Lost Bloodlines

Disclaimer and Acknowledgment: All persons engaged in sexual activity or otherwise sexualized are over 18.

Thank you to my editor, LiterKnight for their continued assistance in helping me put out better-polished installments of this series!

-00000-

A gentle breeze caressed my sun-warmed skin as I leaned back on my hands, my legs swaying lazily over the edge of the rooftop. The winding pathways of the villa courtyard stretched out below me, the many fountains and pools of water sparkling in the early light of the morning. Though the park-like rectangle of greenery that surrounded the villa was well-shaded by the many skyscrapers that loomed over it, slices of sunlight snuck through here and there, and I had planted myself directly under one as I sat on the edge of the villa's roof.

It was remarkably peaceful up here. The courtyard below was empty, and the sound of the surrounding city was distant and muted somehow. For a moment, I could almost forget where I was, and who I had become. I could just toss my head back and enjoy the solitude.

But then a strand of long black hair blew into my face, and I sputtered as it got into my mouth. I sat up, pulling away the offending strands with delicate red fingers, and frowned as my escapism was ruined.

We had only been here in Gomorrah for day, and I was already overwhelmed. After we had all received our Glamours, I was hoping for a moment to relax, perhaps to catch a nap or just find somewhere to kick my feet up. After the events on the highway and the non-stop crises that I kept falling into, I just wanted to get away for a little while.

But the Devil had been relentless. First tours of the villa, then of the gardens, and afterwards he dismissed my companions to spend hours grilling me about everything that had happened since I first awakened as Lilith. It was a grueling interrogation, having to juggle between his shifting moods and tempers and watching my words carefully lest I set off the temperamental fallen angel. And all throughout I worried for Aqua, still unconscious after her healing.

So, after managing to catch a small amount of sleep, I had found my way up here without managing to alert anyone else. Some blessed solitude and peace at last.

In my past life as Charles Finch, I had been somewhat of an introvert. Keeping to myself, enjoying being alone, and easily tired by social interaction. Faith had been an exception to that. She had managed to worm herself into my space and settled there comfortably, unlike anyone else.

But that time was gone, just like her.

Now I was never alone. Finding a group of friends in the prison camp and sticking to them had been as much a necessity for survival as it had been a salve for my fraying sanity. And that didn't even address the now-constant presence of Victoria everywhere I went. Adding in the intrusive demands of the government and now fucking

demons,

I never was able to recharge in solitude as I once enjoyed. And if I was honest with myself, my comfort with it all was wearing thin.

So yeah, that's why I was skulking about on a rooftop in the early hours of the morning. A large part of me felt terribly guilty for this. Victoria was wonderful, and I loved her dearly. All of the friends I had made meant so much to me, but I just needed to breathe.

So, I did. I flew up to the roof while the city was still shrouded in darkness (if still obnoxiously lit by neon lights), and found somewhere to just be alone.

I shook my head as the modicum of peace I had found for a few scant hours was ripped away by the ever-present reminder of my own absurd reality. Though my environment was magical and beyond anything possible back on Earth, sitting here, alone, it all seemed so distant, something that I could separate from myself and simply watch.

But of course, I could never escape the unfamiliarity of my own body. I grimaced as I looked down at my red fingers, idling clenching my hands as my claws rhythmically extended and retracted. With a mental command, I forced my new Glamour to take hold, watching through the momentary shimmer of magic as the red skin and claws were replaced by dusky olive fingers. Human fingers.

But not

mine

.

I stifled a groan of frustration and fell back on the smooth tile of the roof, and just looked up into the gradually lightening sky. The sun (oddly larger and much redder than the one back on Earth) had barely crested the horizon visible between the soaring towers, painting fiery orange patterns across the distant clouds. The beautiful sight did little to lesson my fraying nerves, but it was better than looking at myself.

I was laying there, my heart quiet but my mind racing, when I heard the now-familiar sound of beating wings, and I turned my head to the side just as Victoria landed not far from me on the roof.

She let out a little smile as she walked over, her wings folding up behind her. "There you are. No one seemed to know where you ran off to. Cyri guessed that maybe you'd sought out high ground."

