by Lillian Grey
“The tears slowed the reaction; Lilith told me that, that is what she did with Javed. I will take this to Javed in July; if she can’t be with us, she should at least be with him,” she said, sealing the box.
“Can I come with you?” I asked.
“Of course.”
I started to cry again and for the second time in forty-eight hours, I passed out. I woke up in a soft bed in a sunlit room. I slowly sat up and looked around. I was facing a large glass wall where a rainbow was being cast onto a wall. I got out of the bed and looked out into a beautifully laid out backyard. In the center was a pool surrounded by lush grass and a rock path weaving in and around the space. On the far side of the house, I saw June staring out of a window onto the sunset. I looked down and realized my clothes were gone; they must have been covered in blood. A large black dress shirt lay on the bed and I put it on and walked out across the yard to the other side of the house.
"June, are you in here?"
"Yeah, I’m over here, behind the cabinets," she said, raising her hand lazily.
"Whose house is this?" I asked, looking around the large room.
"Yours, or at least Alik intended it to be."
"What do you mean?"
“He built it for you,” she said and I took another look and I had been here before, I had walked these rooms in my mind.
“This is my house, I desgined this. How did he get the plans.”
“Sam gave them to him, he then took them to a local structural engineer that made very minor changes and this is the result. Doesn’t it suit him? Modern and expensive, but you would never know. Everything could have been bought at Ikea," she said with a laugh. "The blacks, reds, whites, silvers, and glass. Classic Alik."
"It does suit him," I agreed, running my finger along a wall, looking out of the adjacent glass wall onto the pool that reflected the setting sun. This was the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for me.
"Has he never brought you here before?"
"No.”
"For a genius, he's really not that good at much."
"Very true," I said as I walked over to the space set out as a living room. It reminded me partly of Lilith’s penthouse. The furniture defined the spaces as I intended. I sat down on a sofa and closed my eyes. "What happened to me, June?"
"Despite the large amount of vampire blood in your body, you are still human and need to sleep and eat. Plus, that was a lot for you to take in. It might have been a bit too much; your brain needed time to relax," she said next to me on the sofa.
"You don’t look so great yourself," I pointed out, reaching over to wipe a small red drop from her eye.
"So what are we doing now?"
"We wait three days, go to Eden, and die, I guess."
"Don’t make it sound all fun now." We both laughed at that.
"Lucifer and Eden went off to do something and will be here on the morning before the third day."
"Why do monsters and magic exist? I mean, you never read a story like this where you have the weak human, the vampires, and gods fighting against a sub-god vampire who happens to be a homewrecker."
"The story of our lives… You know what’s the difference between a fairy tale and reality?"
"No, what?"
“That by the happily ever after, everything has to make sense in a fairytale. Reality on the other hand, is different; even if there is the happily ever after, it plays by its own rules." June was right. For the last two days, I was trying to keep up with what I was not and it was taking its toll. My body ached and I realized that I hadn’t had a nice shower in a while. I walked back to the bedroom, stepping into the shower. The warm water on my skin relaxed me and loosened up my muscles that had become really tense. I walked over to the drawers and took out one of Alik’s shirts and put it on and went to eat. June was out in the pool just floating on a chair in the center. I knew she was thinking about Lilith. After all, she had centuries of memories with her. I had less than a year and I barely saw her, but Lilith was like another mother until the end. I hadn’t noticed, but I began to cry again into my dinner.
I had only been awake for a few hours, but I felt ready to sleep again. I walked back to the bedroom and laid down on the bed. My dreams were filled with images of monsters and fantasies too wild for the strangest of dark fairy tales. When I awoke, I opened my eyes and saw another pair looking back at me, which cause me to jump.
"Don’t do that, Alison. You nearly killed me!" I gasped, my breathing shallow and fast.
"I’m sorry."
"I suppose that you have heard by now?"
"Yeah, I have," she said, looking down. "June told Alisa and me the whole story."
"Is she here, too?"
"No, she left already. I'm leaving, too. I just wanted to see if you were okay for myself."
"Where are you going?”
"I don’t know; June told us both not to stay and that there was no point in us dying with you."
"She is right, you know?"
"Why do you have to die anyway; what if you survive?"
"We would need a miracle and since God will be there and his hopes aren’t too high either, I think I’m all fresh out," I said with a smile.
"Was that supposed to be a joke?"
"Did it not work?"
"Maybe it will be funny when you get back."
"Well, remember to laugh if I ever see you after today."
"It’s a promise. Don’t forget to bring Alik with you. If you don’t, I will steal him."
"I won’t let that happen."
"Then I will see you in two days," she said with a slight smile.
"I hope," I sighed.
Alison got up and I followed her to the door; she gave me a brief hug and then she was gone. She seemed so hopeful even if it was misplaced. I had already come to grips with dying after only nineteen years of life. I suddenly realized I was leaving behind my mom, my dad, Sam, and all of my friends. It didn’t seem to hurt either, as if I was always going to do this in some way.
