Lilith's Fall: Eden's Rise Ch. 02

"Yes. I don't want to leave her unprotected anymore than we have to."

It was as simple as Helal had described it. The square surface of the pool water rippling as Alora swam through the rather tight tunnels that had appeared in the river. Her head breached the surface, the brown hair spreading out around her in a wide circle.

"Mother? Did you make this?"

"It was Helal. I mean, I guess I did help but it was her idea. I realized that you were vulnerable staying in the river so I wanted to make sure you had a place to come to be safe." I lowered myself to sit on a convenient bench next to the lip of the pool so I could be closer to her.

Her webbed hands reached out and hugged me. "This is so thoughtful. Thank you, Mother."

"As long as it keeps you safe." I sighed. "I just wish we could be left alone. I'm hoping the low profile on our home and the cover of the forest will be enough but Helal doesn't think God and his Crusaders will let us be."

A pensive look crossed Alora's face that I missed, otherwise preoccupied by leaning over the pool to drag a finger around and watch the ripples. She opened her mouth as if to say something before closing it. Her tail twisted through the water. "Whatever comes Mother, we will face it together."

"That's true. And I trust Helal to protect us and to keep everyone safe it's just..." My lips flapped under a despondent huff. "I wish we could all live together in peace. But that doesn't feel all that likely. And I don't..." The memory of the Crusader dying in my arms resurfaced and I shivered. "I don't know if I can hurt anyone."

"We'll get there, Mother. I promise you that," she said firmly, laying her hands over mine reassuringly.

"I wish I had your faith."

"It's not faith. I just believe in what you, I, and Chi can accomplish together."

My lips quirked affectionately at my daughter. "That is faith, dear. And you are forgetting Helal."

"I think that..." She trailed off, leaving the thought unsaid. "I love you, Mother."

"Love you too." The words came out, only surprising me a little to realize they were true. I kissed her forehead. "Love you too. No need to hang out with your boring Mother. Go have fun with whatever you were doing before I interrupted you with our construction project."

"You're not boring," she complained, her words slightly obscured by her lips being beneath the water. "But I was doing something fun with Chi when I felt the tunnel open. We were-"

"LA LA LA." I plugged my ears with my fingers until she stopped talking. When she did, I removed the obstructions. "I do not need to hear about what my daughter is getting up to with her girlfriend."

"We haven't gotten to labels yet. But there is this thing she does with her..." She stopped talking when I raised my fingers back towards my ears. "Thanks for that."

"What? Being silly?"

"No. For calling me daughter and loving me. Bye, Mom." With that she slithered beneath the surface and up the tunnel, surprisingly quick for her size.

While I was having my meeting with Alora, Helal was having a very different meeting in her cleared out training ground she used to work through her exercises. Her forehead was covered with sweat and her narrowed-eyed gaze was focused on her conjured sword.

"You've noticed the difference, haven't you?" Tartarus pointed to the blue-flamed blade.

As if caught commiting a crime, my partner banished the weapon. Helal remained silent, her jaw and her fists flexing.

"You have. How could you not? The more she supplies you with aether, the easier it responds to your touch. She can do much more than empower artifacts and spells. She improves your ability to work magic."

Helal looked as if she wished to strangle the green-haired woman. "So what if he does?" she snapped. "It doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything. And you know it. You should tell her the truth. Lilith deserves that much."

"It's dangerous. If something happens, and he is captured... No. It's better off that El doesn't know. Besides, I'm not the only one keeping secrets from him," Helal shot back, going on the offensive. "You look a great deal more formed than when you showed up to 'help' El with the creation of more of your minions."

"They are her minions as much as mine. And they love and care for both her, and each other."

"Please, don't bullshit me," Helal barked. "I can see the aether within them. Their design matches your own and don't think I haven't seen your little whispers of conversation even before you made your presence known. Chi protected El so I gave her a bit of leeway but whatever you're planning with them, it won't make a difference. El loves me and I will protect him."

"But do you love her back?"

Helal stiffened, her pacing stopping and her glare hardened. "I..." The urge to lash out plain on her face. She swallowed, unable to utter the words.

"She may not love me like she loves you. But I will always be there for her."

"Even while you hide your true form. You pretend to be a still emerging genius loci but it seems like you are far more developed than you wish to show him."

"Telling her the truth would cause ripples and consequences you couldn't even begin to comprehend Crusader."

"Try me."

Tartarus bared her teeth in a snarl before her expression grew calculated. "Clever, but you will not get me to reveal things so easily."

The naked hostility washed away from Helal's face now that her ploy had been revealed. "Why do you keep referring to El as a girl? He was a man until recently," Helal asked with a furrowed brow.

"Have you talked to her about how she feels about it? She might surprise you? Actually..." A wistful expression bloomed across Tartarus' lips. "I guarantee she will surprise you."

Helal frowned as she chewed on that thought.

Tartarus' gaze grew distant. "I must be going. I have some uninvited visitors to attend to. Can I trust that you...?"

