Rachel’s words struck Lilith almost like a knife in the heart, and it felt like she’d deliberately twisted it, while she looked back at Rachel incredulously. Move on? She thought that Lilith wanted to move on, already? The very idea boggled Lilith’s mind, and it hurt that Rachel would even consider it. She stared back at her and Gina for several moments that felt like they lasted forever, then Lilith inclined her head slightly.
“I understand. If that is everything, I would like to be alone for a while,” Lilith said, her voice trembling despite her attempts to control herself, and her head bowed slightly, heat welling up in her eyes.
“I… I’m sorry, Lilith. We’ll leave you alone,” Gina replied, a note of trepidation in her voice, and Lilith heard her stand.
“Yes, it’s the least we can do. I… I hate this, and for what it’s worth, I wish none of it was necessary,” Rachel added, her footsteps echoing through the room as she moved away quickly.
Lilith’s emotions grew still more unsteady as she heard them leave, without so much as a comforting pat on the shoulder, or a hug to help her feel better. That was what told her how bad the situation truly was. They didn’t try to comfort her, or to do anything to make it better. After most of a year together, she’d come to know them well… until suddenly, it was like they were entirely different people, and she was left alone.
“Alone. Perhaps I should just get used to it,” Lilith murmured, a few hot trickles slowly making their way down her face, and she reached up to wipe the tears away.
“You aren’t alone, Mistress Lilith. I’m here,” Circe replied softly.
“I know, Circe. I know… but it still hurts. It hurts so much,” Lilith said, shaking her head slowly. “Why did it come to this?”
Circe didn’t reply, but Lilith expected that. If she didn’t know, it was doubtful that Circe did, or if she did, it was because Amber had made the decision and didn’t want Lilith to know. Either way, Lilith would have a chance to ask in person soon enough.
Shadowmind Redoubt Invincible, Asteroid Belt, Sol
“Hm. That went about how I expected it to. And just as I expected, she likely feels betrayed by them,” Amber said, taking a sip from her wine glass, and not even trying to hide her smile, satisfaction filling her. Just as she’d told Circe before, what she’d given Lilith, she could easily take away. It was a lesson she hoped would sink in for her daughter.
The screen in front of her showed the living room of Eden Manor, and specifically Lilith alone, her head in her hands as she cried. Unaware that Amber had watched every moment of her conversation with Morgan and Warden. It was all Amber could do to avoid gloating.
“Couldn’t you just find out for yourself, Mistress?” Circe asked curiously. “You’ve read her thoughts before.”
“Yes, I have. But unfortunately, her mind has grown steadily more guarded over the past several months, making it harder for me to enter. Lilith’s psyche is incredibly strong, which it should be with the structure I gave it, and at this point she’s so guarded that I’d have to force my way in,” Amber explained, clicking her tongue in annoyance. “It’s irritating, but at least it’s evidence that she’s living up to my expectations to some extent. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be worth my time. Either way, I don’t feel like alerting her that I’m watching, so I’m choosing to take a more indirect approach.”
“As you say, Mistress,” Circe agreed. “Do you desire anything else from me?”
“I’d like fresh salmon, garlic potatoes, and a green salad for dinner,” Amber replied, reaching out and deactivating the screen with a thought. That made her smile, as she truly did like some of the innovations the aliens had so thoughtfully given her. “After that, I’d like a report on the progress of the Punishers.”
“As you wish, Mistress,” Circe replied.
Sitting forward, Amber stretched, letting out a happy grunt as her back popped, then grinned. Progress was being made, whether Lilith liked it or not. Now she just needed to put some finishing touches on her own plans, as she was determined that this time the world would capitulate, at least if it knew what was good for it.
Chapter 5
Tuesday, August 19th, 2031
Paragon City Airport, Paragon City
“Is this really a good idea?” Gina asked, pausing as she looked back at airport security, a hint of uneasiness she hadn’t noticed before tickling at the back of her mind.
