The Wrath of Lilly

by J Middleton

  A strong wind battered the side of the building startling him. To his harried mind, it seemed almost as though the house were laughing at him.

  “Grandmother?” That was the only word he could get out of his mouth.

  This figure didn’t look like the woman that came to him in his dreams. The woman he was looking at, was more like a corpse. Its black leathery skin, long dark nails to a point, and dark ooze that dripped out of the side of her arm.

  His breath was short rapid exhales. Trying to gain control of his breathing and slow his heartbeat.

  Realizing that he was standing in a place that was the pit of all evil. Through the haze of his tears he could see images forming in the darkness. Something as dark as sin moved closer to him.

  Vince breath was caught in his lungs as the notion crossed his mind, and he was immediately made aware of something else present in the room with them. The room was filled with fog and dark shadows that stood as tall as the ceiling. They were chanting words that sounded garbled and far away. Nausea washed over him, he thought he was going to puke. The forms were taking shape and was not human form.

  Vince jumped back, and out of his vision. Lilly was still standing in front of him. Her face was of the one in his dream, beautiful. With her hair, long and dark, eyes that sprinkle with the moonlight. Skin smooth and vibrate. He closed his eyes for a second and shook his head, refusing to let her play on his mind.

  “No it can’t be, this isn’t her? She is playing tricks.” He thought.

  Within seconds her old face reappeared. Her leathery skin that drooped on one side. Wrinkles and matted white hair that dripped down her shoulders.

  “Vince I have been waiting for you.” She grinned a sinister grin with only a few black teeth visible.

  Vince was lost for words. The more he stared at her appearance the sicker he become. He took a step backwards just reaching the end of the door.

  “This can’t be real?” he thought.

  Lilly watched as his face turned pale.

  “You can’t leave so soon dear, you just got here.” She giggled.

  Vince felt a slight pull on his arm as he looked down and her long claws has wrapped around his flesh. Shivers ran down his arm, as charge of electricity went through his body. He pulled his arm away from her cold leathery hand. Watching her hand fall to her side. Her glowing red eyes glared at him, and a knot formed in the pit of his stomach. He had looked in those eyes before in his dream he wanted so badly to be wrong. But a voice, somewhere within his mind.

  “She’s evil! Run!” The voice scared him. It was the voice that had come to him before.

  For a moment, he thought he was going to scream, but then he pulled back and his eyes locked on to hers. He looked at her for what seemed an eternity, then he pulled his gaze and looked to the corner. Dark figures had moved closer to her, like they were ready to charge at any moment. The room started to rattle violently and a deep rumble came from behind her. He knew the vibration he was experiencing was from her and this army of dark spirts. This was an awakening of evil, and it shook him down to the absolute core of his being. Suddenly, the window stopped shaking and an eerie stillness fell upon the room. The only sound was her breathing.

  He stood there silently waiting for something to happen. Then he saw black forms moving towards him. Watching them as one by one they merged one with the other, until there were only two forms remaining.

  Suddenly, it felt like electricity leaving a wire, the power that had moved the shadows was gone. She opened her mouth to speak and from it came the wailing of all the tormented souls of hell. A dark mist rolled out her mouth and floated to the ceiling. Vince eyes were fixed on the upper part of the room. A red liquid oozed from down the wall, then puddled on the floor.

  “STOP!

  STOP GRANDMOTHER STOP!” He yells.

  Just as the words left his lips, something large grabbed his waist. His head swam in a mental fog and he could feel the night closing in. Jerking him backwards, the force was so strong he felt like he was in a whirl wind. Hearing a piercing scream, it chilled his spine as he moved quickly through the air. He caught a glimpse of a fire below him and was interrupted by the monstrosity figure, its wicked claws were like a knife against his flesh. He pulled his blade out of his pocket, piecing the tough outer layer of his skin. Struggling to break free the air was slowly leaving his lungs as he fell to the ground. His leg caught on a thick branch and he felt bramble thorns tear through his skin. Hitting the ground hard, it took the air out of his lungs. Gasping for air he stumbled. Finally, he caught his balance.

