Lilith/Cain

'We're in here again, aren't we?'

'Yep, our own private cells, in our own private prison.'

'What did we do to her this time?'

'I'm never really sure. I don’t even think she knows anymore.'

Two voices, sounding so similar, and yet the tones were completely different.

Angie opened her eyes and found herself in a small bare room. The walls and ceiling were blank stone. The floor underneath her was hard and cold. It made her stump ache.

She sat up and rubbed her thighs, using friction to bring circulation back to them. She was startled by the boy standing next to her.

He didn't seem to notice her, instead he was looking at the wall. In one hand he held a rough stone brick. There was a rectangular hole in the wall in front of him.

He leaned close to the hole, his mouth near it. 'Looks like we'll just have to wait it out this time.'

'Yeah, like every other time.' The response came from the other side of the wall.

The boy replaced the brick into the wall without a sound, then he vanished.

Angie moved forward quickly, hand reaching out for the boy, but he was gone, like a dim memory flickering out in the back of her mind.

She pulled her legs under her and stood on her knees facing the wall. She hunted till she found the loose brick. With a great deal of effort, and a lot of grating noises, she was able to pull the brick from the wall.

She hesitated, then leaned her mouth close to the hole. "Hello?" she called. She turned her head so that her ear was facing the hole.

She heard a low groan in response. One that she recognized. "Chris!" she cried into the wall. "Are you all right?"

She could hear him moving as he sat up. "I'm still alive, at least." He groaned again. "It's so dark in here. Where are you?"

He was right about the darkness. The only light came from the glowing crystal veins cutting through the back walls and it was faint at best. "I'm next door," she told him. "Is Azri with you?"

"Yeah, he's here. He's awake, too."

"Is he alright?"

"I think so." His voice lowered as he spoke to Azri. "Dude, are you okay?" He received a low, mumbled reply. Angie strained to hear it, but couldn't make out the words. "Don't worry about it. I was pretty useless back there, too," Chris assured him.

"What's the matter?" Angie asked anxiously.

Chris' voice grew louder as he moved closer to the gap in the wall. "He says he remembers things now, but he's not really being forthcoming with details. I think seeing Gabriel spooked him bad."

Angie leaned her forehead against the cold stone and closed her eyes. "Tell him he's not the only one."

"So... What do we do now?"

She shook her head, pressing it into the stone. "I'm not sure. The room I'm in doesn't have a door. What about you?"

"Yeah, nada here too. How did we even get in here?"

"I wasn’t conscious for that part. Looks like we're stuck."

"Perfect..." Chris let out a sigh as he leaned his back on the wall. "Lilith packs a punch, I'll give her that."

"That wasn't Lilith," Angie said softly.

"Pardon?"

"Whatever that thing was that trapped us in here wasn't Lilith."

"She seemed like the final boss to me. How are you so sure?"

"Because I am."

"You've been hanging around vampires too much. You've caught their cryptic-ness. Can't you just explain properly?"

"It would take a while to explain." Her voice was troubled.

"Where am I gonna go? Besides, I think Azri needs a minute or two."

"It concerns what happened in Paris. When I lost my leg." Her hand clenched as the memories flooded back to her.

"You never told us what happened. Desyre could only tell us so much, but we guessed it was too painful for you to talk about." He stared into the dimness. "Mom and I figured we wouldn't push you till you were ready."

"There was a vampire in Paris, the leader of a group of vampires that controlled the city. His name was Manigault."

Chris nodded to himself. "Yeah, Desyre said he was the big bad, and everyone went to fight him after you and Kieran's mom were kidnapped."

"What she didn't tell you, because she didn't know, was that he tried to turn me into a vampire."
His whole body stiffened. "He what?"

"For a long time I never knew how other vampires were created, just that when someone is turned, they lose all memories of their previous life except for their last day. Gabriel never wanted that for me, and neither did Callie." She paused. "I learned that night the process of turning a human into a vampire."

She took a shaky breath before continuing. "A vampire's saliva is venomous. If a vampire bites you, you can be paralyzed, it can even stop your heart and kill you if they're strong enough. Their blood is also poisonous to humans, but it works differently, eating the brain. A human that drinks enough vampire blood would turn into a mindless drone, a ghoul."

"Lord Manigault bit me. His venom was strong enough to completely paralyze me. If Professor Barnes hadn't intervened, I wouldn't have been able to move at all. What I didn't tell anyone though, was that Lord Manigault also fed me some of his own blood."

Chris' breath hitched in his chest. His hands started trembling. "Evie, you're not saying..."

"Let me finish," she admonished him. "It's when the two venoms mix in the bloodstream that the process to create a vampire from a human begins, but it's a shaky process. At any time either venom could have just killed me or left me mindless. Doctor Smythe was there, thankfully, and he intervened."

