Don’t get me wrong, I liked Lilith. I liked her a lot. Hell, she had made me. I was a shifty whore in a backwards establishment back in the day. I know what people would think, but I didn’t have a choice in the matter. If you didn’t have something to offer, then you didn’t last long back then. Lucian found me, took pity on me, and thankfully, didn’t eat me. He brought me home to Lilith and she took her time to fix me up, give me the power to use the body I was built with to lure in the men who had raped me over and over again. After a revenge spree, I felt confident. Head held high, I delighted in slicing off the heads of every male who ever laid their eyes on me. Lilith was over the moon with pride. But then the bloodshed became boring, the screams all sounded the same, and it didn’t boost me as much as it used to. So I turned on my sexual nature and built my own private entourage of men that followed me about, that loved me, and every single one of them would die for me.
Where were they now? Well, that was a few centuries ago. Mortals don’t tend to last that long. But oh my gosh, we had fun while it lasted. But after a while it all became monotonous, so I stopped using people, hoping to find the real thing. Someone who loved me for me, not for the body I held or my power over mankind. I wanted the real deal, the real man who would die for me as the human girl I portrayed. Was it wrong to want to be loved in that way? I just had hope one day someone would walk my path, hold out their hand, bestowing me with their heart and I would freely give mine. Like Lucian and Taylor, if good and evil could find happiness, then perhaps I could too.
“ELISHA!” A tiny scream pitched out over the darkness.
“Eli... what’s wrong?” His face was touched with the cool kiss of darkness as he entered the room. He’d been crying again. “Bad dream?” He nodded. “Okay, come on,” I said patting the seat beside me. “Tell me all about it.”
Eli wiped his nose on his sleeve and sat beside me. “It was the bad lady, she was hurting Mr. Fang.”
“Where, Eli?”
“In a scary place. He was screaming,” he said, looking up at me.
I pulled him in close, wrapped my arm around him, and held him tightly. “It’ll be okay, Eli. Gabriel has gone to find him.”
“It’s too late,” he cried. “The bubbles ate him!” He wailed. He was clearly distraught. The worrying thing was that Lawrence had said he was showing the potential of a Seer. The child had gone through so much in his life that it’d begun to awaken his true nature early. Seers usually didn't awaken until their sixteenth birthday, but Eli had awoken a good ten years early. Apparently, that was how he had seen her when Lucian disappeared. It was Eli that told him where she was. She’d used the poor kid to lure Lucian into a trap, playing on his naïve mind and capturing him in the process. Luckily Eli had the common sense to run in and tell us, otherwise he would have been taken, too. And I could only imagine what she’d do with a powerful miniature Seer like Eli.
“When did this happen, Eli?”
“I... I don’t know,” he continued to wail.
Lawrence walked in; the screams must have woken him. He sat beside the fire. “Hello, young man, what appears to be the problem?” he asked with a look of grave concern etched over his face.
Eli cried as I filled Lawrence in.
“Hmm...” he said, scratching his head. “These bubbles you saw, what colour were they?”
“Green.”
“Oh dear.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The green bubbles Eli has spoken of are acidic in nature.”
My jaw dropped. “What! How do you know?”
“Because I saw this pot of acid over a month ago, but I didn’t know what it meant until today.”
“What does it mean?” I asked, shuddering. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t? He was like a son to her. Surely, she wouldn’t.
“It means our beloved Lucian may have fallen to his death,” Lawrence said, his voice sombre.
“No!” I yelled. “That’s impossible. She would never do that.”
“The Lilith you knew, Elisha, has changed.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know. All I’ve been able to see is a darkness behind her, pushing her forward, directing her. There’s something or someone else in charge now.”
“Who?” I asked.
“God,” Nic said, walking in. “It has to be.”
“No, he’s been vacant for years. No-one’s seen him.”
“It must be, he has to be back. Lilith would never kill Lucian unless someone forced her hand.”
“Are you sure?” Nic asked.
