A Little Piece Of Heaven

Lilith was bored.
Syn lay beside her snoring gently, the RAF cap still at a jaunty angle covering one eye. She had known he would come around to the idea pretty fast when he remembered the side effects of her uniform fetish. It had been fun and there were new bruises but now he was sleeping and she wanted to go find some trouble to get into.
Lilith had found that being reigned in was not to her liking as a reaper any more than it had been when she had lived and there was very little that could make her show caution. It was useful in the situation she had been in recently, a certain ruthlessness was required in war that her sisters were not as quick to show. That Syn had been playing gangster at the time amused her and she had decided not to mention the two pretty pets that had provided entertainment in his absence. Syn had Zacky as a diversion and she had her own.
She slipped from the bed, admiring his lean tattooed body for a moment before dressing and lightly kissing his cheek. He would probably sleep till morning and wouldn’t even notice that was missing from his arms for an hour or two. Lilith wanted to drink and maybe find a soul or two to reap before they started preparing in earnest to return to Europe. The four of them would run together and enjoy the chaos while hunting down whatever it was that was giving the enemy such an advantage.
There was no need to hide so Lilith strolled down the street openly, most people barely glancing at the woman in black. There were many deserving candidates, most of them marked for the war to come, some to disease, some to accident. She wanted none of them, hunting carefully for someone that truly deserved the brutal end she was in the mood to hand out. Even petty criminals were passed by, Lilith in no hurry and certain that the right one would come along.
Downtown was probably the best place to go, Lilith pulled the black stole a little tighter around and decided that the pretty but thin dress had not been the best outfit of choice. It fitted every curve, a hint of milky white skin at her neck adding to the allure along with a trace of French perfume that had been another souvenir from her time abroad. As the houses and shops became rundown and the people rougher and more likely to stare Lilith knew that she was close. Already she had the scent of someone who needed to die.
Lilith headed for the river, a smile curving her lips at the sound of footsteps following her. Whoever it was hadn’t learnt to be quiet, even a mortal would have known they were there and it was oh so predictable. She turned on her heel, seeing a shadow dart to the side and into the shadows. Pausing with the best approximation of a scared face that she could manage, Lilith called into the darkness. It took considerable effort to keep the giggle from her voice.
“Who’s there ?”
There was a moment of silence before the man stepped out, ragged and slightly unkempt but not a beggar. His eyes roamed over her body hungrily and Lilith made a show of wrapping the foxfur closer, her gaze wide with feigned fear.
“I….am lost. Could you point me towards Wisconsin Avenue ?”
He wasn’t the one she wanted but the aura was still dark, full of muggings and attempted rape which was clearly on his mind now. The man was also not alone, two more appearing behind him and one behind Lilith, cutting off her escape. Now it was getting to be fun, all of them moving a few paces forward as she calculated distance and strike times. The one behind would try it first, she could feel him tensing as the one that spoke stepped up to her. Lilith didn’t move, letting him run gnarled fingers down her cheek.
“But all the fun is here, you don’t want to be leaving yet do you ?”
She stood her ground, still defensive and enjoying the arrogance coming off the men in waves. They were used to attacking those weaker than them, a puny show of power from men who had none, who were the bottom rung of society and knew it. Now they would die for it, she could feel the more powerful evil was closer by and it called for her to go play. The man grabbed her hair, twisting painfully as he tried to kiss her.
“We got a wriggler boys, wonder if we can make her scream…”
More voices joined in as Lilith stared at the first man, still silent.
“A loud one for sure.”
“Drag her back here.”
Rough hands grabbed her arms, pinning them to her sides and Lilith just couldn’t help it, laughter bursting from her without pause or control. The men looked confused and then angry, the bitch shouldn’t laugh when they would enjoy her body and maybe kill her for the pleasure of it. A hard slap snapped her head back and Lilith decided it was game over.
“Well now, aren’t you all pathetic ? Four of you against one woman and I’m the one with the biggest balls.”
There was a rush of air, the strong ion smell like after a thunderstorm and the first attacker paused, able to see a little of her power for the first time. He didn’t understand it but something primal told him to run and he started to back away as the man holding Lilith let go and stared at his fingers in astonishment as the skin started to peel from his fingertips, ripping down his hands like taking off gloves. It wasn’t until it reached his wrists that he started to scream. Lilith smiled sweetly, two of the men fleeing already at the man being slowly skinned alive. She let them get some distance before waving a hand and dragging them back as if on invisible ropes.
“Never trust perception. What you see is seldom what you get and when you live as long as I have you find it out very quickly.”
Still the first man backed away, his eyes glued to the man now on the floor. His clothes were gone, his body becoming pink and red as flesh and skin were slowly dissected. Alive and screaming but becoming an inhuman pile of flesh, blood running in rivers over the pavement and towards the girl’s pretty black shoes.
“Wh…what the fuck are you ?”
He stumbled, falling and shielding his eyes as the two men being dragged back burst into flames. His screams joined theirs, his mind splintering and cracking at the unbelievable scene of his friends burning and his own brother a skinless obscene slug of a creature crawling towards him. The woman looked down at him, a demon in his mind now that just looked like a woman and he cowered back.
“I’m every woman you ever hurt. Or raped. Or brutalised. I know about them all Mr Abbott. Every single one of them throughout your pitiful years on this planet. I wasn’t looking for you tonight but you fit the bill very well.”
