LILITH (DEMONOLOGY I)

XI

I couldn't get any sleep that night. Not after what Luna had told me.

I was lying awake in her guest bedroom. I wanted to play my guitar, because it had never failed to help me relax, but it was 1:00 AM. If I played now, I would probably wake the whole neighborhood. Instead, I studied the picture that my father had given me. Wynne wasn't my mother, like I had suspected when I had first met her. I had been so naive to trust her like that. All signs pointed to her being a liar. She didn't match the picture or the description my father had given me. Nor did she have the personality that he told me about.

The picture was old, older than I was. The woman was smiling with a full set of white teeth, and her red hair matched the freckles on her face. Her eyes were green, like Wynne's, but they looked warm and comforting. I was hoping that this was my mother, and that I would find her soon. I was banking on the fact that if she wasn't in Heaven or Hell, she would definitely be somewhere on Earth, hopefully somewhere nearby. It didn't matter anyways. I was fatherless and hundreds of miles from home. If I couldn't go back to my old life, I would search all over the world to find her, and I would take any help I could get.

There was a loud thunk outside. I looked out the window and saw Dale leaning over something. On the ground next to him was a shattered flowerpot. He was planting the flowers into the ground, and his hands were bleeding. Why was he planting flowers in the middle of the night? Something in the back of my mind told me that it was none of my business. Regardless, I made my way downstairs and out the backdoor of the house. Dale hadn't heard me approached, so he jumped when I said "Hey."

"Sorry about that," I said. "I just heard a noise when I was inside and I came to see if you were alright."

"I'm fine thanks," he said. "I was just planting these." I knelt down beside him. There was a large stone that read Ruby Sanders; 1970-2013. It was a grave for Luna's mother. I didn't ask him about her, so not to violate his privacy.

"She was a great woman," Dale said, as if he had read my thoughts. "I swore to myself that I would get that bastard Clay for what he did, but the others fear him. Luna and I are the only ones who are opposed to how he handles things. If we try to stand up to him, he'll have the whole lot of 'em beat the shit out of us. I know Luna wants to do something, but she's horrified of him. She was only fourteen when her mother died."

"The ones we hold dear to us never last," I said. I didn't tell him about my dad. This was about him and his wife, not me and my father. He already had so much to worry about. He didn't need another problem to deal with.

"You make Luna feel safe, you know," he said. "Ever since you helped us fight off those demons, she's felt a lot better about our current situation. And your plan has made her even more happy. I want to thank you for that."

"I should be thanking her. If she hadn't spotted me on the side of the road, I wouldn't be here right now." We planted the last of the flowers and Dale washed his hands with the garden hose. I gathered the broken shards of the pot and threw them in a nearby garbage can.

"So, since you now know that Wynne isn't your mother, do you have any idea who it could be? If you need any help, I'll be glad to give you whatever you need."

"Thanks, but no thanks." I clutched my chest, where I kept the picture of her. "I know I'll find her eventually. My father knew it, and Wynne knew it. That's why she wanted to keep me wrapped around her finger. For now, I just want to follow through on my plan."

"Well, if you ever change your mind somewhere down the road, we'll be glad to assist you." He went inside and shut off the lights. I turned back to the grave and knelt before it. She was to Luna as my mother is to me, except their bond was greater. There was no way that I would lose my mother before I got to create that kind of bond with her. There wasn't a chance in hell.