Lilith came out of the room, looking at her hands in disgust. She'd gotten blood all
over herself... that meant she had to go change. Oh well - it wasn't like that was a huge
deal. What was the huge deal was the angel not giving up her Seal.
"You stupid little bitch."
There was only one man who would call her by such crude terms and Lilith wasn't
disappointed to Eric shoving his way past soldiers to get to her. He had his clipboard in
one hand and that glare on his face...
It was almost as bad as two years ago when he found out about Alice's "accident". Not
quite... but close.
Lilith sighed. "Eric, I don't have time for your insults. I have a date so-"
"Screw your date! I just got your test results back and- why the hell are you
bloody?"
"Torturing a prisoner," she said simply. "What's wrong with the analysis?"
"Torture?" He said, more to himself than her. "That's it, I'm calling an overhaul on
this facility."
Lilith watched as he barked out orders and code numbers she didn't even recognize to
the soldiers. She watched as they started to clear out and scientists in white lab coats
went into the room she'd just been in. "Secure the safety of the prisoner and provide first
aid," Eric said.
"You... you can't do this! I have special clearance on this area!" Lilith said,
looking around.
Eric just held up his ID badge. "You see this laminated piece of trash? As the head
researcher of this organization, I have just as much power and jurisdiction as the head
honcho."
She was fuming, even though she knew it was true. "But... but!"
Eric just ignored her and pulled out a syringe gun, filled with a mystery liquid.
"Eric, what the hell are you-" Before she could finish her sentence, he jammed it through
the material of her overcoat and injected her in the shoulder. "Wh... what are... you...?"
A scientist grabbed her before she could collapse on the floor. "I want her on the
helicopter, flown straight to my lab at headquarters. If she wakes up, sedate her again."
She was carried off and Eric ruffled his hair in agony. "Stupid, stupid girl..."
It was then that the angel was taken out of the room on a stretcher to be put in the
facility's emergency care room. "Jesus Christ! Why do we have an angel locked up in a room-
ah! She's all bloody," he groaned out. "Seriously...?!"
He turned to a nearby soldier. "Do you guys just let this happen? I mean, does Lilith
just waltz in here every week to have a fun little torture session?"
The soldier responded, "Sir! It's not our job to question our superiors and Lilith
interrogates the prisoner twice a week!"
"Interrogate my ass..." Eric let out a sigh. "Did it ever occur to anyone to stop
her?"
He couldn't see the soldier's eyes behind the visor, but he was sure they were
confused. Eric supposed he shouldn't expect their soldiers and operatives to actually have
an ability to act for themselves.
"Take the angel to my lab after doing emergency care!" He shouted down the hallway.
"I want her in my lab at headquarters ASAP!"
"God... I hate this job," Eric groaned, walking down the hallway. He took out his
cell phone (which got signals everywhere, evil base or not) and dialed the one person he
hated in the world more than Lilith.
Her boyfriend.
"Hello? Adrian?" Eric asked before letting out a sigh. "You screw Lilith a good...
every couple nights? Except for once a week every month right...? Yes... yes this is
relevant."
He listened to the man on the other line. "Why? Is something wrong with Lilith? We
have a date tonight," the smooth voice said over the phone.
"Cancel it - doctor's orders. She hasn't been taking the serum, has she? Can't you
double check and make sure she takes it?"
"I don't see why she should... it gives her headaches." Eric could hear a hint of
laughter on the other line. "So I told her not to bother."
Eric let out another sigh. "Really? Too bad... I'm not sure if you'd like your little
whore to suddenly go insane like another test subject we know of? Oh, wait... she didn't go
insane, she just saw through your nasty little plan-"
"Eric," the man said. "I thought we decided we'd get over that little disagreement of
ours."
"True. Lilith may not go insane. She may not die. But if you don't check up on your
little pet to be sure she's taking her medicine," Eric said, smiling a bit to himself.
"I'll be sure to lend her a couple files on her precious, precious Adrian."
There was a moment of silence before laughter roared on the other line. "My, I only
keep you alive because you're useful Eric. But now that I think about it, it's probably
your humor that does it."
"Glad you take it better than Lilith," he said.
"Tell Lilith I will come see her once she starts taking the serum again," Adrian
murmured over the line. "Does that make you happy?"