"I wasn't really conscious for all of it, but I do remember him drawing the venoms out of me, along with a good bit of my own blood. He was going to mix them on his own, then slowly introduce the infected blood back into my body. That way I would be turned with minimal risks. Professor Barnes stopped him before he could do that last step."

Chris was breathing again, but he still wasn't relaxing. He squirmed as he waited for her to continue.

"After that Gabriel and Yuki killed Manigault and he didn't have another chance to turn me. That doesn't mean I made it through unaffected. Whether it was on purpose or not I have no way of knowing, but along with the blood I drank was some of Manigault's influence."

"Influence is carried in the blood. It seeps into a vampire's whole body, into the organs and down to the bones. That's how Gabriel is able to gain new abilities when he cannibalizes other vampires. In the same way I also gained something. Manigault's influence allowed him to see all truths, and now that is what my eyes do whether I want them to or not." Her hands started to shake. "I can even see through influence. It doesn't matter how strong it is, I'll see right through it, down to their true forms."

Tears dripped onto her sleeves as she bowed her head. "I don't have any control over it. I can't stop it. I wish I couldn't see everything I do now. It's a black shard in my heart and it stings so much, every second of the day. I can't get rid of it, because its master is dead. I'm only human; I wasn't built to harness influence. It hurts so much..." She let out a pained sob.

Chris felt hot tears in his own eyes hearing his sister's agony. He wished he knew the words that would comfort her, but his voice was blocked by the lump in his throat.

After a long moment, Angie had recovered enough to lift her head. The boy from before was standing next to her, looking at the wall. He held the brick in his hand, his expression grim.

Her eyes widened as she recognized his soft dark hair and eyes that were nearly black. His face had the chubby quality of youth, but she could see the familiar lines underneath.

'Hey,' he said. 'Let's kill Lilith.'

xxxXXXxxx

"We can't kill her Azrael, she's-" Ga'vriel stopped, his voice breaking. He bowed his head on the other side of the wall. "Why do we have to, anyway?"

"Are you seriously asking me that, after all she's done to us?" Azrael's voice was loud in irritation. "After what she's become?"

"They already tried once and look what happened!" Ga'vriel's voice took on a pleading note. "We're not strong enough. We'll never be able to..."

"If we do it together, then we have a chance. Besides, we don't have any other choice. If we don't kill her, we're never going to be free."

"I don't want to." Ga'vriel's voice turned pitiful. "I love her, even after everything she's done I still love her."

Azrael dropped the brick and placed both hands in the wall. His voice was forceful. "I do too, but she's not the one I love the most, not anymore. I won't let her continue to hurt you the way she does."

"She hurts you as well, not just me."

"I can endure that, but not you being hurt. I can't bear that any longer. I know I'm being selfish by asking you to help, but the only chance we have at succeeding is if we do it together."

"We're still not strong enough."

"You've got the most power. As long as you don't hold back, we can do it."

"What happens if we fail?"

Azrael pushed away from the wall. "Then she'll kill us."

He turned away from the small opening, to the wall on his left. He walked up to its blank surface and put his hand on the smooth stone.

The wall slid up with a loud grating sound, revealing a long hallway on the other side. "We don't have much time left."

xxxXXXxxx

Angie got to her feet shakily. She walked over to the wall she'd seen the boy exit from. It was blank and impassive. She placed her hand on the wall exactly as the boy had done.

Nothing happened.

She closed her eyes, concentrating on the dim memory of the boy. Pain twisted sharply in her chest.

The wall moved under her hand.

She opened her eyes as the wall slid up all the way. She stepped out into the corridor and looked up and down. Both directions stretched on into the distance.

She turned back inside, back over to the hole in the wall. "Chris, I found a way out. The wall on the left slides up. Go put your hand on it."

"My left or your left? Wait, Azri's trying it now." There was a pause. "It's not working."

Angie remembered the sharp pain in her chest. "You might need influence to open it."

"Perfect."

She hurried out into the hallway. The boy stood there, looking at the wall leading to the other room. He placed his hand on the outside and the wall slid up.

Angie blinked and he was gone, the wall unmoved. She walked over to it and placed her hand on the cold surface.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. The shard in her heart twisted again, causing her to gasp. The stone moved under her fingers, sliding up into the ceiling.

She opened her eyes to find Azri in front of her, his expression stunned. "How did you do that?"

"I have influence," she told him simply, her cold mask settling perfectly into place. She turned away from him and headed down the corridor.

"And I don't? That's horribly unfair." He followed after her, his expression petulant.

"Stow it," Chris told him as he followed last. "You're weird enough without it."

