Cherry Pies, You and I (P.S the Devil Lies)

Backstopped

The paranoia set in the minute she stumbled out of the Soulfood Shack, barely managing to murmur something to Marie about not feeling well.

It seemed like every person was watching her. Watching as she stumbled about frantic, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and arms crossed in a lonely attempt at a comforting hug. Anyone in the crowds could be working for her father. She scurried around to avoid contact with anyone as if touching them would infect her with his sins.

She must've walked for miles, too scared to stop and ask for directions to the hotel where Lilith was staying. She hadn't felt this scared and alone since she took that first bus out of Greendale all those months ago. There was no way to know if going to her was the right thing to do, but she was out of options, and she couldn't come up with a plan with her mind the way it was.

She called the FBI headquarters in Louisiana to confirm that she was still in New Orleans, and she was. Weeks had gone by without a single word from Sabrina, but she still stayed in the Andrew Jackson Hotel. She did her best to make herself look put together in the lobby bathroom, but nothing could hide her glassy eyes.

Her fist hovered above the door, and she once again debated the wisdom of this decision before knocking. It was a loud, thunderous sound that echoed throughout the entire hallway, and it was full of anger that she hadn't been expecting. Anger at this woman who showed up and ruined the little life she had carved out for herself here.

When Lilith opened the door, she was seemingly unfazed by the malice radiating off of her, and she shoved the necklace box into her arms before marching over to sit on the edge of the bed in the middle of the room.

"I don't even want to know how much that is worth."

She turned the box over in her hands in a manner that could only be described as calm and collected that just pissed Sabrina off even more. This was all her fault, and she was calm?

Her expression was unreadable as she examined the necklace, "Where-?"

"At my work," she snapped, "Just this morning."

She set the box down on a table beside the bed and pulled up a chair to sit directly across from her, "Did you see him?"

Sabrina shook her head, "Some woman left it. I had never seen her before."

"It's a good thing I found you then."

"Found me? You led him right to me."

Lilith looked perplexed, the first real sign of emotion since she had barged into the room, "Pardon?"

She reached into her purse and pulled out the manila envelope the red-headed stranger left behind and opened it. It was full of pictures. Pictures of her.

There was one of her sitting in the waiting room at Selene's waiting to get her roots touched up and reading the latest edition of Vogue. Another one of her flipping the sign on the Soulfood Shack's door from open to closed, exhaustion spread across her features. There seemed to be an endless number of them. She was walking through the Lafeyette cemetery in one, stopping to look at a puppy in a pet shop that had jumped up to greet her in another, purchasing a tube of red lipstick at a drugstore, and she searched through every last terrifying one until she found what she wanted. It was a picture of her holding a lacey black top to her body and examining it in an unseen mirror.

"I bought that top the weekend after you showed up for a date. This is the oldest photo out of all of them," she handed it to Lilith, "I know you're an FBI agent because I called the New Orleans office before I got here, but what I don't know is why Lucifer followed you. Care to tell me?"