The Porter

by Ashley Dotson

  It was a standard, clean living room.

  And a complete lie.

  “See what I mean?” Orrin asked. “Nothing is as it seems here. Do not trust your eyes. Use your other senses.”

  I felt her before she rounded the corner. Lillith walked out her dark hair perfectly framed her face. She wore a simple black t-shirt and jeans. Her feet were bare and her toenails painted red. She looked like someone’s mother.

  My mother.

  I shivered at the thought, unfortunate as it was. She walked toward us smiling, her arms outstretched. If anyone else had bared witness to this scene, they would have seen a normal, yet beautiful mother, waiting for a hug from her teenage daughter. It was easy to see why so many humans and daemons alike had fallen prey to her charms. Her skin, her smile, her body, every curve and movement was perfection personified. We looked so much alike, it scared me sometimes, yet I didn’t possess that air of wicked magnificence- that I knew of, anyway.

  Orrin moved in front of me when she grew too near. He was taller than her, looking down his nose at her.

  She sighed and smiled, “I killed you once, boy. Do I need to do so again?”

  Orrin stood saying nothing. He peered over her head almost ignoring her presence, but I knew he was on his guard. He was trying not to engage her, to remain as detached from the web she had spun around us. None of it was real. It was obviously easier for Orrin to see through it.

  Lillith tried to talk over his shoulder, “Layla, I’m so happy you’ve come to see me! Finally, I thought I’d never see you again. Let me have a look at you.”

  She brought her hands to Orrin’s shoulders. Her touch caused his skin to smolder, but he made no sound beyond an intake of breath. And still he did not move.

  “Layla,” Orrin spoke my name harshly, “We are going to walk around this place and I want you to feel for Daisy. You are the Beacon- a walking pillar of hope and light. If anyone can find her, you can.”

  He still did not speak to Lillith directly. “Do not speak to anyone or anything here, but me.”

  “Okay,” I understood. I wasn’t supposed to attack Lillith. That would make her more powerful. “Can I defend myself?”

  “And why would you need to do that?” Lillith almost laughed. She began to sound exasperated. I wondered how long she would keep up the act. She wasn’t exactly known for her long fuse. “No one here is going to hurt you. You know I only want what’s best for you. Don’t you? Layla?”

  Orrin was still holding my hand. Without reaching out to Lillith, he walked past her. He pulled me behind him and I tried to adopt some of his thick skin and courage.

  I can do this. With him beside me, I can do this.

  Lillith followed behind us, but made no move to hurt either of us. I continued to watch her out of the corner of my eye. I had no idea how to use my Beacon skills to hone in on Daisy.

  “Can you sense her?” Orrin asked.

  Lillith was inches from his cheek, “Sense who, you stupid boy? It’s just the three of us here.” She trailed her fingernails lightly over his face from his temple to his chin, leaving a trail of blood.

  “Don’t touch him,” I seethed.

  “Layla,” Orrin snapped, “Look at me.”

  She laughed, that evil cackle, her eyes glowing a little brighter, “Mmmm, that tastes good.” She pressed her fingers tasting the blood on her fingers, daring me to make a move, “Have some?” She asked, like she was offering me tea.

  “You’re not healing,” I whispered looking at his face.

  “I will. That’s not important. Daisy! Can you sense her anywhere?”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “I’ll be right back, you two,” Lillith walked out of her living room and down a hallway calling back to us, “I’m going to get us some snacks. Don’t…go anywhere.” She continued to chatter on, complaining about being lonely, and the dismal weather in Hell. It was a bad attempt at normality. I knew it was all a lie. The only thing that really upset me was when she hurt Orrin. She always knew how to get to me. By taking Daisy she ensured that both of us would come to her.

  Just like last time.

  I wouldn’t let it happen again like that night at the beach. She threatened my best friend, my father, and then Orrin. I cared about them. Even though I came to Hell for Orrin, I didn’t have feelings for Daisy- not like he did.

