part0020

“Well, at least he’s run out of evil witches to recruit, for now. There are three rogue shifters, and eighty-one soul eaters. He’s not in the city though so maybe he’s not done gathering again yet?”

She didn’t imagine he’d actually hide from her, that would be arrogant to think.

Jacob said, “Breakfast, then we’ll join up and start hunting. I know you hate being left behind, but no one else can do what you can.”

She nodded, “I understand. I do hate it, but I also won’t fight it. However, I’m not sitting on my hands when we spring the attack on Asmodai. Assuming it’s been approved, we’ll find out soon I’d imagine.”

Jacob stroked her stomach, and she sighed softly.

She loved how his hands felt on her, and her body warmed under his gaze.

He replied, “Deal. All of us will be in on that one I think, any rogues or soul eaters can wait at that point.”

“If we don’t get up now, we won’t for a while.”

His low sexy chuckle set off butterflies in her stomach, and she sighed softly and melted against his side as he pulled her in for a kiss. Her whole body was tingling at that point, and she felt like putty in his firm hands explored her flesh.

Then he rolled out of bed with a cheeky grin.

She frowned, “Evil man. You’ll pay for that.”

He just laughed, as he pulled on some clothes, they’d showered already last night, after play time.

She sighed, and then joined him. She wore jeans, with a fairly nice red blouse, and brushed her hair out before she put it up in a bun. She elbowed Jacob in the stomach when he kissed her neck from behind.

“You’re playing with fire, love.”

Jacob raised an eyebrow.

She winked, “No time to play,” and kissed his cheek, and then headed out for breakfast. It wasn’t all that confusing, she didn’t want to be frustrated all day, and she was already close to that. Her libido had always been powerful, and never more so when she was in love. Part of that was feeling how he felt about her, and how much he wanted her too. It fed and multiplied her own desires.

She liked teasing sometimes, that could be fun, but not before a long work day filled with small battles and skirmishes in a war…

It was still early morning when she had the enemy mapped out in the application, and Jessica was busy handing out assignments. She got up, stretched, and took a sip of her coffee. She pushed away the frustrated feeling at not being in the fight, and paid attention so she could note any enemy movement, as well as the movement of their teams as they started to move out to the first targets.

Cinna had joined her and Allison at headquarters that morning, since it gave her an opportunity to keep track of things without joining the fight. It was a little amusing to Lily how easily and thoroughly the light blonde beauty had both Grant and Jessica completely charmed.

The phone rang, and she didn’t really pay attention to the conversation at all until she detected Grant’s frustration. She turned and gave him a questioning look as he hung up the phone.

Grant shook his head, “We have a go on the AC-130 plan, provided when the enemy shows up he’s not in a highly populated area.”

“That sounds like good news, what’s the problem?”

Grant took a deep breath, “We need to go meet with some of the senators. A committee actually, in a public forum. The president is on board which is why the plan was approved, but some of his political opponents think we’re moving too fast on this, and that there should be an attempt to negotiate with Asmodai. They have questions.”

“We’re a little busy right now. And… that’s crazy.”

Jessica snorted, “Agreed, but Asmodai spoke well in the interview and blew smoke up their asses.”

Grant gave Jessica a look, and she raised her hands in surrender.

“I believe you, we believe you, especially after yesterday when he showed his true colors. The major issue is our targets haven’t done anything, outside of squatting in an empty building and defending themselves. We haven’t caught them attacking a human yet. For that, all we have is your word.”

She frowned. She’d already been aware of that, and she wondered if that was part of Asmodai’s plan as well. Had he given orders for them not to hunt humans and be targets? She wasn’t sure, and she doubted he’d told them that even if it was his plan. Regardless, she could see how it might appear they were the aggressors, especially for those out there that hadn’t had to face down and fight hellfire wielding demons and soul eaters sending crippling emotions.

She considered mentioning the videos which had soul eaters feasting, the ones that drew them there in the first place. Except… some of those murders had been done by shifters and witches, and those videos might just muddy the waters even more.

Grant pulled a small tablet computer out of a drawer, and then tossed it to her.

She snatched it out of the air.

He said, “That has the app on it, and a secure VPN application that connects it to this room. If any of the targets move, you can update the program from where we’re going.”

Cinna asked, “Are they aware of what she told you yesterday?”

Jessica nodded uncomfortably.

Well, great. She finished off her coffee, and the four of them headed out, only Jessica stayed behind to coordinate the mission. Her, Grant, Allison, and Cinna got into a car, and they started across the city to the congressional building. She got the idea not even a knife would go over well, and she put it in the glove box.

Grant cleared his throat, “So, there’s a heaven and hell?”

She tilted her head, “Yes, although I can’t tell you much about it. I don’t know any more than the religions do, and I have no idea which one if any of them are correct.”

Grant frowned, “You can’t?”

She shook her head, “I know Samael fell out of hatred and jealousy, envy and arrogance, that much I’m sure of. What hell looks like, I have no clue. I’m old, and have seen a lot, but I’ve never been to either. In the end I’m just a human woman, I know what happened on this world, and that’s it. Even then, I only know what I’ve seen and experienced. I can tell you about good and evil, but I fear this society doesn’t believe in either anymore.”

