Lilim Tales - Part 1
by Armond
 
 
The lilim. They were First Born, and ruled the earth with fabulous biotechnologies, at a time when Cro-Magnon man painted crude figures on cave walls and grunted around campfires. They live among us today in secret, these winged creatures men fear as demons. Aspiring artist Cody Elias is about to learn of their existence in an up close and personal way, when he is recruited by the lilim for a ...hmm ..."special attribute" ...of his DNA. Part 1 of 4.
 
 

Lilim Tales
by Armond

Author's note: for a cleaner pdf version of this story, please click here.
 
 

~o~O~o~
Part 1.

Prologue.

She was dying.  

It was not disease or injury that was ending her life; her body was vanishing like the Cheshire Cat, burned away by her energies.   After a hundred years with them, her Turn was over.  

Still, she looked no older than twenty.

"We knew this day would come.   I'm blessed to have been your first.   I love you more than life itself.   I …I love you too much.”

Luna couldn't answer her; if she said one word, her emotional dam would burst, loosing a flood of tears.   So Jayden spoke.

“Are you in pain?”

The golden-skinned girl managed a weak headshake.   “Sorry more than anything.”

“Sorry?”   Jayden blinked in surprise.    

“For the one who follows; I fear Luna will never accept her.   And jealous, of the one who follows her.   She's the srryn who will care for your hatchlings.”

“No one can take your place, Lori, NO ONE” Luna hissed.

“Dammit, someone better, or you will die,” Lori said. “Promise you'll accept another.   Swear it!”

“We will,” Jayden said.

“Let me hear the words, Luna”

“I ...promise.”

“Liar,” Lori moaned.   Her body was transparent, more mist than real, but she fought to speak again.   “Let me go!”

“NEVER!”

“Take care of her, Jayden.   Don't let her destroy herself over this.”   Lori's voice was a whisper.   “Luna, you know how I feel about you. I'm sorry ...I tried everything I-”

Her lips stilled and her eyes closed.   Then, her body blinked into nothing, and faster than eye could follow, a sparkling light flew into the air.

“Gone,” Jayden whispered.

For a century, she was the only srryn they had known.   She was everything.   How could they carry on without her?

Luna’s screech, long and raw, clawed the night.

~o~O~o~

1.

He was sketching in his bathroom.  

Pastel on paper, to be exact.

He needed to leave soon, to show his oils at Knox Art Gallery's open show, but since he had some spare minutes of uninterrupted silence, and as this was the room in his apartment with a mirror, ergo, his self portrait must be done here.  

With the easel in front of the sink, space was tight, and he was forced to stand with one foot on his toilet.   Not ideal masterpiece conditions.   Yet Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in all sorts of pretzel positions, so who was he to complain?

“Okay, you, stop stalling; you have one hour before the showing, you can make a start on this idiocy.   Forget who you are.   Look at where everything sits on your face ...how much your hair covers your forehead ...the shape of your face.”

That he was giving himself a cheesy pep talk was a bad sign.   He had no trouble sketching others, yet when it came to his face, his hand rebelled.   It's not as if he had unusual features -olive skin, hazel eyes, black hair- so his  problem must signify something psychological.

He couldn't, or wouldn't think about that shit!

“Dammit, hands, do something!”

Minutes dripped away.   His cell phone rang.   He set his pastel stick down.

“Yeah?   …kind of busy, here, Em.   What?   That again?   I'll talk slow and use small words so you get it this time. No ...I ...won't ...lend ...you ...money.   Get a job if you want to keep studying with Maya so much...hmm?   ...well then, get a third job …what? Aww …poor baby …wait …wait …listen for it…”

Cody hummed few bars of a tune.

“…that’s me playing Paganini’s Violin Sonata No.6 on the world's smallest violin.   Honestly, two thousand dollars?   Babe, you weren't that good ...hello?   Hello?”

He shrugged, put his phone down, and looked at the blank paper again.

“Screw it; I'll do the background.”  

Thirty minutes later found Cody still  shading dark blue around a blank white oval.    

A thought bubbled in his brain - what's the time?   He looked at the watch he'd placed on the toilet tank lid; it blinked 6:30.    

“SHIT!”

Cody raced to his bedroom and threw on clean pants, socks and a shirt.   He jumped into his shoes, grabbed his portfolio carry bag, and sprinted down the stairwell to his Silver Bimmer below.    

Batman would have been proud of the way Cody weaved through the city streets to the gallery.   The half a dozen drivers he honked at or cut in front of?   Not so much.

~o~O~o~

Dusk.   The Beckendorf Tower rooftop.

She landed softly, folding her feathered wings close to her back.  

Jayden waited at the other end of the roof to keep his distance.   He had to.

They must live this way until they found another srryn; brief encounters only, never too close.   They had been a mated couple for a hundred years, but now they could be together for only a few minutes before their psi lust grew.   They must tread carefully, or instinct would kick in and they would feed from each other.  

And one, or more likely both of them, would die.

For now, they would take their psi by feeding from humans 'in the wild.'   Which was risky; humans were much more dangerous these days.   And human psi never satisfied.   They needed another srryn.

Jayden growled his frustration, then composed himself.   “I've found three candidates.”

Luna looked up at the first evening stars and whispered.   “No one will replace her.   Ever.”

“The others said losing your first was hardest, but we must go on," Jayden answered.   “We promised her."

Luna sighed.   She could not explain how she really felt without hurting him. How she loved her srryn more than her mate. It would crush him.

“I never believed this day would come.   I told myself she would go on forever.”

“She tried.   Our little one tried so hard.”  

At his speaking of 'little one' Luna sobbed.

“I know, love, I know.”   He wished he could hold her in his arms, and wipe away her tears.   But he couldn't, not as psi depleted as they were; it would be a suicide.   Best to distract her.  

“Do you want to hear about the prospects?”

Luna jerked a nod.  

“Two from the Aaro line, and the third from the Eliyahu line,” he continued. "We must screen them tomorrow morning.”  

"Does it matter whom we choose?   After losing Lori, I feel my death flight has begun.”

"Stop that!   I'll give you the easy one, Cody Elias."

"A man?   A Jh'tiel?” Luna barked a laugh. "The last thing we need is a conversion."

"Agreed, but other than ~that~ complication, he meets the criteria; the Eliyahu blood line is the richest in psi, he's in his twenties, and has no direct living relatives.''

She gave a mechanical nod, but her look of profound desolation moved him past caution.   He bounded to her, grabbed her and held her in his arms.  

Then, with minds of their own, their tails tips started pulsing blue light, and their psi senses came online.  

Extending to the other.   Probing.  

Drawing energy.  

Gasping, she shoved him away.

“Cody …Elias?” she rasped.   “Fine. Text me his information.”

She heard the snap of his wings unfurling.   “Be careful in your feedings, Jayden.”

She heard his lonely “you too, my love,” echo back as he shot into the dark.

~o~O~o~

“One babe said they looked 'just like photos'.   Her idiot boyfriend wondered why I didn’t just take a picture and Photoshop it to look like a painting.”

Cody wanted to punch his fists through something, but decided Maya Soutine's renowned art studio wasn't the ideal venue for such a cathartic experience.   Instead, he flung his hands into the air.

“What's wrong with me, Maya?   What the fuck am I doing wrong?” Cody said, waving his arms in wide circles.

Where to start, where to start?   The middle-aged woman bit her lower lip to hold back the tart response.  

The extent of his self-absorption astonished her; always demanding to be the center of attention.   How deep did his egotism run?   Did he, for example, wish to be the corpse when he attended a funeral?

“I don't know what to say; your technique is among the best of my students.”

"~Among~?   I am your best student.   Period.   In all media."

He was, technically, one of her top students, she admitted, but his smugness hit her like fingers scraping a chalkboard.

"And yet, others have sold works and you-"

“-can't!   Yeah, thanks for reminding me,” Cody said, dropping his head.   He had shown his three oils -a still life of irises in a vase,  a rocky outcrop on a mountainside, and a migrant worker harvesting corn in the fall-  at tonight’s open showing, and no one expressed any interest at all.

Maya felt a guilt twinge for her words.   “I know how much you want a 'WOW' painting, but I can't manage to teach you to transfer emotions to canvas.”

“Have I not been trying hard enough?   Have I failed to grasp some critical technique or have I been too impatient-”

“-Cody!   You have the patience of Job, as far as I can tell,” Maya said, tucking a stray salt and pepper hair strand behind her ear.   “But an artist has to be willing to have no limitations, no barriers, and something is obviously blocking your expression.”

“What should I do?   How do I break through this?”   Cody sounded desperate.

“Are you doing the exercise I suggested?”

“Your self-portrait shit?   God, I can't believe I pay you for this new-agey advice.”

Maya shook her head; she was disappointed …in herself, for feeling the slightest guilt about hurting his feelings a moment ago.   Amazing! He still hadn't connected the dots about why her other students never came to his showings.   The trust fund boy who never worked a day in his life.   She had to play nice, though; he'd donated a handsome sum to entice her to take him as a student, and he was one of the few paying full price.

“Yes, how is it coming?”

“It's pointless and stupid to-"

"-Have you even started?   I suggested this a month ago."

"I ...can't seem to get going on it.   Look, if I paid you an extra couple of bucks, would you look into your magic crystal ball and just tell me what will work?   Better yet, check my aura and-”

“-Leave my spirituality out of this!”  

Dammit, he'd gotten to her again!   She took a deep breath and centered herself.   “It's a simple question ...who am I?   ...yet artists have used self-portraits to answer it since the Renaissance.   I hoped that by making you study your physical appearance, you would also reflect on your personality, your character ...that you would be forced to ask what expression, posture, setting, colors, texture, style, and material ...best translates the real you?”

“It's not happening.   It's painful-”

“-It's not supposed to be easy, self discovery never is,” Maya said, and then she shrugged.   “But perhaps this is beyond you?   Maybe you should think about becoming an Art Historian, or an Art Critic?”

“Wait here; I've got a knife in my car toolbox.   I'll get it and let you ram it into my heart.   You know, to put me out of my misery?”

“Oh, you're quite the one for drama, aren't you, Cody Elias?   A shame we can't bottle that passion and pour it into your paint.”

~o~O~o~

Luna needed this to be brief, so she and Jayden could get busy choosing between the other candidates and start the srrynah.   They were fatally psi, low, and would last but a day or two before they lost control.

Jayden called her minutes ago to download on his second candidate.   Beth Ahron was a poster child for selective breeding; Jayden could stand no more than ten minutes with the woman, so how could they contemplate a 100 years with her?   What had Jayden said?   'Were Beth to die a senseless horrible death, that tragedy would only be surpassed by the senseless horrible life preceding it.’ No, not promising at all.

Yet she sparkled compared to Deana Aaron, whom Jayden interviewed first.   Neither were ideal srryn material, and Luna knew she'd hate them both.   The srrynah process worked improvements, but it would take a miracle to make these two -or anyone- a srryn close to Lori's level.

Jayden said their k'jarn readings were dismal, so that wasn't going to help in the decision either.

Ah well, her promise to Lori required her to at least take this last candidate's k'jarn reading, though he was already out of the running.   She'd psi cloaked herself in invisibility, and followed Mr. Cody Elias throughout his morning.   From her observations, she determined a Jh'tiel conversion to be out of the question.  

The term ‘asshole’ sprung to mind, but the word didn't do him justice.   He wasn't guilty of kicking puppies and stomping on flowers, that would have been preferable.   Instead, Cody traveled through life oblivious to puppies and flowers and anything but the thoughts echoing in his skull.

Today, she watched a homeless person approach him and beg for money.   He didn't say no, or lower his eyes to pretend she didn’t exist.   No, he didn't see her at all.

Luna judged him to be not an asshole but an assclown; so filled to the brim with himself, and without any just cause.

“Let's get this over with.”  

She double-checked her 'human image' projection, and selected a sexier look; Cody was a human male, after all.   Her image shimmered, and she pressed the buzzer to his apartment.

The sound of which triggered mutters in Cody, not unlike a certain bell prompted drool in Pavlov's famous pouch.  

“Dammit dammit dammit! What idiot is here now?”  

He looked at the portrait; he had shaded the background darker, but had gotten no further.   He set his pastels on the bathroom floor.

“Coming…”

Cody unlocked the deadbolt and yanked the door open.

“Yeah?”  

“Are you Cody Elias?”    

“Uh-huh,” his voice softened, “that's me.”  

It softened, because before him stood a woman in a black silk pantsuit with legs that stretched forever down to black high-heeled pumps.   Once his eyes made that trip, they roamed back up again, to an oval shaped face framed by hair so lustrous black, it reflected the morning sun.   Her skin was moon white, accentuating lips red and soft; Cody ached to sketch them.

“Is this a bad time, Mr. Elias?”

Cody looked down, to realize he wore grubby overalls.   And nothing else.   He reddened.

“Um …I'm an artist, and-” Wait, he had forgotten to ask this angel’s name.   “How can I help you Ms-”

“-Longaine.   Luna Longaine.   I'm a genealogist.   I am researching a family called Eliyahu.   Your surname is derived from it, and I wonder if you'd mind me asking you some questions?”

Luna Longaine?   That sounded like one of Superman's girlfriends.   She didn't look like a genealogist, but then, he had never met one, so how would he know?   He sighed; he did not want to waste the time to answer questions about stupid parents he never knew, or relatives who always tried to sponge off his trust account.   At least she was easy on the eyes.

“Make you a deal; you let me sketch you, and I'll answer your questions.”  

“I won't have to be naked, will I?”

“Not unless you want to.”

She smiled.   “I doubt you're ready for that.   Deal.”

Over the next minutes, she sat in a chair in front of him, and peppered him with questions, while he sketched away.   Soon, her questions drifted from family history to art.

“Inspiration?   From everywhere.   When I start a painting, I try to make it the best painting ever done.”

‘Could this cretin be any more conceited?’ Luna thought. "Any luck?"

"Luck?   What do you mean?"

"In painting the 'best one ever'?"

"Uh, no, I'm...” he sighed.   "I'm mediocre, I guess.   I get criticisms like 'that's nice,' and 'how beautiful.'

A point in his favor was he seemed alive, vibrant; from the way Jayden described Beth and Deana, Luna got the impression they were brain dead.

“You sound frustrated.”   Luna said, trying to be patient; all humans were juvenile, this one more than most.   It had been easier with Lori; they had been young together.

“I am.   I work hard on my technique, but I can't seem to transfer any of what's in here,” he touched his chest, “to the canvass. I want ...I want to express so much ...I can't ...I can't. And I'd give anything to.”

Luna blinked; could this be true? This one was displaying genuine depth, and for the first moment since Lori died, Luna felt an emotion other than sadness, a …spark between them.

“Maybe this comes with time? With patience?”

“Raphael did a self portrait when he was just a teenager living in Urbino.   It was a quick sketch, a trifle, yet he showed more feeling than all my paintings combined! A teenager!” Cody was shouting by the time he finished his sentence.

“Lilith, but you've a flare for the dramatic; I'm sure you're exaggerating.”  

“No, I'm not, and who's Lilith?”

“Sorry, obscure reference.   She was Adam's first wife.”

Cody's forehead wrinkled.   “Adam as in biblical Adam and not Adam Sandler, right?”

“Right, in some mythologies she gave birth to beings different from man; the first born of the earth.”

“The first born?   What were they called?”

“They are named ‘lilim.’   Sorry, didn't mean to digress.”

“Uh, no problem.   Interesting; never heard the story.”

“Hmm, maybe it would help me understand if I saw your work?   If it's not too much trouble.”

“Yeah, well, I doubt you're qualified to give a critique, but what the hell,” he answered, and led her from his main studio room to a large walk-in closet.  

At least he was honest - his paintings were devoid of feeling. As he gave her his assessment of each painting, she finished her assessment of him:

He was ultra immature; she guessed he could not be more than twenty-five. Besides being self-consumed, she believed he disliked what he was consuming; subconsciously hating his persona.   And he projected this loathing to others.   Luna guessed this personality knot explained his artistic expression problem, freezing his ability to translate emotion to the canvass.  

Even considering his flash of emotional depth a moment ago, she told herself she did not like him.   No, more than that, she agreed with his internal assessment; she profoundly disliked him.   No way should they risk a Jh'tiel with this screwed up human.  

To put this issue 'to bed', it was time to check his k'jarn levels. She reached in her purse and pulled out a long silver chain, on the end of which was a small crystal ball.

“Cool,” he said, “what's it called?”

“A k'jarn,” she answered, and held it next to him.  

When she did, the crystal pulsed brilliant emerald light. The glow enthralled him.   Luna was wide-eyed as well; his readings were massive, far above anything she had seen.   Brighter than Lori's had been.

“Dammit!   Jayden will have to see this.”

“Hmm?   Who's Jayden?”   He looked up from the crystal, to see a sphere of white energy leaving her hands and bellowing toward him.  

“Ms. Longaine?   What are you-”

The energy sphere enveloped him.  

“-doooooooooo….”

It took forever for Cody to say the word, and he never managed to finish the 'ing' before the blackness hit.

~o~O~o~
  

“See?”   Luna said, holding the crystal jewel over an unconscious Cody; its pulsing green lit the room.

She called Jayden to witness Cody’s k'jarn reading before she wiped his memory.   Perhaps they would investigate Cody's family further to see if a less flawed srryn candidate might show the same amazing psi levels.
  
“Holy Lilith!   I've never seen a glow so bright.   A level twelve? Higher?   We haven’t had a reading like this in thousands of years,”  Jayden said, his hands shaking.  

Jayden sensed this turn of events was more than coincidence. They were desperate, and soon psi cravings would drive them to feed from humans indiscriminately. Which, in this day of modern human weaponry, would eventually result in their death.   Now Lilith sends the richest psi prospect in millennia?   He thirsted for the incredible energy this one would produce.  

He was certain the Council would agree with what he intended if he put the issue before them, but lilim met but once a year at the Gathering, and his need was now.  

Jayden knew what he had to do.

He removed a long red crystal from a satchel he carried.

“Stop! Not the Jh'tira stone!”

Jayden did not hear her, he was laser focused on injecting the Jh'tiel serum into Cody's bloodstream.   He touched the stone to Cody's upper arm, and the crystal flared bright.  

“NO!”   Luna scrambled to him, trying to knock the crystal from his hands.

“What's wrong with you?”   Jayden hissed.   “Stopping the injection before it's complete could kill him!”  

He looked at the crystal in his hand and saw it was clear.   He let out a sigh.   “Empty, thank Lilith.”  

“I do NOT accept this one as our srryn.   He is detestable.”

“Too late; the serum is in.”

“How could you do this without asking?   I will not be bound to him for the next century! I refuse to suffer his putrid emotions when I feed from his psi.”

“In case you hadn't noticed, we are starving.   His potential demanded we change him…”

Jayden he looked on Cody's face, and saw the Jh'tiel working already …softening …smoothing.  

“…change her     The transformation has begun.”

“I will have nothing to do this pig.   Do you hear me?   NOTHING!”

“Love, calm down.   Your psi is low and you aren't thinking rationally.   We will make this one work and she will taste fantastic.”

“A hundred years of heaven with Lori, and now you expect me to suffer this?   Better to have a mindless pet than her.”

He blinked.   “You ...you can't be serious.”

“Dead serious.”

“You would end our mating over this?   End our lives over this?”

Her silence was his answer.

“No! We …we cannot abandon her!   This is unprecedented!   She could be the strongest srryn in memory.”

He knew Luna had been devastated by Lori's loss, but nothing in their hundred years together had prepared him for this intractableness. Why?  

It was unthinkable to cast the poor thing adrift.   What if she should fall into the hands of certain human government agencies or private organizations?   Humans were not ready for the DNA treasure trove now contained in Cody's genes.   Jayden tried an appeal to Luna's sense of compassion.

“You would walk away and expect her to deal with a gender change and heightened sex drive?   That's cruel.”

“It was not I who-”

Luna’s words halted as she looked at the transforming girl's face, already more female than male.   Her skin tone was darkening from olive to golden black; as disgusting as she had found his personality, Cody’s new srryn features were going to be the opposite.   She might become the most erotic srryn Luna had seen.

Luna brushed a hand across Cody’s smooth soft cheek. Would it not be fun to see how she would turn out?

When she caught herself smiling, she jerked her hand back. No! This one could never replace Lori!

Yet …Cody had done nothing to merit this.   She didn't stand a chance on her own; Luna foresaw bleak outcomes: suicide, insanity, drug addiction, or limping along in a damaged half-life.   If she was lucky enough not to end up as a lab specimen.

She sighed. “I will work with her to ease her transition into something resembling a normal life.”

“But she will be so potent!   Who will we turn to now to be our srryn?   Beth?   Deana?   Their psi will be pathetic!”

“Beth or Deana?   It matters little.   Flip a coin; either will be better than this one.”

“What has this human done to have hardened you so?”

Luna folded her arms.   “This is the best I can offer.   I will help her with a new identity, make sure she's financially secure, and pay for human counseling.   Past that, we pray to Lilith she never fully activates.   If she doesn't, then she'll at least age and live as normal female humans do.”

Jayden looked at Cody and shook his head.   He reached into his satchel again and withdrew a white crystal.

“We must erase her memory of you.   When did you arrive?”

“A little over an hour ago.”

He nodded and rotated the base of the crystal.