"Of course," Eric said. "I'll be at headquarters soon."
He hung up with a groan, flipping through the papers on his clipboard. He hated his
boss too, but that was beyond the point. Right now, he was going to be taking a helicopter
trip back with one experiment and one angel to deal with in his lab.
"Awesome..." he murmured. "Just awesome...!"
*****
Miki let out a relieved sigh as Eveon finished healing her wound. Somehow, the clerk
at the desk of the motel let them into a room without realizing she was hurt in her back.
"I really, really think tomorrow morning we should get a taxi to take us to my home, where
my friends can help us," Eveon said.
The green eyed girl started to head to bathroom. "Let me... let me get this blood off
of me first," she said.
Eveon just sighed and started to dial a number on her cell phone. Just as it started
to connect to her home phone, the battery died. "No way!" She tried to turn it back on, but
it shut off. "This is horrible!"
She peered over at Miki's bag, hoping to find a cell phone. The motel they had gotten
didn't even have a phone in the room and she sure as hell wasn't going to the office to use
on. Eveon didn't like having to dig through Miki's things, but...
There was clothes... a wallet of some sort with ID and such... and... Eveon pulled
out an old, beat up book. There was Latin on the front and Eveon couldn't read it at all.
It was an odd sight, with sticky notes on poking out, bookmarks, dog eared corners...
But the oddest thing was the rosary wrapped around it, keeping it shut. It was a
simple cross and Eveon frowned. Maybe this was why Miki had been so surprised about her
sexuality...? Eveon didn't notice the girl had come out of the bathroom until-
"Hey! Don't touch that!" Miki was half dressed in a new set of clothes and quickly
snatched the book away. She was double checking that the book was in tact before letting
out a sigh.
"Are you Christian?" Eveon asked.
"Wha...?" Eveon motioned to the rosary and Miki just gave her a sad smile. "It's...
not mine. It belonged to a friend, my best friend. I don't really believe in God,
anyway..."
Eveon just looked at her expectantly. "Where's your friend?"
Miki cracked a small smile. "All... all my friends are dead..."
"Oh, I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's alright. Even though they're gone, my friends still live on in my thoughts
and my memories. I've never had a lot of friends," Miki murmured, fingering the rosary. "I
had my family..."
Miki started to unwrap the rosary and opened the book. "This is an occult spell book
that belonged to my friend. She was really into this stuff even though she was super
religious."
She sat down next to Eveon on the bed and pointed to some scrawled footnotes next to
the Latin passages. "We fought small demons together and she used magic to do it. She
studied every night and wrote down stuff. I never understood it."
Eveon was silent as Miki flipped the pages. "I started using it as a scrapbook
and..." Miki fished out a picture held in place by the pages. "This is her."
The picture was of a pretty, college age girl. She had platinum blonde hair and hazel
eyes, but Eveon had to giggle at the dorky pose in the picture. Miki's friend had been
trying to emulate the pose of the statue next to her.
"I know, it was stupid. She was like..." Miki trailed off. "My best friend, my older
sister, my mother, everything. She was the world to me..."
Eveon looked up at Miki. "What... happened?"
Miki broke out of her daze before turning to Eveon. "...she died without me noticing.
I didn't even see it happen... I was such a blind little girl, but I couldn't help her,
because she was already dead."
Eveon just patted her shoulder. "I'm sure... she's still with you, like you said?"
Miki shook her head. "Only the memories stay with me. Now, she's nothing more than a
rotting corpse... just... a corpse..."
The blonde girl looked down at the pages again. "She seemed like a nice girl. She
wouldn't want you to be sad... what was her name?"
"Mariah," Miki said. "Isn't that... such a pretty name?"
Eveon grinned. "Yeah... yeah it is."
The green eyed girl let out a slight laugh. "So... now that I've shared about
myself... what's up with the Living Inferno being an angel? And you being gay?"
"What? It's a long, long story," Eveon said.
"Oh come on, I just spilled my heart about my dead friend!"
Eveon fell back on the bedspread. Miki was a nice girl... so maybe this whole dilemma
wasn't that bad.
*****
Eric let out a sigh of relief as one of the doctors let him know that the angel was
in stable condition. That was good. But now...
