LILITH (DEMONOLOGY I)

XV

I couldn't believe my eyes. Before me was Luna, who I had witnessed die just a few hours ago. Next to her was her mother, Ruby, who had supposedly died down here years prior.

Dale laid at their feet crying. Ruby knelt down and held him, while Thalia stared us down.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Don't tell me that you guys all died too."

"We're not dead." I said. "But we will be without-"

"That." Eva cut in, pointing at Ruby. Ruby stood up, looking puzzled. I saw what Eva was pointing at. It was a necklace. The charm around her neck was studded with multiple gems. I recognized one as amethyst.

"My necklace?" Ruby clutched it in her wrist. "This was a gift from my mother. How could this help you?"

"That necklace has multiple gems in it. All of them can be found in the tombs of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It has religious significance, so we can use it to get out of here." Eva took a step forwards and outstretched a hand, but Ruby recoiled.

"Could you three step out for a moment, please?" Dale asked. Eva tried to object, but I stopped her. He deserved to have this time with his family. I led Eva and Thalia out of the hut and into the center of the town.

"We don't have time for this," Eva said. "Your days are literally numbered. If we don't leave soon, we'll be stuck here, and you three will soon succumb to the demonic aura and die from the pressure."

"This won't take long," I said. "Dale needs this time. He's lost the only two women in his life, and this is last chance to see them like this. We'll let him talk to them, we get the necklace, and we get out of this hellhole. Let's just take a look around while he has his moment." Eva and Thalia didn't look too thrilled, but they followed me.

"What's up with all of these houses?" Thalia asked. "Are they trying to relive their lives? What's the point of spirits emulating human life?"

"They didn't decide it, my father did," Eva said nonchalantly. "The homes used to be much more extravagant. In fact, they used to be made exactly like the homes on Earth, just to make the dead suffer even more. It's exactly the kind of sick and twisted thing you'd expect from Lucifer, right?"

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL AND HE SHALL APPEAR. A loud voice boomed in the sky. We immediately took defensive stances. We stood still for a while, braced for whatever was to come. But nothing happened.

"He's playing mind games with us," Eva grabbed Thalia and I by the arms. "We need to get Dale and get out of here." She pulled us back towards the hut. Inside, Dale stood with his back to us. He was shaking violently, and muttering incoherently.

I tapped him on his shoulder, but he didn't move.

"Dale, we've got to go, come on!" I tapped him harder this time. He still didn't budge. I shook him, and he didn't move. It was like he was frozen in time.

I walked around to face him and gasped. His entire face had turned to stone.

"Oh God," Thalia said. But she hadn't seen Dale. She was recoiling at the sight of a strange black ooze that began to fill the hut. I tried fighting against it, but touching it was like rubbing salt in a wound. Thalia and Eva were also trying to fight it off. Whatever it was, it was closing in on us fast.

The ooze began to rise, reaching my knees. It sent searing pain throughout my whole body. I looked around for Thalia and Eva, but they were nowhere to be found. The ooze reached my neck. It got in my mouth and went up my nose, suffocating me. Yet again I tried to fight it, but it overpowered me. My entire body became covered in the stuff, and I fainted.