Chapter Text
Gabrielle had no idea how long had she been unconscious, but when she woke up, her skin was cold as ice. ‘Why am I so cold?’, she wondered hazily and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
She was cold, because she was completely naked. Oh no. Fuck!
Everything came back to her at once and it felt like someone had just hit her hard on the head. The memories flooded her mind and she couldn’t help but brace her knees and huddle herself. She began rocking back and forward, tears streaming down her face, paving their way through the dried blood on her cheeks.
It was her fault. Her fault. If she hadn’t gone to that house, if she hadn’t planned to crush Lilith’s locker, none of this would have happened. Midnight would have never got a chance to possess her. And now, because of her stupid jealousy, someone was dead.
Alyssa wasn’t her friend; no, by any means. But she didn’t wish her dead! And Jack… Jack must be devastated… Even though she was still a little hurt that he hadn’t fall in love with her for real, she didn’t bear a grudge against him. After all, she didn’t love him either. But she liked him (though she would never admit it in her life), so it pained her to know that she was the reason why he lost the last person who he truly cared about.
She didn’t feel ready to face the world again, but she was getting really cold. And she couldn’t stand the view and the repulsive smell of blood staining her body, so she stood up, looking around warily and covering herself with her arms. There was no one here, it seemed, so she relaxed a little. She didn’t recognize this part of the forest, but she didn’t have a choice other than just start walking and hope she moves in the right direction.
After about fifteen minutes (or maybe an hour, she lost track of time), she felt a familiar scent. She breathed in and tried to figure out what was that smell… and then it hit her. Randall’s perfume! But Randall was nowhere to be seen, so how on Earth… ‘Oh, right, werewolf senses’, she realised. As if she needed any more reminders of being a werewolf… Well, that particular ability she could live with. At least until you come across someone stinky, of course, a mean voice in the back of her head added, spoiling her the fun, as usually.
She didn’t even have to focus hard to follow the scent; it came quite naturally to her. Soon she saw him, too. At first Gabrielle wanted to run straight to him right away, to find shelter in his embrace, but then she remembered how she looked like, and stopped herself. Instead, she sneaked closer and hid behind a tree, crushing some withered branches with her feat to catch his attention. He noticed her momentarily and rushed to offer her his jacket.
Never before had she been so grateful for a dirty, sweaty, and completely unstylish jacket.
***
It took Gabrielle a while to realise what Randal had been doing there, but when she finally did he knew it, because her scream almost deafened him.
“What the hell did you do, idiot?!” she looked at him, utterly shocked.
“I’m glad to see you’re back to your normal self”, commented Randall ironically. “Nicole made a mistake in translating the spell. We needed a witch, not an owl.”
“And why did that witch have to be Kepler, of all people?!”
“Because I don’t like her…? And no one cool likes her…?” suggested Randall, but under Gabrielle’s murderous gaze he elaborated. “Honestly? We were running out of time and I had to make up my mind quickly, so I decided to at least pick up a person who deserved to die.”
“We’re going to be in so much trouble.”
“Yeah… And for nothing, apparently” he added, sadly.
“What do you mean, for nothing?”
“Lilith wants to go back to hell.”
“What?!”
“Yep. Actually, it’s even worse – apparently, she has to go back to hell, or else she’ll end up in the worst place in entire universe.”
Randall started digging again, in the meantime telling Gabrielle everything he had learned earlier this afternoon. Before they buried Kepler and headed home, the sun had already set.
They found Nicole and Lilith in the living room, surrounded by piles of books, looking through some of them frantically. They didn’t even notice their return.
“You look like you could use a break”, commented Randall, seeing Nicole’s reddened eyes. Lilith turned back to face them.
“Oh, hi. First kill, eh?” she said, eyeing Gabrielle who was still covered in dried blood.
“I don’t want to talk about this”, the younger girl blurted out. Her chin was trembling slightly and Randall only managed to notice how she clenched her teeth to prevent it, before she scurried upstairs. He sighed and looked at Lilith disapprovingly. She rolled her eyes.
“What? She’ll get over it. She just needs an après-kill drink… And speaking about drinks, where is Hamish when you need him? And Jack?”
“First of all, Midnight literally possessed Gabrielle, so it wasn’t the same as with the rest of us. Jack doesn’t pick up his phone, and Hamish is with Vera. Also, he doesn’t drink anymore.”
“What? He’s with… he doesn’t…” Lilith apparently was at loss, not knowing what she should ask about first.
“Yep. He stopped drinking after he had his little adventure with Praxis. He had been drunk when he was captured and he’s still kicking himself for that. And he’s with Vera, because obviously my shipping theory was right and… and where the hell is Jack, when he owes me 20 bucks?”
***
Lilith was a little sad that her friends had more important things to do when she had literally the last chance to spend some time with them. Even Randall, who supposedly had a crush on her, had some other ‘errands’ to run. She felt a pang of grief in her chest.
The young man apparently noticed that, because he spoke:
“Don’t worry, Lilith. I’m sure they’ll make it in time to… say goodbye”. He swallowed uncomfortably before adding in forcefully enthusiastic tone: “So, how’s the research going?”
