Lilith: Blackened Blood

Chapter 10: Holy Empire (5)

"Excuse me," Lilith said with a smile. But there was no response—an interaction that Lilith had to deal with for the past two days trying to deliver her mail. People refused to converse with strangers, and when she got close, they fell silent. There was a lot of effort she had to put in to get the attention of the people in need of their mail and more times than not, it took several times to do so.

She knocked again. And again. And again.

Taking a deep breath, she announced herself far louder than earlier, saying, "I have a delivery for-"

The door swung open, cutting off the rest of Lilith's sentence. A man holding in his curses looked around, and after seeing it was clear -something that happened almost every time- did he finally grab the letter from her, then slam the door shut.

Although it wasn't too much of a surprise after the first day of deliveries, it truly made Lilith wonder why they acted in such a manner. She understood why people were in hiding, or trying to have a low profile, but wouldn't this just cause the most suspicion? It was hard to make sense of it.

Reaching into her bag, she took out the map, and after marking off one more red dot, Lilith looked over the list, checking which place was next. She had a game plan to minimize the risk of delivery. She broke up the map into sections, and each section would be the deliveries she did for the day. Before she left, she would unload all the letters and packages for the day into her bag. Then, before even knocking on the door, she would take out the deliveries. She made sure no one saw what type of magic she was using, even if it meant going into alleyways or waiting as long as she needed. This, alongside the hassle of getting someone to even answer a door, made the workday a long one.

However, there was one worry that fostered as soon as she started. These people seemed far from trustworthy. She didn't plan to stop these deliveries, but she couldn't help but think that one of them would sell her out in order to survive, which could lead to far more trouble than she would like. It also didn't help that Lilith was a bit underhanded with these deliveries. They only answered their doors when she spoke loudly about a delivery, so she wouldn't be surprised if they held some resentment against her.

With a heavy sigh, she looked around. It was the slums. A place that wasn't all too pleasant to walk around in, but during the current climate of the city, it was more peaceful than she expected. There were definitely some who would stare at her from windows or from alleyways, they never tried to do anything and maybe that was why. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. No one here was trustworthy, and just as quickly as someone would sell herself out, they might just do it to each other.

After finishing the last few deliveries she had for the day, she headed back to the mailroom and met with Gabriel. There wasn't much to talk about, but she had some questions and thoughts she wanted to mention, hoping he could answer them.

"That's what you're worried about?" Gabriel asked, putting down the paper he was reading. "I can't say you're wrong to worry about it, but as long as you're just handing out the mail, it will be fine."

"Are you sure?" Lilith asked.

"Hopefully." Lilith's eyebrows lowered, squinting together as she narrowed her eyes at Gabriel. At first, he tried to ignore the stare he was receiving, but the longer he went saying nothing, the more he felt it. "Let me ask you this. Why do you think things seem normal?"

"I've been wondering that since I came here," Lilith responded.

"It's because they don't randomly arrest people whenever they feel like it."

Her stare lightened. "So they... Grab people in groups?" She asked.

"Close. They definitely do, but they do it after a certain amount of time. They make a list of everyone they suspect and when it's time, they go arrest them all."