Sunday's Serving - Lilith

 

            Enough light filtered down the hall to see Lilith when she appeared in the doorway. The demoness’ exaggerated body swelled against her sweater and slacks. Despite her impressive proportions, the sharp-toothed snarl that twisted her face ruined any semblance of beauty. Malevolence pulsed from her in noxious, malignant waves. It was as if a cancerous tumor had taken human form.

            Alex battled the urge to bolt. She kept motionless in the shadows as her enemy stalked into the room.

            Lilith walked past her. She passed by, not seeing Alex hiding there in the shadows. It was as good a chance as the Segreto could hope to get. Alex flung the vial towards the demoness and prayed that something remained in it.

            A sound like bacon sizzling and the sickly-sweet smell of burning flesh filled the already rancid air. Lilith’s shriek rebounded off the walls.

            Alex stepped out of the shadows. She shouted, “In the name of God, I command you to depart this world!”

            Lilith twisted to face her. Before Alex could react, the demoness charged at her, talons reaching. Lilith crashed her body into the Segreto with the force of a runaway train, hurling her into the hallway. Alex flew backwards, and her head bounced off the wall. White spots exploded before her eyes. She crashed to the floor. She lay stunned, unable to move. 

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Sunday's Serving - Lilith

           Despite her best efforts, Alex dropped right on top of the dead man. The body squelched beneath her, and the air went muddy with the scent of spoiled meat. His blank eyes stare into hers, the windows to his soul looking into a bare, unfurnished room.

           She controlled an urge to scream – barely. Her stomach heaved, and she scrambled off the bed. The ripe odor of death hung about her. Alex held her breath as she hurried to the door. There she paused, willing her galloping heartbeat to slow to a trot. Panic edged back but kept a hungry eye on her.

            Alex pulled the vial of holy water from her coat pocket and unstoppered it. With a shuddering breath she cracked the door open.

            A powerful thrum slammed through her body. The force made her stumble backwards. Demon recognition hit her with the force of a tidal wave. She tried to scream, but only a whistling hiss of breath escaped.

            Alex staggered in a drunken pirouette to the middle of the room. One hand outstretched to ward off the demonic presence. The other pulled back the holy water as if she readied to throw the first pitch of a baseball game.

            Alone and small, Alex had indeed blundered into the lair of the Beast. A moaned litany escaped her lips. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t...”

            Staring at the dark hallway beyond the open door, she wept the tears of a terrified child. Who was she to confront such a monster? Lilith would surely annihilate her within seconds. With all that power, she couldn’t be stopped, couldn’t even be slowed. Lilith would destroy them all. Such malevolence would crush everything in its path. Alex’s puny arsenal of prayers and spells would be like pebbles thrown at a tank. Incantations would be no more to the ancient demoness than nursery rhymes.  

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

            Colwyn sped down the streets. They reached Henderson Avenue within five minutes.

            “Oh shit,” Jacob said, letting him know he’d spotted the truck two blocks down. The older demi-demon said nothing as he parked behind Alex’s Ford. His chest felt tight. The Mercedes’ rearview mirror reflected his grim face back at him.

            Jacob looked at the house they’d parked in front of. A ‘For Sale’ sign whipped back and forth in the gale. “This isn’t it. That house is empty.”

            Colwyn peered through the driving rain at the house number. “It must be the house up there.”

            As soon as they got out of the car, a tremendous jolt of demon energy pulsed against him. His mouth went dry. Jacob’s face whitened to alabaster.

            “I think we’ve found what we’re looking for. This is very bad,” the younger Planter said over the torrent. “I hope Alex hasn’t done anything stupid.”

            Colwyn pushed aside his own terror. “We’ll go to the back door and surprise Lilith. Hurry!”

            They raced across the yard and around to the rear of the house. The rain beat against them like hundreds of tiny fists, as if desperate to make them turn around. They reached the back door. Colwyn peered into its window. The interior of the house was dark but for one room lit at the end of the hall. He saw no movement. He tried to open the door.

            “It’s locked.”

            “Do we break it down?” Jacob suggested.

            “It looks quiet in there. If Alex is still alive, we’d be better off sneaking in. Let’s check and see if any windows are unlocked. If we can get in quietly—” Colwyn broke off.

            His brother’s eyes widened. “What the hell?”

