Into the Light

162

"Protective of this one, I see. Good. It should hurt like hell when I rip his skin from his bones, BEFORE I kill him." "You can try," Sam spit out, between his gritted teeth. This seemed to entertain her more than anything before. She let out an excited peal of laughter and clapped her hands, with Anna joining her. What the fuck was he doing? It was like he wanted to die! I dismissed the image of myself antagonizing her. That was different. This was my mess. "Ah, yes, I can TRY!" Lilith laughed. "Do you really think you can stop me, little boy?" "Yeah, I do," Sam replied, staring at her with hard, steel gray eyes. "Interesting," Lilith replied, then tapped her finger on her chin. "Why would you have such a stupid thought? I mean, I know that men are just genetically dumb, but this is even worse than I knew. Are you just particularly stupid then? Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby? Or is this extra doltishness genetic? Is your father more of a dimwit than a normal man?" "Shut the fuck up about my parents," Sam snarled, balling his fist up. "You have such hate for men. Why?" I asked. I wanted her attention off of Sam and I wanted to stall her so that maybe we could come up with some kind of fucking plan to get out of this. I really didn't have any hope, but I had to try. I couldn't let all of these people, especially Sam and Kat, go down with me. "Is it because of that guy that looked like me? What? He broke your heart or some shit, so you decided to hate all men and take over the world to make us pay? Well, boo fucking hoo, get over it already." The look that came into her eyes had me stepping back so quickly that I stepped on Sam's foot. Her lip curled up into a snarl and the icy hand of fear balled itself into my belly, then skated over my spine. "You know NOTHING about me!" she exclaimed, taking a step towards me. I instinctively took another step back, almost falling into Sam. He steadied me with his hand on my side, then stepped out from behind me. "That man was an insolent fool, who had no idea how powerful I was. Maybe I did fall for his beautiful smile and his mischievous laugh. The green of his eyes that I thought only held me in it's vision. I was the fool then. I let him make me fall in love with him. I doted on him. I destroyed anyone that threatened our love. He never believed the townspeople when they spoke ill of me. When they told him that I was an evil witch, who stole the young people of the town. Maybe he should have. Then he would've known better than to cross me." "Is there a point you're getting too?" Sam asked, rolling his hand out in a gesture meant to hurry her up. "Shut up," I hissed. "So, what then? How did he cross you? Let me guess. He cheated on you. That's usually what makes a girl go crazy." I knew that I sounded like a misogynistic asshole right then, but that was what I was going for. Maybe she'd keep talking, while getting so pissed at me, that it would allow us time to figure something out. "Yes, actually," Lilith said, with a smile that sent that icy chill over me again. I cringed when she reached her hand out to Anna and started tracing her finger over the skin of her neck, then down her arm. Those nails could slice right into her. I knew from experience. I reached up to the scratch on my face that was now crusted with blood. "He decided to go drinking one evening with his friends that worked with him on the railroads. I didn't argue because I was the woman. We weren't allowed to do such things then. You know, you ladies really are lucky today. You have the freedom to deny a man, even if you're married." She looked over to Katrina while she talked, which made Sam bristle. "Don't talk to her," he said, with his voice full of malice. "Yeah, we have the right to deny a man," Kat spoke up. "But that doesn't mean that he will listen. You think we're so much better off today, and I guess we are, but that doesn't mean that we don't still get harassed, beaten, or worse, just for saying no. Some of us are just lucky enough to find a real man that respects and loves us." Sam pulled her closer to him and stared at Lilith, daring her to do something, it seemed. Lilith smiled at Katrina, then let her gaze drift over to Sam. "Well, I guess you're one of the lucky ones, it seems. For now. I promise you though, one day, he will betray you. You will have your heart broken, just like mine was. Actually, no, you won't," she laughed. "You'll go to your death believing that this one is a man among boys. I forgot that I'll be killing you all tonight." I saw it coming before she even did anything. I dove at Sam and Kat, just as she threw her hands up and let out a massive blast of power. My skin felt like it was melting off of my body, above my left hip, as I shoved Sam and Katrina to the ground. I hit the ground and rolled, trying to put out the fire that I felt. "Colby, what is it? Stop moving!" I screamed when Sam touched my arm, just then realizing that the fire burned over my entire body. My eyes were open but I couldn't see anything. Only the dull red flames of the imaginary fire that raged over my skin. My body bowed up, fighting against the pain that threatened to kill it. "Stop it!" I heard Katrina scream. "I'll kill you!" Sam yelled. I wanted to tell them to run, to get as far away from the evil bitch as they could, but the only thing I could do was scream in pain. I couldn't even black out from the pain. Whatever she had hit me with wouldn't allow it. This was worse than before, worse than the demon bite, worse than anything I had ever felt. I should be dead. No human body was supposed to feel this much pain. That's why we would black out, only I didn't get that luxury. I heard Lilith's laugh, over the roaring in my ears, then felt an intense wind blow over me. I rolled with the force of it, while my body still writhed from the pain. "OH!" I heard Lilith exclaim. "Playtime is over."