The Prodigal Daughter
A red orange flash appeared in the garden of a grand medieval castle. Leafy green vines covered the lower walls on one side of a courtyard filled with perfectly manicured shrubs and trees separated by brick walkways. Bright spot lights amplified the surrounding shadows stretching down from the black sky, the darkness matching the soul of the woman who emerged from the fiery portal. Lilith charged through Adriel’s headquarters, her head on fire as the day’s events replayed through her mind at high speed. At the end of it all, one of her only two living friends, if they could still be called friends, was sitting broken in front of the Arc.
“I first went to Adriel after attempting and failing to pass through the Arc to the other side.” Lilith was speaking to the six women of the inner circle along with Father Vincent who were all sitting around the large table in the mission room. Two of the women she had never met before. Four she knew quite well. “He explained to me what Reya had done after the Tarask had taken me. That she had saved my life to turn me into this,” she gestured to herself, “so that I could find and return both the Halo and Adriel to her.” She paused. “I don’t know if he was lying to me or not, but I was desperate to know what I was happening to me.”
For the first month she remained alone, away from prying eyes. Lilith was quite adept at being alone, perhaps not as good as Beatrice, who for all the time that they had known each other actually seemed to prefer it, but she was capable of living without human contact. She watched what remained of the FBC, looking for signs of the upcoming Holy War that Adriel had warned her about, convinced that they would be part of it.
“I joined Adriel because he accepted me for what I had become.” Lilith’s voice was quiet as she admitted her gravest mistake to those in the room. “I did not have to hide from frightened looks or feel ashamed. He manipulated me, and I allowed him to do so.” A tear fell from her eye. “He convinced me that he wanted to protect the world, and I was foolish enough to believe him.” She refused to look around the room, unwilling to see the blame, the sympathy, the pity or perhaps worse—the guilt on the faces of those she once counted as her family.
Standing in the darkness, she watched from a distance as Beatrice emerged staggering from the door of a seedy night club. Her friend was alone for the moment and Lilith shook her head in disappointment at how far and how quickly she had fallen. She had witnessed the declarations of love at the Arc but she wasn’t sure she completely understood them. A man quickly followed her out of the door and she pushed him away. Lilith’s blood boiled as she watched him put his hands on her. She was about to move when Beatrice stood tall and caught him with a quick jab to the throat. She smirked; maybe her old friend was still in there after all.
“All of a sudden, the FBC became very well organized. I could not understand it. They went from being broken and scattered to a nearly militaristic operation—almost overnight. I continued to watch them while also keeping tabs on the OCS and Beatrice. Eventually I decided I couldn’t learn more from the outside so I presented myself to them. They all knew me of course. I came up with an excuse and backstory for why I had disappeared. They seemingly accepted me right away.”
She laid flat on the rooftop, staying low so that her silhouette would not be visible in the sun. Today she was only watching. Watching but not getting involved. She was told to look for the patterns in the OCS tactics, as if she did not know them all inside and out already. She rolled her eyes—they must be testing her. She watched as the sister warriors approached the group of possessed. The short one—that’s Camila! Giving orders! Lilith could not believe what she was seeing. She almost started laughing until she realized, or rather remembered, the implications. Less than a year ago, Camila had been the rookie and was now the senior operative. Shannon and Mary were dead; Beatrice had removed herself to wallow in her grief; and here she was, watching her sisters fight the wraiths and FBC instead of helping them.
“So the FBC were involved with bringing the wraiths to Earth?” Father Vincent asked her.
“Not directly. The leaders had seemingly found a way to track the wraiths’ movements. They knew when a mass breakout was about to happen and they knew the general area. Sometimes they found it first, other times they followed the sisters. They were unusually knowledgeable about the OCS but they would not reveal their sources. My earliest missions for them were scouting our own intelligence—making sure it was accurate. They would start acting on it later.”
“We have reason to believe the Halo Bearer has returned.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Lilith asked.
“You will confirm it for us. She is supposed to be on this mission. Engage with her. Most of their senior members will be present. Keep her busy so we can remove them.”
How could they possibly know she’s back? She was skeptical at best. Despite their good intelligence on the OCS, this particular bit seemed a little too far-fetched. She landed on a rooftop over the FBC members to get the best view.
Who was that? Someone was running towards her. Someone was shooting at her! Who would dare—Beatrice?
“After that mission I decided I could start forcing answers out of them. I had played my part well; convinced them that I had a lot to offer. I had been disrupting OCS operations just enough to cause chaos even though I was careful not to truly hurt anyone. If they expected me to go up against the Warrior Nun then I deserved to know how they were getting their information.” Lilith paused at this point, briefly locking eyes with Beatrice before quickly looking away. “I had a meeting alone with one of the leaders but when I went to talk with him he—wasn’t himself. He was being possessed—by Reya.”
There was an uproar at the table. “What?”
“How is that possible?”
“Reya and the FBC…”
It took some time for Mother Superion to reestablish order at the table. “Quiet! Everyone!” she yelled, slamming her cane down on the table. “Lilith,” she said looking at the other woman. “Explain.”
“Reya has been controlling the FBC from behind the scenes. She talks through the leaders, possessing one of them to give orders to the others. I don’t know how,” she added quickly putting up both hands to stop any questions. “She has been the source of the FBC’s intel on the OCS the entire time.”
Ava looked over at Beatrice, shock and anger written plainly on her face. “Did you know? Is this what you refused to tell me?”
Bea took a deep breath. “Yes,” she said looking Ava in the eye. “Lilith told me just before all hell broke loose in Italy. I couldn’t tell you because I knew it would expose Lilith immediately.”
