“You hurt my friend,” Lilith hissed, her rage bubbling higher as she snapped an arm and prompted a scream from the villain. Dodging an awkward punch, she hit him in the stomach again, her voice deadly. “You made her lie to me, and did something horrible to her.”
Lilith snapped one of the villain’s legs like a twig, dropping him to the floor. As he moaned in agony, she stood over him for a moment, debating. Then she smiled. “I think you deserve this.”
She brought her foot down with all the strength she could muster between the villain’s legs. She tried to ignore the resulting sensations, made easier as he let out a scream of agony that hurt her ears.
“Shut up,” Lilith snapped, kicking him again, this time in the jaw. She used more force than she’d intended, and suspected that she’d broken his jaw, but it did the job of knocking Blue Impulse unconscious. She paused to be certain, then turned to look at Gina.
Approaching her friend, she studied the other woman in concern. Lilith’s hands and feet were throbbing from where she’d hit Blue Impulse, but she thought the discomfort was well worth it. Especially with how Gina had looked when she’d first entered the room.
Gina’s eyes didn’t betray so much despair anymore. Instead they seemed like they were filled with what Lilith thought was shock and hope. Even so, Gina hadn’t moved, which concerned Lilith, her own voice a little unsteady. “Gina? Are you okay?”
“Am… am I okay?” Gina’s voice started out strained, and she started to break down, swallowing hard as she shook her head, shivering as tears began to trickle down her face. “I was kidnapped, then I was magically enslaved by a bastard who planned to rape me. He was going to rape you in front of me! He made me tell him everything about the others, too, and was going to sell off the information to other villains! How… how could I be okay after that?”
“Shh… it’ll be alright, Gina.” Alarm flickered through Lilith as she saw Gina break down. She quickly stepped forward and reached up to unhook the chains holding Gina’s arms above her head, then pulled her friend into an embrace. Lilith’s voice was soft as she promised, “It’s over, Gina. He’s never going to hurt you again, I promise.”
Reaching up carefully, Lilith tentatively tried to grasp the glowing line connecting Gina to Blue Impulse’s crown. The line, the conduit, was almost real to her, and she felt that it was unstable but growing stronger. If she could break it, it might free Gina from the magical slavery that she’d been subjected to, but it was also possible that there would be other side effects as well.
“How can you promise that? He said it was too deep, and that soon it’d be irreversible. You can’t use magic… can you?” Gina asked, shivering in Lilith’s arms. The woman’s body temperature felt high to Lilith, which worried her. Lilith took the time to undo the clasps of the manacles holding Gina’s wrists together, but her friend wasn’t trying to get away from the pole, which was odd.
“No, I can’t use magic, Gina. That doesn’t mean I can’t help you, though,” Lilith answered, gently stroking her fingers through Gina’s beautiful golden hair, trying to ignore the other changes to her friend. The physical alterations were worrying, but all they did was make Gina look more exotic, not detract from her beauty. The mental impact to Gina was the worrying part, and Lilith had to suppress the urge to go over and finish off the man on the floor. Instead she asked softly, “Why aren’t you trying to get out of here, Gina?”
“Because he enslaved me, and ordered me not to interfere with his fun, or try to escape,” Gina replied, her tone bitter as she leaned against Lilith. “I’m glad, because otherwise I might’ve tried to help him against you. I… wouldn’t have liked that.”
“I see,” Lilith murmured, digesting the explanation unhappily, looking at the conduit again. As much as she wanted to destroy the connection, the risk of it weighed on her, and it wasn’t Lilith that would be taking the risk. Still, there was no harm in asking Gina if she wanted her to attempt it. Closing her eyes, Lilith sighed and asked. “Gina, I think I can see the connection between the two of you, though I’m not sure how it’s possible. I checked a moment ago, and I can almost touch it. I think I can break it, but there’s a risk to that. I don’t know what will happen if the connection breaks, or if it’ll do something to you. If you want me to, I’ll try, though.”
