The Lightning Flash

Chapter 27: The Demon's True Face

"Lilith, hurry and eat your breakfast, honey," said Ms. Tanaka, her caregiver, that took care of her while her older brother was away. 

It was a Saturday so Lilith didn't have school so, usually, Ms. Tanaka wouldn't be in such a rush and would allow Lilith to have more time to enjoy her breakfast.  Although, Ms. Tanaka was expecting company and wanted to make sure that Lilith was finished eating before they arrived.  She didn't want her to hear the conversation she was going to have with who was coming.  Ms. Tanaka had been a caregiver for over 20 years and had been with the Casals' family for over 5 years, now.  It was the longest that she had stayed with a family during her entire time working and she considered both Vassago and Lilith family and how couldn't she?  The poor woman didn't have much in the way of family, anymore.  She didn't have a husband, most likely due to her job which didn't allow her the time to participate in dating.  Her family which only included her father, mother and younger sister weren't very close and only spoke to each other on rare occasions such as holidays.  As sad as it sounded, Ms. Tanaka found herself being closer to Vassago and Lilith than her own family.  Lilith was a handful, for sure, but, given her disability, it wasn't all that surprising.  Still, the girl always showed such strength that never failed to shock Ms. Tanaka, whether it was going to school and doing her best to learn or even just learning from Ms. Tanaka, herself.  Even when something was hard, Lilith would press on until she figured it out.  However, she spent time with Lilith every single day and felt as if she knew everything about the girl including her favorite hobbies, favorite foods, least favorite foods, favorite tv shows, the subjects she had the toughest time with at school and a handful of other things. The same couldn't be said about Vassago, though.  Most of the time, he was gone because of work but when he was at the house, he seemed like a kind and considerate young man, who, genuinely, cared about his little sister and her success.  Ms. Tanaka had noticed that Vassago seemed very involved when it came to his work and even a little bit secretive about it. She would be lying to herself if she said this didn't cause her some concern but figured it was none of her business.  Ms. Tanaka believed that whatever it was that Vassago was doing was just to take care of his younger sister, to the best of his ability.  This was...what she believed...until someone called the home phone, late last night, right after she had finished tucking in Lilith.  In the moment, Ms. Tanaka didn't know what motivated her to answer the phone, instead of just letting it go straight to voice mail.  She ended up answering the phone and talking to someone on the other end, who seemed to know Vassago and...not only know him...but know him better than she did, apparently.  The physical description he gave...matched Vassago's, perfectly, including the small tattoo on the right side of his face that she imagined not too many other people named Vassago had.  On top of this, some of the other things this individual was saying about what he was involved in...made Ms. Tanaka feel sick to her stomach with worry, not only for her own safety but for Lilith's as well. She felt like she needed to know more and asked the individual to come to the house to talk which was the main reason that she was rushing Lilith to eat her breakfast that consisted of French toast with a mix of berries on top.  Unfortunately, Lilith hadn't even finished half of the meal and Ms. Tanaka sighed, realizing that rushing the poor girl wouldn't accomplish much.  As Lilith continued to, slowly, eat her breakfast, Ms. Tanaka couldn't help but think back to the voice she had heard on the phone, the night before.  One thing that stood out to her was how...young the voice sounded.  It made her wonder just how old the individual was that was coming to talk to her, today, and if he was just as dangerous as he was making Vassago out to be?  If the individual was dangerous...and posed a threat to her or Lilith, she wouldn't hesitate to defend Lilith with her life and do whatever it took to keep the girl safe, not only because it was what Vassago would want her to do but because it was what she wanted to do.

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Hm, I think this is the place, I thought to myself, checking the apartment number that I had written down on a slip of paper, after receiving the address from the woman, who had picked up last night when I called the number to Vassago's house.