Hexers: Reign of Lilith

Running Into Reality (Chapter 1)

Threw you the obvious and you flew with it on your back, 

A name in your recollection, down among a million same.

Difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed, and passed over 

When I've looked right through, see you naked but oblivious. 

And you don't see me.

But I threw you the obvious, just to see if there's more behind the 

Eyes of a fallen angel, eyes of a tragedy.

Here I am expecting just a little bit too much from the wounded

But I see, see through it all, see through, see you.

Her ink liner glided over the page, adding the finishing touch to the piece. Just as the song ended she blew on the page, helping the ink dry. As it switched she closed the book, finishing off her coffee while going over the list of To Do’s in her planner. 

“ Paint….Frontline…..Food….Sleep Aid…”  

She pushed a stray hair out of her face, sighing into her mug. This cafe was one of the few sanctuaries she had left, only frequenting the establishment on her most hectic of days. It was a good way for the woman to find balance amidst the chaos that was her life. Here, she could hone in on her passion and talent: illustration. 

The Pantheons appeared in the middle of the cafe,  their seals of Lilith worn proudly on their chests. These specific Pantheons had been hunting this young lady for quite some time, but she always managed to escape. The demons crept towards her, resembling dark shadows with their formless shape, the main thing giving them away was their rank smell. They weren’t trying to glamour themselves from her, the cocky beasts didn’t think she’d get away again. 

The serenity she'd taken the few hours to cultivate dissipated.  As her mug hit the table her face twisted in disgust, hand flying to her nose. One glance around the restaurant and she took off like lightning, sketchbook and phone already tucked under her arm. There were gasps and grunts of shock as she pushed through the throng of people making a line to the register. It was mid-day and the cafe had suddenly become packed with patrons looking for an afternoon boost, yet none of them could see the snake-like tendrils shooting after the young woman. Once she broke free of the congested coffee shop, she bolted down the busy street. Running as fast as her feet could take her, she took as many turns and corners as she could to shake them loose, before they got a good start on her.

Hissing in annoyance,  the shadow demons quickly followed behind her sticking to the walls and sidewalk, as they latched onto any shady area they could find. They growled in agitation as they fell behind. The soft whispers that tickled your ears in the dead of night carried an atypical volume, as they howled. Taking the chase seriously, the beasts picked up the pace in following the curly maned female. Her bouncey tressels were not hard to spot amongst the crowd, however, the lack of shade in the concrete jungle limited the demons' movements  

She didn’t dare look back, only kept running forward. The short woman had managed to avoid most amblers, only knocking into a few in her hurry along the previous road, though it was a considerably low amount of traffic considering the time. All of a sudden the alley she was running down broke into a street, with pedestrians galore passing by. 

“f**k!” She cursed, turning and heading across the street,where the sun was shining bright and covering most of the area. People stared and glared, hastily moving out the way as the woman came barreling by.

She alone could hear the crackle of joy as the Pantheons landed on the street soon after her. The beasts jumped from one person’s shadow to the next; they were closing in on her, though not fast enough. 

Around the corner from this chaos of  running, tendrils, and agitated pedestrians was a similar calm that had filled the cafe. A tall and slender woman was the only one to occupy the street. Her humming bounced along the walls of the city as she carried two large grocery bags. As her phone stole her attention, the demons chased their victim around the corner, immediately disrupting the peace as the pair collided. 

The tentacled shadows howled with excitement as they bounded towards the pair, their rank smell bouncing off the walls in place of the softly hummed song that once filled the space. The scent of mildew and rotten eggs absorbed the beauty along the strip as the shade from the trees were absorbed and replaced by opaque arms that reached much too far for comfort. 

“UNGH!”  Gravity seemed to work suddenly because it sure as hell felt like she was falling.

The seemingly mundane woman gasped as she got a face rammed into her busty cleavage. Quick as a whip foreign words fell from her lips as they neared the ground, but the crash never came. Their land was softened considerably and the groceries sat neatly beside their owner. The woman on the run noticed something was off about the fall and looked up at whoever she fell on. Immediately she gaped, gawking at the woman’s golden orbs. Her own emerald eyes were wide with surprise as she analyzed the shimmering emerald that filled the stranger's irises. They were mesmerizing, nothing she had ever seen in a human woman. The moment however was ruined by the familiar smell she associated with trouble, and she booked it, stuttering behind hesitantly. 

“I’M SO SORRY!” The running woman screamed, trying to rake her mind for some kind of spell that would make up for the lost time. 

“Wa-wait!!” The stranger called, getting over the initial stun of the impact. She could smell the Pantheon’s coming closer, and with a flick of her wrist, she moved the branches of the trees, which in turn removed the path of shadows. It was the only way the beasts could travel in the daytime, and she knew all the tricks when it came to avoiding them. It only took her a second to catch up with the shorter woman, quickly the stranger took the speeding woman by the arm.  

