Bitter Sweet (29 page)

              "Now you want to bring me?"

              "How else will I stay in contact with the vampire? And even if Alik is with Aaliyah, his hesitation when it comes to killing you will be my chance to act and subdue or kill him myself," he said as if I should have known this.

              “How will we travel? By magic?”

              “Do you want to come along or not?” It felt that he was dodging the question, but he was my best chance at seeing Alik again, and I wasn’t going to push him.

              Soon after that, I was back in Alik’s car with the Devil on my way to an airport to head to Jamaica where we would find God, apparently. How my life changed so fast to get me here, I did not know. Then I thought about my mom and how she would take this. I took my phone out and dialed.

             
"Hey mom, I’m not going to be home tonight.”

             
"Really? Not at all?"

              "Maybe for a while, actually."

              “Are you going to be safe where you are going?"             

              "Yes," I lied.

             
"Perfect, maybe I can get your father in the mood tonight."

              "Oh mom, come on. I don’t want to know about that."

              "Hey, if you’re going to get some, why can’t I?”

              "Mother!"

              "Whatever, you go have your fun and I will have mine. Just make sure to call from time to time. Bye, sweetie."

              "Bye, mom." My own mother rushed me off the phone.

              I clicked the phone and stuck it back into my pocket and closed my eyes. I felt my heart rate; it was much faster than normal and I was breathing too fast. It felt like I was having a mild panic attack. Focusing on the engine’s rhythm, I calmed myself, and then my heartbeat and breathing slowed.

              "How did you do that?" asked Lucifer.

              "Do what?"

              "Calm yourself like that, I thought you were going to pass out on me or something."

              "It’s a trick Alik taught me.

              "You really love him, don’t you,” he asked, and his tone changed. At Lilith’s place, he had a cold demeanor when he used the word love, and now it was much kinder.

              "Yes, more than my own life… What about you and Aaliyah?"

              "That was another time and place." The cold demeanor returned.

Vanessa Stanton

Chapter 39.0

              It was silent for the rest of the ride to the airport. We just managed to catch a flight and not having baggage let us reach the gate just in time. For the entire flight, he looked out of the window and I could tell he was thinking deeply about Aaliyah. Likewise, I was thinking about Alik… Or more so what flaw in me would drive him away from me like this? Was he still so worried about hurting me after Aaliyah did whatever to him? Or maybe she didn’t do anything to him; maybe it just wasn't strong enough the first time? Was my hold on him really so weak because I was just a human? Now that he found a vampire that was much stronger than the others, did he not want me anymore? Everyone called him a genius and gifted, could he only love someone on his level? "We will be arriving in Jamaica in a few moments, please fasten your seat belts," came the voice of a lady over the plane’s intercom and we began to descend and landed shortly after.

              "So now what?" I asked as we left the plane.

              "What do you mean?" he replied, looking around.

              "How are we supposed to find Eden?"

              "Oh, he’s not that far from here.”

              We walked over to the car rentals’ area and skipped the desk and walked into the lot of cars. He mumbled to himself about color and I think makes and models until we stopped at an Audi SUV. He waved his palm over the locks and it clicked, the same with the ignition. No one gave us so much as a second glance as we left.

              “I was beginning to think you had no powers,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying.

              “Watch it girl, I rather not kill you.”

              “It’s just that we drove to the airport, took a plane, and just stole a car. Is there no transportation spell or something?”

              “What I do isn’t magic like you read in some Harry Potter book. My manipulations are precise changes in the states of what you know to be matter. I have never moved a human before and if I so much as miss the slightest thing, you could end up inside out. I need you alive, a few hours on a plane won’t kill you as easily as I could.”

              “Oh, okay,” I said, thankful for the flight.