            A second incredible surge of demon power startled both men. A coldly amused voice spoke from behind them. “Well now, what do we have here?”

            They whipped around. A woman, her black hair plastered down by the rain, stood at the bottom of the steps. She looked them up and down and licked her lips.

            “My, my,” she whispered, her voice husky. “Two big, strong halflings sneaking around the back door. Breaking and entering is a crime, boys. You’ll have to be punished.”

            The brothers recoiled from the succubus as she closed the distance. Their hands flew up too late to ward her off. She touched them. 

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

           Once she felt safe from curious eyes, she crossed from that backyard to the next.  Right away she saw one window at the back of the demoness’ house was cracked open about an inch.  When she reached it, she found the window was over her head.  Alex looked about for something to stand on.  A child’s tricycle stood on the back porch of the house on the other side of the demon’s lair.  She edged towards it.  No one seemed to be home.  She grabbed the tricycle and hurried back to the window.

            Alex placed the tricycle beneath it.  She listened for any sounds within.  Only the far-off hum of traffic and the drum of her heart disturbed the stillness.  Gripping the windowsill, she stepped onto the toy’s seat and peered inside. 

            Alex looked into the wide open eyes of a wasted man who stared up at her from a bed beside the window.  His face betrayed a horror unimaginable.  Alex froze.

 

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

 

            Alex’s mouth dried.  A tremor overcame her.  She’d faced many demons, but none looked as predatory as this creature.  The demoness moved with catlike grace, and her eyes scanned her surroundings as if searching for prey.  This was no Christmas-loving Stella Foster.  This was a voracious beast hunger-bright for something to snack on, something that would shriek and bleed.

            Run before she sees you! Alex’s instincts screamed.  Her heart hammered as if to burst from her chest.  But her legs quaked and refused to hurl her back into the truck.  Even though about twenty yards separated them, her talent drummed with insane violence, a sure indication the demoness possessed considerable power, more than Colwyn and Jacob combined. 

            The fiend’s head turned towards her.  Alex looked away and pretended to study the house for sale.  Her hands clutched at the gris-gris and holy water in her pockets as she watched out of the corner of her eye.

            The demoness stalked to the driver’s side of the BMW parked a few feet in front of her truck.  Alex glanced over and met a cold stare from eyes like black holes.  It was as if twin pits had been bored into the flesh of the demoness’ face, destroying the first impression of flawless beauty.  Alex feared if she looked too long she’d be swallowed in the dark depths.  Was Hell as bottomless and black as those eyes?   

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

            Alex imagined a shadowy female figure tearing first Jacob then Colwyn apart while she stood by, unable to move.  She pictured it clearly, seeing the blood flowing from the brothers’ gaping wounds and Colwyn looked at her with accusing eyes that glazed over.

            Alex shook herself out of the terrible fantasy.  She trembled all over as she rooted through the pockets of the jeans she wore yesterday.  She transferred the items she found from those to the jeans she wore now:  a small gris-gris bag, a vial of holy water, and the rusted nail from Holly Hutchins' coffin.  She held the nail in her palm for a moment and stared at it.

            “What did you know?” she asked the nail.  “What was it that helped you defeat Lilith so quickly?”

            When the nail failed to gain the power of speech and subsequently refused to offer her sage insight from the long-dead Segreto, Alex stuffed the nail in her pocket and came to a decision. 

            She’d go after Lilith without the brothers.  Reaction to so much demon strength might hinder her. 

            “And let’s face it,” Alex said to herself.  “I don’t care to see them killed, demonkind or not.”

            She glanced at the clock in the den before walking out.  Almost one o’clock.  They expected her in an hour.  If she hurried and didn’t get pulled over for speeding, she could get to the house on Henderson Avenue in forty minutes.  By the time they realized she’d gone without them, they’d be too late.                          

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

            Alex automatically prepared her usual breakfast by heating a couple of toaster pastries and microwaving a cup of instant coffee.  Nibbling at her breakfast, she stared out the kitchen window, not seeing the abandoned house decaying creepily across the road.  Her thoughts were far from that eerie sight.

            She mused over Colwyn’s strange behavior the night before.  What had he wanted to ask her but been unable to?  To see such a huge, confident man so unsure of himself fascinated her.  In that moment, she’d almost forgotten his demonic side.  Despite the thrum of his presence,        he seemed wholly human and someone she could genuinely like.  His smile softened his strong features and made the granite face attractive.  Seeing him unguarded like that made her wish for ignorance of his ancestry.