“I've set it to four hours, to be safe,” Jayden said.   As he touched the tip to Cody's forehead, it camera flashed.   When Cody gave a soft moan, Jayden stood.

“When she wakes her first reaction won't be pretty.   Leave.   Go to Beth and Deana and choose. I will cloak and remain here after she wakes, to determine she isn't inclined to self-harm.”

“You have enough psi to maintain invisibility?”

He nodded; he was painfully low, but if he fed on human females this evening, he should have enough to limp through tomorrow.  

Luna walked to Cody's sketchpad.   She ripped out the page that held her image and looked at it.   It was a good rendition; he had talent.  

'No …she has talent,' Luna mentally corrected.   She looked down on the small dark beauty, curled on the floor.

“I am sorry.   Even you did not deserve this.”

~o~O~o~

She should be screaming.

Someone or something had fucked her up good.   When she woke this morning, she realized a full day had passed for which she had no memory.  

Oh, and she was now a she.   Yeah, can't forget that little gem.

She should be calling the police, or 911, or a psychiatrist.   She should be trying to finger the secret government agency that did this to her, or visitor from Alpha Centauri, or vengeful demon.

She should be doing a lot of things, but instead, she was standing in her bathroom, looking in the mirror…

…and drawing.

~o~O~o~

2.

“Lilim.  Heh heh.   Funny name.   Lilim.”

Jayden sighed.   The c'taia was affecting her at last; it had taken over an hour and a gallon of the potent srryn drug.   Now he could attempt to explain the srryn role to her without her screaming murder.  

Luna still refused to reverse her position on Cody Elias, and, out of sheer desperation, he agreed to inject Beth Ahron with the srrynah treatment.  

The task of indoctrinating Beth had also fallen on him, and he was mangling it.   Since Lori's death, Luna spent her time outside of her 'human work' barricaded in Lori's room.   Luna swore she could feel Lori’s essence there, and it comforted her.   Aside from the danger of their meager psi levels, he now worried for her sanity.

Today, she had promised to check on Cody; perhaps the task would take her mind off its morbid obsession.

“Funny or not, we are the lilim, the first born.   We evolved before man.”

The mousy haired woman smacked her lips and giggled.   “You look human.”  

'So do you,' Jayden thought, 'too human.   The srrynah should have darkened you more.   Not a good sign.’

“Yes I do.   A survival necessity in this age of man. I can appear as anyone you imagine.   As Clive Owen, for example…”  

His form rippled, his chin clefted, his hair turned curly black, and his eyes shaded green.

“OMG!   Can you turn into other people?   Like Johnny Depp?”

Jayden nodded, his features shimmered again; chin smoothing, eyes shading brown and the familiar Depp mustache and goatee appeared.

Beth squealed.   “Too cool!   Is it magic?”

Jayden's 'normal' blonde hair and blue eyes reappeared.   “To you it may seem so, but I am projecting an image using an energy that emanates from all living creatures. Completely explainable.”

Beth scrunched her face.   “So it's like ...the Force?   Star Wars and everything?”

Jayden muttered "Lilith" at Beth's description; she was so childlike.    

"Lilith?   Who's that?"

"Sorry.   It is our -the lilims'- ancient goddess."

"You worship a goddess instead of God?"   Beth started to chew on a fingernail.   "Won't you go to hell or something?"

"The ancient lilims worshiped Lilith as the Mother Goddess,” Jayden said.   "But we don't worship any deity today.   When a lilim says 'Lilith,' he is using the word the same way a human might exclaim 'Jesus' or ‘God’ when he is excited."  

"Lilim. Lilith.   Funny names," Beth snickered.

Jayden   rolled his eyes and plowed ahead.   “Back to our discussion. We call the energy 'psi,' but yes, think of it as the Force if that helps.”

Beth was silent so long Jayden feared she was passing out from the c'taia dose.   The drug was engineered for srryns to turn them pliable and docile, but its side effects included euphoria and drowsiness.  

Her head suddenly bobbed up.   “Hey!   What do you look like without your disguise?”

“You mean without projecting a human image?   We are taller than humans, and instead of skin we are covered in a velvet-like fur, gray for males and powder blue for females.   Our eyes are large and black, and we have no outer ears.   We have long tails tipped at the end by a purple bulb we call a janja, and ... we have wings.   We can fly.”

“Oooo, you sound gross and scary.   Do you eat people?”   Beth scooched away a little.

“Not exactly; I explained this before, and it's why you are here.   Long before humans evolved, we lilim were the dominant species.   Fifty thousand years ago, we genetically altered our physiology to be able to ingest psi-energy.”

“You eat Force?   Is it yummy?”

“Yes, actually.”  

Srryns were like wines; the stronger the srryn, the tastier the psi.   The psi Lori produced had been divine.   He cringed thinking how Beth's would taste.

“How do you eat it?   With a straw?”
  
“Good question.   Lilim scientists altered the tips of our tails -our janja- to become a receptor to draw psi energy from other living beings.”

“Receptor?”

“Like an antennae or lightning rod-”

“You got a lightning rod ...up your butt?”   Beth giggled.

He had to admit the genetic modification to their species -which represented the height of their technological achievements-sounded absurdly stupid when described this way.  

“You see, it draws the psi energy to us, as a magnet.   And then we draw it into our bodies.”

Through the touch of a hand, the taste of a tongue, or, most directly, the tail tip.

Beth giggled again.   “Kinda makes you sound like energy vampires or something.”

Jayden blinked; her characterization was dead on.   He despised this part of their history, all lilim did, loathed that a once noble species gleefully changed themselves into monsters.   How proud they were of their knowledge, that they could choose their next evolutionary step.  

They called it the Svara, the Altering.   They manipulated their bodies genetically to ingest, store, and then control energy.

What vanity!   What hubris!

Yes, because of the Svara, the lilim gained 'magic' powers - psychic projection, telekinesis, and similar talents. Also longevity; where once their life span was a hundred years, now it was tripled.

Generations later the true cost of the Svara was learned; the horror.   The lilim became dependent on psi; consuming it became a matter of survival, as critical as ingesting vegetable matter, for a lilim drained of psi would die.   Worse, they became addicted, needing more and more to fuel their growing power lust.  

Soon, drawing psi from lower life forms failed to satisfy the hunger.   It was inevitable an instinct to draw psi from other lilim developed.   Psi murders became common, one lilim robbing, and draining another of his or her psi.   All societal bonds threatened to dissolve, matings screeched to a halt, and birth rates zeroed.   A male and female lilim could no longer even kiss for fear of what might follow.   The lilim civilization tittered on the brink of extinction.   Perhaps they should have died; divine Lilith's retribution for their arrogance.

“Jayden?”   Beth said.   “You went all blank on me.”

“Sorry.   I was thinking about ancient history.”  

“I watched some of that once on the history channel, but my fav show is the Bad Girls Club.”

'We have to depend on her for survival?   Great Lilith help us,' he thought, but smiled and nodded.   “So what do you think so far?”

“Kind of hard to swallow, ya know, but I saw you do that magic face changing stuff, so it must be true.   So, um, why did you pick me?”

“Another good question.   You come from a family tree we call the Aaro Line -your last name, Ahron- is derived from it- and we have found the people from this line are genetically superior for psi production.”

“Cool!   My family is like, the best Force producers?   Can I go all Obi Wan?”

“The Eliyahu Line is the best modern line, but Aaro's excellent too.”

“And now since you’ve changed me into a whatchamathing-”

“A srryn.”

“Sr-ryn …right …we'll live together and you'll drink my psi and I'll never have to work a day in my life?   And you guys are like Bill Gates rich, right?   This setup sounds sweet.”

'Sweet?' he thought, and shook his head again.   'A novel way to describe our convoluted solution to avert annihilation.'  

As lilim society disintegrated, lilim scientists frantically turned for help to the next evolving species, man, for humans radiated almost as much psi as lilim.   Psi released during human matings produced its purest form; males gave short bursts, but the lilim found that females, if altered, generated rich sustained psi.

Their scientists screened primitive human females for the most promising psi producers, identifying the richest human psi ‘Lines.’ They developed the srrynah, a gene procedure that grafted lilim and a small amount of feline genes into the chosen human female.   This resulted in a new hybrid species called srryn; creatures who existed in a near perpetual state of sexual psi producing heat.

Their scientists tinkered with human genetics more radically, for the number of human females from the Lines possessing the necessary psi levels were statistically too low to ensure lilim survival.   So they identified human males with exceptional psi potential, and developed the Jh'tiel procedure; a dual serum which rapidly mutated the male to female by altering his chromosomes from XY to XX, in addition to injecting him with the normal srrynah formula.

With the creation of the srryn species, the lilim concept of marriage evolved from couple to trio, for a srryn supplied a lilim couple with the psi needed to prevent them from cannibalizing each other.  

It was a solution, true, but a ghastly one.   The hyper-sensual lilims became celibate, for sexual intercourse still proved too psi risky for a lilim couple, and conception was only attempted during the end of their marriage, the 'Third Turn'.   Lilims learned to convey intimacy indirectly, through their intercourse with and affection for their srryn.    

Though they didn't sink into extinction oblivion, lilim numbers still plunged, until now less than a thousand remained, scattered across the globe.

Were they the monsters humans believed them to be?   The incubus and succubus nightmares embedded in the Homo sapien psyche?   What right did they have to alter another species so?   Did survival justify it?   Was their crime mitigated by the love and adoration they showered on their srryn?

Jayden shook his head to clear it of their sad pathetic tale.   When he glanced at Beth, he found her slumped on the table and snoring.   He snaked his janji under the table, up her skirt, and entered her vagina.   She gave a slight grunt, but didn't wake.  

The psi he pulled from her was diluted and weak; it made him gag.

“Once we ruled the world.   Now we sneak rancid table scraps from one whose life revolves around watching the Bad Girl's Club.  

We.   Are.   Doomed.”
  

~o~O~o~

3.

“Are these seats taken?”

The young woman looked up from her latte, to see to an oval shaped face framed by lustrous jet-black hair.   Her luminous skin and soft red lips made the girl automatically reach for her sketchpad in her backpack.   For some weird reason, her hand felt like it had sketched the woman before, but she had no memory of it.   A page was missing from her sketchbook, though...  

She shook her head, wondering if she was deteriorating into a world of conspiracy theories.   After what had happened, why should this surprise her?

“No …it's free …just leaving.”

The girl started to clear her trash when she felt a hand touch hers.   An odd warming traveled up her arm, a pleasure tingle, and she looked up again at the woman.

“I was hoping to talk to you.   My name is Luna Longaine, and I'm managing editor with Trend Magazine.   This is my associate, Meredith Benson; she's my senior editor.”

She hadn't even seen the middle-aged woman; hadn't gotten past Luna's face.   Jumping up from her seat, she shook Luna's outstretched hand.   It felt softer than expected.   Downy.   Then she shook Meredith's, which felt normal.   Weird.

“Nice to meet you,” she said.   “Luna Longaine?   That sounds like one of Superman's girl friends.”

Luna cocked an eyebrow.   “Excuse me?”

“You know, Lois Lane, Lana Lang.”

“It's a comic book reference,” Meredith explained to Luna.

“Ah, pop culture,” Luna said.   “And what might your name be?”

“I'm …Cassandra Albornos.”

It was hard saying that, to speak it naturally, this contrived identity she'd improvised.

After she sketched for three intense hours, and finished a self-portrait that thrilled her, she turned her mind to her impossible predicament.   She kept waiting for the dream -or nightmare- to end, and find she was Cody again, but it hadn't happened.   It felt like she'd been thrown into a Kafka story, only instead of waking up as a bug, she arose as a 5' 2” golden-haired pixie.

And an exotically skin toned pixie at that.   Her near black coloring fell somewhere between Mediterranean and African, but it had a definite gold tint to it, and tiny sparkle flecks too.   Very strange indeed.  

Her first action had been to carve out short term order, to allow breathing room to figure out how in hell one minute she was a man, and the next a woman.  

After a fierce internal debate, she determined she would NOT go to the police or a hospital.   She didn't seem in danger of dropping dead -in fact, she felt fantastic- and the last thing she wanted was to be labeled insane, or a freak, or worse, an insane freak.  

No, she would handle this on her own.   There must be an answer, she figured, because, tabloid headlines aside, bizarre mutations didn't just happen.

Her debit card still worked and she had plenty of cash in the bank.   She fired off an email to her landlord saying 'Cody Elias' had taken a one-month artist's grant in Vermont and his cousin, 'Cassandra Albornos', will be apartment sitting.

Coming up with a last name -Albornos- was easy.   She had needed something to explain her dark pigment, and luckily, her family history provided it.   Two generations up her family tree, a dark skinned Albornos woman had married an Elias.   Someone had told her the name was Moorish, but she'd never bothered to investigate; as Cody, she hadn't cared.  

Now she thanked God above, because it provided a plausible explanation for how the olive-skinned Cody could have an ebony skinned relative.

As for the name ‘Cassandra’ …well, she couldn’t explain why …it kind of chose her, which seemed weird. But, given the monumental strangeness she already faced, her name choice methodology was the least of her worries.

So food, money, bed to sleep in, internet connection and temporary new identity ...check.    

Finally, she mustered the energy to endure a trip to Walmart, to buy jeans, t-shirts, underwear, socks and other basics so she could move about unnoticed in the world of the normal people.  

Her next step surprised her; rather than diving into solving her gender changing mystery, she called Maya and begged a meeting.   She had to show the self-portrait.   She sensed the work was a break through, that held the expression every other piece she had tried lacked.

When she introduced herself as Cody's cousin, Maya almost refused to meet with her.   Why?  

But Maya relented, and 'Cassandra' was killing time until their meeting.   Hence the caffeine imbibing at Starbucks.   Which was the most unsettling thing of all, to have this incomprehensible altering of her being, and then to go to Starbucks for the most mundane activity.

“Did you say Albornos?”   Luna asked. “An unusual name.”  

Luna’s brain spun now; was it coincidence, or did Cody really have Albornos relatives?   The name derived from Auhbornae, a legendary srryn Line thought to have died a millennium ago.   Could a strain have survived and intertwined with the Eliyahu Line?   That would produce …explosive psi results.

“Do you go by Cassie?”   Meredith asked.

“S -sure.”   She hadn't thought of it, but why not?

“Well, as I was saying, I'm the editor of Trend magazine,”   Luna said, and put her hand back on Cassandra’s.  Which again spread delicious warmth through the girl’s body; liquid sunshine.

“The rage these days is to push the notion you don't have to be five foot eleven and emaciated to have a beautiful body.   Since everyone is rushing to do 'plus-sized' spreads, I wanted to focus on something different.   Someone with a smaller frame.   You caught my eye.”

“Because I'm a …midget?”   Cassandra's forehead wrinkled.  

“A midget?   Is that how you think of yourself?   Darling, you've got a great body, even if you're hiding under grungy clothes.”  

Luna was stroking Cassandra's hand now, and it was all Cassandra could do not to let out a low moan.   Actually, a soft moan did escape her lips.

“You are slim and busty, at least for your size, and your dark skin is so erotic and flawless.   Let's be honest, it's still 'beauty' that sells, and I think you'd be perfect for a 'petite' angle to this.   Don't you, Meredith?”

Meredith had no idea where Luna was going with this, but years of working with her enigmatic boss had taught her to roll with the punches.   Clearly, this girl came from the same clan as Lori, -Luna’s live-in personal assistant who Luna had abruptly announced was gone- but what tribe produced a complexion that was onyx and gold?

“Absolutely,” the middle-aged woman finally answered. “This is just the angle Trend should take.”  

“But I'm a dwarf!”

“Lilith, but you're a drama queen,” Luna said.

“Lilith?   Who's Lilith?”

“Sorry, I keep doing that!   Just an expression, darling.   Anyway, you are not a dwarf!”

“Could have fooled me; I'm shorter than everyone!”  

“Five foot, what, two or three is not a dwarf.   Stop belittling yourself, no pun intended.”      

Cassandra smiled.   She couldn't help it; just being near Luna was giving her a buzz.

“Okay, so, what does that mean, you wanting to do something on me?”  

“I'm thinking budget chic.   Let's see …why don't we take, say, a thousand dollars and see what damage we do?   The idea would be to buy a complete wardrobe.   Then we'd photo shoot the results.”

“Seriously?”  

Was this how things worked in the fashion industry?   Cassandra had no idea, not that she had any reason to pay attention to it until yesterday.   She had been a girl less than twenty-four hours and was already being approached to do this?   The universe most definitely conspired against her.

“What if, you, um don't like what you get, or-”

“The clothes will be yours no matter what, your prize for playing.   Are you in?” Luna said, pleased her strategy to guide the poor dear into a semi-normal human existence was bearing fruit.

Cassandra couldn't believe she was considering this!   The Powers That Be deal her a gender twisting wildcard and her first reaction is to jump into new clothes?   Maybe this explained why she couldn't paint with depth; her own soul's depth was paper thin?  

Still, she knew shit about women's fashion, and now a fashion editor was offering to help.   Since she couldn't predict when her strange condition would reverse, shouldn't she at least think about it?

No!   She needed to solve what had happened to her, and then ...well, she didn't know what followed that, but hoped it involved a quick change back to 'Cody.'   What it wouldn't involve was a fashion shoot!

“I'm flattered you asked, but I going to have to say-”

“-Please?”   Luna said, and petted Cassandra's hand.

'Mmmm.' Luna drank a mega hit of the girl's psi simply by touch ...   -amazing!   Delicious!-     How much better would it be if she could draw directly through her janja?

Luna's stroking caused Cassandra's eyes to droop to half-mast and the girl struggled to think.

“Um ..wouldn’t I …have to …to sign a …mmm …contract?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Meredith said, “all you have to do is give up your first born, and ink with your blood.”

Cassandra laughed; she allowed herself that.   With Luna holding her hand, everything was …wonderful.

“There are some waivers about our use of your image, but I'll tell the suits to dial it down,” Luna said, still caressing Cassandra's hand.   “Please Cassandra?”

“I'll …think …think about …ummm …got go to …to …Maya's stu …stu …ohhhh…”

“Studio?”   Luna threw a lifeline, since Cassandra was obviously struggling to finish her sentence.   “I know of one Maya with a studio - the amazing Maya Soutine- and that's a bit of a drive.   You'd better get moving, darling.   Sleep on it and give me your answer tomorrow.”

“mmmm-k'ay.  

Getting her mind to climb out of its pleasure buzz seemed like tackling Everest.   “ummm …where?   When?”

“Why don't I meet you here, same time? “

She gave a groggy head bob, grabbed her Walmart bags, and stumbled off to find her car.

“Cassie's adorable and ultra erotic, no question, but a petite spread?   What bullshit is this?”   Meredith's eyebrow arched as high as an eyebrow could.   “You're recruiting her as Lori's replacement!”

Luna frowned.   Why had she been stroking Cody?  

No, correct that, Cassandra.

Her name floated in Luna's mind.   Teasing her was playing with fire; how easily she could have activated!   Foolish!   Surely her psi depletion explained her actions; she doubted the Jh'tiel conversion could have made Cassandra any less odious than Cody.  

“Her?   NEVER!”   Luna growled.   “I'm trying to help her adjust to a sudden ...change of perspective.   Nothing more.”

Meredith wasn't buying.   “I don't know what your intentions are, or what strange power you have over her, but I swear if you told her to, the girl would have rolled on her back and let you scratch her belly.”

“Meri, you know you are my dearest human friend, but things are happening here beyond your understanding.   Don't pry into this.”

‘Her dearest human friend,’ Meredith thought. ‘How amazing to hear those words spoken and not bat an eyelash.’

Six years ago, Meredith discovered Luna was not human, when Luna cured Meredith of breast cancer by touching odd crystals to her chest.   Luna's only explanation was to say she was one of the first born, the lilim.

Meredith's research into the term chilled her.   She learned Adam had a wife before Eve named Lilith, who ran away from him when he refused to treat her as an equal.   After that the legends say she mated with devils, and her children became known as sex demons, called incubus and succubus.  

Hard to believe, true, but then, how could she explain her magical healing?   So, yes, she owed Luna her life, but had she made a bargain with the devil?  

Also, in the years she'd known them, she'd never unraveled the mysterious relationship between Luna, her lover Jayden, and Lori, the dark golden girl Luna called her 'assistant.'  

Lori was …well, Meredith wasn't sure what; at times she seemed enslaved to Luna and Jayden, and at other times they worshiped her as a queen.   Then, two days ago, Luna mysteriously announced Lori was gone. Was Luna drafting another ‘assistant’? Could she sit back and watch her unfathomable boss do whatever evil she planned to this clueless girl?

“As one with knowledge of what you are, I am bound to warn you:  do no harm to Cassandra.”

“A threat?   Reeeeally?   Going Van Helsing on me, my dear?”  

Luna lazily tipped her head and smiled.  

“If it makes you feel better, you can chaperone our meet tomorrow.   Point of reference, darling, when we chatted with her a minute ago …technically speaking?   You were the only human at the table.”

~o~O~o~
  

“I love this!”   Maya squealed, as she pushed gray bangs away from her face, a habit she did when something grabbed her attention.

“You do?”   Cassandra was excited.   She'd never seen Maya react like this to her 'Cody' works.