I groaned, and pushed myself back up to my earlier perch. "I didn't mean to worry anyone; thought I'd be back before you all woke up. Guess the time slipped away from me."

"Well, you missed breakfast, if that gives you any idea." Victoria slipped down to sit next to me on the edge of the roof.

"Is Aqua...?"

"Still asleep. Either the healing took more out of her than we thought, or she's just being exceptionally lazy."

I snorted. "I think we both know she's not above sleeping past noon. Barbas seemed to think everything went well, so she probably just needs the rest.

"Hopefully, yeah."

We both sat there silently for a few minutes, our bodies inches away from each other but not quite touching. There was some sort of tension there, some little barrier that had appeared that I wasn't sure how to cross. By Victoria's darting glances, she noticed it as well. I took a deep breath.

"Look, I just wanted to say..."

"I don't know what happened, but I..."

We both opened our mouths to speak at the same time, and both of our hurried words cut off as we stopped to listen to the other. She blushed, and I let out a little chuckle. I gestured for her to continue.

Victoria cleared her throat and looked a little worried as she spoke up again. "Did I do something wrong?"

I blinked. "What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?"

The Valkyrie looked away for a moment and her shoulders drooped a bit. "Well, I woke up and you weren't there. We've been sleeping together for weeks and you were just...gone. I thought that maybe you were just in the bathroom or something but I couldn't find you anywhere. I though you had maybe...gone over to Cyri's room, or maybe one of the guys, but at breakfast they said they hadn't seen you, and we looked everywhere, and we thought that maybe something bad had happened, you know? But then Cyri said you might be up here and I found you, and I was really happy about that, but then I got worried, like why did you leave? And I just..."

I stopped the girl's rambling account with a kiss, bringing her head down to mine with a guiding head on the back of her neck. I'd found that the best way to disrupt her little stream-of-consciousness rants.

She let out a little surprised sound, but then relaxed into me, and her lips moved against mine tentatively. I broke the lip-lock and smiled gently up at her.

"I'm sorry I made you worry. And you haven't done anything wrong, I promise. I just needed to get away for a little bit." She opened her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. "Not get away from

you

. Just...everything. I was feeling overwhelmed."

"Oh." Her cheeks colored again. "Well now I feel like some sort of clingy asshole."

I slipped an arm around her waist and pulled myself close to her with a little tug. "Maybe, but you're

my

clingy asshole." I smiled as Victoria let out an affronted gasp.

"You're not supposed to agree with me!" She began to struggle around my hold on her, but I grabbed on tighter. "Let me go! No! You don't get to cuddle!"

Laughing, I shifted, throwing one leg over her lap and fully straddling the protesting Valkyrie. As she cursed and wiggled to escape, I planted little kisses on her shoulders and neck, which eventually pacified her. As I pulled back, her eyes were still thunderous however.

"You're not clingy, babe," I reassured her. "And definitely not an asshole. Just easy to tease."

She glowered at me for a moment longer before taking her revenge by smacking my ass hard. I moaned at the sting, and pressed my body hard into hers, whispering into her ear, "Don't start something you can't finish, pet."

She froze at my words, her hands hovering uncertainly above my hips as I ground harder into her. I chuckled evilly before pulling back. Her eyes were caught between lust and uncertainty as they flicked between my chest and my face. I planted a little kiss on her nose.

"Just as I said.

Far

too easy to tease." Victoria rolled her eyes, and unceremoniously shoved me off of her, back to where I had been sitting earlier. She kept a hand on my side, just in case the movement actually caused me to fall off the ledge. I wasn't in any danger however, and I settled back in my old spot comfortably. The Valkyrie looked ready to take further vengeance, but the little smile tugging at the corner of her lips betrayed her.

After a second, she just shook her head, and lay backwards onto the tiled roof. "Bitch." She muttered.

"That's me," I chimed happily, and joined her in reclining. Without horns in this human disguise, I could rest the back of my head on her shoulder without accidentally poking her. It only took her a second to start running a hand through my hair. She knew how much I loved that feeling.

We shared that peaceful moment for a few moments, looking up into the orange sky, until I couldn't help but speak again. Something she had said was eating at me, bringing back one of the reasons I had needed my solitude in the first place.