  A scream was heard though the dense fog. It cut through the night as if to punctuate his warning. He looked left and right, as the monstrous shadow was roaming the sky. Its wing span was wider than the building. With his heartbeat thundering in his own ears, he crawled behind a bench and watched the wings fly closer to the ground. With no protection from its power he laid there mumbling a spell. The monster faded to the south as he heard explosions and screams in the distance, as though a new battle began at the edge of the city. Vince felt the effects of the evening battle beginning to drain his strength. His shoulders slumped forward and his knees felt weak and unstable. He finally made it to the door as he turned the knob as a violent scream was heard behind him. Pushing the door open without looking back he managed to get in the foyer. He pushed the door closed, exhaling the air from his lungs. Noticing something from the corner of his eye it was Jessica, coming out of the living room.

  “Vince, what happened?” Looking at him covered in dirt and blood. She hurried to his side and screams for Victoria.

  “I’m alright.” He mumbles.

  “What are you doing out there? You know the evil that lurks in the shadows. What possessed you to do something so stupid! You are bleeding!” Jumping back as blood dripped from his wrist. Leading him to kitchen she pulls out the first aid kit.

  Victoria storms in the room with Glenda behind her.

  “Vince what on earth!” She snapped and runs to his side.

  “What happened?”

  “Don’t get mad? I was just trying to talk to grandmother.”

  “What? You saw her!” She froze as her body trembled.

  “Yes,” he paused. “You are right she is evil. She doesn’t look like the woman in my dreams. She looks like a corpse that has just risen from a grave. When I tried to leave something huge pulled me from her door. It took me in the air with its powerful arm. I used the sword and cut it claw and I fell to the ground. I crawled underneath a bench to keep out of sight until it went away. Mother I have never seen anything like this! The is something that has risen from the darkest place of hell.”

  Tears fell from Victoria’s eyes, she was speechless. Her trembling arms went around him and hugged him tightly against her body. When she pulled away she looked in is eyes.

  “What did it look like?”

  “It had wings and strong nails almost like a claw. I didn’t get a good look at it. It came like a thief in the night. Disappeared as fast as it appeared.” Vince answered.

  “Don’t you ever leave here again! I mean it Vince! You could have got killed. Stay away from her.”

  “I’m sorry.” Vince eyes looked down on the scraps. Glenda was smoothing ointment over it, and covered the worn with a bandage.

  “We have to leave here all of us. She has a huge army. They are getting closer!” He looked up and seen the fear in his mother’s eyes.

  “Vince we are not going anywhere we will defeat her. We will.” She reached down and put her arms around him again.

  “Come I will see you to bed and this time you will not leave your room.” Vince stood up and followed her to his bedroom.

  Chapter 17

  Victoria closed his door and glanced at Glenda.

  “I will stay down here tonight. He won’t pass me.”

  Victoria nods as she went to her room and closed the door. She sat down on her bed as tears rolled down her face. Crawling under her covers
she stares at the ceiling listening for any noise, but all was silent. Minutes later she dozes off to sleep.

  She could hear the rush of the wind high above her head. Presently the blackness of the storm had become merged in the darkness of the night. Now and again, through the black mass of drifting clouds, came a straggling ray of moonlight which lit up the road and showed her that she was at the edge of a dense fog. She passed a house in which though in ruins. Stopping at the sudden stillness. The storm had passed. Perhaps in sympathy with her silence, her heart seemed to cease to beat. This was only momentarily; the moonlight broke through the clouds showing her that she was in a graveyard and that the square object before her was a great massive tomb of marble. It was as white as snow. With the moonlight, there came a fierce sigh of the storm which appeared to resume its course with a long, low howl, as of many dogs. Shocked, as she felt the cold perceptibly grow upon her till it seemed to grip her by the heart. Then while the flood of moon still fell on the marble tomb. The storm gave further evidence of renewing. As if it was returning on its track. With her heart racing she approached the sepulcher to see what it was. On the top of the tomb, a structure was composed of a few vast blocks of stone.