“Yes, well... yes.” I thought, I hoped.
Eli cried. I kept him close, swept his wispy brown hair from his eyes, and kissed the top of his head. Tears dropped onto his hair as I found my face drained with the reality of the situation. Could Lucian really be gone? He had saved me, he had kept me safe all those years. We were family. He had always been a big brother to me, and now, well now he was gone. I couldn’t hold back, a gut-wrenching howl blasted from my vocal chords. The chandelier rattled, roses died in their vase as my nature took heat and killed the small blooms of life around me. Eli stopped crying suddenly, turned to look at my swollen face, lifted his finger to my temple, and said, “He’s okay now, Elisha, don’t cry... he’s okay.”
Chapter 10: Julian
How could she? Did she not remember what she meant to me? To us? She may have been their creator, but she had my heart. I couldn't engage in this war, I couldn't pick a side. How could I go against her? I still loved her. This isn’t who she is, who she was. What happened to her? When did she change so much? I understood that she’d always been evil. Seriously, we were all capable of it. We just chose to embrace our nature. I missed her. Was that possible? To miss the woman who was trying to have you killed? Could it be Cain? Was he pushing her buttons? Was he the one behind all of this? It would make sense, but then he didn't have the ball sack to stand up to her, let alone engage in a huge war against mankind. What was all that about? I knew she always hated her family, but she would never have taken it so far. Someone had something on her, but who, and why?
Slipping through the portal unseen was easy. Not many of them knew the back routes into Enoch, or out of it. Enoch was built as a place with gateways to all the planets, not just Earth. It would be simple getting back there, building my own army. All I needed was a little magic, a few thousand frozen corpses, and there you'd have it. An army of ice demons, ready to be led again. I’d take down her guards, that wasn't a problem. Even if they were now enhanced. But I couldn't take her down, I wouldn't do it. I needed the truth first. I needed to ask her face to face, why?
The first step was to find Magdalena, the first of her kind and the most powerful witch out there. She owed me a favour or two. Seriously, though, she owed me her life. If I hadn’t smuggled her out, she’d be dead and buried in a thousand different places by now. I hoped she'd taken my advice and headed over to Aesteriah. It was a planet quite like Earth; the same ecological system, just untouched by the human parasites that inhabit this place. Don’t get me wrong, humans had a right to live, but they had a knack of shitting on everything they touched. There were some rare exceptions, Taylor, for example. But then again, she wasn’t quite human after all.
Seriously, the place was overgrown. Those immature tadpoles had best stay clear of me. Then again, I think I’ll just avoid the ocean. Probably best. Last time I encountered one of the creatures, they had pulled me under. Freezing the ocean wasn’t the best idea, especially when I was in it at the time.
All around me the trees whispered through the violent breath of Aesteriah’s shrill winds. Arctic temperatures reigned over that part of the planet. That side of the world was set amidst its crisp winter blizzards, shrouding the sight before me with harsh hailstones the size of baseballs. It was a good job Lilith gave me a tough outer shell, else they would have ripped right through me. Was it wrong to miss her? My brow drooped as I felt her touch over my ice-cold skin. She would have en
joyed seeing this world with me, exploring something new. If only she had let her vengeance go, we could have explored the universe together, created a new home, just she and I. Perhaps our love wasn’t strong enough, her taste for revenge was stronger. I understood it, I did. I knew what he did to her. But that was precisely it; he did it, God, not them. It was her father who had banished her, not her family. From what I gathered, Eve had created the humans to keep her company, instead she saw them as her slaves. What happened to her to change her? Where was the Lilith I remembered? The love, the desire, the hopes and dreams? It was gone, she was gone, and something else had replaced her. Or, perhaps, someone else was pulling the strings. Cain? No, he wasn't clever enough. It had to be him, he had to be back. Seriously, God was home and ready to cause Hell on Earth.