“Oh yeah, everything's fresh; there's a sense of wonder about it.   It's like you were seeing yourself for the first time. It's obvious you've had the same training as Cody.”   Maya sighed. “I wish you could teach him how to capture something like this.   You say he told you to try this?”

“Yeah, um, we’ve had pretty much the same training, though I'm a few years younger, I guess. Cody decided to go away for awhile, and let me stay in his place while he's gone.   Before he left, he mentioned your self-portrait suggestion.”

“I bet he's charging you rent,” Maya said.   “He'd charge his own mother rent.”

Cassandra studied Maya's face for a clue about why she would say that.   Her smile said she was joking, but her eyes were serious.

“No …he's not.”

“Sorry, I was trying to be funny, but it came out a bit harsh.   It's curious; you say Cody recommended my exercise to you, yet he's expressed nothing but contempt for it to me.”

“He did?”   Cassandra felt her cheeks warm and hoped her darker skin would hide her embarrassment.   What had she said to hurt Maya so?   Was she so oblivious to other people's feelings?   “I'm sorry if ...if he offended you-”

“-Oh dear God, I'm the one who should be sorry; how rude of me.”

“No, s'okay, he and I …well, no one in the family's close to him.”  

True; as Cody, she had pushed everyone away.   She's thought them jealous of her inheritance, but if she had been treating them the way she apparently treated Maya, well…

“Not surprising,” Maya said.   “To answer your original question, yes, I will let you study with me while he's away.   I love what you did; I've known you a few minutes, and already like you more than your cousin.   You are welcome to take his space in my classes while he's gone.”

Then Maya cocked her head.   “Don't take this the wrong way, but I love your skin coloring, the delicious mix of gold and black. …Are you African? Indian?”

“Moorish.”

“Ah.   Would you consider posing for our class?   I would love to see my students take on you and …oh hell, I want to paint you.”

Cassandra gulped.   Models were, of course routine for Maya's classes, and her art teacher’s ongoing challenge was to come up with interesting subjects.   Still, first she's ask to do a fashion shoot and now to pose nude? How much more of this absurdness could she take before she broke down into maniacal laughter?

“I …um …don't …uh-”

“-Just a thought.”   Then Maya's eyebrows rose.   “Speaking of thoughts, let's do an experiment in genetics.   Cody's your cousin? I asked him to paint a watercolor of Market Square last month.   I wanted him to capture the energy of it, and I thought the medium would facilitate it.   Why don't you try it too, and see what you come up with.   Then we'll compare.”

Cody's reaction to the Market Square assignment was 'fuck it,' but he did it, and was proud of the results.   Yet the painting was panned by Maya and her other students.   Cassandra bit back her automatic Cody insult, and tried an approach she'd never used.   Politeness.

“Thank you for taking me on, Maya.   If the weather's good, I'll start the painting tomorrow.”

Maya smiled.   “Hey.   We’re having a potluck at my house tonight, with my other students.   Seven o'clock.   We’ll brainstorm to see how we can help Emilie, another of my students; she's struggling to make ends meet and continue studying with me.   You are welcome to come.”

That stung; no one had mentioned this to Cody.   Everyone did hate him.   She tried to hide the hurt, plastering a smile on her face.

“Thanks.   I'll be there, and…”  

She paused, racking her brain.   Cody would have walked away now -well, he'd never have agreed to go in the first place- and if her old Cody approach rubbed people the wrong way, then maybe doing the opposite would be better?  

“…um …shouldn't I …bring something?”

“How about a potato salad dish.   We can always use more salads.   Can you do that?”

“I've never tried one, but I'll give it a go,” Cassandra answered.   “How hard can it be?   It's potatoes and …gooey stuff, right?”

Maya laughed.   “Don't go to all that trouble.   Pop down to Krogers, buy their potato salad, spread it in one of your dishes, sprinkle paprika and bam, everyone's impressed.”

Cassandra nodded; that seemed easy enough.   “I'm all over it.   Anything else?   I mean, I'm driving Cody's car, so if anyone needs a ride…”

“You can't be related to Cody.   Or if you are, it's gotta be by marriage,” Maya said.   “As a matter of fact, the guest of honor needs a ride.   Emilie had to sell her car because she couldn't afford the insurance.   Could you pick her up?”

“Yes.   Glad too.”

“Great.”   Maya took Cassandra's sketchpad and jotted down Emilie's address. Then she looked at Cassandra.

“Honey, don't take this the wrong way, but I hope Cody stays away for a long time.   I like you sooo much better.”

Maya’s words echoed in Cassandra’s brain as she drove home.   What if 'Cody' did stay away a long time?   Like ...forever?   What would she do then?

Her hands shook on the steering wheel.   For just a moment, darkness descended on her; she was falling into a black hole, and was powerless to turn away.

End Part 1.

Lilim Tales - Part 2
by Armond
 
 
Cody, now Cassandra, tries to make sense of her change into an exotic creature with dark gold skin. As she struggles to cope, and searches for answers, she also begins to suspect she is far from 'normal.' The lilims Luna and Jayden continue debating whether to fully ignite Cassandra and take her as their srryn for the next hundred year Turn. And a storm looms on the horizon that may tip the balance.
 
 

Author's note: Some readers, both here and at the FM site, have expressed their dislike of how the lilim treat Cassie. I completely understand this; there have been many times I've gotten furious at authors for killing off main characters (Jim Butcher killing off Susan in Dresden Files, and the Sanctuary hacks offing Ashley, for example). This won't happen here. But, this is labeled a horror story; as a wannabe writer, I'm keen to experiment, and I wanted to fiddle around with this genre. I will say, that the horror aspect of the story is limited to parts 1-3. There are no beheadings, slashings or buckets of blood, so what makes this a horror story? For me, there are two aspects that push the story into the 'horror' zone: 1) the unstoppable inevitable nature of what happens to Cassie, and 2) her helplessness. Anyway, enough jawing; on to Part 2.

Author's note 2: for a cleaner pdf version of this story, please click here.
 
 
 

Lilim Tales
by Armond

Part 2.

~o~O~o~

4.

Cassandra was pacing.

No, that is a spectacularly piss poor description; she was bouncing off the walls.

“So tell me, Ms. Ex-Cody, what are you doing to reverse this curse, hmm? Chatting up the local witch doctor, or making nice with the evil mad scientist who did this? No? What then? Oh yeah, you're going to a potluck~”

She half convinced herself that going to the potluck was doing something. Cassandra was starting to think a karmic curse had ambushed her; had she been cruel to women as Cody, and this was her penance?

Irrational, maybe, but based on the warm way Maya responded, perhaps she should try to redress the other wrongs she had done as Cody.

Shouldn’t I hedge my bets? You know, like putting out cookies for Santa even after you don’t believe in him?

Giving Emilie a ride offered a first opportunity.

Cassandra sat at her desk with Cody's open checkbook and decided to go crazy. Emilie wanted two thousand dollars? Cassandra looked up to her ceiling.

“God? If you're listening? This is me down here, doing good deeds. If you would, like, tell me how many I have to do to get changed back, I'd appreciate it.”

She sighed after the heavens remained silent, and proceeded to write a check for four thousand dollars, signed 'Cody Elias', and stuffed it in an envelope. Then she took a piece of paper and scribbled a note.

I reconsidered. No strings attached. Pay me back when you can.
Sorry for being a jerk.

-Cody

She shook her head. “Not the most sensitive piece of literature, but we does what we can.”

How long before I need to pick up Emilie?

She checked her watch for the time, and realized she didn’t have a timepiece to fit her smaller wrist. Which reminded her; except for the emergency provisions from Walmart, she had nothing to wear tonight.

What do you wear to a potluck? Jeans and a T-shirt should be fine, right?

“Wrong. I must be wrong. I've been wrong about everything else, so I'm wrong about this for sure.”

This meant she needed something else to wear, which, she presumed, hung from a rack at an undiscovered store.

God! Could this get more complex?

She knew shit about fashion. Who would? She remembered Luna's card in her pocket.

“Duh! A fashion editor would.”

Pleasure tingles filled her body at the memory of Luna's hand on hers, and she decided she wanted -no, needed- to hear her voice again. She punched Luna's cell phone numbers into her phone.

“Hello, Ms. Longaine? …hi, um ...Cassandra Albornos here, I met you today at Starbucks?”

Luna's voice sent shivers through her body; what was with this woman?

“...yeah, fine, thanks, listen, stupid question, I'm going to a thing tonight at my art instructor's home and wanted to ask you a question about what I should wear...”

“...hmm? No, nothing fancy; a potluck ...what? ...uh, I'm bringing potato salad...”

-the potato salad! Dammit! Still need to swing by Krogers-

“So would jeans be okay to ...oh ...then …what should I ...wait, let me write this down ...narrow capri pants, turquoise blouse …blouse? You mean a shirt? Huh, if it's a shirt, why didn't you just call it …sorry, what kind of sandals?”

Cassandra blew out a sigh; this was going to be hard.

“…You're calling Sarah? Who is Sar-…no no! Please don't go to any trouble...”

Cassandra could not believe her luck; Luna said she would hook her up with her 'personal shopping assistant' at Lord and Taylor and arranging for an outfit to be ready.

“Great. Thank you sooo much. I guess you noticed I'm fashion challenged, and …what? …uh ...makeup? Crap! Oops, sorry, I've never used it be- ...oh? …she'll take care of that too? Can't thank you en- …hmm? …all part of your nefarious plot to get me to agree to your spread thing? ...ha! Well, evil or not, you are a lifesaver. Thanks again.”

After she clicked off her phone, she stood with eyes closed for a moment, savoring the echoes of Luna's voice. When she opened them, she found her free hand massaged one of her breasts.

“Jesus, is this normal? I know guys fantasize women do this stuff, but they don't, do they? I so need my old body back, before my mind becomes permanently fucked.”

~o~O~o~

“Hi, I'm Cassandra ...Cody's cousin …and I'm your ride.”

The blond-haired woman in the doorway wasn't frowning, but neither did she smile. Cassandra found it disconcerting to gaze up to Emilie, when she was so used to looking down. Good thing she ditched her jeans, too; Emilie wore a white shirt -correction, blouse - cinched at the waist by a black tie, and a long black skirt embroidered with a white leafy pattern. She looked fabulous.

“I'm Emilie.” She beckoned Cassandra in. “Thanks for the ride; come in for a sec, I've got to get my dish.”

Cassandra stepped into Emilie's tiny flat; not much had changed since Cody slept here a month ago. Cassandra admired how Emilie's décor displayed with her meager budget, but what really made the place work were her art works sprinkled about the room.

Cody always drooled at the way Emilie's works popped. They shared the same passion for art -Cassandra figured this common interest explained why Emilie dated Cody, however brief their relationship had lasted- and Cody's technique was much better. So how did Emilie make her works so alive?

“I ...love your outfit,” Cassandra called. She should say something girl sounding, since she was one now, right? Anyway, Emilie did look amazing. Why hadn't she noticed this before?

A wide grin beamed from Emilie when she returned, revealing her dimples. Cassandra realized she had never brought those out in her as Cody. Emilie set her green bean casserole dish on her breakfast nook table and gave Cassandra a quick scan.

“Capris look adorable on you. Cody never mentioned he had a cousin. You're so much smaller than his is...”

Capris, I am walking around in pants that don't come close to my ankles; too weird! At least they're pants.

“…and so different looking too.”

“Because I'm ...dark?” Emilie couldn't be referring to her gender switch; she couldn't know about that, could she? Unless Cassandra was an epic fail at being a woman, which was a distinct possibility.

Emilie reddened. “Er …I didn't mean anything bad, but your coloring is so amazing.”

“No offense taken. From my Albornos side I am of Moorish ancestry, but I get a little olive tone from the Elias-Lebanese side. So if you mixed those colors on your palette…” Cassandra made a sweeping gesture to her body, “…voila!”

“Yeah! I see now; how cool!”

Cassandra gave an internal relief sigh when Emilie bought the explanation, because the real one would be far harder to swallow. Or she supposed it would, if she understood it herself.

“Speaking of my cousin, he wanted me to give you this.” She handed Emilie the envelope.

Emilie eyed the envelope a moment, acting as if it were radioactive, and then ripped it open. She looked at the check, the note, Cassandra, and then her eyes teared.

“Are you okay?” Cassandra asked. The check was supposed to be a good thing; had she managed to screw this up too?

“Yes …no, I...” Emilie shook her head. “I need this so much; it keeps me studying with Maya for a few more months...”

“But?”

“Cody said terrible things when I asked to borrow this, and though he said 'no strings' in the note, I...” Emilie frowned. “Here you are being kind enough to give a stranger a ride, and she starts unloading her baggage on you.”

“S'okay. If you want to talk ...I'll listen.”

Cassandra so did not want to listen. As Cody, she would run -literally- to escape a situation like this. But …if her sentence was to learn a lesson in this body, then she wanted to gain enlightenment fast so this bizarre curse end.

What shit thing did I say to her?

She racked her brain …had she joked about Emilie …not being a good lay?

“I liked two things about your cousin, his passion for art, and…” Emilie's voice lowered to a whisper “...sex. I ...can't explain ...he had an …um …energy about him, when we were ...ya know …doing it …that felt delicious. But when I asked him to lend me the money, he made me feel …dirty. He as much as called me a prostitute.”

The 'Cody' in her wanted to fist pumped about the 'good in bed' part. She had heard this before; it was a gift Cody possessed, he always left them glowing. Cassandra did not grin though, Emilie's hurt shamed her.

Cassandra looked down. “Maybe he feels bad, and this is his way of apologizing?”

Emilie shook her head. “He's too much of a prick; 'I'm sorry' isn't in his vocabulary. If there were some way for me to turn this down, I would. But he's doubled what I asked. I will have to tell everyone at the potluck about this. They all hate him, and some will I think I …slept with him for this.”

Everyone hates me? Everyone?

She felt hot salty wet form in her eyes. “I'm sorry for what I ...for the way he treated you. I'm-”

“-Hey!” Emilie took her hand and squeezed. “You didn't do this, sweetie. Not your fault.”

“Don't tell them.”

“What?”

“Don't tell anyone tonight.”

“That wouldn't be honest; he's given way more than I need to-”

“-No he hasn't. This gives you, what, a couple of months breathing room? If you live like a Spartan? You need more security than that. You still need as much as anyone else can pitch in too, right?”

She nodded. “I hate being a charity case, but I'm already working two jobs. If I could just sell some paintings…”

Cassandra's brain shifted into overdrive; how would she have given the money as Cody? “Listen, we know Cody would have made a big production of this for the recognition, right?”

“-Yeah,” Emilie said, “which is why I waited until I had no other choice but to ask him.”

“And yet, he gave the check to you this way instead. My opinion -and I know him pretty well- is he wants it to remain anonymous.”

“Really?” Emilie looked hopeful. “I'd love to believe that, but...”

“How about this - don't mention the donation tonight. Tomorrow, I'll call and ask if he wants kudos for this. If he does, you can tell Maya, and she can announce it in class or something.”

“I can live with that.” Emilie gave a huge sigh, and then her dimpled smile returned. “If I could come up with a few thousand more, I'd cut back on the hours of my second job, and paint. Which is why I'm doing all this crap in the first place.”

“Well then, let's go and see what comes from tonight, cause there's potato salad in my car that won't wait much longer.”

Emilie laughed and took Cassandra's hand again. “I just met you, and I feel like were going to be close friends. You've already brought me luck.”

“I hope we will be, because right now, I need a friend more than anything in the world.”

~o~O~o~

5.

“This is NOT going to work! The srrynah has barely raised her psi levels. Have you tasted her? Bile has better flavor.”

Luna looked up from Lori's journal, her eyes first traveling to the figure by the door, then to the wall clock. She blinked to confirm the time; when had the evening turned to midnight?

Her first reaction was to tell Jayden to leave, but she couldn't; technically, Lori had been his as much as hers. He wasn't peering over her shoulder to look at Lori's journal either; because of their low psi levels, Jayden had only taken one step into Lori's room.

Still the 'Lori-ness' she felt dissipated when he entered her srryn's old chambers and Luna resented it. She knew what he meant, though, for she had fed from Beth; her psi would keep them alive …marginally.

“Try feeding from her longer,” she answered in a dismissive tone. “From what the others say, it is not uncommon to have to draw psi longer from srryns these days; Lori spoiled you.”

The 'others' were their brothers and sisters scattered about the world, and it was true; each generation of srryns grew weaker. Unless something happened to break the cycle, the lilim would fade away.

Jayden's angry face contorted in concentration, and the journal before Luna slammed shut. She blinked in surprise. Not at the telekinetic closing of the book, but that he still possessed enough psi to accomplish it.

“Yet we found one whose levels exceed every living srryn and you refuse to consider her! This goes beyond your personal sorrow. The srryn potential of Cody-”

“Cassandra. Her name is now Cassandra Albornos.”

When she saw Jayden's black oval eyes widen at Cassandra's chosen surname, Luna realized she had failed to inform him of this development.

“I …meant to tell you …but got distracted…”

Jayden wanted to snarl about how his mate's 'Lori pining' was self-destructive, but this news was too huge for that.

“Are you saying Cody-”

“-Cassandra!”

Annoyance tinged her correction; it seemed important he get Cassandra's name right, though she didn't know why.

“My apologies. Are you saying Cassandra is a convergence of the Eliyahu and Auhbornae lines?”

“Possibly. I haven't probed it; my sole interest in her is to help her acquire feminine survival skills. I've created a cover story of a fashion shoot to give me the chance to instruct her and assess where her counseling needs are greatest.”

“Counseling?! A fashion shoot?!!”

Luna had never heard Jayden so agitated. “Well, yes. I felt this approach to be the most discreet and would not arouse her suspicions. She is disoriented, dazed and-”

“-You misunderstand me! This changes everything. We MUST take her as our srryn!”

“I rejected her; how much clearer need I be?”

“No! Bad enough you sentence me to the misery of taking sustenance from the vapid Beth, but now you would deprive our kind of the benefits of this discovery? If the Auhbornae line yet continues, we must influence the coupling of Eliyahu ~and~ Auhbornae descendants to-”

“-You. Will. Not. Force. Her. On. Me!”

She punctuated each word with a small telekinetic boom.

“This goes beyond you! Beyond our mating. I will go to her, tonight, and trigger her heat!”

The image of him activating Cassandra struck Luna as wrong; she couldn't let that happen. So why did she feel so protective? She didn't even like Cassandra, did she?

“Wait …wait …give me …one more day with her.”

“One more day? To do what?”

“To see if…” the words spilled out, “…she might work after all. As my srryn.”

Jayden relaxed; his anger drained away at her statement. He saw dual positives - this situation might force Luna beyond her paralysis over Lori's death, and they would jettison Beth for the psi rich Cassandra.

“Excellent! We can mind wipe the past few days from Beth and she will be none the worse for wear. Actually, if I took the wipe back a few years, it would be doing her a favor. She would do better having nothing in her head than the misinformation she's crammed in her tiny brain.”

“Don't jump to conclusions. Nothing is decided. Just give me tomorrow. Please.”

“Agreed. One more day.”

He would do that, even if it meant remaining psi starved and suffering Beth for another day. He had loved Luna for a hundred years and planned to do so for two hundred more, so he would take this gamble; she must make this decision on her own.

He also knew it wasn't much of a risk; if she didn't, he would take Cassandra himself.

~o~O~o~

“And this means what to you?”

Luna and Meredith had met Cassandra at Starbucks the next morning and convinced her to walk to their nearby office. Luna preferred the outside venue because a peaceful stroll gave her a chance to observe Cassandra in a relaxed setting. Also, it kept her out of confining human office spaces for that much longer. And, since the predicted storm wasn't due until evening, it gave her a chance to enjoy the brisk autumn day.

When their route took them by the art museum, Cassandra slammed to a halt and could go no further.

She had forgotten the Rembrandt exhibit was in town. It wasn't a debate; Cassandra dragged the women inside, and they now stood in front of Rembrandt's ink of Zacharias and the Angel.

“What's it mean? Proof that God is up there. He guided Rembrandt's hand; nothing else explains this.”

This place was a sanctuary to Cody; why hadn't she come here after her change? Even if some mysterious god or devil forced this on her, he or she couldn't take the beauty from her head - the miracle of Rembrandt and Michelangelo and Monet.

Luna looked at the enraptured girl and smiled. Smiling was a rarity since Lori's passing, and her heaviness lifted for a moment.

Stripped of her original body, and her old inflated 'Cody' ego, Luna found Cassandra to be tolerable. No, more than that, the new Cassandra was sweet.

“One more and I swear we'll go,” Cassandra said, grabbing Luna's hand and pulling her down the museum corridor. She did not know why, but she felt compelled to touch the dark haired elegant woman. “It's one of his last self portraits.”

She stopped them in front of the oil painting, and Luna tasted the psi energy swirling in Cassandra. The girl stared at Rembrandt in his silk cap, and gray bushy hair, and he stared back with his weary eyes.

“Do you see? Do you?” Cassandra sounded like she was crying.

“See what,” Meredith asked.

"He's a lonely old man and he painted it! Here!" Her hand swept to the painting, "his loneliness is here; so fierce! No boundaries, no filters, he just gave himself to the painting. How? God, how I wish I could do that!"

“Uhnnnnn,” Luna said, more moan than whisper. Psi sparkled around Cassandra so brightly, Luna drank it from the ambient air.

