Maneater

The drip-drip-drip of water falling from cracks in the stone was beginning to grate on Lilith’s nerves. Each droplet seemed to manage in a puddle though. With the lack of lighting in the long-abandoned tunnel, the sound of water striking water warned her of where puddles might be. Though her eyes had long adjusted to the dark lighting, she still relied on her hearing as well.

Turning her head slightly, she watched the hellhound prowl through the darkness a few feet to her left. Zephyr’s electric eyes were practically glowing in the darkness, his paws silent on the stone ground. Every so often there’d be a slight sizzle as he stepped in a puddle but it didn’t last long.

To her right prowled another hellhound, this one slightly smaller than Zephyr. She caught the glow of it’s amber eyes as he slunk along the tunnel in silence as well. Lilith could faintly hear the soft shushing sound that the thick fur of the hellhounds made as their limbs moved.

As a light began to grow at the far end of the tunnel, Lilith made to slide the leather gloves from her hands. The creak of leather from behind made her pause as Zephyr and Fenrir paused midstride. A smile split her red lips as the twin blades slid down from the wrists of the gloves.

She turned, knocking the muzzle of the gun aside and thrusting her right hand into the ribcage of the man. The blade bit through clothing and flesh to slide between the ribs. She kept her left hand pressed over his mouth tightly for a few moments before she jerked the blade loose.

With ease she broke his neck and left him slumped against the wall of the tunnel. Stepping back from the pooling blood, Lilith glanced around before flicking the blood from the blades. Quietly, they slid back into hiding inside the leather gloves and she smiled a little at the broken body on the floor.

By the time she reached the end of the tunnel, two more bodies had joined the first. She left them in the darkness, ruby gaze not paying their mangled bodies a second glance. The smell of blood was thick in the air like a heavy, but pleasant, perfume. She inhaled deeply, her tongue licking a smear of it from her own red lips, and closed her eyes for a moment.

The feel of a cold, metal-tipped arrow pressing to the back of her neck made her eyes open. A smile quirked her full lips at the corners but didn’t spread. She simply rose her hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Move,” came the low order.

Lilith complied, her ruby eyes flicking down to the left and right briefly as she took the first step. A satisfied look flashed in her eyes for only a moment before disappearing as she stepped into the light. There were at least a dozen people that she could see, plus more that she could hear. Some were standing at attention, on alert, while others worked at machines both inside of and outside of an area encased in plastic flaps.

The ruby of her eyes disappeared, glowing blue now as they glanced at the machine being built for a second. The arrow was still at her neck, nestled between the thick locks of her black hair. That didn’t stop Lilith from looking around and taking everything in.

“Don’t tell me that this is who they sent to bring me in,” a voice mocked from the shadows. “A little girl who’s quick on her feet?”

A breath of a laugh slipped from Lilith’s mouth that sounded faintly like a contempt-filled snort. Her blue eyes lifted to the shadows, watching as the voice materialized in the form of a man.

Slowly, her gaze skimmed up over his lean figure. He was tall, taller than she’d expected, with a head of jet black hair above emerald green eyes. The long strands of hair curled at the ends, turning upwards where they brushed the solid line of his shoulders. The green eyes glinted with a look of half-mischievousness and half-malice.

He was dressed in black leather accentuated with hints of green fabric here and there. The leather looked only slightly worn on his tall form but still new. It had been broken in so that it no longer looked stiff and uncomfortable.

“Don’t tell me that I came all this way for a man with a leather fetish,” Lilith replied, white teeth glinting from behind half-smiling red lips.

His head drew back slightly though a smile, albeit a poisonous one, flashed across his lips. Lilith, satisfied for the moment, flicked blood from the tip of one black glove. She didn’t let her gaze leave him though. No, she watched him from below thick, black eyelashes.

In the corner of her vision she saw the older man come in, completely oblivious to the situation. At least, until Zephyr and Fenrir came into the game. The two hellhounds circled him, snarling and snapping with their powerful jaws, as they herded him closer. At her neck, she felt the arrow shift ever so slightly.

“Call off your guard dog, Loki,” Lilith smiled, “and I’ll call off mine.”

For a moment, Loki looked as if he was weighing the pros and cons of the situation. Lilith arched one eyebrow before glancing over at the hellhounds. It wouldn’t take much from either hellhound to take care of the old man. And they’d easily rip him apart.

“Fenrir.”

The hellhound lunged, sending the man to the floor, as Lilith slid her gloves off of her hands. Her blue eyes flashed ruby red for a moment as she examined her nails without sending a glance to where Fenrir had the man pinned. She heard the man wheeze slightly as one of Fenrir’s massive paws rested on his chest.

“Call him off before you have to find yourself a new astrophysicist,” Lilith said, her gaze lifting to meet Loki’s now.

“Leave us,” Loki growled, casting a glance around the room.

