Sin of the Saints (Between Delusion and Sobriety Duet #2)

Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Hillel

“Then theLordrained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from theLordout of heaven 1 .”

L ilith had developed an obsession over He who sat on high. It was the same obsession that had ultimately driven her to her doom. Her fury was the force that drove her, until all else around her vanished as far as she was concerned. Her offspring had sensed her rejection, and her lover had been filled with a sense of jealousy and wishes of vengeance.

“You’ve forgotten your place!” Hillel brings his wrath down upon Lilith. “You’ve neglected your obligations as mother and woman!”

“I’ve forgotten nothing.” She lowers her voice. “I am she who bears His damned curse. I didn’t ask for any of it.”

“Shut that pit you call a mouth!” He makes fists of his hands and his veins threaten to burst.

“I’ll do no such thing. You have no power over me!” Her flames wildly rage around her.

He bursts into dark and malicious laughter. “It seems you’ve deceived me. Apparently, He is the only one with power over you. You’ve never been able to break free of His chains.”

“And you have?” Bitter laughter bursts from her. “You yearned to sit on high, but you plummeted down, right into the underworld. The only ones you rule are the damned souls you steal from Him . Settling for His leftovers!”

The sound of Hillel slapping Lilith casts a paralyzing silence around them.

Lilith exhales heavily, and the hatred within her wells up. She breathes flames at Hillel. The fire is her ally, the only one that hasn’t betrayed her yet. She surrounds Hillel and he retreats in terror. Lilith lunges at him, her talons razor-sharp blades as she slices up Hillel’s back.

“You’ll fly no longer, damned to this place you shall remain forever. If all you wish is to imprison me, I’ll punish you the same way! I’ll make this place your prison.” She spits on him as he lies in his own blood, then she fixes his white wings to her own back – at which point they instantly turn black as the tar that fills her heart. “I don’t need you anymore, Hillel,” she spits her harsh words at him. “You and your offspring will go no further. I refuse to bear His curse. And if you, or they, dare to bring more offspring into the world, I’ll destroy them myself.”

With these last words she abandons Hillel, leaving behind only heartbreak and the legacy of revenge.

In his heart Hillel swears that someday he will return to the lands of Adam, to drag her back with him to the only place she belongs: Hell, the place of the accursed.

Lilith sent her wrath into the righteous hearts of mankind, and achieved her goal. She brought Hell to Earth, turned the lands of Adam to a realm of sin with her own hands. And as she predicted, God smote Sodom,Gomorrah and everything around them.

As soon as she had the upper hand, having fulfilled her heart’s desire, the rage in her cooled and emptiness consumed her. A bitter taste lingered in her mouth, she had no place left in the world. Not in the heavens, not in the abyss. There was no one left to hear her parting words before she dissolved into the shadows. She was unworthy. She would forever be banished, banished, banished.

“Lilith.” Her name leaves a sweet taste on my lips. It’s the name I bore as a prayer in the underworld, waiting until I was strong enough to break her curse and reincarnate in the realm of Man. And now, as my vessel is finally free of his stubbornness, I’ve managed to break free.

I open my eyes and see the full truth. Lilith is my truth. She’s my creed and my faith, and thanks to her my vision is clear.

I look at her beautiful face, but even the differences are so reminiscent of the image burned into my mind. Her black hair clings to her sweaty cheeks, her eyes are like two lost neon lightbulbs. Her parted lips are juicy and I’m almost tempted to fix my fangs in them.

“No!” she screams, squirming and fighting my grip, awakening me from the trance she’d caught me in. Damn it, she’s stubborn. I’m still sheathed inside her, and I have no intention of letting her flee from me again.

“Hear me, Lilith!”

“No!” she shouts, and the crimson aura around her stokes the flames, which have already burnt up the entire cabin.

The girl Lilith chose in her current incarnation is worthy of her, I can’t argue that, but it’s time to put an end to her misdeeds. Our offspring Ashmedai has lost control of things. And if I don’t protect her, she might discover that all her past incarnations were child’s play compared to what he’s planning for her if his designs succeed.

