Someone screamed. It was probably me. Lilith stood there, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. What she didn't count on was the chaos this is unleashed when I lose control of my emotions. I rushed forward, exhaustion forgotten, my mind in turmoil. 

No. Luca. No, no no no no no no NO. This couldn't happen. Lilith tried to step in front of me but I brushed passed her, flinging her away with strength that I definitely did not normally possess. I knelt next to Luca, gently taking his head in my hands. It was facing the wrong way. I felt bile rising in my throat. I swallowed it back down, and the tears that I had worked so hard over the years to conceal came pouring out. I screamed again, and a shockwave blew outward, knocking over Lilith, Asmodeus, and several trees. I gently brushed Luca's hair out of his face, trying to push some life back into him. Like maybe if I held him for tightly enough and for long enough, his neck would right itself and he would open his eyes and give me his teasing smile. Then he would hug me. But none of that happened. He stayed there, dead. I couldn't even think it. 

His eyes were open. I could still see the shock and fear in his eyes. I saw my tears splatter across his face. And maybe it was that. That image of his wide eyes staring up at me that replaced all of my sadness with anger. Burning anger. It consumed me, filling every orifice of my body. I closed his eyes and stood, setting him gently on the ground. Lilith was picking herself up from the ground. I wanted her dead. I was going to kill her. I advanced on her, slowly and deliberately. That over confident smirk wavered just slightly. She glanced briefly down at my hands, clenched into fists and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't be foolish. Haven't enough people gotten hurt today?" She said. Credit to her, she didn't back away. As Asmodeus told me later, I looked like I could burn the world down. And in that moment, I probably could have. I unclenched my fists. I could feel sparks at the tips of my fingers, unchecked power flowing through me. It flowed through my veins where blood should have been. I was invincible. I raised my hands and Lilith's eyes widened as she was blown off her feet again. I stood over her, fire in my eyes. 

"You really shouldn't have hurt my family," I say, my voice completely calm. The calm that always comes before the biggest of storms. I had been holding all of that power back for years. Since I fist started realizing what happened when I let it out. But right then, I was so beyond caring. I let it all go. All of it. I raised my hands towards her. I saw the fear in her eyes and I relished it as I felt all of the power leave me in one blast directed right at Lilith's face. It shot forward with a sound like an explosion. I closed my eyes against the glare that was coming off of it. Somewhere in the distance I could hear Asmodeus. He was saying something. I didn't know what. I didn't care. I pushed all of the power out of me, into that one spot, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder and it all just stopped.

I opened my eyes. Lilith was nowhere to be found. I hoped that I had somehow vaporized her into nothingness, but somehow I doubted that. Where she had been was a crater as if an asteroid had struck the earth. I turned toward the person whose hand was still firmly on my shoulder, hoping to see Luca. I felt like I was being punched in the gut as I realized it was just Asmodeus. The tears began to fall again, silent and wet, down my cheeks. Asmodeus seemed to steel himself for something, and then he did something so unexpected that I stopped crying for a moment. He pulled me into a hug. My face was pressed into his chest. I was stiff, and then I wrapped my arms around him. He smelled like a campfire, which was something I had always loved. I began to sob. Loud, ugly sobs. I knew I was probably ruining his suit, but he didn't stop me. He let me get all of it out. 

After what seemed like hours, but was probably just a few minutes, I let go and backed up, wiping the tears from my face. 

"She's not dead is she?" I asked, my voice barely more than a raspy whisper. 

"I'm afraid not. She knew that if she stayed she would be, so she disappeared. But she'll be back. She wants that book, and if I know my mother, she will stop at nothing to get it." His scowled at the word 'mother'. I was skillfully avoiding looking at Luca's body.

"How did she know? About the book." His voice was gentle as he responded.

"Demons have a way with concealment magic. You've seen how I can change shape. Even lower level demons can sense concealment magic to some degree. Princes of hell like me can use it in some ways. Lilith is even more powerful. Whereas I can only change into living things, she can use any and all aspects of concealment magic. Invisibility, shape changing, teleportation."