Meredith glanced at Luna; she had overheard these same sounds from her boss when Luna and Lori were together, doing ...whatever it was lilim did to their servants.

“Are you okay,” she whispered.

Luna's eyes shot open. Okay? She wanted to take Cassandra with her janja here! Even this 'sipping' could ignite Cassandra's srryn body. Then the heat would start.

“Meredith, we must leave; I've remembered an ...appointment we have, correct?” Luna said, backing away.

“With …Sam?" Meredith struggled to keep pace with her boss' intentions. "About the website revamp?”

"Yesss ...with Sam."

"God, I'm such an idiot; I've delayed you." Cassandra felt horrible for imposing her museum visit on them. “Should I meet you tomorrow at Starbucks again? Or your office? No more diversions, I promise.”

“I'm imagining a more intimate setting, say, we three tonight at my apartment,” Luna said, from a safe distance. Far enough away to prevent her from raping Cassandra in front of the sad eyes of Rembrandt. “We'll discuss it over dinner; I'm thinking Japanese.”

"Dinner? I shouldn't-"

"-Please? Unless you have other plans?"

Other plans? As if!

Her 'other plans' consisted of online gender reversal research. She spent yesterday trolling for information about spontaneous sex changes in fish. Tonight she would dive into the world of secret government agencies and medical experimentation. An offer of sushi sounded light years better. Except ...would that mean they were going to an upscale restaurant?

"Um, I don't have anything dressy to wear, except the stuff Sarah picked out for me last night, and-”

"-Don't worry. I'll have something for you to throw on. I'll send my limo to your place to pick you up."

"L-limo?" This was happening too fast.

“My driver's name is Jayden. Expect him at 7. Shall we, Meredith?”

Luna and Cassandra had exchanged something, but Meredith had not pieced it together, except to see Cassandra's face had the same wanting look Lori wore when she disappeared into Luna's office for a private 'dictation session.' What spell had Luna cast on this poor girl? And how could she help her?

"Perfect, dinner it is; you couldn't keep me away with a gun,” Meredith said, as she and Luna left Cassandra to head for the museum entrance.

Cassandra might have caught an implied threat in Meredith's words, had she not been overwhelmed by a sudden arousal. When she looked down to find she was kneading her breasts again, she dropped her hands in horror.

What is happening to me? I'm ...shit! I think I'm horny!

She scrambled out of the museum and raced back to her apartment, with every intention of taking an icy shower.

Which instead turned out to be hot, lasting a long time, and involved slow slow soaping.

~o~O~o~

6.

“Ms. Albornos? Your limousine has arrived.”

Crap!

Cassandra pressed the apartment intercom button. “Tell the driver I'm sick and can't come tonight.”

Cassandra hoped her dinner 'engagement' would evaporate. To be truthful, she hadn't thought about it since her return home; hadn't thought about anything. Her mood had turned as dark as the threatening skies that spat cold rain on the city.

Hope of an easy fix for her 'condition' was evaporating. She had scoured the Internet and found nothing to explain her change, much less provide a way to reverse it. Karmic good deeds weren't paying off either. Last night she went to sleep thinking she would awaken in her old Cody body, and in the morning, she arose as the exotic Cassandra.

Cassandra knew it was time to consider other options, such as going to a doctor for tests, or a priest for an exorcism, or …or she didn't know what. All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and pretend it would all go away.

“Ms. Albornos? The driver says he needs you to sign something before he can leave. Can you come down?”

Double crap!

She punched the intercom button this time. “Fine. If that's what it takes to get rid of this asshole, I'll be right down.”

She slipped on her spanking new Walmart running shoes and headed down. Her mood lightened when she reached the lobby and saw him; with his curly blond hair, blue eyes and fit build, he looked more 'surfer dude' than limo driver, despite his crisp black uniform.

“The young miss is feeling unwell?”

Cassandra blinked. The driver's velvet voice warmed her almost the same way Luna's did. What was happening? Had her transformation come with an instant orientation switch from women to men? Because this man made her squirmy, which was Cassandra's short hand for the wet tingly dampness her new anatomy seemed fond of producing. Yet, she lusted after women too; her mind looped Luna's image 24/7 since the moment she laid eyes on the mysterious woman. So this made her …bi? God, what was happening to her?

When she looked into his shimmering blue eyes, her train of thought …derailed. “Yeah …um …don't feel so good … got a …a cold …yeah … so tell Loona …I mean Ms. Longaine …I'm sorry.”

“Ms. Longaine's dinner will be just the medicine; she has ordered takeout from Edo's. A steaming bowl of miso soup will fix you up. Shall we?” He motioned to the door.

“I …uh …don't have my wallet...” -wait, do girls have wallets?- “er …ID …and I left my room unlocked-”

“-No need for money or ID tonight; Ms. Longaine will take care of everything. Ready?”

“…guess so…”

He opened the lobby door, and damned if her traitorous feet did not walk right out. She heard the pop of an umbrella, and looked up to see her surfer dude driver holding it over her head. In front of her stood an enormous black limo, a stretch Ford Excursion. The driver opened the limousine door and Cassandra peered in, blinking at flat screen TVs, a flashing sound system, and gleaming wet bar. It looked bigger than her apartment.

“Good Lord, I’ll get lost back there. Listen, mister-”

“-Call me Jayden.”

“Okay ...look. It's just me here. Wouldn't it make more sense to sit in the front seat with you?”

“Now, none of that. I've already poured you a chardonnay. A special vintage. I'm sure you've been under stress lately; who hasn't? Relax and enjoy.”

She shrugged. Might as well enjoy a moment of luxury; tomorrow I may wake up and find I have been turned into…

NO! She halted the thought; she would not think about tomorrow, because it meant pondering her depressing future. Instead, she climbed into the limo.

True to his word, Cassandra found a glass of white wine waiting on the bar. Cody was a red wine lover, but since she was on a campaign to act polite, she took a swig. It tasted sweeter than a typical chardonnay, but something in it hit her just right. She settled into the plush bench seat as the limo rumbled into the evening traffic.

“We'll arrive in about fifteen minutes; would you like to watch something, Ms. Albornos?”

It took her a moment to remember 'Ms. Albornos' was her. “S'cuse me?”

“On television. Would you like to watch something? The 'Bad Girl's Club' perhaps?”

Bad Girl's Club? What the hell is that?

Cassandra couldn’t concentrate; something in the wine scrambled her thoughts. She took another gulp.

“Um ... could you find a basketball game, maybe ...er, Jason?”

“Jayden, ma'am.”

“Oh, God! I am an idiot. Sorry.”

“Not a problem; it's an unusual name. Would you like NBA or-”

“-College. I don't start watching NBA until the Finals. And try to find a Big 10 game, please? The Big East is overrated.”

“I beg to differ. Perhaps...” Jayden licked his lips to taste the sizzling psi she radiated; he had to get closer to her “...you'd care to sit in the front seat with me after all and defend your novel theory, m'lady.”

'M'lady'. She hiccup laughed. And took another swig of this amazing wine. For some reason, sitting close to him sounded like a fabulous idea. Jayden pulled over, and Cassandra hopped into the front seat, with wine in hand; now more than half empty.

As he motored back into traffic, she mentally sketched his chiseled silhouette, framed against the beaded lights of rain on the window. She found him handsome; Lord, she couldn't deny it; she wanted to run her fingers across his face.

'Steady, he's a guy, and you're a guy ...or were...' she hiccupped again.

“You were explaining your misguided thoughts about the Big East being overrated?'

Huh? Oh ...yeah... all she think about was how much she wanted to touch him.

'C'mon, Cassie, concentrate.' That she had internally referred to herself as Cassie instead of Cody didn't register.

“It's ...an east coast sportswriter conspiracy; they're in love with the Big East. But if you look at the RBI ...I mean the RPI, the Big 10 is butter ...er, better.”

Jayden saw how quickly the c'taia affected Cassandra; the stronger the srryn, the faster the reaction. Slammed described Cassandra's condition; he had given her too much, dammit!

It was difficult driving with her next to him; he was low on psi because of Beth's meager amounts, and the energy rolling off Cassandra tasted divine. He imagined how incredible she would be if he entered her with his janja.

“Are you still feeling sick, Ms. Albornos?”

“I'm Cassie, 'kay?”

“Very well, Cassie, are you feeling better?”

“I'm floating on cluffy flouds; that's awesome wine.”

She had another urge to stroke his hand on the steering wheel; she caught herself reaching for him and pulled back.

“Go ahead, it's okay,” Jayden said, his voice silky smooth. The c'taia, he knew, had suppressed her human inhibitions and srryn tactile instincts were kicking in. Srryns felt most at ease when they were touching their lilim.

Cassandra nodded languidly and laid her hand on his hand; it felt downy. A wave of heated pleasure swamped her body and she moaned. She reddened when she realized what she'd done and started to pull her hand back again, but in a smooth move, Jayden laid his hand over hers, twining their fingers.

“Relax, Cassie. I don't mind at all.”

Holy Lilith! She was electrifying, he wanted more more more! He drew as much psi from her touch as Beth had produced in ten minutes of full entry!

Jayden played a dicey game; Luna had softened toward Cassandra, and he wanted the decision to take the girl to be hers. This was critical to Luna's acceptance of the new srryn. From Luna's assessment, he gathered Cody's personality was abrasive, so to improve the odds, he had c'taia dosed Cassandra to mellow her.

It was touch and go now because she was razor close to igniting into srryna this instant. When that happened, her physiology would permanently shift: she would stop aging.

Cassandra's nerve sensory receptors would reformat to generate sustained carnal heat, and psi. Her vagina, mouth, and anus would act as primary sensory areas, yet her breasts, fingers, and even her skin would stimulate psi pleasure.

Once the shift occurred, Cassandra's new hyper-sexual srryn impulses would override her human instincts and would compel her to serve her lilim.

The temptation Cassandra presented Jayden was not easily resisted. Since Lori's death, he had been perpetually psi drained, and every fiber of his being ached to drink more from her. It was like putting a barrel of ice water in front of a man who had just crawled out of the Sahara, and telling him to look but not drink.

He glanced at Cassandra and saw her eyes glazed and her lips curled up. No, it would not be hard to push this one to srryna at all.

“Now, what were we talking about?”

“T-talking?” Her head buzzed, and all she could think about was the man seated next to her, and Luna.

Luna!

Electricity jolted through her body. She needed something from them, but didn't know what.

“Mmmm. Tell me 'bout her.”

“Her?”

“Looooonaa. Have ...have you worked for her for a long time?”

“Yes, quite long. Her penthouse is on top of that building.”

She saw his finger pointed to the art deco Beckendorf Tower. “Wow. Pricey rent.”

“It would be, if she paid rent. But she owns it, so-”

“-She owns the penthouse? Holy shit!”

“Cassie, I meant she owns the building.”

That brought a dose of sobriety to Cassandra. “I thought she was a fashion magazine editor... for Trend.”

“Oh, she is. Owns the magazine too. And several others.”

“But that means she's a zillionaire! Why does she want to have dinner with me for some stupid 'budget chic' spread? This doesn't make sense.”

“Relax, little one; no need to worry. Drink your wine. You're tired; rest your head on me.”

She brought the glass to her lips without question and drained it. Then she leaned her head against his chest; it felt at home. Before she closed her eyes and drifted away, she murmured,

“What's happening to me?”

“Something amazing, perhaps,” he answered.

Jayden stroked her hair as they drove the final blocks to the building entrance. His mind whirled; what did Luna have against her? Cassandra was bright; next to Beth she seemed like Einstein. Resilient too, as her capacity to carry on alone after her Jh'tiel conversion showed. And …he liked her; she was fun.

Not the firmest basis to enter a hundred year relationship, granted. But they were in a bind; he and Luna were starving. It's not like they could log onto eHarmony and see which srryn matched their personalities.

As it happened, they had tried something like that. Or rather, they had tried to prepare for an ordered transition from Lori to the next srryn. A year ago, they screened dozens of candidates and found Sophia Ellis. Lori had begun a slow srryn indoctrination of the young woman when Sophia was killed in a fiery car crash. Poor Lori had run out of time before she found another replacement. What a shame; coming as she did from the Eliyahu line, Sophia's k'jarn readings were strong.

Nothing like Cassandra's off-the-chart level. She was a throw back to the 'olden days' when srryns' psi levels were far stronger than today, and ba-srryns existed. Maybe the mingling of the Eliyahu and Auhbornae lines had produced something miraculous.

“Thank Lilith she's wearing jeans, or I don't know what I'd have done.”

He knew one truth: if this one ever became theirs, he'd re-implement the 'no pants or panties' rule they had for Lori.

No when this one became theirs; he must not let her get away.

~o~O~o~

Jayden laid the unconscious girl on Lori's day bed and turned, to answer Luna's arched eyebrow. Before he spoke, he walked to the far side of Lori's bedroom. They were too psi drained to risk close contact.

“I *ahem* grossly underestimated her psi strength and gave her too large a dose.

“I have eyes; the question is why?”

“Because Beth is a small minded cow. Because I thought if you saw Cassie when she was relaxed, you might not find her detestable.”

“Is it your plan to keep her drugged for the next hundred years?”

No, of course not, I-”

“-Ever hear the human saying about gasoline and matches? She easily could have activated! I almost did so today at the museum just by holding her hand, and you dose her up with c'taia?”

“We are psi starving and Cassie's the mother lode! You must reconsider her!”

“I'm keeping an open mind; she's here, isn't she?” Luna said. “When she was looking at the Rembrandts this morning, she showed depth and emotion that …touched me.”

“Excellent! So you could accept this one!”

“No! She will not take Lori's place! No one can!”

Jayden saw his mistake; saw what was happening. His mate's negative reaction to Cassandra had nothing to do with the girl's alleged personality flaws; Luna felt disloyal to Lori by thinking well of another potential srryn. This explained why Luna pushed Beth forward instead; she saw Cassandra as Lori's competition, and Beth as a non-entity. Lori warned him about this; he could not allow it to continue.

“Of course. Yet we have a duty to each other, and to our species, to survive. Do not forget our duty even extends to the humans, for if we are to prevent them from committing our crime, we must be alive when they develop the knowledge and technology to alter themselves. Out of love for you, I have allowed you grieving space, but time is up. You must make the right decision.”

“I …” No. She wouldn't answer him. “The take out should arrive soon and Beth is waiting for you in the guest bedroom; she's watching reality shows. Where will you take her this evening?”

“She's picked a movie; I dread what it will be. At least for two hours, I'll be able to draw psi and not have to listen to her inane babble. I suspect the amount I'll draw will be little more than I could pull from a large buttered popcorn. I shall have to 'supplement' when I return her here. Let it be Cassie I feed from, I'm begging you.”

Luna would have laughed at Jayden's popcorn comment, if it were not true. She had already fed from Beth's small supply this afternoon, and would have enough psi to limp through tomorrow. Which meant little remained for Jayden. As low as he was, there was increasing danger he could not sustain his 'human' projection. If that failed, the risk to his life jumped exponentially.

“Jayden, please be careful.”

“We have an easy fix for this, love, activate Cassandra as our srryn. Here. Tonight.”

~o~O~o~

7.

Cassandra stretched, and had the bizarre notion she was extending her arms as cats did when they stretched. Then she realized Luna was sitting next to her.

“Ms. Longaine? How did I, um…”

"Get here? Jayden carried you in. You were tired and needed the cat nap."

When Cassandra sat up the room spun a bit. Her head was clearer from the killer wine Jayden had given her, but she still was floating, and felt unaccountably …happy.

She lay on a couch in what looked like a bedroom; a dresser, makeup table, roll top desk, books, and music system filled the rest of the room. Conspicuously missing was a bed; so where did the occupant sleep?

“Who's room is this?”

“Someone dear to me.”

Luna said it so mysteriously, Cassandra expected more, but received silence.

“Um …okay …so since I, uh, passed out, Meredith must be getting pretty hungry waiting for me to-”

Luna waved a dismissive gesture. “The storm has delayed Meredith, so why don't you shower up, and I'll lay clothes out for you,” Luna said, handing her a towel. “Please don't go poking around. I have many private things here; personal memories.”

“Do I stink or something? I don't think I need one; I've already had two today. Two …long …hot …steamy showers."

“Um-hmm, I bet.” Luna gave a knowing smile. “You will like this one even more; it's custom made."

Cassandra sat unmoving long after Luna had left, trying to sort the thoughts pinging in her head.

Why am I here? Mere days after being gender twisted and I’m in a strange woman's penthouse -no, scratch that, building- contemplating a shower? And why do I get so damned horny around Luna and Jayden?

She sighed, wandered in the bathroom, and decided she would shower, when she saw the seven or more showerheads, positioned all around a huge granite walled shower chamber. Cassandra took the longest steamiest shower of her life.

When she emerged, she found Luna had left her a floor length black silk robe, with a silver flower embroidered on the back, black rectangle shaped flat wooden sandals, and nothing else.

“Ms. Longaine? Where are my clothes?” She called out of the bathroom.

“Folded on the sofa, darling,” Luna called back. “The food is here. Throw on the robe on and come out. Don't worry; it's just us girls.”

Not wanting to be rude -and still feeling bubbly from the wine- she shrugged, slipped on the robe and cinched it. With golden hair still glistening wet, she hobbled out in the strange flat sandals.

She found Luna sitting on her living room floor in front of a coffee table overflowing with takeout boxes. Cassandra breathed scents of miso soup and teriyaki, and realized she was ravenous. She klopped across the floor to the table, stepped off the sandals and sat on her knees.

Luna's eyes roamed up and down Cassandra's silken form. Her dark srryn beauty was exquisite. Was her first impression wrong? Could she have fun with this one? Even if that were possible, it was unimaginable to think of having the soul connection she had had with Lori. Theirs was lesbian by human standards, a rarity between lilim and srryn. She suspected she and Cassandra would develop a traditional lilim-srryn mentor relationship.

Still, the psi potential of the bright-eyed creature before her was enormous and would provide all the energy they needed over her hundred year Turn. She was so new to her gender; Luna imagined having several years of fun using her as a living dress up doll, and sending her into complicated human mating situations.

“Like the kimono and getas? Very traditional.”

“Haven't you carried the 'doing Japanese' thing a bit far? What would I be wearing if you'd ordered Mexican?”

“Something flamenco maybe, with castanets; or is that Spanish? We will do that next time. Have some sushi.”

Luna handed Cassandra a blue porcelain fish shaped plate; on it were a variety of sushi rolls, a smaller fish shaped dish with soy sauce, a dab of wasabi, and chop sticks.

“You'll love Edo's spicy tuna rolls. Watch the volcano roll, it is well named.” Luna then laid her palms on the coffee table. “Bad news. I received a text from Meredith and she's been delayed further; she said to start without her.”

Which was untrue; she had uninvited her editor from dinner this afternoon. Meredith had issued several dire warnings about not harming Cassandra, so she also alerted security that Ms. Benson was not allowed in the building tonight.

“Good Lord, Ms. Longaine; no way we can eat all this!”

“Don't worry, Jayden will gobble up whatever we don't.” Luna smiled at Cassandra. “And stop calling me 'Ms. Longaine.' I'm Luna. Let me hear you say it.”

“Looona.”

She smiled; it felt good rolling off her tongue. Warm.

“Excellent, now that's settled, let's talk. I do not mean to be forward, but I've noticed you are struggling with personal issues. How can I help?”

Cassandra's eyes widened; was it so obvious that a relative stranger pick it out?

I must suck at being female.

“Yeah, I've been going through some …changes, and feel lost. I doubt there's anything you can do, other than help me avoid fashion disasters.”

“You are reluctant to tell me what has happened. Fair enough. Perhaps I can help you deal with it?” She poured more green tea into Cassandra's cup. “Without being specific, can you give me an idea of what you've experienced?”

Cassandra sipped on her tea and thought, struggling to come up with an example that would help, but wouldn't make Luna think she was insane

“Suppose …you weighed, like, umm …500 pounds, all your life, then magically, you wake up one morning weighing 105. Suppose you've changed so much no one recognizes you.”

“Hmm. So, you suddenly find you are a beautiful young woman. And you've never lived that life before? You'd lack the social skills, experience, basic wardrobe-”

“-Yes. Don't know about the beautiful part, but think of me dealing with a change like that.”

“But Cassandra, you are beautiful and erotic. So, a life altering change has happened; what has been the hardest part it? Is it what I just mentioned or-”

Cassandra shook her head. “Yeah, I am clueless about the social stuff, but what's been hardest, is learning what people thought of the old me. People hated me; I must have been shitty to everyone.”

Her eyes grew wet. “I need to figure this out, because tomorrow -hopefully- I'll wake up to find …I'm fat again …and I don't want to go back to being the asshole I was.”

Luna's eyes widened; Cassandra's confession was disarming, and against her will, she was warming to the girl. Then a surge of self-loathing washed over her, thoughts of how she was betraying Lori. Her eyes narrowed, and her voice took on a hard edge.

“If you don't return to your old form, what of it? You remain 'stuck' as beautiful young woman? Many would find it easy to deal with a body as incredible as yours.”

Cassandra frowned; she had avoided thinking about the possibility this cosmic joke might be permanent. But what if it was?

“Yeah …I guess I'd want to make sure I didn't turn into a …skinny asshole.” Cassandra started fidgeting now. “Um, can I be excused to use the bathroom? Since I …lost weight …my bladder seems to have shrunk as well, and the green tea has already-”

“-of course. Use the bathroom you showered in.”