            Her thoughts startled her, and Alex almost dropped her cup.  Coffee sloshed onto the tile floor and splashed her bare toes.  She swore at the sudden burn. 

            She grabbed a handful of paper towels and wiped up the spill almost savagely.  What in the hell am I thinking?  He’s a demi-demon for God’s sake!   

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

 

            They relaxed — a little.  Colwyn flicked wary eyes at his surroundings.  “Interesting decor.  It looks like a shrine to every god ever thought up.”

            “This stuff is my idea of a home insurance policy.”

            Jacob stood frozen except for his eyes which rolled around taking everything in.  “This won’t harm us then?  I mean, I feel okay, just nervous.”

            “It can’t hurt you because I’m not using anything as a weapon.  Faith invokes their properties.  You should be able to touch most of them without injury.”

            They moved further into the room, their steps cautious.  Jacob touched a tentative forefinger to a small statuette of a goddess.  When nothing happened to him, his tension eased.  He picked up the plaster figurine to examine it closely.  “You’re right; it doesn’t bother me at all.  How about that?”

            Colwyn walked to the center of the den and turned around in a circle, looking at everything.  “Am I to understand that belief is your greatest weapon?”

            Alex nodded.  “Both mine and any demon’s I face.  Holy water would have no more effect on you than tap water if we didn’t both believe it could hurt you.”

            “What if I believe and you don’t?”  Colwyn watched Jacob handle the statuette.  A muscle twitched in his jaw.

            “Then it would depend on which of us has the greatest faith.  What religion do you fear the most?”

            He glanced at the crucifix over her computer and quickly looked away.  “Christianity, of course.”

            Alex motioned to his brother.  “That piece Jacob is holding is an image of Isis, an Egyptian goddess.  I use it as part of my protection against demonkind.  Because I decided it wouldn’t hurt him and he didn’t perceive it to be a Christian threat, he can touch it without injury.  If he touched a crucifix, it might hurt even against my wishes simply because he thinks it’s harmful.”

            Fascination helped Colwyn relax a little more.  “Is that why the Segreto uses so little physical force against demonkind?”

            Alex gave him a wry grin.  “You withstand physical injury too well for them to defeat you that way.  I’d guess you two gorillas in particular can handle more pain than most.  Since we can’t shoot, stab, or beat demonkind to death easily, we’re left with using metaphysical weapons.  That expression ‘faith can move mountains’ is very apt.” 

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

            “I have a question,” Jacob said.  “What if the woman in there isn’t Lilith?”

            “She’s still demonkind, isn’t she?”  The words escaped Alex’s mouth before she realized what she was saying.  Her heart sank.  The brothers looked at her, their expressions unchanged.  She rubbed her forehead and shrugged an apology.  “Open mouth; insert foot.  I guess old habits die hard.”

            “You take one step back for every two steps forward.  You Segreto types are sure hard to train.”  Amazingly, Jacob grinned and winked at her.

            She grew suspicious.  “I don’t suppose that’s part of the reason you’re so gung-ho to come with me?”

            Colwyn shrugged.  “Let’s just say we’re committed to protecting you from bad demons and good demons from you.”

            Alex felt too used up to react to his comment or protest when he again headed towards the house.  His grin fading, Jacob patted her on the shoulder.

            “Come on.  Let’s do what we came to do.”

            She nodded, a little rocked by his touch.  She followed him up to the porch where Colwyn waited for them.  As soon as they joined him, he knocked on the door.

            Footsteps clumped on the other side.  Alex tensed and felt the brothers beside her do the same.  The door opened, and the additional demon recognition thrummed so violently she shook.  The last of her exhaustion fled as the silhouette of a woman appeared at the doorway.  Alex readied to fling the holy water in Lilith’s face. 

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Women in Horror Month – The Writers

Last week I celebrated the Women in Horror month by looking at movie characters.  This week I wanted to take a look at my favorite female writers in the horror genre.

Tanith Lee

 

The author of over 90 novels and 300 short stories, Tanith Lee has written some of the creepiest stories I’ve ever read.  Her story ‘When the Clock Strikes’ was my first introduction to her work.  That particular tale is a version of ‘Cinderella’ you’ll never read to your kids unless you like to hear them screaming from nightmares.  The Secret Books of Paradys (I-IV) were mindblowing in their ability to take the reader into a world that was as soul-chilling as any I’ve ever read.  Her many awards include the August Derleth Award, World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, and the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award.