“No luck so far”, answered Nicole, looking pretty worn out.
“Well, I’d say you should rest now, get some sleep, and try again in the morning with a fresh mind”, said Randall.
“I don’t need to sleep, but you definitely do, Nicole”, Lilith backed him up.
“I can stay a little longer…” protested the other girl, but Lilith shook her head.
“No, there’s no need. You’ve done more than enough today, thank you”, she said, standing up. She walked to the sofa where Nicole was sitting and hugged her.
“Alright, fine, maybe you’re right. I suppose I’ll be more useful once I rest a little”, Nicole gave up eventually. She was about to go, when she stopped to ask: “May I stay here?”
“Sure you can! You may crush on Hamish’s bed, since apparently he won’t be coming home tonight”, said Randall. “I’ll show you”, he offered and led her upstairs.
***
When Randal came back down to the living room, he found Lilith sitting on the sofa, holding her knees with her arms and staring blankly into the void.
He sat down next to her and for a long moment they were just sitting there, not talking and not looking at each other. Then, suddenly, he felt Lilith sneaking her slender arm under his bigger one, and resting her head on his shoulder.
“I have to go back there”, she spoke finally.
“I know”, he answered resignedly, feeling more miserable than he had ever felt in his entire life. “I just… I tried so hard to rescue you… and now it appears it was all in vain.”
“It wasn’t”, she opposed quietly. “If you didn’t bring me back, I would have never been able to say goodbye.”
Randall was silent for a moment, and then a question arose in his mind.
“Once you’re a full grown demon, will we be able to summon you, like we did with Zecchia?”
Lilith laughed at his ‘full grown demon’ expression, but then she went serious again and considered his question.
“I think so, yes”, she answered, a glint of hope in her eyes.
“Do you think it is acceptable to invite a demon for a coffee?” asked Randall, making her snort again.
“Why not. Though I would probably more appreciate a drink. There’s no alcohol in the demon realm, remember?”
“Oh, right… You don’t eat, you don’t drink, you don’t sleep… What the hell is one supposed to do in hell for the whole eternity?” Randall grinned at his own joke, but Lilith wasn’t smiling.
“I don’t know”, she whispered. “The prospect of spending eternity anywhere frightens me”, she added, even quieter.
Randall felt sorry for her. He felt sorry for himself, too, but the horrifying truth of her statement suddenly hit him; he would live for a few decades, and then he would die; she was the one who would be forced to live forever. How could he comfort her? How could anything he said be meaningful in such a situation?
“Well, the one thing we can do, is to make sure you won’t end up spending eternity in the Tartarus, right? Though I suppose you would rock there in no time!”
She gave him a small smile, nodding her head, and showed him which books they had already went through, so they could get on with the work.
***
They had been reading quietly for some time, the silence disrupted only by the rustle of pages being turned over, when Lilith finally asked the question she had wanted to ask as soon as he came back:
“What ‘errands’ did you have to run earlier?”
“Oh. I had to get rid of a body.”
“A body?!”
“Yeah… We had to kill a witch to rescue you. When Nicole discovered it, she wanted to sacrifice herself, but how could I let her do this? So I erased her memory and decided to kill Kepler.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yep.”
“Well, she deserved it, though”, Lilith smirked wickedly.
“I knew you’d understand!” cheered Randall, raising up a hand for a high five. They smiled at each other.
“So, Gabrielle, huh?”
“Gabrielle, what?” Randall tensed.
“How come she’s a Knight now?”
“Well, I’m not sure yet… It happened when we were not at the den… Apparently, Midnight literally possessed her, and wanted her to kill Silverback.”
“What? Why?”
“Because in his opinion Silverback chooses lame champions, the ones that can’t deal with emotions well and therefore ruin everything.”
“Oh, right, because Midnight handles his emotions so well”, snorted Lilith.
“Exactly. Anyway, I think she was fighting him, because when we found her, she was unconscious, and hadn’t transformed yet. And when she woke up… Geez, you should have seen that! It was pretty hilarious, even if a little bit scary, too. She was using all these archaic words and even walking like some stud!”
“You have a thing for her, don’t you?”
The boy looked at her, suddenly nervous again, and quickly averted his gaze.
“It’s okay, Randall. I’m just not sure what is there to like in her, but if you do like her, then… I wish you all the best”, Lilith said quietly. And she really meant that, she realised. She watched Randall breathing out with relief.
“Well, she’s… difficult, sure. But I think that deep down, she’s a good person. You wouldn’t believe how many awesome things she did lately… She really had our backs, you know. But… I’m not sure if we’re even together, really. It’s more like being enemies with benefits”, he stated, making Lilith laugh. He always knew how to make her laugh, she thought fondly.
“I can definitely imagine that! And I think you’ll be a good influence on her”, she said.
Once the atmosphere between them was cleared, the comfortable silence again filling the room, they went back to work and kept leafing through the books, until Randall fell asleep in the armchair. When Lilith noticed it, she turned off the lamp and went to put a blanket over him. Then she just stood for a moment, watching his calm face lit by the moonlight. She caressed his cheek softly and quietly went outside to stare at the night sky.