After Cassandra finished in the bathroom, and was walking back through the bedroom, she felt a tug at her mind. Something pulled her to the roll top desk against the wall.

'Weird.' Cassandra shook her head to clear it, and started for the door again.

Once again, an impulse, almost a voice, urged her to the desk.

Half dazed, the other half curious, Cassandra crept to the desk and rolled up the top. There she found an old worn journal. Flipping open the cover, she read the yellowed cursive inscription,

'This journal is the property of Lorraine Cynthia Aaren. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE NOT ME! I MEAN IT!!!' ”

Cassandra chuckled at the adolescent warning from the past and closed the journal. “Right. I am properly warned. So, I shouldn't-”

*READ!*

This time it ~was~ a voice in her head, she was sure! Where was it coming from? Cassandra's hands were shaking, but she reopened the journal, and read the first sentences.

Cleveland, April 29, 1910

My fellow Clevelanders believe Haley's Comet has returned to destroy the world, or at least to signal the apocalypse. Goodness!
They fret every morning when they wake and see it on the horizon. But I know the comet's return was a message just for me.
For it was after it appeared I learned of the lilim, and became the first srryn of Luana and Jaide Lundquist.

Who? Luana and Jaide? That sounded incredibly close to Luna and Jayden. Coincidence, right? No way they be the same; Luna and Jayden looked like they were barely in their thirties.

“And what's a lilim? Or a srryn?”

*Luna is a lilim, and I was her srryn.*

Cassandra shook her head again, this time hard, as if she were clearing water from her ears. Maybe the stress of a sudden gender change had finally caused her to crack.

*Srryn, may I share your body?*

“What?”

*Please say yes. The other refused.*

“I'm dressed in a kimono, in a strange woman's apartment, listening to a voice in my head. Fucking great. Was it two days ago I was Cody Elias? Seems like two centuries.”

*If you say no, I will fade. I'm scared. Don't let me die.*

Cassandra hadn't a clue whether she imagined this, or what it meant. On an impulse, she held her hand out to touch the entity. It took her a moment to realize the feedback she received was the same sensation she experienced when she viewed masterpieces.

The debate may rage for the next thousand years over what people experience by viewing a 'masterpiece'. It is a mystery - one man's capacity to receive another's deepest emotions simply by looking at colors on a canvas. Was it divine? Psychological? Chemical?

Whatever the answer, Cassandra was overcome with ecstasy when she gazed at Rubens' Massacre of the Innocents, or Renoir's Bal Au Moulin de la Galette. Or any work by Monet. They beamed her out of the mundane and into a place she had no name for.

It made no sense, but this was what she felt from the pleading voice. What did it mean? Cassandra had no clue, other than thinking, knowing, she must not let this essence fade.

Without the slightest understanding of what she was doing, she performed the first unselfish act of her life.

“ 'kay …come into me.”

*Thank you!*

Cassandra have sworn she felt energy filter into her and anchor deep within.

Then, a real voice sliced through the moment.

“WHAT are you doing at her desk?”

Cassandra turned to find Luna standing in the doorway.

“Sorry. Strangest thing …a voice told me to come here and look at a diary. Then it asked me-”

“She's gone! I …I don't feel her anymore.”

“What's gone? Feel who?”

“What have you done?” The 'Lori' essence of the room had vanished and it felt like her love had died a second time. Despair knife-gutted Luna, followed by rage.

“You murderer! You have driven her away!”

“You're crazier than me! No one is here, except this voice I was-”

Luna raised her hands, and the journal slapped closed, followed by the desktop rolling shut.

“Hey! How did you-

Her words strangled in her mouth, because Luna's image blurred, and she traversed the distance between them in an instant to grab a fistful of Cassandra's gold hair. She drug the yelping girl through the penthouse halls, opened her front door, and tossed her out.

“What a fool I was to think you redeemable. Go! Live whatever miserable existence you can. Better yet, do the world a favor; crawl in a hole and die, 'Cassandra who was Cody'.”

Cassandra blinked as the statement sunk in.

“You …know who I used to be? Wait …did you have anything to do with it? With my-”

“-Oh no! Not me! I wanted nothing to do with you, you miserable piece of excrement. No, Jayden, in his rashness, injected you with the Jh'tiel serum.”

Cassandra tried to grab Luna's silk blouse, but ended touching something downy instead.

“Change me back. Whatever the hell he did, undo it. Now!”

Luna batted Cassandra's hands away. “At first I felt sorry for you, but now? You are not fit to be bound to a lilim. Be gone! Forever!”

She slammed the door in Cassandra's face.

Cassandra stood open-mouthed for several minutes. They did this to her? How? Why?

She needed answers, and pounded on Luna's door again. And again. And again until, ten minutes later, security arrived, to escort -translate: throw- her out.

Cassandra leaned against the granite sides of Beckendorf Tower, trying to stay out of the cold rain, though wetness already flowed down her cheeks. What had she done to deserve this? The response she received was a faraway lightning flash and a thunder roll.

Nothing made sense. What would she do now? How would she even get home? She had no ID, no money. She didn't even have her clothes!

Her back stiffened. “Fuck Luna! Fuck everyone!” She'd walk back -barefoot and in this ridiculous kimono- if it came down to it.

The universe wasn't entirely against her; she hailed a cab and convinced the driver she was good for the fare. As they drove, she noticed the man spending a lot of time peering into his rear view mirror. What the hell was he looking at?

After a moment she realized what - an exotic young woman, wearing a silk kimono, made clingy by the rain.

'Fuck him too!' she thought. Things would be different now she had some answers, dammit. Now she ... Well, what could she do?

'C'mon, Cassie, think!'

She free associated; she : find someone with Mob connections and put out a hit on Luna, or ...give the GPS coordinates to the military so they can lob a smart bomb on her penthouse ...or ...or ...sick the Jehovah's Witnesses on Luna's ass until she agreed to change her back to Cody.

Cassandra sighed. Her realistic options seemed sparse, but still, she now had something more concrete than a feeling the stars were punishing her. She knew who changed her. Since they changed her, they could change her back. She just had to figure out how to make them do it.

She had another research assignment to plow into too:

lilim.

~o~O~o~

“Luna? I misspoke.”

Jayden's voice boomed down the penthouse hallway. “I drew more psi from the buttered popcorn than from Beth.”

High spirits buoyed Jayden, despite an impressive list of reasons to be in a mood as foul as the weather:

He was near psi empty and had been so since Lori's passing. He had endured two hours with the bland -no, flavorless- Beth and suffered through an insipid vampire movie. Beth had then ordered him to assume the likeness of Robert Pattinson and affect a British accent the entire limo ride home. Finally, the violent storm now striking the city would inhibit his flying, and Jayden craved his time in the air; all lilim did.

Yet he was giddy as he roamed their halls, for he knew a powerful and activated srryn must await him. Since his sips from Cassandra in the limo, he had thought of nothing else. At last he understood what humans felt when they craved a big juicy steak. Lilims subsisted on a diet of vegetables and psi, but the thought of Cassandra made him lick his lips.

“Luna? Where are you?”

He guessed the answer, and headed to Lori's room, where he found her hunched over Lori's desk and crying.

“Where is she?”

“Gone. Lori's truly gone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Her essence. I've sensed Lori in here every day since her death, until that horrid beast came in. She killed her!”

Jayden shook his head; even Luna's borderline madness would not dampen his humor. “I'll have Maintenance check the filtration system first thing tomorrow.”

It was Luna's turn to be perplexed. “Filtration? I don't understand.”

“Insanity must be in the air. Earlier, Beth came whining to me about a voice talking to her in here. She babbled something about it wanting to enter her.”

“She came in here? My orders were explicit; that simpering fool was not to set foot in this room.”

“Her pea-sized brain is easily bored and she wandered in. Nothing was harmed, I'm sure. Few of Lori's books are illustrated, so I doubt she touched them. Something scared her though, because she came screaming to me; she thought something tried to possess her.”

“Then if Beth was in here, it might not have been Cassandra at all!”

At the mention of her name, Jayden's psi lust reasserted. “Speaking of Cassie, where is our new srryn? I must feed.”

Before Luna answered, a huge thunder rumble clattered the tower. Jayden peered out the window to the lightning display on the horizon.

“The main storm cell has hit at last; no flying tonight. Ah well. Where is she?”

“I...” A lightning flash flickered the lights, and the windows shook again with a booming. “...sent her away.”

“You WHAT?”

“I threw her out, because I thought she caused Lori's essence to disappear.”

“Threw …her …out…into …the …storm?”

Jayden snapped. The stress from Lori's death, his own meager psi levels, and now Luna's unbalanced behavior overwhelmed him.

He resisted his first urge, to leap on his mate and drain her of psi. Past that, feral need ruled and he raced out the door to their roof stairway. His mind's last cogent thought was to recall Cody Elias' address. Then, pure hunger drove him to leap into the storm. A voice called from below for him to stop, but he couldn't. One goal burned his mind - find Cassandra and drink from her.

Jayden did not get far. Thirty seconds into his frenzied flight, a micro-burst from the storm slammed him into a nearby building window and punctured the place where his black wing membrane attached to his metacarpal bone. The pain shot adrenaline into his body, temporarily replacing his psi lust, and his mind cleared enough for him to see his situation.

He was airborne still, but losing altitude. Landing was not an option, because he was completely psi drained and unable to project a human likeness.

Banking into the wind hard, he used his good wing to turn and head for their tower. Though lashed by wind and rain, he fought to close the distance. His point of reference was a gargoyle corner of the tower, lit by the strobe lightning flashes.

Though the pain from his damaged wing threatened to drag him into unconsciousness, he fought on, and, was relieved when a lightning flash revealed he had closed the distance to twenty yards. Then he heard a tearing sound, and new pain rocketed to his brain, bringing blackness.

~o~O~o~

Luna watched in horror as Jayden entered an uncontrolled spiral. She raced to where she thought he might land to try to catch him, but the tip of his good wing clipped a gargoyle figurine, sending Jayden spinning into a utility duct with a sickening crunch.

She scooped her broken and bleeding mate in her arms and bounded down the stairs to their bedroom, where she laid him on their bed.

His breaths came in shallow rasps. Death was upon him; a lilim senses these things. She grew frantic; she had lost Lori, she could not lose Jayden!

Psi. He needed a large psi dose. With enough of the energy, lilim recovered from the most gruesome of injuries.

Luna dashed to the guest bedroom and dragged Beth from her facebook chatting.

“But ...he has already stuck his thingy in me and I'm tired,” Beth bleated.

“He's hurt,” Luna growled. “You will give him all the psi you can.”

The moment she pulled the girl into the bedroom Luna realized her mistake. She had left the lights on. Beth viewed Jayden in his true form for the first time.

The shrieks began.

After several minutes of blood curdling, mouth foaming howls, Luna realized the girl was not going to regain rational thought. Out of options, she sent an energy pulse into Beth to induce unconsciousness. She would have to erase Beth's memory later, or risk her spiraling into insanity.

‘This is my fault, my doing,’ her mind screamed.

Panicked and crazed, Luna took Jayden's janji in her hands and willed what little psi she had into her mate. He stabilized slightly, but soon her meager stores were exhausted.

“One choice left.”

Now weak from psi loss herself, she stumbled for her purse, yanked out her cell phone, scrolled to the 'calls received' screen, and jabbed the call button. After several rings, a soft voice answered, thank Lilith!

“It's Luna. Come back now! Jayden is hurt; he won't live without you. Please please come to me, you are my last hope.”

She weeped her next words:

“I need you, Cassandra. I choose you as my srryn.”

End Part 2.

Cassandra has at last learned who transformed her: mythical demons called lilim; the incubi and succubi of horror stories. Luna now promises to change her back to Cody if Cassandra helps save Jayden. Cassandra doesn't know if she can trust Luna, but since she figures her 'condition' can't get any worse, she has nothing to lose. She couldn't be more mistaken.

 
The Lilim Tales - Part 3
by Armond

---

 

Author's note: for a cleaner pdf version of this story, please click here.
 
 

Part 3.

~o~O~o~

8.

The research was fascinating! Enlightening! And ...useless.

Cassandra ran 'Jaiden and Luana Lundquist', 'Jayden and Luna Longaine' and any possible variation she could contrive through every search engine known to man. The hits she gathered were a history walk into the 20th Century - a 'Jaide Lundquist' was a diplomat with the South African delegation that signed the original League of Nations charter in 1919. Curiously, 'Luana Lundquist' was listed as an attaché to the Swedish delegation at the UN Charter signing in 1945.

'Jayden Lundquist', she learned, served on the board of several multinational corporations, most recently as the CEO of Ascent Investments. Cassandra managed to Google image a blurry picture - a silver-haired man wearing a navy two-button Brooks Brothers suit. His jaw line looked so much like Jayden's, she thought they could be related; Daddy and Junior?

Luna's name, showed hits as the owner of dozens of high-powered media publications and outlets.

“Fabulous. I have a surfer dude -slash- limo driver whose father is king of Wall Street, and a crazy bitch who gives Rupert Murdoch a run for his money.”

The term 'lilim' produced bizarre disturbing links, to demons called incubus and succubus and their mother Lilith. Cassandra had never put stock in such myths, but then, here she sat, living proof that the impossible could happen.

Even if those myths were true, they offered nothing to explain her sex change. After two fruitless hours, Cassandra's head nodded to the keyboard; the day had seemed a year long and her brain circuits were fried.

Her cell phone ring tone -Bad to the Bone- jolted her awake.

“H-hello?” Her face felt funny; she ran her hand over her cheek and felt the key imprints. She also discovered she had drolled on the keys. Great.

The panic in Luna voice dragged Cassandra back to consciousness.

“Yeah, Ms. Longaine? Was there some name you forgot to call me, or did 'piece of shit cover it?'”

Luna was …crying? Sobbing something about Jayden being injured? Worry blanketed her, though she did not know why.

“Whoa, slow down…what happened? God, Luna. Call 911, or-”

Cassandra did not catch her answer, because Luna turned hysterical, screaming how Cassandra must save him.

“Okay, this is insanity, plain and simple. I'll call and have an ambulance sent to-”

Cassandra listened unbelieving to Luna's next words, answering after several moments of silence.

“Are you serious? Because, I would drive at warp speed through a hurricane for that. Alert your security guy, 'Bob', to let me in; you know the helpful lad who tossed me out?”

Cassandra clicked off her phone. She was stoked; this was the moment she had waited for since her change. She would throw on jeans and t-shirt, grab keys and wallet, and hit it.

Wait! She needed extra clothes too, Cody clothes, because Luna promised if she helped Jayden, she would change Cassandra back, tonight. The end of this nightmare had come!

~o~O~o~

The thunderstorm had taken up residence in the city, and continued to hammer away with lightning, thunder, and sheets of rain.

So, warp speed to Luna's was downgraded to impulse power, and the extra transit time brought her down to earth. Not all the way to ground, but close enough to question what she was doing.

“Think, Cassie! Does this make sense? A) They change you for reasons unknown. B) Jayden, the limo man, is hurt and so, C) instead of rushing him to the hospital, Luna calls you to do …what? And D) if you do this ...whatever ...for Jayden, she changes you back?

Right, and, oh look! The next street sign you see ahead says 'gullible'.”

Ultimately, she kept driving, because what did she have to lose? If Luna didn't change her back, then she was no worse off than now, right?

The surreal-ness hit hard when she entered Luna's building lobby, and the security guard -she named him 'Bob' because he looked like one- smiled and waved her through. Like they were old friends. Like he had no recollection of shoving her out the door just hours ago, threatening to sic the police on her.

The elevator ride up creeped her out too. The overhead lights flicked, making her wonder if she was going to be trapped. And the elevator interior reminded her of a mausoleum; she could not for the life of her, figure out why it needed to be arched and NBA player tall.

Cassandra knocked several times on the penthouse door, but no one came. Finding it open, she let herself in. Her footsteps echoed down the dark hallway; had the storm knocked out the power?

“Hello?”

“In my bedroom. Hurry!”

Luna's voice sounded …off, like multi-toned reeds vibrating. Cassandra followed it down the penthouse hallway, and the lightning flashes lit the way. She stopped in front of the doubled doors at the hallway's end. Even the lightning failed to penetrate that gloom.

“Ms. Longaine?”

“Cassandra! Thank Lilith you came! Jayden is dying and needs your psi now!”

Cassandra could just make out Luna's outline; a blacker shape in the shadowy dark, and ...something was wrong; her outline seemed too big.

“My …Psi? What's that?”

“Psi is energy that you -you alone- produce when your body is stimulated. Jayden needs to feed from you to regenerate. This is why we changed you, because -as a srryn- you produce energy we lilim live on.”

“You said that word earlier; lilim. They are supposedly sex demons, but that can’t be true.” Cassandra gave a nervous laugh.

“In your genetically altered body, when you are stimulated, you produce huge psi amounts. Jayden needs a massive dose now!”

“Wait ...wait ...” Cassandra puzzled it together - Psi. Stimulation. Sex. Demons. She wasn't escaping the nightmare, she was diving in deeper! What the fuck had they done to her?

A sinewy blue hand shot from the black and clamped her wrist.

“I've fed him all the psi I could, more than I should have. Do not be scared; I won't hurt you.”

“I don't know what you want!” Cassandra yelped. “Change me back, please! I ...won't tell anyone about this. I promise.”

“No 'changing back' for you, srryn. You will do this.”

“Do what? Let me go!”

She fought to pull away, but even as Cody, she couldn’t have broken Luna's steel grip. As little Cassandra? Her efforts were laughable. Luna yanked her into the shadows and pinned her to a wall.

“We do not have time for this, srryn.”

Luna shoved a fat rose crystal between Cassandra's lips and sweet syrup splashed on her tongue. She tried to spit the liquid out, but Luna's hand clamped her mouth; she gagged instead, swallowing in coughing gulps.

“C'taia, undiluted; this will hit you fast.”

Cassandra continued thrashing until a twin rush of lethargy and euphoria blanketed her, spinning her mind to cotton candy. Her legs buckled at the same moment she giggled. Luna held her to keep her from falling. Then she unsnapped Cassandra's jeans and let them drop to the floor.

“Jayden and I are so drained we cannot project a human image. You will see us in our true state. As you said, humans name us demons. Do you want a blindfold?”

“Mmm? Don't …know...” Cassandra couldn't think straight; she couldn't think much of anything beyond how tingly her body felt. “Ummm, what eggzactly are you doing to me?”

“What lilim always do to their srryn,” Luna answered, as she slipped Cassandra's panties off.

Cassandra giggled again; everything was suddenly hilarious.

“A zillion natural women in town and you call the babe who used to be a man for sexual CPR?” She snort giggled, and continued, “seriously, you turned me into an Everready sex bunny?”

“As funny as it seems, you alone can save him.”

She lifted the petite girl and carried her to where Jayden lay. Luna switched on the bedside lamp. She watched as the girl's eyes swept over her, first taking in her nonhuman face, then her black feathered wings. Luna braced for the inevitable screams. But instead she heard:

“Looona! You are an angel! Where's my damn sketch book when I need it?”

“Save him, Cassandra, save my mate!”

Cassandra turned to the bloody gray figure with crumpled wings; srryn instinct licked in.

“Jayden!”

Her hands shot out to touch him. When they did, a jolt of her energy flowed to him, and his eyes fluttered open.

“What's ...happening...?” Jayden whispered.

“Hush, my love. Our srryn is here for you,” Luna said, as she placed the girl next to him. “Quick, take his janja, -that's his tail tip- into your vagina and-”

“-My what? Ohhh yeaahh, that thingy down where my ooold thingy used to be ...this is … how it works?”

“Yes,” Luna said, “Trust me, you are going to love this.”

Cassandra took his tail in her hands. The tip was bulbous, smooth and about the size of a golf ball. And translucent blue.

“Hurry!” Luna pleaded.

“This is all...” she sighed, instead of saying 'too much.' Her hands started to shake. “I'm scared.”

“Don't be, darling, relax, and enjoy. This is as natural for a srryn as breathing.”

Luna guided the tip of Jayden's tail to Cassandra's vaginal folds. On contact, the tip pulsed blue, and a buzz -a mind blowing buzz- looped through her body.

“ohhhhhhh …so …um, not so bad…”

Gingerly, she slid pulsing tip between her folds and in, and felt the janja hum alive, throbbing. Her tingle buzz amped to a cascade of pleasure.

“Ahhhhmmmmm.”

“Yes!” Luna said. “He needs a massive hit to heal, as large as you can produce. I must stimulate you fully. Which means I am going to enter you with my janja.”

Cassandra grasped what Luna said, but couldn’t speak the simple question 'where.' Any sound other than moaning was beyond her.

Luna sensed her question. “Since your vagina is already filled...”

Luna pulled Cassandra to an 'all fours' position on the bed.

“...I'm taking you from behind.”

Her janja slipped into Cassandra's arousal-lubricated anus, and when Luna's tip started pulsing, the girl lost whatever shred of rational thought she'd clung to, surfing wave after orgasmic wave.

Luna tried to sip as little of Cassandra's psi as she could, but Jayden was right; Cassandra was the mother lode, and tasted fantastic.

At that instant, she became addicted to the girl.

~o~O~o~

9.

