Firstborn (The Legacy Series) (15 page)

And then eons went by and the Earth plane flourished. She infiltrated it, donating darkness and
hatred. Nations fell to her powers and she conquered them like a queen. She would build her paradise here, she decided.

But that wasn’t enough – she wanted that original Paradise. And so she ordered her temple built to be tall enough to pierce the heavens. But that failed miserably due to language problems.

Once she figured that she couldn’t return to Heaven, she took vengeance on the natives of this plane. She became a temptress, whispering in the ears of kings and warlords. She instigated wars that lasted throughout the ages, relishing in the hatred she recreated. One of her greatest accomplishments was the betrayal of Cleopatra. That Roman had been very easy to manipulate – almost too easy. Her favorite was the Trojan war. She made Helen madly in love and told her to run. Then, she made Helen’s father go after her. Years later, she gave a certain strategist the idea of a trap and he had come up with a giant horse.

Men – always thinking bigger is better.

More flashes pictured her in Victorian garb as she tempted one monarch after another. She had whispered in Cortez’s ear of her attraction to violence, and he eradicated half a nation on her behalf. She was court member during World War I. Before the vote to go to war, she leaned very close to a very influential member and flashed enough of what was beneath her dress to persuade him in all possible meanings of the word. She voted for war and everyone else followed her.

Years later
, she slept with a certain German tank operator and engaged his philosophy – indeed, she encouraged him. He entered politics and the world experienced its second World War. She had thoroughly enjoyed herself at first − then the idiot went ahead and took all that amphetamine. No wonder he thought invading Russia was a good idea.

And then, nothing. She gave up on the world. There was already so much darkness that she had become redundant. She returned to Hell and waited
. But her throne was usurped by the Demon Emperor.

Not to worry – she had lost interest in that as well.

Some time ago, not far into the past compared to the eons she had experienced, she felt the call of someone old and powerful. There was something familiar about that voice but she could not place it. Age and corruption had taken their toll on her memory.

This being, neither demon nor angel, but something long lost and forgotten, had offered her power. A new purpose. She accepted the mantle of Lust. It changed her
, but only superficially. Her original powers had been fortified.

But the creature wanted to wait – he wanted to enact his plan at the right time and she had grown impatient. So
, she broke off his hold and ran to the Human world, eager to wreak havoc on a new scale.

But first
, she had to feed. With this new power came a cost, and she had to find something to quell her hunger. The succubus had been a youngling but she would have to do. Only she would suffice, for only she had the
correct
energy. To a creature like Lilith, quality always overruled quantity. She tried feeding on her many times, yet either her powers would go haywire or that meddlesome angel would intervene.

Not this time. Not here on this ship.

The angel was far away and all that stood between them was this idiotic wizard. A cripple. A powerful cripple but a cripple, nonetheless. He’d make a great appetizer.

“I am going to suck everything out of you,” she moaned.

I could have laughed at the pun but was sure this wouldn’t be a happy ending. I was never happier to have my pants on in my entire life.

“So
, how does it feel to be somebody’s bitch?” I snarled. “Lilith.”

Her eyes flashed red and back to their usual kaleidoscope. “So
, you figured out who I am. Bravo. Was that you poking around in my head a few seconds ago?” She flicked an ebony strand of hair. “Whatever. There is nothing you can do.”

I struggled and she pressed forwards. It was like a car had settled on my chest.

“Fragile humans,” she cooed. Her hands snaked down south and grabbed my genitals. “But you are quite something aren’t you? I figured we’d at least get to second base before you figured it all out.”

She gave my thigh a squeeze. “But I suppose this is better. I enjoy playing with my food.”
She trailed kisses across my chest. “Say my name again.”

I felt her hold recede just a millimeter – just enough for me to swing my fist at her.

“Go blow yourself.”

She didn’t dodge or even flinch. Gently
, she swatted my arm down and giggled. I felt searing, white-hot pain in my arm and saw it dangling over the edge of the bed, misshaped and swollen.

“Wrong answer,” she said sharply. Her ha
nd squeezed my genitals harder. “Shall I break another bone, my dear?”

This woman and her puns. I could have laughed but I dated her type before – insane psychos.
And when that type of woman grabs you by the balls and threatens to rip them apart − you better listen.

“Lilith,” I rasped. “Your name is Lilith.”

“Good boy,” she whispered as she leaned over and kissed my forehead. Once more she stood upright and flashed a smile.

“Well
, now, I’m hungry, my dear.” Her perfect face began changing – her jaws elongated and her lips widened unnaturally. A row of serrated fangs dripped saliva on me.

She may have been a monster of powers way beyond m
ine. She may even have been a goddess. Whatever she was, she was incredibly powerful and those guys always make the same mistake – they underestimate the weaker guy.

I mean, sure
, I’ve never started wars what have been made into countless movies. I’ve never slept with as many women as she has or had anyone drool after me. And I may also be a cripple – a wizard who cannot use magic is about as useful as swimming lessons to a cat. But I do have a boatload of power and she underestimated me at her own expense.

My broken arm had already healed, and my power reinforced my body. Already I felt the pain of trying to use my powers without a channel but I was cornered. My hand brushed against my gym bag. It was partially under the bed and I could reach the zipper from my position. I groped around and felt a cheap plastic bottle. Holy water.

Lilith swooped down and I shoved the bottle in her mouth.

