Secrets And Sins Part 3: Happy ever after

Chapter 60

***Chapter 60 is here, and this is officially the longest fic I've ever written... I'm sorry for all the delays lately.

Strangely enough, the writing process hasn't been that difficult, I have a decent idea of where this is headed, and the words are coming relatively easily, the problem I'm really having right now is I go to edit a chapter, and I doubt myself. I have been sitting on this chapter for about three days, reading and rereading, trying to decide if it's good enough to share, and that has been the same struggle for the last five or ten chapters in this story.

Anyway, hopefully whatever this is will go away with time. I just wanted to give you all an explanation as to why updates have been on the slow side lately. I'm still very much committed to finishing this so please bear with me.

Thank you for your support.***

~Lilith~

If Lilith wasn't so sore right now, she would be pacing.

Very much against her will, she'd been dragged from the amphitheater shortly after the Council had exited. All Lilith had wanted in that moment was to get to Mary, or Beatrice and Ava, or even Bael. She wanted to be free. But there were too many guards, and Lilith wasn't in any shape to fight her way through them.

She let out an exhausted sigh, tipping her head back against the stone wall, and turned her thoughts back to what she had heard, namely the demon's influence over her power. Why hadn't Bael told her? She trusted him, fuck, she even might love him a little, and yet here she was, a pawn playing the part they had assigned her, that they had designed her for.

A wave of nausea swept through her stomach. Betrayal climbed up the back of her throat like bile.

The door opened, spilling light into her cell and Lilith tensed. It had only been a couple of hours earlier that her biggest fan, Metatron, paid her a visit. He was less than impressed by Ava blasting him through the wall of the amphitheater but unable to lay a finger on the Halo bearer herself, had taken it out on Lilith. The sting of his knuckles biting into her gut over and over while she was helplessly suspended between two guards had not been pleasant.

Thankfully though this visitor wasn't Metatron, the silhouette was too short, and someone else accompanied them, someone that was familiar to her even before her eyes fully adjusted.

The door closed behind them, throwing the cell into darkness before Rapheal lit the light orb. Half blinded, Lilith only had eyes for the angel's companion, she could scarcely believe it.

"Mary?"

Mary's hands were on her face, framing her cheeks, she had crossed the room already. "Hey Lil," she pressed a kiss to the edge of Lilith's mouth, "I missed you."

Lilith let out a long sigh, some of the seemingly never-ending tension melting away just having Mary close to her again. "I missed you too." She leaned her head forward, tucking her face into the comforting warmth of Mary's neck.

Strong arms enveloped her in a hug and for a long moment Lilith imagined they were back home, safe. But the cold stone at her back and the deep throb of her battered body wouldn't let her stay in that place for very long.

She sat upright slowly, hiding her slight gasp of pain. "What's happening out there?"

Mary's eyebrows furrowed, not missing the way Lilith struggled, she never did. "I think they're still deciding..." She murmured, reaching up to comb a few loose strands of hair away from Lilith's eyes.

Rapheal shifted slightly, uncomfortable, drawing Lilith's attention. "How come he's here?"

Mary's expression turned sheepish, but it was Rapheal who answered. "To heal you." He took a careful step forward.