A part of my newly inherited gifts was innate knowledge gleamed from my visions. There was no need to research the convents in the area in order to determine which one would hold Lillith and Samael. I was led to the location, a magnetic pull shortening the distance between us. Rosalind must've known about my new tracking skills, because she didn't comment on how I already knew where we were going.

Hours later, we pulled into the parking lot of a dimly lit compound. Flower gardens adorned the courtyards, emitting a sweet fragrance. The smell of sulfur hit me hard, and I grimaced. Oh, there were here, alright.

Dozens of doors led into separate annexes off the main building, but I wasn't worried. I crept to the door from my vision, Rosalind floating close behind.

We entered the main worship hall, the decorations marking the austere nature of the religion. Rows of wooden pews, a few gold draperies over the windows, and red drapes surrounding the alter completed the scene. Incense burned, wafting smoke all over the damn place, but not masking the sulfur stink, which was overpowering. Lilith and Samael were the source, wrapped in a lover's embrace with two victims, one in a black suit and the other in a long black robe. Large sloppy slurps tipped me off to the fact that they were feeding, not embracing. They were so intent on their tasks that they failed to notice me. No matter. Like the pro I was, I had forgotten to close the door, and the wind slammed it shut for me.

The noise alerted the demons, who glanced up. I expected them to laugh at the sight of me: a woman with dirt-clods in her hair, grime on her face, and a sword at her side. What I picture I must've made. Nevertheless, I squared my shoulders and advanced.

"What are you?" Blood dripped from two curved spokes in Lillith's mouth.

I took a moment in gathering a response. "Just a girl."

She smiled and tossed away the body of the priest like a used snack wrapper. He hit a pew with a sickening thud. 

"Are you?" she asked.

Samael mimicked Lilith's action, the nun landing next to the priest.

They weren't too far off from where I stood, and I tried not to let the sight of the dead bodies take me away from what I wanted to say.

I looked up from their mangled neck and into the mirrored eyes of my opponents. "You could say I'm a messenger."

"What message do you wish to convey to me and my lord?"

Together, we stalled. At least, I was stalling. Most likely, Lillith and Samael allowed this verbal exchange because it amused them. For years, they had been incorporeal and indestructible. Now they were corporeal and indestructible, the one difference in their existence being a dingy stalker piping on about how she was going to 'deliver a message'. It was the beginning to every bad (or so-bad-it's-good) action-film.

I wasn't completely unprepared. I had preternatural strength, and virtually no fear of the demon who wore my face. Samael, on the other hand, terrified me. It was something in the way his eyes burned straight through me, lulling me in, inviting me...

With great effort, I broke off from Samael's' gaze. He'd almost had me in his thrall. Another few seconds and I would have begged to have his teeth inside of me, among other protrusions. Mmm, protrusions... Ah, what was I doing? What was I saying? Oh yeah.

"Um, you know what the message is, because it's been given to you before." Could you sound more juvenile?  Continuing on, I forced a surety I didn't feel: "This world isn't meant for you. Go back to the shadows." On the word 'shadows', I withdrew the sword, the steel from the blade singing out in power. Their eyes widened, and I thought I finally caught a glimpse of fear. "You remember this sword, don't you?"

Snarls twisted their lips, transforming their flawless faces into something terrifying.

"If you survive the Lillin, come look for us then."

Lillith pointed at the corpses, animating them. Their limbs were stiff, heads jerking to suss out the blood-smell in the room. Their mirror eyes fixated upon me, and I could tell that the bastards were hungry. Oh, so those were Lillin. Well, peachy.

Distractions in place, Lillith and Samael escaped out the back entrance, leaving me to fend off two demonoids. I figured this was my trial run—two zombies. Less intimidating than the main attractions, that was for sure. Not that I had any fear, not anymore. Apprehension, sure, but not fear. I had already died, and if I was killed again, where I was headed was a great deal more peaceable than Earth. It was just too bad that Rosalind had not thought to download Jujitsu into my head.

Since I had to make do with what I had, I went for it. Lunge after lunge, I tried to impale my new enemies. And lunge after lunge, I embarrassed myself to no end. The zombies easily dodged my misguided blows, while I flailed like a dying fish. Zombie-priest got close, kicking me hard in the shin. Though it hurt, I also reeled from the coolness of fighting a being I could dub "zombie-priest". Somehow, I stayed upright, only to have zombie-nun slash my arm with gnarly fingernails. The novelty of the nomenclature wore off at that point.

Nursing a throbbing shin and bleeding arm, I understood I had no idea how to properly wield a sword. All I was doing was confusing the Lillin. They had assumed I was a deadly threat because Lillith and Samael had left in a hurry, but even my ineptitude couldn't dilute their fear of the sword.

De Soto's sword was as intimidating as it was all those years when I'd admired it at the library. Rosalind had insisted that I needed it to complete my mission. Before arriving at the convent, I had stopped at the library, committing my first act of vandalism by smashing in a side window. As I tumbled inside the moonlit library, I felt proud until I noticed the sword suspended in a  case almost twenty feet above me. I half-heartedly searched for a ladder when Rosalind solved my problem.

"Come." She motioned at the sword, and it floated down gently, coming to rest on my upturned palms.

"Why couldn't you have done that from outside?" I expected the sword to be heavy, but it was easy to handle with my magical muscles. Finding somewhere to put it was another story.

Rosalind watched my awkward attempts to hang the sword from my funeral dress before sighing loudly.

"Honestly, Imogen." A leather belt and scabbard dropped at my feet.

I blushed, feeling strangely like the younger sister. "How come you had a superior air about you in Heaven, yet back on Earth, you're normal Rosalind again?"

"I had to make you believe in what we're doing. You wouldn't have listened to your little sister."

Silence.

"Plus, we weren't really in Heaven," she said.

My hands dropped from the scabbard I'd been fumbling with. "What? Where were we?"

****

A/N: Where do you think Rosalind and Imogen were?

Hit your best friend, the cute little star!

I dedicate the chapter to @Heart1felt4Void. Wattpad's been glitchy lately, and so posting a chapter has been difficult at times. Flood Heart1felt4Void with positive messages so eventually they'll post a story. I was able to read a sneak peek of the story, Broken Pieces of the Dark, and it's good!