Chapter 20 – Lilith
CHAPTER TWENTY
LILITH
I wake groggy, limbs heavy. I stretch, rolling onto my back, and there she is.
Cara, standing over me. Watching. “Holy Mary, fucking Joseph!” I lurch sideways, slamming into the far edge of the bed.
“If I still had a heartbeat, I’d be dead right now,” I rasp, clutching my chest out of habit.
“Why the hell are you standing over me like that?”
“Watching,” she says. Of course she is. I blink hard, trying to steady myself. My hip shifts instinctively. Silas. I need to message him. Let him know I’m okay. That I’m… My hand dives into my back pocket. Nothing. Other pocket. Nothing.
Cold dread floods my veins. I rip the sheets back; frantic, searching, clawing through the bed like it might have swallowed the phone whole.
“Looking for something?” The voice slices through me.
I freeze.
Slowly—too slowly—I turn. He’s there. Morbius lounges in the armchair like he owns the place. Black suit. Perfect posture. Violet eyes glinting with something dark and entertained.
I swallow, forcing my voice steady. “No.”
A lie. “I don’t have anything with me.” I shrug, as if it doesn’t matter.
His brow lifts, slow and knowing. “Never had you down as a liar, Lilith.”
He reaches into his jacket and pulls it out. The phone. Places it carefully on the table beside him. My stomach drops.
“You can’t be trusted,” I bite, folding my arms tight across my chest.
“Apparently,” he murmurs, lips twitching, “neither can you.”
My chest betrays me; some stupid, traitorous flutter at that almost-smile. A ghost of something that used to matter. I crush it. Hard.
“If I didn’t message them, they would’ve come,” I snap. “And you’d be dust. So really, I did you a favour.”
“Oh, I don’t deny that,” he says, too easily. Too amused. Something in his tone twists unease in my gut. I ignore it.
“So,” I push, desperate to move forward, to get out, to fix this. “When do we begin?”
He blinks, like he almost forgot. Then he stands. “Oh. Right.” He pauses, exhaling a brief sigh. “Seeing your family.”
Hope surges so fast it hurts. “That’s not going to happen.” Hope dies just as quickly.
“Why?” My voice fractures into something small, barely there.
“Because it’s impossible,” he says lightly. “No vampire can shift time.”
The words don’t hit all at once. Sinking in slowly like a blade being pushed deeper. “But you said...” My throat burns, each word scraping raw. “You said…”
“Yes, yes.” He waves it off, pacing now. “I know what I said. But really, how else was I supposed to get you here? You wouldn’t have come willingly.”
Something inside me cracks.
“But the forest,” I choke. “I feel it, I feel something-.”
“You feel it because that’s where you were turned,” he cuts in. “We all do. It’s not special. It’s instinct.”
Not special. Not real. Nothing is.
My thoughts spiral, rage, grief, humiliation, crashing together. Silas warned me. Again, and again. Even when I was human.
And I still. God, I still fell for it. For him. Like a fucking Idiot.
Morbius stops pacing. Tilts his head, studying me like I’m something fragile and interesting. “Aww,” he coos. “It’s alright. Your family’s in a better place.” A dismissive flick of his hand. “And I have what I need. You’re free to go.”
Free. The word feels wrong. I scramble off the bed. “What do you mean, free to go?” He closes the distance between us in a blink; too close. His hands rise, cupping my face like something precious. His touch is gentle, achingly so. His thumb brushes my cheek like he has the right.
“You don’t have to stay,” he murmurs. “You’re free.”
The softness makes it worse. “Morbius…” My voice breaks around his name. A question. A plea. Tell me this isn’t what it sounds like. Tell me you didn’t.
He exhales, eyes closing as it pains him.
“Only you can make my name hurt like that.” His eyes open again; violet, empty.
“I considered keeping you,” he says quietly.
“Forever. You’d have learned to love me again.
You did once.” A beat passes. “But I made a deal. A blood oath.” His jaw tightens. “So, you have to leave.”
My thoughts stutter. A blood oath? “With who?” I breathe, but he ignores it. “Look at me, Lilith.”
I do. He smiles, soft, almost sad. “Maybe in another life…” His lips hover near mine. “You’d be my queen.” Then he kisses me. And for a split second, memory, warmth, what he used to be, what I thought he was. I don’t kiss him back. He feels it and pulls away.
And something in him… settles. “You’re not mine anymore,” he says quietly.
“No,” I agree, my voice steady now. Hard. “I’m not.”
The words come faster then. Sharper. Years of buried anger are tearing loose.
“I don’t love you. I did once. stupid, naive love. But now?” I laugh bitterly. “Now I pity you. You’ve lost everyone. Your brother. Me. And you did it to yourself.”
His hand snaps out, gripping my arm as I try to pass. “I won’t be alone,” he says softly.
I shrug. “Good for you.”
That smile returns, but worse this time.
“There’s someone you should say goodbye to first. A farewell dinner, perhaps.
” He releases his hold on me and moves to the wardrobe, pulling out an emerald green dress.
“Wear this. Dinner, then you can go.” He nods before leaving me standing there, my head a whirlwind of questions. But mainly: What the fuck is going on?
I change into the dress, the deep V cutting down near my navel. The sheer organza-style fabric barely covers me. It’s seductive, elegant, powerful; everything I’m not.
My stomach twists as Cara leads me down the hall. I don’t want to follow. I want to run as far as I can. But I don’t. I follow her. Something deep inside my gut urges me to stay, to go to this dinner.
