© Amber Kalkes 2014
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"Weak And Powerless" By A Perfect Circle.
Seventeen+
Gideon’s response to Lilith’s words is pretty quick, of course. He poofs before her in a billowing blob of black smoky shadow before using his shadows, sharp like barbed wire to keep the quick to protect hell hounds in their place. In the array of sudden movement I can barely even move and I think that it’s because of shock until I meet the very focused pale-eyed gaze of Lilith. It’s then I realize that I’m not moving because she doesn’t want me to.
“Tallulah!”
I snap out of it at the sound of Gideon’s voice. I look at him with my eyes wide and actually attempt to go to him as he offers me his hand but I simply can’t move. The panic sets in quickly as I try to move even a finger in what is supposed to be a body belonging to me but it doesn’t work. The only thing I can move is my head but that won’t do my any good.
“I can’t move.” I whisper frantically. “I can’t move.”
Gideon growls low in his throat before turning on Lilith and wrapping his hands around her neck as he tosses her against my father’s bookshelf. Books fall around her head but her expression reads nothing less than amusement. She grins widely, showing rows of sharp white teeth as the veins around her pale blue eyes go black in a sight that if I were as close as Gideon would have me shitting my pants in no time.
“Think you can beat me, Halfling?” She purrs before rubbing her chest against him in a very sexual way that has me fuming, “I’d like to see you try.”
“Why do you want her?”
Lilith shoots me a glance before leaning forward to whisper just loud enough for me to hear, “I am owed a body and I will collect one. It matters little to me what claim you think you have on her, she is mine.”
“She is mine.” He snarls tightening his grip around his neck.
Lilith only smirks her ruby red lips, “Not for long.”
“Who promised her to you?”
“Your father pledged her to me but seeing as you seem to think you have a claim as well I made a deal with a secondary party.”
Gideon’s back tenses and his tone echoes his body, “Explain.”
“Mr. Stewart has been highly accommodating.”
Gideon’s dark head snaps towards the stiff figure behind the desk. My gaze follows his trail as they land on my father’s pale but expressionless face. His green eyes, so similar to mine meet mine only for a second before they avert to the blank slate of desk space in front of him. Betrayal stabs at my heart as tears prick my eyes.
“You didn’t.” I whisper. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
Dad’s back straightens in his dark gray designer suit as he meet my gaze again but this time with a sever coldness. “You go gallivanting around with some criminal, leave a mental care facility without permission and bring nothing but shame as you soil our reputation. What else did you think I would do, Tallulah?”
“I would think you would love me enough to not sell me to the highest bidder!” I spit at him feeling my rage heart my previously frozen limbs. I move closer to the desk and stand before him in a way I would have never dared to even think of before. “You don’t deserve the title of father.”
His eyes narrow at my venom, “And you have not earned the right to be called my daughter. All your life you have proven yourself to be nothing more than a defect, something to be cleaned up after. Of course I would ship you away whenever opportunity would arise. You have given me little choice.”
“Bullshit!”
“Lower you tone.” He orders lowly.
“No!” I scream at him banging my hands on his desk, “You don’t control me anymore!”
“I am your father!”
I shake my head feeling my tears finally fall down my cheeks, “No. You are nothing to me now.”
He flinches, it small and barely noticeable but its there before he controls his features again into a placid stare. “Fine. If this is how you wish it to be than this is how it will be.”
“I didn’t want it this way, dad.” I shake my head sadly. “You made it that way the minute you agreed to whatever this woman offered you.”
I turn my back to him so I can collect myself. Wiping my cheeks with the backs of my hands I take a few calming breaths to stop the pain in my chest from causing more useless tears to spill. Turning slightly I look at him again but over my shoulder with nothing on my face but a slightly curious mask. If there is anything I have learned from the man who helped create me it is the ability to mask any and all emotion. Never before has the talent been more needed that now.
“I am curious though.” I begin blandly, “What did you get in return?”
“Time and relief. ”
I frown slightly. “Time and relief?”
He folds his hands before him on the desk using a tone I know all too well as his ‘business tone’. This is the one he uses when laying out the facts for clients and though I have been on the receiving end of it often in this instance it unnerves me. His eyes slice into mine and it’s then I see a hint of pain in them.
“I have cancer.” He says simply, “I have been battling it for the past year and it has taken a turn for the terminal. In exchange for you I have been promised relief from the pain and more time on this earth. Five years in return for giving you up.”
I turn away from his words, feeling a deep ache build in my chest. Letting out a scoff I follow it with a bitter laugh. I’m not really surprised that he would trade me for his own well being. He and my mother have always been selfish creatures but despite knowing that I guess I always hoped that deep down they loved me, at least enough to put me before themselves.
I suppose I’ve been more foolish than anything when it comes to them.
“Is it worth it?”
He frowns at my question, “What?”
“Was it worth it? Trading your only child for a few extra years?” I ask coldly. “Because you know that you’ll die, right? It’s inevitable for you. Eventually the cancer will take hold of you and you will die. You will die with your body as rotted and shriveled as your soul is. Giving up your only child, you blood and your legacy for just a few more years of misery. So I ask you, is it worth it, father? Is my life worth yours?”
“You’re being dramatic.” He accuses but he shifts in his chair at my words.
I snort, “I am anything but dramatic. But you, you are a fool. I could have healed you. I could have made you whole again.”