Jayden stretched his arms over his head. He felt weak and sore but whole. How had this happened?

He turned at the movement next to him, to find Luna's face ...kissing him.

“Are you mad? We shouldn't be this close.”

Luna silenced him with a finger to his lips. “Do you feel the feeding urge?”

No! For the first time since Lori died, he was psi sated. He shook his head.

“I am full too,” she whispered.

“But how? Beth could never have given such a charge. And why are we whispering?”

“Because we don't want to wake the srryn.” Luna raised a feathered black wing to show Cassandra curled and sleeping beside her.

“Cassie!” Of course, that explained the amazing psi. “This is fantastic news!”

He ran a hand along Cassandra's dark golden thigh and she answered with a small purring sound. Srryn purring. “And fully activated. She is magnificent!”

Luna sighed. “I do not know how she will be.”

“What do you mean?”

“We had months to prepare Lori for the Change, and she embraced it. With Cassandra, we have rammed every step of the process -her gender change, her new nature, everything- down her throat, including activating her last night. I had no choice; you would have died if I hadn't.”

Jayden shrugged. “She will adjust; srryns love their life.”

“Will she?” Luna ran a hand over Cassandra's smooth rump. “I tricked her to come here, drugged her, and then took her. Her srryn instincts are working fine, but the human part of her consciousness is in shock. Once that fades, another emotion is bound to kick in. How could it be anything but hate?”

~o~O~o~

Being fuck drunk didn't leave a hangover, apparently, because when Cassandra awoke, she felt the best she had in her life, even experiencing an after tremor of pleasure.

“Mmmm …Jesus.”

“Good morning, srryn.”

Cassandra opened her eyes to see Luna beside her on the bed. Luna projected her 'human' image, dressed in black silk pants and blouse. Cassandra scanned her surroundings: in the light of day, she found she lay on a bed three times as large as a king; it seemed like a football field. An image bubbled up in her mind, of creatures with huge wings, which explained the need for size.

Human survival instinct screamed ‘flee this creature’, but her new srryn nature countermanded with another directive. With shaking hands, she touched Luna's face.

“Are you well?”

Luna nodded, taking Cassandra's hand and squeezed.

“And …Jayden …he is better? Do I need to-”

Luna shook her head. “He is well, and resting in his bedroom.”

“Why did I ask that? Something forced me to …before I did anything else…”

“A Srryn's first thoughts are for her lilim. Thanks to you, he is healing. We owe you much.”

Images from last night flooded her brain, and she yanked her hands from Luna's.

“You lied to me.”

“I had no choice, I had to-”

“-You fucked me, and …I liked it.” Cassandra drew her knees close to her chest, lowered her head. “God help me, I loved it.”

Luna did not know what to say. Her feelings for the girl were in flux; she had saved her mate -no, saved them both- and for that alone she would be indebted to the srryn forever. And she craved the girl's taste; Cassandra was a drug to her.

“Change me back,” Cassandra rasped. “You promised!”

“I cannot. There is no reversal process. You will remain as you are for the next hundred years.”

“You fuckers!” When Cassandra raised her head, Luna saw tears glistening in her eyes. “I need …to get out of here. Where are my clothes?”

Luna sighed. “Modesty in a new srryn is like dew on summer grass, jeweled and fleeting.”

“Screw that, gimme my goddamn clothes,” Cassandra growled, as she searched for a top sheet to cover her chest. “Every fucking brainwashed thought I have is of you and Jayden. I am fighting urges telling me to wrap my arms around you. To comfort you. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?”

“Please Cassandra, calm down. Let me explain what has happened …and why. This is not what you think-

“-What I think,” Cassandra squealed, “is I need to get the fuck out of here! You have twenty-four hours to change me back. After that, I go to the police. Clear enough, Ms. Longaine?”

“That would not be advisable. First, with your story? The police will lock you away for psychiatric evaluation. Second, as the day progresses, the urge for you to feed us, the szen, will grow. The szen is a sexual burning, and will be stronger today because of Jayden's injury. If a srryn goes more than a couple of days without feeding her lilim, she becomes …erm…feral with desire.”

What was this monster telling her, that she would go into a mindless heat if she didn't fuck them?

“No, no, no!”

She jumped from the bed, ran to her folded clothes on a dresser, and struggled into them.

“Never call or see me again, unless it is to change me back.”

Luna knew she needed to grab her srryn, caress her, and help her understand. But between her guilt for the way she treated Cassandra and her mourning for Lori, she was paralyzed.

“Don't go! You will be back, Cassandra. The szen will overwhelm you.”

“You are dead wrong; I will never become your mindless…” mindless what? Sex slave? Energy cow? Cassandra had zero understanding of what she was. “…I…I won't. I swear to God I won't. And …I'll buy a gun and ...and shoot you if you come for me. You hear me?”

“You are making this so much harder than it needs to be.”

But with a screamed string of obscenities, Cassandra fled the penthouse. Luna's human projection vanished, and the winged creature slumped over into her bed. Sadness enveloped her and images played in her mind.

Her ache for Lori tore her soul still, but a tide change had come; Luna no longer hated Cassandra, if she ever had. For the first time since Lori's death, she admitted the reverse could be true.

Since Lori’s death, whenever Luna closed her eyes, her beloved’s face appeared.

Every time except now.

For when she shut her eyes this time, she saw Cassandra,

enraptured as she gazed at Rembrandt's paintings,

kneeling before her in her silk kimono, bright-eyed and smiling,

laying in her arms, seeing her true form and calling her an angel.

Luna moaned a word:

“Cassie.”

~o~O~o~

10.

“Is it possible to scream in pleasure and terror at the same time?”

Cody had never been a fan of theoretical discussions and neither was Cassandra now. What she debated was not hypothetical; she was, as far as she could tell, dealing with demons. Yet, Luna had looked so stunning, Cassandra's hands ached to sketch her. And when they entered her ? Her body pleasure-shivered at the memory.

Dawn’s glow greeted her when she stumbled into her apartment. She thought after her change two days ago, things could not get stranger, but now?

What should I do? What can I do?

She considered following through on her threat and buying a gun; maybe she could intimidate them, force them to change her back. The idea seemed stupid the moment she thought it, because, weren't they creatures pulled from horror flick casting, winged, super strong, and possessing weird mind powers?

And she was this tiny thing whose 'power' was to have mind-blowing sex.

“Yeah, that fight would last half a nanosecond.”

More than that, the thought of hurting them felt so wrong, it made her nauseous. Even now, she felt their call; she wanted to run her hands over their bodies. Her instincts told her she could never harm them.

Cassandra growled in frustration. “Fine, then I could ...I could off myself and end this nightmare story. Ha! Then the fucking energy feeders would be up shit creek.”

No, she could not do that, her srryn mind told her, in the tone a parent takes with a petulant child, because that would be hurting them, depriving them of the sustenance they needed to live. This was her duty, her purpose, to care for her lilim.

“Care for them? I never want to see them again! Jesus, they've screwed up my brain!”

Cassandra was about to crawl into bed and curl into a ball when her cell phone rang.

“Hello? ...E-emilie? ...No, I was up and ...hmm? An emergency? You missed your bus?”

Cassandra almost laughed; after last night, Emilie’s ‘emergency’ seemed so mundane. She did not think to respond with a typical Cody ‘sucks to be you' retort after Emilie begged a ride to her work. Instead, her offer of help was instantaneous.

'A srryn is helpful,' whispered a voice in her head. She shook it off, the way a swimmer shakes her head to get water out of the ears.

“S-sure, where do you need to go? Lexington and 12th? Near Market Street, right?”

A plan of action took root in her mind...

“...Great, cause this will work out pretty well for me, too…”

She knew Luna's words rang true; she could feel the urge, the -what had she called it, the szen?- building. Maybe this was like a drug addiction, and if she could get through the next few days without seeing them, she could beat it.

She adjusted her goal downward; she wasn't trying to change back to Cody. No, now all she wanted was to claw her way back to 'human normal.' If anything could take her mind off the szen, she figured her art would.

“…Maya wants me to do another ...er ...I mean do a watercolour of Market Street. See you in 15?”

An instinct -a new one- made Cassandra swing by Starbucks to pick up a latte and muffin for her friend. A dimpled smile lit Emilie's face when Cassandra thrust them to her.

“Mind reader! How did you know I didn't eat this morning?” Emilie said, and chomped into the blueberry muffin. “You are a life saver, by the way. I would have been in deep shit at work if I came in late today. Attorneys …ugh! Such prima donnas!”

They drove a while without talking, as Emilie attacked the hot gooey pastry. At some point, Cassandra realized the munching and slurping sounds had stopped and Emilie stared at her with eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“You look, er, healthy this morning; I swear you are glowing,” Emilie said, then her lips turned up in a sly smile. “Did you …get a little last night, girlfriend?”

Get a little? Holy shit! Understatement alert! She felt something in her lower body clenching at the memory, a something she struggled to identify. In her defense, it was a new body part …her pussy? It felt wet and tingly.

“Ah ha! You aren't denying it, eh? So you did!” Emilie said, and then pointed to an office building ahead on the left. “Ahead there — the reddish looking one, where hours of glorious document scanning awaits.”

Emilie jumped out when Cassandra pulled next to the curb. “Thanks again for the ride, the coffee, and the scoop. I expect -nay, demand- a full report on your adventures later.”

Full report? Cassandra wondered how that would go down. 'Um yeaaaah, I did have sex last night, for the first time as a female. I lost my virginity to two demons, who double fucked me, until I blacked out from orgasms.'

The flashback —or feedback- of what the lilim did to her caused a soft purr to escape her lips.

“Cassie? Are you okay?”

Cassandra realized her friend still watched her through the open car door. Shit.

“Y-yeah, why?”

“I don't know; for a second you looked like you had an org-” Emilie shook her head.

“Whatever you're on, girl, I need me some.”

~o~O~o~

With a determination of pure will, she focused on her task, despite her growing ...heat.

She set up her easel close to the granite walls of the Fourth National Bank building. That way, no one could come up behind her and startle her with a 'whatcha doing, painting?' brilliant observation. Plein air paintings presented a different set of problems to studio paintings.

It was a bright fall day, and at 9:30 A.M. the shadows of Market Square were still long, but shrinking. This was the time of day she had painted the scene as Cody, and she wanted to duplicate the conditions.

A breeze rustled the leaves of the paperbark maples that lined the street. The deep red of the leaves against the orange bark already gave the trees a fiery feel, and when the leaves shimmered, they morphed into swirls of energy.

She blinked; she had never seen them that way before.

“Okay, as Cody we started with the main shapes first, then we filled in the details. So as Cassie we do the same.”

Cassandra inventoried the main shapes; the tan Farmer's Market building with its clock tower, the white and angular art deco 'Arena' movie theater, parked cars, and people.

She blinked again. The people …didn't look like people. They were energy swirls too; each different colors, and she wondered if they signified different moods.

Even the buildings pulsed color.

It hit her: she wasn't seeing forms.

She had never seen like this! Never! What had changed? A lot, obviously, but what would do this?

She loved painting as Cody. She loved painting now.

What was it about Cody that sucked the life from his paintings? Or, what did she have now that let her experience everything so …alive?

Cassandra neither knew nor cared. The fire in her head trumped the szen in her body.

She grabbed her brush …and painted.

~o~O~o~

“Ms. Soutine?” Meredith held out her hand. “Meredith Benson, Trend Magazine. Thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”

Maya led Meredith past the rows of easels to her office in the back of the studio.

“Excuse the mess,” Maya said, motioning for Meredith to sit. “Artists you know.”

Meredith grinned; the room did seem more collage than office. “As I said on the phone, we want to do a spread using Cassie, and I need to run background check.”

Maya squinted at the woman before her. They were roughly the same age, and Meredith looked like she was managing her forties well; her brunette hair looked natural and free of gray. She also sensed from Meredith's clear eyes she could like this woman. So why did she have the feeling Meredith wasn't being truthful?

“Yes, about that, do senior Trend editors do the background checks like this? I would have thought someone junior could have done this over the phone.”

“Normally that's true,” Meredith said. “But this 'spread' is the pet project of the owner and editor-in-chief Luna Longaine, and so I decided to handle it. How long have you known Cassie?”

“A couple of days. She is quite talented, much more so than her cousin whom I’ve known longer. Their styles are similar; uncannily so. I'll know more when I see what she does with an assignment I've given her.”

Meredith had hoped for more information from Maya about the mysterious young woman. She had already checked Facebook, MySpace, numerous search engines, and had learned nothing; Cassandra Albornos was the Ungooglable Woman.

Maya's eyes narrowed. “Something is going on here; I sense it. What aren't you telling me?”

Meredith leaned back in her chair. Maya was sharp; time to level.

“Something is different about her that…” Meredith struggled with how to phrase it, so Maya wouldn't think she was crazy. Well, she will think that anyway; what Meredith had to figure was a way to phrase it so Maya wouldn't think her bat-shit insane.

“Cassie is in grave danger. There are beings who would cause her harm. I'm trying to warn her, but I don't have an address, or phone number.”

“Beings? What do you mean by that?”

Meredith pushed her business card across the desk to Maya. “Call me. Anytime, night or day. I must talk with her.”

Meredith left Maya to wonder what the hell had just happened.

The practical part of her mind sent up red flags; Maya's first thought was she might be dealing with a lunatic. But -what had Cody called it? Her 'new agey' side- told her this woman was not crazy, and something bizarre was happening. Cassie was due to return to her class this afternoon. Maya would talk with her, and see what happened next.

Meredith's words echoed in her mind. Cassandra was, without a doubt, the most exotic creature she had ever seen. Yet when she examined her self-portrait sketch, she could have sworn…

In addition to her formidable artistic talent, Maya possessed a knack for art forensics; she could recognize a vast array of artists by their brushstrokes and style.

Maya's first impression when she looked at Cassandra's self-portrait sketch was that Cody had drawn it for her.

Now she contemplated a far stranger explanation.

~o~O~o~

11.

“Time. Pencils down.”

Cassandra stopped her sketching, looked down, and grinned. Gesture drawings had never been 'her thing', but they were a necessary warm up to a sketching class, just as a runner needed to stretch before he dashed off. After this morning's painting session, she captured the motion and energy with ease.

Maya had been standing behind Cassandra and voiced her agreement.

“You're in the groove already, Cassie. Excellent.”

Cassandra blushed at the praise; she wasn't used to it. The moment passed, because, after Maya arranged the model in a different position, Cassandra was off again, captured by the lines and contours. Two hours flew by without her realizing it; nor was she -thankfully- overwhelmed by her desires for Luna and Jayden. When the inspiration was on her, the szen faded to dull burn.

She sensed Maya hovering about her more than the other students, but figured the extra attention was because she was the 'new kid.'

After the session ended, Cassandra picked up the two paintings she'd brought with her and moved to the back of the line of students waiting to talk with Maya.

Emile was in front of Cassandra and she cocked an eyebrow when she turned to her.

“C'mon, Cass, dish; I've been waiting all day to hear about your tryst.”

“Tryst?” Cassandra had never heard the word. “What's that?”

“You know, affair, liaison,” Emilie leaned over and whispered, “do’in the dirty.”

“Oh.” Cassandra’s cheeks warmed, and she hoped her new dark coloring camouflaged it. She couldn't help it; Emilie's words unlocked the heat Cassandra had fought all day to cage. Her lips started moving before her brain could intercede.

“It's not what you think. These inhuman creatures have changed me in ways you cannot imagine and control me; they make me have orgasms so they can eat my energy.”

“Cassie? …what are you talking about, are …are you all right?”

Shit! Why did she say that? The look on Emilie's face spoke volumes; if Cassandra told the truth, people would think she was a complete whack job. She would have three days ago if she had heard her words coming from someone else's mouth.

She plastered a big fake grin on her face and tried to undo the damage.

“Psych! God, you should have seen the look on your face. The real thing is this: I …came to town just a couple of days ago, and already I'm in a relationship. I have no idea where it's going but-”

“Okay, who is he? Now you got me hooked. I quit my second job and am going to actually paint tonight-

“-Congratulations!” Cassandra gave her a fist bump.

“Thanks. Since I’m painting tonight, I can’t do dinner. But I must hear more about your new boytoy. Free for lunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah, how bout we grab fish tacos at Wahoos?”

“What is it with your family?” Emilie said.

“Eh?”

“That's Cody's favorite place. I elect you to drive, since, um, you have the car.”

The conversation ended then, because Maya was ready to talk with Emilie. Emilie gave Cassandra a quick goodbye after she asked a composition question. Which left Maya and Cassandra alone in the studio.

“I'm anxious to speak with you,” Maya said. “Is that the Market Square assignment?”

Cassandra nodded. “Why have you wanted to talk to me?”

Maya's smile smoothed the lines on her face and lit her eyes. “Because you present a mystery. Did you bring Cody's painting? I want to look at it first.”

Cassandra nodded and lifted it up. They looked at it in silence.

“His composition, color manipulation, and brush stroke technique are competent…”

Cassandra heard Maya’s implied 'but'.

“Let's see yours.”

For a second she was scared; what if it was no better? What if she hadn't improved? She bit her lip and brought it up.

“WOW!” The word burst from Maya's lips.

“Wow? Really?”

“Yeah! Double wow! The energy is amazing! God, girl, you've burst boundaries here! Well, scratch that theory.”

“What theory?”

“I'm a bit of a free spirit thinker, and having watched you in class today, I noticed you have the exact same pencil strokes as Cody. Not similar; the same. My belief is an artist's strokes are like fingerprints, no two alike. After I talked with a magazine editor I met today who was asking about you, I developed the crazy theory you weren't Cody’s cousin. I thought, somehow -magically, I guess- you were Cody. This blows my theory all kablooey.”

Cassandra couldn't breathe; Maya had guessed it! Or ...almost had.

“How does my painting …um, blow the theory?”

“Because Cody could never have painted something like this. This is a level he will never reach. Unless ...hey! Why weren't your first words something like 'that's a crazy theory, Maya?'”

“Can I ...ask a favor?” Cassandra whispered.

“Sure, hun, what is it?”

“Don't say this to anyone else. I'm begging you. When I make sense of things, I will tell you if I can. I promise. But PLEASE keep this between you and me.”

“Wait! Are you saying it's true?” Maya's mouth could not have hung open any wider.

Cassandra didn't answer. Instead she gathered her paintings and materials and bolted to the studio's glass doors. Outside, the autumn sun was setting, and the light framed her. Maya blinked as she stared at the girl, because, in the direct sunlight, her dark golden skin sparkled.

~o~O~o~

12.

She was a caged animal, stalking from one side of her apartment to the other.

She had returned from Maya's class hours ago, worried by Maya's insights, but euphoric over her praise. Her painting was good. No, it was special, a breakthrough for her. Maya raved about it!

Her high fizzled as her body's desires redoubled their assault. Images of Luna, of Jayden filled her mind. She needed to touch them.

“No! God dammit, NO! I am not their sex pet.”

Even as she spoke those words, she realized her hands were rubbing her pussy. Again! At some point in the last half hour her clothes had disappeared from her body, and she couldn't remember how or when.

Jayden's crumpled figure flashed again in her mind, and she howled in frustration: he was wounded. He needed her. Luna too. She felt her body's sexual heat, her 'psi', revving up.

“No,” she whimpered. “This is not. My. Duty. They forced this on me.”

She tried everything to break her rising arousal, but nothing worked. Cold showers weren't cutting it, for even ice cold water tingled her skin. Sleeping pills were a bust too; her body burned right through them.

She remembered her reading of The Odyssey, and Odysseus' solution to the Sirens, lashing his body to the ship's mast. Maybe she could tie herself down, to stop from running to them or, at the least, continuously frigging herself.

Except …the image of being tied up thrilled her more. What’s wrong with me?

She fell to the floor and curled into fetal position, breathing hard. From somewhere she heard her cell phone ring. She managed to crawl to it and click it on speaker.

“Cassie? Tell me what is going on with you.”

“Looona! Help!”

“Come, my srryn. Come now. Can you drive?”

“N-no ...can't …”

“Don't be scared, darling, I will fly to you-”

“Hurry. Need you.”

“I am coming.”

~o~O~o~

Luna found Cassandra still curled on the floor. The girl's breathing was fast and shallow, and when Luna checked her eyes, she found they glowed amber.

“You poor thing! I never should have let you leave me today.”

At Luna's touch, Cassandra moaned, “Loona!”

Luna carried her to a nearby couch, laid her down, and kissed her. She tasted the girl's psi from her lips, hot and rich. If she turned off the lights in the room, Cassandra would be glowing.

Luna did not want what was to follow to seem like a 'feeding' to Cassandra, but rather an act of love. She kissed every inch of Cassandra's body. When her lips reached her clit, Luna slid her janji into Cassandra's vagina.

She held the girl to her chest as the delicious psi poured in. A long sigh escaped Cassandra that evolved into purring. Cassandra's eyes closed in an orgasmic pleasure loop and a lazy smile played on her face.

“You poor creature,” Luna whispered. She kissed the top of Cassandra's head, which made her purr louder. Her longing for Lori had not lessened, but she no longer viewed Cassandra as replacing her. Instead, she supplemented her, carried on for her first srryn. And there was something familiar about the energy she tasted from 'her Cassie.' She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was comforting.

“You were right, Lori, about everything,” Luna said as she clutched Cassandra in her arms.

