The Price to Pay

Chapter Thirty Four

_________________

Death

She whimpers softly on the ground, her body shaking from uncontrollable tears. As I reach closer I see blood, it pools around her and coats her hands and is splashed across her face. A flash from my dreams comes to me all at once and it causes my heart to lurch, with fear,

"Adeline." I call her but she doesn't seem to hear me.

Her hands reach up to brush the hair from her face and they shake as her body racks with another fit of sobbing. "Someone help me, please."

I finally reach her, "Addie." I whisper, my hands reach her blood soaked arm, small gashes still oozes deep red blood as she trembles. "Its me, can you look at me."

God, please look at me.

Her head turns slightly upward, her bright blue eyes shine behind her dark hair. As soon as our eyes meet she reaches up and throws her arms around my neck, just as she did in the park when she killed that man. Only this time I don't know what's happened to her.

"Tell me what happened Adeline." She squeezes harder, her body shaking ferociously now.

"I...I'm so sorry. I thought I could change what happened but I can't. I can't." Bastet told me why she came, she just wanted her humanity back, to get rid of demon.

I grip the side of her face, forcing her to look at me, "Shh, stop. You're safe Adeline, nothing can hurt you now." I wipe away her tear stained face, taking in the way her sobbing has made her nose red and her cheeks puffy. I also notice the deep gash marks on the side of her right cheek, still fresh and bruising.

"Tell me what happened." Her eyes widen and her hands tighten on my arms. "No one is going to hurt you now tell me."

"She was here, she hurt me, they all did." Her hands reach my neck, her face drawing near, "I can show you." She whispers. Her lips crush mine as she drags me into her memories. She shows me how she got here, what the warlock did and she shows me Lilith. How afraid she was as she spoke to her, at how confused she was when Lilith told her of a long history that we once shared and most of how guilty she felt for not listening to me. She gasps against my mouth forcing me closer as she continues shoving her thoughts into mine. Flashes of their encounter speed past me before I can even comprehend what they were doing at the time. Then it slows, she slows, her lips grow softer, her hands grow warm, and her memories become clearer. The memory was cast in shadows but I saw her, Lilith smiled as she drove a dagger into Adeline and into herself, a light so bright blinded Adeline and me in her memories and all that was left was the body of Lilith and the loud cackle that came from Adeline.

I push her back and she laughs wickedly but it's not her at all. "Lilith, what have you done to Adeline?"

She licks her lips, "Well that was lovely. I do miss our fun encounters, with me on top of course." Lilith swirls and leaps from the ground, she sways her hips and plants down on her throne. "Welcome my love to my home. Where I've been rotting away trying to conjure a plan to get you to that very spot. How do you think I've done so far?" She laughs, it bellows across the empty space. "I had you there for a moment didn't I, I deserve something very special for that."

"You deserve to die, now what have you done to Adeline." I stand, lifting my wings to avoid the blood on the floor.

"What have you done with Adeline?" She mocks, rolling her eyes as she examines her nails. "She's unimportant at the moment, don't you think. We've just had our first kiss in over a thousand years."