Lilith

I had so many questions and had no idea where to begin. I decided to just start with whatever came to my mind first as I glanced at Kaede's black van and then back at her. "Did you come alone?"

"For now...yes."

I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but I motioned toward her vehicle and queried, "Is that the style for girls your age, or is that a company van?"

Kaede was no stranger to my sense of humor. It may have been a little over seven years since the last time we had seen each other, but it seemed like it had been no more than seven days. "That's a company van. I tend to stick to cars for my personal vehicles...cars that look like hearses, mind you."

Yup. She definitely still had the same morbid sense of humor...and she apparently still enjoyed the strange, dark, and mysterious. I decided it would be best to follow up my previous query by asking, "So, what kind of company has you driving around in a vehicle that makes you come off as a mortician?"

Kaede simple grinned as she replied, "Do you suppose we could find a better place to talk than this? I've been driving all night to get here, so I could use a comfortable couch or recliner!"

* * *

The three of us sat in the living room on the ground level of the late Antenora's house. I had whipped some hot cocoa up for Kaede, and Lilith had shown me where to find some marshmallows for it. The blue-skinned beauty had opted not to have any of the thick, chocolatey liquid.

Kaede kicked back on the couch and made herself comfortable. The sun was finally starting to come up as a bit of light filtered in through the window behind her. It made her look just as dazzlingly gorgeous as she had looked at nineteen...if not better. Like a fine wine, the dark-haired beauty had become better with age.

When Lilith and I had led my old friend into the house, I hadn't pointed out Antenora's body. I wholeheartedly trusted Kaede, but I figured she needed to hear a few other things before I dropped the tale of a dead woman in her lap. It may have been in poor taste, but I figured the deceased crone would be right at home in the back of Kaede's van since it looked like it was used to haul around bodies.

I couldn't help but notice that even though Kaede had looked genuinely excited to see Lilith, my blue-skinned angel appeared less than thrilled by Kaede's sudden emergence. I wasn't sure why that was, but I was determined to find some answers. From my time spent with both women, I knew that they were both good people...so it bothered me that Lilith could possibly have some pent-up animosity toward my old companion.

After taking a sip of her hot cocoa, Kaede's face crinkled up as she leaned forward to set the mug down while holding a hand up to her mouth. "Oh, that's hot!" She then laughed at her own comment and rolled her eyes by adding, "I guess that's where the 'hot' comes from in the name, huh?"

I chuckled along with her. I wondered where to possibly begin with everything that had befallen me in the time since I had last seen the fit and lithe woman.

Kaede looked around the room as if she had been in it before and was trying to see if it had changed in some subtle way. Her eyes landed on Lilith for the briefest of moments before once again finding me as she asked, "So, Marcus...how did you manage to find yourself all the way out here?"

I wasn't sure how much Kaede needed to know. The last time I had seen her, we had just graduated and had our entire lives ahead of us. As crazy as it sounds, we had spent one of our summer nights scoping out a supposedly haunted cabin...and after finding actual evidence of the paranormal, the raven-tressed beauty disappeared from my life. I was convinced she had gone off to become a ghost hunter or some such. I doubt there's much money in such an occupation, but Kaede had always lived life in a much different way than most others. My old friend lived by her own set of rules and would never let anyone tell her what to do.

As Kaede did her thing, I did mine. I took a year off from school and worked a couple of jobs while dating a couple of wonderful girls. There was a night and day difference between the two I dated that year, but they were both fantastic in their own charming ways. While I hadn't seen either of them in years, it dawned on me in that very moment that I would love to catch up with the both of them just as I now was doing with Kaede.

After that first year, I ended up in college for a year and then lost a chunk of time to something I've mentioned more than once but prefer not to talk much about. Directly after that snafu, I had a little therapeutic time to myself before ending up in the loving and wonderful arms of Eve. That relationship spanned a good two years and acted as a precursor to the last couple of weeks. When I finally answered my old friend's query, I simply said, "I needed to get away from things and decided to just drive...and after a week of being on the road, I ended up out here."