“Suck on this,” I spat as I squeezed the bottle. Holy water shot down her throat and she leapt backwards all the way across the room. She screamed a curse in an extinct language in between gags. The liquid burnt her flesh but her power regenerated the tissue. But take it from someone who regenerates a lot – healing doesn’t mean immunity to pain.

I saw Djinn’s handle sticking out from a pile of clothes and dove for it. Before I could grab it, a long, black nail shot forward and knocked the weapon away from my reach.

Lilith
’s naked form rushed forwards and kicked me squarely in the chest. I was thrown backwards and into the wall. I felt ribs crack and saw a dent in the wall where my body had crashed against it.

“You men are the same.”
I felt her hand squeeze around my neck and I was lifted off my feet. “So weak.”

She drove her fist
s into me, again and again, cracking even more bone.

“
Will all of you simply sit still and die?” She slapped my face so hard I heard my neck snap.

A cold sensation washed over me and I just hung there like a piece of meat, fresh from the kill.

My magic was working on overdrive, healing the most critical injuries first. But Lilith kept creating new ones.

Finally
, she lost it. “I’m not going to eat you,” she said as she yanked me by the hair. “I’m just going to tear you to shreds and then go back to that dance. I’ll rip everyone apart and bring the girl back here. I’ll show her your corpse and kill her slowly whilst your cold, dead eyes look at us.”

Her form shimmered again but I couldn’t see very well. My body was slowly shutting down.

Something long, thick and disgusting slithered from her lower area. I don’t want to know what it was or where it came from. It was like a cross between intestine and a tentacle and it was just fucking horrible.

The appendage wrapped around me and squeezed. I felt sucker
-like mouths on it biting my flesh off and absorbing it. The damn thing was liquefying me.

And just before the coup de grace, I heard her voice again.

“Thank you for the pick-me-up.”

I felt the appendage vibrate again.

Thick, bony spikes, like mammoth tusks, shot out of the appendage – just like a porcupine or a blowfish. I felt dozens of them rip into me, skewering me from all directions. And just as quickly, the spikes retracted and the bizarre appendage released me. I remember hitting something hard – perhaps the ground.

In my final moments, before darkness claimed me, I saw her naked figure walk out of the cabin and head towards the faint music.

20

So, what was next?

I was dead.

Not unconscious or in some comatose state whilst my weird magic did its thing.

Truly, purely
, utterly dead.

I have seen depictions of Heaven
− of this fluffy, cloudy place with lots of naked, baby angels floating around. Hell, on the other hand, was this mass of red fire, where the most stereotypical demons poked your ass with pitchforks.

I woke up in red.

My first thought was
crap
. Not that I was too surprised if I did end up in Hell. Although, once you’ve talked with a demon and understood the whole parallel dimension concept, the afterlife becomes kind of dull.

I felt the sand in my ass and realized that I was in the middle of a desert.

Oh, right. Hell.

Everything was red – red sand, red clouds
and an amber sky. Even the lazy gusts of wind had a reddish hue to them.

I felt – normal. I’d thought only my soul would be running around by now, or perhaps I’d become a mass of quantum energy that would later be reabsorbed into the
Earth plane. Instead, I felt the rough sand all around my body and the itching was too much. I scrambled up, kicking sand all over the place.

“Where the hell am I?”

Maybe I really shouldn’t say
hell
in this situation. But this was definitely not the afterlife – unless some god was playing a really sick joke on me. I looked down and saw that I was totally naked. Not only that, but I was also simmering in crimson energy, as if I had a small nuclear reactor inside of me and was about to explode.

My training took over and I focused on sensing the magic around me. When in doubt,
do a spot check. It helps.

At the very least it stops you from freaking out.

I felt a vast ocean of power all around me. There was no end to the magic here − it was above and below, in front and behind, to the left and right. It was a place made out of magic. No, not that – it
was
magic. And the strangest part was that it all felt so familiar. So intimate. This was magic that knew me − specifically me. It was a part of me and yet, I had no idea it was here all along.

Or perhaps, I knew it was here all along and just refuse
d to acknowledge it.

The curse
, I thought. I was taken back to the time when Mephisto had sat me and Gil down and explained it all to us. That seemed like such a long time ago. It was because of that curse that our own father wanted to kill us and take all that power for himself.

And it was because of that curse that I had killed him instead. It was self-defense
, but patricide isn’t just something to scoff at, even under those circumstances.

It was because of that curse that I would probably never perform another spell in my life without relying on Djinn or something else. It was because of that curse that I would heal from everything and probably outlive everyone that mattered. It was because of that curse that I was
, and always will be, an outcast.

Knowing that
, I denied it. I refused to explore it, or even acknowledge its existence. I defiantly kept refusing to think about it or pursue an answer.

So sue me – that curse only brought me pain and misery.

Then, the little voice in my head spoke out.              

This is a whole lot of power down here. And you just got your ass handed to you by a demon god
dess who created Hell as we know it. You might even be dead and because of that, Abigale and a whole lot of innocent people might die, too.

So
, how about you man the fuck up and use this power? Maybe stop bitching for ten seconds just so everyone doesn’t end up dead?

Shut up, voice of reason.

During that little bout of schizophrenia, the world shifted. The middle of the desert parted and a large tree grew. It was pitch black with roots that branched out and stabbed into the desert. The trunk kept growing and growing until it was hidden inside the clouds. The very top branched out and spread until it covered most of the sky. Its branches were hidden by clouds so I couldn’t see the leaves.