The sequel to my horror novel Lilith
is now available. Lilith Returns is out as an e-book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
and Smashwords. It is also available in
print. Read on for the back cover
blurb and all of Chapter 1.
Back cover:
When Alex, Colwyn, and Jacob Lasham exiled the mother of demonkind from
Earth 25 years ago, they thought they’d never see her again. Yet evil refuses to stay dead, and Lilith has
a score to settle with the trio. She is
determined to have Earth as her undisputed realm, and the Lashams will be the
first to fall in her renewed war.
Alex and Colwyn’s daughter Lena has no interest in the family business
of destroying demons. She is young and
carefree and wants to be normal ... as normal as a clairvoyant quarter-demon
can be, anyway. However, Lilith’s return
threatens her family, and Lena is forced to take up the fight alongside her
parents and uncle.
This time, Lilith has the upper hand and the destruction of mankind is
imminent. Lena discovers that to save
the Earth she must do the unthinkable:
join forces with the one creature more deadly and profane than even
Lilith. But will Lena’s agreement with
the Father of Lies be worth the lives of all mankind, her sanity, and her
soul? Or will she become the gateway for
a greater destruction to Earth?
Chapter 1
Oblivion. Nowhere.
The endless void. Perfect,
sublime nothingness. Here the essence of
what had been a dread creature rested, one despised by mankind, angelic beings,
and evil entities alike. She drifted, feeling safe and quiet for the eternal
moment. Restoring. Recovering.
She
always came to this place between struggles.
Where pain disappeared and she could huddle with her neverending
disappointment and anger, screaming silently against the unfairness of her
situation. Where she could castigate
herself for blind stupidity once again.
But she
hadn’t been stupid this last time. She’d
been smart, her plan flawless, her supremacy unmatched. Still, it hadn’t mattered. She’d been sent away, defeated once
more.
Here
between the realms of Heaven, Hell, and Earth she knew she’d find a semblance
of peace eventually. She floated in the
ethereal plane, where nothing else existed and nothing mattered. While others found only madness in this vast
void, she found relief.
The
entity didn’t know how long she’d been here this time. She’d at last gotten to the point where
ceaseless rage no longer held her in its violent grip. She was able to rest for longer and longer
periods of time, to not think of what had been kept just out of her straining
reach once more. Long enough to bask in
nothingness. Still, she knew it hadn’t
been a great stretch of time because she didn’t want to go back to Earth
yet. The abyss still comforted her too
much, offering a reprieve from the chaos.
It was safe here, away from the burning hatred, the overriding need for
revenge, and the pain.
Oh God,
there was so much pain in that other place.
Later
she would reflect that last thought must have been what had summoned the golden
light. It crept in so gradually that she
remained blissfully unaware of it at first.
Who knew how long the Other had waited for those words, patiently biding
its time? But time was meaningless
here. Seconds felt like eons, and
eternity waned within seconds. Time was
only a fabrication made by man after all.
The
light snuck up on her, so very stealthy that it had chased away most of the
black oblivion before she grew cognizant of its arrival. It had inched in to fill her senses with
warmth and alien contentment. It was
like being in a living sunbeam. Its
silent, imperceptible advent lulled her.
She remained blissfully unaware she was no longer alone until a sound
like an eternally exhaling breath drifted mistily through her essence. Even then she didn’t panic until she heard
something like tinkling bells in the nonexistent distance.
In her
great dread, she didn’t try to reason that the Other was never far away. The Other was everywhere. It simply chose to express itself only in
certain places and for certain entities.
But right now, all she knew was she needed to get back to the empty
ether, to where the Other never spoke.
Where the questions and accusations would not come. But where had the void disappeared to? Everywhere she turned, she beheld only the
golden light, and those terrifyingly sweet tinkling bells were coming closer.
Then the
Other’s voice spoke, still so well-known despite the millennia since she’d last
heard it. It was as much felt as heard,
no harsher than a summer’s breeze and yet mightier than the most earthshaking
clap of thunder. She shrank before its
quiet, monumental force, becoming a tiny mote of consciousness in its vast
presence.