"Victoria?"

"Mhm?

"Why did you think I might have been in Cyri's room?" The hand in my hair stilled for a moment, and I heard Victoria let out a little sigh.

"Well...she kissed you yesterday. And she looked so beautiful and happy after her transformation that I thought that maybe...maybe you had gone to her after I fell asleep." Victoria's voice was hesitant, and I heard more than a little pain seep into her words.

Damnit. This was a conversation we needed to have a long time ago. I think we had both been avoiding it. I sat up and looked back at her. Reluctantly, she lifted herself up as well and faced me as well, a worried look on her face.

I placed a reassuring hand on her knee. "There's nothing romantic between me and Cyri, I was just as surprised as you were yesterday by the kiss. She was probably just grateful and overwhelmed. You know I would tell you if there had been."

She mumbled something under her breath.

"What?"

Again, she looked down and slumped her shoulders, but then met my eyes. "You didn't tell me about Riley until afterwards." Her voice was small.

I blinked in surprise. Acting almost on instinct, I began to protest. "That was completely different! We hated each other! I didn't have any choice in that, I didn't even want to..." My voice petered out as I saw the hurt in Victoria's eyes. I sighed, and found my voice again, speaking much softer. "No, that was a lie. The damn demon in my head might have forced me to, but I definitely could have said no."

The Valkyrie remained silent.

"I...I thought you were okay with that? After Aqua, and then when I told you about it, you seemed more than happy. Fuck, you were basically begging me to tell you more about it!"

She blushed, and a conflicted look flashed across her features. "Lilith, I don't know how I feel about it. Ever since then, sometimes I just feel so jealous. I think about you with another woman and I just...my stomach turns itself into knots. Even with Aqua!" Her red cheeks darkened further, and she looked away from my probing gaze. "And then I think about it more, and it makes me horny. Hearing about it, seeing it in person...fuck, it's one of the hottest things I can imagine. I want to watch, I want to join. And I don't understand why!"

I thought for a moment, maintaining my comforting grip on Victoria's thigh. She looked so torn, so conflicted, working a lip between her teeth as she looked down at the garden below.

"Do you regret it?" I asked softly.

She turned her head to me. "Regret what?"

"Saying yes to Aqua. Do you regret letting her join us?"

Victoria's bleary gaze sharpened. "Of course not. I loved the time we spent together. Aqua's a wonderful friend, and having her as lover as well has been..." She seemed ready to continue, but then the truth of her words seemed to hit her, and she groaned. "Damnit, this is all so confusing."

I grabbed one of her hands, and held it tightly between my own, "I had no idea you felt this way. I mean...I knew you were jealous when we first got together, but then it seemed to disappear after Aqua joined."

She rubbed at her eyes with her other hand. "I just hid it. Ignored it, maybe. Things have been happening so fast since that night at the camp that it's been easy to forget."

Rubbing her hand, I stared at Victoria for a long moment before I spoke again. "I would stop, if you asked." Her hand grabbed back at mine at my words as her eyes widened. I shrugged. "I've always been a one-woman kind of man, shit, woman. I've loved being with both you and Aqua, and I won't deny that my experience with Elizabeth was intense...but I don't love them. Not like I do you." I almost stopped speaking there, but I knew that wouldn't be the whole truth. "At least...I don't love them

yet

. Maybe there are feelings there, but..."

"Please stop, Lilith." Victoria spoke up, and my words trailed off. She was chewing on her lip again, looking back down at the garden. I didn't say anything else, just letting the girl think for a minute or two as she clearly worked through something.

She didn't look at me when she finally spoke. "My father used to have this saying. I just thought it was a bunch of cheesy nonsense, but it's a lesson that he tried to impart on me more than once. He said, 'Everything in life has a limit, except for love. Love is boundless, and can last through anything if you believe in it.'"

Victoria turned to stare deeply into my eyes. "We haven't even known each other for very long, but I love you, Lilith. And I know you love me. And that's something that won't ever run out, so long as we keep it alive."

I smiled. "I think your father was a smart man. But what does that have to do with Aqua or Elizabeth?" Or even Cyri?