He peered over at the hospital bed where Lilith was started to wake up. She groan and
held her head with her left hand. Her right arm was currently hooked up to the IV.
"...Eric... what...?"
"Lilith, you haven't been taking your medication, so you'll be staying here for the
rest of the night," he said simply, motioning to the IV. "That there is the serum you've
neglected to take."
She let out another groan. "But I don't want to take it...!"
Eric grinned. "I know. You were supposed to tell me about the side effects, but since
you haven't been taking it, I can't adjust it." He flipped through the papers on his
clipboard. "You may have gotten away with not taking it regularly, but this month, I was
definitely able to tell. You know it's dangerous."
Lilith was silent. "It gives me headaches and it... it makes me-"
"Feel human?" Eric finished. She glared at him. "That's why you're taking it. You're
still human, Lilith, whether you like it or not."
"Whatever... what's the point of this stuff anyway?"
"In case you don't remember," Eric said, motioning to Lilith's navel. "You're
carrying a foreign object inside your body, an object that rightfully belongs to Alice."
Lilith shut her eyes in frustration. "Can you just shut up about Alice?! I don't want
to talk about that damn girl anymore-"
"I'm being serious. The core was intended for Alice, so you have to take the
medicine," Eric said. "It's a wonder it hasn't rejected your body, but it's messing with
your natural balance."
Lilith looked over at him. "Natural balance?"
He shrugged. "While your lack of empathy normally qualifies you to be a sociopath,
the core is affecting the way you think and react." Secretly, he figured that was the
reason Adrian encouraged Lilith to stop taking the medicine. Without it, Lilith would lose
her more humane thoughts and feelings.
"So this is some kind of guilt serum," she asked. "I don't like this stuff because it
gives me nightmares...!"
The doctor smiled a bit. "Well, that makes it all the better. Do you dream about how
you murdered Alice? Left her to die? Pretended to love her?"
Lilith started to sit up. "You don't understand anything!"
"I do... I do..." Eric looked back up at the IV. "Jealousy and deceit will make a
girl do anything..."
Lilith settled back down. "I'm not... going to go insane, am I?" Eric just looked
confused. "You gave this exact same stuff to the prototype core maker. I'm not going to go
crazy like she did, am I?"
Eric smiled and laughed a little bit. "My dear, she didn't go insane. She was a smart
girl and understood exactly what was going on. The moment she found out she was just being
used as an incubator..." He trailed off. "Anyways, to get you to take this medicine, I've
combined it with the birth control you so religiously take. Would you like this in pill
form, a serum...? Or yummy chewable tablets?"
"My... my birth control...?" Lilith murmured. "You mean, it's in my daily birth
control?!"
Eric just nodded. "Yep. So if you want to safely screw Adrian, you'll have to take
the serum daily as well. Do you want it in pills? I'll have a month supply made especially
for you."
"You're such a... such a... prick!" She settled back in the bed with a huff. "Trying
to make me feel guilty about Alice and now this?!"
"I doubt you need much help feeling guilty about Alice."
She frowned and resigned to looking up at the ceiling. Eric left the room and headed
to his office. When he got there, a young man was leaning against his desk. His blonde hair
was on the verge of being completely white and his pale blue eyes reminded Eric of a frozen
over lake - beautiful on the outside, but the suffocating depths below left not survivors.
"Is Lilith taking her medicine now," Adrian asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure she'll be glad to see you. I combined the serum with her birth
control to ensure she takes it daily," Eric smiled at the frown on Adrian's face. "If you
hadn't of told her to stop, I wouldn't have resorted to this."
The blonde man just laughed. "You're such a tricky boy, Eric. I'm quite glad you're
on my side." He stood up straight, fingering a flash drive in his hands. "The security
officers of Sector A-7 gave me this. You might be interested."
Eric took it and put it into his computer. "What is it?"
"The audio data of the break in," Adrian said.
"Right. Were you the one who authorized your girlfriend to torture the angel?" Adrian
simply nodded. "You are a sick man..."
"She's the Guardian of Light," Adrian said. "I need Lilith to get the Key to God."
Eric scoffed. "So her having superhuman powers is not enough?" The professor watched
as the data began to play on his computer.