  There was something so uncanny about this it made her feel like she was going to faint as chilled rolled down her arm. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Then a thought stuck her. Halloween was tomorrow night. The evil was abroad, when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel. Lilly would have her revenge calling apron all evil souls to march in her army.

  Just in that moment the ground shook as though thousands of horses thundered across it. This time Lilly came with hailstones that beat down leaf and branches. Victoria rushed to the doorway of the tomb. There crouching against the massive bronze door, she gained a certain amount of protection from the beating of the hailstone. It ricocheted from the round and the side of the marble tomb. As she leaned against the door, it moved slightly and opened inwards. As she was about to enter it a flash of forked lightning lit up the whole expanse of the heavens. In that instant, she looked in the darkness of the tomb. A beautiful woman with rounded cheeks and red lips, seemingly sleeping, it was as if she was just laid there.

  The thunder broke overhead, she found the hailstone beating her down. At the same time, she had a strange, dominating feeling that she was not alone. She looked towards the tomb. Just then there came another blinding flash which seemed to strike the outer band of the tomb. It pours through to the earth, blasting and crumbling the marble, as in a burst of flame. The dead woman rose for a moment in agony while she was lapped in the flame. Her bitter scream of pain was drowned in the thunder as it rumbled across the sky. Cautiously she looking in the direction where the sound came, but the cemetery blocked her view. As Lilly’s voice grew closer, she feared to make either sound or motion.

  That was the last thing Victoria heard was that mingling dreadful sound. She was seized in a giant grasp and dragged. While the hailstone beat on her and the air around seemed reverberant with Lilly’s loud squeal. The last sight that she remembered was a moving dark mass, as if all the graves around her had sent out the phantoms of their sheeted dead. They were closing in on her through the white cloudiness of the driving hail.

  Her feet seemed positively racked with pain, yet she could not move any part of her body. It felt like something weighted on her chest and made it difficult for her to breathe. A vast stillness enveloped her, as though all the world were asleep or dead. Only a low panting was heard. She became unconscious darkness consumed everything around her.

  Victoria gathered her sense’s and jumps up with her heart pounding hard against her chest. Moisture rolled off her forehead as she sat and trembled. Nothing that she had ever seen had affected her so strangely as this unfamiliar and unaccountable dream, yet she was unable to recall any sense of fear. Even when she was thrown violently to the ground by the impact of something unseen. Before she figures out her dream. She cried out in agony.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” she sobbed.

  “Where are you Zac? I need you.”

  She gasped and swallowed air like a drowning woman. Flipping over on her side, facing the window her body shivered. The faintest of moonlight seeped through the window making a small shadow on the wall.

  Victoria sank into her pillow and pulled her blanket up to her neck with the thrum of her heart filling her ears like continuous thunder. Listening to the calming rise and fall of her breathing. She didn’t dare closer her eyes. She lay awake for a while waiting for the purifying light of day. Praying for the rising sun to be delivered.

  Victoria stared at the ceiling in the semi darkness of her bedroom, rumpled sheets twisted around her slender legs. Three o’clock in the morning and all hopes of sleep deserted her. She signed, kicking the knotted sheets from her ankles, hot and cramped under her covers. A damp film of perspiration pooling on her chest and forehead. Finally, she closed her eyes. Slipping into the flow of a slow cascade of exhaustion she sighed deeply sank into a black and comforting sleep.

  “Victoria,” a low whisper. She moves to her side as she heard her name again.

  She opened her eyes slowly, dreamily surfacing from the deepest sleep she’d ever experienced.

  “Victoria,” she heard it again.

