The Fallen Queen of Eden Ch. 12

Eli closed his eyes, luxuriating in the way she caressed and stimulated his muscles, feeling it spread through his back, neck, and chest. After a moment the sound of Lili softly singing filled his ears. It wasn't the strange ethereal song he had heard in the car, but something far lighter with a perfect cockney accent and a playful air. He listened to style and lyrics and couldn't help thinking that it sounded old-fashioned and like something out of a variety show.

"What in the world are you singing?" he asked, amused at the words.

"Don't Dilly and Dally on the Way, or The Linnet Bird song. It was a crowd favorite when I performed in music halls and vaudeville. Eddie Foy thought I was a natural."

"Eddie Foy?" Eli had no idea who that was, but he did know what vaudeville was and how long ago that form of entertainment had died. "So, you performed in music halls and traveled around doing variety stage shows. Did you do burlesque too?" At his question she leaned over his shoulder slightly and gave him a sly look.

"I may have. Back then it was about getting as close as you can to exposing your naughty bits without actually doing it. Nowadays you just let it all hang out, no surprise, no teasing . . . and definitely no fun."

The idea that she had spent some time as a stripper came as no surprise. The rest of her claims were little more than tall tales and fantasy. While her stories were entertaining, he wished that for a moment she would just be real. She didn't need to impress him with her wild and outlandish stories and most of the time they were so far out there that it was beyond being a blatant lie. It almost felt insulting.

"So were you doing all this in between foster homes?" Eli asked, attempting to inject a dose of reality into the conversation.

"I told you, The only person who ever took care of me was me." Lilith rose and turning her back to him, walked to his mirror and stared at herself. Her long dark hair was messy from the evening's excursions, she smelled of alcohol and she had dark circles under her tired eyes. "No one has ever so much as lifted a pinky finger to help me." Perhaps it was all the alcohol she had been drinking all evening or that she had become so lost in thought that she had forgotten she was speaking out loud. Whatever the reason, her eyes remained fixed on her image without really seeing it and her mind went back to another time and place that she never spoke of before. "I managed to walk from Eden to the shores of the Red Sea with no one to guide me or show me where to find food or water. God, I felt so sick. Every morning my stomach churned and it was such a long journey." She lifted her shirt slightly and looked at her flat abdomen and ran her hand down it. "I thought I was dying because I could see and feel my belly growing and changing, but I wouldn't stop. I kept on going.

"I was desperate to separate myself from my husband. I had to find my own way. I had to be my own person. Standing on that desolate beach looking out over brilliant blue water, I felt renewed and so full of hope, but it didn't last long. As the sun rose on a new day so too did my pains come. Pain so bad . . ." Suddenly she realized what she was saying and stopped herself. There were things she was forbidden to talk about and she prayed she hadn't said too much. Putting on her best nonchalant demeanor, she turned around and tried to laugh it off as though nothing had happened.

"Well, that was . . . oddly specific," Eli commented, softly. While he didn't believe for a second that she had walked from Eden to the Red Sea, he did think she had run away from somewhere and lived on the streets where she had no food or water. The sickness and pain he wasn't sure about and what thoughts did come to mind he didn't want to pry into. It was obviously a trauma of some kind and quite possibly the reason why she preferred to live in her delusions.

"Well . . . anyway, that's the past and one shouldn't dwell on it, right?" she responded, blowing off everything she had said as though it was nothing. "I mean, what was I talking about?" She picked up the bottle of bourbon from where she had left it on the dresser and took a drink.

"I can honestly say, I have no idea," he answered. Part of him wanted to know what the story was behind her strange rambling, but another part couldn't help thinking that ignorance was probably better. Seeing the way she was drinking he quickly rose from his seat on the bed and went over and snatched the bottle away.

As he did, Lilith looked down at the bracelet Eli wore and for the first time she truly saw it. The dyed blue leather wasn't just any shade of azure, but was a rare one made from a creature known as the chilazon. Some scholars believed it was some kind of sea creature and some said it was a snail. What she did know was that color had not existed in countless centuries and had become lost to time. How did he manage to have a bracelet with that particular blue?

Another curiosity was the charm that was tied to it. It was an eye carved from stone, but this stone looked like none she had seen on Earth since the beginning of time and even then it had not come from this world. It was mostly brown like chocolate with veins of different shades of blue and flecks of gold and silver. She could feel power coming from it and wondered if that was where Eli's unusually strong aura was coming from.

"Where did you get that bracelet?" she asked.

"My dad gave it to me when I turned thirty. It's a family tradition. My dad got it from his dad when he turned thirty and so on and so forth," he explained.