It was the exchange between Miki and Eveon, but he didn't know that. As it finished,
Eric let out a laugh. "I never knew the alarm system could be triggered by homophobia... so
it's two teenage girls?"
Adrian shook his head slightly. "Actually... it's more than just that. One of the
girls is Eveon Kasaguri, age 15." He handed the file to Eric.
"Since when do we have files on random girls?"
"She's the step daughter of Sakura, the former Living Inferno. She has the sight, as
well," Adrian said with a small smile. "I've authorized all operatives to capture her if
she's found."
"Sakura..." Eric murmured. "Oh, yeah, that woman you're chasing? Let me guess... she
turned down the chance to see her? Isn't your girlfriend not going to be happy about your
interest in the Living Inferno?"
Adrian shrugged. "That's why I left her with the business of attaining the Key to
God."
Eric let out a sigh as he looked at the picture. "Cute girl."
"Doesn't she remind you of Alice?"
Eric let out a groan. "Of course she does - blonde hair, ponytail, cute face. Wrong
color eyes and all, different face structure, but yeah... yeah, she does. Hopefully," the
professor said, looking at Adrian. "She's not going to get killed."
Adrian let out a slight laugh. "Yes, I'll be sure not to kill her. But you do know...
I couldn't afford to let Alice live. She would have figured out the truth so it was better
to eliminate her."
"She was just a kid," Eric said, trying to keep his anger in check. "And you and
Lilith left her to die."
"No, no I'm pretty sure I shot her and she bled to death by the time we were gone,"
Adrian said with a cruel smile on his face. "So we didn't exactly 'leave' her to die."
Eric glared at him. "You are such an asshole."
"Indeed. But... I will make it up to you with this," Adrian handed Eric another file.
"Uh... Tycara...? Tycara! I thought Eska killed her!" Eric said, waving around the
file.
Adrian shook his head. "No, she's alive and in perfect condition. Eska was killed for
being a freelance fool by taking on all of Tycara's friends... but that little monster is
still alive. I will be sure to hand her over to you for experimentation after she's
caught."
Eric was staring at the file. "Another hybrid... that would mean another shot at
Project Angelus..."
Adrian frowned. "Actually, I think you should do something else than make another
core."
Eric laughed. "Ah, the great leader of the Shadow Organization is worried about me
creating my own version of Lilith. Do you think I'll get my revenge on you with her if I'm
successful?"
Adrian nodded and simply said, "Of course. You loved Alice, didn't you?"
"Exactly," Eric said, walking over to his computer. "I want you dead... you want me
dead. I'm just too important and you're just too powerful."
Adrian laughed again and watched as Eric replayed the audio. He stood in the doorway
as Eric continued to listen to it. "...Adrian... What Eveon says here... doesn't it...?"
"Hmm? What is it?" The blonde man headed closer to the computer as Eric turned up the
volume.
"They have guns? Awesome. Just peachy, Miki."
Adrian's eyes widened. "Did she just say..."
"Miki," Eric said slowly. "I think she called the other girl, 'Miki'."
Adrian turned away, cursing under his breath. "Miki? ...Miki?! How the hell is she
alive?"
Eric shook his head. "I don't know. But if it really is Miki she's with then... it
makes sense. Who else would know about Project Angelus enough to look for it? And who else
would break into our sectors?"
The blonde man calmed down. "But Miki's... I have to go see Lilith..."
Eric got up and followed him. Miki... He could only think of one Miki and if she were
the one... well, it was frankly impossible.
When he reached Lilith's room, Adrian was making out with her. "So much for talking
about Miki," Eric said rudely, interrupting their moment.
Lilith turned to Eric. "M... Miki?"
The professor nodded. "Two girls broke in to Sector A-7 this time. One of them was a
girl named Eveon Kasaguri, who has the sight and was able to get in no problem. The
other... well, Eveon called her 'Miki',"
Lilith looked at Adrian and frowned. "I swear, I swear that I killed Miki. I mean,
she can't be alive!"
Eric shrugged and looked over at Adrian. The blonde man said, "There's a slight
possibility. Miki wasn't human, after all..."
Lilith shook her head. "But there's no way. Alice fatally wounded Miki and then I
stabbed her right after and..." She trailed off. "Both of them have to be dead..."
