Into the Night

Epilogue

The red head and the no longer dead tried to calm the immortal's rage as she beat at the door with her fists. Smoke still wafted from the door as she tiredly tried tear at the invisible force that sealed them inside.

"He doesn't know what they're capable of," she cried to herself as she struck out in vain.

Slowly she sunk to her feet, staring at the door.

"I'm a horrible guardian, I'm a horrible parent, I can't do anything right..."

She pulled off her high heels one at a time and threw it at the door halfheartedly. They bounced off it with two unsatisfying clunks.

"Lily?"

She wiped at her eyes with back of her palm.

"What, Charlotte?"

The young witch tapped her shoulder before pointing to the back door on the bus. Once she made eye contact with it, the fire evaporated any sign of tears. Her bare feet hit against the aisle, floating down it faster than the others could follow. A crackle of power snapped from her, a flaming aura, that even the untrained masses could see, erupted from her. Her hand shot forward and with it the back of the bus tore off, rolling down the road.

Her white feet touched the black asphalt, making a sharp turn to the police barricade. The group reacted without uniformity. A few began to shift into different grotesque animals, while the rest drew their guns.

As fast as they tried, they weren't faster than her arm swiping out in front of her. Such a simple motion, that the average person would use to swat away gnats. However for a immortal, the pestering bugs in their lives tended to take the shape of monsters and cars.

The air blurred with static and dried grass and clumps of dirt before the sudden gale-force wind, intensified into a wall of force sweeping them away. Cars and flashing lights took to the skies. Howling and screams echoed in the screaming winds until as as fast it came, the air turned still again, and they couldn't see them anymore.

"Oh I missed doing that."

Charlotte stepped off the back of the bus cautiously, approaching her mentor with a fear that comes from knowing the scope of one's capabilities. Her brother ran after her, ever so brave despite that not working out so well before.

"Holy crap baskets, you just killed-"

"They'll be fine. I'm sure."

Lilian snapped her attention to the only vehicle that she totaled.

"Oh this is just great... "

She turned her head to the long road into town.

"Well looks like we better start jogg-"

Her words couldn't come out fast enough, before a sharp bright scratch exploded across the sky. It came faster than the sound of the explosion that came after it. Her gut instinct made her twist to the two witches behind her, shielding them, lunging at them. Pulling them down. For a few seconds the night turned to day, and the town of Fairfax turned with it.

What the immortal had whisked up with her winds, shot back along with the trio. Their bodies lifted three feet in the air, and traveled quite more than that. They hit the ground hard, and tumbled roughly. And as they came to a rest, the night returned to its crescent moon pendulum swing. Static ran across the horizon, still sparking with an unwanted power that cancelled out a evolving curse.

"Sella?"

Lilian pulled herself to her feet, still trembling from the effect of the impact.

"You said that wasn't a goodbye you son of a..."

Her words stopped as she caught of owl across the waxing moon. It swooped down, talons not prepared to kill, eyes a familiar shade of midnight blue. Plunging towards her, it encircled the group before collapsing into a mess of feathers, blood, and a pitch black aura reconstructing a human from an animal.

It formed a tall, boney, pale woman that almost mirrored the mortal exactly. Except while she wore an abundance of color in just her socks, the person that walked toward her wore a simple grey dress, a black lipstick, and had her hair in a complex braided bun.

"Me?"

A long owl feather landed on her sister's nose, before she swatted it off.

"Now you get here!"

She shot an accusatory finger at Fairfax.

"Your son just martyred himself out there, all because you weren't willing to deal with your creations!"

Her body trembled with a rage, that perplexed her sister.

"Please sister, calm yourself. "

Lilith's footsteps hardly made a sound as she approached her shorter caricature.

"It met the same fate of Sodom and Gomorra. Fairfax must have been cleansed of my children. Except I had the mercy to spare the innocent."

Her words fell with a bitter acidity only the mourning could produce.

"You sent him here on purpose, didn't you? You knew that he would get into a situation like this. Maybe not the wreck, but you knew that at some point he'd discover his powers and then the town would realize what that meant and-"

Lilith crossed her arms over her stomach.

"So what if I did know? That town began as a refuge, but year after year it became polluted by murderers and vile creatures seeking a safe haven. Unconditional love doesn't mean you're absolved of self-responsibility, it means that it's a greater pain for the one you betrayed."

She cast a gaze to Fairfax.

"And there's more than one town just like this. "

Her eyes returned to her.

"Which is why, we must go to him before he bleeds out. It's finally time for monsters to come out of the shadows and take our place among man."

Lilian started at one of the few people she could say she loved without any conditions, with disgust at her continued attempts at supplanting their creator. She however cackled at the look she gave her.

"Aww Lily, don't be so grim. That's my job, remember?"

The witches rose together and approached the other duo cautiously.

"Oh and you."

Lilith commanded him to approach, used to having her way. He stepped forward trying not to seem terrified at the woman. He slowly began to realize resembled his flame, in a way that extended past her appearance. Her voice and stance and the unsettling feeling that they were ready to take offense to his very existence reflected sella in a way that he felt uncomfortable noticing.

"Um yes, mam?"

Her laugh came out as cold as ice dropping in a glass.

"Oh my, it's been decades since I've been called that." 

And as fast as her amusement came, her razor sharp focus cut it back out.

"What are your intentions with my son?"

He blinked a few times unsure how to respond.

"Good, intentions?"

She shifted her weight to one and scrutinized his appearance.

"Hmmm... a witch that reeks of death and axe body spray. Though I've yet to be betrayed by a redhead so who knows? Oh well, everyone has their type. Come along, lets go stop him from dying."

She cast him a sardonic glare.

"I'd think you owe him that."