Lilith Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Lilith woke in a bed shaped like a coffin, black wood with green trim. Green-and-black wallpaper covered the walls. Carved skulls watched from a shelf. The floor shone like still water. The fae had given her a fine room, but a room was not a home. Lilith knew the truth now. She owed a debt she had not named. Any mortal she courted, any soul she chose to make her eternal companion, the fae could seize to collect her price. She could not build a love on borrowed ground. She rose and went to find the fae. She meant to pay the debt tonight, whatever it cost, so her future would be her own. A cat met her in the hall. Small, black, fluffy, with green eyes and tiny white fangs. A crescent charm hung at its throat. It had the look of her own kind, a vampire thing, bred for shadow. It sat on the dark floor and stared at her. "The lady is not here," the cat said. Its voice was dry and bored. "She hunts in the next valley. Three nights, maybe four." Lilith did not flinch at a talking cat. In two centuries she had seen stranger. "Then I'll wait." "You'll wait in her house, deeper in her debt each hour." The cat licked a paw. "Every night under her roof, the price grows. That was the bargain. Did she not say?" She had not. Lilith felt the trap close. Shelter was survival, but this shelter fed the very chain she wanted to break. The longer she stayed safe, the less she could ever offer anyone she loved. "How do I pay it off?" she asked. The cat's green eyes brightened. "You can't buy it with blood or gold. Only with a name. Give her the name of the one you want most, and she frees you. She keeps the name instead." Lilith understood. The fae wanted the one soul Lilith had crossed mountains to find. If Lilith ever named her true companion, the fae would own that mortal, not her. She made her choice fast. "Then I take nothing from her." She gathered her torn cloak. She would not sleep in this coffin again. A debt that grew each night was a noose, and a lair she could lose was no lair at all. Better the open ground than a home that sold her heart. "Leaving?" The cat rose, tail high. "The sun comes in three hours." "I'll find my own walls before then." Lilith walked to the door. "And when I find the one, no one will take them from me." The cat trotted after her, fangs showing in a small grin. "I like you better than the last guest," it said. "I'll show you a crypt she doesn't own." Lilith stepped out under the fading stars. She had left her borrowed haven, and her debt stopped growing. Now she had a guide, and no roof. The hunt for a home of her own began again.