"Yes. I'll keep your secret. For now." The tension that crawled across Helal's spine showed that she knew what that meant about what, and who, was coming.

Tartarus paused before leaving. "I know you care for her, that's something we share. And as long as you keep what's best for her in mind we won't have any issues." Her threat and warning sufficiently delivered, she left in a flash of aether. Helal sat alone in the darkness of the tunnel into her home, staring up into the sky where tiny specks of stars could barely be seen through the foliage, thoughts and fears swirling around her brain. Without warning, she spun on her heel and marched into the darkness of our home.

I was in the shower when Helal strode into the room like a conquering hero. Startled, I let out a surprised squeak, tossing the bar of soap at the uneven silica that I'd summoned for a makeshift wall in the walk in shower. Wiping the wet hair back from my face, I giggled at myself while she stripped out of her armor. She revealed herself piece by piece as she let the metal fall to the floor, her striking eyes never leaving mine. Entering the stall swiftly the heat in her eyes made my tummy do a silly little fluttering. The bar of soap, recently retrieved from the floor, slipped from nerveless fingers to return there. Capturing my cheeks, she used her body to crowd me up against the wall where she plied my lips with her kisses.

I'm not sure what brought this on, but I'm certainly not going to complain.

Her fingers cut through the sodden curls between my legs, intent on a very specific destination. I whimpered with pleasure as arousal slickened my folds while her fingers gently fiddled with my labia. Throughout it all she continued to kiss me until I groaned with want of her to be inside me, my cock already hard and poking her in the stomach. Her fingers found my pussy that seemed to be waiting for her touch that sent a pulse of pleasure that zigzagged up my spine.

"What- Unggh," I groaned, fighting to get the words out while I still possessed most of my facilities. "What brought this about?"

Slipping behind me, she pressed her lips in a meandering line from my collar bone up to my neck. She paused her litany of kisses to respond. "I want you. To feel you come apart around my fingers. To hear your sweet cries and feel the pulses of your flesh when you come undone for me. My pretty, El."

Oh. Yes. I want those things too.

Slipping inside me, the pads of her fingers gently pet the slick flesh of my pussy.

"Can you do that for me?"

I gasped.

Yes.

Her teeth nipped at my shoulder. Her red eyes burned with intensity while she stared down my body, drinking in the plethora of reactions she induced in me. My nipples pebbled for her and she couldn't resist reaching around to feel the hardened nub.

"Because I want that? It would be sooo good for me." Her voice dropped into a husky register as steam began to swirl from her impossible warm body, her natural fiery aether swimming beneath her skin like the aura borealis.

Yes. More praise.

I was vulnerable to her and she took advantage of me in the best worst-possible way.

"Cum for me, El. Now, do it now," she commanded.

And I did.

Holy fuck did I cum.

I spasmed around her fingers. My pussy flexing and gripping around her, slick wetness leaked around her digits before it was washed away by the shower. My hands tightened and my thighs quivered, my guttural cry muffled by the spray of water. Strength left me in a rush, and I would've fallen to the floor were it not for Helal's strong arms, pinning me to her chest. Her labored breathing matched mine as it brushed against my ear. My half-lidded eyes fluttered for a moment. Tilting forward, Helal released me so I could lean against the wall for a moment before I spun to place my back up against it. Huffing in the steaming water, I met her eyes, my body still singing the song she inspired.

"Did I... did I do good?"

A sliver of uncertainty appeared on my angel's before she squashed it. "Oh, El..." Taking my hand, she pulled me so I fell back into her embrace, our slick breasts pressing against each other. Curling her arms around my soft thighs, she hauled my weight off the ground. I wrapped my arms behind her neck while my heels did the same with her stomach. In this way she carried me to her bed where she laid me down, my legs falling off the side of the bed. I meekly blinked up at her, open and eager for her instructions, the instincts impressed on me by the control rune operating the driver seat of my brain. Gripping my waist, she slid me a little further off the bed until I was positioned just so.

"You did good."

Stepping inside my spread legs, she ran her hand down my tummy to my erect cock. "Now, just lie back and enjoy." Bending me a little, she nuzzled her labia over my glans. Pulsing, my cock spit a little bit of pre onto her folds, an involuntary response from feeling her soft warmth. Scooching forward, she lowered herself off her tiptoes, her weight forcing my cock up into her pussy. A soft exhalation and a sly smile was her only response. I followed her orders, the sails of my arousal filled with her empowered presence and commanding words. She had told me to enjoy.

And so I did.

Every grinding thrust that pressed her hips into the cleft of my thighs. Each grunt was accompanied by a pulse of joy. But I couldn't help but sense the underlying desperation that lurked in the tension of her shoulders and the shadows under her eyes. The movement of her hips shallowed, becoming a series of rocking swivels. Her hand touched my breast and my eyes rose from her well-defined abdominals to her troubled eyes.