  I don’t care if she makes it out. Let’s stay.

  I pushed my daemon back into place, shackled within me.

  Focus! Help me! I spoke the words to myself, hoping that we could join forces for a while instead of working against one another, like we so often did.

  I closed my eyes, reaching out, with the same purpose and prayer I had used when Mr. Reese was hurt. I didn’t know if those angelic prayers worked in Hell but I would try. For Orrin. I could feel that familiar heat thrum through me. I brought my wings out from my sides. My movements felt guided, just like they had been before.

  “I can hear her!” I shouted a bit too loudly.

  “Here?” He looked around frantic for the first time, “Where? Is she hurt?”

  “I can hear her heart beating. I can hear her breathing. Like she’s asleep maybe? I don’t know.”

  “How do we get to her?” He demanded.

  “Well, I know,” Came an answer from behind us, “But you two are being so rude.” Lillith carried in a tray with three glasses, a pitcher of what looked like lemonade, and a plate of finger sandwiches.

  “I’m sure we can talk about your little human- eventually.” She turned to me smiling, “But right now I want to hear all about my little darling girl. Now sit!”

  The couch flew forward hitting us in the back of the legs. We were powerless to do anything but sit down.

  I looked at Orrin scared for the first time, “I can’t move.”

  “Me neither,” He braced against the unseen force binding us both, “But it won’t last forever.”

  “You can’t ignore me forever,” Lillith continued. “Why she ever picked you, I’ll never know. Layla, we really are going to have to work on your taste in men in the future. The son of Orias?Really? Could you have picked anyone more heinous?”

  I said nothing. I was in Hell, powerless, and at the mercy of one of the most evil daemons in existence.

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “Wait it out.” Orrin said.

  Lillith laughed again, “If you wait much longer she’ll be dead.” She touched her fingers to her lips like she just revealed a secret, “Oops!”

  Orrin’s eyes glowed so blue I thought sparks might fly out. He was close to losing it. This was not a battle for him to fight. He had tried to fight my battle once before and ended up getting himself killed. Orias was right- when the time came, it would be my fight. I had already lost Orrin once when he came between Lillith and me. I had the power to protect him and didn’t even know it. I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

  “Do you trust me,” I whispered.

  “Layla, you don’t know her like I do,” Orrin warned.

  “It’s between me andher. You can’t protect me from her, you never could. But I can protect you. I didn’t last time because I didn’t know how. Trust me now.”

  He nodded.

  “Are you two done now?” Lillith asked bored, “I don’t understand why you always think I want to hurt you, Layla. I only want the two of us to be together.”

  I met her eyes for the first time. They were the color of blood- the lives of so many tortured souls that fell victim to her treachery and wiles throughout the millennia.

  I need your help now!

  It was a prayer to the Lord, a plea for my real mother, a deal with my own daemon. I hoped they were all with me at that moment.

  “What is best for me right now is to get out of here. And I can’t do that until you give me Daisy.”

  She took a bite out of one of the sandwiches, “Why do you want her? I did you a favor, if you think about it. Now you have Orrin back and t
hat little human is out of your way. You should just let me have her.”

  “You will give me Daisy and then the three of us will leave your Hellhole I won’t be back.”

  Lillith pouted “But I have been looking forward to your visit. Why would you want to leave so soon?”

  Her eyes bored into mine ensnaring me. The red of her irises began to move like pools of molten fire, pulling me into them, “You don’t really want to go anywhere,” She crooned. I was trapped and she knew it. “You’re mine.”

  My body ignited from within. I gasped with the wicked pleasure of it. I hadn’t felt that alive in months. My daemon roared within me, its own fire melding with Lillith’s, the two fires battling each other and only taking me further and further into the flames.

  She was a poison I couldn’t stop drinking.

  I stood up, my whole body ignited like a candle. I was engulfed in flames.

  This is what I was meant for. This is why I was made.