After several minutes, she saw the amber glow of Cassandra's eyes had lessened. Her breathing had deepened as well. Luna knew Cassandra was not yet released from the szen urge; she was still filled with power that needed to be fed to Jayden. The girl's own words confirmed it:

“Take me to him …please!”

At least she was speaking in sentences again. “I will. I wish I could fly you, but I can carry but twenty extra pounds and still fly. Though as filled as I am with psi, I'm tempted to try. What car do you drive? Please don't say the words 'Mini Cooper'.”

Human projection or no, lilims couldn't defy the laws of physics, they couldn't squish into tight spaces.

Cassandra blinked at her, willing her pleasure addled brain to retrieve the information. “328i.”

Luna hoped she would say said something like an SUV, but a BMW sedan would work, if she lowered the backseats down and draped her wings onto the enlarged cargo space.

“Let's go home, Cassie. Put on some clothes; you need to try to pass for human when you are outside.”

“Clothes?” Cassandra blinked again.

Luna chuckled. “We lilim have a saying: 'a srryn is parted from her clothes faster than a human from his gold.'”

Luna gathered Cassandra's jeans and t-shirt and dressed her. Then, spotting the girl's sketchbook, she took it also. Her new srryn was an artist, she remembered and would perhaps want to draw when the szen heat passed? Luna would have one of her rooms converted into a studio.

Luna felt a tug on her arm.

“Jayden. Need.”

Cassandra's eyes glowed bright amber again from the szen.

“Of course, darling, I will take you to him”

There was much she needed to do for Cassandra, and much to learn. But she had so mangled Cassandra's srryn initiation, she wondered if the girl could ever feel anything for her other than srryn duty.

Luna accused Cody of being despicable, yet it was she who won that title. She felt a soft hand on her cheek.

“Loona? Are you well? May I help you?”

Though she knew this was pure srryn instinct talking, the knowledge did little to salve the guilt burning in Luna's chest.

~o~O~o~

“Lilith!”

Jayden moaned the word; Cassandra tasted so good! Another couple of days of this psi diet would find him up and flying. And just twenty-four hours ago, he hurtled to ground and almost died. Amazing! What a srryn! The other lilims were sure to be envious.

“I wasn't able to thank you last night; I owe you my life.”

Cassandra nodded in return. She didn’t know what to say; part of her -the part controlled by her new hardwiring- was thrilled to hear the praise from her lilim.

Sighing, she raised her knees and held them to her chest. After the szen ended and her human consciousness returned , she realized how exhausted she was. She guessed it was midnight, but she didn't know; all her days and nights had blurred together after her change.

“Come, Cassie.”

Cassandra looked up, to see Luna framed in Jayden's bedroom. Something told her she had to obey.

“okay.” Her voice was plaintive and soft.

Jayden heard the sadness. He guessed Luna was right; Lori's journey had been so different. He felt a guilt twinge but then shrugged. What could he do? Luna would get her feeling right; srryns always bonded closer to the female lilim.

When Cassandra reached her, the winged creature swept her into her arms and carried her to Lori's room. She placed her on the day bed and sat next to her.

“Your struggle against the szen today was a terrible ordeal for a srryn to endure, Cassie. I am so sorry; I did not prepare you, and you suffered for it. Do you fight your change still?”

“No,” Cassandra sobbed.

She wanted to fight it; oh how she longed to. But after the pure pleasure she received from Luna and Jayden last night and tonight, she knew she couldn't; humanity had nothing like this ecstasy.

Nothing.

“I am your fuck unit.” She spat the words. “Where do I stay when I'm not reporting for duty? In a refrigerator or something?”

“Stop speaking so! You are not a 'fuck unit'; this is supposed to be an extraordinary life you've landed in,” Luna said.

“Oh? You feed off me like I'm a ...a kind of milk cow, or psi cow ...and my sole purpose is to service you -that's what the little brainwashing voices keep whispering in my head- so how am I not livestock to you?”

“You have this backwards, Cassie. It is our duty to care for you and make you happy. We serve you, for without you, we die. And we must fulfill your desires, because the greater your pleasure, the more potent and better tasting your psi.”

“Cows are fattened before they are slaughtered, to make their meat taste better. How is this different? How am I different?”

Luna stared down through the green eyes of her little srryn and into her bleeding soul. What could she do? Lori had welcomed her new life with joy, and their partnering had been glorious.

Lori! How she missed her old srryn.

Yet here lay another bright-eyed srryn in her arms. Maybe she would never love her as she had Lori, but she did care for her, and her Turn had started with disaster and suffering. True, Jayden acted rashly, but Jayden was, well, Jayden, a typical male lilim. It was she who made this worse by rejecting Cassandra -unfairly- because she couldn’t let go of Lori.

How could she right things? What should she say?

A lilim’s first duty to a new born srryn is to explore the srryn's sexual fantasies, to learn which buttons to push to heighten her psi production. While this discovery time between Luna and Lori had been innocent and fun, Cassandra was in no condition to handle the subject. Mentioning it would reinforce her view that she was food.

She could tell Cassandra she was now a full partner in something akin to human marriage, but among three instead of two. Because of the Changing, lilim couples only experienced intimate contact through their srryn, and they were as bound to her as she was to them.

Though true, this wouldn't help Cassandra either, since the 'marriage' had been rammed down her throat. She needed to hear something else; something to give her hope.

“Cassie,” Luna stroked Cassandra's face, “you are not a glorified 'sex cow'. We care for you, little one, and are duty bound to ensure you live a rich, fulfilling life.”

Cassandra barked a harsh laugh. “Sure, and you started by destroying everything about me. Would you go? I want to sleep, and it will be easier if you weren't here. Because, even now the little whispers are telling me to caress your face.”

“You are supposed to sleep with me; a srryn's place at night is beside the female lilim.”

“This is all ...I need more time to ...”

“Okay, Cassie. Sleep here. I'll see you in the morning.”

Though she tried so hard not to, the tears she dammed burst forth.

“Shit! Don't ...don't look at me! Just go!”

“What's wrong?”

“Are you serious?” Cassandra spluttered. “I'm already thinking about our next 'feeding session' and I can't wait. It felt so damn good and I hate myself for it.”

Luna looked across the room to Lori's desk. With the slightest wince of concentration, Lori's journal lifted and floated from the desk to rest on Cassandra's lap.

“Jesus! You just ...I mean ...Jesus!”

“Read this, srryn. First thing tomorrow morning. I order you to.”

Cassandra's head bobbed up and down. Her eyes widened when she realized her new 'programming' also compelled her to obey orders from the lilims. Shit.

“You gonna throw me out again after I do?”

“I'm so sorry I did that Cassie, I … if you could understand what Lori meant to ...” Luna sighed. “Read it, and know what a life as a srryn truly means.”

After Luna left, Cassandra placed the book at the foot of the day bed and lay down. She was so exhausted; the thought didn't occur to her that she was naked and had been so for hours. Even if it had, her programming would have told her a srryn's natural state is au natural.

She didn't have another thought, tumbling instead into a deep sleep, where the face of a young woman filled her dreams.

The dream face was dark gold, a srryn's, and she seemed to be trying to talk to her.

~o~O~o~

13.

The first thing Cassandra did when the morning sunrays licked her face, was to read; the life story of Lorraine Cynthia Aaren.

She would have sought out her lilim, to tend to them, her programming told her, but Luna had given her a direct order, and so read she must.

As she flipped page after page, Lori's life with Luna and Jayden played before her.

Lori was a young 18 when the lilim found her, and she confessed she was scared when they 'proposed'. But Lori was an adventurous soul and the young woman agreed to undergo the srrynah process.

The lilims were young then too, Lori wrote, in their first Turn, and without responsibilities yet, so they 'stretched their wings,' and saw the world. Officially, Lori traveled as Luna's assistant, and they booked eastbound passage to England on the RMS Lusitania in 1911. Which, Lori wrote, was later torpedoed by the Germans in World War One...”

They sailed on the Lusitania? Amazing!

The images of their travels, their life, rolled from Lori's pages and into Cassandra's brain: life in London, Paris, Madrid. Rome. Cassie saw history unfold through Lori's eyes. And not just human history, for Lori wrote of the lilim culture in hiding, too. Their annual ‘Gathering’ in the secret lilim stronghold high atop the Andes. Their songs, their art.

That got Cassandra's attention. Though Lori gave a brief description, Cassandra guessed they expressed their art through some sort of 3D medium. Which blew her mind, her 2D canvas was daunting enough. She wished she could see their works; how amazing that would be.

Their life continued, through the 1930s and 40s, and Cassandra learned Luna had, indeed signed the UN Charter. Through Lori's narrative, Cassandra also learned the lilim were heavily involved in human affairs. According to Lori, the lilim were dedicated to helping humanity not repeat their terrible evolutionary mistake.

Whatever that meant, Cassandra thought.

With their traveling days behind them, Luna and Jayden assumed prominent roles in business.

So it was Jayden -not his father- who was the Wall Street tycoon? Then why is he driving a limo now?

Cassandra wondered if Jayden was having a midlife crisis, but since the lilim lived several hundred years, this wouldn't be midlife.

Hell, maybe they had several.

Lori's description of her sex life was ...incredible. Cassandra realized it was silly to consider the trio would engage in the lilim equivalent of the missionary position for their many 'feedings', and of course, they didn't. They explored every kink and fantasy Cassandra was aware of, and many more lilim practices she had never dreamed of.

Cassandra reread one passage several times, where Lori described one of her many sexual fantasies. From what Cassandra gathered, the lilim somehow made her fantasies become real.

To pump up her psi output, no doubt, Cassandra thought, trying to affect disgust. But still ...what would that be like?

In this scenario, Lori was kidnapped and sold at an auction to a sheik for his harem. The fantasy lasted an entire month. Only at the end did Lori learn Jayden had disguised himself as the sheik.

God! Cassandra felt the szen twinge low in her body. Can this be real?

Through the spectacular march of history, the glorious sexual escapades, through it all, Cassandra found Lori's journal at its heart...

...was a love story.

But …not between Luna and Jayden! No, it was Luna and Lori!

Then Cassandra found a page with an old Polaroid photo taped to it. A golden-skinned woman, a srryn, Cassandra thought, grinned at the camera. Behind her stood spectacular snow-capped mountains.

Below the snapshot, Lori had written, Me, at The Gathering, 1972.

Cassandra blinked at the picture, looked up, then looked down again.

“Wait a minute. Wait just one damn minute …that’s Lori?”

Cassandra hopped up from the bed, trotted over to Lori’s desk to pick up her sketch book, and with both books in hand, steamed down the hallway to Luna’s bedroom.

~o~O~o~

“Thank you for meeting me at this ungodly early hour, Meredith. You too, Emilie.”

Emilie nodded. “You said it was an emergency. So, what's up?”

Meredith and Emilie sat in the chairs in front of her desk; each wearing curious looks. Maya did a quick sweep of her desktop to confirm the absence of blunt objects. She half-suspected she might be hit with one, once she aired her thoughts.

“Emilie, this is Meredith Benson. She is a senior editor with Trend Magazine, and yesterday she expressed concerns to me about Cassandra's wellbeing. I've since talked with Cassie, and have developed some different sorts of worries. I wanted you here because you've met Cassie and know her cousin Cody well too.”

Emilie raised her eyebrows. “I'm not sure what one has to do with the other, but whatever I can do to help Cassie; she's been amazing to me since I met her.”

“Before I tell you what I've discovered, Meredith, why don't you share more about your concerns.”

“I will, but first, to set the tone of the meeting, I want to show you something.”

Meredith pulled a small stack of papers from a folder she had brought, and pushed them across the desk to Maya. After Maya skimmed the first couple of pages, she felt her breath catch.

“I'm …so sorry,” Maya said, giving the papers to Emilie with shaking hands.

Emilie did a quick read and the words 'breast cancer' 'terminal' and 'prognosis: eight months' leaped out.

“Oh no!”

“Wait, stop the pity train, ” Meredith held up her hand. “Look at the date of the diagnosis.”

Emilie took another look. “This was six years ago, so …you're beating the odds?”

Meredith shook her head. “I am cancer free. Which is a medical impossibility. I needed to show you this, so you would have some hope of believing what I say next.”

After this lead in, Meredith had the complete attention of the women.

“My cancer was cured by a woman named Luna Longaine six years ago.”

“You mentioned her name yesterday. Doesn't she own Trend magazine?”

Meredith nodded. “And about a dozen others.”

“Alright. So, I'm a free thinker here,” Maya said. “How did she do it? Is she a healer?”

Meredith shook her head, gulped, and launched into her explanation.

“She is a non-human creature called a lilim. She used some sort of crystal to rid my body of cancer. In the last few days, she has set her sights on your friend Cassandra Albornos. I fear she is enslaving the girl, though I know not how or why.”

There! She'd said it! They might think her insane, but she had at least gotten the subject onto the table. From the expression she read on Emilie's face, the young artisit, did, in fact, think she was raving mad. But Maya, she saw, was considering it.

“Since we are 'talk'in crazy,' let me share my thoughts,” Maya said. “I have found that an artist's style and brush strokes are uniquely her own. They are like fingerprints or DNA, and no two artists strokes are alike. I believe that Cassandra Albornos is, or three days ago was, Cody Elias.”

“Were you two doing shots of crazy Kool Aid before I arrived? Cuz you are both talking gibberish.”

Meredith leveled a stare at Maya. “Are you making fun of me? I’m serious, and I think Cassie's freedom and her life are in danger.”

“I'm serious too,” Maya said, flicking back a stray strand of gray. “Cassie confirmed as much to me yesterday evening. Emilie, did you notice her acting, oh, I don't know, antsy or agitated after class?”

“What?”

Detailed started to click in Emilie's mind: Cody vanishes and *poof* Cassandra appears, living in his apartment, driving his car. And she's an artist, just like he was.

Fragments of conversations replayed in her mind, where Cassandra apologized for Cody, or wanted to eat at Cody's favorite place or…

“Wait …she had this glow about her yesterday morning, like she'd had amazing monkey sex, then last night when I pumped her for info, she said the oddest thing; that these creatures…”

Emilie looked at Meredith then, with wide eyes.

“…inhuman creatures, changed her somehow, controlled her, and were feeding off her energy.”

“Alrighty then,” Meredith said. “This is stranger than even I imagined, but, great; we are getting somewhere. Let's call Cassie and confront her-”

“-We can try,” Maya said. “I've been calling her cell phone -which is Cody's old number, by the way- and haven't gotten her to answer.”

“Then let's go to Cody's place; I know the way,” Emilie said.

“Sure and if she's not there, then I suggest we pay Luna a visit. A hundred bucks says we'll find her there.”

“Where does the dragon lady of the media reside, Meredith?” Maya asked.

“She and her lover Jayden occupy the top floors of the Beckendorf Tower.”

The Beckendorf Tower? The building had always reminded Maya of a Gothic Castle.

“Why do I get the feeling we've stepped into a horror movie, and we are the peasants who storm Frankenstein's or Dracula's castle armed with pitchforks?” Maya asked.

“I hope you are wrong,” Meredith said with a grim smile. “Because that always ended poorly for the peasants.”

~o~O~o~

Cassandra found her lilim asleep. Intuition told her to crawl into bed with Luna. After reading Lori’s journal, she didn't know if she should resist the urge.

During her life, Lori traveled the world, became fluent in ten languages, was a published author and an accomplished ballet, ballroom and belly dancer.

Which must have fit nicely with that harem fantasy.

Cassandra admitted this did not sound like the life of a 'psi cow' So ...maybe she shouldn’t fight this so hard?

Maybe maybe maybe!

She sighed, set the books on the edge of the bed, and climbed into bed next to the gorgeous winged creature.

“Good morning, Luna, are you well?”

Blue downed arms pulled her in. “Mmm. I am now, srryn.”

Cassandra watched as full consciousness cleared in Luna’s black oval eyes.

Lilim have trouble waking up too; who knew?

“C-cassie? Good morning.”

“She loved you so much.”

“Loved me?” Luna was still not quite there. “What?”

“Lori,” Cassandra pointed to the journal. “She loved you with everything she had, for a hundred years!”

“As I did her! We were …we were…”

Cassandra put a finger to Luna’s mouth. “I know. I read it all. Her last entries were so sad. She knew she was dying and worried so for you. For Jayden, too, a little, but mostly you. Does he know how close you and Lori were?”

Luna gave a sad smile. “Lilim males are pretty stupid about these things.”

“I am sorry for your loss …if I could make your pain go away, I would.”

Luna pulled Cassandra so close she could hear the lilim’s two hearts beating. And feel Luna's body convulsive in sobs.

“What do you think of her story?” Luna finally asked.

Cassandra’s voice was soft. “It gives me some hope.”

“Some?”

“A little.”

“But seeing will be believing?”

“It’s just …this is all so new and strange and…” and unasked for.

“All I ask is one chance. Let me show you how good your life with me …and Jayden, of course, can be.”

“Okay, but …promise me you won’t sell me off to a sheik. At least, erm …not yet.”

Luna chuckled; she would definitely be digging into her new srryn’s fantasies soon. “So, now you have a better understanding of what you have become, you must have a thousand questions. Fire away.”

“I do. Question 1. And it’s a strange one.”

That sounded stupid, Cassandra thought, what part of this wasn’t strange?

She flipped open the journal. “This is Lori, right?”

After Luna answered with a wistful yes, Cassandra continued. “Why do I see her face in my mind?”

“I don't understand...”

“Ever since you threw me out of here, I see her in my mind and dreams.”

“But surely you saw her picture that night when you opened the journal.”

“No, I didn’t, and …look here.” Cassandra opened her sketch book. “I drew this yesterday in art class.”

Luna looked down at the unmistakable likeness of her first srryn. What could this mean?

Memories converged. Both Cassandra and Beth had mentioned feeling a presence in here. Beth claimed a ‘something’ tried to possess her and she had fled the room, screaming. Cassie said she heard a voice too, but what happened then?

In the olden days, when srryns were more powerful, it was not uncommon for the srryn of the second Turn to take the first srryn’s essence into her. Their 'spirits' fused over the Turn, to form a srryn so powerful, she lived through the third Turn as well. They were named srryn-bas, but one hadn't appeared in ten thousand years.

But Cassie is so strong ...was it ...could it be possible?

“Wait. right. here.”

Luna was a blur of motion, gone and back again in an instant. Her hand now held a small crystal ball dangling from a silver chain.

“Cool,” Cassie said, “what's that?”

“A k'jarn; hold still.”

As before, the stone pulsed a brilliant green; if anything, it was far stronger than Cassandra's first reading as Cody.

What an amazing srryn! Luna thought.

Then, after the first bright pulse, there followed a second one...

Faint, but unmistakable. And steady.

“Lilith!” Luna shrieked. “Oh my holy Lilith!”

End part 3.

 
Lilim Tales - Part 4 (Conclusion)
by Armond
 
 

In the conclusion to the tale, Cassandra's friends gather to try to rescue her from Luna, while Cassie learns what her fate will be as the lilim's Second Turn Srryn.
 

   

 
 
  
Lilim Tales - Part 4 (Conclusion)
by Armond

14.

Silence reigned inside Meredith's Lexus as it weaved through the early morning traffic.

Minutes before, she, Maya and Emilie had been screaming about whether they should go to the police with their suspicions about Luna; Emilie voted ‘yeah’, but the older women overruled her.

So after Meredith pulled into the 'Pie In The Sky' Bakery, and spent 15 long minutes picking up a special order, it was hard to tell if Emilie or Maya looked more stunned.

“And why, on this demon intervention mission, was it critical for us to stop at a bakery, Meredith?” Maya said.

“Open the box and read,” Meredith said. After seeing their expressions, she added, “no really, I'm not losing it. Open it.”

Emilie popped open the cake box. “'Happy Birthday Luna.' It's Ms. Longaine's birthday?”

“What? No! Or,” Meredith paused, “I suppose it could be. Look, we've got to get by their security guard, and I think this will do the trick.”

Maya picked the thought up. “Because, he or she-”

“He. His name is Robert-”

“Because Bob knows you, and if this is a surprise birthday visit, he'll …let us go on up without alerting Ms. Longaine?”

“Got it in one,” said Meredith; she was proud of her little brainstorm. “That's the Beckindorf Tower ahead. When we get inside, let me do the talking with Bob; I've been buttering him up for years.”

“Are you sure we are ready for this? If what we suspect is true, we are about to confront inhuman night creatures, and accuse them of kidnapping and ...changing Cody into Cassie,” Maya said. “And we're armed with a Birthday Cake.”

'She has a point,' Meredith thought. 'Maybe this would be an excellent time to tell them about the loaded Smith & Wesson J-Frame revolver in my purse.'
 
 

~o~O~o~
 
When Jayden announced -Bruce Wayne like- that 'we must adjourn to the computer room to consult the data bases', Cassandra figured they were headed to a small study she hadn’t seen. Where she expected to find something unusual; they were lilim, after all, so maybe they used Linux instead of PC or Mac?

Turns out, her Batcave thought was closer to the truth.

Jayden and Luna led her to a secret windowless chamber, two levels below their penthouse. The room was bathed in greenish light; in the center stood five glowing skull sized crystals positioned in a star pattern on black marble pedestals.