"And your pickup broke down just outside?" Kaede asked as she pointed in the direction of where my old clunker sat in the middle of the path.

"Yup."

"It's like fate brought you here," Kaede said as she took a quick glance at Lilith. When her eyes were back on me, she asked, "How did you get my number, Marcus?"

I shook my head from where I sat on an old, cushioned chair across the room from Lilith as I chortled, "You're not going to believe this, but I was cleaning up after dinner last night when I saw a card with your name on the refrigerator in the kitchen."

The raven-tressed woman nodded as if she had been expecting such a response. "Marcus," she then spoke up, "I think we both have a lot to catch up on, but I'm going to be straight with you since I always liked you back in the day. I feel you have the right to know, and in order for any of this to make sense, I have to go back in time a bit."

I sat back on my chair after exchanging glances with Lilith. I could see that my blue-haired compeer still looked leery of Kaede, but I knew she had to trust her in some small way since she had allowed me to call her. I still wondered what the story was there as I turned my attention back to my old friend and allowed her to speak.

"Marcus, after you and I had that 'encounter,' I decided to travel the world in search of other ghosts from the past. I wanted to prove to the world that the paranormal exists on some fundamental level, so I went out east and took our findings to one of the greatest universities on the continent. It was there where I met other people who shared my passion for finding ways to communicate with the 'other side,' and we formed a short-lived group known as 'Paranormal Investigators Supernatural Squad."

Thinking about the acronym, I couldn't help but sarcastically grin as I chortled, "I can see why the group didn't last long."

"I thought you would get a kick out of that," Kaede responded with a laugh of her own. "Trust me; when I wrote the name down after Shay suggested it, I crumpled it up and tossed it directly into the trash can! By 'short-lived,' I mean all of five seconds!"

I laughed and looked in Lilith's direction to see her response. She hadn't even cracked a smile.

"As it was," Kaede went on, "We formed a small group of five investigators known simply as the 'Occult Fans.' We didn't advertise what we were doing since we were all well aware of how closed-minded most people are, so we were only known to a select few. Still, word circulated of what we did amongst the people who needed to know, and we ended up being asked to explore quite a few different places that were said to have a history. Our reputation grew as we did so, and eventually, we were being asked to journey to some of the most supposedly haunted places in the world.

"Five years ago," the raven-tressed beauty went on as she turned her gaze toward Lilith, "My crew and I were passing through this area and were enjoying breakfast in a small diner in a village not far from here. It was there where we met Albert Vinsfield. Again, it's not like we advertise what we do, but somehow, Albert seemed to pick up on the fact that we deal with all things...supernatural." Kaede peeled her eyes off Lilith long enough to look at me again as she added, "Albert approached us and asked if we'd be willing to come out to his place and have a look at his daughter. We weren't exactly sure why he'd want us to, but we decided to humor him...and that's when we met Lilith here."

I gazed at the blue-skinned beauty across from me and saw her frowning. Just by looking at her face, I could tell that Kaede was telling the truth.

"It's the strangest thing, Marcus," Kaede went on as she looked the other female in the room over. "I've heard stories about them that date back nearly two thousand years, but never once during any of my investigations have I ever encountered one. I've always believed them to be real, but like the ghosts and spirits I seek out, they're so rare that seeing one defies all logic. Think of how astounded I was when Albert brought us here and I finally met one in the flesh!"

I wasn't sure that I followed my old friend. "Met what, Kaede?"

"An actual demon, Marcus! A real-life fiend in the flesh!"

When I realized that the alluring and toned woman was referring to my blue-skinned angel, I became a little peeved as I shot back, "Kaede! What the hell are you talking about? How can you say such a..."

"It's true, Marcus."

I was caught off guard when the reply came not from my old friend, but from my new one. I glanced over at Lilith with my jaw hanging open.

Tears began to well in the young woman's eyes as she confessed, "What she says, Marcus...it's true. I am a spawn from the underworld...and I somehow managed to find my way to this world when I was very young."