“Expose her to what exactly?” Ava asked in a raised voice, clearly hurt.
Bea sighed. “Everyone in this room was here when the leaks began, except for the two of us. But you…” her voice trailed off.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Beatrice?” she exploded.
“Language Ava!” said Mother Superion sternly.
“You think I’m the leak? You think I’m providing information to Reya!”
“No, Ava!” responded the sister warrior, trying desperately not to raise her voice in front of everyone. “I’ve already told you I don’t think anyone was deliberately leaking anything. I was just being cautious.”
“Cautious because you don’t trust me!” She yelled as she rose to her feet. “Do you…”
“That’s enough!” shouted Mother Superion, knocking her cane on the table yet again as she cut off Ava’s impending rant.
The Warrior Nun looked mutinous so the matriarch continued. “Ava, Beatrice—do we need to continue this meeting without you?”
“No Mother,” Bea quietly replied, her eyes still on Ava.
Ava looked around the room; all the eyes at the table were on the two of them. She saw the pity in Camila’s gaze and the worry in Yasmine’s. Dora was sympathetic while Father Vincent’s look was inscrutable. Mother Superion was very obviously angry and Lilith, surprisingly looked ashamed. “No,” she answered as she sat back down.
Lilith continued with her story. “After I warned Beatrice in Italy, I did everything I could to try and appear convincing to the FBC without actually disrupting your mission. I tried to give Ava time to defend the trucks while still pulling her away enough to give any witnesses the impression I was doing my job. It was helpful that she hated me at the time,” she tried engaging the Warrior Nun with a small smile. Ava did not return it. “After she summoned the Tarask, I’ll admit I got the— I got out of there as fast as I could. Despite the failed mission, I had done enough. I was allowed in the next meeting with Reya.”
Lilith stood in the room with five men; a sixth was seated in a chair waiting for Reya to arrive. They all stood silently in their robes while she stood apart in her usual black attire. Abruptly, the sixth man in the room stood up from his chair and approached them. “The mission failure is a massive disappointment,” he said in an ethereal voice that did not fit him. “It forces us to move up our plan. Without the divinium…” he trailed off, leaving the rest of the thought unsaid. “You will recapture the Arc; open a pathway from it to the world. When that is done I will activate it and we will send the wraiths through en masse.”
Lilith’s revelation was met with absolute stunned silence. Dora recovered first. “Did you say she’s going to force all of the wraiths through the Arc at once?” Lilith nodded her confirmation and Dora looked around the table. “Wasn’t that Adriel’s plan?”
“Reya told us that was Adriel’s plan,” answered Bea. She tentatively glanced over at Ava who was looking down solemnly at her hands. “Who controls it now?” she asked the room.
“The Vatican,” answered Vincent. “It’s under constant watch by a contingent of Swiss Guard and, I believe, hired mercenaries.”
“Very trustworthy,” deadpanned Lilith.
“They don’t have much choice,” replied Vincent. “Our numbers weren’t the only ones to decline because of Adriel.”
“We, along with the Vatican, were to be informed immediately if any attack was made on the Arc,” said Mother Superion. “We haven’t heard anything. Vincent we should check in with the Guard as soon as possible.” He nodded to her.
“How can Reya activate the Arc?” asked Yasmine. “Adriel needed millions of followers to power it.”
“Reya is stronger than Adriel,” Ava answered quietly. Everyone in the room turned to her and she finally looked up at Bea. “We saw her activate it on her own. I think the only reason she hasn’t done it already is she can’t control the wraiths. Being nearby while that many wraiths swarm might kill her—I suppose that would defeat the point.” She paused, considering. “Maybe that’s why she needs me, to protect her from the wraiths. What I can’t figure out is why she would tell the FBC this plan.” She turned to Lilith. “Why would they go along with it?”
“She promised to spare them,” Lilith answered with an eye roll. “The FBC believe that they have been chosen to repopulate the world after she cleanses it with the wraiths.”
When Lilith had finished delivering all of her gathered intelligence, those in the meeting had split up to attend to their duties and process everything that they had heard. Mother Superion wanted everyone to think about what they had learned before meeting again the following day. Ava and Beatrice walked together in silence down a side hallway, Ava very obviously still angry at having finally learned about Reya’s involvement with the FBC. Lilith had caught up with the pair and struck up a conversation with Beatrice. “We need to begin discussing what we are going to do about the Arc.”
“I understand Lilith,” said Bea, trying to forestall a conversation with the former sister warrior until she could straighten things out with Ava. She watched, despairingly as Ava continued on down the hall without looking back. “Listen,” she said, finally looking at Lilith, “I understand how important this is but I need some time.”
“We don’t know how much time we have,” said Lilith. “Reya needs the Arc for this plan. If we destroy it…”
“Then talk to Mother Superion,” interrupted Bea. “Have her convince the Vatican to…” Bea paused as she felt a cold shiver run down the back of her neck. It was suddenly far too quiet in the hallway. She looked at Lilith, sure that a hint of fear was showing in her eyes. The other woman’s rounded scaly eyes looked back at her.
They both ducked at the same time as they heard the muted note of Camila’s crossbow from behind them in the hallway. The bolt flew overhead missing Bea by inches. She turned to the young sister warrior.
“Camila! What…”
She was seized from behind by Lilith as a Halo blast sent them flying through the air. They crashed together to the floor between Camila and Ava. The Warrior Nun and the young sister warrior each glared at them silently, a murderous look in their eyes.