“Bar! Bar!” She keeps screaming his name, and jealousy burns within me. I gag her with one hand, using the other to thrust my erection into her as it stirs to life again. I’ve missed her, longed for this moment. I have no intention of apologizing for that.

“Shut your mouth for a moment—” I want to explain it all to her, to have an opportunity to defend myself, but she squirms so quickly that my hand slips from her mouth a bit, and her fangs pierce my skin as she bites down.

“Fuuuuuuck!” I roar in pain. “If it’s my blood you want, all you have to do is ask, Lilith!” I grind my teeth. My words anger her, and she spits my blood in my face.

I close my eyes tight and take a deep breath, very close indeed to losing my patience.

She tries to flap her black wings, the same wings she stole from me, but my grip on her just tightens further. My cock is deep inside her, and even as she tries to fight me she whines with pleasure.

Yes, beloved, just like that.

The moment she picks up on my satisfied smile, she bares her fangs and charges at my neck. I know just what her plan is. She thinks she can banish me from here, but once I broke loose of my prison, only I have the ability to decide that.

“Take me, damned one, let me remind you how you loved to taste me.” I taunt her, thrusting into her again and again.

“Liar!” she shouts between grunts. “I hate you!” I chuckle at the thought that the only lies are the ones coming out of her mouth.

I decide to test my assumption and release her hands, holding her only by her hips as I bounce her on my cock. As I predicted, she doesn’t fight me, wrapping her arms around my neck, clawing and breaking my skin, groaning against my neck as she feeds on me, taking me into her.

“Yes, beloved, take me.” She wails in response, and I feel myself approaching the edge. I want to tumble off it with her. I reach between her legs and soak her in her wetness and her blood. “Taste yourself, what only I can give you!” I command, and she obeys. She withdraws from my neck and sensually licks my fingers. Her eyes are crazed, the madness in which I found a home so long ago, before we knew what true Hell was.

“Hillel.” She looks into my eyes. Her eyes are gleaming white, full of tears that push me over the brink. She calls my name again and again and explodes with me.

She’s returned to me. My Lilith has returned to me.

Damn it, my heart pounds in my chest like it’s about to give out beneath the burden of my love for her. Who knew walking the lands of Adam could undermine me so? When I manage to draw breath – a privilege I didn’t know I was entitled to – I look at her. Her gaze is downcast and the tears fall from her eyes like a mourning river.

“Look at me, my lovely,” I implore her.

“No.” Her voice is assertive and cold, with the power to freeze Hell itself.

“We have to move. It’s only a matter of time before emergency services flock here. We’ve made quite a scene. The fires of our passion are spreading, igniting this entire forest.”

“Let it,” she says. “Sooner or later we’ll have to be judged for our crimes.”

I caress her face and wipe the blood-streaked tears from her eyes. We’re both covered in blood, you’d think there was a slaughter here.

“Come with me,” I pull her out of the fire. Fortunately, she doesn’t resist, and follows me in a submission that’s unlike her. There are many things we’ll have to catch up on. Though I’d watched her all this time, I had no access to the only place that mattered – her heart.

I hiss a string of curses as I realize the car we arrived in has gone up in flames as well, and I lead Lilith onward into the forest, far from the main road. I have no doubt Search and Rescue forces will be arriving here soon, and perhaps even the Army of the Saints are on our trail as well. If that’s not enough, I know Ashmedai went hunting for us as soon as he discovered that Lilith had fled the castle.

I’ll make him pay for everything he’s done to her.

Most importantly, I’ll make He who sits on high pay for His meddling, His coveting of she who belongs only to me. When He granted her His gifts, He made me seem weak. Like I couldn’t protect her myself. I need to teach Him to mind His own affairs and not stick His nose into mine. He was the one who banished her, so why does He continue to pursue her? Why grant her His powers?

We stop by a farm, the lights on the top floor are on. I look at Lilith, still stunned, and pull her after me. The lock on the front door is no challenge at all, I break the door down and we enter the darkened foyer.

