If he came back. Maybe he was planning on being gone a long time. There was too much food in the dining roommaybe it was supposed to last for days. Maybe he wasnt coming back at all, and Id slowly starve to death. No, I could throw a chair through a window before that happened. Assuming the glass wasnt some kind of bulletproof composite that would resist being smashed by an angry woman.
I headed back into the library. The walls were floor-to-ceiling bookcases, filled with colorless texts of every shape and size. I moved closer, and started reading the titles. Maybe I could find a mystery to keep me occupied. Though it looked as if there was nothing from the current century and very little from the last.
It was in plain sight: Angels and Demons. I grabbed it, hoping for Dan Brown. Instead it was a heavy tome, ancient and thick, with an engraved cover. I almost shoved it back, then thought better of it. Maybe I could do a little more research on Lilith.
It
opened to the right page. Someone else had been reading this, but the pages were too worn for it to have been caused only by Azazel. Maybe theyd been bringing hapless women here for decades, convinced each one was Lilith.
If so, what did they do when they discovered the women were simply human? Would it be any better than what they planned for the real Lilith?
I curled up on one of the sofas, pulling my knees up under me as I opened the huge volume in my lap. I started reading, pleased to discover my dreaming memory had been correct. The Lilith myth originated in Sumer, and had been found in some shape or other in most religions, up to and including Christianity. For some sources, shed been a benevolent mother goddess, to others an all-devouring Kali-esque demon. And everything in between.
But nothing sounded right. None of the citations had the ring of truth, though a bit here and a bit there sounded reasonable. Still, history and mythology were written by men. It was no wonder they got it wrong.
Lilith was fated to wed the demon Asmodeus, and together they would rule a secret place and bring forth many demon children. Great. If they thought they were marrying me to a demon, they had another thing coming. Though they were probably not looking for a happily-ever-after for the monster they imagined me to be.
But why in hell werent they out looking for this Asmodeus character? If Liliths future was to pop forth tiny demons, wouldnt getting rid of the prophesied father take care of the problem?
Men, I thought with disgust. Typical that theyd go after the woman.
I was about to turn to the front of the book, to read about the demon Asmodeus, when I heard the front door open, and I knew hed returned.
He walked past the open library door, heading up the stairs without a word to me. I shot out of the room, catching up with him halfway up the stairs. I dont like being locked in.
He paused, then turned back to look down on me. Mistake, I thought. If I accosted him on the stairs, I should somehow make it to a higher step. He already had a tendency to loom over me; giving him the added advantage of the stairs made it worse.
Its not safe for you outside, he said.
And youre concerned about my safety? Since when?
He considered it. Point taken. It wont be locked again. Go wherever you wish.
I looked up into his pale, set face. Good, I said.
A moment later I was gone, into the night, into the Dark City, without a glance behind me.
CHAPTER NINE
A ZAZEL HEARD THE DOOR SLAM, and he cursed, slowly and savagely. He needed to let her go. If she ran afoul of the Truth Breakers or the Nightmen, then so be it. He didnt want to be looking out for her. It was bad enough that she still lived, though he had no one to blame but himself for that one. He wasnt going out into the night, chasing after her, protecting her from all the midnight horrors of the Dark City.
And there were many. The rules were strict in this shadowed place, and the demi-souls who lived here couldnt stray far without earning punishment.
He couldnt decide whether she really was as innocent as a newborn lamb or simply stupid. She had no idea just how lethal Beloch was, or she would keep her distance. She had no idea that the man she thought of as her worst enemy was, in fact, her only hope of putting off the inevitable. If it were up to him, he would see that she didnt suffer, though he wasnt sure why. Shed made countless souls suffer over the endless years shed lived. She deserved some rough justice. He just didnt want to be around to witness it, and he was beginning to realize that there would be no escape from the Dark City. Not for her.
He would have believed her last night, that she was a far cry from a sexual icon, if she hadnt kissed him back. If the feel of her hadnt sunk into his very bones, shaking him to the core. He wanted her and he despised himself for it. Beloch was right. He might be a sadist, overseeing the Dark City with the same cruel implacability with which the archangel Uriel oversaw the whole of creation, but he was indisputably wise. As long as Azazel ignored her siren call, he would never be certain that the prophecy was a lie, that he was invulnerable to her mythic allure. Resisting the seduction of a simple kiss wasnt proof enough.