Grant grunted, “Makes sense. Try not to lose your temper in there. We have the president in our corner, and these people have nothing to do with law enforcement or defending the country. They can make his and our life more difficult however.”

Yeah, she was already on that page. She knew this would be annoying, she was a warrior defending humanity, and the very survival of the world was at stake, yet the politicians would be politicizing it and looking for an angle. It was human nature though, and she’d seen it before during the rise and fall of several civilizations.

He pulled the car over, and the four of them got out and headed for the entrance to the congressional building. It was impressive, and imposing. She wondered if it wasn’t too impressive, and the reason a lot of politicians had an overinflated opinion of themselves. It wasn’t something she’d been overly aware of since she’d woken up, but she knew there was corruption in Washington.

Maybe a humbler building would remind them that they were here for the people, and not the other way around. Perhaps that’s why Rome fell too, which was ironic because the architecture was similar. She wasn’t sure though, since she’d been buried in Native American land when that happened.

She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but she was surprised when she was led into a fairly large chamber filled with people and reporters in the seats facing a long-raised desk with five senators behind it. The crowd murmured loudly, and she felt many eyes on her as she moved down the aisle. She smiled slightly, stood straight, and kept her head up high. She didn’t particularly like being the center of attention, but she’d been there many times in the past. Grant led them to the front, and the four of them sat at a short, long, and thin table shaped like a desk.

She wondered what she was doing there at all, and she hoped the results of this interview didn’t lead to them going underground. She was also only half paying attention to the tense atmosphere in the room and low muttering around her as cameras flashed, she was still keeping track of their quarry in the city. She also wished she’d have worn a skirt and nice blouse today, or had some prior warning, a pair of jeans and a red blouse wasn’t great armor in a place like this.

The man in the middle who presumably led the committee banged his gavel, and the conversations in the crowd slowly died off over several seconds. He looked to be in a serious mood, but she could feel his arrogant glee and anticipation, though not what those emotions were about. She also felt his curiosity and lust as his eyes roved over her, Allison, and Cinna, though none of that showed on his face.

He cleared his throat, “The purpose of this committee is to discover the truth behind the revelations that the supernatural exists, and the supposed enemy of humanity that needs to be hunted down. The first indications of this were the very people before us in a battle of some kind in an arena in San Antonio. We have before us Lilith, and two others from her team.”

He scrabbled with his papers, “Allison and Cinnamon. If there is a grave threat to our people, we will address it firmly and finally, but there are far too many questions left unanswered, and little proof to be had on the subject. We must not act hastily…”

The committee head continued to drone on about justice, and the danger of jumping to conclusions to a level of nauseum. She just kept the light smile pasted on her face and concentrated on the threads on the life-web, as eleven soul eaters were taken down with the eight teams. So far, no deaths on their side, and each team had seven more missions to complete that day to clean up the city. Again.

She tilted her head in apparent interest, as the committee head finally got to the point and asked the first question.

“You are Lilith? The woman of legend and over a hundred thousand years old?”

His question had the lilt of doubt to it, and a slight mocking as well, though not blatantly so.

She smiled, “Do you believe in evil chairman?”

He replied, “We’ll be asking the questions here.”

She nodded, “I am that Lilith. But I’m also not. The legends are not exactly accurate, and as you should know oral history can get quite corrupted after a hundred thousand years.”

He asked, “What proof do you have of these threats? So far, we’ve not seen anything to justify the hunting you’ve been doing in our capital city, along with the FBI. All we’ve seen so far, is reports of you hunting down these… soul eaters you call them? These soul eaters who have done nothing to our citizens. From what we can see Asmodai is the one telling the truth, that you are unjustly hunting these innocents down in a war spanning history itself.”

She tilted her head, “Was there a question in all of that?”

There was a bit of laughter, but it was muted and died immediately.

He frowned, “What proof do you have?”

She shook her head, “None but my experience, and my word. Still, you were all witness to the attack in San Antonio, and just yesterday four FBI agents and four of my people were incinerated to ash by hellfire wielding demons. What would you take as proof? My question, do you believe in evil, was very relevant chairman. Hell isn’t just a competing state, a division between human countries, societies, and values. Hell is evil, and they want humanity’s destruction, nothing more, nothing less. Asmodai is a demon, they tend to lie.”

He nodded, “We are reasoning people, and taking things on faith is a poor policy when protecting our nation. You’re essentially asking us to go to war, on your word alone. Why should we take your word, and not Asmodai’s? You’ve been heard to say you had to hide because of the witch hunts, but isn’t that exactly what you’re asking us to do? Just not against you, against someone else. They’re evil spawns of hell, and they need to be killed.”

