Chapter 10: To a Sweet Escape to Another Day
"Alright, we got to think this through." Sam said scrubbing his face. "We just survived..."
"A harem of succubi and incubi." Dean said while driving away from the clinic.
"OK, how did you know?"
"What? That they were succubi and incubi or they are called a harem of succubi and incubi?" Dean asked.
He tapped Sam on his thigh and began caressing the inside of his leg. Sam got instantly hard. He looked up at his brother, with wide questioning eyes. Dean looked at him and then down at his hand. He quickly pulled his hand away, moving to his side.
"Are you... are you one of them?" Sam asked quietly.
Dean laughed. "Fuck no! Bobby called and told me to give you this."
Dean cuffed Sam behind his head and shoved his middle finger in his face.
"Thanks, Bobby?" Sam said staring at Dean's finger and rubbing the back of his head.
"We are dealing with a Babylonian fertility goddess, called Ick... uhm... tar?" -"Ishtar"- "...yeah her." Dean finished.
And it all fell into place.
The architect of the clinic, the statues, the symbols and even the name logo, it all made sense. Sam groaned at his stupidity. The building was a small modern copy of the Ishtar's Gate that was grand, with its blue walls and yellow tiles. The Lion was one of the golden tiled symbols to be found on the Gate of Ishtar. The eight pointed star with the rosette was her goddess symbol. The planet Venus was her star sign and that was who they were paying tribute to on the foam of their lattes.
Venus was later taken over by the Greeks for their goddess of love, Aphrodite, but originally it was for Ishtar. Even the number of employees made sense, two teams: one of women and the other of men, representing Ishtar's androgynous appeal. Each team had eight members and they in turn have eight charges. The number 'eight', in example to the eight pointed star, was her number symbol.
Even the clinic's name was a variation of her name Istahar and if he thought about it. It is not 'In Anna' it is Inanna, meaning in Sumerian 'Lady of Heaven' and Innini, a Mesopotamian virgin goddess, all reverting back to Ishtar.
"I should have seen this. I should have known!" Sam said sitting back holding his head.
"Come on, Sammy! That's why you got your big brother to look out for ya!" Dean teased, smiling. Sam returned the smile. He was happy to have his brother back and still fighting for another day to be with him.
Yep, this is my brother playing superhero. Never give up and never surrender.
Sam sat back thinking about the clinic. His mind was bringing back the last of their investigation. The staff was probably possessed by the goddess or was under her spell and they were invoking her power of fertility to get the women pregnant. In those days, they would build temples for women, and a few men, to lie in and service the temple worshipers. They would call these temple goddess's 'the whores of Ishtar' who serviced foreigners and temple worshipers, who were all usually men.
That would have explained the sexual attraction he had for Luke, not to mention, the Doctor at the hospital. Some religious text saw Ishtar as a succubus.
Still, it didn't quite fit. There was no explanation, to why she was killing the babies, she was making? But the world was going through an Apocalypse and they had wanted Sam to say 'yes' to Lucifer. They referred to him as their master, not Ishtar.
"OK, so how do we kill her? And why the hell would she make copies or shape-shifters of us, for Lucifer's sake?" Sam asked his head finally settling.
"Well... Bobby is looking into it, before I got caught. So, we're supposed to hear from him soon. But..." Dean said then shifted in his seat.
Dean looked at Sam with a pained look and grabbed his crotch, palming his bulge.