The airport was fairly busy, with a few hundred people she could see in line for the checkpoint. Gina couldn’t help being relieved by the fact she was able to bypass most of the line due to her status as a heroine. Oh, they still had to go through the scanners, but no one gave heroes grief about the items in their bags unless they were completely out of line, like explosives. She and Rachel had received even more enthusiastic service than normal, and plenty of people were staring at them and taking pictures.
What had her concerned was who wasn’t in sight. Lilith hadn’t accompanied them to the airport, and while she’d said her farewells that morning, it was obvious that Lilith’s heart wasn’t in it. Why, she hadn’t even been there at dinner the night before, which was concerning, and when Gina had checked the logs, the gym had been set to twenty percent greater than normal gravity for a full four hours the previous night. Considering that Circe had deliberately set up the gym to only be at that setting when Lilith was inside it, that was worrying.
Her anxiety wasn’t improved by her leaving behind her suit, either. While she doubted that the suit Circe had manufactured for her was dangerous, neither she or Rachel could be certain, so they’d stripped the magic from them and had left them behind, at which point Circe had made a pointed comment about recycling them. Gina had never known the AI to be so passive aggressive about things before. Still, they’d contacted the London branch of SuperNet to get new suits manufactured, these based on their old designs, so they wouldn’t be without suits for too long.
“What choice do we have?” Rachel asked, glancing over her shoulder. “We can either leave things as they are, which doesn’t bear thinking on, or get the problem dealt with. I’d rather deal with the problem. It doesn’t make me happy, but that’s life.”
“True,” Gina said, conscious of all the people around her as she bit back the urge to give more details, and sighed, shaking her head. “I just wish we weren’t leaving Lilith behind. It makes me feel guilty.”
“Yes, well… other reasons aside, she doesn’t have a passport, I’ll point out, and that doesn’t even consider her current legal status in the UK,” Rachel replied, stopping to let Gina catch up, looking a bit pensive. “They haven’t forgotten Shadowmind’s attack on Parliament, and last I heard, they hadn’t decided how to treat Lilith.”
“Point. A definite point,” Gina admitted, as it helped assuage her guilt a little. “Either way, it’s a little late now, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. But I’m sure Lilith will get through things. She’s drawn plenty of attention, and… well, she can make friends. She found us, after all!” Rachel said, smiling at Gina.
“True!” Gina said, putting on a smile of her own, and started moving again with a spring in her step. No matter what had been done to her, she did have Rachel, and her emotions regarding her seemed consistent all the way from college, so at least she didn’t have to worry about that being manufactured.
Gina’s thoughts drifted a little as she noticed the gaggle of teenagers staring at them in the concourse, and Gina wondered how long it would take them to work up their courage to come and ask for autographs. A couple of them were cute, which improved her mood.
Eden Manor, Glendale
Lilith tried to avoid thinking about how empty the house felt. Gina and Rachel had only left an hour before, and from what she knew, their flight didn’t leave for another hour, but they were gone. For who knew how long.
She’d driven herself hard the previous night to try to exhaust herself, yet it hadn’t worked. Even when she’d gone to bed, she noticed how huge the bed
was, and how cold it was without another person beside her. There weren’t the movements of someone else rolling over, or the sounds of their breathing in the night. Yet the house hadn’t felt completely empty, like it did now.
Lilith was trying to keep herself occupied, though. She’d finished setting up her console, and now she was trying to register a new account… which was proving problematic. The username Lilith Carpenter was already taken, as were all the variations she could think of, so with ten different attempts done, she sighed, growling as she demanded, “What name would work, then? I swear, everyone has taken my name already!”
“Some of the user accounts pre-date your creation, Mistress Lilith. If I may, I’d suggest adding a few numbers to the end of your name.” Circe replied, sounding distinctly amused.