Cara opens the doors and gestures for me to enter. The room is vast; a ballroom. And in the centre, a body. Chained. Broken. My breath catches, shattering in my throat as I run forward, dropping to my knees before him.
“Silas.”
His eyes barely open. Pain flickers there deep, consuming. “Go,” he rasps.
“I’m not leaving you,” I whisper, cupping his face.
“Go,” he grits, every word agony.
“I’m. Not. Leaving.”
“Well, this is touching,” Morbius drawls behind me. “Lilith, dinner will be served promptly. Don’t worry, I have entertainment for Silas, so he doesn’t feel left out,” Morbius instructs, clicking his fingers.
“Let her go,” Silas snarls. “We made an oath.”
“I said she can go,” Morbius replies lazily. “After dinner. I can’t send her out there on an empty stomach.” Morbius tuts, shaking his head back and forth.
My voice breaks. “You swore a blood oath… for me?”
Silas doesn’t speak. He nods. Something inside me twists painfully.
“Why?” I choke. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he loves you,” Morbius says lightly.
“Has for decades. Now, if you don’t mind, dinner is served.
” I’m forced back as a woman; no, their eyes are white voids of emptiness, their skin pale grey.
Velmora vessel women—beautiful and naked—surround Silas.
Their hands caress him, their mouths kissing along his neck.
He squeezes his eyes shut, the muscles in his arms straining.
I swallow, wanting to rip them from him, wanting to tear them apart for touching him.
My chest tightens, but it doesn’t matter. Not now.
“You can’t do this,” I whisper, turning back to Morbius. “What are you doing to him?”
“Becoming a vessel isn’t pleasant.” He shrugs. “He’ll live. I merely thought I would make the transition more enjoyable,” he says with a smirk.
“A vessel?” My voice trembles. Silas keeps his gaze cast low.
“Come eat, let him enjoy himself.” Morbius firmly takes my elbow and guides me to the huge table.
Metal wine goblets, filled with blood. Pillar candles line the centre of the table, the roaring fire behind Morbius; the entire setting is romantic.
I sit, the sounds of the vessels moaning and groaning as they rub themselves against Silas.
I grit my teeth, feeling sick to my stomach.
“You’re looking exceptionally beautiful this evening,” Morbius compliments.
Tears sting my eyes as I look up at him. “Why are you doing this? What did I do to you for you to hate me so much?” I choke, staring at the male I had given my heart to. The male I had trusted. The male I thought even right up until this very moment still had some good in him.
His violet eyes flicker with sorrow and pain. “All I’ve ever done, I did for a better life. I thought you were dead. I’ve never stopped loving you.” He says the words with such sincerity, I almost believe him. My foolish heart almost falls for it again.
I slowly shake my head back and forth. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t do this. You wouldn’t sacrifice others for your own happiness. If you truly loved me, you would have left me be. It’s all lies.” Every word feels like a jagged-edged sword of truth slicing me in two.
Hurt flickers in Morbius’s eyes before he quickly morphs it into anger; a slow, sadistic smile spreads across his lips. “Ah, but telling lies runs in our family, doesn’t it, dear brother?” Morbius spits with venom as he clicks his fingers.
My stomach drops. “What?” I breathe. Standing, I turn to face Silas, the Vessel that was all over now scurrying off at the click of his fingers. Silas, black mournful eyes land on mine.
Morbius steps closer, his front at my back, savouring every second. He leans in, speaking softly. “He didn’t just know where I was,” he pauses. I don’t need to look to know an evil grin is spreading across his face as he continues. “He orchestrated it.”
The world tilts, shifting beneath my feet. “He contacted the Dominion. Put my name forward.” It takes everything in me to remain still. “They wouldn’t have been there that night without him.”
Ringing in my ears drowns everything else out. “Silas?” I whisper.
He looks away. “Silas, look at me,” I demand, emotion raw within my throat.
His eyes meet mine. Guilt. Pain. Truth. “I didn’t know,” he chokes. “I thought I was helping-.”
“You got them killed.” My voice is barely audible now. Just air.
“No,” he starts.
“You got my family killed.”
“No, Morbius—” He pauses, swallowing back the pain. “He slit your throat,” Silas snaps.
My head turns slowly. Morbius smile wavers slightly, displaying his palms. “Technically, yes.”
The room spins. I press my palm to my temple.
“You…killed me?” I whisper.
“I knew he’d turn you,” Morbius says, shrugging. “I had faith.”
“You said you thought I was dead!” I snap back.
Morbius shoves his hands into his pockets. “I still had faith that if anyone was going to turn you. I knew it would be him.”
I look back at Silas, his words sinking in. “You turned me?”
“…Yes,” Silas croaks, his body taut, fighting the pain.
“Where else did you think he got those scars from?” Morbius adds. “He broke the code.”
“I broke the code; it was punishment. I would do it, again and again,” Silas’s words echo back to me in my mind.
Everything fractures. Every memory. Every truth. Gone.
“I’m sorry,” Silas rasps, and then he screams. His body arches against the chains, agony ripping through him. “Fuck!” he hisses through gritted teeth. “I got them killed,” he chokes. “They’re dead because of me. So, go. Leave. Don’t come fucking back!”
I can’t breathe. Can’t think. Can’t stay. I turn and run.
Silas’s torturous screams follow me like a haunting shadow.