Lilith

Antenora walked into the picture and held a knife in one hand as she eyed the defeated man seated before her. She then started pointing toward the person recording and brusquely told her to settle down unless she wanted to be next. There was unadulterated evil in her eyes as she ordered the young woman to keep filming.

"It's...okay...little one," the man with his face covered told the terrified girl. "You're going to be...all right."

"Daddy," I heard Lilith cry since she was obviously the one filming. "Daddy, please..."

"This wouldn't be happening if not for you, demon-seed!" Antenora harshly said as she waved the knife in Lilith's direction. "If you hadn't stolen my husband's love from me twenty years ago, none of this would be necessary!"

"Ante...nora," the man wheezed as he struggled to survive. "I have enough love for both you...and Lilith. I don't understand...why you blame her..."

"You give that little demon-spawn all of your attention!" The old bat accused her husband. "Ever since she came into the picture, you never have time for me! You don't care about me..." Antenora trailed off when she noticed that Lilith was crying. She again pointed the knife at the camera and told her, "You stop your blubbering this instant!"

Lilith continued to cry as the dying man begged for his daughter's safety. He told his wife that if she was going to kill him, he could accept it...as long as she left Lilith alone.

"Oh, I'll leave her alone. She'll have nowhere to go. If she even tries to leave, I'll tell everyone that she was the one who killed you! Besides, who's going to believe a blue-skinned fiend like her? She's such a freak, everyone out there will want to cage her based on her appearance alone! She won't be able to glamour them the same way she did you!"

"Just...leave her be," Albert begged his demented wife. "You can take my life...but just leave Lilith alone."

Like a true psycho, Antenora responded by sticking the knife in her husband's breadbasket. His body responded with a violent tremor as the young woman recording the film let out a terrified scream. When the deranged killer thought her "daughter" was about to stop filming, she quickly ordered her to remain focused if she didn't want to get hurt. She then disappeared from the shot momentarily by walking off to the side.

Albert gasped for breath under the potato sack covering his head as Lilith screeched her love for him. Even though the man could barely speak, he tried to tell his dark-haired daughter to remain calm and to do what Antenora said so she wouldn't hurt her. He told her to follow her mother's orders, and he reminded her just how much he loved her as the psychotic old woman suddenly returned...brandishing an axe in her hands.

I stopped the film. I had seen plenty of deaths in movies, but seeing a real one tended to make any normal person sick to his or her gut...especially when the person being killed was linked to a loved one.

"What the fuck...?" I cursed as I started to shake. I had seen some gruesome things in my time, and I was still mentally blocking out events I had witnessed when traveling the globe with the trio of operatives who had shown me some of the seediest parts of the world I never would've thought existed. I knew there were a lot of sick people out there, but just knowing that Antenora had basically been holding Lilith hostage for the last three years...

Under the single bulb lighting the basement, I did my best to put everything together. While I still had no idea where Lilith had come from, I now knew that when she had been alive, my least favorite crone had essentially been blackmailing my blue-skinned angel. Lilith had basically been a slave for the last three years, and Antenora had been making her do all of the dirty work around the house...just like she had forced her to film the death of her old man.

From what I could see from the homemade movies, Lilith had genuinely loved her father figure...and he had loved her as well. The happiness exuding from both of them in the movies had been palpable, and it was quite obvious that Antenora's jealousy had driven her over the edge. She truly believed that the blue-skinned beauty was a demon...which was ironic considering what the old bat had done to her husband.

I quickly realized that if Lilith and I could somehow contact the authorities, we had proof of her innocence currently sitting right in front of me. The law would have to side with the young woman if I told them that Antenora was coming at me with an axe and Lilith clubbed her from behind to save me. After seeing what the crazed woman had done to her husband...

Regret suddenly swelled in my body as I thought about my poor angel who was waiting for me upstairs. I lamented the fact that I had asked Lilith to guide me through the woods to the location I had found on the buckskin map, and I deplored the fact that I had asked for her help with the film projector to begin with. Knowing what I now did, I felt like the biggest heel in the history of the world. How could I ever begin to apologize for my indiscretion...?

