The Virtuous

Chapter Fourteen: Lilith

That night when I slept, I dreamt.

I felt as though I were hanging from a thread, somewhere between my life and my death. The room was tinged with the acrid smell of decaying flesh and musk. I wrinkled my nose against the smells and narrowed my eyes to get a better view in the darkness. The forms of shadows slowly slipping towards me was all that could be made out. I took a step back but bumped into someone. I whirled around and gasped.

Her long black hair looked somehow tamed against her ice white skin. Her cheeks, which looked sullen and sunken in, were pulled up right now into a bleeding smile. Her pointed and gnarled teeth made me flinch to look at their sharpness and the damage they could cause with just one bite. Her oval opaque eyes narrowed and she hissed at me as I caught the scent of poppy and roses on her.

"The Arête. We meet at long last child."

Just by the sound of her voice, I knew who she was, even though Duncan had only mentioned her name once before.

This was Lilith.

I swallowed the lump in my throat the size of a softball and backed up before I felt my divine take hold. My eyes glowed shimmering white and I gritted my teeth, steeling myself for the fight to come. Lilith merely chortled though at my stance.

"Please, save that for my children who will be after you. I have no quarrel for the time being. I simply wanted to convince you to join Lucifer's army's instead of your heavenly father's." She spat the lord's name as if it was acid.

I wrinkled my eyebrows.

"Surely you must be kidding."

"I'm not young one. I mean, it's very obvious that you don't feel very heavenly, do you?" She inquired and I had to look at my feet.

She had a point. More often than not when my divine took effect I felt a dark swirling mass of energy deep in my abdomen. However, I would never chalk this up to the chance that I could be evil. I narrowed my eyes at the She-devil.

"Never in a million years would I join the likes of you."

"Pity, then enjoy going up in flames with the rest of god's soldiers when the time finally comes."

I suddenly felt flames nip at my ankles and screamed so loud that I was pulled out of my hellish nightmare.

I sat upright in bed, screaming and pleading for everything to stop. I was a mortal. I wasn't an angel or part angel, or whatever Duncan was insisting I was. I couldn't handle being anything but human.

Suddenly I heard my window open but I didn't even bother rolling over from my sobs. Duncan enclosed me in his arms without a second's hesitation. He brought me close and held me to him as tightly as he could possibly get.

"Please honey, stop crying. Please, please stop crying." He begged softly, the pain of my ordeal thick in his voice.

"She wanted me to join him. She wanted me to turn against you."

I waited for Duncan to ask who but instead he growled her name.

"Lilith. I should've figured she would come for you at some point."

"What does she want? Who is she?" I finally wiped away my tears and sat back. Duncan sighed but refused to let go of me yet.

"The legend is that Lilith was Adam's first wife, like Adam and Eve. She was, however, too proud and wouldn't lie beneath him. This banished her from the Garden of Eden and still too proud, she slept with one of the Fallen Arch's. This Fallen Arch is now known as Lucifer. She became his queen and they rule the hell realm with an iron fist." Duncan spoke softly.