How was I supposed to know which way to go? I couldn't see anything in front of me. There had to be a better way. Hmm... I smiled. It felt good when an idea sprung to mind. Raising my hands, I blasted out a shroud of ice above me, creating a shelter for as far as the eye could see. Perfect. Now when I walked, I walked under the cover of ice protecting me from the Siberian winter outside. I could see out and from what I saw, I had a long way to go. Dual mountains clambered up high before me; it looked a Hell of a long way up. The problem was, they weren’t average mountains. They were like those from my home planet. Mountains of ice, slippery buggers with a knack of throwing down icicles at you. Extremely dangerous and full of death-defying fun. I remembered my first date as a tiny adolescent with Vesta, the girl from the other cavern. We were both mortals, both Icemanes, and first met when I had slid down the mountain and fell on top of her. I was there with my gang, taunting and daring each other just as any mortal teen would. Then there she was, there I was after I slipped and launched into the air, landing on top of her. I could still remember her shocked face as I jumped up and held out my hand. She laughed, an innocent resonating sound that has forever stayed etched in my mind. That and her screams, the scream when one of Lilith’s mutations devoured her. In wasn’t my fault, I know that now. We had ventured into a field unknown, deep into a darkened cavern, past the realms of reality and the pain of non-existence. Because as we passed through that cavern, we entered a forgotten time, a pathway into Enoch. It was a place only just created by Lilith and Cain, an area of endless possibilities, dashed hopes, and unknown dreams. If only Lilith had found us sooner, Vesta could have been saved. Our first date ended in a tragedy. Lilith found me crying frozen tears over the body of my first young love. She promised me vengeance and enforced immortality onto my bones, strengthening my own true skills and enveloping my body with the ability to wield the icy nature of my own heart, blasting through life one frozen touch at a time.
The faint memories of Vesta's smile washed over my mind as I reached the top of the mountain. Before me, an endless array of bristling green trees, oceans of colour, sand dunes of vast beaches, and lava filled volcanos trumpeting their smoke signals lay. I’d forgotten how beautiful all of it was. It’d been a long time since I’d stepped foot onto this planet. I’d been exploring the depths of Enoch when I had come across the gateway. But knowing Cain, I didn’t want to entrust the beauty of this world with his endless need to savage, rape, and destroy. I’d seen what he’d done to Earth's humans, and it wasn’t what I wanted for any other race.
She had to be there, seriously, she must be. I just hoped the Darkwaters could hold off the army before everything I knew and loved was destroyed.
Chapter 11: Lucian
How was it possible to die a thousand deaths in one lifetime? Be an immortal in a pot of acid. There was a punch line in there somewhere, I was sure of it.
Fuck this shit. Melting skin and sloshy tissue. Burgh, I must look like a congealed mess. My body couldn't sustain in it for much longer. I needed blood by the bucket load and I couldn't see that happening anytime soon, can you? Shit. I'm talking to myself. That must be my perishable persona, it was dissolving into the abyss, and then what? I ended up a pool of piss on the floor, living my life as a cell incapable of dying. Damn, the world gets rosier. I couldn't hold off the pain for much longer. But to feel it... Euff, no thanks. There had to be a way out of the pot. I just couldn't reach it or swim up high enough to try. That'd require stamina, and that had disappeared hours ago.
Through the bubbling of Lilith’s cauldron, the familiar sound of a beatboxing moron filled my ears. No, it can't be. I wasn't that lucky.
"Yo mate, what ya doing in there?" The sound of laughter rippled through the air. I was saved! "Swim then. I ain't putting my hand in that shit."
I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, my bones no longer worked, and the flesh was clinging on for dear life.
"Luci, fucking hurry up. She may not be home right now, but I don't wanna be bumping into any of her henchmen." He yelled, pounding on the pot. The sound resonated through that thick gloopy acid as the remainder of my last supper dissolved around me.
Bubbles stewed as Joey yelped, grunting a barrel load of swear words. Above me, the fluid swished and splashed. Fuming words echoed through the air as Joey's molten hand reached in and pulled me out.