With a heavy heart, I walked over and pulled the string to click the light off. I then started slowly making my way up the stairs as I wondered what I would say to the young woman who had changed my life for the better in the last few days. Somehow, Lilith had made me forget so many things I had recently been dealing with...

Something Antenora said in the last film suddenly came back to me and made me stop halfway up the stairwell. I remembered her saying something to her husband about Lilith "glamouring" him...

I placed a hand on my forehead and thought about things. I thought back to the first day when I had met Lilith and fell head over heels for her almost instantly. I had just come off a relationship with a wonderful woman in Eve, and even if our love for each other had ended on a sour note, I would've given the connection we had together a respectable amount of time before moving on.

Yet, Lilith and I had immediately jumped in the sack that very night after sharing an intimate moment down at the brook.

Holy shit, I thought as I shook my head back and forth. There was no doubt in my mind that Lilith was a beautiful woman and I absolutely adored being around her. She was a beacon of light when I needed it most, and when I was with her, I felt that she genuinely cared about me. She had taken another person's life in order to defend me, and deep in my heart, I knew that I loved her...

I remembered telling Lilith that I loved her.

Again, I shook my head as I thought about things. Love was a pretty powerful emotion, and the fact that I had fallen for a stranger so damn quickly...

It wouldn't have been the first time. Back in college, I had met and fallen for a sweet girl in a relatively short span of time. I thought back to my time spent with the sexy coed and how we had rocked each other's worlds on several different occasions during my time there. While we may have never spoken the actual words to each other, there was no question in my mind that we did in fact feel that potent emotion for one another. As I thought about her and other past loves, I suddenly missed each and every one of them as I wondered if I would ever see any of them again...

I started back up the staircase as I told myself that I did love Lilith. I wouldn't have had intercourse with her if I didn't. She didn't "glamour" me or anything of the like. I had entered her of my own free will. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do for her.

I reached the top of the staircase and made my way into the kitchen. When I didn't spot my blue-haired angel in the immediate vicinity, I compassionately called out, "Lilith? Are you here?"

"Up here," a soothing voice respond from up the staircase.

I made my way up the stairs and took a left toward the guest room I had been crashing in. Through the open doorway, I saw the raven-tressed beauty sitting on my bed. I did the first thing I could think to do...and made my way toward her so I could wrap my arms around her. I felt so bad for what she had been through. She had horrifically lost the one of the only people in the entire world who actually loved her...and was forced to record the whole thing for another's sick pleasures.

I squeezed the young woman and whispered how sorry I was over and over again into one of her pointy ears. I cradled her and let her cry her eyes out since she had lived through an act more depraved than anything I had ever read in books or seen in cinema. The poor female was an outcast due to how different she looked, and she was all alone in the world.

With the exception of me.

Lilith wasn't alone. The blue-skinned woman had me. I would always be there for her. I would somehow take her away from this place and attempt to give her a semblance of a normal life. I wanted her to know that not everyone outside of her own little world was as horrible the elderly woman who had taken everything away from her. There were good people out there.

And love.

I wanted Lilith to know that the man who had taken her in as his own and looked after and provided for her was not the only person who felt so strongly for her. I had only known the blue-skinned angel for a short period of time, but I had grown to love her and wanted to take care of her. I wasn't sure how we would go about our lives, but I was going to do everything I could to keep her safe...while displaying my love for her at the same time.

Lilith finally pulled away from my embrace and pointed down at my midsection. At first, I thought she was pointing to my groin. I figured she wanted to drown her sorrows in some lovemaking, but I thought that would be in poor taste after everything we had just been through. I was about to shoot her idea down gently...until I realized that she wasn't pointing at my crotch, but instead at my right pocket.

At first, I was a little confused by what the young woman was after, but then I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out the white card with Kaede's name and number on it. I held it out in the open for the both of us to see with a quizzical look on my face.

