"Oh my God, what happened to you?!"
With no answer, Lilith buried her face into Emma's shoulder, knowing her tear-makeup-mixed face would totally ruin Emma's favorite sweater.
"Come and sit, you poor thing!" The sweater was no longer Emma's priority now, "Tell me what happened?"
"I don't want to..." Lilith mumbled and tears burst out of her at the first sound she made.
The water tap won't even spill water like her eyes spilling tears.
"What did he do now!" Asked Emma with her teeth clenched, "HE did this to you, didn't he?!"
"It was me..." Lilith shook her head, couldn't complete too long sentences, "It was my doing..."
"How on earth was that YOUR doing?!" Emma couldn't keep her voice down, "All this because you missed his call?! Are you fucking kidding me--"
"No..." Lilith shook her head, sobbing, "It w*-w*sn't like that..."
"Then what happened!" Emma let out a frustrated plaint, "Please, Lilith, you are scaring me... I have never seen you like this before..."
"He was kissing her when I--" That was all Lilith managed to say.
"Oh my God..." Emma got the picture somehow, out of Lilith's nonsense sobbing, "You deserve better! I've got you baby! don't you worry about a thing!"
Lilith just curled herself as small as she could under the pillow on the couch.
"You rest here." Emma patted Lilith on the arm, "I'll get you a cup of water."
Water didn't help.
Food didn't help either because Lilith couldn't even manage to take a bite. And movie, music, pillows didn't help. Nothing helped.
She didn't want to do anything but lying there, staring blankly at nothing.
Emma didn't know what she could do to help but to sit beside Lilith, stroking her lightly.
Sleep would help, but hours passed yet all the history with Jacob was like a messed up movie fast-forwarding in Lilith's head and they won't let her the comfort of unconsciousness...
Lilith suddenly sat up: "I have to go."
"Okay, where?" Emma asked with sleepy eyes, not understanding the situation.
"I have to leave the town, Emma." Lilith took a deep breath and wiped her face hard with her hands, "Can I borrow your car for a few days? I promise I'll return it, but I really have to go today."
"Oh my God, Lilith!" Emma gasped and was now fully awake, "Are you crazy?! You have a life here! You can't just leave your life just because some jerk--"
"Emma, please. I don't want to talk about it. I just have to disappear... now." As her last word fell on the ground, Lilith was already up.
"Lilith, please," Emma followed her around in the room as she began to gather her stuff frantically, "I know you are hurt right now, but we need to take time and think--"
"You know my intuition is always right, Emma." Grunted Lilith with her hands moving fast, "Remember how I told you to buy the lottery?"
"That was just luck!" Emma sighed, "But this is your life! Lilith--"
"Okay, then luck is how I ended up in this city after my parents died, and luck is how I found you as a roommate." Lilith threw her backpack on her shoulder, "I have always known that I should not be with Jacob, I knew. I went against my intuition and you see where that led me?"
"Lilith..." Emma sighed but Lilith was already by the door.
"Please, I need your support." Lilith lowered her head, avoiding Emma's eyes.
"Ughhhhh!" Emma let out a frustrated groan, "Of course you have my support! AND my car! You little devil! You will always have me..."
"I love you, Emma." Lilith hugged Emma hard, "I'll be alright, don't worry about me. I just really need this."
"I know you will be." Emma nodded, trying to hold back her tears, "Just promise to come back when you are healed, okay? I don't know how to survive without a roommate to take care of."
Lilith chuckled at her words with tears still hanging on her cheeks.
By the time Lilith managed to drive onto the highway in tears, Ann was at the DMV, looking up Emma's car with the manager lying on the floor unconsciously under her sleeping spell.
Emma's car was her only clue, and Ann knew she didn't have too much time with the wand before the coven catches up with her.
Fate is a curious thing.
Ann got to Emma's home not too long after Lilith drove away under the dark night.
"Who are you?" Emma opened the door so happily thinking Lilith changed her mind, only to find a stranger at the door, with a luring smile that would conquer any man.
"That's none of your concern." Ann smiled at Emma, "I advise you to tell me where Lilith is, and please just listen to me. DON'T do anything stupid."
"It's you, isn't it?!" Emma suddenly realized who this woman appeared out of nowhere could be.
You have to hand it to women's intuition.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Ann giggled as she pulled Emma on the collar with her other hand put on Emma's forehead.
"Let me go!" Emma struggled but to little use, and Lilith's face appeared in her mind no matter how much she resisted.