              The picture perfect beaches were gone, replaced with shabby shacks and rough dirt roads. The people watched us as we drove by as if they knew who was in the car with me. The feeling became more and more ominous as we drove on until we came to a random house. It looked to be falling apart with holes in the walls and glasses. On the porch sat a man in raggedy-patched clothes, his long dreadlocks matted with dirt in odd contrast with his caramel colored skin. Lucifer stopped the car and got out; I followed as he walked up onto the porch.

              “How ya’ doin’?” said the man.

              “Eden, stop the games,” said Lucifer, as if Eden’s disguise was badly done. If this was a disguise, I thought it was a very good one. I’d never take this man as God.

              “How ya’ be knowing meh name? I don’t eva remember sellin’ to ya’.”

              “Have you been in this form so long that you forgot what you are?”

              “Look brotha’ I don’t know what ya’ talking bout, but if ya’ wants ta’ buy something, I got all kinds of stuff ya can’t get anywhere else,”  the man stated, confused, but he still seemed intent on selling us something.

              Lucifer sighed and then sunk down into an attacking posture. His kick was so fast that you could see the force move the tall weeds around the house. The man seemed to act out of instinct. He pushed off the porch with his feet and flipped the bench he was sitting on and rolled behind it. Then, a bright light began to form behind the bench and Lucifer yelled for me to run. I ran for the SUV and covered my head just as the bench was blown apart and Lucifer caught the light in his hand. The impact caused a shock wave that was strong enough to be visible. Lucifer was struggling with the light that was now a ball in his hand. With a heave, he slammed it into the porch, which shook the ground so violently that the SUV’s windows shattered and the tires popped.

              “Felt like you were really trying to kill me there,” Lucifer said, standing and brushing dust off himself. The house, along with the others for about a mile, now lay scattered in the weeds, blown off their foundations.

              “Well, keep your feet on the ground next time,” a man dressed in loose white cotton pants and a matching button up shirt said. He had a straw hat tilted to the right with a thin black feather in it and small circle glasses; the dreadlocks were now gone and replaced with

a neat low cut hairstyle.

              “How long were you in that form?” Lucifer asked, seeming to want to keep this meeting friendly.

              “I think the better part of a hundred years. The people around here started to praise me as some god,” he said, looking around. I did as well and this time, I noticed the bodies that lay with the wreckage. “You getting sentimental, saving that one human, Lucifer?” asked Eden stiffly.

              “No, she’s needed is all.”

              “Something to do with why you made the visit?”

              “Aaliyah is free, Eden,” Lucifer informed, changing the topic.

              “You know, we got lucky last time we sealed her. She could kill us this time.” Eden didn’t seem worried at the prospect of death.

              “Unless we kill her first.”

              “You sure about that? Last time…” Eden started, still sounding indifferent, but his face gave away another emotion.

              “Was another place and time,” Lucifer finished through clenched teeth.

              “Well, I can’t find her with all your other fanged friends populating the world now. We may have to wait for her to show herself.”

              “That’s what the human is for.”

              “Girl, come here,” Eden beckoned, but I watched, still in the SUV. I hadn’t noticed the deep cut on my arm as it healed nearly instantly.

              “She is a hybrid; she’s still human, but with a few vampire upgrades thanks to their blood. Your little trick won’t work on her.”

              “Vanessa, will you please come over here?”he asked this time, not commanding like he was at first.

              “How do you know my name?” I asked, opening the door slowly.

              “You do know who I am, right?” I was getting tired of people using a tone that implied I had asked a stupid question.

              “Okay, yes, stupid question. So do you know everything else?”

              “No, I can’t really get a read on you; that stupid vampire blood of yours is stopping me.”

              “Then how did you know my name?”

              “He shouted it when he told you to run,” he said in that matter-of-fact tone again.

              “But you said…”

              “It’s a habit. So, what is your part in all of this?”

              I started to explain the situation and as I went on, his expressions went from surprise to loathing, and then back to understanding. I had lived this story up until this point, so I figured it was just the shock of what had gone on.

              “What is it with you two and loving evil? Of all the things I create, you pick the evil.”