 

Daphne du Maurier

 

Perhaps her two best known works were Rebecca and The Birds, which were made into classic films.  If you liked the movies, you will absolutely adore the writing.  The short story The Birds, which I first read in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, made my skin crawl.  Her National Book Award for her masterpiece Rebecca was well deserved.

 Mary Shelley

 

You can’t talk women in horror without the author of Frankenstein coming up.  And though this book is a result of Lord Byron challenging Mary Shelley to write a horror story, it reads more like science fiction.  With this being one of the most recognized tales in the  world (over 15 versions made in film and television), Shelley always merits being at the top of the list of women in horror.

Anne Rice

 

Edward Cullen, eat your heart out.  Despite being undead, Rice’s gorgeous vampire creation Lestat de Lioncourt breathed the last great breath into the vampire genre.  Her Vampire Chronicles have been must-reads.  The Mayfair Witches were a pretty good series too.  Anne Rice perfected the sexy monsters one would not mind dying in the arms of.

 

Shirley Jackson

 

My hands-down favorite female horror writer Shirley Jackson could play with the reader’s head like no one else.  The Lottery is wonderfully terrifying in its bucolic setting, which warns us that even the most innocent-seeming of places can host horrors beyond imagination.  We Have Always Lived in the Castle was another story that continues to mesmerize me.   The Haunting of Hill House stands in my mind as the greatest haunted house story of all time ... more because of the question of whether the house was actually haunted or if the story’s heroine was simply insane.  One of the most chilling lines I’ve ever read came from that book:  “...silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.” 

And there they are, my five favorite Women of Horror in writing.  While I do not claim to compare in any way, shape, or form to these amazing wordsmiths, I’d like to shamelessly plug my own horror books at this time.  After all, it’s my month too!  You can pick up Lilith and Lilith’s Return for your Kindle, Nook, or other reading devices at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

  

Happy reading!

Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

            Alex returned to the funeral home at the agreed time.  By then she felt drained.  Her legs were barely capable of holding her up.  She’d spent most of the afternoon parked by the waterfront, crying until she was exhausted. 

            When she arrived at the funeral home, the brothers were waiting for her in the parking lot.  Other than the Planters’ silver Mercedes, it was now empty.  She parked her truck next to it and got out.

            Jacob’s grim face grew more worried as he looked at her.  “Are you okay?”

            “What do you mean?”  Her eyes darted to Colwyn.  Had he told his brother what had transpired between them?  Had Marta told them anything?

            “You’re pale as a ghost.”  Jacob glanced at Colwyn.

            “Of course she is,” he replied, his tone even as he watched her.  “We’re about to come face to face with Lilith.  I’m sure Alex is scared out of her wits.  I know I am.”

            “Nobody here but us chickens,” she said, her voice wavering despite her effort to keep it light.

            “Have you got your magic nail?” Colwyn asked, smiling with encouragement.

            “Among other things.”  The words came out steady this time, and Alex straightened.  “I’m ready when you are.”

            To her relief, Colwyn made no mention of her abrupt departure earlier.  Instead, he opened the front passenger door for her as Jacob got in the back.  As she started to get in, Colwyn said in a low voice, “You’ve been crying.  Are you all right?”

            Alex looked up.  His face wore a gentle, concerned expression.  Concern for their mission or for her?  She dropped her gaze.  “I’ll be fine.  I have to be.”  She got in the car. 

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

            He didn’t notice her presence right away.  He stared at the window by the bed, his chest hitching helpless sobs.  He really wasn’t much more than a child, she thought.  When she’d first brought him here, he’d been fresh and vigorous, poised between slim boyishness and virile manhood.  Now his chest lay sunken, his limbs as wasted as an old man’s.  His cheekbones stood out from his gaunt face.

            She loved the young, strong ones the best.  Her mother might enjoy dispatching men within hours, sometimes even minutes, but Naamah took pleasure in watching their lives slowly ebb away. 

            The young men in particular felt invincible.  Their helplessness against her first shocked then infuriated them.  They denied such weakness and cursed her while trying to fight.  Their fear started as a pinprick they would at first refuse to acknowledge even to themselves.  From there the terror grew until it finally devoured them whole.  Then they screamed and begged even as their bodies betrayed them over and over.

