The Lillim Callina Chronicles: Volumes 1-3

by J. A. Cipriano

  This weapon was known as Haijiku, which was Japanese for defeat or reversal, and had been inhabited by a being known only as The Emissary of Tragedy. After I’d killed the owner, the spirit had fled, leaving nothing but an empty husk. If I was going to try wielding this blade, I’d need someone to find The Emissary and convince him to return, otherwise Haijiku would be nothing more than a really pretty sword.

  Fortunately, while I wasn’t really able to commune with the forces of darkness, Mattoc could and well, let’s just say being his anchor had its perks. I shifted my weight and very slowly traced my left index finger along the skin above my left breast. This was the spot where Mattoc was metaphysically bound to me.

  There was a sizzling sound as a sigil of a coiling serpent began to glow brightly on my flesh. I staggered backward and fell to my knees. The light drained from the room, leaving me in pitch darkness. Power as old as a thousand suns washed over me, pulling me down into a time before all things, before order and structure, to a time when there was only chaos.

  I stood in a very small boat with the eye of a gigantic snake staring lazily at me. It was so dark, it was like looking at a black hole up close. The force of its gaze threatened to suck me into that swirling, endless darkness. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. The serpent was three, four-hundred meters maybe? I wasn’t inclined to try to figure it out how big it was since the snake could be as big as it wanted to be.

  “Yes?” Apep muttered in a bored sort of indifference that suggested he had much better things to do than convene with me. This may or may not have been true, but like it or not, the creature had inhabited Hisen Mattoc’s Dioscuri weapon. Since Mattoc was bound to me, the least it could do was help me. Right?

  I started to speak, but it cut me off, its serpentine tongue flicking out over fangs bigger than my body. “If you have come to inquire about the status of Shirajirashii, you will have to direct yourself to Isis or Set. They are your spirits. I’m more or less along for the ride.”

  “Nah,” I said. “I don’t have time to reforge Shirajirashii.” I showed him Haijiku, and the blade shimmered, little sparks of iridescent color leaping across its surface. “I’ve decided to wield Haijiku. I need you to contact The Emissary. I need him to bond with Haijiku once more.”

  The creature nodded, its approving expression annoying me to an absurd degree though I wasn’t quite sure why. The tiny boat rocked as its body shook the water around me, almost making me lose my balance. My gut told me I really did not want to fall into these waters. “Anything else the Great God of Darkness can do for you? Perhaps you need some dry cleaning picked up?”

  I glared at him for a moment and sheathed Haijiku. “Do you know who took the baby?”

  The serpent scoffed and turned away. “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I am certain.” Apep turned its head to regard me and its tongue flicked out, so close it nearly touched me. A tremor ran down my spine, and I barely resisted the urge to flee.

  “But you could find out, right? This is a tiny planet. How hard can it be to find one baby for the great God of Darkness?”

  “Even I, the great darkness that swallows the sun, do not have the power to help you without Mattoc’s link restored. If you’d asked me before you’d lost him, I might have been able to help you.” A shiver rippled down the length of its massive body. “Unfortunately… this is where we must part company.”

  “Will you find the Emissary?” I asked, as the snake began to fade away.

  He started to answer, and as he did, the entire scene shattered, leaving me standing in my apartment.

  My breath whooshed out of my lungs, and I sank to my knees, too shocked to realize I couldn’t breathe. Logan stood over me, his fangs bared. “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

  24

  “Are you freaking serious?” I grumbled, sucking in a breath. Stupid wards getting blown up. If that hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t have been able to enter my apartment, you know, unless he dampened the magical energy by lighting it on fire.

  “Yes.” Logan pushed my pink lamp off the bookshelf, and it fell to the carpet, but didn’t shatter. This seemed to disappoint him.

  Nice. The world was about to end, and Logan was trying to break my stuff. I got to my feet and darted past him in an effort to escape through my door, but before I made it out, the thick arm of Bob broadsided me. I fell backward on my butt as he stepped into the room. Bob waved his hand in an amiable greeting.