"El, I..." She swallowed. A bead of sweat dripped down her cheek like a tear, falling onto my stomach. "I- I lo-" Her jaw clenched as she ground her teeth. She took her frustration out in a flurry of pounding thrusts that would later leave soft bruises, but caused no complaints in the moment.

"I lo-"

"It's okay, La." I smiled my most reassuring smile up at her. "The words don't make it any more true. I know how you feel and that's enough for me."

This initially appeared to be the wrong thing to say as her nostrils flared with emotion. Helal bit the side of lip hard enough that I thought she might draw blood. "But, you deserve it."

"But you shouldn't feel forced to say it." Stretching my legs out, easily I fought against her command to provide her this relief. I pumped my hips upward as my heels pressed into her back, keeping her close. "I'm not going anywhere, La. You and me, together until the end." Some combination of my words and actions were enough for her to achieve release. Her body hunching over mine as her insides trembled around my cock. Her orgasm brought out my own as my cock flared, my seed spilling inside her.

Helal slipped my cock from her body and tipped me over onto my side so that she could pull me further onto the bed slip behind me and gently stroke my hair. My seed that dripped from her was incinerated with a moment of focused effort. The moment was charged with affection and felt fragile enough that I was hesitant to breach it with any lingering questions. Before I could summon the willpower necessary she slipped from the bed.

"You rest up. I'm gonna go check on the perimeter." Shortly thereafter she returned from the bathroom with those unfortunately necessary bits of metal that protected and covered those luscious muscles I so enjoyed. Shrugging on her armor, she gave me one last parting glance before she left me alone on my bed, feeling equal parts cherished and abandoned. I clutched the simple blanket to my chest, not saying a word as I watched her leave. As good as it had been, I had a new worry to keep me awake at night.

What is bothering her?

Tartarus appeared, leaning against the wall of Helal's bedroom. "She's keeping secrets, you know."

Sexed as I was, I took her appearance in stride. "Everyone keeps secrets. That's perfectly normal in a healthy relationship. There's nothing wrong with that."

"She doesn't respect you and the things you do for her."

I narrowed my eyes. "And who are you to say such things to me?"

Tartarus held her hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. I overstepped."

"Why do you care? What is your interest in me? Is it only because we're soultwined?" I grilled her. Bearing down on her I demanded answers.

"It's because you are my friend. Or you could be. And it hurts to see her hurt you like this."

"She doesn't hurt me."

Tartarus' tone was resolute. "She does. I can tell. She's so preoccupied with this God character that she neglects you. You can't see it because you're too close."

I wanted to deny her words. Wanted to defend the woman I cared about, who guarded my own heart. Instead I was silent, frustration spilling from the side of my eyes in cool tears.

"Lilith..." She reached out as if to hug me and I retreated. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Well, you did." I barked a broken laugh. "Congratulations, my relationships suck and I lost everything I've ever known and I can turn people into monsters and everything I touch turns to absolute SHIT!" I yelled. "Does that make you happy to know that I do realize that? To know that I don't have anyone I feel comfortable confiding my fears to because it might burden them. To feel responsible for the lives that I've helped create and to know that by staying near me I put them in danger?" My insides writhed like a nest of snakes. "I know all of this but there's nothing I can do about it. Why?! Why can't she tell me she loves me?"

Tartarus remained silent for a long moment before her voice issued from her indistinct face. "Feel better?"

Half of me wanted to scream while the other wanted to laugh. "Actually... yeah." I brushed away the tears, my soul lighter after the outpouring. "I think I... I needed to admit to someone. And I'm not going to leave Helal. I do love her and I understand that she has issues." I smiled, recalling the feeling of her arms around me. "But I'm willing to wait for her to figure them out."

"Okay."

"Okay?" I asked, incredulous. "After everything, it's just... 'okay'?"

I couldn't really see but I could sense her amusement. "Yep."

"..."

"If you walk into it with open eyes then it's your decision and I have no problem with it."

"..."

"You seem surprised." Tartarus looked amused at my response.

Crossing my arms beneath my breasts, I tapped my toe against the ground. "You're not going to declare your love for me and try to whisk me away from my girl?"

"While I am rather fond of you, I don't have those kinds of desires. Although, I would love to keep working magic with you." She held her hand out for a shake.

"Partners?"

"Partners," she agreed.

I took her hand. Her grip was firm and buzzed across my flesh, like it wasn't quite sure if it was supposed to be real or not. "You know this means you'll have to help keep Helal safe and happy with me."

Her voice was droll, matching her wry smile. "I did realize that that might be an unfortunate consequence. But you're more than worth it, Lilith."

"Thanks," I said awkwardly, uncertain about how to respond.

Tartarus' head darted to the side, her senses picking up something far outside my range. "I have to go. Be safe, be happy." Then, before I could respond, she vanished into lingering whorls of aether.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "If only I knew how to do that..." Belly flopping onto Helal's firm bed, I breathed deep of her scent, alone but for lingering sadness, and the salty remains of tears on my cheeks.

End of Part 2