Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light) (13 page)

“Oh, no, my dear,” he interrupted politely.
“I didn’t say he was an angel.”

Lily’s heart stopped for a moment. If Samael
wasn’t an angel then he was…

“You’re going to tell me he’s a devil?” She
crammed one hand over her mouth as it dawned on her that she had
slept with a devil some hours ago.

“No, but he was a devil once.” Regardless of
Lily's shock, Beelzebub kept calm. He filled the room with his
cigarette smoke. “Lucifer banished him from Hell several centuries
ago. Now he is neither an angel, nor a devil. He’s nothing at all,
and he isn’t worthy of you. He likes to wander all over the world,
spreading sadness and emptiness. You saw him – he uses his heavenly
and irresistible beauty to seduce girls, have fun with them, then
throw them away like used handkerchiefs.”

Lily recalled the moment she had refused
Samael in his car. The stupid surprised look he wore that moment
came back to her. She had been sure she had once told Nancy that
Samael hadn’t been used to being refused. She had felt that when
she had got out of his car, leaving him alone and unsatisfied. So
what, was Beelzebub telling the truth about the green-eyed man? The
man, rather, an angel who had just insisted that there was some
kind of feeling between him and Lily? Had Samael meant love? Where
was that love when Lily needed it the most? He had disappeared
without saying good-bye, leaving her his shirt as a souvenir.

“But this doesn’t prove I should go with
you. Where are you going to take me?” Lily murmured, but her heart
still sank because of Samael.

Beelzebub stood up, closed his fingers
around the cigarette and it vanished in the air, along with its
dense white smoke. Then he came up to Lily, raising his hand
affectionately to take hers. “Let me take you into the world that
you have been waiting for since you were born. You must believe me,
I came here to take you to the place where you belong.”

Lily stared at him bewildered, not knowing
what to say. His voice reverberated in her ears, hypnotizing her to
take his advice. The light in the room was weak against the
darkness to begin with, and it was only growing weaker. It could
illuminate his face, and his gentle but gloating smile. The man who
had introduced himself as some kind of angel seemed to be a part of
Lily’s mystical dreams, the ones she’d had all her life. Closing
her eyes, she tried to catch her breath, and opened them in the
hopes that everything would vanish like a surreal dream. But
Beelzebub was still standing in front of her with his hand
stretched out.

“This is not a dream, dear,” Beelzebub
whispered, breaking her out of her reverie. “Let me take you to the
world where you belong.”

Lily peeked at the window to the left. She
hoped Nancy had called the police, but there wasn’t any sign of
policemen outside.

“Maybe I only belong here,” Lily supposed,
turning her eyes away from the window in disappointment. “Maybe
you’re wrong about me. What if I’m not the right person?”

“You are, you know that,” Beelzebub spoke
soothingly, as if he could read her mind. “You've known it all your
life, haven't you?”

Lily was confused and had no words to
respond with. True, she always felt herself alien to the life she
lived. Her eyes narrowed and she dropped them to the floor.
Suddenly, a sudden rush of pride descended upon her, telling her
she was different and better than the others. It overwhelmed her.
This was a feeling Lily hadn’t had before, like somebody had just
planted it within her.

“You see?” Beelzebub’s eyes gleamed. “Take
my hand, Lily. You can’t sit here waiting for Samael. That would be
the greatest mistake of your life.”

“Why?”

“I rarely saw Samael come back for a girl
twice. He found something in you.” Beelzebub’s eyes blackened more
and his tone became venomous, as though he was telling a horror
story. “A game,” he announced, “and he loves his games. Look, what
would you do if you were immortal and had nothing to do? No duties,
no rules?” Normally Lily would have answered him, but in this
moment she felt confused. It would take her too long to think and
find something reasonable. “You would find goals for yourself,”
Beelzebub resumed, “or you’d create them.”

“I don’t believe that he would hurt me,”
Lily said confidently, but she didn't know why she believed it. She
didn’t know Samael at all, he was as much a stranger to her as the
man with twinkling black eyes standing in front of her now.

“Kill?” Beelzebub laughed sarcastically.
“There are far worse things he is capable of than killing, dear. By
murdering you he would rescue your soul from tortures,” he said
airily.

