“Hello, Lilith,” the man with the handsome face said, a pleasant smile on his lips. “I’d welcome you, but you’ve been here before. You should make yourself at home.”
“You took me too early you know,” she pouted, trying to hide the real pain that racked her body.
“Oh no,” he smiled. “I distinctly remember you asking for time to kill the Duscene twins. You had them in your clutches and lost them still, which I might add, I’ve watched you do countless times now. Had you sacrificed them the first time, I might have made an exception, but twice you let them slip from your grasp. I’m afraid I can’t grant you a third try.”
“You don’t understand,” Lilith wheezed as the pain began to override her ability to talk. “They stole them from me. All I need is one night. I won’t take them again. I’ll sacrifice them right in the house.” Pain radiated along her nerve endings like jolts of electricity, becoming increasingly intense and painful. She whimpered in pain and noticed the gleam in his eyes. “What do they call you here?”
“My subjects?” he chuckled. “They call me God. Up there though, the humans call me all sorts of things. Satan, The Devil, Evil Incarnate, Hell’s Bitch Boy, Master… it all depends on the perspective one uses to get to know me.”
“I would guess not too many humans try that.”
“Not as many as I would like, but there are other ways to get them over to my side.”
“Such as?”
“Ever heard of the apple? The Garden of Eden? It’s mostly a myth of legend nowadays. The number of people who think it’s bullshit is about equal to those who tote it as truth. I, for one, can tell you without quibbling that it absolutely happened, although it’s misinterpreted more than it is spoken of truthfully.”
“Then tell me the story,” Lilith prompted, suddenly sensing a massive decrease in her discomfort. Breathing easier, she sidled up next to him, sitting at his feet like a child during story time at the library.
“The beginning of the story is always the same. Supposedly, God created this massive, gorgeous garden and stuck two imbecilic humans in it to purportedly rule over all of his other creations. Then along came me and this beautiful Tree of Life. Now Eve, being a woman was much more emotionally driven and not understanding the danger, listened to me. Also, she was incredibly naïve, which helped my argument considerably. All I did was tell her that eating from the Tree of Life would make her like God and boom! Then, without even prompting her, she took the apple to Adam. Adam, not being quite so dunderheaded as his wife, scolded her, but as human men are want to do, he ate of the apple to protect his wife and sentenced himself to exile along with her.”
“And?” Lilith urged.
“So you like this story, do you?” he chuckled. “Alright. After they were tossed from the garden, life wasn’t nearly as easy as it had been. The thing they didn’t quite realize was the punishment they’d accepted upon eating the forbidden fruit. I know most humans often wonder why the Tree of Life was put in the garden in the first place if God knew they would eat off it when He told them not to. Like any father of decent moral standing though, he wanted to test their devotion to him. Just as a parent might set out money to see if their child takes it without asking, God put a tree in the garden to see if Adam and Eve would keep from eating its fruit. It sort of stunk for the serpent, but it sucked even worse for the human race.”
“So what’s your ending to the story?”
“My story hasn’t ended yet and only began that day, but I’ll have my time as I’m rather enjoying myself right now.”
“No need to conquer mankind?”
“Oh, not entirely. They do a pretty good job of offing each other. Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, an inconsequential emotion. Give humans long enough and they’ll often find a way to kill each other. By big numbers as with war, or by small ones like individual murder… it doesn’t particularly matter. Although war often does fill my proverbial coffers. So, are you ready to see where you’ll be staying?”
“Not particularly,” Lilith replied. As the man stood, the pain came back in waves, making it nearly impossible for Lilith to do anything but scream. As she walked with him down to a staircase below his alter, the pain only grew in intensity. Heat, unlike anything she’d ever felt, overrode her senses and still she walked near him. It was like being burnt alive, except her flesh remained intact, without so much as a scrape or scar.
“I make a very special place for humans who sell me their souls. Now, your pain level will only get worse the further we go down, mainly because it excites me. There’s absolutely nothing I love more than to see humans in agony. The louder you scream, the better.”
