Chapter 2
“Don’t be afraid.” Lilith caressed Kesil’s hand just before she grasped it. He was a foolish teenager gleaned from the bands of runaways that littered the inner city streets of Setholopis. “Everyone, hold hands.” Pausing with purpose, she looked around the table to verify they did as commanded. Lilith liked obedience. When people obeyed, she didn’t have to kill them.
Lilith was a dominating woman and, above all, a survivor. While her patriarchs were busy building formidable empires in other lands, she was forced to develop resources and allies of her own in Sethopolis, the cultural center of the last human-dominated nation on Earth. All the other nations had succumbed to assimilation by the mighty Nephilim and ogres, who were the offspring of fallen angels and their willing human mates. But that had happened many years ago.
In these days, some of Sethopolis’ citizens gossiped about Lilith’s heritage, but she wielded enough power to deter any effective assault against her or her ambitions. Lilith had proven she could hold her own in a fight with just about anyone.
Certainly nobody in the murky back room of her lair could challenge her and hope to survive to talk about it. Not that they wanted to. Most of them owed their survival to Lilith. As she often reminded them, they were fortunate to be counted among her family and friends.
Her bright orange, claw-like fingernails were striking enough to distract the casual observer from noticing she had six fingers on each hand, a trait she inherited from her father. Too tall to hide her giant blood, she discovered how to distract people by decorating herself with bright colors, especially orange. Along with her fingernails, her lips, eyelids, and curly wig all shouted “Orange!” at anyone who glanced her way.
“Observe the skull.” Everyone looked at the crystal skull on the heavy wooden table in front of Lilith. Kesil was the only person in the room who’d never seen it before. Lilith studied his reaction through her golden eye.
Despite the stampede of color, her most striking feature was her optical enhancement. Though skillfully decorated with a three-dimensional etching of a pupil, an iris, and several thin lines emanating outward suggesting radiation, it was more than pretty. It was functional. Lilith could mesmerize almost anyone if they were so audacious as to stare at her eye for more than a second or two. She would look into their invisible fabric and tell them obvious things that sounded like revelations when Lilith’s voice delivered them. Concealed within the striking, golden oddity was a crystal programmed with an enabling technology allowing Lilith to see things normally unseen. Things like Kesil’s fear, which was urging him to leave. But with his hand completely engulfed in Lilith’s powerful mitt--he was going nowhere.
“Observe the skull.” Clear, like ice, and carved from one flawless piece of solid crystal nearly as hard as diamond, it appeared priceless. But Lilith knew its real value was measured in the riches and power she gleaned from its guidance.
Its guidance had already made her wealthier than most knew, but she wanted much more than gold. She wanted power greater than the combined armies of the giant and Cainite nations surrounding Sethica, more power than Sethcia and its Chief Elder Methuselah possessed--she wanted it all.
“Observe the skull.” To Lilith’s delight, Kesil was bothered by the loud music. Even though it was just a recording, the sound of fallen angels beating dragon-hide drums with their war-clubs was unnerving. She knew Kesil wasn’t ready to face a real demon, not just yet. Lilith tightened her grip to prevent his escape, anxious for his fear to increase.
His eyebrows slightly rose, sweat appeared on his brow, and Lilith felt the moisture on his trapped hand. Then she saw the beginning of his fear as a wispy vapor of yellow.
“What’s going on?” said Kesil.
“Only what you asked for, my little, human puppy. You traded me your ill-gotten gold to learn the secrets of life. Now, look at the skull.” Lilith noticed the hair on Kesil’s arms standing on end. Delighted, she tilted her head to the left, straining to see if his fear was building, as it was hidden behind the bright red aura of his selfishness.
“Hello,” she said. “There it is.”
Kesil looked at Lilith’s golden eye while she watched the small bubbles of fear floating around him. His mouth gapped open and his eyebrows pushed upward.
“You’re not cooperating! I said for you to focus on the crystal skull.” Kesil glanced back at the crystal. It glowed. His eyes darted back to the giantess, and Lilith saw a familiar shade of blue. His doubt was clearly visible.
“The skull!” she said. “Look at the skull, worm.” He grunted and tried to pull his hand free, wincing as Lilith held him fast. Then she saw his fear matrix fully activate, it bubbled up from out of his immortal soul. She had Kesil right where she wanted him.
“You putrid spawn of Eve.” The teen’s adrenaline surged, altering his blood flow, visible to Lilith as a bright shade of yellow. Her sinister grin widened. Just what she had been waiting for--fear-laced blood.
“Uh, I don’t care for this,” he said. “I’m leaving.” Kesil grimaced as Lilith’s firm grip increased to a vice-like squeeze. A bone snapped. “Owww! Let go of me, you big--ahhh!” Lilith enjoyed jerking the little human onto the table, proving she had more strength in her left arm than his entire body could resist. In addition, she enjoyed the pained look on the other boy who had been holding Kesil’s left hand.
Except for Kesil, Zamam was the only pure human in the room. He was one of Lilith’s step-grandsons. She tolerated him, but only because he was useful. Zamam often ventured into the pathetic community of malingering teenage runaways, who roamed the streets seeking riches and pleasures with no effort. Occasionally Zamam’s lies would entice one of them to visit Lilith. They were all like the sobbing teen on her table, filled with selfishness and doubt. Lilith only had to stimulate their fear in order to fuel the skull.
Few things pleased Lilith more than a human shaking with intense fear. As much as she enjoyed the spectacle, she knew little time remained to accomplish the real purpose of the meeting. She held Kesil’s right hand over the glowing crystal skull, while the rest of him flailed about like a dying chicken. The loud music covered any of the teen’s tormented screams that managed to escape the thick walls of the room as more of his bones cracked.
Lilith turned her claws inward and dug them through his flesh. The first drop of fear-laced blood splattered on top of the skull. It sizzled like water on a hot skillet. More blood flowed from Kesil’s veins. Lilith stared into the steaming crystal skull, seeing things with her mystic golden eye the others only partially sensed as the hairs on their bodies stood on end. The tortured teenager pleaded with Lilith, but she paid him no mind as she chanted along with the loud, thumping music.
“Oh, great serpent of the garden, son of the morning, ruler of the divide, all powerful master of the cosmos, direct me in the way in which I can gain the secrets to the power of the garden of Eden. What shall I say? What shall I do? What shall I take? Who should I help? Who shall I kill? Take this lost soul for your pleasures, my master.”
A fountain of fire surged upward from the skull. At least it appeared to be fire, but strangely it did not consume the table or burn anyone. A supernatural portal had opened--a small opening between the cosmos and the usually invisible divide—allowing a blinding energy to leak through into the visible world. Then with little effort, powerful Lilith lifted the whimpering Kesil upside down by his feet and dropped his body into the portal. He was gone.
The fire ceased, and then the crystal skull took on the iridescent features of a strong man. Lilith didn’t care everyone else in the room only heard the loud music and something that sounded like the roar of a lion in the distance. To her, the voice was clear.
“Lilith, keep my counsel and you will achieve your dreams. Add to your family and friends. Use them to take the nation. Kill those disloyal to you. Beware the family of elders. Corrupt their flesh. Kill the incorruptible. Leave no human lineage uncorrupted. Do this then the garden, and all in it, will be yours.”
No matter how many times they saw her sacrifice a human, when it was over, Lilith’s family and friends were always left stunned, shaken, and sweating. She peered across the table at Bana, her unsightly daughter, and shouted, “Turn down that infuriating noise! Why must I be surrounded by idiots? I can’t hear myself think.”
As the beating of the drums faded away, Lilith’s grin returned and she said, “I’ve got jobs for all of you.”