  “Hello, Dioscuri. It’s been ages.” He lowered his sunglasses, and I caught sight of his bloodshot eyes.

  “Bob, how’s the arm?” I slowly got to my feet. If they wanted me dead, it would be so, but I’d make them pay for it.

  “Glorious.” He smiled, holding up his arm. It looked good as new. Next to him, Logan paced back and forth, agitated and concerned.

  I threw my arm backward in a sweeping gesture. “How nice of you to visit my humble home.”

  “Humble is a bit strong. Perhaps filthy hovel would be more suitable a term,” Bob said, and his voice had an edge of ice to it. I glanced over my shoulder at Logan who was clenching and unclenching the Demonslayer nervously.

  “It was a lot nicer before an unnamed vampire tried to burn it down.” I held my hands out apologetically. “Or if my wards actually succeeded in keeping unwanted visitors outside—”

  “You are like a tiny dog. Always yapping, yap-yap-yap. It’s so annoying,” Logan said, and I craned my head toward him.

  “Look,” I said as calmly as I could, “I need to be doing important things.” I paused and pointed out the window. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really busy.”

  Bob opened his mouth to say something, but I held up my hand to stop him. It worked, and for a moment, he just stared at me. “If you’re going to tell me how insignificant I am, or how I ought to be glad a being as powerful as you has decided that blah, blah, blah, I swear to God—”

  “You will what?” Bob raised an eyebrow. His dark eyes watched me, and it was almost as though a large shadow rose out of him, unfurled its leathery wings, and raged at me. My body quivered, and I bit my lip. I took a deep breath, and without breaking eye contact, pulled the shotgun free from its holster and unloaded it into him.

  After the roar of the gun faded, there was no sound. Bob remained there, standing impassively. Some of the metal had bitten into his flesh, but most lay at his feet. What had sunk into his skin was being pushed outward as the wounds healed. Granted, I had known what to expect from him in the way of physical fortitude, but a blast like that should have done more damage. I knew this because I had done it only a few days before. So… that was a little weird.

  “If you do something like that again, I will throw you from the top of Mount Olympus, and I will suck the marrow from your bones. I will place you in a hell of brambles and fire. When I am through, even Warthor Ein will not be able to put you back together again.” He placed a single finger to my trembling lips, and a rush of heat hit my face. His lips crooked to the side, and despite the tremors sprinting down my spine, made me feel like one of those cheerleaders when the captain of the football team asked her out.

  Really, you want to go out with me? Little old me? I had to remind myself I wasn’t that kind of girl… but right now, with Bob’s power washing over me, I really wanted to be.

  As I reached out toward the vampire with one hand, Georgie poked his head out of my pocket and puffed indignantly. I glanced down at the hedgehog, and my mind cleared enough to shake off the feeling.

  “Yeah… that’s not happening,” I growled as I pulled Georgie from my pocket and put him back in his cage.

  “Lillim,” Logan said from behind me. I shoved more shells into the shotgun and turned toward him.

  “Logan,” I said sternly, pointing the gun at him. I wasn’t sure how he had gotten here, but now was my chance to make him pay for everything he’d done. “You have one second to tell me what’s goi
ng on or these next two shots are going into your chest... wait a second. What happened to you?”

  His body no longer had that weird decayed look. I took a step toward him, and the lights went out. A scream ripped through the darkness, and I fired the shotgun in its direction. Something hit me hard, and the gun was torn from my hand as I flew backward. My shoulder sparked in pain as I hit the floor. I scrambled across the floor, and something slammed into my stomach, pushing the air violently from my lungs. I collapsed in a heap.

  A flash of light exploded from Melt, illuminating Bob. Blood ran down his face as he swung the massive blade. What scared me, however, was that the light went out so quickly. It was as though he had attacked the darkness and the darkness had, quite simply, swallowed it.

  I crawled under my desk and huddled there, trying to figure out what was going on. Another bloodcurdling scream ripped through the darkness followed by a wet-sounding thump. As the scream faded I strained to hear something, anything but silence.

