Lilith moved through the near-silent house, turning on lights as she needed them, then off again as she left the rooms. She sometimes wished that she’d filled the house with more furniture, but at the same time she liked the space it gave her. Within a couple of minutes she started the tub to filling, and with that done she sank onto the toilet, wincing as she did so.
She had a couple of things she needed to do, fortunately none of which required talking to other people. First Lilith composed an email to Osmar, asking if he’d send her the list of therapists, and the introduction to Leisure. The second was less important than the first, but she needed to force herself to do more than she’d been doing. Lilith couldn’t let herself be isolated, not again.
The second thing was to send a message to Archon and Emily, asking them if they could meet once things had calmed down. Lilith didn’t put any more details into her message than that, since she never knew if it was really secure. She thought it would be, but there wasn’t any way to know for certain.
With that done, Lilith went ahead and put her phone on silent, then queued up some nice, relaxing music on the bathroom speakers. The soft, upbeat music helped her relax a little more, and Lilith smiled, reaching up to hold her pendant for a few seconds. Then she stood. No matter how much she wanted to just sit there, she’d feel better once she’d had a soak, so she began undressing.
Perhaps Bastet and Daemonia were right, that she needed to make her life her own.
Chapter 25
Friday, August 29th, 2031
Poenari Castle, Wallachia
“Welcome back, my love!” Vlad boomed, sweeping Ivanova into a hug, and she laughed, hugging him back.
“Ah, you missed me?” she teased, a broad smile on her face.
“Always,” he assured her, leaning in to give her a kiss, which she returned firmly. For several seconds they held it, then he pulled away, speaking contritely. “I always forget how much I dislike your absence until you’re gone for a few days. You keep me from wanting to burn so many things.”
“Oh? And what is it that roused your ire this time?” Ivanova asked, recognizing that chagrined tone.
“The jukebox,” Vlad admitted in embarrassment. “You’re the only one who seems to be able to fix the damnable thing, and it decided to throw a fit while you were gone. I just wanted to listen to some Beethoven, and it refused to cooperate.”
“You could have queued up the music on your computer,” Ivanova said, though her smile only widened. She knew how her husband was, and he didn’t like changing items in their private space. She knew he’d object to the suggestion.
“Yes… but it wouldn’t be the same. There’s something particularly nice about vinyl,” Vlad grumped, letting go at last. “So since that wasn’t going to happen, I attended a local orchestra performance. Which was good, once they got over their panic at my presence.”
Ivanova laughed, reaching out to give a gentle hug as they started toward the private wing, her guards finally relaxing now that they were back at the castle. She teased gently, “You know they wouldn’t panic if you actually attended functions more often. You aren’t that intimidating, once people get to know you.”
“Yes, but the travel time, and everything else… there’s so much else to do,” Vlad grumbled, then sighed, shaking his head. He paused, waiting until they were through the doors and the guards had been left behind before he asked. “How was your trip?”
“Surprisingly pleasant. I’m not sure if Grigore was pleased not to have to step in or upset, but the locals managed to deal with all the attacks quickly enough. I only counted, oh, thirty of them, which was impressive,” Ivanova said, smirking as she added. “I also got plenty of shopping in, as I’m sure you noticed.”
“I saw the charges,” Vlad confirmed, a helpless look on his face, which she’d anticipated. While he knew he had to spend money, that didn’t mean he liked it.
“As expected of you,” Ivanova replied, slowing down a little as they reached the living room, letting out a sigh as she glanced around and murmured, “It’s going to take a bit to get used to the time change… in any case, I also met with Lilith, like you asked. She’s an interesting one, and like you said, she’s nothing like Shadowmind.”
“Good. I thought as much, but your opinion helps me be more certain. There’s only so much I can determine from a continent away,” Vlad said, nodding firmly as he thought, then settled onto the couch, one arm along the back.
Ivanova settled onto the couch beside him, leaning into him as she let her eyes half-close. She simply sat like that for a minute, enjoying the heat he always radiated. It could make things a little less comfortable in the summer, but she appreciated it most of the time.