  “You’re so beautiful like this,” Lillith stood touching my face. “My little girl.All grown up.” I shuddered repulsed, but leaned in to her touch knowing how good it would feel.

  I turned back to Orrin. He sat on Lillith’s couch. It began to decay like the rest of the room she had created. It cracked and melted, revealing a black ugliness. Everything in the room looked putrid.

  “Layla, look at me!” Orrin yelled, “Don’t do this.”

  “Do what? Fulfill her destiny?” She cackled again her face becoming stretched and pale. Her illusion was unwinding quickly and she didn’t seem to care. “She is the most powerful creature eve created.”

  “Layla, Layla!” Orrin refused to acknowledge Lillith. His words were only for me. He began to pull free of his invisible bindings.

  My body was the only light in the room now. The world had faded to black and I was power. I could feel it coursing through me. Here, with Lillith, in Hell, I could be anything. I could be everything. And I could have any one I wanted.

  Lillith was right. I was the most powerful being ever created, and I knew it.

  I closed my eyes, extended my wings, and felt the fire take them too.

  I basked in my own awesomeness.

  And then I heard that faint heartbeat again.

  Lillith stood near me watching. Orrin was yelling, but I no longer heard anything over the roar of my own fire.

  There it is again.

  The quiet steady heartbeat again reminding me why I traveled to Hell in the first place.

  Daisy.

  I could save her. Should I?

  I looked at Lillith, so smug.

  I’m giving her exactly what she wants.

  “No,” I said sobering quickly, trying to get a handle on myself.

  “What is it, my love?” Lillith crooned.

  I didn’t respond. I walked, following the sound of the heartbeat.

  “Layla?” Lillith followed behind, but I ignored her. “Layla, I’m talking to you.”

  I turned to her and stood tall. “You’re right, mother” I spat. “I am powerful- more powerful than you. But I am not yours to command.”

  Lillith’s glamour was fading. Her hair became broken, her skin ashy and sunken, and her body withered. “But I am your mother.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  I touched the walls and they became that same black glass that made up the outside of Lillith’s lair. I looked back to Orrin and he was standing trying to free himself from the remaining bonds Lillith had around him.

  “Layla,” Lillith tried again, “Layla don’t.”

  I looked into the glass now unafraid. I could see my own reflection, surrounded by fire. I was beautiful, but it wasn’t my own image that I was looking for. I searched within the glass, peering hard into the hazy reflection. I could hear her, I could feel her near, and then I could finally see her.

  It was Daisy.

  I gasped. She appeared fixed in the glass only a few feet from me. She was suspended, her hair floating as if she was underwater in a tank at an aquarium. She still wore her bathing suit and cut-offs from her time at the Springs. She was awake and scared but too weak and unable to move.

  “I see her.” I yelled at Orrin.

  Orrin had warned me about touching the glass. It was poisonous to most, but I had to risk it. I somehow knew if I could just get Daisy out, everything would be okay.

  I punched the glass, but it was like hitting a solid wall. Shards bit into my skin traveling further into me, burrowing upward through my hands. The glass grew back instantly, spiking outward where I had made contact. I hit it again and again. But it only grew stronger and my hand bloodier.

  “You may be stronger, but not smarter.” Lillith said trying to pull my eyes away from Daisy, “Look at me, Layla.”

  No!

  My fire grew, burning her when she attempted to touch me. We both gasped. Lillith stared as her fingers blistered. I gazed at her hand, my shocked expression mirroring hers.

  “What’s happening, Layla?” Orrin demanded. He did not like being so far away from me, he strained against Lillith’s hold. I knew he would be free soon.

  “Trust me,” I told him again.

  I returned my attention to the glass containing Daisy. I thought of Orrin’s warning. The glass, it’s not real. You only see what it wants you to see. It’s another creature like the darkness that surrounded us. Don’t give it any more attention, you’ll only make it stronger.

  The glass, it’s not real.

