The Vanquishing of Lilith

After the window incident, Joshua had all basement windows covered with iron grills to prevent such another occurrence. Mia seemingly suffered no permanent trauma from the mishap – in fact, he was the one who worried about leaving her alone. She would laugh and taunt him lovingly. Letting him know how silly he was in his fears.

For Mia, she had been given back so much of her life and happiness by her tender consort. She blossomed and regained most of her humanity. Only in the most fleeting moments, did the beast grumble in starvation. At such times, almost as if he sensed it, Joshua would smile and say he loved her. The monster was quashed into nothingness once more.

But in happiness, there was fear. Could the Kindred still have a hold on her in some way? Had she let her guard down enough they could sense her? If she found herself too content, Mia chastised herself. She had to be ever vigilant.

In his studio, Joshua worked the day away. He would soon go down to Mia’s suite and ask her if she wanted to go out to dinner. He smiled to himself. His sweet, little vampire wife liked the pepperoni pizza at Vito’s. It was her favorite place to go. So intent on his thoughts, he gave no mind to the sound of the door. Mia must have come from the basement – which meant he’d lost track of time once more in the windowless room.

“Hey, angel! I’ll be done in a sec,” he called.

“I’ve never been called that before.”

Joshua spun in his chair to see the tall blonde woman. She wore a black leather cat suit like a second skin. His throat went dry in fear. He knew exactly whom he was facing. Mia had described her to a tee. The cold, ice blue eyes. The build of an Amazon warrior. Lilith.

“My reputation precedes me, I see.” Lilith moved closer to inspect the human Mia had chosen to defy the Kindred with. Puny male. “I would kill you now except I have plans for you,” she growled.

“You can just leave,” Joshua announced bravely. “Mia is with me now. She isn’t one of you.”

Roughly, Lilith gripped his chin and saw the scars on his neck. “Oh, no?”

“She isn’t,” he repeated.

She hauled him to his feet. “If she is not, she will be soon enough.”

“Never.”

Still gripping his chin cruelly, Lilith dragged him to the door. “I have a use for you.”

Joshua struggled, but the woman was taller and stronger. “I’m going nowhere.”

“Quit being bothersome,” she commanded.

With all his might, he managed to free himself. He scrambled away, but the woman was on him in a flash. She slapped him to the floor and sat on him.

“I want nothing more than to snap you like a twig, boy,” she hissed. “Do not make me do it now.”

“Mia is mine,” he told her defiantly. “She’s human.”

“The very idea you have taken her sickens me.”

Lilith’s weak spot, it seemed. Recklessly, he pressed the advantage. “You can’t stand the thought of her willingly opening her beautiful little body to me...that I have been in her, on her...”

Lilith howled in rage. She backhanded the man to stop his taunting words.

Joshua’s head snapped back on impact and his world went black.

Mia climbed the stairs from the basement, concerned when Joshua hadn’t come for her as the evening wore on. It wasn’t terribly unusual for him to get so wrapped up in his music that time meant nothing, but she’d had a sense of foreboding all day – like something wasn’t quite right in her world.

“Joshua?” she called as she approached his studio. Her sense of dread grew. His chair was overturned and all the equipment was still on. “Oh, no!” Spinning from the room in horror, she returned to the hall. It was then she saw blood on the floorboards. “Please, God, no! Take me! Not him!” she begged.

“Come, little one,” Lilith’s voice whispered. “I have your plaything.”

Sobbing, Mia dropped to her knees to the floor. How could she possibly battle Lilith? She was too weak!

“If you run away, my flower, I will drain him and leave him.”

Pulling herself together, Mia rose from the floor and grabbed Joshua’s car keys from the foyer table. She would not allow Joshua to perish by Lilith’s taking. She would kill him herself with her bare hands before she would see him damned for eternity.

“Yes, little darling, come to me,” Lilith taunted.

When Joshua woke, he found himself tied to a straight-backed chair. His head throbbed from the knot on the back where his skull had rudely met the floor. He could still taste blood from his split lip. Easing his eyes open, he took in his surroundings. He was in a dank basement of a deserted house somewhere if he had to guess. The place smelled of mold and decay. Cobwebs hung thick. Other pieces of wood looked broken and rotted. One bare bulb overhead was the only source of light.

Lilith noticed the man had regained consciousness. “Weakling,” she muttered.

“Better than a blood-sucking Amazonian bitch,” he retorted defiantly. That earned him another hard slap. More blood trickled down his chin.