Emma didn't have magic, but she knew Ann got what she wanted from the evil smile on Ann's pretty face.
"Ann! You took the wand, didn't you?" Jacob ran towards them just as Ann started leaving, "How could you--"
"Jacob." Ann said only one word, and there was no room for him to say anything else.
"Ann, please give me the wand." Said Hank softly, following Jacob, "It's no small thing to steal The Shadow. I know you have prepared for this day for long, but stealing it is not gonna get you power."
"I have to meet her, Hank." Ann said with desperation in her voice, "I HAVE to know! I promise I'll give it back, but it can't be her! It can't!"
Both Hank and Jacob were shocked by Ann's sudden outburst. They sighed with the same heavy look, but there wasn't much they could say.
Pride WAS Ann. It was what she was living for. Losing the night she had prepared for for years to a human girl was not a light blow to her.
"Ann, we are looking for Lilith as well." Jacob used his softest voice, "You can come with us if you like."
"And if..." Ann hesitated, "If it WAS her, then what?"
"Ann, The Shadow appears in my visions a lot." Hank sighed, "It's all our fate that's at stake. We have to handle this matter delicately. You know that."
"You would take her in and give The Shadow to her." Ann nodded slowly with s shade of desperation in her eyes.
"It's not that simple--" Hank started but Ann cut him off with outbursting rage--
"Maybe she's not powerful, maybe she only got it from The Shadow! Have you thought about that?!"
"None of us know what The Shadow could do. It has slept for centuries." Hank sighed resignedly, "Ann, please give me the wand."
"I have no choice," Said Ann with stone-cold eyes, "I'm sorry."
"Ann? What are you--"
Before Jacob could finish his question, a beam of light shot out of Ann's hand went right through Emma's shoulder, just inches above her heart.
All three of them were taken by shock, except Emma didn't know what was happening, unlike Jacob and Hank.
"I'll be back for my punishment!" Ann was already by her car when Jacob and Hank rushed to attend to Emma, who was now bleeding heavily on the ground.
"Ann! Don't you hurt Lilith! Ann!" Jacob shouted as he followed Ann, but her car already dashed into the dark night.
"Get back here and take care of her!" Hank shouted at Jacob. His rare temper shut Jacob up effectively. "Ann would face a much more severe punishment if this one dies." Hank added in a lower voice. "What do I do!" Jacob turned back to Emma quickly hearing that. "Tell me where Lilith went, please." Hank turned to Emma, who was in a lot of pain and was at the edge of losing her consciousness. "I know you care about Lilith, and I'm the only one who can save her now." Hank fixed his eyes on Emma, "You don't want Ann to hurt her, right?" "Sh-she is leaving town," Emma said with great hardship, "Hig-highway 18, she's bound to take that one..." "She owns you her life." Hank nodded before he put her finger on Emma's forehead and she fell into a deep sleep. "I have stopped the bleeding for now," Hank told Jacob briefly, "Take her back to your house and your mom will know what to do. Do NOT take her to a hospital, do you understa
"What--?!" Ann took a step back in shock, "What are you talking about?!" "Well," The man shrugged, "I just thought it's a wand you have there in your hand, is it not?" "Ohh..." Ann looked down at her own hand with a relieved exhale, "Sorry...It's just...from a gift shop..." "I see." The man nodded with a polite smile, "A very exquisite souvenir, it seems." "It IS beautiful, isn't it?" Ann mumbled. All she could think of was how she told Jacob not too long ago about how love doesn't matter, yet she felt so powerless in front of this mysterious man smiling in front of her. "Please, we need your help." Said the man with not even a shred of hasty in his voice, "Could you call an ambulance? The girl is badly hurt." "Hmm, yes of course!" Ann pulled out her phone from her jacket and started dialing, only to see the man curve his lips at her. Damn it! Now he knew she was lying about the light from her palm because she J
"High priest!" Ann gasped as she looked down to her own hand, which was what took away Hank's breath. Because in Ann's hand, The Shadow was now glowing. Dimly, but the glow was still there. "How?! I mean... how did it happen?" Hank stammered as he started walking towards Ann. His attention was no longer on the crashing scene. "By the time I got here, she already crashed the car..." Ann started with an improvised lie. There was no one to expose her anyways. "What?! You mean Lilith?" Hank took a gasp as he blinked in confusion, "Where is she?" "She was taken to the hospital." Ann said, "I called the ambulance right away as I got here." "That's good." Hank nodded, still in shock, "So what happened to The Shadow? How was it wakened?!" "I don't know..." Ann handed The Shadow back to Hank, "I was so worried about Lilith when I saw all these, and before I knew, The Shadow was already in my hand with its whole b