"Telephone," Lilith finally spoke. She then pointed to the east. I knew she was trying to tell me about the bedroom at the other end of the hallway.

This whole time, there had been a telephone in Antenora's bedroom. I should've seen that coming.

I took Lilith's right hand and brought her with me as we made our way down the long hallway. There were rugs laid out across the entire stretch, and old black and white photos in antique frames hung on the walls. As we made our way to the opposite end of the hall, I didn't even bother poking my head into the room in between. I didn't care what was in there since I finally had a way out of this nightmare. Of course, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't half-expecting some undead monster to come hurtling at us from the doorway in order to provide us with one final jump scare.

No such thing happened, and we made it to the bedroom at the end of the hallway without a hitch. Antenora's room reminded me a lot of my grandparents' bedroom. Everything found within from the furniture to the bedspread was from a bygone era. There were knickknacks throughout the room that were older than Lilith and I combined, and a few magazines sat on a nightstand that were dated with a time I had also not seen in my short life. Walking through the room felt like stepping into a time capsule from a time long before I had been born.

Another nightstand sat on the other side of the bed. I made my way around the large twin bed and walked up to an old candlestick rotary phone. I picked up the earphone and held it up to my right ear while using the index finger of my left hand to begin painstakingly dialing Kaede's number. I knew I should have been calling the law, but Lilith had convinced me that calling my old friend was in my best interest. I had no idea why, but I knew I could trust Kaede.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard a voice through the earphone greet me. "Hello?"

My voice became lodged in my throat. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I hadn't seen Kaede since I was nineteen years old...and now I was hearing her voice during one of the strangest times in my life. I didn't have the words for her when I needed them most.

"Hello?"

"Ka...Kaede?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. I felt like that eerie silence was trying to piece things together. After a long pause, the voice finally questioned, "Marcus...?"

I smiled as Lilith did her best to listen in while sitting on the bed near where I was kneeling. "Yes! How...how did you remember my voice?"

"Marcus? How the hell did you get this number? Where the hell are you? How...how the hell have you been?!"

I placed a hand on Lilith's right thigh as I gazed up at her and flashed her a reassuring smile. "Kaede, I don't know how the hell fate brought us back together after all these years, but I have a crazy story for you! Granted, I can't tell you about it right now, but I just came across your number in the most bizarre and random way...and I just had to call you before anyone else!"

The raven-haired woman on the other end of the line was just as stunned as I was. She was quiet for a moment before asking me, "Do you know what number you've called me at, Marcus?"

I guess I hadn't really given it any thought. I just assumed that the number I was dialing belonged directly to my old friend, so when I had started running my fingers through the rotary dial, I hadn't planned on speaking to anyone but Kaede if I received an answer. I didn't think fate would've dropped her number in my lap and then allowed someone else to answer the phone.

"Marcus, I don't think we should exactly talk right now. I want to catch up with you - really, I do - but now isn't the best time for that. Where are you? Is there somewhere we could meet?"

"Um, that's kind of the crazy thing, Kaede. I don't have any idea where I am."

"Excuse me?"

I glanced at Lilith again and wondered how much I should tell my old friend on the other end of the line. "Well, since the last time I saw you, a lot has happened in my life. I've been all over the place, and recently, I ended up at a farm out in the middle of nowhere. I would love to give you directions since my pickup broke down, but I don't have any way of telling you..."

Lilith suddenly reached down and grabbed the earphone out of my hand from where I squatted in front of the nightstand. She then reached over and grabbed the "candlestick" part of the phone so she could hold the mouthpiece closer to the bottom half of her face. "Kaede...?"

My face scrunched up in puzzlement as I leaned in closer toward the young woman so I could listen to what was being said. After Lilith spoke my old friend's name, I heard Kaede respond, "Lilith? Is that you?"

The blue-skinned beauty nodded as she said, "Daddy's...my dad is dead."