The blond moved to sit astride his legs. “You will find you gain nothing from testing me, boy.”

He replied nothing.

“Better.” She teased the scars on his neck. “She has taken from you, but not much and not often.”

“She isn’t a true vampire. She is more human.”

“That changes as of tonight.”

“Please, can’t you just leave us alone?” He thought he might appeal to her softer nature.

“Save your pretty pleading for mercy. I have none.” Lilith licked the blood from his chin then her ran her tongue along his scars.

Joshua shuddered in disgust.

“You do taste wonderful,” she admitted. “The child chose well. I shall like draining you.”

“Then take me. Leave Mia.” Perhaps a bargain...

“Boy, I will have both of you,” she mused. “There are no deals to be made.” To prove she could do anything she pleased, she yanked the hair at the back of his bruised head. When he yelped in pain, her mouth slammed over his, her tongue thrusting in rudely. He couldn’t gain his release, no matter how he shrugged. Her tongue raped and plundered. Her taste was foul. Gaining no reaction save revulsion, she released his lips. “I despise males.”

Mia parked Joshua’s jeep outside the dilapidated, abandoned house on the poor outskirts of the city – mostly marsh and swamp. This is where she would face her deadly foe once more. But this time more than her soul was at stake. Joshua’s lay on the line as well. Hadn’t her mother once told her there was nothing stronger than love? Tonight she would test that theory. She and her consort would survive together or they would perish together. Only two outcomes existed.

Lilith tipped her head as if hearing something. “She comes.”

No matter how stealthy she believed herself, Mia realized there was no surprising Lilith. She hadn’t lived hundreds of years without being cunning and cautious. Making her way to the cellar, the first thing she saw was Joshua bound to a chair with Lilith sitting on him. “You have to tie him to keep him captive.” Mia mocked the woman who rose from her consort’s lap.

“Merely preventing him from hurting himself before you arrived,” Lilith replied coolly.

“Then you have no objections if I release him.” Mia came to stand behind the chair.

Lilith waved a hand in the direction of the chair. “None.”

The small dark girl made quick work of the knotted rope at Joshua’s wrists. Once free, she walked around him as he chafed his abused wrists. It was then she saw his bruised bloodied face. “You have to beat your prey these days?” she questioned the woman as she rounded on her.

“I have little patience for males.” The woman shrugged. “He grew tiresome.” Lilith reached to stroke Mia’s neck, her birthmark. “How very clever of you, little one. Giving yourself to a human. It voids this mark – for first taking. Adrian will demand his revenge, I suppose. But I can take you now, Mia. You can be mine.”

The words hypnotized Mia. She had forgotten not to meet Lilith’s gaze.

“You will not be quite as sweet as the first time,” the woman purred. “You’ve let a male into your tight hole. But I shall cleanse you of the feel of him.”

Joshua frowned. Why was Mia listening to her? Why was she not protesting? Before he realized what was happening, Lilith was sinking her teeth into the unresisting Mia’s neck. “No!” he bellowed and charged at the woman, trying to free his beloved.

Lilith swatted at him as if he was no more than a common housefly. Joshua fell to the floor, his already tender skull hit the chair seat and he was dazed temporarily. Blinking to clear his brain, he rose and took hold of the chair back. Raising it high, he charged Lilith, smashing the chair over her back in an effort to draw her away from Mia. He felt the impact jarring his arms up into his shoulders. The chair splintered like toothpicks.

Lilith yowled like an angry cat. Releasing the girl, so she fell to the floor, the woman turned angrily on the boy. “It matters not to me who I drain first.” she hissed. “And I grow weary of your interference.” Scrambling to get away, Joshua fell over chair pieces and crashed to the floor. He was snatched to his feet. Lilith sank her fangs deep. It wasn’t like when Mia took him. There was only excruciating pain as Lilith greedily took from him.

Mia recovered enough to see Lilith drag Joshua to his feet and put her mouth to his neck. A fury like she had never known swept through her. Rage made her hiss. "You bitch! Let him go!" When the blonde did not release her consort, Mia flew across the room and struck her across the face.

Lilith let Joshua drop to the floor in surprise. "Do not mess with me, little one!" she warned.

"He is mine," Mia growled.

"And you are mine."

"No."

"You are. Your little tantrums make me weary. If you wish to keep this one as a pet..." Lilith swept a hand toward the semi-unconscious man. "I have no objection. Drain him and be done with it!"