            This sweet morsel breathed shallowly, every intake of air an effort.  Naamah knew his heart occasionally fluttered in exhausted arrhythmia.  The next time she took him would be the last.  The thought aroused her, and she stepped into the room.

            He saw the movement and turned his eyes from the window.  He moaned as his gaze fell on her but he didn’t scream.  The strength for that was long past. 

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

             “I love to feel how their suffering grows as their strength dies.  Did you hear how he screamed when I took him this morning?”  Naamah rubbed her breasts and shivered. 

            “I only hope the neighbors didn’t hear as well.”  Lilith looked in the pot her daughter stirred.  “Do you really expect me to eat that?”

            “I’m not used to this sort of thing.  I’ve always been the mistress, not the help.  Besides, I thought I’d be guarding you, not cooking for you.” 

            Lilith sneered at the glop bubbling on the stove.  “I would never accuse you of cooking.”

            Naamah brightened.  “Then let me toss this in the garbage.  We weren’t meant to live like this anyway.  The others would laugh if they could see Lilith and Naamah sleeping in a small, plain house and cooking their own meals.  Let’s go to a restaurant, one with young waiters.  I could use fresh meat.  That one’s almost finished.”  She licked her lips as another sob trailed into the room.

            Lilith considered it for a moment.  She was insanely bored, having to be a spectator to the murders she should be committing.  Naamah’s suggestion certainly tempted her, but not so much for toys to fuck and destroy.  Humans had buffet restaurants, where the food sat out in the open, begging to be tampered with.  She’d killed a pharmacist and an exterminator, both of whom had provided her with fun substances fit for such a scenario.  The demoness ached to play.

            But she was so close to killing off the Segreto now.  Just a few more days and she felt sure she’d be powerful enough to destroy its female warrior with barely an effort.  

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Sunday’s Serving – Lilith

 

             “Alex, wait.”

            Colwyn’s hand enveloped her shoulder.  The jolt of sensation nearly jerked her out of her skin.  Her knees buckled, and she fell.  Colwyn gasped; his other arm circled her waist and pulled her against him, stopping her plunge.  Alex cried out as another wave of electricity radiated from him and passed through her, melting her for an instant.  The granite planes of his body pressed against her back.  She felt his strength, his power, and knew her own helplessness against such a creature.

            Alex lunged free with such force that she crashed against the wall.  Pain jarred throughout her body, and she nearly fell again.  Colwyn reached for her, but before he could grab her again she held up her hands and backed away.

            “Don’t.  Touch.  Me.”  Tremors raced through her body. 

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Sunday's Serving - Lilith

 

            In the lobby, a crowd of well-dressed mourners gathered in a tight knot.  In the middle stood Colwyn and a gray-haired woman he encircled with a long arm.  Sobs wrenched from her throat, and she sagged against the funeral director as Marta patted her shoulder.

            Colwyn murmured to the woman, his words too low for Alex to hear.  She heard his gentle tone however, and it soothed until she looked at his face.

            A mask of concern covered his features.  But beneath the consoling veneer, she saw how his eyes dilated and the slight upturn of his lips.  Under the sympathy he looked ecstatic.

            Alex’s hand flew to her mouth to block the scream that tried to escape.  Perhaps Colwyn saw the movement out of the corner of his eye because he looked at her.   

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Sunday's Serving - Lilith

            Only one door besides the one on the end interrupted the pure white walls.  Drawing abreast of it, a small plate identified the room it opened into:  Embalming.  

            Alex hesitated.  Curiosity won out, and she opened the door and peered in.  Cabinets lined the walls, but what caught her eye was the guttered metal table in the middle of the room.

            It was completely utilitarian, devoid of softness or warmth.  It stood there, indifferent to the parade of bodies that must have lain on its surface and the many more that would come. 

It seemed to say, I know nothing of man’s hopes and fears of eternity.  Hell may only be a lie, a tool of your religions to make you do as they wish.  Or it may be divine retribution.  Heaven may be a dream of those terrified of dissolution. Or it may be a real reward.  All I guarantee is that one day you’ll lie right here naked and cold, and the once living warmth of your fluids will be drained from your body.  That day might be soon.  It might be today.  Climb on up, Alex.  Lie down and have a peek into your future.

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