Voices come from the top floor and I hurriedly disappear into the shadows. A man long past his prime comes down the stairs, holding a hunting rifle. I sneak up behind him and with bare hands break his delicate neck, before he notices us.

The screams of two women break the silence of the night. One comes from the stairwell, the other from Lilith behind me. When did she become so sensitive to the lives of humans?

I don’t delay as I pull her up the stairs after me. I pounce upon the old woman before she can scream again, and use my strength to twist her head around. Her lifeless body collapses to the ground and rolls down the stairwell.

“What are you doing?!” Lilith tries to extract herself from my grip, screaming as though possessed.

“Don’t act so sanctimonious, Lilith. The blood on my hands pales in comparison to the blood on yours.”

She shakes her head wildly. “No, that’s another life.”

“Their souls are mine now.” The look of terror on her face amuses me. It’s time for her to know that all my cruelty originates in her. “After we cleanse our bodies, it’ll be time for us to talk.”

“There isn’t enough water and soap in the world to cleanse you of your abomination,” she spits venomously.

“And you, Lilith? You’ve become a hypocrite, just like Him. ”

“ He has nothing to do with it, it’s my choice, do you hear? Mine! I left you. I was a fool to think you wouldn’t seek revenge! You’ve taken Bar from me! You’ve taken the one I gave my heart to!” She starts beating my exposed chest again and again.

“You gave it to me, Lilith, and you know it.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Do I look like someone who’s here to play around?”

She lets out a derisive snort. “After what you just did? From where I’m standing it certainly looks like a fucking amusement park full of crazy murderers. So why shouldn’t you look that way?”

I grip her shoulders and shake her so she looks into my eyes. She doesn’t seem too thrilled by the display of anger she invokes in me.

“Lilith tried to protect me from you, you know. And like a fool, I didn’t understand. I was blinded by the glow of the guardian angel I thought was mine. How dare you say he’s you?”

“I never told you how I ended up banished, just like you. I want to tell you. But damn it, you have to stop and listen to me.”

“The word of an evil sinner is worthless,” she growls, raising her chin at me defiantly. Okay, message received, Lilith, you’re not intimidated by me. How do we find ourselves fighting each other again and again? “And my name is Belle, damn it!”

“You may insist on separating yourself from her, but you are Lilith. You’re just afraid to confront the truth. With me.”

“So you’re saying Bar’s in there?” She sticks her finger in my chest and I’m alarmed as her long talon pierces my skin.

“Yes, Lilith, I’m here.” I look into her white eyes and she withdraws in shock. “I am the fallen angel. The one who fell bereft of God’s scripture. The one who coveted His greatest creation. From the day He created you, I yearned for you, you stirred in me the most horrible sin of all in His eyes – lust.”

“Lilith is the source of all that fighting?”

I chuckle. “You are also the flames that continue to incite it. Even after He banished you, He still had a soft spot for you. Despite all the rage you turned upon Him, despite all the deaths you caused, He still truly loves you, Lilith.”

“That can’t be…”

“But He won’t have you, I won’t let that happen. He thinks that just because He gave you His gifts, His powers, that He can atone for what He did. Damn it, Lilith, He erased you from His scripture! I gave you the Book of the Hebrews so you’d see for yourself, when you were just a student in my class!”

She wraps her arms around herself in silence, her forehead wrinkled. I want to touch her, I can’t not. I reach a hand out to her but she turns her back to me, with the wings she stole from me. They’ve turned black, dark as her lost soul the day she lost her mind.

“I-I…” she starts to speak, but immediately changes her mind.

“Talk to me, Lilith. I meant what I said. I asked you to trust me, to know that you are always safe with me. It was me. Always. Then and now.”

She turns to me, raises her head and turns her maddening eyes upon me.

“I don’t know you,” she whispers, but then she clears her throat and in a steady voice she says: “For the millionth time, you piece of shit: my name is Belle Fermi.”