Lilith paused, frowning at the idea. Giving herself a number felt subtly wrong, somehow. Sort of like it was adding a serial number or something to her account… which honestly might not be entirely wrong, since the account had to go into a database somewhere. That helped mollify her concerns slightly, so she debated, then shrugged and used the year she was decanted, 2030. Fortunately, no one had taken that username, so she let out a breath of relief as the system accepted the entry, as well as her password. Then it sent her an email to activate everything, which made her grumble, grabbing her phone to hunt down the email… and she grimaced, as no less than fifty emails had come through in the last hour. Someone had obviously found her email address and made it public.
“I suppose that works… thanks, Circe,” Lilith said, then sighed. “I don’t suppose you could filter out the spam?”
“Unfortunately, I already have,” Circe replied primly. “Unfortunately, one of Osmar’s assistants wasn’t as careful with his laptop as he should have been, and your email address has been spread to essentially every news agency across the globe.”
“Drat. And with everything linked to my account so far… I suppose I’ll have to look into changing accounts.” Lilith said, grimacing and shaking her head, a bit wistful about the days when no one knew who she was. Though that reminded her of how empty the house was, prompting her mood to abruptly crash again, and she forced herself to focus on the phone.
Finding the email she needed, Lilith clicked the link to activate her account, and relaxed as it seemed to do its work, then finished logging in. The screen changed, showing a whole pile of unusual icons, and Lilith considered what she wanted to do. Then she shrugged and pulled out the racing game she’d played with Ra, feeding the disc into the console. That was when Circe spoke again.
“Mistress Lilith, you have a visitor,” Circe said, a sudden note of curiosity in her voice. “Spark is at the gates, with a package. Should I admit her?”
“What? She’s here already?” Lilith asked, looking up in surprise, even as a hint of distrust made its way through her. “Do you think that they called her to tell her to come over?”
“I doubt that, Mistress Lilith. From what I’ve seen of Spark, she genuinely likes you, and the hopeful look on her face indicates she wants to see you.” Circe replied, pausing for several seconds, then audibly sighed and added, “That said, I am letting her in. I am not going to let you hide from the world out of fear of being hurt further, Mistress Lilith.”
“What? But… you’re not supposed to do that!” Lilith protested, her gaze jerking away from the screen. “I don’t—”
“I don’t care,” Circe replied flatly. “If I leave you to your own devices, you are going to hide in the house, get depressed, and end up in an extremely unhealthy position. If I have to protect you from yourself, that’s what I’ll do.”
“You…” Lilith began, disbelief rushing through her. Then the doorbell rang, and she flailed, untangling her legs as she said, “Fine, then! See if I trust you again.”
“I only want what’s best for you,” Circe replied, but the slightly smug note in her voice made Lilith glare, even as she hit the button to turn off the television. Just as it went dark, Lilith saw an icon of a message pop up, but she couldn’t quite make out what it’d said… and the next moment the doorbell rang again.
“I’m coming!” Lilith called out, only belatedly remembering the soundproofing in the house, and quickly darted over to the door. She was glad she’d made herself presentable. There were going to be people taking pictures, and she’d rather not look like a mess in front of them.
Reaching the door, Lilith braced herself, then opened it. She was confronted by several flashes from cameras in the distance, held just over the fence surrounding her yard, but in front of her was Spark. Or maybe she should call her Emily, Lilith realized, as the shorter woman was grinning, wearing a black leather jacket, black pants, a bright blue t-shirt with a white lightning bolt symbol on the chest, along with the choker she’d taken to wearing that dampened her electricity powers. In one hand she had a bag, and she spoke quickly.
“Hi, Lil! Mind if I come in to chat for a minute? You seem to have an infestation of reporters outside.” Spark said, jerking her head toward the street. “I’d recommend an exterminator, but I’m afraid none of the local places handle reporter infestations.”
Lilith blinked, taking a moment to process what Spark had said before a hint of amusement bubbled up through her worries. She couldn’t help a smile from creeping onto her face, a burble of laughter managing to escape.