Slowly, the room emptied as the pressure at Lilith’s neck disappeared. She was still well aware of the man behind her, well aware that he was hesitating for a reason. With a roll of her eyes, Lilith glanced at Fenrir. The hellhound gave one final snarl before stepping away.

Finally, the room emptied until only Lilith, Loki, and the hellhounds remained.

“Clever cur, aren’t you?” Loki sniped, watching her.

“I like to think so at times,” she returned, a cheeky smile crossing her face as the blue of her irises melted away. “I just like the control, really.”

“So what reason do you have to be here?”

“I heard that someone’s trying to take over this miserable rock. And when I heard they were new in town, I figured I’d pay them a visit just to clarify a few things. Like…the fact that this is my miserable rock and not some giant’s with a chip on his shoulder.”

Loki’s eyebrows rose in mock surprise as a grin split his lips. “Your miserable rock? Well, that is news to me. I was under the impression that you all chose your own sovereignty.”

“The people here don’t take well to megalomaniacs with tendencies to rule as dictators,” Lilith replied, still watching him as she walked and explored the small set up. “They like to be under the impression that they are in charge of their own lives, their own destinies.”

“Which doesn’t stand to make you any more of a ruler here than it did two minutes ago,” Loki pointed out.

“Under the impression,” Lilith stated with a glance in his direction. “They follow blindly like sheep as long as they believe that they are in control. Whatever you’re planning, you won’t get total subjugation. It’s been tried before.”

“I have an army.”

“So did Napoleon…and Hitler. One guy ended up in imprisoned exile for the rest of his life and the other killed himself because, deep down, he’s a coward despite what anyone says. And only one got a complex named after him.”

Lilith ran her fingertips along the plastic flaps, her ruby eyes glancing between the machine inside of it and Loki. Loki was slowly turning his body, slowly following her as she moved about. In the corner of her vision she caught sight of Zephyr slinking around the side of the room. Fenrir was doing the same on the opposite side.

Rounding the side of the small enclosure, Lilith made her way towards him slowly. She’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t slightly intimidated by his height. Although used to being shorter than most, most of her companions weren’t as tall as he was. Nor were they as lean and hungry-looking as he.

“This is all very enlightening but completely irrelevant and pointless. You won’t deter me,” he murmured, green eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

“I don’t want to deter you.”

He blinked, drawing back ever so slightly but noticeably. A smile flitted fleetingly across her face as she came to stop in front of him. Her head tilted back, lips pursing as she watched him.

“Did you not just say that this was your miserable rock? I expected some sort of pathetic attempt at defending your claim here.”

Lilith’s ruby eyes narrowed slightly, her red lips pulling back from her white teeth in a brief baring of her teeth. His throat was only slightly obstructed by his clothing but she wasn’t too worried about that. Clothing was easy to pierce.

Instead of going for his throat, Lilith’s slight snarl twisted into a poisonous smirk. “I don’t like the humans. I’m here because my kind was told to bow to them and we didn’t. They’re arrogant and repulsive creatures that need to be reminded of their place in this world.”

“And you’re willing to let me come in and do as I please?” Loki asked, a smirk of his own quirking his lips.

“Schematics that will be discussed later but, for all intents and purposes, yes,” Lilith returned.

“And what if I don’t want to leave when you have decided that my purpose has been fulfilled?”

Lilith smiled ever so lightly, her lips not even parting to reveal her teeth. Loki was watching her, waiting for her reaction to the implied threat.

“Well,” Lilith’s fangs glinted into view for a moment, “that will be discussed at a later time if, and when, the need arises.”

She turned them, deliberately turning her back on the god, and walked back to where the enclosed square was. Pushing aside the plastic flaps, she stepped inside. Her eyes narrowed at the intensity of the lights for a few moments before adjusting. Still, the lights were a little too on the bright side for her.

Crouching, Lilith rested at eye level with the glowing blue cube. She made no move to reach out and touch it, only looked at it for several seconds. In silence, she rose and slipped back into the dimmer lighting out of the square.

“I believe it’s time we discussed those schematics,” Lilith said.

“This hardly seems like the appropriate venue for such a situation,” Loki returned, looking at her.

“Which is why we’re leaving,” she returned, ruby eyes flicking to where the two hellhounds were.

They approached as she reached Loki, their large bodies winding around the two. There was a slightly wary look in Loki’s eyes but, beneath that, curiosity threatened to override the caution.

Before he could jerk away or ask questions, Lilith’s fingers wrapped around his forearm. The inside of the tunnel melted away in the blink of an eye, only to be replaced by the hotel suite. Dusky orange sunlight streamed in through the large windows to coat everything in a golden light.

Lilith stepped away from Loki, her ruby eyes not missing the way the sunlight turned his green eyes gold for a brief moment. She turned away completely, crossing the room to where a bottle of wine waited. Her fingers wrapped around the neck of the bottle while she listened to Zephyr and Fenrir slink off for now.