  My hands trembled, and I clenched and unclenched them nervously. There was no sound besides my own desperate breathing. I clamped one of my hands over my mouth to stifle the noise. I could see nothing from my vantage point until a single spark began to dance around on the end of a cigarette.

  “Ahh, smoking is truly one of the most splendid vices, but isn’t that what a vice really is, a deplorable pleasure?” A strangely familiar, deep, throaty voice tore through the silence as the cigarette was flicked. It landed in the middle of the room, a spark in the darkness.

  “Isn’t it odd how your kind classifies things? For instance, dark is seen as bad and corrupt, while white is seen as pure and safe. How very odd it is when you consider that darkness is the absence of all things while light is the whore of color. It’s as though the light could not be satisfied to contain just one color but felt an insatiable need to own them all. So is that how it is? The most pure is the most corrupt?”

  The lights came on, and I gagged from the sight and smell. The vampires were staked to the walls. Alive. They struggled against the thick spikes of wood shoved through their feet, hands, and chests. Entrails and other slimy bits littered the floor around them.

  Caleb stood looking at me with that same dopey grin he always used. His blond hair was splayed out at impossible angles that had to be cultivated with an enormous amount of product. A white lab coat covered in neon splotches shielded the rest of his body from view. I took a step back, and my breath caught in my throat.

  “Caleb…” My voice came out in a whisper, more mouse than lion. I’m not sure what sort of response I expected, but Caleb just stood there, staring at me and grinning. Now, looking into his face, it hit me like a punch in the stomach. He had saved me, again. No, it wasn’t really that he had saved me. It was that he had come to save me, even though I’d ditched him. Why?

  I shook my head, hoping my face wasn’t as flushed as it felt and took a step toward him, my left hand reaching toward his face. He smiled at me and winked in that carefree way that made butterflies flutter in my stomach.

  He smirked again, took a few steps back, and tapped a pack of cigarettes to his palm. He withdrew a solitary unfiltered cigarette with his teeth. He sucked on the end for a moment as if he was pondering some great spiritual truth, and then lit it with a snap of his fingers. After incessantly puffing until it was just a nub in his hand, he nonchalantly flicked it to the ground.

  I took a quick step back, my breath caught in my throat. The Caleb I knew had never smoked a day in his life. So why was he smoking now? It didn’t make sense.

  He stepped to the side, smothering the cigarette with the heel of his boot before bending to pick up the fallen Demonslayer. His eyes glowed with a cool fire that hadn’t been there a second ago. Darkness coalesced around his features, wrapping around him like a cloak.

  His face was very near Logan’s now, and with a queer little smile, he blew the smoke at the vampire. “I suppose I should thank you for summoning me.” He paused thoughtfully and turned toward me, and as he did, I realized it wasn’t Caleb looking at me. Sure, this thing looked like him, but it wasn’t. Caleb could never look at me like I was someone he wanted to hurt for the fun of it.

  I pushed down the chill of that look and focused on his face, trying to figure out the answer to two very important questions. It was either that or freak out, and I wasn’t about to break down when I had an ass the size of Cleveland to kick. Question one, was Caleb being inhabited by a body snatcher or was it just an illusion to make someone or something look like him? Question two, how do I kill said thing?

  “Or you could just leave,” I said, glaring at him as uncontrollable rage welled up inside me. “I’m having a hell of a day, and I don’t have time for whatever this is.” I gestured at him.

  “But I won’t,” he responded after a moment and patted Logan’s leg. “I assure you, it took a lot of work to get into this body.” He grinned at me, and his tongue snaked out over his lips. “I plan to make the most of it. After all, I picked this one just for you. I wanted one you would remember.”

  I tried to swallow, but my mouth had gone dry. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling. “One question.”

  “I hope it isn’t, why didn’t I nail you to the wall as well.” Caleb shook his head.