“I think she’s in worse shape than you thought she’d be in,” Ivanova said at last, letting out a soft sigh. “Not because of the gods, mind you, but Shadowmind struck her hard after the events in Las Vegas. The departure of Morgan and Warden appears to have been her doing, as Lilith said that Shadowmind arranged for them to keep her safe in her stead. She wasn’t pleased when I teased her, mostly because she’d had far too many people teasing her lately, but otherwise she was pleasant enough. I’m not sure that you’re right about how important she’ll be, however, even if I told her that her personal power didn’t matter much. She seemed rather… spineless.”
Vlad blinked, looking at her for a few seconds, then replied, nuzzling her hair affectionately. “Hm. I can’t say that I’m surprised, given Shadowmind’s personality. The only saving grace I can think of is that Shadowmind doesn’t want to destroy the world. She wishes to conquer it, which somewhat limits the sort of damage she’s willing to inflict. That doesn’t protect others from damage she considers less wide-ranging, however. Most unfortunate.”
Ivanova’s eyebrows rose as she took a few seconds to consider his reply. She wasn’t sure she entirely agreed, but she was too comfortable to argue with him. Shadowmind could do an immense amount of damage while still conquering the world, after all.
“What about the other part? Her being important?” Ivanova asked, and Vlad chuckled in response.
“Ah, that’s simple enough. Whether she wants to be important or not, her visit to Sekhet-Aaru has convinced me utterly.” Vlad told her, grinning. “Consider how few of your legends have individuals traveling to the afterlife and returning, hm? Yet not only did she visit, she was summoned there. If Lilith was not important for the future, she would have been left on the ground to die or be saved by her companions. Likely the latter.”
“Mm… you’d know better than I. You’ve met at least a few of them, after all,” Ivanova conceded, inclining her head.
“Just a few,” Vlad agreed, smiling wryly. “More than I’d like, if I’m being honest. I rarely had need to visit the reasonable ones.”
That caused Ivanova to laugh. She still wasn’t entirely certain why he’d have needed to visit them to begin with, but Vlad had always kept quiet about his time before rescuing her, and she didn’t want to pry. If he wasn’t telling her, he had his reasons. Instead, she changed the subject.
“Now, why don’t I fix that jukebox, and we can get some sleep? The sooner I get back to my usual schedule, the happier I’ll be,” Ivanova suggested, pulling herself from his embrace.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Vlad replied enthusiastically, standing up, and Ivanova couldn’t help a laugh.
If nothing else, her husband was predictable. He liked his routines, and heaven help anyone who disrupted them.
Chapter 26
Saturday, August 30th, 2031
Guardian Compound, Paragon City
“Do you have any idea why she’s coming over?” Spark asked, darting over to the other table to give it a quick scrubbing. She was glad that the cleaners they used didn’t have any bad reactions to electricity or she’d have been forced to slow down, which would’ve put them behind schedule.
“Considering the past week, I have no idea,” Archon replied calmly, t
ossing more refuse into the trash can.
While their staff normally kept the compound clean, the past week had been particularly hard on them, especially after a half-dozen visiting heroes had lost their hotel rooms when a villain had spitefully caused the sewer line of their hotel to back up. Extremely abruptly. Considering that, the team had offered to let the heroes use their guest rooms and set up some makeshift cots in the lounge, which had been vacated only that morning. Unfortunately, like far too many heroes, they’d left a modest amount of detritus in their wake, and neither Archon or Spark had wanted to meet with Lilith in one of the meeting rooms this time. That meant cleaning up quickly, rather than waiting for the cleaning staff to take care of it.
“Drat. I’ve just been wondering… it’s been a hell of a week, and I’m tired of all the surprises. I’d like to have a chance to, you know, relax for a little while, rather than running to put out one fire after another,” Spark groused, double-checking the chairs before nodding firmly. “I don’t think there’s much more to do.”