The Valkyrie took another deep breath. "Just as you can love me...you can love others. It won't run out. You won't always be able to give me your attention, or spend the same amount of time together...but that doesn't mean you love me any less." She straightened, and I finally saw her smile after this difficult conversation started.

"And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with you being with others." Her smile turned slightly mischievous. "So long as you let me join in sometimes."

I shook my head in amazement. "Just like that? I have full range to sleep with anyone I want? That wouldn't hurt your feelings anymore?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that

all

of the jealousy just disappeared. It's definitely still there. I just think that I can...channel it into something healthy." She smirked. "Expect some particularly wild sex whenever you come back to me."

This sudden acceptance was most certainly not the direction I thought this conversation was going, and I don't even know if it was the way I wanted it to go. Full permission...that benefit came with some huge responsibilities. Not to mention possible consequences. Dr. Lima-sized consequences.

And, of course, raised a certain question about equality. "I'd never try to do anything to hurt you, but if you say you're alright with it...But what about you? I can't say I'd be as accepting if you wanted to find other lovers." At least, I didn't think I would be. The idea didn't fill me with the revulsion and jealousy I might have expected, but I wasn't exactly comfortable with it either.

Victoria just shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Something tells me I'll be satisfied with the women you bring back to me, but if not...we can talk again. We'll figure it out."

I stared at Victoria's smiling face for a moment before clamoring back into her lap, kissing her again while she giggled at my sudden attack. She returned the passion of my kiss, running her hands up and down my sides, and eventually landing squarely on my jean-clad ass when she finally pulled away. We shared a soft smile.

"I was telling the truth about Cyri, you know. There really isn't anything there."

Victoria just gave me a long skeptical look, rolling her eyes as she turned her head slightly and muttered something under her breath. Something that sounded suspiciously like, "Don't tell

her

that."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Victoria chirped innocently, pushing herself to her feet and setting me down hurriedly alongside her. "Anyway," she drawled, pushing back a sleeve of her blouse to reveal a small watch on her wrist. The hands indicated that it was already approaching 9am. "I believe we have somewhere to be. Another of your lovers to visit."

I cursed as I stared at the watch. How the hell was it this late in the morning already? We needed to get to where Elizabeth was staying at one of the towers if we didn't want to be late for the healing. I was more than a little worried that the agent would try to murder Barbas if he came near her without me present.

"Later then." With a drawn-out groan, I got to my feet, letting my Glamour dissipate and stretching my wings out behind me.

"You remember where Lucifer said to go?"

I nodded, pointing towards one of the towers visible in the near distance. "The tower of the Fourth Legion, where Tartarus and the rest of the humans are staying. Shall we?"

Victoria shot a happy grin my way. "We shall." She jumped off the side of the building.

Shaking my head, I followed my girlfriend into the air.

-00000-

Our reception wasn't quite what I expected, however.

The headquarters of the 'Fourth' was designed like a massive Romanesque tower, with nearly a hundred tiers of curving marble arches that decorated the outside of the structure. It was more than a little reminiscent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, if actually built on stable foundations and considerably larger. It took some circling, but Victoria and I found the entrance that Lucifer had mentioned we take, a large opening in the structure about half-way up its sizable height.

Cautiously landing in the hanger-like space within, we were immediately beset by a trio of demons. All three were outfitted in some sort of futuristic facsimile of Roman legionary armor, the characteristic banded plate and armored skirt tightly fitted to bulging red muscles, the incongruity coming with modern combat webbing and various electronic devices attached to parts of the plate. And of course, the stubby rifles being shoved in our faces definitely completed the odd outfit.

"Don't fucking move," the lead demon barked, his beady eyes flicking between my face and Victoria's. The innate reaction to lift my arms above my head was hard to fight, but I had no idea how these demons might react to the human gesture. "Who are you, and what are you doing here with that

thing

?" He spat, jabbing his rifle towards Victoria threateningly.

My gaze flicked to the Valkyrie, and her muscles were tensed, eyes flicking about our surroundings as if preparing for a fight. When her eyes met mine, however, I just so barely shook my head. This was the first time facing real hostility from demons here in Hell, and I had an idea on how to quickly get things back on track.