"Teleportation?"

"Did you think she just dissolved?" That sarcastic edge was back in his voice. I like him better like this. He was kind of unnerving when he was being nice. 

"I have to get away from here. My parents will be home soon. I don't know how to explain this to them." Asmodeus nodded. 

"Where can we go?" He asked. 

"I assume Lilith will have gone to hell?"

"Most likely," he responded thoughtfully.

"Then we go to hell." Asmodeus gave me a bewildered smile.

"You're joking. One doesn't simply waltz into hell. Only dead people and demons get into hell. And not all dead people go there either," he says. 

"There has to be some way. There's always a way." I looked at him. He was staring off into the distance. "There is, isn't there? I can see it on your face." He grimaced.

"There might be. But it'll take time. We'll have to summon a demon and make a deal. The problem is I don't think you have anything to trade. The only things a demon would want would be the book or your soul. I assume you don't want to part with either." He seemed to be talking to himself. "I suppose we could threaten one. But then we'll need the blade. Which means going to that awful place."

"Where?" I interrupt.

"Los Angeles," he says with distaste. I would have thought demons would love Los Angeles, but I decided not to push it.

"Okay. So we go to LA to get this blade you're talking about. Then we summon a demon, threaten them, I assume with the blade. We go to hell, kill Lilith, get out," I summarized. 

"If we must. You know I can't disobey you. But I don't understand why you feel the need to do this. I mean--"

"She killed my brother, As. She needs to die." He looked at me strangely.

"I wasn't finished. I understand why. But Lilith will come for the book again. Why do we need to seek her out, when she is going to come to us?"

"She came to find me this time and Luca died. I can't put anyone else I love in danger. It's time to take the fight to her," I said, my voice hard. Asmodeus nodded. He understood. I wasn't sure he would. Do demons have loved ones? He certainly didn't seem to care much for his mother, not that I could blame him. 

"We need a plan to get to Los Angeles. We have to be careful about this. Do you know of a place we can spend the night? Perhaps acquire a plane ticket? Or a bus ticket? Or, better yet, a car?" I was glad someone was thinking clearly, because obviously I hadn't been. I hadn't even begun to think about how we would go about getting all the way across the country. LA was in California. We were in Connecticut. I thought about all the possible places I could go, but there was only one place that I wanted to go.

"Come on. I know somewhere we can figure things out," I said. 

"Where?" Asmodeus asked.

"You'll see." I was already walking away. I went back inside and upstairs and grabbed my backpack. I emptied all of my school supplies out and stuffed a change of clothes, my toothbrush, a hairbrush, the book, and the secret wad of cash I keep in my sock drawer from working odd summer jobs. I walked out the front door, not bothering to take a key. I knew I would not be coming back, even if I had survived. Asmodeus was following me this whole time, not saying a word. Just a good-looking shadow. I think he knew that I needed to be with my thoughts. I got to the sidewalk and turned around. I gazed at the only real home I had ever known and sighed. 

"Goodbye," I whispered. Suddenly I felt incredibly guilty. I had left Luca lying in the backyard. Maybe I should have moved him. It was too late now. My parents would be home any minute. I turned away, playing out the next couple hours in my head. My parents would get home. Eventually they would look in the backyard when they couldn't find me or Luca. They would see him lying there, dead. They would notice that I was nowhere to be found. They would see the signs of a struggle. Then things could go one of two ways. They could think back to my past, and assume I had gone crazy and killed him. Or they could assume I was kidnapped after my kidnapper had killed Luca. Either way, they would call the police. Which means the police would be looking for me. I would have to careful. I turned and walked away, Asmodeus the ever present presence beside me.

I'm a day late, I know. I basically checked out of reality yesterday and completely forgot about anything and everything that I had to do. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Here it is though.

xoxo

-Sierra <3