"Feeling better?" A deep, rough voice rose beside Lilith, but she couldn't seem to understand it. She felt as if the whole world was twirling around her when she finally managed to move a little, and she could barely feel her own eyelids. "Don't move, you hit your head pretty hard." The man covered his palm softly on Lilith's forehead so she won't rip her wound open. "Who are you..." Lilith opened her mouth but her throat was so dry that even she could barely hear herself. "No rush on talking." The man moistened his finger with water and stroked her lips as soft as possible, "You will feel better after you drink some water." There was little struggle Lilith could put up before her world went dark again. The man pushed the button by the side of the bed: "Nurse, get Dr. Sarla, please." "Yes, Mr. Gaumond." Edmund gazed at Lilith for long before he finally closed his bloodshot eyes. He barely slept in the pa
"What's going on?!" "Shhhhhhh!" "It's boss's first mate! I want to--" "A werewolf only gets ONE mate, stupid! What do you mean by 'first'?!" "Well, I MEAN, he can reject it!" "That would hurt her!" "So?!" "Just shut up! Boss will hear you!" Edmund DID hear them. He wasn't sure whether Lilith could hear them though, or if she cared to-- Cause she was crying, quietly but with tears falling down her cheeks nonstop as if there was a snow mountain inside her head melting. How could one cry so much without drinking water...? Edmund sighed in his mind as he handed over another tissue, seeing the last one was soon soaked wet. Whispers rose like bee buzz right outside of the ward door as if someone stole their queen bee. Edmund frowned at himself when he landed on that metaphor. "So..." Lilith finally managed to slow down her tears a bit, "Are you a doctor?" "Hmm?" Edmund blinked as he tri
"What are you talking about?" Edmund dragged Buster a bit further from the ward door as he hissed under his breath. The last thing he needed right now was for Lilith to think that she was abducted! "Sir, before we stop the investigation on her," Buster started with the safest sentence he could find, "We found out that she's currently living with her friend, Emma." "I know, it was in the report." With a shred of frustration in his voice, Edmund hissed under his breath with his eyes fixed on the ward door. He gave her a command to stay put, yet he was still guarding the room like a little boy hovering over his new toy. "Yes, and by the way, it was also this woman, Emma Brown's car that Miss Hayes was driving when she crashed it." Buster continued hastily, seeing Edmund's impatience growing. "And?" Edmund closed his eyes with a deep frowning, trying to keep his temper in control. "And..." Buster hesitated and that
"I just want to know how you left the ward." Still laughing, Edmund was now again the gentle and warm man Lilith woke up to, "Is that a secret?"His sudden change of attitude made Lilith frown in confusion."Could you please indulge me of this one question?" Edmund bowed at Lilith with much earnest, "You may leave after this."Lilith's face softened at his humble gesture. The stern look was gone, but was replaced by a naughty smile: "Fair enough. No, it's not a secret."To her surprise, Edmund was not annoyed by her rebellion but instead was amused."I thought I told you to stay where you were." His hands in his pocket, Edmund leaned in with a grin."And I should obey your command because...?" Lilith asked with a polite and restrained tone."No reason! Haha..." Edmund burst into laughter again, "I'm sorry, this is just really interesting.""Sure." Lilith frowned at Edmund's sudden laughter: "Well, I'm leaving now. If you can gi
In the end, Jacob went with Ann. "Are you sure you don't want to go attend to your girlfriend?" Ann glanced at Jacob in a casual tone, but her fingers were pure white for gripping tight on the wheel of her roadster out of nervous. She didn't want him to, of course. She needed Lilith away, as far as possible. "I would understand if you go." Ann continued after Jacob answered her with silence, "You know I will. I know how much she means to you." "I called ALL the hospitals in town, and she was nowhere to be found." Jacob let out a heavy sigh, seeing that he cannot avoid this topic. "Aren't you gonna go look for her?" Asked Ann in a small voice, glancing at him cautiously. "And how do you suggest I do that?" Jacob closed his eyes tiredly, "I'm telling you, it's like she vaporized from the face of the earth." Ann remembered the evil grin of that mysterious man, Edmund Gaomond. Even if he was able to save Lilith, Jacob sould have he