“An infestation? I suppose that’s accurate, even if it’s a new description to me,” Lilith replied, stepping back and gesturing in. “Come right in. I’m afraid the house is a bit empty at the moment, but I guess you knew that.”
“Wait, they’re already gone?” Spark asked, her eyes widening as she looked around the living room while Lilith closed the door. “I mean, I knew they were leaving, but Morgan didn’t tell us when they were going to leave! I just wanted to come over and talk to you a bit, and see how you were doing with that coming, but… damn, how cold can they be?”
“Um, I think their flight leaves in a bit less than an hour?” Lilith replied, slightly taken aback by Spark’s reaction. “I thought they might’ve called you and asked you to come over.”
“Pfft. As if they’re considerate enough to do that,” Spark replied, wrinkling her nose slightly. “I mean, Morgan told us what they were planning before they told you! No, I didn’t know they were going to leave yet, and…”
The woman paused, taking a deep breath, then shook her head and smiled at Lilith. “Never mind them! How are you doing?”
“I’m…” Lilith paused, taking stock of herself, then shrugged, smiling back as best she could. “I suppose I’m in shock. I was expecting something like this, but even so, it hurt far more than I expected, and now I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know if they’ll be back, how they’ll feel about me, or even what I’m supposed to do, now that I don’t have anyone around who—”
Lilith cut herself off abruptly, giving Spark a tight smile as she shrugged again, her voice soft. “I’m sorry, I’m just… terrified and alone.”
“Not alone,” Spark replied firmly, scowling briefly, and he the bag up so she could pull out a long, thin box, which she then offered to Lilith. “Here, chocolates! They usually help me get over my depressive episodes, so I thought they might help you, too.”
Lilith paused, looking at the box, and cracked a smile as she took it slowly. “Thank you, Spark. That’s incredibly thoughtful of you.”
“Pfft. I’ve told you, call me Emily,” the heroine replied, grinning in return. “Besides, I’m about to be really selfish, and possibly out of line.”
“Oh?” Lilith asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at the woman in confusion. “How is that?”
“I’ve liked you for a while now, and if those two are abandoning you… well, want to go on a date or something?” Emily asked, grinning broadly. “Or are you the type to be more interested in Archon? I know a lot of people are fascinated by the feathers, and her hair.”
Lilith froze, her mind jerking to a stop as she stared b
ack at Emily. Then she sputtered, “W-what?”
Circe chose that moment to interject, causing the heroine to jump slightly. “Mistress Lilith, I did say that Spark seemed to genuinely like you, did I not?”
Emily looked around, then shook her head. “Well, that was eerie! You scared me half to death, Circe. You also sound a lot more focused.”
“You were speaking to a shard of me, not my full ‘self’, as it were,” Circe replied in amusement. “I also doubt that this is enough to scare you that much. You wouldn’t have made it as far as you have as a heroine if it were.”
“Fine, fine…” Emily replied, frowning, then looked at Lilith, her expression turning to concern. “Lil, you alright?”
“I… assume that this is what whiplash must feel like,” Lilith replied hesitantly, feeling like the world was reeling around her. “I’m… I’m sorry, Emily, but I’m not sure what I should be feeling right now.”
Emily paused, looking up at Lilith, then she reached out to pull Lilith’s left hand away from the box of chocolates. She squeezed her hand gently, giving Lilith a reassuring smile.
“It’s alright, Lilith. Honestly, I expected you to just tell me no, or to get out,” Emily said softly. “Like you said, you don’t know what’s going to happen with Morgan and Warden, and… well, it’s mean of me to shove my way into the middle. But I’m just so angry at them… you’re a lovely person, and hurting you makes me so mad. I was mostly joking about Archon, anyway, but if you want an introduction, let me know? At least she could be sure that you weren’t after her because you thought she was a representative of the divine.”
Queen's Journey (Lilith's Shadow Book 5) Page 4