"Does it mean something to your family?" Lili asked. There was no doubt that the blue and symbolism of the eye had to have meaning, items like that often did. To an outside observer looking at her charm belt, the items dangling would mean nothing. To someone brave enough to look deeper into each symbol they would discover the truth about who she really was. This bracelet was a family heirloom passed on from one generation to another so there had to be a deeper meaning, but what it was she didn't know.

"I have no idea. I doubt it. All my dad ever said was that the oldest male in every generation of my fathers line has worn it." Certain that the piece had little value beyond sentiment he grinned at the pretty dark-haired fashionista before him and blew it off. "What, don't you like it? Don't you think it matches my outfit?"

Far from upset at his teasing, Lili wrapped her arms around his neck and looked into his soft blue eyes. This had to be the strangest man she had ever met in all her long existence. From his tattoo of protection to his mysterious bracelet and his unwavering belief that she was not the demon she really was. He had literally been beaten for her sake and she honestly couldn't think of another soul on Earth, Heaven or Hell that would have done that. She thought about what he had said the day before after the incident at the airport and the words seemed to have so much more weight now.

"You really think I'm a good person, don't you? I mean, I know you said it, but you actually believe it," she commented, confused by such a notion. Eli nodded in response. "Why?" She remembered well the answer he had given her at the time, but it was a simple jest over her wearing his shirt. "You're not like any other human I have met and the only one I can't figure out."

"There is nothing to figure out. I'm a pretty simple guy, just working and paying bills like everyone else."

"No, no, there is something else and I wish I knew what it was. Even the great prophet, and your namesake, I was able to figure out." Here she smiled as her fingertips softly played in Eli's hair. "His thoughts were not always as pure as the stories pretend, you know. When he encountered me, he almost gave in to his desires. I remember the feel of his lips hovering just above mine." Lili's eyes moved down from Eli's gaze to his mouth. It was strong but sensual and always seemed to have a touch of humor lurking in the corners even when he was serious, such as now. She started to raise up to her tiptoes and kiss him, but to her surprise he stepped back, then firmly but gently removed her arms from around his neck. For a moment she once again just stood there, stunned that Eli could resist her. Like a cat caught falling off the bed, the demoness was too proud to admit her failure, and decided to blow it off as though nothing had happened. "Anyway, the prophet managed to resist and even say that word . . . that name . . . and take away my power before abandoning me in the desert." Recalling that part Lilith suddenly felt the need for a drink and started to reach for the bottle, but he moved it away.

"I think you've self-medicated enough for one day. It's time to go to bed."

"I suppose," she yawned. "You realize you're the only man in existence to tell me to go to bed and actually mean sleep." He was about to say something back when he saw her pull her shirt off and start unfastening her shorts. Swiftly he grabbed a t-shirt from his drawer and threw it at her. Seeing the look of confusion on her face, he explained that it was for her to sleep in. At the very idea, Lilith made a face then reluctantly put it on after slipping off her bra. Eli turned around to give her privacy, but he was not so saintly that he didn't sneak at least one peek by looking in the mirror once.

Watching her walk over to his bed, Elijah found himself contemplating everything that had transpired over the day, from slashed tires to hired thugs. He even smirked at the picture of Lilith breaking that woman's nose with that ridiculous rubber dong while using it to knock the other woman on her ass. Few people had the power to surprise him, but Lili did. She was a walking enigma, a puzzle that he was enjoying putting together. If he was to describe her then only one word came to mind: Kintsukuroi. It was the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. Whether she realized it or simply refused to admit it, Eli could see that Lilith was a broken woman. Her lively spirit, sense of humor and sheer audacity made up the gold lacquer that held the pieces together and made her all the more beautiful while showing hints of the vulnerability she tried to hide.

Watching her stretch then curl up beneath the blankets, something else came to mind. He remembered Lili calling him something back at the bar. It was two words that he had never heard before and couldn't begin to guess what language. Seeing the way her head nestled down into her pillow and how her breathing had become deep and steady, he figured he better ask before she drifted off to sleep.

"By the way, what was it you called me back at the bar?"

"Did I?" Lili asked, trying to remember what he was talking about.

"When I stopped you from spinning around the stripper pole you called me something, what was it?"

"Oh, you mean 'Eṉ itayam,'" she asked, opening her sleepy eyes a moment and looking at him.

"Yes." He doubted it was an insult because he knew enough to know that she would have no qualms about saying it to his face. Lilith only smiled and once more closed her eyes.

"I'll tell you one day, but not tonight." She yawned again and once more snuggled down beneath the blankets. "There has been too much excitement for one day."