The house wasn’t that big, but it was strange to actually walk around one of my homes and I was wondering where June had gone when I found her in the loft area in the garage.
"Good morning," she greeted when I walked into the garage area of the house.
"Do you mind if I have someone come over?" I asked.
"It’s your house."
"I.... I also want to tell her what’s going to happen to me, so my parents know. I could never tell them directly, but this way, they will know and it will be much easier to leave."
"I don’t really see the need for secrets anymore, why not?"
I found my phone basking in the sunlight on a coffee table and dialed Sam's number. She picked up and sounded a little tired but well. She agreed to come over here as soon as possible. I told her to pack for an overnight kind of thing and bring me some clothes. As soon as she got here, she immediately picked up on the sad atmosphere despite my best attempts to hide it.
"Hey, Sam," I said as I opened the door.
"What's wrong?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"You were never a good actor or this falsely cheery."
"Good point. Well, come in. It’s a long story and you’re the only one I can tell it to."
We sat down in the living room and as I went on, the look on Sam's face grew more and more shocked. I had to admit, at some points, it was really amusing to see her reactions. She herself even laughed out loud at some parts, saying "I knew he wasn’t a normal boy; you never were one for normal boys." But then I got to the end and horror passed over her face and the objections started to fly.
"Why do you have to go and let Aaliyah kill you all like this?" she asked angrily.
"She will find me anyway; I could already be dead, Sam, but she wants to do it at a specific time."
"Is she really that strong?"
June appeared next to her then. "Come with me outside," she said. We walked outside and stood by the pool. She got into a stance an
d drew her sword so fast I doubt Sam even saw her move. "Okay... I don’t get it," Sam stated, looking lost. A moment later, there was a large gust of wind, which created small ripples across the surface of the pool. "How..."
"I created a vacuum by removing all the air over the pool with the force of the draw."
"But you never moved..."
"You just couldn’t follow my movements," she pointed out next to Sam. "Now, imagine that if you couldn’t see me move, and I can’t see Aaliyah move at times, how strong do you think she is? Imagine that on the scale of this pool, I can create that small ripple with the flick of my wrist; Aaliyah can do this with the ocean to create a full sized tsunami. In the time it would take you to blink, she could have killed you thousands of times. There is no longer any place on earth that could keep her locked out or in. If you can imagine that, you have just begun to grasp the full scale of Aaliyah's powers. If that's not enough think of it this way, she scares GOD himself."
"Vanessa, you didn’t do her justice in your description,” Sam said, much more worried.
"I don’t like the home wrecker," I stated, sitting on the deck. "I’m not going to make her sound better than what she really is, a spiteful old woman."
"Alik will come back to you, Nessa, I know that. There is no way he can look at anyone else like he does you."
"I don’t know."
"You’re not worried about the end of the world as we know it or your own death right now, are you?"
"Not really to be honest."
"Wow, you’re really more jealous than anything, aren’t you?"
"Jealous of what?"
"Aaliyah and all the other female vampire."
"No," I said blushing for some reason.
"Then why is Aaliyah now the home wrecker?"
"I don’t know..."
"She's right, you know?" said June sitting next to us. "Although it’s misplaced, Alik couldn’t love anyone like he loves you."
"But he could still love someone else."
"He won’t love someone else," Sam said.
"Then why isn’t he here with me now?" I asked, wrapping my arms around my knees.
"Well, with how you described it, it sounds like he’s protecting you."
"How do you figure that one out?"
"Well, Aaliyah, Lucifer, and Eden’s powers are things that he doesn’t understand. It’s ancient powerful magic that he can’t control and can also kill. How can he be around you and not know how to control that power? I don’t want to see him if he lost you that way," said June.
"I was thinking the same thing, Nessa,” Sam agreed.
Sam tried to keep my spirits up for the rest of the day, but her mood wasn’t that great thanks to my impending doom. She insisted on planning our fall classes and playing with my hair, which also was a mess. I didn’t really see the point anymore. We ended the day with a Shirley Temple movie and a few pints of ice cream that we found in the freezer. By the end of the movie, Sam and I were crying and it felt good to be sad about something other than my problems. We fell asleep on the sofa, leaning against each other and woke up with the sun high in the sky. I slowly opened my eyes and heard someone behind us.
“You’re finally awake,” Eden said as he had lunch with Lucifer, which I found odd that they ate.
“What time is it?” I asked, yawning.
“A little after noon,” Lucifer informed.
“Who are you talking to, Nessa?” Sam asked, rubbing her eyes and looking over to see Lucifer and Eden. “Who are they?”
“Lucifer, formally known as the Devil,” Lucifer said, raising his hand while sipping noodles.
“Eden, formerly known as God,” mimicked Eden.
“Wait,” said Sam, seeming much more alert. “I thought God’s name was Yahweh.”