He narrows his eyes and sniffs, “You hold no such power.”
“Really?” I ask before picking up his letter opener and without hesitation slice it across my palm. Blood immediately springs up against the pale flesh of my palm and though I vaguely hear Gideon’s protests in the background but I ignore them. I have a point to prove to this man.
I watch his eyes widen as I feel the skin of my palm knit itself back together until it looks like it never even happened. I noticed my fast healing earlier that morning when the bruise I received after falling from my chair to have my fit seemed to fade right before my eyes. With the drugs out my system it appears my gifts have been quickly playing catch up.
“You see?” I prod when dad simply sits there like a gaping fish, “You see what I can do?”
“What…are you?”
“I am a necromancer and you…you are nothing.” I hiss.
“Tallulah.” Gideon calls softly before tingles erupt across both shoulders as his hands grip them. “Calm down, princess. You’re aura is getting a little too dark for comfort.”
“Perhaps I undervalued you, Child.” Lilith says thoughtfully reminding me of her presence. It’s amazing what you forget in the midst of your own turmoil. “You may be of more service to me than I originally thought.”
“It doesn’t matter because she’s not going with you.” Gideon snaps.
“Oh really?” She asks with a doubtful little smile before walking over, or more like gliding over, until she is right before me. She gives me a coy little smirk before gripping my oversized t-shirt and ripping the left breast of it making my skin rise in goosebumps at the chill in the air. She leans back with a satisfied grin before addressing Gideon smugly. “It appears I have more of a claim than you, Halfling.”
I breathe a sigh of relief that I’m wearing a tank top under my t-shirt but once that’s over I frown at her words. What does she mean? Lilith shakes her head, as her eyes stay trained on Gideon.
“Silly boy.” She tsks, “You should have done it when you has the chance.”
“Did what?” I ask.
Lilith’s gaze lands on me with mock sympathy, “He didn’t mark you, sweetheart. That means his claim on you as his soul mate is flimsy, especially in the face of my solid evidence of ownership.”
Marking? I think back to where I heard that word before. It was after I snapped out of my nightmare where I woke up bleeding and confused. Gideon had mentioned marking me but with my injuries and everything that’s been happening between us lately we never seemed to get to it. Unless…he didn’t want to mark me.
“Don’t even start.” Gideon snaps pulling me tighter against his chest before addressing Lilith again, “I could mark her now.”
“It would be quite foolish of you if you did. Since she is under my domain it will do nothing more than cause her pain. Remember, Halfling, my claim overrides yours.”
“She is mine!”
Lilith’s face is serene, as she answers, “Not anymore.”
Gideon moves swiftly as his presence disappears behind me only to reappear before me in the form of his wide back. He goes to attack the woman again but she strikes first. Large black extensions sprout from her back reminding me of spiders legs but much more lethal as they spear Gideon through the shoulders, pinning him to another of my father’s bookcases. More books falls as she traps him in a painful vise that has him gritting his teeth.
Blood slides down from his shoulders and begins to drip down onto the floor below as her additions go all the way though him. She moves closer to him and in my panic I move just a step closer but am stopped when her hand rises gracefully. Something unseen but most definitely at her control, rams into me causing me to fly backwards until I crash into the opposite wall before landing on the ground in a heap. I try to rise again but find my legs are unresponsive.
Instead I am forced to watch Gideon suffer, as I remain useless.
“You disappoint me, Halfling.” Lilith sighs leaning closer to Gideon making him sneer at her. “Here I thought you’d actually give me a challenge. Love, no matter its form often gives someone more…energy to fight but you…you have proven yourself easy.”
“Fuck you.” He hisses through the pain.
She chuckles beautifully, “You’re not my type, lover boy.”
“If you take her I will search both heaven and hell for you and when I do.” He leans closer and narrows his amethyst eyes at her in hatred, “When I find you, I will rip you to fucking shreds and bathe in your blood.”
Lilith’s eyebrows shoot up as a wide grin spreads across her face, “Well, Gideon, son of the fallen Ornias, I will look forward to that day.”
Gideon lets out a pained moan as Lilith retracts her spikes from his body before he slumps to the floor in a heap of his own. Blood pours out of him and he appears too weak to even move as I try to assure myself he’ll even survive. My vision of Gideon is cut off though when a milky firm leg blocks him from my view. I look up to see Lilith grin down at me before she snatches up my hand in her bruising grip.
“Time to go.” She chirps.
I shake my head trying to get a one last clear sight of Gideon but I can’t. As soon as I am forced to my feet the surroundings of my father’s office melt away to give way to something much more unfamiliar. Sharp black rocks, the scent of sulfur and an intense heat that seems to thicken the air all assault my senses. Lilith is different as well in this setting. Gone is her business smart attire and replaced with a bright red toga like gown. Her blood red hair is loose and her pale blue eyes seem more intense with black kohl lining them.
“Do you know where you are now, little necromancer?” She asks quietly in my ear.
Tears build in my eyes again and despite my suspicions I shake my head.
Her hand caresses my cheek to collect a fallen tear as she whispers the words that make the world stop and the ground fall from beneath my feet.
“Welcome to Hell, Tallulah Stewart.”
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Updated! Yay! Two more chapters and then an epilogue folks! Sorry for the cliffy...again but you know how I roll!
Anywhoo, Love it or Hate it? Your reactions always put a smile on my face.
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