“Follow me!” 

Shrieking at the hand on her arm, she almost palmed the strange woman’s face. When she realized who it was, she turned in surprise just in time to see the trees retreating under the stranger's command; amazement was written across her face.  Her head whipped between the woman and the scene behind her, words failing her. 

“H-How did you do that!”

The stranger didn't respond. Instead, she guided them down multiple ally-ways and through a park. As they sped through each site, plants continued to retire from providing shade; they withered and warped in shape accordingly. The pair didn't stop until they reached a lot that was overexposed by sunlight. A short distance away from the lot was a flowershop, which they entered from the back.  There, they were greeted by a thick wall of vines. 

“I’m a Hexer, just like you...” the woman replied, unsure, “ the name’s Astrid.” 

She swiped her hand in front of the wall, like one would do on an Xbox Kinect, causing the vines to sweep aside and reveal a door. Her long nimble fingers twitched ever so slightly with the motion, the only thing giving away the force needed to manipulate such heavy pieces of nature. 

“And you are?” Astrid questioned, as she removed a key from her bra.  

The runner gawked at the show of skill, eyeing the woman over again. 

“Marishka…”

She glanced behind her to see if they were still being followed, amazed by how successfully they evaded them.

“Pleasure to meet you, Marishka,” the woman grinned, as she swung the onyx colored door open. They were welcomed by a set of narrow steps. The wood of the steps were weathered and there was a faint smell of dirt in the tapered passageway, which led to a scarlet red door. Astrid unlocked this door with a separate key, which was also kept in her bra, and pushed it open. 

The pair were greeted by an open layout apartment. It was very spacious, with plants occupying the majority of the home. The front entrance was apart of the living room, which was only separated from the kitchen with a long marbled counter. There were three doors one for a bedroom, bathroom, and an all-purpose closet. The wall across from the front door had a large window, which exposed a beautiful view of the park.  The window also looked over the front entrance of the flower shop below them. 

Marishka paused at the entrance, wondering if she should go up or not. She had just met this woman, how did she know she wasn’t a psycho or something? Red doors normally either meant two things: danger, and death. Or maybe the woman just had a weird taste for design. 

She chewed on her lip, glancing back behind once again. It was either the shadows or the nice lady who just saved her.

Suddenly the internal debate seemed a little stupid and she scurried up the steps, eager to follow her savior. When she reached the opening of the apartment she gaped, absentmindedly closing the door behind her. 

“Wow….this is..,” she paused, not really having a word for it,”....hipster-ish. In a good way!” 

Astrid laughed, before waving at the stools that sat in front of the long kitchen counter. It was more of a breakfast bar and was where she usually sat new company, not that she had much of that these days.

“Thank you, please, have a seat,” she smiled, “would you like some green tea… then we can discuss some things.” Due to how Marishka reacted to her acts of magic, Astrid could tell the girl was ignorant of what she was.

“Oh!” She smiled nervously, moving to sit at the counter, “I would love that, thank you. And um..what things?”

 She palmed her thighs, eyeing the woman somewhat cautiously. Surprisingly enough she wasn’t too surprised to meet someone like her. Constantly running from the shadows all her life, she assumed there had to be someone out there like her. Marishka just didn’t think she’d meet that person, by accidentally motorboating them while running for her life. Speaking of which she felt the need to properly apologize for that.

“Well obviously you don’t know exactly what you are…” the woman replied with knowing eyes. Her golden orbs carried wisdom that appeared beyond her age. Quirking a brow, she crossed her arms over her chest, organizing the questions she had for the girl. 

“How old are you?” Astrid wondered. Her eyes flicked to the stove, wanting to make sure she had remembered to turn it on.  

Marishka felt a bit of embarrassment flair up. She never knew the depths of her ignorance, considering she never had someone to compare herself to. It wasn't something Marishka blamed herself for, she simply wasn't aware of how many pieces were missing from the puzzle that was her life. Now, she had a steadily growing amount of respect for the woman before her. Astrid just gave off that wisdom-filled, authoritative vibe, to her.  

“Uh, twenty-one.” The and you? that went unsaid lingered in Marishka's green eyes.

 Astrid sighed wistfully a soft, "So young," falling from her lips. Her eyes closed in a reminiscent manner before she turned to the kettle seconds before it whistled. She flicked her wrist and the branches from one of the plants beside her shot out, removing two mugs from a cabinet.

“I’m… one hundred and twenty-one,” she said carefully, her back still turned to the girl. The plant grabbed tea leaves, and dropped them into the mug, as she poured the hot water into the cups.  