My mind whirled with emotions as I tried to process what was being told to me. I couldn't seem to comprehend the fact that my angel was telling me she was a demon...a forthright and sincere fiend from the pits who defied all faith and logic. And she did so in her old, normal tone of vernacular. She gave me a confession straight from her sweet lips...

"From what Albert told me," Kaede interrupted my thoughts, "He was working out at his old shed in the woods one day over two decades ago when he heard a sound. He had built the shed far out in a clearing due to the fact that an old map he had stumbled upon years earlier marked a well on that spot, and as he exited his workspace and turned his eyes toward it, he saw a small child crawling out of it...a small, blue child.

"Being the loving man he was, he instantly took the child in as his own and raised her to the best of his ability. While he worked his land, he found time to homeschool the girl and teach her about the outside world with hopes of one day showing it to her and integrating her into it. He did everything he could to prepare her for a life without him one day...because he knew that he wasn't going to live forever since he was already well into his sixties when he first met her."

I didn't mean to cut my old friend off, but I couldn't help but laugh ironically as I interrupted, "Just because Lilith crawled out of a well doesn't mean she's a..."

"But I am, Marcus," Lilith told me in a stern tone. "I'm a fiend from the depths...and the only reason you fell in love with me is because I bedazzled you with my innate abilities. I didn't mean to, but sometimes it just...happens." The blue-skinned beauty buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

I sprang to my feet and was across the room in a heartbeat. I knelt beside the young woman and placed my arms around her while pulling her close. It didn't matter if I believed her confession or not: I truly loved Lilith and wanted nothing more than to protect her.

"I gave Albert my number and told him to check in every once in a while," Kaede went on as she watched me do my best to calm the girl. "He was well aware that my expertise lies in the spirit world, but he thought that I could maybe make something of how Lilith came to be in our world and how she was able to exist beside us...in harmony.

"As we all know, Marcus, demons - or fiends, whatever you prefer to call them - are all inherently evil. All they want is to overrun the world and usher in an age of complete darkness. They don't want to coexist with us...they want to torture and decimate us. Anyone who believes in any type of god or gods tends to follow this credo...and yet, Lilith's very existence here disregards that very philosophy.

"When he found her, Albert claimed she was the sweetest little girl. He told me - with a smile on his face - that the day Lilith came into his life was one of his happiest. He told me that as the years passed and he raised her to womanhood, he had never been more proud of anyone or anything in his entire life. He said that while she was growing up, Lilith was always a perfect little angel, and if it ever came down to it, he would be willing to give his life for her."

And he did just that in the end. I was sure that Kaede wasn't aware of that little tidbit yet, and I wasn't about to bring it up. We had told her that the older couple was deceased, but we hadn't gone into detail. I thought about that as I continued to coddle the blue-skinned angel while she cried in my arms. To me, she was still exactly that: An angel.

"My crew and I spent a little time here studying Lilith," Kaede went on as she continued the story. "Under the watchful eye of Albert, we ran tests on her and did everything we could to devise plausible answers for her existence and overall conformity with humanity. He cared a great deal for this girl...and he wanted to see her accepted into normal society." The raven-haired stunner paused and gave Lilith a moment to let her tears run freely before inquiring, "If I may ask, what happened to Albert?"

Gripping Lilith tightly, I made eye contact with Kaede and simply shook my head. Now wasn't the time for that answer.

Kaede received the message loud and clear. I think she wanted to ask the same question about Antenora, but she knew better than to do so. I could tell her the whole sordid story later.

"You two can believe what you want," I then spoke up, "But no one will ever be able to convince me that Lilith is anything but an angel." I gazed directly at my old friend as I told her, "You can say it, Lilith herself can say it...hell, even any priest could waltz up to this house and say it to my face if he dared to do so, but my beliefs remain the same: This woman is not capable of evil and would never willingly harm another living thing."

Kaede shook her head as she tried to tell me, "Try to understand when I tell you, Marcus, that I'm not saying she's evil! That's what makes Lilith such a curiosity! She comes from a race of beings who are hellbent on death and destruction...but she wants none of that! She's nothing like we've ever seen before!"