“Impressive,” Loki murmured, his footsteps only slightly muffled in the carpet.

“The view or the trip?” Lilith smirked as she opened the wine.

“A little of both,” he responded. “And some other things.”

Raising the glass of red wine to her lips, Lilith watched his reflection in the mirror over the table. After a moment, his head turned and his emerald eyes caught her gaze. Lilith picked up the other glass of wine and turned to face him.

“Enjoy the view while it lasts,” she replied, ruby eyes glittering.

Loki’s lips quirked up ever so slightly at the corners but he said nothing. Instead, he simply reached out and took the second glass from her hand with one of his own. Lilith raised hers slightly before bringing it to her lips all the while her bright eyes never left his gaze.

Loki did the same, emerald green eyes unblinking as he took a long sip of the red liquid. Her gaze flicked down momentarily to catch the throb of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed the liquid. A light smirk played at her lips for only an instant before disappearing.

“I think I will,” he murmured as he lowered the glass.

“Sounds like a plan,” Lilith replied with another long look at him.

She turned then, deliberately placing her back to him as she lowered herself to the soft cushions of the sofa. Her slender legs crossed at the knees, one leather-encased leg sliding over the other. The spike-studded heel on her left foot rested against the side of the sofa.

“Who is the man whose strings you pull?” Loki asked as he rounded the side of the sofa and took a seat on the far end.

“Who says I pull the strings of a man?” Lilith replied, eyebrows rising ever so slightly. “And who says that I need to play puppet master to get what I want?”

“You have a race and you’re obviously not a dying breed. If you are, you court death by flaunting your extravagances. And it’s not to my knowledge that many races take their commands from a woman,” Loki answered in return, his gaze sliding over her figure after a moment’s pause. “Even one as devious as yourself.”

Lilith listened quietly while one of her fingers traced the rim of the wine glass in her hand. The fingers on her free hand twisted the heavy ruby about her finger, turning it slowly as she sat there. Finally, she took another sip of the wine before speaking.

“You’re clever,” Lilith smirked.

“I like to think so,” Loki returned, a smirk of his own playing at his lips. “Do I get an actual answer now?”

Lilith finished off her wine before answering. “He’s taking care of some…business right now. And that’s all you really need to know about him.”

One of Loki’s black eyebrows rose slightly, questioning whether or not that was all he really needed to know. Lilith just smiled, her full red lips splitting ever so slightly to reveal a hint of white teeth.

“Now, why do I get the feeling that that smile means nothing innocent?”

“Because it doesn’t.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lilith stepped out of the shower, her slender hands grasping the thick towel and wrapping it about her torso tightly. She kept it there as she squeezed the water from the thick strands of hair before towel-drying her hair. Satisfied that it wasn’t going to drip, Lilith unwound the towel from her torso and let it fall to the floor.

After slipping the lacy, nude material of her bra and panties on, she left the bathroom. Her ruby eyes fell to the unkempt bed, tracing the lines of the figure beneath the sheets up to the headboard of the bed. Slender, long-fingered hands rested against the frame, bound tightly by a green, gold and white scarf. A smirk tugged at her lips.

She said nothing as she dressed; her lean legs sliding into a pair of leather-paneled jeans while she slid a silk and sequined bronze and olive top on over her torso. The collar plunged low on her chest, rounding out just beneath her breasts. With a bit of fiddling, she managed to wiggle the bra off of and toss it to the floor nearby.

Lilith ran her fingers through her hair, fluffing the loose waves as she did so. Her attention was drawn to the opposite side of the mirror where she could see the reflection of the bed. The sheets were moving as the man wrapped in them began to wake up.

As she made her way to the bathroom, her attention remained half on Loki, who was trying to wake himself up, and half on applying her make-up. She’d just put the finishing touches on when he really woke up, only to realize that he was tied up.

“If you ruin that scarf, I’ll have your head,” Lilith said as she walked back over to the bed.

“Then untie me,” Loki spat, glowering up at her.

“How about…no?” Lilith returned.

Turning away from the bed, she returned to the dresser and began picking up the various pieces of jewelry lying there. Her eyes continued to watch Loki’s reflection though. She wanted to see how frustrated he would get. And what would happen once he got frustrated.

“Why won’t you untie me?”

Lilith looked back at him as she slid her ring into place. “Punishment.”

“For what, might I ask?”

“You left bruises.”

Loki’s green eyes rolled. “It’s not much of a punishment. And that’s a pathetic reason for a punishment.”

Lilith’s eyebrows rose as she made her way back to Loki’s side of the bed. She took her time in getting there and took her time in sitting down on the edge of it. She even took the time to sit there and smooth the material of her pants, to adjust her bracelets so that they sat just so. It was worth it when Loki growled in impatience.