She frowned, “It’s not the same thing at all. One is self-defense, the other in the past was one of hysteria and based in emotions like fear. I could offer you a glimpse of the truth that is in my mind, but even that is no proof and you could say it was merely trickery. It’s also not the same because we are targeting evil, not a specific race. The witch hunts said all witches were evil, that supernatural beings themselves were the spawn of evil and needed to be put down. That kind of thing is always wrong, and I believe you would call it racism. No, there are soul eaters and witches I gladly call friends and even family, two of them are sitting here at this table with me senator. No, we only target the ones that are viciously evil, the ones that torture and murder humans. Even the shifters, the ones with angelic blood, are hunted if they turn rogue. This is about what they do, and not about what they are at all.

“After all senator, in the end both Uriel and Asmodai are angels. One above reproach and serves god, while the other we must hunt because he is evil and wants humanity destroyed. Witch hunts are mindless, and simple, what we do is target the evil in any race, save humanity, we leave that one to the humans.”

The senator replied, “Well spoken, but we need to find the truth for ourselves. You have no proof, and it would be wrong to blindly accept your judgement in this matter.”

She asked, “What about the FBI’s judgement? Do they not believe based on the last couple of days?”

The senator waved that away, “The FBI are there to defend us, and to enforce the law, not to make judgements.”

She smirked, “And yours as the legislature is to make laws. I believe it’s the judicial branch that makes judgements, is it not?”

More laughter, and he didn’t look pleased at all.

She held up a hand, “I apologize, I realize that’s what your determining now, isn’t it? How to approach this issue and create new laws, since the bill of rights doesn’t exactly cover a non-human race bent on destruction. I applaud your caution, and even your fear of being misled and making a mistake in this historic moment as the supernatural races enter the public eye, and quite frankly makes everything much more complicated.

“However, I can’t offer you what you’re asking for, outside of sharing my memories on the matter I have no proof. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have however, but it will just be my point of view. Still, I believe you already have the proof you seek. Do you not already have a recording of Asmodai threatening to rape me, once he and his father get me in hell, for turning on Samael. By his own words he marks himself as evil, and the fact he himself stated his home was hell, and that I was against hell and fought against him, should tell you all you need to know.

“At least, it does if you believe in evil. Do you senator? Believe in evil? If you do, then this isn’t a matter of civil law, this is a war for your very existence against an enemy that would see you suffer greatly before you die. Their side has been losing now for thousands of years, human civilization is at the highest pinnacle it’s ever seen, and most numerous in terms of population. Asmodai hopes he can change that by turning human against human, and humans against those that protect you, like my team currently putting their lives on the line to defend the people of this city, alongside your FBI. These truths are evident, unless you don’t believe in evil. Perhaps Asmodai can be won over, or perhaps he just needs some love, and a cookie, that way lies madness and defeat.”

He didn’t answer, and he looked angry for her putting him on the spot like that.

Another senator bailed him out, sort of.

“Is it true all the supernatural races come from you?”

She nodded, “Yes.”

She knew it didn’t make her look very good, but they couldn’t make her feel any guiltier about it than she already did. Samael had really pulled the wool over her eyes so to speak, back then. She worried Asmodai was doing the same thing to the humans.

She continued, “I was deceived, seduced, and fooled. I hope you’ll all learn from my mistake and not let Asmodai’s silver tongue sway you. Remember what he said to me yesterday, I’m sure you’ve seen the FBI recording of the encounter. That’s the true Asmodai.”

He ignored that, and asked a follow question, “So to live so long, you’ve fed on humans yourself, isn’t that true?”

“Volunteers, and never unto death, and never while torturing. Don’t confuse the two.”

She winced, that wasn’t exactly true was it? She’d killed all those people at the dig site, hadn’t she? Still, in spirit she thought it was true, that had been a horrible thing, but she’d been all survival instinct and no thought. She wasn’t sure if that made it right, she was almost sure it didn’t, but she also knew those deaths hadn’t stained her soul and life force. It hadn’t been a deliberate decision in her right mind.

The chairman regained control and followed up, “Perhaps, but the powers are originated in the demonic, are they not? You are dismissed for now, but we may recall you at a future time.”

That seemed rather abrupt, but she’d made her points. She’d think threat of rape and eternal torment in hell would be enough, but maybe the politicians thought she might deserve such a thing? She didn’t know, but she wasn’t all that surprised Asmodai’s approach was at least partially successful so far, if nothing else he’d created controversy on the subject that would take time to play out.

They got up and made their way out of the chamber, and she ignored the press who tried to question them right outside. Grant handled it, and merely said no comment over and over as they made their way down the steps and headed for the car.

Cinna grinned, “Glad they didn’t ask me anything.”

Allison said, “Me too.”

She nodded, “To be honest, I’d hate to be in their shoes if they get it wrong. History will not be kind to them, and politicians love passing the buck and hate taking responsibility for anything, which just makes it worse. I just hope we can take care of Asmodai as a threat if and before they do anything stupid.”

With the major threat gone, it’d be much easier to disappear and hide among the humans if they needed to do so. If that happened with Asmodai still around, it’d be a lot more complicated hunting him while the humans hunted them.

Allison said, “The odds are pretty good for that I think, they’ll drag their feet for weeks, if not months on this. That way they can blame the president and his policy on it if anything goes wrong, if it all goes right they can make the new laws without worrying about backlash.”