The sun shone through the window of my HUMVEE obscuring my view of the convoy route. It's been an uneventful convoy, in fact, we have not had any trouble so far during this deployment. We are not expecting any trouble according to our unit's intel.

We come upon a small village twenty clicks from Kandahar, but unlike previous times coming through this area, there are no civilians in sight. This is strange. "Trainer," I speak into my vehicle coms to my gunner, "keep an eye out for any sign of trouble something doesn't feel right."

"All Vehicles, SITREP." comes over the radio. Lead vehicle starts to respond, "Whiskey 1... Whiskey 3... All clear." The other vehicles in the convoy begin to respond as well with, ‘All clear.’

I get on my radio replying "Whiskey 1... Whiskey 7... All clear." The rest of the convoy continues with the 'All Clear' response. I take a moment to relax and take a drink from my camelback water. Just as it looks like the convoy is about to leave out of the small village. A large explosion echoes through the air and the lead vehicle flips over blocking the road.

Over the radio, I heard the convoy commander report "IED, Get back to RP Bravo."

I drowned out the rest of the report to HQ. "Smith, back us up quick. Trainer, keep us covered." I shouted out to my driver and gunner. We start to back up and that's when the second IED goes off. Taking out the fuel truck behind us. Trainer slumps down in his harness, unresponsive to my commands. Small arms fire starts to rain down on the convoy as we sit with no direction we can move.

The only crew serve weapons on the convoy is trapped here. I get out of my seat belt and try to get SPC Trainer of the gunner's hatch. His eyes gave me a dead stare as I climbed over him into the hatch and grabbed the M2 .50 cal and with my thumbs on the trigger, I let rounds fly. The insurgents are still coming at us from all sides. I saw an RPG round hit the cab of the vehicle in front of me. When my can goes empty of rounds, I drop out of the gunner's hatch. "Smith, evacuate and get to cover," I shouted to my driver. Grabbing my assault pack and M4 rifle I start to go for cover, an explosion behind me sends me flying through the air.

***

My eyes fly open as I scream in fear looking around franticly, not able to figure out where I am. I feel arms wrap around me from behind and a whisper in my ear saying 'it's ok it's ok, you are safe. I realize that I am in the motel room with Shri'la holding me and trying to comfort me. My mind races as I try to understand why I, Kyle Rodgers, is here and not in Afghanistan with my unit.

Slowly my mind starts to piece it all together, I am here because I have changed and become Lilith the First. My eyes lock with Shri'la "that was a memory of the last convoy that I was on. They were ambushed and everyone was killed most likely. I don't know how I survived to get to that mountain cave you found me in."

Shri'la replies, "How do you have his memories too? When I released your spirit from being bound to him, his soul should have moved on."

I shake my head, "No no no, his memories are my memories. I remember everything that happened to me and him as if I lived both lives. It is like I'm two different people but my body is as it was when I fought Michael, but I can see his, my, life as if it was me there." I look down at my body and realize that is how I understood everything when I first woke up.

"This all feels so confusing," I comment to Shri'la finding comfort in her embrace. I find myself staring into the darkness of the room. I struggle to get a hold of who I am. 'Am I Lilith the First or am I, Kyle Rodgers? I don't know which one is me.'

I finally calmed down and sat up on the bed. "So, you are married and have a son, huh? I seem to remember my little succubus screaming adamantly at me when I asked her if she was ever going to find a mate." I smirk.

"Yes, yes mother, you were right as usual. Unfortunately, my mate is mortal, unlike you and mum." Shri'la replies with a sad look on her face. "I miss mum, I wish she could have been here when I brought you back and could have seen my family."

I swallow hard and try not to frown at the reminder of my succubus queen and her unknown whereabouts. "You look exactly like her, you know. Of all my daughters you are the only one that looks exactly like her. I've never been able to see any of my features in your face."

"Tell me more about your son," I ask.

"Well, he is the sweetest child I could have ever wanted. He is mortal like his father but his magic is so very different from mine or David's. It almost reminds me of your magic mother." Shri'la says with a confused look on her face.

"Angelic magic? How could he know the magic taught to me by Michael and Lucifer?" I wonder, "his magic should have been demonic like yours or earth magic like David's."

A realization hits me as Kyle's memory steps to the front of my mind and I'm reminded that the general populous doesn't know of magic. "How have the people of this world now not remembered magic?" I ask Shri'la

"Religion," She replies simply. "Religion has caused those of us that have magic to hide it from the world. They hunted us and cast us out of their society as evil and sinful. The Christian religion made the majority of the population forget that magic even existed. We still practice the old arts and we even teach it to the new generation of us that are coming into their powers but is all done in secret and behind closed doors. There is a school that we all send our children to and James is a student there. He struggles because his magic is so different from that of the others in the school. That the teachers have no idea how to teach him."

"So, you think that his magic is like mine?" I ask quizzically. None of you girls ever showed any ability to use my magic, probably because you all are succubus like Sha'lar. He isn't showing any signs of being an incubus?"

"No, like I said he appears to be a normal human mage."Shri'la sighs. "I am hoping that you will be able to help him with his magic."

"Of course, I will. He is family and I must help him. So, what do you think about a little after-school tutoring on the basics of angelic magic?" I ask.

"No, I'm thinking that you should go to school with him and help him learn how to use his powers. It's a boarding school." Shri'la says defensively.

"Why do I need to go to school?" I ask as I remember what school was like when I was Kyle. I hated it there. "Besides it's not like they will be able to teach me anything about magic," I mutter as I look at the down crest face of my oldest daughter. My will starts to bend as it almost always does when I see that face from any of my daughters. I'm such a sucker.

I get up off the bed and walk over to the end of the bed looking at my reflection on the TV. I want to find Sha'lar, but I can't let my family down. Waving my hands in exasperation I turned to face my daughter who was looking at me expectantly, "Fine, I will go but they better not give me any crap when I get there." I say as I walk into the bathroom.

"When do we leave this crap hole for me to pretend, I'm a real girl. By the way, I'm only doing this because James is family. You better work on finding Sha'lar and fast because I won't let her suffer any more than can be helped." I yelled into the other room.