“Wow, you’re the first to actually listen to the Jewish in a long while. Well, outside of tax season anyway. It’s The Garden of Eden, not The Garden of Yahweh. There is no flow in that at all.”
“Flow?”
“You have just met God and the Devil, and you question me about the human interpretation of my name?”
“Oh well… Nice to meet you,” Sam said, slightly embarrassed, but she seemed to want to know more.
“Why don’t humans react the way they used to when they heard our names?” Lucifer questioned, looking at Eden.
“You never intended for them to fear us.” Said Lucifer.
“I know, but I did enjoy it.”
The formal introductions were marred with the grim realization that I had to leave soon and never come back. The atmosphere in the room changed to one of business with Sam questioning Lucifer and Eden about what we were about to do. Like me, Eden and Lucifer seemed to agree that we were not coming back, but they had not given up.
“Sam, look, we will most likely die. Aaliyah is unbelievably strong, but not infallible. Neither of us want to die, but what’s wrong with understanding that fact?” Eden pointed out.
“It’s time we go. The garden will be in bloom soon, followed by the tree,” Lucifer stated.
Sam turned to me, not a tear in her eye. “I will give you a call tomorrow.”
“Sam…”
“If you don’t answer, I won’t forgive you.”
“That’s understandable.” I tried to smile.
“Give me a hug,” Sam tried to say calmly, but her voice cracked.
“Wish me luck.”
“Good luck.” Eden, Lucifer, and June were standing together already and I walked over to join them. “How are you getting to The Garden of Eden?” Sam asked Eden.
“Like this,” Eden said, placing a hand on my shoulder and that cool feeling filled me again and everything went black.
Vanessa Stanton
Chapter 46.0
The same sensation of being slowly covered in cool water washed over me as Eden moved us; I felt my legs moving, but all I knew was a pure white light that covered everything. It felt like an eternity passed before I blinked. I was plunged into darkness and dropped from wherever I was. I fell for what felt like hours, unable to open my eyes until I landed on a hard surface. Light burned through my closed eyelids and I instantly felt a burning heat. My feet shifted under me and I opened my eyes onto a sea of sand. For miles and miles, there was nothing else around. Waves of heat rolled off the massive dunes. I breathed in the hot air and my mouth felt extremely dry and I coughed.
“Here,” June offered, handing me a bottle of water. For the first time, I noticed she was carrying a different sword. Its sheath was flat textured, white with a small black glossy rose embossed in the handle where the finger guard should have been.
“Thank you.” I drank sparingly; I knew it wouldn’t last long and had no idea how long we would be here. “I thought you used a different sword.”
“I do. This is Alik’s.” She spun it around and with her thumb, flicked the blade practically out of the sheath. There was no reflection of the sun. The blade was a smooth black with thin diamond shaped lines crisscrossed in the surface of the blade. It was hard to look at as my vision started to blur everything around it, becoming more focused as if it drew in any light reflected off of it. “It’s a very strong carbon steel, nearly impossible to break. The edge is thinner than a strand of human hair; in Alik’s hands, it would cut through anything.”
“Wow, it’s beautiful.”
“Would you like me to give it to him?” Aaliyah’s voice rang from behind us. I turned quickly and saw her wrapped around Lucifer like a lover. My heart skipped a beat and I took a step back involuntarily. “Are you not happy to see me?” she asked, pouting sadly.
“Where is Alik?” I demanded, trying to keep the fear in my voice to a minimum and the anger at its max.
“He does not need to be here for this, I merely wished to greet you at the gates.” I felt the rush of air and the sand shift as June moved. I had grown used to vampire fighting like this, but I lost track of her for an instant. She appeared at Lucifer’s side, the blade came d
own millimeters from Lucifer’s back. “Too slow, little girl,” Aaliyah taunted, with a smile plastered on her face. June moved again ,even faster his time, twisting the blade and slicing toward Aaliyah’s head. Aaliyah disappeared in a back flip. This time, Eden joined the fight by attacking Aaliyah with a kick that she easily ducked around. They were nothing compared to Aaliyah. June’s sword left long sweeping shadows in the air, never making contact. Eden’s wrists and ankles seemed to be glowing white, his punches and kicks missing by the smallest margin, but with every missed attack came light that shimmered in the air. The airborne sand melted into glass. Aaliyah danced around them, not bothering to attack back, and just merely dodged them. June and Eden had gained positions on either side of Aaliyah when she moved. June’s sword stopped just at Eden’s neck and Eden’s punch the same distance from June’s nose. Aaliyah reappeared back around Lucifer, who hadn’t moved. “Why are you attacking me? The only ones here who have any right to be angry at me are these two,” she said, her arms around me now. “I stole this one’s love and I tried to steal his kingdom,” she said as she pointed to Lucifer. “Eden, if you have any problem with me, that is your own fault for being a prideful old fool.”
