Dark fairytales: The children of Lilith

chapter 2

4 weeks later:

I woke up in the afternoon, had breakfast and got myself ready to go to work. I was attending a university at the time, where I studied English literature. I love all those old books, and not just English books, I love all of them. Terry Pratchett, Bram stoker, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft. You name it, and I probably have read at least one work of there writers. In order to maintain my studies, I had to get a job. I my case, it was waiting tables at a cafe/restaurant. while I was eating, I was listening to the news report on the radio. Usually, there is nothing really interesting on it. politics and stuff, things I don't really care about. But this time, it got my attention.

'Another dead body was found this morning. This is the fourth victim in just as many weeks. Although there is no consistency in gender, age or race, there seems to be a similar M.O. so the police suspects it is the same killer. The victim, a young woman this time, age 25, was heavily mutilated and her blood was drained. However, there are no clues or evidence about who the killer might be. The CCTV cameras in the area also revealed no usable footage of the attacker.'

With all these killings lately, a woman would be afraid to walk outside at night. Luckily, I have some fighting skills and a can of pepper spray, so I can at least defend myself. I was walking to my work in my usual attire. Black jeans, my band shirt of Moonspell and a black leather jacket. My long, blonde hair was waving in the wind. I love the feeling of wind in my hair by the way, but that entirely aside. I had my earbuds in, I love listening to music. Right now, London after Midnight was blaring in my ears. Although it was still summer, you could feel the air was slowly cooling down. When you were standing directly into the sunlight, it was still warm enough to walk around in a shirt, but in the shadows, it was nice to have a jacket.

When I arrived at the cafe, I greeted my colleagues and changed into my waitress uniform. I was standing at the bar, serving costumers, when she walked in. She had been coming here for the past few weeks now, always on her own, ordering a chamomile tea and sitting by herself and looking over her papers. She had this long black hair with red highlights, dark red lips and long, slender fingers. She had a slim face and cheekbones that could cut trough glass. From the first day she walked in here, I wanted to serve her, just to be able to talk to her, but I never had the courage to approach her, and when I did, someone else got to her before me. But not that day. That day, when finished with these costumers, I walked towards her. I collected all the braveness that I had in me. It wasn't an easy task. You see, despite my striking appearance and my rather dark and extreme taste in music, I am actually a really shy and insecure woman. I don't have the 'perfect body' as they say. I wouldn't call myself fat, but I'm not exactly a skinny top model. I definitely had my curves. I got bullied a lot at school because of this, and the fact that I love women didn't really help things ether. Leaving me with a lot of frustration about myself and a shattered self esteem. It also made me suspicious of people, I didn't know who I could trust anymore. Once, I grabbed someone at his throat, because I thought he was talking behind my back. I can't remember what he was saying, I don't even know if he was talking about me. But at the time, it sounded like he was. So, i just turned around, grabbed him by his throat and pinned him against the wall. I'm not proud of this, but at the time, I just needed to let it out. Fortunately for him, I came to my senses soon enough and released him. He however, said I was crazy, and ran away.

Every step I took towards her table mede me feel like I had led in my shoes, until finally, I had reached her. "Can I take your order?" I asked her as polite as I could. She looked up from her papers and a smile appeared upon her face. "Yes, a chamomile tea please." Her voice was soft and warm, like that of an angel. "Would you like something to eat as well?" I asked her. "No thank you." She said in that wonderful voice of hers. "Maybe another time." Her smile turned into a small smirk as she said that, leaving me all warm inside. I went back to the bar to get her order and bring it to her. As I placed her cup of tea on the table, she looked at me, and then to my name card. 'Thank you... Taylor." She said. "That would be three pounds." I said. The rest of the day, my coworkers kept on teasing me because I was constantly stealing glances towards her direction, until she left.