Keepers & the Soul Key. She has found a new fascination with one of the important characters.
Excerpt from Keepers & The Soul Key
Lahash stormed away headed straight for Astaroth’s chambers, leaving a seething Warrick behind, which in turn took off in the opposite direction. As Lahash stomped away, he looked over his shoulder as if he were anticipating Warrick to be on his heels. A quick turn around to see the empty hall was all his eyes could see.
Lahash hesitantly turned back to continue his high hatted march, straight away right into Astaroth’s chambers, where the demoness herself sat in solitude mapping out her own plan, one that ended as a result of Aiden, back in the dark realm.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be caring for your new lust?” Astaroth peered up from her large table, filled with strange bottles and relics of the past, things that she dearly loved to collect from prior souls who had the unfortunate experience of knowing her. Maintaining her posture, she hovered over her table, looking into a large ball, it was a crystal ball.
Lahash moved to the table, with his eyes studying the ball that she hovered over. “What is this?”
“It isn’t just fairies who have crystal balls, so to speak.” Astaroth stood up in a pompous nature, taking pleasure in knowing and having something that Lahash was unaware of.
“Crystal ball? Why would you need a crystal ball?” he snorted.
“It isn’t just a crystal ball fool. Look here.” Astaroth pointed to the top of the crystal, right in the center where Lahash reluctantly leaned over the table to get a better look. “There, do you see it? You should see a hovering inverted pentagram.”
Lahash pulled away from the ball and looked at Astaroth with suspicious eyes. “So what a pentagram. What purpose does that serve you?”
Quickly Astaroth pushed Lahash aside and picked the ball up from the gold cradle. She held the ball with both her hands and moved his over a large cradle decorated as a lizard’s claw with thick razor nails.
Lahash crossed his arms across his chest and turned his body away, uninterested in what Astaroth was doing. He held a smile as he stared at the artwork displayed on the large stone wall directly across from the table. He pointed to the artwork on the wall and said, “Is that...is that you?”
Astaroth did not pay any mind to what Lahash was looking at. Instead, she said, “Look here, and watch.” Astaroth released her grasp on the crystal ball, and with her release and the ball did not move or fall, it safely and quietly hovered for a few moments. Lahash turned to see, and his eyes widened as he pulled his head back. He brought himself closer to the large cradle, and as he took his steps closer, the ball became larger. The circumference of the ball now the size of the cradle, sat comfortably within its grasp. The small inverted pentagram that hovered within the ball had risen upward. Lahash reached toward the ball to touch it when Astaroth stopped him.
“No, not yet.” Astaroth held Lahash’s hand within her grasp.
“What is this some kind of portal? We don’t need a special portal; we can go wherever we want whenever we want.” Lahash’s tone sounded doubtful to Astaroth, who stood with smugness.
“Can we now? We can portal about anywhere we want. Are you sure about that?”
Lahash dropped his hand and remained dismissive. “Sure, yes. I know we can’t go to the fairy realm, and the only reason Etheria has a portal is because of Warrick’s disguise. Soon if there is an Etheria left, that will be gone.”
“Lahash, how do you think I infiltrate dreams? By going to Earth and stand at a human’s bed? This portal reads a human’s memories of dreams. We can read a human’s memories when we lock our eyes with theirs. But with this, this ball transports me to a human’s subconscious mind, where all the repressed memories and dreams live. Where true psychological warfare takes place. This is where I go when I infiltrate the dreams, the mind, and to Aiden.”
Lahash jerked his arm away from Astaroth. “Why have you not shared this with the others?”
“Oh please, all demons have their own gifts. Why should I share it with all of you? Most of you treat me as though I am a nuisance. All a bunch of male demons; I feel outnumbered here as the only demoness at court. When you all, especially Moloch, treat me as though I have influence in the plan, then I will share. Count yourself lucky. I shared a glimpse at what this creation is capable of.”
Astaroth walked away and toward the painting on the wall that Lahash had previously referenced. She stood and stared at the image in the painting that was herself. “Yes, that is me. A long time ago.”
Within the painting was Astaroth half-clothed, spread across a large bed made of dark wood, with red drapes hanging from the wooden canopy used for enclosing the bed.
” Europe, the late 1700s. This painting is a representation of a man’s dreams. At one time, a human man came to know me through his dreams. He fantasized about blonde women with pale skin and dark eyes. At night, his dreams would take him to whore houses, from times passed when he would have his indulgences with the women in white wigs. Such a travesty. I did so enjoy him very much.”
Lahash watched Astaroth closely. “What happened to him, and how do you mean travesty? Your story sounds very much the truth of who you are.”
“I killed him, just like the rest; to him, it was a travesty,” Astaroth said with a grin.
“Why? How did you kill him?” Lahash briskly walked over to her and joined her in her gaze at the large painting of herself.
“It all works the same, or it did in those days. I infiltrated his dreams increasingly, kept him up with his nightmares. After so many weeks without rest, others began to believe he had lost his mind. He slit his own throat. His goodbye letter read that he couldn’t sleep, and no amount of liquor would help him sleep. He believed it was God punishing him for his lustful ways.” Astaroth snickered.
