Secrets and Sins

Chapter 30

~Ava~

In the blink of an eye, Bea had pulled the duvet over them, her face was so red, Ava had literal concerns that she was about to spontaneously combust.

At least Lilith wasn't 10 minutes earlier…

"I can't believe you two, this is a convent for crying out loud." The former sister warrior exclaimed, shaking her head and crossing her arms, scolding them like a disappointed parent.

That snapped Ava out of her surprise, anger bubbling up in her chest.

"What the hell Lilith? Firstly, this is my room, you can't just fucking teleport in here out of the blue. And secondly, it's none of your damn business what we do in here." The Halo bearer hissed, sitting up but ensuring the duvet covered her chest.

Same old entitled as hell Lilith.

"Now can you please at least turn around so we can get dressed?" Ava asked irritably.

The other woman rolled her eyes, but complied, turning away and sauntering over to the bookshelf to scan the titles. Ava could see the strange leathery wings were tucked tightly into her shoulder blades. Lilith looked much the same as she did last time the Halo bearer had seen her, midnight blue scales linking across her shoulders, back of her hands, and her face where Ava had hit her with the mace during one of their many battles. The former sister warrior was dressed far more peculiarly however, she wore a black and deep maroon leather tunic, a bizarre, stylized sun and star symbol splashed across the chest. Her long dark hair was plaited in a single braid that ran down her back and adorning Lilith’s head was what looked suspiciously like a crown made from a slightly luminous red crystal.

Where the fuck has this bitch been?

Ava got up quickly to dress, throwing some clothes in Bea’s direction, who was still very much looking shell shocked. The Halo bearer pulled her grey tank top over her head and leant over to Bea, raising her hand up to cup the sister warrior’s cheek encouraging her to turn her head and face Ava.

"Bea. I know this is a lot, but you need to get dressed, okay?" Ava murmured, watching the taller woman process her words.

When Bea finally nodded, Ava smiled and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

Lilith made a gagging noise by the bookshelf. Ava spun on heel and stomped over to her, shoving her hard towards the ensuite.

"That's it! You go wait in the bathroom."

"Fine, fine. Jeez." Lilith muttered, stalking away.

Ava slammed the door closed once the winged woman was inside. Looking back over towards the bed Ava could see Bea was quietly clothing herself, the Halo bearer was a little worried about the sister warrior's head space. She knew that the last thing Bea would ever want to happen would be someone walking in on them, especially if that someone was Lilith.

"You okay Bea?" Ava asked, closing the distance between them.

Bea was silent for a moment while she finished buttoning up her white long sleeve shirt. Eventually she sighed.

"I'm fine Ava, was bound to happen at some point, right?" Bea shrugged, meeting her gaze.

Ava searched her face carefully, checking for any sign of her sometimes crippling shame and self-doubt, but Bea just looked tired, a little embarrassed and resigned.

"Okay. But you can always talk to me, you know?" Ava placed a hand on Bea's forearm, squeezing gently.

Bea gave her a small smile and leaned down to capture her lips in a sweet kiss, "I know."

Once Bea was dressed, Ava picked her sword up from where it was resting on the only chair in the room. She could see the sister warrior had also grabbed her staff from the bedside table, unfolding it, their eyes met for a moment, sharing a nod. Neither of them would risk this being a trap.

Taking a step towards the bathroom, Ava pulled the Cruciform sword from its sheath, “Alright Lilith. You can come out now.”

“Really?” Lilith eyed the sword as she stepped back into the bedroom.
“I helped Beatrice carry your dying arse to the portal remember?”

Ava shrugged; she didn’t trust this woman as far as she could throw her.

“I do. I also seem to remember your claws holding me down for Adriel to rip the halo from my back as well. Not to mention the multiple attempts to kill me.” The Halo bearer replied, feeling Bea moving to stand beside her.

“Why are you here Lilith?” The sister warrior probed, resting the butt of her staff on the ground.

Lilith sighed, running a hand across her face.

“I need your help.” She grumbled begrudgingly.

~Beatrice~

Before Lilith could launch into her explanation, they all decided it would be best to gather the inner circle to listen as well. The logistics of getting the winged woman through the convent without causing mass panic were almost impossible, even in the middle of the night there would be too many nuns roaming the halls. In the end it was agreed that Lilith would teleport straight to the meeting once everyone had arrived.

So here they were, sitting around the large rectangular table in the strategizing room, Ava was standing at the front fidgeting nervously. The Halo bearer still had messy hair from Beatrice's hands sinking into it. The sister warrior shivered remembering how it had felt to have Ava between her legs, a swoop of arousal jolted through her stomach. Beatrice quickly clamped down on it, now was not the time.

“Why are we here Ava? It's the middle of the night.” Mother Superior sighed.

“Ahh well…um…I had an unexpected visitor stop by and they have some information for us… I think?” Ava replied, glancing at Beatrice.

The sister warrior smiled in encouragement.

“Okay and where is this visitor?” Vincent questioned, looking bemused.
“And why isn’t Jillian here?”

Beatrice cringed inwardly, both herself and Ava thought it would be best to keep Dr Salvius away from Lilith, at least to start with. The winged woman had ripped her son’s heart out after all.

“She'll be here soon.” Ava twitched.
“And I didn’t call Dr Salvius to this meeting because… well…look, the visitor, she um…hasn’t always been on our side…” The Halo bearer started, trying to prepare the group for Lilith’s arrival.

A crack of power sounded beside her.

Queen of bad timing.

There was a loud clatter as a couple of chairs went flying backwards, their occupants surging upright swiftly to draw their weapons. There was also a hell of a lot of shouting. Beatrice could see Ava standing in front of Lilith with her hands up, mouth moving, trying to pacify the room, the sister warrior couldn’t hear what she was saying over the noise. Beatrice brought her fingers up to her lips and blew a shrill whistle to get everyone's attention.

All heads turned to her, “Let Ava have her say.” She remarked simply.

The Halo bearer gave her a grateful smile, “Thanks Bea. Look I get it. She hasn’t exactly been helpful to us over the last year, and she actively tried to kill most of us and helped our enemy try to take over the world...but we are still in the dark with a lot of this Holy war stuff, and she seems to know stuff about that stuff...” Ava trailed off for a moment, appearing to get derailed from that train of thought.

Clearing her throat she continued, “You all know I’m not Lilith’s biggest fan, but hearing her out isn’t going to kill us…hopefully.”

The former sister warrior scoffed in the background, but Beatrice could see a flash of remorse cross her otherwise stoic expression. There was a long tense silence while everyone considered Ava’s words.

“Very well. Lilith you have our attention.” Mother Superior said softly, breaking the quiet, she motioned the others back into their seats.

Ava took her seat beside Beatrice letting out a relieved sigh that no one had attacked anyone.

Lilith stepped forward.