“You see those two?” Lilith asked, using her head to indicate the two hellhounds while she examined her black nails. “My hellhounds?”

In her peripheral vision, she caught Loki lifting and craning his neck at an awkward angle to catch a glimpse of Zephyr and Fenrir. The two hellhounds were sitting across the room, unblinking gazes watching the two sitting on the bed.

“And you’re going so sic them on me?”

“No,” Lilith laughed. “You’ll end up like them.”

“Over a few bruises?” Loki returned skeptically.

“My mate is the jealous type. And he found out about my relationships with them when they were human. And he caught them.”

Lilith moved then, sliding on top of Loki so that she was straddling his slender hips. Her body leaned forward, hands sliding along the lean muscles of his arms until she reached his wrists. Her grip tightened then but only enough to brace herself over him.

“What do you think he’ll do to you when he catches you?” Lilith asked, head cocking to the side slightly. “You’re the type of person he really doesn’t like.”

“And you’re the vice, the whore. You do the posturing, act like you pull the strings but you’re the false face,” Loki hissed softly, green eyes gleaming up at her. “You’re just a little girl. A jealous little girl who thinks that she can hide behind an emotionless façade.”

“And what does that make you? A posturing little boy who, despite all his talk, is in far above his head?” Lilith hissed back.

Loki just smiled, his lips curling back from his white teeth in that sneering smile of his. She felt his muscles tense beneath her for an instant and then she was on her back with Loki looming over her. His grip was iron tight on her wrists, strong enough to break the slender bones there. Lilith just bared her teeth in a snarl.

“That’s who you are, isn’t it? You’ve built yourself this little façade where nothing can touch you. You’re safe behind it because no one loves you enough to push through the cracks and see you for what you really are. A little girl terrified that she’s not dead enough inside. A little girl who still has her humanity very much intact.

“Does he know that’s why you don’t sleep at night? That you’re thinking of the one thing that he truly ever loved? That’s why you killed her, isn’t it? Why you volunteered your baby for sacrifice?” Loki hissed softly, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. “You were jealous of the adoration he gave her. He lied to you to protect his daughter, not you. And you know that. You could have lived without him but you needed him to be yours. ”

His grip on his hands loosened, freeing hers as he moved to sit up. Before he could far, Lilith’s hand was knotted in the feathery black hairs attached to his scalp. Twisting, she pulled him close again so that it was her full lips that brushed along his ear.

“And what about the little boy who yearns to be accepted, despite all of his talk? The little boy who only wants his father’s approval and love but can never have it. And to be king, he sells his soul to the devil. What happens when he can’t pay what he owes?”

Lilith released the black hairs from her hand and watched as he slowly pulled away. His emerald eyes were burning into her ruby ones, the feral animosity there palpable. Her lips pulled back in her own feral smile to reveal serrated fangs.

And, like that, Loki was once more on his back and Lilith was on top. Her long hair hung about her face as she lowered herself enough so that they were face to face, merely millimeters apart.

“I like this game,” she purred, lips still parted in that feral snarl. “Let me know when you want to play again.”

Her lips just ever so barely grazed his before she pulled away. Lilith slid off of him, adjusting her top as she crossed the room to grab her shoes. She didn’t say another word as she slid them on and nor did she say anything when she left the room to grab the black blazer that she’d discarded yesterday.

Sliding the wool piece on over her slender shoulders, Lilith left the hotel suite and made her way to the elevator. It was empty when she reached it, the shiny surfaces polished and gleaming beneath the fluorescent lights. Reaching into the pocket of the jacket, she withdrew a pair of mirrored aviators and slid them on over her eyes.

The faint ding of the bell echoed as the elevator reached the ground floor. Leaning back against the surface, Lilith stepped out as the doors opened. Her gaze scanned the lobby from behind the glasses before landing on the woman approaching with two children. In one arm she carried a little girl while a boy walked freely after her.

Lilith gave them a wide berth, fighting the urge to not let her lips curl and bare her teeth as the toddler reached for her. Feeling a gaze on her as she passed, she glanced over her shoulder and lowered the mirrored aviators from her eyes ever so slightly. The little boy stared after her, his wide blue eyes just watching.

A new smirk crossed her lips as she turned back to the doors as the tinted glass was pulled open by one of the men standing there. Across the street, her ruby eyes found the sleek, black Lamborghini waiting. And without a glance in either direction, she made her way across the street to the opposite sidewalk.

For a moment, her gaze rose along the sides of the hotel to her balcony. The figure standing there lingered for a moment before disappearing from view. Still smirking, she opened the door of the car and lowered herself into the smooth leather interior and cool atmosphere waiting on her.

“That’s a sinful smirk if there ever was one,” Apollyon muttered as she pulled the door shut.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lilith replied, full lips parting into that feral smirk.