“I…” Gina paused, her voice quivering as she looked up into Lilith’s eyes. Tears continued to trickle down her cheeks, and she swallowed hard, blinking several times. Lilith felt her heart aching at the devastation in her beloved friend’s huge, hurt eyes. She’d completely understand if Gina wanted to wait for Rachel to respond and see if she could fix the problem. But at last Gina bit her lip, then asked, “Do it, please?”
“Are you certain? We could always wait for Rachel, to see if she could prevent any problems. You did have the investigation into my past going on, to make sure—” Lilith began, and Gina suddenly shook her head, reaching up and pulling Lilith into a sudden, unexpected kiss.
Gina’s azure lips met Lilith’s, and it was like a bolt of electricity ran through Lilith from head to toe, but far more pleasant than she would have expected. Lilith wasn’t able to react for a long moment, but Gina just pressed harder, and Lilith felt her reluctance give way. Wrapping her arms around Gina, Lilith kissed the heroine in return, as pure, intoxicating bliss washed over her. When Gina finally broke off the kiss, Lilith was in a daze, holding Gina as she blinked slowly and tried to process the new, overwhelming sensations.
“I don’t care. When he was interrogating me, he forced me to examine my feelings more deeply. I trust you, Lilith, and damn the consequences. I think I might love you, and that matters more than some investigation,” Gina told her, swallowing visibly as she continued. “Besides, I can feel the link getting stronger. If we wait too long, it might not be reversible. Please, try?”
“I… I just…” Lilith replied, blinking several times, then blushed and nodded slowly. Bowing her head, she spoke. “Your trust is flattering, Gina, and I appreciate it deeply. I just… I have secrets of my own, and I promise to tell you about them soon. It’s only right that you know.”
“T-thank you, Lilith. That means a lot to me,” Gina replied with a strange blue-hued blush. “Free me, please? If you can.”
Lilith found that she didn’t want to let go of Gina. After a few moments of arguing with herself, breathing in Gina’s soft scent, she reluctantly dragged herself away from her friend. Reaching out to touch the conduit, Lilith followed along it until she reached the villain. Looking down at the bleeding man, Lilith felt no pity at all for him, not after hearing what he had in mind for her and Gina. Either way, it didn’t matter in the end, and she debated on how to go about freeing Gina. After a moment she settled on trying to get the circlet off his head, and reached for it.
The metal was cool under her fingers, but Lilith frowned as she realized that it was so snug around his skull that it didn’t budge at her gentle pull. She tugged several times, but it didn’t move. After a few more seconds, she decided to try something else. Taking one of the villain’s hands, she brought the uninjured limb up to his head and used his fingers to prod at the circlet. At first there was no response, but after a few seconds the circlet seemed to soften and relax, and she slipped it free with a satisfied murmur. “There we go.”
Now that she had the circlet in her hands, Lilith paused, frowning. It was still linked to Gina, and she’d hoped that it’d break the moment she got it loose. Still, she had it in hand, and she looked around the room for something she could use to break the circlet. She was fairly sure she couldn’t manage it bare-handed, or she’d try that. In one of the corners she could see what looked like some tools, so she set the circlet down, explaining, “I’m going to see if there’s something I can use to break it in the corner, Gina.”
Jogging over to the cluttered corner of the warehouse, Lilith’s eyes lit up. There were a handful of gardening tools, but the one that drew her eye was the maul axe. It wasn’t what she
normally thought of as a gardening tool, unlike shovels and rakes, but under the circumstances she was happy to see it. “Ah, there we go!”
She took the axe and a shovel before heading back over, smiling as she saw Gina look at the axe in obvious concern. “I don’t think I can break it bare-handed, so this is the best way. It’s relatively safe, I hope?”
“I… don’t know. I don’t know enough about the magic in it,” Gina replied hesitantly. “Still, I don’t see any other way to manage it… be careful, please?”
“Of course,” Lilith promised, picking up the circlet and stepping a few dozen paces away from Gina before setting it down. She didn’t look forward to any shrapnel, but it was what it was. Using the shovel to weigh the end without the stone down, Lilith stepped back and lined up the flat end of the axe with the gemstone, taking a deep breath. She didn’t hesitate any longer, not wanting to risk Gina’s safety, and she averted her eyes as she brought the axe around to crash down on the circlet.