Marishka was right on the verge of commenting that Astrid didn’t look much older than her when she was sidetracked by showy use of the vines. It was like watching a real-life Poison Ivy, though she wasn’t much of a DC person it was still cool as hell. She was so distracted in fact, that it took her a second to register what she had just heard. 

“Wha- what?” Marishka laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. 

A smile tugged at Astrid’s lips as she set the mug in front of the young girl. She leaned against the counter as she sipped at her own tea. 

“One...hundred...and twenty-one,” she enunciated after swallowing down the warm drink. 

“Now how long have you...been hunted for?”   

Marishka’s awestruck gaze intensified, so many emotions running through her that she didn't know how to feel. Could she do that too?  Was she immortal? Did you get smarter and richer like in the books? Her thoughts came to a halt as she was asked another question. Grabbing her drink, she frowned at the reminder of why she was here.  

“You mean the shadows? Ever since I could remember,” she shook her head, taking a gulp of the calming liquid. Marishka bitterly swallowed it, always preferring coffee over tea even though it was much better for you and didn’t make you sick if you hadn’t eaten first. 

“Ever since I was little they would randomly pop up. But they didn’t actually get that close to me until I was older and started going out on my own. My cat,” she chuckled, knowing that it sounded lame, ”my cat always makes me move before they can get to me.”

Astrid’s face was passive, her eyes understanding. There was only a slight spark of curiosity when Marishka mentioned the cat, but she kept it to herself. At the end of the explenation, her brows furrowed as she went through the reasons the demons would be after this girl. 

“Well first off, those shadows, they’re demons,” the gold eyed woman explained, “more specifically, a pantheon. The shadow ones… they work for the queen bee in hell.” 

She watched the girl for a reaction, wanting not to overload her. Astrid also hoped that any part of this information would stimulate some type of realization from Marishka. 

Instead, Marishka felt her stomach flip when the word demons came out of Astrid's mouth. She wasn’t stupid, she knew that they had to be something other than shadows. But having it said aloud, and confirmed, was something she else entirely. Legit demons from hell were after her, and they were following orders? 

She nodded dumbly, trying to not embarrass herself and freak out. 

“Queen bee?...”

“Lilith,” Astrid muttered, “I don’t know why she would be after you… but my brother would; and if not him, which I pray to whatever is out there he does, I know someone else who will.”  

She stood up straight stretching her back before placing the mug into the sink. Astrid could feel the younger woman's wide eyes tracking her every moment. Sensing the unsought panic attack that was coming to swallow Marishka, she decided to back off of the subject.

“But enough about the bad stuff, here’s some good,” the woman smiled. She gave a dramatic pause, quirking a brow at the girl as her grin revealed pearly white teeth. 

“You’re a Hexer,” Astrid finally revealed, “or as humdrums call us… a Witch.” 

Marishka numbly blinked at the floor, her lips still glued to her mug. Lilith? Like biblical Lilith? So many questions swirled around and she was started to think she was going into shock. She should feel panicked, right? She did, but it was more of a dull nothing than the suffocating, wild feeling that came with panic. Perhaps it was because she always knew there was a story behind what she was. Finally, the conversation caught up with her racing mind and she almost laughed. Marishka wasn’t surprised at that one nearly as much. 

“I kinda figured, though you still shocked me. I mean….I guess I never expected to meet someone else like me?“   She grimaced, smiling through it as she finished off her drink.

“Well I can’t say there are thousands of us out there… but there are quite a few,” Astrid smiled gently, “you should get some rest, it’s been a long day. We can talk more tomorrow.” 

Marishka paused, the surprise and discomfort evident on her face. Stay here? The hospitality Astrid possessed was truly something that she wasn’t used to. Unfortunately, Marishka didn’t grow up around the nicest people and she was still shocked occasionally when someone was overly nice to her. She wanted to stay, despite her stranger danger senses, she felt much safer here than she had in her entire life. Unfortunately, she had a little fuzzball back home that would be very pissed if she didn’t come back soon. 

“ Oh, you don’t have to do that, really! They normally only attack once in a day, if they attack at all. I should be good for the night. I can come back tomorrow,” she rejected politely. Marishka hated to feel like she was intruding, and felt like she really should get home.

Astrid looked at the girl unsure, before sighing herself. She didn’t know how to put this without sounding like some deranged convict. Rather than filling the girl with more dread, she decided to point out the obvious. There was no need to fill the space with more ominous energy, not so early into their introduction and not at this hour. 

“The sun has set, they don’t have to creep in the night… and you don’t have your cat to protect you,” the woman pointed out. 

“It’s fine if you stay here for the night… you can mull things over, and then we can head to my brother’s tomorrow; they aren’t just watching you anymore, they’re hunting you,” Astrid moved to the closet and removed some sheets and blankets before adding, “my brother has a huge truck, so he can get anything you need… in case you’re in danger.”