I wasn't trying to be difficult, but I met the dark eyes of my old friend as I pointed out, "You said it yourself that you've never seen an actual fiend before, so how would you be able to compare one to anything else? Yes, we've all been led to believe they're implicitly evil, but what if they're not? As crazy as this sounds, what if they're just a misunderstood race?"

Kaede shook her head as she reached for the hot cocoa and took a drink. She knew I was having trouble coming to terms with what I had been told and didn't want to hurt my feelings. I'm sure she assumed I was still under Lilith's "love spell."

Even though Lilith herself had claimed that I had been bedazzled by her, I didn't buy it for a second. I may have doubted things once before, but as I held the crying woman in my strong grasp, I knew I'd do anything for her. In that instant, I wished I could be transported to the opposite side of the world so I could be as far away from her as possible in order to prove my point. I'd love her just the same no matter what.

"I know how crazy this sounds," Kaede said as she placed the mug back on the coffee table in front of her, "But from what my crew and I were able to piece together, we believe that well was constructed years ago over one out of nine possible entryways...to the very pits themselves."

I didn't even have the words to express myself. Never had I ever intentionally said anything to make another person feel like an idiot - especially to a near and dear friend - but what Kaede was suggesting sounded foolish beyond all measure. When I finally found my voice, I muttered, "Oh, come on, Kaede! You're not trying to tell me..."

The raven-tressed beauty nodded. "Yup. The legendary realm of eternal suffering and damnation itself. That well was built as a marker to the hells themselves."

I shook my head as I finally released my hold on Lilith. I could feel the young woman gazing upward at me while wiping away a few tears from her eyes as I gazed at Kaede and finally grumbled, "Bullshit."

I'm sure Kaede was used to dealing with people who didn't believe what she did for a living, and over the span of time she had been hunting down the paranormal, it was a sure bet that she had learned how to deal with the naysayers and nonbelievers. Out of respect for what we once had, I think she went easy on me as she raised her hands and brought them down on her thighs before letting out a sigh and standing up. "You believe what you will, Marcus. I've never tried to convince anyone that what I tell them is gospel, but I know what we found here five years ago." In order to ease the tension a bit, Kaede glanced at Lilith and asked, "Would it be okay if I went and grabbed a glass of water, hon?"

The blue-skinned beauty nodded.

After Kaede vanished from the room, I stared down at Lilith. Without saying a word, I thought about everything I had learned in the last few days. As the pieces of the puzzle all came together, I tried to convince myself that what I had stumbled upon could only be a dream or hallucination. I mentioned before that I was raised in a religious household and I value the beliefs I hold dear, but hearing that one of the portals to the underworld existed practically in Lilith's backyard...?

I remembered the sulfurous stench that had pervaded the dell when we had journeyed out to where it peacefully sat nestled in the surrounding woods. The lonely vale had been so calm and peaceful...even though it housed a dark and terrible secret from the past. There was no way the scent of the underworld had wafted to the surface from the well...

Again, I shook my head in disgust as I thought about things. The whole concept of the "underworld" couldn't be taken literally. Even people who believed in the pits and damnation would never claim that it was actually beneath our feet and underground. Anyone who believed in the existence of any kind of hells would explain that it was a spiritual concept and couldn't be thought of in such a literal sense.

And yet, both Kaede and Lilith were trying to convince me that my blue-skinned angel had crawled out of some form of portal leading to some kind of perdition.

Lilith suddenly reached for one of my hands. I stared down at her and met those lovely chartreuse eyes as she did her best to warm me with one of her fascinating smiles. I leaned down and wiped some of the tears from her face as Kaede returned to the room.

"Oh! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No," I told my old friend as I glanced in her direction.

The fit leader of the Occult Fans nodded her understanding and returned to where she had been sitting on the couch. Seating herself again, she set her glass of water down next to the mug as she clarified, "Everything I'm telling you today comes from what I've studied and found, Marcus. I'm in no way trying to bad-mouth Lilith or do anything of the like. Don't misunderstand anything I've told you and think that I'm trying to belittle her in any way..."