The axe hit the circlet with a clang of metal and the cracking of shattering stone, and Lilith heard a sharp gasp from Gina’s direction, but she was a bit distracted by the flash of bright blue light in front of her. The conduit broke free of the stone like a writhing snake, whipping through the air wildly as it was sucked back toward Gina almost like a tape measure retracting. Where the stone had been was a cloud of brilliant blue mist, and even as Lilith tried to retreat, it swirled toward her and into her.
Heat blazed through Lilith’s body, and suddenly her nerves were overloaded with a sense of perfect clarity, affecting every sense she had. For a moment Lilith felt as though she could see every mote of dust in the warehouse, and that every sound was crystal clear, from Gina’s gasp to the echoing chime of her axe-stroke. She could almost identify every fiber that touched her skin, and something inside her… shifted. Something dormant stirred and began to wake. What it was, Lilith couldn’t have said, as the sense of clarity began to fade again.
Turning toward Gina, Lilith began to smile at her friend, feeling relief wash through her. But as she took a step, Lilith’s legs almost collapsed beneath her, and she felt like the world was swaying around her. Swallowing hard, Lilith fell to her knees, blinking rapidly as the world moved. The sensation went on for a long minute before beginning to fade again, leaving Lilith dazed, confused, and worried.
Gina couldn’t help the confusion that had been washing through her for the last several minutes. What she’d told Lilith had been pure truth, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t embarrass Gina. She’d surprised even herself when she’d suddenly kissed Lilith, and it was obvious that Lilith hadn’t been expecting it. In fact, the other woman’s embarrassment had been oddly adorable. In addition, Blue Impulse had essentially admitted to having been the source of her strange dreams, but there was no reason he’d have made her start falling for Lilith.
Lilith’s own admission that she’d been keeping secrets was unsurprising, at least after seeing how she’d beaten Gina’s captor unconscious. It was still gratifying that she was going to tell Gina everything, and that would likely help put Rachel’s worries to rest at last. That and the rescue, though the other heroes on the team were probably going to throw fits.
A part of Gina was surprised that Lilith hadn’t decided to finish off Blue Impulse, but she was honestly relieved. Even though she hated him more than she’d hated anyone in her life, it just wasn’t right to kill someone who was helpless. Besides, heroes didn’t kill unless they had absolutely no other choice, even if Lilith wasn’t a hero. If she was being honest, she thought that if her own team had been the ones to show up, there were even odds that Blue Impulse would’ve suffered an accident in the rescue, so it might actually turn out that Lilith was easier on her captor in the end. Not that he’d likely appreciate being made a eunuch.
She’d felt a little worry when Lilith had been trying to figure out how to remove the circlet, and more as she thought about how to break it, but in the end Lilith had managed. It felt so odd to watch her friend heft a maul axe, but in the end it was for the best. Then Lilith had brought the axe down on the circlet, causing the spellgem to detonate sharply.
As the stone exploded, Gina’s eyes went huge as the magical conduit suddenly became visible, and she could feel her body begin to suck the link in now that it didn’t have another end, like a cable that’d been pulled taut. She only had a moment to brace herself as a massive surge of magic flooded into her. It was almost too much, and heat flooded Gina as brilliant waves of energy roiled throughout her body, causing both pain and pleasure with every surge. The power was too much, too sudden, and Gina grappled with it, trying to figure out what to do.
A flash of brilliance gave her the solution, and Gina abruptly opened her mind to the flooding magic, well aware that it was a risk, but in the process she exposed the spell that had been woven over her mind to the surging waves of magic. The spell hadn’t fully penetrated Gina’s mind yet, so the magic hit it first, slamming into it as the curse turned into an impromptu shield for the heroine’s mind and body.
Strange sensations seared through Gina as the magic burned away piece after piece of the spell trying to enslave her. While any ability to command her had been removed with the destruction of the circlet, the spell had still been in place, but even as she watched, her mind burning under the waves of power, Gina saw the spell shatter and break. The curse was more resilient, but even it began to buckle under the pulsing magic, much of its strength washing away.