  Not real? Then what was I just hitting?

  I looked at Daisy. She was staring at me now, and then at Orrin- or Heath, actually for help. She was so helpless and terrified.

  “It’s not real,” I whispered. This time instead of hitting the glass, I looked at Daisy’s face and imagined trying to touch her. My hand slid through the surface making contact with her skin. I brought the fire back within me, controlling it, banking it should I need it again, so I wouldn’t burn her. I reached to grab her other shoulder instead of looking at the glass surrounding her.

  I worked.

  I pulled her toward me, and just like that she was freed. She was soaking wet and deadly cold but breathing, like a flower wilted from heavy rain.

  “Now you’ve done it.” Lillith said. She waved both her hands in the air knocking the roof off her so-called house. “You’ve forced my hand as always, Layla.” Vagabonds descended from up high, scaling the walls, slithering and skittering nearer.

  I knew they wanted my blood. I knew she wouldn’t let them kill me, but I couldn’t say the same for Orrin and Daisy. Acting on instinct, I raised my arm in the air and Daisy’s body ascended hovering the air and safe from the gathering hoard. Orrin made a similar movement, creating a jagged hole right above her limp body and she was pulled through.

  I took a step trying to get to Orrin. Lillith went to step in front of me. Instead of brushing her aside or fighting her advance I simply walked through her arm. She screamed throwing her own weak ball of fire, barely burning the skin on my back.

  “Fight back!” She called at both of us. “Fight me!”

  Orrin grabbed hold of me, and my wings beat the air furiously. I hugged him close, “I only fight for you.”

  My last view of Hell was those same pale claws that had plagued my dreams reaching up at us in vain. This time they couldn’t touch me. I left them behind.

  After that we were falling again, up this time. I don’t remember the darkness during that trip, only waking up to see my father and real mother both standing over me.

  Chapter 25

  Broken Judgment

  The first thing I could feel was the warm daylight hitting my eyelids, the lights shining through them like a tenacious alarm clock bent on my awakening. I blinked, the white light dimming after a few moments and then two figures came into view. They were nothing but black shadows, their words muffled, the voices becoming more distinct as the seconds passed. I was waking up from the worst dream ever, and they were standing over me, looking at me e
xpectantly, waiting for me to make a move when all I could do was blink and breathe.

  One of them touched my face and I flinched. The hand was cool on my face, it was like a salve for my ravaged senses and radiated through my head, clearing the fog from my eyes, my ears, and my mind. I tried to sit up but the world spun. I grabbed my head to steady myself.

  “Don’t try to get up just yet.” My dad warned.

  Dad?

  Dad!

  “Dad? You’re here! Why are you here? What if you get into trouble for this? What if something happens...”

  “Shhh,” He moved to sit beside me, “Everything’s alright. Your mother brought me. She said the judgment has been broken.”

  “What does that even mean?” I wondered. Why would my judgment be broken? Had I done something to make amends for my past behavior?

  “Layla, do you remember anything?” My mother’s sweet high-pitched voice drew my attention. “Can you remember anything about what’s happened to you recently?”

  I had no clue what they were talking about, and my face gave it away. They frowned and shared a look between themselves. Parents could be so irritating sometimes. I loved it.

  “What’s the last thing you remember, Layla?” My dad asked me.

  I reached back recalling school that day, but nothing came.

  Heath?

  Ava?

  The Springs!

  “Daisy!” I gasped. Like an over-cluttered closet, the pent-up memories came falling out, mixing and breaking onto one another. My heart caught in my throat, “Orrin.”

  I tried to stand again, only to be pushed down onto the bed. “You’re not going anywhere yet.”

  “Seriously, Dad?” I could overpower him easily, but we both knew I wouldn’t.

  “I need to see him.”

  My parents shared another one of those looks. If anyone saw them do that, they would have thought these two had spent a lifetime perfecting their silent communication. In reality they hadn’t spent more than minutes together in almost eighteen years.