“Not that you can do, no,” Archon agreed, nodding to the trash can. “You want to take care of that while I get the vacuum? As for the week, I’ll point out that most of the time I was flying around and didn’t get to even do anything. At a certain point, it gets frustrating. Especially with Daemonia deciding to ‘fly up for a chat.’”
“At least she acknowledges your existence,” Spark retorted, trotting over to take the trash while activating her power inhibitor. She didn’t want to accidentally melt the can. “A lot of times I think she does it on purpose.”
Archon rolled her eyes, muttering something Spark couldn’t quite hear under her breath as she turned away to get the vacuum, a heavy-duty machine that Decarin had built them after not liking the quality of their last three. Its only problem was that it couldn’t handle Spark’s electricity, which annoyed her a little, but she didn’t hold it against Decarin. He had enough trouble making gear that she couldn’t fry to spend that much time on a vacuum.
Spark took the trash and quickly began lugging it toward the elevator. Sure, she could take the bag out, but she’d had them get punctured one time too many, and the last thing she wanted was to create more work. Behind her the vacuum roared to life, just before the door shut and cut off the sound.
Making the run to the trash room didn’t take too long, and Spark had to admit the staff did a good job of keeping even it clean, though that could partly be Decarin’s influence. The man was absolutely stringent about proper maintenance, and she could understand why. After the last time they’d barely managed to save a bunch of people when a ride at the local amusement park had failed due to poor maintenance, it had driven home how important safety was to her, since she could actually ride them again. Spark wondered if Lilith would like roller coasters.
She took the trash back upstairs after putting in a new liner, and found that while she’d been gone Archon had mostly finished, which didn’t surprise Spark at all. Archon normally cleaned her room herself, so she had a lot of practice, and between them the balcony was almost gleaming again.
“Good job. I don’t think I could’ve gotten this clean before she got here if you weren’t helping,” Spark said, scanning the room again to see if she’d missed anything. She had to correct herself, looking at the room. It was probably cleaner than it usually was, since all of them had a tendency to leave magazines or books on the balcony, and they’d removed all of that before letting the other heroes in.
“It was a team effort. I’m not fast enough to clean all the windows,” Archon replied, her voice raised so that she could be heard over the vacuum.
“Point!” Spark agreed, grinning back, then shrugged and moved to help where she could. They were almost done, which was good. Lilith should be here within the next fifteen minutes, and if Spark wasn’t mistaken, she’d be here at least five minutes early. Possibly sooner, with how traffic could be.
The thought of Lilith sent a surge of giddiness through Spark, along with guilt. She really shouldn’t be so happy that Morgan and Warden were out of the picture for the moment, with as much as it’d hurt Lilith. Oh, she was angry with them, for what they’d done to Lilith, but at the same time she couldn’t be happier that it gave her a chance with Lilith. That made Spark feel significantly worse about the entire situation.
Focusing on the room, Spark helped Archon clean, mostly by moving furniture that she couldn’t get under, until finally they were finished. While the balcony wasn’t perfectly clean, she was happy with it. At least it was enough to make her feel better about having Lilith over.
“You think this is good enough?” Spark asked, looking at Archon hopefully. She really didn’t want to do more work, but it was possible Archon wasn’t happy yet.
“Most likely, yes,” Archon confirmed, examining a table closely, then shrugged. “We’re out of time anyway. She’s likely downstairs, so I’ll put away the vacuum, if you’ll go check?”
“I can do that!” Spark replied, excitement rushing through her, and without pausing she darted for the door, letting off a few arcs of lightning in the process. She had to slow down slightly to keep from damaging anything, but she was downstairs in mere moments, and she jerked up short on seeing Lilith, wondering if something had happened to her.
Normally, Lilith was easy to predict, at least regarding her appearance. Black slacks and a white button-down shirt were almost her trademark, as far as Spark was concerned. That was why the blue t-shirt and white slacks confused Spark so much. Lilith was still wearing her ankh, but her hair was also pulled back in a ponytail, and she was chatting with Decarin, though they both paused on seeing Spark.