Lilith. Lost, angry child of Mine.
She made
a soundless scream to hear her name spoken by that yearned for and despised
voice. She made herself smaller, as if
she could ever deny the all-seeing eyes.
Why are you hiding from
me? Stay in the light and let yourself
see for once.
Instead,
she flew away, feeling the atmosphere around her growing denser as if it would
hold her in place, a helpless insect caught in a Venus flytrap. No, no, she had to escape. She could not face the Other, could not bear
the disappointment, the millennia of wrongs she had committed, the judgment
that must follow. The air thickened,
bearing heavily against her as she sought the empty void. She came up against a barrier, something solid.
Lilith. Stay with Me.
It
almost sounded sad, as if entreating a long lost lover. It was a trick, of course. It had to be.
She could never feel its adoration again. She wandered permanently astray, with no way
home ever. She clawed at the unseen wall
trapping her, dashed herself against it until she broke through.
She fell
like a stone, plummeting faster and faster.
The golden light changed; it became orange and then hectic red, and she
imagined she fell into a fiery pit. She
closed her eyes against the angry glare, the light behind her closed eyelids
scarlet like blood.
When she
came up hard against another barrier, too solid to be the flames she’d been
certain she’d find, she clawed at it too.
Pain dug into her fingertips, the obstruction gritty against her skin,
the scent of brine filling her nose…
Fingertips? Skin?
Nose?
She
opened her startled eyes. She had
returned to the material without trying, back before she was ready, she was
solid, she was…
…on
Earth again. Shuddering all over, Lilith
dragged herself to her bare feet in the middle of a thin, one-lane gravel
road.
She was
corporeal and naked. Usually, she
carefully prepared before chancing the Earth realm again, looking for just the
right time and place to launch another offensive against the children of Adam. To cleanse the world, her world, of mankind’s infestation. Panicked by the presence of the Other, she
had blundered back senseless and blind.
Lilith
looked around at her surroundings. Dark
enveloped the world, signaling nighttime, with no one around to see her
naked. Long wavy red hair flowed over
her shoulders, covering her bountiful breasts.
The air wafted soothingly warm, the breeze refreshing rather than
leaving her shivering with cold. No, the
fine tremors that ran down her frame were from reaction to the near encounter
with the Other on the ethereal plane, not to mention the shock of suddenly
finding herself physical once more.
A slight
breeze sighed. In its wake, the few pine
trees that dotted the area whispered secrets overhead. The soft splashing of waves of the nearby
creek lapped against a wooden bulkhead.
The sound seemed very familiar to Lilith, as did the sea salt teasing
her nostrils.
A
simple, rustic cabin occupied the lot on one side of the gravel lane where she
stood. Its porch light glowed like a
tiny golden sun, orbited by dozens of fluttering moths. On the other side, facing the cabin, was a
pretty white cottage with a wraparound porch.
She’d never seen either place, but the general landscape seemed eerily
familiar.
After a
moment, Lilith gasped, recognizing her surroundings. She only had to imagine a tidy doublewide
trailer instead of the cabin and a derelict two-story house in place of the
storybook cottage. This was where she
had last left the Earth, falling in all-too familiar defeat while battling a
member of her age-old enemy, the Segreto.
Her lips
wrinkled back in an unconscious snarl.
The Segreto. Had there ever been
such a hated entity? For untold
centuries, the organization had kept her from claiming what by all rights
should belong to her. First it had been
the Hebrews who had defied her, loose confederations located in the larger
towns. Those ancient people performed
rites to send her away when she dared to walk the Earth. They defeated her at every turn as she tried
to take back what Adam and his simpering second wife Eve had stolen. Then with the rise of Christendom and the
Catholic Church, the secretive Segreto had taken up the fight, thwarting her
time after time in her pursuit of murderous justice.
The last
time Lilith had tried to wrest control of Earth from mankind, she’d wiped out
all but one of the holy sect. With no
way to know how many years had passed since that last fight, she wondered if
the bitch Alex Williams still lived. If
the Segreto had reformed and awaited the demoness’ return.