Lilith loved the fear radiating from the man, her mind alive with the screams and the power of crushing these men like the insects they were. These were truly not men, not like the ones she knew. Real men who even now would see it as their duty to protect Lilith and her sisters despite their power and who had never exercised violence over those that were weaker and in need of protection. She had no morals to speak off but these things had even less.
Her mind connected with the darker thing approaching and she realised that what she had picked up on was not actually human. Something that came from one of the other realms, a level of the seventeen hells even and that made a chuckle escape her lips, finally letting the creature on the floor die and the flames devour the other men. She would finish this now and go find the hell spawn, a decent fight for once although the voice in the back of her head that sounded like Matt was saying don’t be so fucking stupid.
Hush Matty, don’t spoil the fun.
Lilith looked back down at Abbott, his mind broken and gone from what he had seen. She considered ways to kill him before deciding that the nightmares and insanity she could gift him with would mean he would live out his remaining forty years a gibbering madman wishing for death. An amusing thought. Lifting him to his feet she patted his cheek in an echo of his earlier gesture.
“Run along now.”
He staggered away, gibbering and pulling at his hair as Lilith wandered back past the two burning bodies and out into the winding alleys that led deeper into the city. She paused, Claire’s voice politely enquiring if she was awake in her head. Lilith answered silently in the affirmative and merely mentioned hunting before her attention was caught by a rough tearing sound in the distance.
“What was that ?”
“Claire, this telepathy thing is still weird to me.”
“Answer the fucking question.”
“It’s….uh…..oh…..fuck. Big demon.”
Claire’s voice disappeared from her head as Lilith came around the corner and saw the large man in front of her. His aura was black and the deepest purple, flickering with gold and silver. The body it possessed had been an enormous man in life, towering over Lilith who didn’t even reach five foot five. They regarded each other for a moment, the demon clearly able to see past the disguise and recognise a fellow undead creature.
“WITCH !!”
Lilith smirked.
“FAT UGLY DEMON !!”
There was a cracking sound as the demon moved towards her faster than she could see and Lilith had to dodge, diving under the things legs and aiming a heel at his crotch. It grunted, arms grabbing at her as Lilith scrambled back to her feet. That turned out to be a mistake, one huge fist crashing into her cheek and Lilith felt herself connected painfully with the opposite wall, brickwork splintering as she landed in and undignified heap on the floor. It hurt and she snarled, using everything she had to mentally propel the demon into the opposite wall. There was a huge crack, half the wall falling away as it fell and for a moment they sat staring balefully at each other.
“Wrong dimension bitch, reapers work here.”
Lilith pulled herself up, a little winded as the demon twisted its head back to the front.
“I will crush you little girl, reaper or not.”
Lilith could see the sparks in its eyes and tried to dodge again, the supernatural energy catching her shoulder and this time it was a window that took the brunt. Lilith felt it splinter and crack, the glass shards flying in front as she went through it and into the factory behind. That really hurt, demonic energy seeping into her blood and she found she couldn’t move beyond a crawl, painfully inching across the floor and sending an urgent cry for help to Claire.
“I was killing your kind before you were turned. Hell would like to meet you Lilith.”
The voice was more human and less confrontational as the creature knew he was winning. Lilith was bleeding and knew that there were much worse things than dying. Syn would be fucking pissed if she managed to get herself stuck in a hell dimension a second time, the whole thing was such a monumental clusterfuck to get out off.
“I’m sure it would but I have a war to win and your booze sucks.”
The creature laughed, bending easily to lift Lilith up by the throat and shake her like a ragdoll. Lilith snarled, sending out the last of her energy to set the creatures head alight but it merely laughed as it burned, the big hands threatening to snap her neck. For a moment it considered that before it abruptly dropped Lilith and clutched its skull.
“Not so smart now are you, huh ?”
Lilith giggled in pain filled triumph before noticing that the thing was now moaning and writhing, the flames gone. Its nose and eyes started to bleed and now it began to scream, twisting and thrashing, forcing Lilith to crawl further back. She was puzzled until she spotted the angry redhead behind, Claire filling the creatures mind with more and more noise and pain until its entire head shattered in a screaming, squealching explosion of blood and bone. Lilith tried to wipe brain and skull away from her face before looking back up.
“Ummm….hi Claire.”
“Do not fucking hi me.”
Matt and Zacky appeared behind her, Jimmy and Raven following. Raven was still processing the trail for discarded corpses they had followed before witnessing the demon imploding and she felt more than a little sick. Dani pushed past them, helping Lilith up as Claire continued to stare at her sister in pure fury.
“You always do this. Just because you’re immortal does not mean invincible.”
“It got the drop on me.”
“You kicked it in the balls !”
Syn buried his head in Matt’s back to stop the explosion of laughter that wanted to get free, his friend struggling just as hard not to see the humour in the situation. He had just one twenty bucks from Johnny for this latest Lilith act of insanity and was kind of enjoying it. Zacky knew that he would be the one to calm the situation down and put himself between Claire and Lilith.
“Let’s just calm down now….”
“Calm ?”
Claire glared at him, knowing this was just what Europe was going to be like. Lilith was checking herself over and smiled reassuringly at Raven who was not looking all that much healthier.
“It’s not always like this, I promise.”

Notes