“Hey, Spark! I was just telling Lilith about our guests over the last few days, and how the two of you were cleaning up,” Decarin said cheerfully, and tilted his head as he asked. “You done up there?”
“Pretty much, yeah, but what’s up with the outfit, Lil?” Spark asked, frowning as she looked Lilith over. “I’ve never seen you wear anything like that before.”
“Does it look weird?” Lilith asked, looking down at herself as she frowned. “It isn’t what I’d usually wear, but I’m trying to experiment. I realized I’ve gotten comfortable, and wasn’t pushing myself to try new things, so I thought I’d try something else for a change.”
“It looks completely different than your usual style, which is why I’m confused. I’m used to the button-down shirts, and the white pants feel odd with the darker shirt.” Spark told her, glancing at her teammate as she added. “Isn’t that right, Dec?”
“Hey, leave me out of this!” Decarin protested, raising his hands. “I have no fashion sense and you know it!”
Glancing at his overalls, Spark considered for a moment, then nodded, admitting. “Point. Anyway, it looks a little weird to me.”
“Hm, if that’s the case, I may have to try something else. I have a fair amount of clothing that I picked up to try out, and simply… hadn’t,” Lilith said, considering herself for a moment, then shrugged as she looked up at Spark and smiled. “Either way, I can’t do anything about it now. How’re you, Emily?”
There was something odd about Lilith’s gaze and smile that Spark couldn’t quite place, and she hesitated for a moment, mulling it over nervously. The problem was that she couldn’t quite place it, which irritated Spark to no end, but she decided to ignore it after a few seconds. She’d figure it out soon enough, so she allowed a bright smile to appear on her face again as she spoke.
“I’m good! Especially now that half of the damned invaders have left the city, and most of the rest should be gone by the end of next week!” Spark said happily, letting out a sigh as she added. “A break before the next crisis would be wonderful.”
“I hear that,” Decarin agreed, smiling widely.
“True. In any case, if there’s any chance I could come over and work on my armor once it gets here, I’d appreciate it,” Lilith told Decarin, who nodded enthusiastically.
“Sure! I’d li
ke to see how you work when you aren’t following other people’s designs,” he said cheerfully, and nodded to Spark. “I’d best get back to the command room, so you ladies have fun!”
Decarin ambled away, then Spark looked at Lilith, raising her eyebrows curiously. “Armor?”
“Since my power armor was taken, I ordered a suit from Whispering Darkness. The first one arrived a couple of days ago, but it turned out that I couldn’t use it, it restricted my mobility too much. So I sent it back, and arranged for a different one which I could tinker with,” Lilith explained, smiling at Spark wryly. “I doubt I’ll be able to do much, since it’s unpowered, but maybe I can manage something decent.”
“That’s a good idea! I can’t say I know enough about that sort of thing to help, not with my tendency to smoke equipment,” Spark replied with a quick nod, then gestured for Lilith to follow her. “Come on, Archon’s waiting for us!”
Lilith nodded in return, then followed as Spark led the way to the stairs and headed upward. It occurred to Spark that maybe she should have taken the elevator once they were halfway up, but by that point it was a bit late. And while they moved, she studied Lilith, trying to figure out what was going on.
The woman was nervous, Spark decided after a few seconds. She was tense, as if ready to bolt at any moment, and that brought Spark’s anger at Morgan and Warden surging back again, though she quickly tamped it down. Whether or not they were mind controlled, what they’d done was absolutely horrible, and she couldn’t stand it. Yet at the same time, it didn’t explain what had happened with Lilith, and Spark found herself chewing it over. Not that she had time to mull it over, as they reached the upper floor quickly, and the balcony shortly after that.
“Hello, Lilith,” Archon said, looking up from where she was repositioning a chair near a table. She’d brought one of her chairs out of her room, Spark noticed, since the ones for her had been removed while their guests were here. “You’re looking different.”
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