Lily’s eyes widened. Fear filled them as she
imagined the things that might be worse than death. But believing
that Samael, the man who had loved her and held her in his arms two
hours ago, could do them to her made her legs tremble.

“We’ve got to leave now, Lily,” Beelzebub
lost his temper and took her arm. “I know, it’s difficult for you
to make such an important decision, but I can’t let him get you.”
He began to usher her out. “You just need to believe me. He might
return at any minute.”

Lily tagged behind him thoughtfully. She
couldn’t understand why she believed him, why she was following
this stranger. During their conversation, she didn’t hear the dim
noise wandering in her head which was Beelzebub’s gift, the way he
seduced his victims.

There were three black vehicles on the
street that mingled in with the darkness outside and couldn’t be
seen from a distance. Several men got out of the cars as soon as
Beelzebub and Lily approached them. The men circled them, keeping
some distance.

“Please, dear, get into the car. And don’t
worry about these guys, they are here to protect you,” he grinned
again.

“Protect me from Samael?” Lily muttered,
regarding the guards.

“You can’t even imagine how many creatures
are after you now,” he said in her ear. “Most assuredly we aren’t
alone here, which is why we’d better hurry. Get in.”

Lily blinked in reply, glanced at her house
where it was obscured by the darkness for one more time, then she
climbed into the car. She knew for certain that she wasn’t able to
resist Beelzebub. What could she do besides struggle alone, with so
many guards around her? She had no choice but to obey him.

Lily looked at the end of the street, as far
as her eyes could see in the darkness. No sign of police cars
there.
Had Nancy received her message at all
, she wondered.
But it would change nothing now, they were too late.

With a feeling of great gloom in her
stomach, Lily slowly moved into the car. The door was still open
when a man a little shorter than Beelzebub approached them. He also
wore a black costume and black tie with a white shirt. His
slicked-back hair was black and short, and his eyes were narrow
like two lines on his sharp face. He had been in Samael’s club with
Beelzebub too.

“What’s occurred, Kali?” Beelzebub asked,
holding the door of the car open.

“I’ve sent word to the Lord as you ordered,
and asked for more protection,” Kali reported.

“And?”

“Michael knows about her,” he whispered.
Beelzebub’s right eye twitched as he heard Michael’s name. “He may
leave Heaven and come after her any moment.”

Beelzebub sucked in a huge breath. “I don’t
think he will risk himself for her, but we’d better get out of here
as soon as we can,” he replied confidently. “Get in your cars,
we’re moving.”

Beelzebub got into the car and shut the
door, ordering the driver to start off.

The engines roared to life, and three black
cars drove away, leaving Lily’s house behind in the dark street.
Lily peered back out of the corner of her eye, then the car veered
to the right on the next intersection and the familiar street
remained behind in the depth of the dead night.

A year ago, Lily had rented that house. She
had been searching for a place to live for a long time. Lily hadn’t
wanted to leave her aunt, but she had also understood that she had
to go to college. And her aunt couldn’t leave her husband, Bill,
because he had a job he loved that he never wanted to leave.

For nine years now her parents had been
gone. She had to find peace in her aunt’s house, and it had been
too hard emotionally to move in New York. No, she wouldn’t miss her
aunt’s neighbors, the street, or her high school. She had always
been a child different from the others, and having lost her parents
she had become even more taciturn, closed off in her own world. She
hadn’t had close friends back at her aunt’s place. In truth, she
had nobody she would miss except her aunt and Bill. They were too
kind to her, especially Bill.

Bill was the one who had insisted on her
having a roommate. Lily had preferred solitude, and honestly she
hadn’t thought she could even have friends. Nobody had ever
understood her before. But Nancy did. Nancy had always been nice to
her, and in the end, Nancy had become her friend. Finally, Lily had
someone she could share her desires and troubles with, and it was
great – to let the torturous thoughts out of her head.

Now she was away from that house wherein she
had gained the only real friend ever. How many things she wanted to
tell Nancy. She wanted to share with her the wonderful feeling she
had experienced in Samael’s arms. But then the stranger Beelzebub
had come and taken her away. Everything still seemed a nightmare to
her, but was it truly?