I noted how the second part of that sentence sounded like the Lilith from old on the homemade movies.

There was a long pause until I finally heard Kaede respond, "I'm so sorry, Lilith. I wondered why it had been so long since I had heard from any of you."

Lilith sat on the bed with her head down and waited a few seconds before muttering, "She's dead, too."

Again, there was another pause until Kaede asked, "Lilith, would you be able to put Marcus back on the phone?"

Lilith did what was asked of her and handed me everything I required. I listened through the earphone once again while saying, "Kaede, I'm not exactly sure how you know Lilith and the others..."

"Marcus, listen to me: I'll be there first thing in the morning. I know exactly where you are. I passed through the area about five years back and met Albert. I'm not sure what's been going on since then, but it's vital that you keep that girl safe. Don't let anything happen to her, you hear me?"

I nodded even though Kaede couldn't see my response. I then asked her, "How do you know where we are...?"

"I'll be there in the morning, Marcus. Until then, just sit tight. All will be explained when I arrive, okay?"

My mind was completely blown. I don't recall how long it took me, but I finally responded, "All right. I'll see you then."

"Goodnight, Marcus."

"Goodnight...Kaede."

I couldn't believe I was going to see my old friend again.

* * *

It was an unusual and awkward night to say the least. Knowing that a dead body was just outside the house was strange enough, but lying naked with Lilith on my bed in the guest room after everything we had been through was the icing on the cake. We didn't do anything that night except hold one another. To be honest, I'm not even sure I slept a wink that night.

Around five o'clock in the morning, I told Lilith we should get up and take a quick shower. She agreed and we climbed in together in order to rinse off and prepare for the day. It was difficult to not look at her in an impure fashion while bathing, but I avoided my arousal even when she reached for it a few times since I knew we had things to be ready for. As much as I wanted to take her in my arms and love her, I fought temptation so we could be ready when Kaede arrived.

We had some rather bland oatmeal for breakfast since neither of us were exactly in the mood to make something more elaborate. We then sat at the kitchen table after finishing in silence for a good fifteen minutes until we heard something outside. After all these years, I knew she was back.

I told Lilith to follow me as we exited through the front door and made our way down the decaying steps. Both of us glanced at the stack of wood piled over Antenora's body and were half expecting her to be gone. This wasn't a horror movie, though: She was right where I had left her less than twelve hours earlier.

I led the way across the dirt lot and toward the thin roadway between the trees that had been blocked off by my pickup. The sun wasn't even completely up yet, but the headlights from the van on the other side of my old clunker lit the path. My shoes crunched on the gravel as I walked toward the running vehicle not more than thirty feet away from me. My heart raced as I held Lilith's right hand and told her to be careful since she was barefoot.

Was I truly about to reunite with Kaede after seven years under such outlandish circumstances...?

The driver's side door of the van opened and a woman of almost five and a half feet stepped out. She had raven tresses that were possibly darker than Lilith's, and her skin was just as tan as it had been all those years earlier. Her clothes were tight fitting, and it was dreadfully obvious that she was just as fit as she had been back when the two of us went on our impromptu ghost hunt. Just laying eyes on the marvelous woman brought memories surging back to me as I recalled the good times I had shared with her...

"Marcus Veovin...as I live and breathe!" Leaving her vehicle running, the dark-haired beauty rounded my old pickup and darted toward me. She lunged into my waiting arms as we reunited on the spot with Lilith watching.

I spun my old friend around once before setting her down and then turning to face the blue-skinned angel standing behind me. I cleared my throat and then introduced her by saying, "Lilith, this is my old friend, Kaede, and Kaede, this is..."

"I know who this is," the alluring and toned woman cut me off. She looked stunning in her black, skintight t-shirt and matching jeans and jacket. She then smiled as she took a step toward my blue-skinned compeer and placed an arm around her in order to pull her close. "How you doing, kiddo?"

Lilith didn't have any words for my old friend. She allowed Kaede to hug her, but said nothing.