Eric sighed a bit. "Yes, it sucks that she's alive... I was kind of hoping if one of
them survived, it would have been Alice. What did you do to Miki, anyway?"
Adrian spoke up, "Lilith simply gouged the core out of her body."
"Really... Damn, then she shouldn't be alive if you did that," Eric said, ruffling
his hair.
Lilith sat up. "As soon as you release me, Eric, I'll be sure to go and kill her."
"Right, right," Eric said, walking out of the room. Looks like he had some dusty
Project Angelus files to look over... Especially one on a certain Miki Uramoto.
*****
"...that's a crazy story," Miki said with a laugh. "Demons forcibly outing girls?
Your mom hooking up with Living Inferno?"
"It's true," Eveon murmured. "I mean, it all happened... but... Miki, why are you out
against this evil army or whatever?"
"That Shadow Organization," Miki corrected. "It's... I'm not exactly out to get them.
It's really an underground kind of corporation that deals in research and medicine and
such. I mean, it would be nice to take out their leader and stuff, but I can't aim that
high yet."
"Is the leader your father? Because that would be hilarious," Eveon said.
Miki laughed again. "No, my dad was a drug addict and my mom couldn't support me.
That's why I was put up for adoption. The guy in charge was actually my big brother... no
blood relation, thank God."
"Your brother? That's gotta suck..." Eveon idly looked over at the girl. "I'm
guessing he's a huge jerk?"
"Oh yeah," Miki murmured. "He... he's just not right in the head. I wish I could kill
him, but I kind of can't at the moment. You know, he taught me everything about swords, so
I doubt I could win."
"I love how you talk so openly about killing people," Eveon said. "I don't think I
could do it."
"Hmm... I don't like killing, but sometimes it's for the better. When I was young, I
used to kill small demons, you know? Like demon cats and such. Now, things are different."
The two girls had been lying on the bed, opening up to each other when Eveon suddenly
sat up. "Hey...! But you have magical powers, don't you? Like an exorcist?"
Miki shook her head. "No, no I'm not an exorcist or anything. I'm just a regular
girl."
The blonde made a sour face. "Uh huh. Which is why you exploded the street back there
- me and my girlfriend do that stuff all the time."
The green eyed girl just turned away. "I just don't want to talk about it. It's
complicated."
"But we've talked about lots of stuff," Eveon said with a smile. "How's this any
different?"
"I just... maybe some other time. I probably shouldn't have said anything about my
brother either."
Eveon plopped back down on the bed. "So, are we going to be heading back to my house
soon?"
"Yeah... or at least, kind of," Miki murmured. "We have to take the long way since we
have fiends and possibly the Shadow Organization following us."
*****
Eveon leaned against the motel counter, hearing the phone ring in her ear. No one was
picking up the house phone... but... the answering machine was still the same. With her
cell phone dead and no charger in sight, the blonde couldn't remember all the numbers. She
only ever used her stored contacts...
She couldn't even remember Mina's phone number from memory. "No luck?" Miki asked.
"Hmm, they aren't answering at all and I left a message saying I was alright..."
Eveon suddenly came up with a great idea. "I'll just call the Lamets!"
Luckily, she remembered that number and when Melanie picked up, Eveon asked to talk
to Mina.
"Mina? Sorry, she left on a trip."
Eveon was flabbergasted. "A... a trip?"
"Yeah, she actually left a message for you. She said that everyone had gone to find
you, Eveon."
"Oh... uh, Mrs. Lamet, can you give me Mina's cell phone number? My phone died so I
can't get her number from it..."
Melanie gave her the number and Eveon quickly scrawled it down. Unfortunately, Mina's
cell phone immediately went to her voicemail.
Miki had busied herself getting a snack from the vending machine and turned around to
see a fuming Eveon.
"I can't get through to everyone - apparently they're all out looking for me..."
Miki just offered her some candy. "Uh... then we should run into them right? I mean,
it can't be that bad..."
"I know... I just..." Eveon let out a sigh. "But what if they all run around in the
wrong places?"
"I'll protect you," Miki said with a confident smile. "No matter what happens,
Eveon."
The blonde scowled. "Says the girl who got a sickle in her shoulder yesterday."
"Hey! I was protecting you!"
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