Slowly the tide of magic faded, and Gina blinked slowly, looking over and realizing that what had seemed like a small eternity hadn’t been even seconds, for Lilith was still surrounded by a cloud of blue magic that was slowly dissipating around her. Lilith turned, and the smile on her face sent a flood of happiness that she couldn’t describe through Gina. The happiness turned to worry and horror as Lilith took a step, and for the first time since Gina had met Lilith, the other woman stumbled, lurching as if drunk. Looking confused, Lilith collapsed to her knees, her breathing coming hard and fast.
“W-what… just happened…?” Lilith asked, her voice confused as she tried to stand, but failed.
It took Gina a few seconds to realize that she didn’t have the villain’s compulsion holding her in place, and she shook herself, rushing over to Lilith, even as she took stock of her own body. The physical changes hadn’t reverted, which frustrated her, but otherwise she felt surprisingly well. She quickly knelt next to Lilith on the cold floor, swallowing hard as she looked the other woman in the eyes.
“Lilith, are you alright? I mean, I saw the magic surround you,” Gina asked, her voice trembling in barely suppressed worry. “You did it for me, and I just… are you okay? I thought I’d be at risk, not you!”
Lilith breathed in deeply, then out, her hands on the pavement. After a few seconds she shook herself and looked at Gina, smiling at her and shaking her head. “I’m not entirely certain, if I’m being honest, Gina. I had an… interesting few moments there. For a second I felt like I could sense everything. I thought it went back to normal, but when I took a few steps, the ground wasn’t steady beneath me. I assume that we haven’t had an earthquake in, oh, the last thirty seconds?”
“No, we haven’t. Damn it, I half wish that I hadn’t asked you to break it, if that’s how it affected you,” Gina replied, wrapping her arms around Lilith. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I think so. I think I may have been dealing with sensory overload, and that was strange. Don’t be upset, though. I offered to do it, Gina,” Lilith assured her, patting Gina on the back slowly. “Mind, it isn’t an experience I’d care to repeat. I like being able to control my body a little too much. How can anyone take mind-altering drugs, if they have effects like that?”
“I don’t know, really. Maybe because sometimes they’re better than the diseases people suffer from? In the cases that they’re taken for medical reasons, at least,” Gina suggested, still worried about how slowly and unsteadily Lilith was m
oving. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Hmm… I suppose. Maybe it was just that my senses are so heightened in comparison to most humans,” Lilith murmured, taking a deep breath and slowly standing up, then pausing. “I don’t think I want to be walking for a bit, though. Let’s go sit in those chairs for a minute. I’m still unsteady.”
“Of course,” Gina agreed, standing and putting one of Lilith’s arms around her shoulders, then helped her over to the pair of folding chairs that Blue Impulse had brought in for their meal. Letting Lilith sit first, she sat nearby in the other, taking a deep breath. “This is wonderful. I don’t suppose you called Rachel before coming, did you? We should contact her and the others.”
“I did call her, but she didn’t answer. I left a message, and have been waiting for a reply,” Lilith replied, shaking her head. “It’s been an interesting day, hasn’t it? I’m just glad I knew something was wrong when you called.”
That Lilith had known, and had called Rachel was like a breath of fresh air for Gina. Relief flooded her, and she smiled. She scooted her chair over to be next to the other woman, and as she thought about things, tears began to well up in her eyes as she spoke. “I’m glad you did, too. That was… was horribly close. If you hadn’t rescued me, I might’ve been his until the day I died, and that terrifies me. Hell, if he hadn’t wanted to hurt me even more, he probably would’ve… would’ve…”
“Shh… don’t worry about it, Gina. I did stop him. He no longer has a hold over you, does he?” Lilith murmured soothingly, wrapping an arm around Gina’s shoulders gently.
“No, he doesn’t. The spell was burnt away when you broke the circlet,” Gina agreed, hugging Lilith tightly and relaxing at her words, nodding. Her terror eased slightly and she swallowed again, looking at him and adding, “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t just… kill him.”
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 20