  “No. Who exactly did Logan summon when he crafted that sword?” I pointed at the Demonslayer which now possessed all the life of a dead branch. He tossed it to the side, and it clattered lifelessly to the ground. Somehow, someway, the demon had somehow managed to rip itself out of the sword.

  This was a demon, one who knew enough about me to spook me by using Caleb’s body. Somehow, it was fully composed in the physical world, and instead of inhabiting an avatar of flame as it had in its last iteration, it occupied an actual flesh and blood form. How had it managed to do that?

  “Surely you recognize me.” He oozed up to me and caressed my cheek. “Even in this lovely form. After all, I’m famous.”

  “Can’t say that I do,” I replied torn between disgust at his closeness and the near uncontrollable urge to visit incredible amounts of bodily harm upon him. “But you can’t expect me to remember everyone.” Harm won out, and as I reached into my overcoat for my gun, I realized it was missing. Damn.

  25

  “Perfect,” Caleb purred as his hand slipped around my waist and pulled my body close to his. The moment he touched my skin, his lust and rage swept over me like a raging river. It crawled over my skin and down my throat, threatening to suffocate me. My own revulsion and terror filled me as I drowned under the force of his lust.

  He brought his lips to mine as I struggled to push him away, unable to break free of his grip. His tongue wormed its way into my mouth, and I started to gag. Tears began to stream from my eyes as my hands searched frantically for anything that could hurt him. My hand closed around the Beretta taped to the side of the desk. He reached out and tore my shirt from my body like it was tissue paper and pushed me backward against the desk.

  My face flushed with anger at what he had done. I’d make him pay for that if it was the last thing I did. No one was going to treat me this way. I was Lillim Callina, dammit! I put the weapon to his chest and fired.

  Blood and guts splattered across my face and chest, hot and slick against my flesh. His skin began to sizzle as white-hot light exploded from the wound, filling the air with the smell of burning flesh. He looked down at the wound, regarding it curiously, a thin smile on his face. I fired again and again.

  Click.

  I squeezed the trigger again.

  Click.

  It was empty.

  He looked at me for a long while before extending his hand casually outward. The bullets freed themselves from his flesh and fell soundlessly to the carpet, the metal still smoking hot. Well, time for plan B. Brute-freaking-force!

  I threw out my right hand, releasing all my pent-up rage and fear as I smashed the butt of the pistol into the underside of his chin. As his head snapped backward
, the metal gun flared like a miniature star in my hand. I shrieked, dropping the red-hot weapon to the floor before I could stop myself. My hand screamed in agony as the stink of burned meat filled the air.

  Caleb slowly brought his head back down until he met my eyes. His hand snaked out, grabbing a handful of my hair and twisting. My scalp shrieked in pain as he drew me close to him.

  “So you like it rough, eh? Well, I can be very rough.” He slammed the back of my head into the desk. Part of it splintered beneath the force of the blow. Stars shot across my eyes as everything around the edges went sort of dark and vague. I almost didn’t feel my body flop lifelessly on top of the desk.

  A haze filled my vision as he climbed on top of me and leaned down so close his breath was hot on my skin. He drew his tongue across my neck, leaving a slimy trail across my flesh. I tried to move away, but found I was unable to do much more than squirm as he placed his forearm against my throat and held me there.

  His skin frying pan hot, and as I tried to pull away he raised his face until we were eye to eye. “I don’t think we need a safe word, do you?”

  He drove his finger into my upper thigh, tearing open my skin. I screamed as white-hot pain shot through me. He lowered his mouth to my torn flesh and slurped at the wound, nibbling around the edges before jamming his tongue deep inside. I screamed.

  He moved his bloody hand roughly across my chest, stopping to cup things he shouldn’t before wrapping his hand around my throat. He looked up at me, my blood dripping down his chin, and smiled.

  “Surely you must remember me,” he cooed. “But even if you don’t, I’ll make sure you remember me forever!” The way he said the words curdled my stomach because I had no doubt it was true. The look in his eye let me know just how much he meant to hurt me.