Her heart sank. Was she right, to follow
this strange man, angel, or whatever he might call himself?

But the decision had been made, and now she
had no way to escape the car. Besides, there were a lot of
questions torturing her, and Beelzebub could give her the answers
to them. So she concentrated on getting some answers instead.

“Was Samael a devil once?” She asked,
breaking the silence in the car.

“Yes,” Beelzebub responded shortly.

“You said that Satan banished him,” she went
on. “Why?”

Beelzebub’s eyes found hers. Lily’s were
confused, his were cold. “He broke a rule of the Torah, a rule from
one the older books of the Bible,” Beelzebub explained, keeping his
tone calm. “He killed someone who wasn’t supposed to die.”

“Who?”

He hesitated before he answered her. “He
killed your great-great-grandfather,” he ventured finally.

“He killed
who
?” Lily burst out in
surprise. If Samael did that, then her great-great-grandfather must
have been a very important person, and now he might need something
from her. The thought washed over her momentarily before Beelzebub
could give her the right answer.

“He wanted to break the line of Eve. It is
written in the Torah that no unearthly creature can assassinate any
of the representatives of that line, but Samael thought
differently. In killing your ancestor, he sentenced himself to
banishment. God wouldn’t let him back into Heaven again, and he
left Samael to follow after Lucifer. Lucifer didn’t need him
either, as Samael had broken the law. Where would he go, then?”
Beelzebub looked at her desperately. “Somehow he remains on Earth.
He lives with humans and he's regained his power, but he’s still
alone.”

“What did he need from my
great-great-grandfather, and why does he need me?” Lily thought
aloud. “Why didn’t he kill me when he had a chance in my home? We
were alone and–”

“I believe he doesn’t know who you are yet.
You see, he thought that by killing your great-great-grandfather,
he broke Eve’s line forever–”

“Who is Eve?” Lily interrupted.

“Don’t you know Eve? She's the Eve of Adam
and Eve, from the bible.” Beelzebub said it sternly, but with a
teasing note.

“The Mother and Father of mankind?” Lily
chortled in astonishment. “He has to kill every man and woman.”

“You know nothing about the beginning of
man. Humans think that they are the progeny of Adam and Eve, but
they are wrong, utterly wrong.” Beelzebub turned his eyes away from
her to glance out the window. “Eve had only one child. It was a
boy.”

“But how could it be? If she had one child,
then how did life go on?”

“You think Adam and Eve were the only people
that existed? No, there was another woman who, with Adam, begot
humanity.” Beelzebub grinned instinctively, as though his thoughts
had drifted back to those times.

“Lilith,” Lily realized.

“Yes, Lilith,” Beelzebub attested. “She gave
man hope for life, but now everybody recognizes her as a demon. But
if she was, then every man on the planet is a demon,” he turned his
head to face her and winked at her, then, “don’t you think?”

Lily stared ahead at an empty spot. Her
brain needed time to understand the information Beelzebub had been
so kind to share with her.
Was it a joke or the cruel
truth
?

“I’m the only progeny of Adam and Eve?” Lily
whispered to herself. “Why did Samael want to break the line? What
was he afraid of?”

“Good thinking,” Beelzebub took out his
cigarette, this time using his hand like an average man, and,
without asking permission, lit it. “You are a part of our world,
the world that mankind had pushed away. They have made it into a
tale. You, however – you can see our true colors, you can be a part
of us. You are the first female in this line after Eve died, and
you can be the key.”

“Key?” Lily raised her eyebrows. “Key to
what?”

Beelzebub didn’t answer. He screwed up his
face and gazed out the window, smoking his cigarette and ignoring
her questions. And Lily had a lot of questions, but she didn’t dare
bother Beelzebub. Although he called himself her savior, he had a
devilish look to him, and although he talked to her gently, she
sensed he was untrustworthy.

Lily sank into the seat, directing her gaze
out the window, and got lost in her thoughts, musing about the
information she had just heard. She didn’t know how long that
silence lasted, but she came back out of her thoughts when
somewhere, far away in the horizon, the sky lightened.