"No. I will not kill him."

"You would give him life everlasting."

"I would give him eternal darkness and damnation. He belongs to the light. I would rather slit his throat with a knife and let him die a true death."

Lilith shook her head. "A true waste. His blood makes you strong. You know it does. You've felt it. His blood tastes wonderful, doesn't it? Warm, rich and oh-so sweet..."

Mia shook her head. She refused to even let herself think of how good Joshua's blood had tasted on her tongue.

"You've given him your blood. Think of it, Mia. He can be young and beautiful forever."

"He would be a hideous monster like you and I."

Joshua dimly became aware of the women arguing. They sounded like two angry cats, hissing and spitting at one another. Who was winning? How could his little Mia possibly triumph over the blonde Amazon? She hadn't drunk from him in weeks – and Lilith had. "Mia?..."

"Joshua." Mia reached down with extra human strength to snatch him up, placing herself between her beloved and Lilith.

"Such devotion, young one," Lilith jeered. "You can't hope to vanquish me and save your pitiful lover. You will be taken by Adrian, then become my consort – and because of the aggravation you have caused me, I'll drain your plaything and leave him to become an undead monster. Only you can change his fate, Mia. Drain him yourself," she purred.

"No."

"You grow weak. You haven't fed in some time. How can you hope to fight me?"

"She's right, baby," Joshua murmured. Mia hadn't taken from him since the broken window incident. "You need to drink."

"You don't know what you ask of me," Mia sobbed. "I will not destroy you!"

"I assure you that I will," Lilith reminded her.

Joshua tried to give Mia what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "If I have to go through eternity, I'd rather be with you," he told her fatalistically.

"No!" Mia protested.

"Listen to him," the blonde urged. "He realizes there is no winning against me."

Joshua put his hands on Mia's shoulder to turn her towards him. "Take me, baby."

"Joshua..."

He kissed her softly. "I love you. Take what you need." With one hand at the back of her head, he guided her mouth to the fresh wound Lilith had made on his neck. He placed his other arm around her to cradle her close. "Drink."

The tenderness in the man even touched something in Lilith's black heart momentarily.

"I love you," Mia whispered helplessly.

"I know, angel. Drink."

Stinging pain, then sweet rapture. Mia's feasting was unlike Lilith's rape of his blood. With her there had only been agony. His lover's taking left him exquisitely happy.

Once again, Mia felt the light and warmth of her existence fade. Joshua's arms fell limp at his sides; he was suspended upright only by her mouth. She couldn't do this horrible thing to him! It was not a thing of love! Jerking her head back, she gently lowered him to the floor.

"Finish him!" Lilith roared. "Or I shall!"

Mia spun on her in fury, her eyes the copper color of blood lust. "No!" she snarled. When the other woman approached, Mia stood ready to protect her consort. With strength she had gained from the taking of Joshua’s, she backhanded the blonde, sending her flying across the room and crashing to the floor.

Lilith howled in rage.

Before Lilith could recover, Mia flew across the room to battle her, placing as much distance as possible between the struggle and Joshua. She straddled the blonde's ribs, holding her down.

"His blood is bitter in your cold veins, is it not?" Mia jeered, her voice harsh and strange even to her own ears. "It does not give strength. It was not freely given. You require more than I, because you must take."

Lilith fought to throw the smaller woman off but found it useless. She knew in a flicker that Mia intended to destroy her. "I would have cherished you, little one. Adrian will crush you. There will be no escaping his wrath," she warned softly. "You and your consort will suffer until the end of time."

Mia reached for a splinted leg of an old chair. It would serve as a stake. Without remorse, she drove it through Lilith's black heart.

The wail of a thousand banshees rent the air. A moment later, all that remained of Lilith was dust and her leather clothing.

Jerking to her feet, Mia sobbed in fright. She was less than human now. She was very nearly a monster with no redemption!

Going to where Joshua lay, she dropped to her knees to stroke back his hair tenderly.

Still lethargic, Joshua opened his eyes to find Mia's dark amber eyes caressing him. "Is it over?" he asked weakly.

"For now, my darling." Helping him from the floor, she let him lean heavily against her. "For now."

He wanted to ask what that meant, but he was too weak to form more words. In fact, he couldn't get his legs to work.

"I took too much," Mia lamented as she lifted him in her arms to carry him up the stairs to his car.