The two males followed Angie through the twisting, splitting corridors. She seemed to be following something herself, but they had no idea what.

Azri trailed his hand along the wall. The stone parts were smooth enough, but the crystal was like polished glass. The veins were laid into the stone seamlessly. “I can’t believe this place is still standing…”

“We’re underground, so technically it’s not standing,” Chris pointed out.

“Must you always be so annoying?” Azri asked irritably.

He shrugged. “It’s one of the perks of being the big brother. You look out for your younger sibling, protect them from harm. In return you get to be completely insufferable. Trust me, it’s in the manual.”

Azri’s fingers curled into his hand. His head bowed just enough to hide his eyes. “I suppose.”

Chris peered at his sister over Azri’s shoulder. “Where are we going anyway?”

“Somewhere,” Angie replied.

“Well, as long as it’s ‘somewhere’.”

She paused suddenly, turning away from the spectre she was trailing. She faced the blank wall and stared at it hard, as if she was trying to see through the stone. She placed her hand on the surface.

Chris was looking at her face, so he saw her cheek flinch slightly as if she were in pain. The wall slid up into the ceiling.

The room that was revealed was covered in briar. It twitched on the walls and curled restlessly on the floor.

Angie started picking her way through the thorny vines carefully, her eyes on the far wall. A mass of briar was clustered, too thick to see through. It moved as she approached, the vines retreating, revealing their prisoner.

She stared at Gabriel sadly for a moment, taking in his torn and bloody shirt, and missing eyes. He hung limply from the vines, his arms bound above him, his head leaning to the side.

“Just look at the pair of us,” she said. “Look at how messed up we both are this time...”

In the doorway, Azri lifted up one hand towards Gabriel. He started to step forward, but stopped, looking suddenly nervous. His expression was so tense and worried that Chris decided to stay near him, just in case.

Angie pulled her silver knife from the holster at her hip. She stepped close to Gabriel, reaching up to the briar that bound his wrists together. She tried not to look at his hands, the gray skin with fingers ending in sharp black claws.

He stirred then, moving his head. “It’s all right,” she said reassuringly. “I’m here now. We’ll be heading home soon.”

He leaned his forehead on her collarbone. “I’m sorry.” His voice was low and miserable. “I’m so sorry you had to come here.”

“It’s fine now. You made up for it by shooting yourself.” She glanced down at the wound on his chest as she worked the knife through the remaining vines. It had stopped bleeding, black and dry. “Why did you do that, by the way?” She remembered vividly his hands over hers as she held the gun. His fingers tightening over the trigger.

“I had to.” His voice cracked like that of a man dying of thirst. “I was going to say your name. I couldn’t let her know your real name.”

The last of the briar broke apart and his arms dropped to his sides. He slumped forward, leaning his weight on her. His hands made to move to her waist, but then dropped again limply.

Angie holstered the knife and put her hands on his shoulders. “I brought some blood with me. It should last you till we get to New York. I’ll call Ciel when we get back. He’ll bring you some of that stuff he has.”

He stood up straight then. “I can’t leave with you.”

“Yes you can,” she told him stubbornly. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

He reached up to the briar wrapped around his face. He pulled the thorns out of his eyes gingerly, then discarded it. “Lilith is still alive. I can’t leave till I finish what I’ve started.”

“You’re in no condition to be fighting anyone. I’ll do it instead.” She said it casually, as if killing the most powerful vampire in the world was a tough chore at best.

“You can’t. I started it, I’m the only one that can finish it.”

“That’s not true!”

It wasn’t Angie that spoke, but Azri. He stepped forward, shoulders trembling. “Have you been blaming yourself this whole time? Covering for me?” Both hands clenched tightly. “I was the one that failed! In the end I couldn’t go through with it!”

Gabriel stiffened when he heard Azri’s voice. His face turned towards him. “You…” His voice went weak.

“You’re terrible, you know that? You left me all alone in the cold. Now you finally come back after all this time and you just decide that you’re the only one that can do anything?” His dark eyes were fierce, his words like razors. “You’re the worst, Azrael!”

Both humans stiffened in surprise, looking back and forth between the two vampires. Gabriel stepped towards Azri, his hands reaching out. “Ga’vriel…”

Something like relief flooded Azri’s face. “You remember.”

“For the longest time I didn’t. Manigault was the one that made me remember. I realized then that I had something of yours.” He was only a few feet away from the other vampire now.

Ga’vriel’s eyebrows pressed together in confusion. “What?”

“Your influence.” Azrael’s hand shot out, gripping Ga’vriel’s face right over his mouth. Ga’vriel’s eyes widened in surprise. Azrael slammed him into the wall next to the doorway. “It’s about time I gave it back.”