“Why?”
“Why?” he said, laughing. “Why not, darling? I rule here and as the supreme God, I will have my way.”
“The Bib—” Lilith found a massive hand around her throat and it squeezed until she was coughing harshly, desperate for air she couldn’t draw in. The man’s face had turned hideous, which compounded Lilith’s fear for her fate.
“You’ll never say that word to me. I have a severe abhorrence to words that equate me to that book of lies. I’ll not be spoken to of it or anything related to it. Do you understand?”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as Lilith nodded in agreement. “Get those thoughts out of your head, girl. You were marked for me the moment you sold your soul to me. There is no redemption of any kind for the likes of you.”
The man who’d once had a handsome face turned away and was gone in an instant, leaving Lilith to writhe in pain next to millions of other people who’d apparently sold their souls to him as well.
***
Sarina checked on her sons for the fifteenth time in as many minutes, smiling when she saw them sleeping. Tucked into their beds soundly, she turned and greeted the two guards who’d just switched shifts. They sat in silence. She knew they took time away from their own families to help protect hers. She told them of her gratitude before she stepped out. At the door outside of the boys’ room inside her parents’ home, she greeted two other guards. They stood in silence as well, ready to her sons. “Thank you,” she said before heading downstairs.
Sarina found Gina and Brody in the dining room playing gin rummy while munching on nachos.
“What a dinner,” she said with a grin, bending down to kiss her husband.
“Ew,” Gina said, rolling her eyes.
“Just wait little cousin.” Sarina gave her a smile. “You’ll catch a man’s eye someday soon and be swept off your feet as well.”
“Please,” Gina said, her lisp tripping up her s sound. “No man is going to want me. I can’t breed like you and Shawna.”
“Well maybe you should step out and look at a man who isn’t a werewolf like us. I’m sure there’s a man out there who’d find you to be his dream, darling. Be patient.”
“Easy for you to say,” Gina said, almost pouting.
“Please sweetheart, try to remember, I didn’t meet Brody until I was your age. Maybe this is your year.”
“Probably not,” Gina said. “But I’m about to stomp your man in gin rummy so it’s good.”
“She’s a shark,” Brody said with a smile. “She’d got me up to a hundred. At this rate we’ll be broke and living back here with your parents.”
“Nah,” Sarina said with a grin. “You’ll get her.”
“Not likely,” said Gina. “Gin.” She smacked the cards down on the table and raised her arms in a victorious stance.
“See?” Brody said, quirking an eyebrow up at his wife.
“Well it goes to a good cause. Maybe we’ll start a Find Gina a Man Fund,” Sarina teased, tossing her cousin’s hair. She felt for her. At twenty-four, Gina was blossoming into the spitting image of her mother and was smart enough to know that she wouldn’t be wanted by a man who could shift into a wolf. Sarina made a mental note to speak with her mother about introducing Gina to some human men. There was no reason she couldn’t find a husband, given her unique situation.
***
Sabrina knew instinctively that her family would be out over the long night, but she still found it hard to sleep. Ever since getting the boys back, she preferred to take turns with Brody, alternating four to six hour shifts so that one of them was always up to help keep watch. Until someone proved to her that Lilith really was in the pits of hell and Fenris was dead as well, she’d keep a mother’s vigil over her sons. It was her most important job and she’d do it expertly.
“Get some sleep,” Brody whispered, pressing a warm kiss to her neck. “I’ll keep watch now.”
Sarina snuggled down into the covers of their bed, feeling the warmth from where Brody had left it just minutes ago. She slipped into sleep peacefully, thankful for a dreamless sleep for the first time in a while. Still, she knew deep down that the peaceful feeling she had wouldn’t last. It never did, especially where her family was concerned. Someone or something would always hunt them and she hoped, prayed that it wouldn’t be the son of man. That’d make it increasingly hard to hide themselves amongst them if it ever turned to war between their kind and humankind.
-To be continued in Book 4-
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