“Why? Why would you want him dead if you enjoyed him so much?”
“I enjoyed him so much for the very reason I hate men like him. They always want what they can’t have.”
“Astaroth, if you feel so strongly about it, why don’t you join the nymphs. They give humankind problems, deliver their karma. Sounds like you would fit in well with them.” Lahash hissed and walked away.
Astaroth was incredulous. “How dare you! I would never lower myself to join with them. They aren’t all about lust. They are about love as well. They can choose to deliver good and bad karma. I do not believe the scum on Earth deserves good karma.”
Lahash stopped, and he dropped his long arms down by his side, where they were hidden by the overture of his long, leather jacket. “It didn’t sound like your favorite wanted what he couldn’t have. It sounded like he got what he wanted to have. You do not make any sense.” Lahash had grown bored with the conversation and began to leave her chambers. “It sounds like you are projecting on me, you want what you can’t have.”
As Lahash was about to open the door, he heard a blood-curdling shrill that came from Astaroth, and when he turned to look at her, she was headed right for him. She changed into her real form of razor-sharp teeth and nails to match. A gruesome image of a loathsome and vile creature was headed straight toward Lahash, who nonchalantly stepped out of the raging demoness’s path.
He appeared in a flash on the other side of the room, standing with his arms crossed. “Now Astaroth, you shouldn’t allow your temper to get the best of you.” Lahash waved his long index finger in the air as he spoke.
Once again, fired up and angry, she headed right for Lahash, and this time she was determined to get a hold of the pompous demon that she shared a past with. She attained a grasp on Lahash’s neck with one hand, and she reared back the other hand to slash him with her razor-sharp claws.
Just as she brought her large claw-like hand down for a scathing blow, Lahash vanished and reappeared by the door.
“Astaroth, you know this routine. We did it so many times during our dem-rotica escapades. How many times did you win those matches?” Lahash stood with his shoulder, leaned up against the door, and examined his fingers as though he was unphased by Astaroth’s temper tantrum.
Out of breath and full of rage, Astaroth’s words were driven by heavy gasps. “I hate you.” She leaned over, holding herself as her body moved up and down to change back into her most deceitful persona. She quickly shifted back to the light-skinned, straw-colored hair version of how Aiden remembered her.
“Now Astaroth, I thought we were finally getting along. Which was the reason for my visit. Why did you help me with Echo? What is in it for you?”
“I helped you, because in the end, if you prove the others wrong and you are not under Echo’s spell, you will take her out. The nymphs will be short an element. The element of Earth. From there, we will get the sword, invade Etheria, and there will be no more spirit guides. No more Meridian. Then I will have my Aiden. His soul can’t move on, and he will be here with me. Then I will be genuinely happy. If you are what the others believe you are, well, the dark one will destroy you.”
Lahash removed himself from his relaxed posture, holding up the wall as it appeared and approached Astaroth, who had once again taken her crystal ball back down to the smaller form as she held it in her hands studying it with a grin.
“Astaroth, since Aiden is no longer a human, he doesn’t really sleep, you cannot infiltrate his dreams any longer. He is now with Meridian; you cannot have him back or here. All you and Moloch have managed to do is trap him in between dimensions.”
Astaroth’s face changed, her smile left, and she quickly snapped her eyes closed and let out a loud sigh, “Lahash, I do not need to infiltrate his dreams. I have infiltrated him with my own spell. He has no idea what is in for him upon my return to Earth.”
Lahash was now interested in what the demoness had to say, “What is going on? What is it about Aiden? You could have any other man on Earth, even a demon. What is it about him?”
Astaroth stood inches from Lahash’s face, “He is a pure soul and one that is hard to come by. He doesn’t want a woman for lust. He is humble and caring. I want his soul. I want to be of it. When I return to Earth, I will find him, and he will have no other choice but to come to me. I am Meridian, I am what he wants, what he dreams of. I am his dead mother and everything he will ever want.”
There she stood, long platinum hair, bright green eyes, and a soft, innocent smile. Lahash was momentarily taken back with Astaroth’s words and illusions.
He swiftly grabbed her wrist and held on tightly with venomous anger. “You do not bear the mark.” Lahash turned her wrist over and exposed a blank wrist devoid of the infinity mark that Meridian carried.
Astaroth jerked her wrist from his grasp and gritted her teeth. “I do not need that stupid mark. When Etheria is destroyed, Meridian is no longer, and none of this or that stupid mark will matter. Aiden will be the only thing that survived the destruction, and I will see to it that he stays with me. Now get out!” Astaroth pointed toward the door, hissed with rage her voice heavy with anger.
Lahash’s eyebrows raised and with a smirk, “Have it your way, but like Warrick, I believe in the end, you will be disappointed.”
Astaroth shouted out, “You are the only one with disillusions and your nymph!”
There she stood alone, hollering out at the vacated place where Lahash once stood, and she muttered to herself, “Echo will destroy you Lahash and your days of getting everything you want will end your darkened soul.”
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