  She rose out of bed and went to her window. Opening her curtains, she looked out into the street. There he was standing in street with his deep red eyes staring at her through the glass. He motioned her to come to him. In that instant, her body levitated a foot of the floor. A force of energy turned her around and lead her to the door. It swung open automatically as she glided down the hallway and down the stairs as if she was being pulled by some force. The front door opened on its own as she floated out on the street. The wind was harsh and cool as it blew her house coat open revealing her long blue grown. Her hair blowing wildly as she moved quickly down the side walk to his building. His door came open as she moved inside.

  Victoria’s hair shone like glossy dove wings, black as midnight. It spilled down her back in carefully arranged ringlets. Her skin was as pale as the moonlight making her appear somewhat fragile. Her grown was finely fashioned as it hugged her every curve.

  Hundreds of red candles were lit leaving a red glow around the room. A long table was in the middle with eight chairs. There he sat very, distinguished dressed in black. A slight smile came across his face as he pointed to the chair.

  “Hello Victoria. My dear I have been looking forward with great pleasure to this visit.” His words were strangely mesmerizing, hypnotizing.

  His eyes and voice held her with a powerful force, making her feel as if she had to obey. Her heart pounded as a cold sweat trickled down her spine. She could barely take a breath.

  Her feet hit the floor feeling the softness underneath, it felt like rose petals under her bare feet. Slowly she sat down in a high back velvet chair.

  Her mouth was so dry. Her tongue was strangely swollen. Thirsty and dehydrated, she reached for the glass of red wine that was in front of her. Turning the glass up she had finished the wine within seconds. Sitting the glass back down it filled up on its own. Looking down at the glass she was still thirsty. Licking her lips as she glanced up at his deep eyes. He nods his head like he was giving her permission to drink. Taking a few more sips she sat it back down. Her stomach churned and goose bumps rose on every inch of her flesh. Her mind was screaming at her to run but she had no control.

  “Why am I here?” her voice almost a whisper. “Who are you? What do you want?” she paused waiting for an answer but nothing. “Please say something.” Silence filled the room, the only sound that was heard was the thumping of her heart.

  Within seconds he moved next to her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. With her heart pounding, hard she glanced into his eyes. He gripped her hair and run it though his fingers. As his hand went down on the top off hers. Heat came out o
f his body and sent a shiver down her spine.

  “I was one of the first children on earth. I have felt power of the world pulsing beneath my bare feet.” He paused as he took a drink from her glass as the wine dripped from his mouth. His tongue licks the drop off as he stared into her deep blues. “Civilization have risen and fallen, cities, states, and empires have flourished and decayed, kings and conquerors have heralded their power and glory. Yet each of them in their turn has returned to the dust and obscurity from which they came. Only I endure. I have the blood that beats in the heart of the world. I am the ancient one. I am forever. My bloodline endures where yours is washed away by the tides of time. I am concealed before your unseeing gaze, hidden in plain sight. The fleeting shadow at the corner of your eye. The soft tread of padded foot and claws at the edge of your nightmares.” He watched her look down at her glass. “Look at me!” Victoria jumped.

  “You have eyes, do you not? Yet, you do not see, because you are blind. You are always distracted, sightless and unaware. You drift through your life from day to day. I can give you something so beautifully extraordinary. I can give you a taste of the most unimaginably exquisite pleasure. Pleasures beyond your wildest imagination.” Silence filled the room, as she stared into his deep eyes. Taking in a deep breath.

  “What can you give me that I don’t already have?” She answered.

  He giggled, as he nods his head.

  “Foolish woman, you have nothing compared to what I can do?” He answered staring deep into her soul.

  Part of her wanted to slap him, the rest of her was shaking in fear.

  “I don’t understand. Why are you here? Why am I here? Did she bring you here to take me from my family?” Picking up her glass with her trembling hands and took another sip to wet her dry mouth.

  “Were you not listening.” He narrowed his eyes.

  “Yes, I was but I don’t understand. You didn’t answer my questions.” His eyes blazed with unholy fire.