My liquefied bones and skin slopped onto the floor beside a raging Joey Luchazey. "Shit, mate, she's done a number on you this time. Come on, let's get you back to the pissy angel before he beats down Enoch to pull your ass out." He paused. "I take it your girl weren't in there with you?" He said, eyeing my gooey corpse over. "I shall take it, by your silence, that that's a no."
My old mate, Joey Luchazey, picked up my withering bones, threw my melted body over his shoulder, and hot tailed us out of there, across the sand dunes, and into the passageway, back to life as it was on Earth.
Chapter 12: Joey
Stepping through the passage was a walk in the park. I’d done that shit countless times. But... not while hauling the heavy ass of ol’ Luci.
“Shit, mate,” I said, dropping Lucian's fleshy bones into a pile on the floor. “You’re fucking heavy.” Lucian squirmed in his puddle. “When your voice comes back, me and you are gonna have words, mate. Love ain’t worth shit if it does this to you.”
“Love is in the eye of the beholder,” Gabriel said as he landed beside the pile of ol’ Luci on the floor.
“Fuck, man, you made me jump.” He bloody did, too. My bones were quaking in their boots. Pissy angel, I’d done what he wanted, he had best kept his end of the bargain up.
Gabriel frowned. “Where is Eve?” he said, looking over Lucian's withered body.
“Nowhere to be seen, mate. There was only Luci in the pot of acidic shit.”
“Acid! She wouldn’t have?”
“What? Like pushed the girl in there? You bet she bloody would have.”
“When I find Lilith, I will make her pay. Let us hope that Eve’s light has transferred back to the Celestial Rose in Elysium.”
“The what now?” What’s he on about?
Lucian groaned, spluttering vile fluid across Gabriel’s tanned boots.
“Sodding vampires,” Gabriel said.
“Oi mate, we ain’t no fluffy bunnies. We are Dark Ones and you know ol’ Luci is the first of our kind. ‘Ave some respect.”
“Your friend Lucian may be the first of your kind, but he isn’t looking worthy of any respect right now, Joey.” Gabriel said as he leapt into the air, taking flight.
“Wait!” He couldn't go. What was I supposed to do with Luci? “He might know where she is!”
Gabriel stopped mid-flight, turned and landed back beside us. “Pick him up, then. We had better hear what he has to say.”
“He ain’t exactly talking right now, mate. He needs blood.”
“Well, he isn’t drinking mine.”
“Fine. Watch him, I’ll be back soon.” I said, turning and running off at full speed to find an unsuspecting human. Stupid, bloody angel. What’s with barking orders at me? Do I look like his slave? Shit me. Those demons really look angry. Err... I best stay clear of that battle there. Damn it.
They had a hoard of humans. I could seriously do with one of them at the moment. I wondered if they’d give me one if I asked ever so nicely. Ha, yeah right. They’d rather eat me themselves than trade off their dinner for, well, nothing. I mean, what did I have to offer? Bloody nothing. Hmm. Except, perhaps... yeah, that could work. A pissy angel would make the perfect celestial sandwich. Here goes nothing.
Walking over to the demonic kindred crew, I felt confident. Superior, even. That was until they turned to face me. Damn, those buggers were big. The whole perspective thing had thrown me for six. Jeez. I hoped they were in the bartering mood, else it’d be one darkened sandwich for the night’s tea.
“Hey there, friends.” I hollered.
“Now, what do we have here?” the larger one snarled.
“Oh, I’m a nobody, but I have something to offer you that will not only quench your thirst, but keep you satisfied for many moons to come.”
“Well, you will do nicely as my next meal.” He said, clearly ignoring what I said and stomping over to tear off my head.
I whizzed past them. Being a Dark One had its benefits.
“Huh, where’d he go?” the middle sized one asked.
“Now, that’s no way to treat a guest,” I said, smirking as I stood behind them.
Eternal Devastation (The Celestial Rose Book 3) Page 5