              “They are not evil; you just consider everything you do to be good and all else evil,” Lucifer claimed.

             
“No, you just remixed my humans, messing with their good nature.”

             
“What nature? You made beings that lust for power and self-worth. You enhanced emotions and toned empathy; don’t blame others for living up to your expectations of life.”

              “Both of your emotions could destroy the world.” Shouted Eden.

              “Rebuild it again. Like you care what happens to the humans. Look at what you’ve done here. You always were a cold hearted bastard, you know that?”Lucifer rebuked.

              “You always were a sentimental dumb ass.”

              “Can you two stop? There is more important stuff to do,” I cut in. I couldn’t believe I had to break up name calling between God and the Devil.

              “So how long is it going to take the vampire to find her?” asked Eden.

              “I don’t know, you in a rush?” asked Lucifer.

              “Well, what do you expect for us to do while we wait?”

              My phone rang in my pocket. Could Lilith have found Aaliyah already? When I looked down, it was June who was calling me.

              "Hello?”

              "Vanessa, it’s June," she said and there was something off about her tone that I couldn’t place.

              "Hey. Have you found Aaliyah yet? I suppose Lilith has told you the story by now."

              "Yeah, we know where she is, but we didn’t find her, she came to us."

             
"What do you mean?"

              "Lilith is dead. Aaliyah killed her in person.

              "No!" I screamed in my mind as I dropped to my knees in the dirt, tears forming in my eyes. Lucifer came over and took the phone from me.

              "June, my name is Lucifer. It is important that you tell me where you are."

              "I’m with Lilith's body in her penthouse in New York."

              "Stay there; we will be there in a moment," he said as he ended the call.

              "Come here, Vanessa,"  Eden called over, holding out his hand. There was a strange feeling as if I had been dipped in cool water and everything went black as I touched his hand. Suspended in time, I fell screaming for help as I imagined Lilith dead before me. My voice grew shrill and my eyes dried as I lost the ability to cry. The pain and sorrow I felt couldn’t be expressed; it bottled up inside of me until I exploded. Light burst into my world and I blinked. When my eyes opened, I was looking around Lilith's penthouse.

              “What was that…” I gasped.

              “Your emotions and conscious mixed as we traveled. For a moment, you experienced an intense projection of your emotions,” Eden said, releasing my hand.

              I looked around and saw June on the floor next to Lilith and it was more painful than in my hallucination. Strips of scarlet traced June’s face; specks of blood littered her shirt. I held out my arms to

June and she came over, resting her head on my shoulder and we cried. Lucifer and Eden walked about the room as if they were both looking for something and at the same time, came to kneel by Lilith’s body. Eden took Lilith’s wrist in his hand and suddenly it was like the room was out of focus. The broken glass and things around the room were overlaid with where they should have been; Lilith was on the phone in the seat next to June and me. I reached out and my fingers slipped through her as if she wasn’t here. Lilith looked up from her call and I followed her gaze. Aaliyah was leaning against a wall, watching her. Aaliyah walked over to Lilith and placed a hand on her chin tilting her head back. Their lips met and Aaliyah laid Lilith on the coutch under her. When the kiss ended somthing so loving turned to hate and Lilith threw Aaliyah off of her before Aaliyah's fingers made their way around her throat.  Lilith dodged Aaliyah’s attempt to grab her and moved for a sword on the wall, but Aaliyah turned and caught Lilith by the waist. There was no fighting Aaliyah’s power, it seemed. Lilith was thrown about the room like a rag doll. Aaliyah would allow her to get up and recover before her next savage attack until Lilith looked unable to get up anymore; she had lost so much blood. In the ghostly replay, Lilith now lay where she was and Aaliyah bent over her and bit into her neck. You could see the life in Lilith’s eyes being slowly sucked out of her body until her once bright eyes were cloudy with a dull mist. Aaliyah stood up and looked down to where Eden and Lucifer knelt, as if she knew they were there.