“I’m not
ready to do this again,” Lilith hissed to herself. She felt a scream uncoiling in the pit of her
belly, but she refused to voice it.
Prepared or not, she was back on Earth.
She would not be able to return to the calm darkness of the ether until
the body she’d spun out of nothingness was destroyed.
At least
the cover of night concealed the mother of demonkind for now. Had she descended into the middle of a busy
marketplace in daylight, she would have had many problems to contend with. Her enemies might have been made aware of her
quickly. She had time to do a little
thinking before she had to make a move.
Before
any real decisions could be made, she needed to find clothing and a place to
live. A safe base of operations, if she
was to take up the fight for her realm once more. But for the moment, curiosity won out over
self-preservation.
Lilith
looked at the crude but homey cabin, now on the site where her enemy had
lived. Where Alex Williams had destroyed
her hopes yet again. Was she still in
residence? Did she live on this spot
yet, thinking herself safe from the immortal succubus who’d nearly killed her
and her unborn child?
Lilith
crept to the home’s front window. The
sheers were closed but the curtains pulled back, giving her a gauzy glimpse
into the cabin’s den. Blue light from
the television flickered. In its
illumination, she caught sight of a man seated in a recliner before it. He was intent on the images flashing across
the large flat screen, so she looked over the situation as best as she could.
The
furniture was big and bulky, the television the only thing hanging on the
wall. What looked like a pile of
clothing heaped on the floor on one side.
Fishing rods leaned in the far corner.
Wooden TV trays on crossbar legs served as tables. She saw nothing to suggest femininity about
the room.
Lilith
decided to take the chance that the man stayed alone in the cabin. Perhaps he was a bachelor or just getting
away from his family, but the single vehicle in the driveway, a huge mud
splattered pickup truck, also gave her reason to believe the man had no company
in the cabin.
Reassured,
she went to the front door. A small
diamond-shaped window reflected her image back at her, and she blinked to see
herself with the same features as the last time she’d been on Earth. Big green eyes rimmed with long, dark
lashes. Straight, upturned nose. High cheekbones. Full, pouty lips. A gorgeous creature that turned men’s
heads. She looked down at her body,
paying attention for the first time. She
had formed exactly as before; huge tits, tiny waist, round hips. If Alex Williams was still alive, was still
living in this spot, she’d know Lilith on sight.
The
demoness dismissed the concern and knocked.
She waited patiently, listening to heavy footsteps approach from
within. Seconds later the door swung
open, and a ruggedly handsome man peered out at her.
“Yeah –
whoa, what the hell?” His eyes were
perfectly round as he took in the improbable sight of a statuesque naked
redhead standing on his porch.
Lilith
didn’t give him time to realize he was in trouble. She grabbed him by the back of the neck and
captured his gaze with hers. Almost
immediately his face went slack.
“Is
anyone else here?” she demanded.
“No. They’re at home.” His voice sounded low, as if he dredged it
from somewhere deep inside himself.
“Only
you? And you don’t expect anyone to come
here tonight?” she pressed. She had to
be sure.
“Yes. I am all alone for the weekend.”
“Do you
know Alex Williams?”
“Never
heard of – wait, she owned this property before the guy I bought it from. I saw her name on the papers.”
No
Segreto bitch to fight right away then.
Tension bled from Lilith’s shoulders.
“Do you have any women’s clothes here?”
“My wife
has some things she keeps in the closet.”
Lilith
could hope there would be something that would fit. She smiled.
“You want me.”
Her
victim said nothing, but a line of drool escaped from one corner of his slack
mouth. When Lilith’s hand went to his
crotch, she found him hard. And big. Her smile grew. “Good.
You will do very well. Show me to
the bedroom and take your clothes off.”
The man
immediately turned and marched inside.
She followed him down a hall, admiring his wide shoulders and the taut
buttocks wrapped in tight jeans. Very
delectable for a descendant of Adam, though she reviled the race.
Clothing,
shelter for the night, and a delicious-looking man to feed on. It was a good start.