The crystals, Jayden explained, were ultra advanced versions of the quantum computers humans were starting to develop. When she asked where the screen was, he said the information was transmitted directly to their minds.

“I've consulted our data bases, and our srryn's condition matches the definition of a srryn-ba.” Jayden was giddy. “This will make an excellent report for the Gathering this year!”

"Dammit, Jayden, Cassie is not a research paper!" Luna's voice drifted into screeching range.

"What does it mean ...to be a srryn-ba?" Cassandra failed to keep the tremor from her voice.

What am I now?

"You took Lori's life energy into you, and so she lives,” Luna said, putting her hands on Cassandra's shoulders. “Let me find out more for you.”

When Luna closed her eyes, the skulls crystals glowed bright green.

"I see …after her Turn, the first srryn's energy is weak, and she will lay dormant for the majority of the second Turn. But your 'energies' will grow together and strengthen, so rather than dissipating at the end of your Turn, you and Lori will merge to form a new srryn, and live through our last Turn!"

The continuous barrage of impossibilities that had flooded her the past days pushed Cassandra's mind to the saturation point. Another being shared her body? Should she be screaming? In terror? In joy?

What the fuck am I?

All she knew for certain was Luna's black lilim eyes brimmed with rapturous fire.

Her elation ...her ecstasy ...is to see her Lori.

The world they shared, the life they built, the one hundred year love story of Lori and Luna she had read in the journal bubbled back into her mind, and she wondered,

Could Luna ever look this way for me? Why would she?

“Look!” Jayden's 'kid with a new toy' tone snapped Cassandra attention back. “The archives say a procedure exists which allows us to speak with Lori through Cassie, if she's willing.”

“Will it …hurt?” Cassandra asked.

Luna concentrated, gathering more data from the crystals, then shook her head.

“No, darling. It will seem as though you sleep for a time. Will you …will you do this?”

Cassandra heard the unsaid 'for me,' and felt the purest longing pour from her lilim. She felt petty, she knew it was wrong, but Cassandra was jealous.

To be loved by someone so much, the way Luna loves her Lori, what would that be like? What have I ever done to deserve such grace?

Still, should she agree? To give over control of her body to some other being. The thought terrified her. She would say no. She wanted to say never! But ...this was her lilim asking, begging her for this.

“We must postpone the experiment,” Jayden said, eyes closed. “Because we have unexpected visitors above.”

Luna closed her eyes too, and when they reopened, an eyebrow arched. “Meredith, has arrived, with Maya Soutine and another young lady in tow. And Meri appears to have brought a gun with her. Now what do you suppose my inquisitive senior editor is up to?”

“She brought Maya?” Cassandra said, grabbing Luna's arm. “Maya pieced it together the other night! She figured out from my art technique that I was Cody.”

“Did she now? Then we will deal with them,“ Luna said, not bothering to hide her anger. “We might as well have some fun; here is how we will play this...”
 
 

 
15.

“Meredith! What an unexpected surprise! And you've brought guests! Lovely.”

Luna found them wandering the penthouse hallway. She greeted them in the image befitting the head of a fashion empire, wearing the illusion of a liquid-purple Versace evening dress and gray high heeled pumps.

“What business has brought you breaking down my door, so to speak.”

“Where is she?” Meredith said. “What have you done with her? To her.”

“Her?” Luna said.

“Don't play stupid. You know who we mean. Cassandra.”

“She used to be someone else,” Emilie said, “and you changed her.”

Luna put a hand on her hip. “I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about, young lady.”

“Bring her out and let us ask her,” Maya said.

“You are Maya Soutine, correct? I am a huge fan,” Luna said, “although I am not pleased about you breaking into my home and ordering me about. I'm afraid I must ask you to leave.”

Meredith drew her gun from her purse and pointed it at Luna. “Enough stalling. I don't care if you healed me or not, demon, I will not allow you to harm that girl. Bring her out now.”

“Oh dear, pointing a gun at your employer is not going to look good on your performance review,” Luna grinned. “Very well; if you insist. CASSIE? Could you come here?”

Luna’s smile broadened when the young srryn walked into the hallway; Cassie had thrown on one of Lori's 'suits', and looked scrumptious in a navy pinstriped jacket and matching mini skirt. The skirt was far too short to pass any corporate dress code, but Luna was thrilled to see her in it; getting fledgling srryns to wear any clothing was such a chore.

“Yes?” Cassandra said, and then smiled at the visitors. “Hey, Em, Maya. What are - M-merideth? Is that a gun?”

“We are here to save you.” Meredith lowered the revolver. “You have no idea what she truly is.”

“And we know what happened to you,” Maya said. “We know.”

“What ...happened to me?”

“Yes, Cody,” Emilie stepped forward. We know everything.”

“Wait a sec,” Cassandra said, “You think …I’m Cody? Seriously?”

Yes, seriously,” Maya answered. “He disappeared and you appear. Identical sketching and brush technique. Slips and hints you've dropped. Impossible as it seems, you were Cody Elias.

“Hmmm, interesting,” Cassandra cocked her head. “I'm sure Cody will think so too, since ...he's in the other room.”

“What?!” The three women said in unison.

“Yeah, he's just home from Vermont for a few,” Cassandra said. “HEY CUZ? CAN YOU COME HERE?”

“Jesus Christ! I'm not deaf, you idiot,” the young man said, as he walked into the hallway to join them.

“Cody!” Emilie stammered “…You are …not her …I mean …you are you …I mean-”

“-Hey, babe,” Cody answered. “When did you start the heavy drug use? After I dumped you?”
 
 

~o~O~o~
 
In a mere ten minute span, Cody:

-Announced he was here to tell Cassandra to get her freeloading butt out of his apartment because he was moving to Vermont,

-Insulted Maya by telling her he was studying with a real Artist genius, Catherine Kabe, of the Vermont Institute for Artistic Expression. He even quoted the tag line of Maya's rival - “each of my paintings is a snapshot of the ever evolving Me!”

and finally,

-Brought Emilie to tears by demanding she repay his loan, now, or he would sue.

Then he left, to spread his asshole-ish destruction elsewhere. Cassandra broke the stunned silence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cody Elias, in all his glory.”

The comments flew after that:

“So ...you are ...not ...Cody,” Meredith said.

“How could we ever dream of trying to save that dick head,” Maya screamed.

“Oh God! There's no way I can pay him back,” Emilie sobbed. “The money's gone, and I've already quit one of my jobs! I am so screwed!”

“There there, Emilie, is it? I have a solution,” Luna said. “That is, if you are quite through threatening me?”

Luna led the shell shocked women to her study and motioned them to sit.

As Meredith did, she realized she still held her gun. Red-faced, she slipped it into her purse. When she looked up, she saw Luna sitting at her desk with Cassandra behind her. And she remembered this was how Lori had been too, always at her side.

Luna pulled a checkbook from her drawer, scribbled on the top check, tore it from the book, and pushed it to Maya.

Maya gasped when she read it: “This is made out from Trend Magazine, LLC to my studio for …$150,000?”

“Excellent,” Luna said. “I was afraid my handwriting was illegible, but it appears it is not.”

“But …why?”

“Trend is ever looking for worthwhile -and tax deductible- community projects to sponsor. If that is not reason enough, then let us say I have a newfound love of the arts, and leave it at that,” Luna said, smiling at Cassandra.

“What am I to do with this?” Maya said.

“Use it as you need, mortgage payment, supplies, whatever. With the proviso that $15,000 of it is to be given as a scholarship to this young lady,” Luna motioned to Emilie, “to use as she deems necessary. I imagine she will want allocate some to the odious man who just left.”

When Emilie burst into tears again, Cassandra ran to her and hugged her.

“Why do you always turn on the water works when someone gives you money? Everything's okay now, right?”

“Yeah, sure. I wake up at the crack of dawn, meet up with Maya and Meredith and somehow concoct the insane idea you used to be your bastard cousin, we race here to rescue you armed with a cake and a gun, I run into said cousin, he demands I pay him or he'll break me, and then I get $15,000. And it's not even 9:00 yet!”

“Way too early to start drinking, right?” Cassandra said.

“Exactly, but we will be doing that later, girlfriend, if only to drown my embarrassment over this mess,” Emilie answered. “Hey! What about you? You're homeless now. If you need a place to stay, you are welcome.”

“Thanks, but, I'm moving in here. I accepted a job as Luna's personal assistant.”

“NO! Don't do it! You have no idea what she is, Cassandra! She will enslave you!” Meredith said. She turned to Maya. “She's buying you off, can't you see that?”

Maya glared at her, before turning to Luna. “I apologize for barging in uninvited. I let the insinuations of others, and my over-active imagination, get the better of my judgment. Again, thank you for your amazingly generous gift; why you aren't having us arrested instead is beyond me. Emilie, let's call a cab and be on our way.”

“Don't give it another thought, darling, and I would love to meet with you again, to discuss other ways Trend can assist; free publicity never hurts, hmm?” Luna said. “Only next time, I would appreciate it if you let me invite you over."

Maya nodded then looked at Cassandra. “Cassie, will this new job mean you won't be studying with me anymore? I would hate to lose you. You are one of the most talented students I've ever had, and-”

“-She most definitely will continue with you,” Luna said with a dismissive wave. “Be sure to let me know if she starts slacking.”

After they left, Meredith slumped in her chair. “What the hell just happened here? I was right! I had to have been right, right? ...I imagine this means I’m fired.”

She stood and walked to the penthouse main door. I …don’t know what to say …I-”

“-Meredith, darling, what am I to do with you? I really should fire you; you accused me of horrid actions, and, well, there is the whole problem about the gun…

On the other hand,” Luna smiled, “editors as hardworking, and inquisitive as you are impossible to find these days. And you did bring me a fabulous birthday cake, even if my hatchday was last week. So …let’s call it even.”

Meredith’s befuddlement was absolute. “I …uh …thank you …I think?”

“Oh, and Meri darling? You were right about some things,” Luna said. “Spot on.”

“Wait ...what? I was? Which ...parts?”

“Ah ah ahhh,” Luna said, wagging a finger at her.

For a moment, a split second, Meredith thought she saw a large alien creature before her with black-feathered wings spread wide.

But when she shook her head, all that remained was elegant Luna Longaine, winking at her.

She moved double speed to exit the penthouse, somehow managing not to scream until she reached the elevator.
 

 
 

 
 
16.
 
“Poor Meredith,” Luna giggled, dropping her human illusion. “She is such fun to screw with; at least I didn't have to wipe her memory ...again.”

She glanced to her srryn. “Be sure to compliment Jayden on his 'Cody' acting when he returns. He takes his human roles seriously and male lilim egos are egg-shell thin.”

“Was I ...really like that?” Cassandra's voice was soft.

“Hmm darling?” Luna said, dipping a long clawed finger into the birthday cake, and licking it with her split tongue.

“So ...mean, so ...thoughtless...”

“He played you a bit over the top, but...” Luna looked up from her cake nibbling. “What's wrong, Cassie? You are he no longer...”

Oh? What has changed? Everything, yes, but inside? I was that asshole only a few days ago.

Her srryn and human 'selfs' were aligning in purpose. She wanted Luna to be happy. She wanted, wished and desired it, and was past caring whether this was from brainwashing or forced genetics. But her human side worried.

Lori was loving and selfless. She was ...everything I'm not. There is more to being a srryn than feeding psi; how can I ever please my lilim as the first srryn did? How?

A thought came to her; there might be one way.

A srryn is helpful. A srryn would do anything to make her lilim happy. Anything

“Luna? I'll do that ritual thing where you talk to Lori. What was it called?”

“It is referred to as the Ingoccil Rite, the Surrender,” Luna's voice was reedy with excitement. “Cassie! It would make me so happy.”

Cassandra nodded; Luna's joyous expression had returned; this was the right thing to do.

The only thing.
 
 

~o~O~o~
 

“What do I do?”

“The middle skull there,” Jayden pointed to one. “You must hold it, look at the green light, and …let go.”

Sounds simple enough.

Cassandra walked to the skull and gave it an exploratory touch. No electrical shock, but the crystal did radiate heat. She took a breath and grasped it with her hands.

And nothing happened.

“Got nada here,” Cassandra said. “Is there something else I'm supposed to do?”

Jayden thought-accessed the 'computer' again, and this time Cassandra felt the skull pulse.

“The archives say the Ingoccil procedure is simple. The second srryn releases herself to the crystal and passes body control to the first srryn’s essence.”

“How ...do I do that?”

“I am not sure how to tell you, love,” Luna said, as she connected to the computer. “The srryn-ba must lapse into an altered state of consciousness, but our texts are tens of thousands of years old and hard to bring forward in modern human terms.”

Luna thought hard; how could this be done? What common reference did Cassandra have?

“Cassie, remember …in the museum, when we looked at Rembrandt's self portrait?”

“Yeah...” Cassandra said, not sure where this was headed.

"You mentioned how Rembrandt gave himself to the painting. Since your conversion, I see you doing the same with your art. I think ...this feeling is what is needed. Can you draw that mood up? Relive it?"

Give herself as she did with her paintings? Had she been? The energy swirls she saw in her Market Street painting returned to her mind, the feeling of formlessness, the connection.

The crystal flared green in her hands, and then, she was so so sleepy.

She murmured four words before she slumped into Luna's arms:

“I love you. Goodbye.”
 
 

~o~O~o~
 
17.
 
She drifted down and down,

until she saw a bright swirling sphere of energy filled with green and blue sparkles.

It's Lori's essence, it has to be! God, she is beautiful, no wonder Luna loves her. Where's my damn sketch pad when I need it?

*Lori?*

*I was ...I am Lori still. Who. Are. You?*

*I am ...not important. She longs for you, Lori. Go up.*

*Luna?*

*Yes. Go to her! She needs you. You must make her happy.*

*I want to! But how? I do not know where 'up' is.*

Cassandra wasn't sure how to point, for she lacked a body in her astral state. So she propelled her essence to surround the glowing entity before her, and then she gave it a massive shove ...up.

Lori's essence floated above her, higher and higher, and Cassandra would have given a joyous laugh if she had a mouth, or at least a wave good bye if she had a hand.

Instead she relaxed her mind. There was something else she needed to do.

*I think the trick to this is visualize what I want.*

Her artist's soul showed her what she wanted.

light,
 

 

~o~O~o~

When her srryn's eyes opened, Luna saw a familiar spark. And the voice coming from the srryn's mouth was modulated to a changed timbre. One she knew so very well.

“Luna? Jayden?”

“Lori!” Luna sobbed. It was her! Luna wanted to grab her and crush her in an embrace. But she couldn't risk breaking the srryn's connection to the skull. “Lilith this is wonderful beyond reason! I thought I'd lost you forever, my love!”

“You …did. Or almost… if” she blinked, trying to figure out which personal pronoun to use to describe the 'host' body she was in. I? She? We?

“…the …second srryn hadn't taken me, I would have faded. She saved me. What does this mean?”

“You will live, my love! As a ba-srryn, the two of you will continue past the end of the Second Turn. You will merge to become my Third Turn srryn.”

Her eyes glistened. “LUNA! ...this is a miracle! I will be there for the hatchlings. The second srryn and I together!”

Then as quickly as ecstasy filled the srryn's expression, Luna saw it morph to something very different.

“No! NO! Don't do it!” There was panic in Lori’s tone. “We have a problem!”

“What problem?”

“It's …the second srryn …she…no! STOP!”

“Stop what? What is wrong with Cassie?”

“Cassie is her name? I only know her by soul colors; Lilith she is beautiful. But …what did you do to her to make her do this?”

“Do what?” Luna gulped. “What is she doing?”

“She is trying to dissolve …to disband…”

“I don't understand, what you are-”

“-She's trying to give permanent control of this body over to me. She's trying to kill herself.”
 
 

~o~O~o~
 
“Kill herself? Lilith! Why?”

“She feels ...you would be happier with me as your srryn,” Lori's voice answered from Cassandra's body. “Why would she think so? I warned you about this! What did you do to her?”

“After your body burned away, we ran out of time and forced a jh'tiel conversion on her. After that I treated her horribly and-”

“-She's a jh'tiel? Lilith! She was male? Her soul essence is so feminine and fiery. I would have guessed musician or-”

“-She's an artist,” Luna answered, with pride in her voice.

“-LORI!” Jayden interrupted. “Can she kill herself? STOP HER!”

“I don't know if I can,” she said, closing her eyes. “I will try…”

“Please pleaser please, you must stop her, Lori!” Luna gripped her srryn's arm. “Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her I love her! And-”

“…you …do?” Cassandra's voice had returned to its higher pitch.

“C-cassie?”

“...I …guess. Lori threw some ...spiritual jujitsu on me and ...I don't have words to describe what happened, but...” Cassandra's lip quivered. “Why did she do that? You will be much happier with her as your-”

Luna clamped her hand over Cassandra mouth. “Don't you dare say those words, and never pull a stunt like this again, do you hear me?”

Cassandra bobbed her head; Luna looked pissed!

“This is your Turn! You are my srryn now. Not Lori, and not who the two of you will become. You!”

“Me?”

“Yes you, you stubborn little thing! You made me love you.”

Cassandra felt the affection in her words; saw the bright smile on her face.

“You really do?”

Luna knew the little srryn didn't yet believe her, so she must show her Cassie. Prove it to her.

And she would.

Again and again for the rest of our lives.

But for now, she gave the only answer she could; Luna took Cassandra in her arms...

...and kissed her … kissed her …kissed her.
 
 

 

 
 
18. Epilogue - Three months later
 
“Oh, and I sold another painting.”

“Which, the harbor or the rose garden?” Luna said.

“Harbor,” Cassandra said, looking up from her salad preparation.

She and Luna were in their kitchen preparing for guests. Jayden was in his study/lair, doing whatever male lilims did when they were conspicuously absent from work. Cassandra would have accused him of surfing the 'Net for lilim porn, but she was pretty sure none existed.

“They almost bought both.”

Luna sighed. “I'm going to miss that one. It is one of my favorites.”

Cassandra chuckled. “You say that about all my paintings.”

“It is always true, love, your work is amazing.” Luna said.

“They paid eight thousand! Maya smooozed ‘em big, telling them it was an investment, and someday, when I’m a famous artist, it will be worth a zillion times more,” Cassandra said. “I left the check on your desk.”

Luna gathered her srryn in her arms and kissed her head. “I am honored; thank you, darling,”

As her personal assistant, Cassandra was now aware of their vast fortune down to the last penny. But a srryn is hardwired to be helpful, and she knew how proud Cassandra was to contribute.

This was the reason she was having Cassandra make a salad. All their meals could be catered, but she learned long ago with Lori that it was good to have something on hand for the srryn to prepare; bags of salad, anything. Srryns had to be helping, or they became irritable.

“Enough small talk! What is this surprise you've been dangling in front of me for days. Tell me!”

“But then it wouldn't be a surprise, of course. Patience, srryn, you-” The door bell rang. “Ah! Your waiting is over. Be a dear and get that, Cassie.”

Luna smiled at the confusion crossing her srryn's face. Cassandra stopped her salad prep and put her hand on her hip.

“Luna? I'm …ya know …like this …so I'm pretty sure I shouldn't-”

“Oh, I think so, love,” Luna smiled.

This wasn't adding up. Guests were arriving. And she was dressed formally.

But …those concepts were mutually exclusive, right? Because, her formal srryn costume consisted of golden bracelets with tiny bells fastened to her ankles and wrists, a thin golden collar clasped to her neck, and …nothing else.

Also, Cassie was getting the strangest impulses from her soul mate, urges that were amping up her psi.

Okay, just why am I getting psi horny, Lori?

Cassandra could have sworn she heard a giggled response.

“Shoo srryn,” Luna said, waving her out of the kitchen. “Go play.”

Go play?

Her ankle and wrist bells chimed as she padded to the door. Through the peephole she saw a golden-dark young woman, wearing identical golden adornments. Another srryn! She opened the door.

Before she could wave 'hi' or speak a polite greeting, her srryn instincts drove her to kiss the woman. The other srryn responded in kind, and not with a light peck either. This was a tongue in mouth while groping smooch.

Without speaking, they clasped hands and walked down the hallway to Cassandra's room. Cassandra's goal was her day bed, but they made no more than two steps into the room before they fell to the floor and entwined.

“I'm Cherise,” the other srryn managed to whisper.

“Cassie,” Cassandra panted.

“I know. You taste divine. First time?”

“First time?”

“With another srryn? The buzz on the srryn grape vine is you are a srryn-ba! Didn't Lori prep you?”

Cassandra shook her head. “The message I got from her when I opened the door was 'standard visitation protocol.' When I asked what that meant, she said 'some things a srryn has to learn on her own.'

“Holy Lilith, she is in you! That is so her!” Cherise's amber eyes brimmed with tears. “She was my mentor for my first years.”

“And,” Cassandra's forehead wrinkled. “…she says you must be mine for my first …Gathering? Whatever that means.”

“I would be honored. Everyone’s gonna love you, sister. Now, listen up, newb, 'cause we need to get down to business. When lilim couples visit each other, there is the ever sticky psi feeding issue that must be addressed. Four lilim in a room is a dicey proposition; the couples must be psi sated to prevent any unfortunate draining incidents.”

“Yeah I can see that …so…”

“So standard protocol is for the visiting srryn to arrive first, and the two srryns …um …pleasure each other to ensure they are at maximum psi potential. Then the visiting couple arrives, and only after the lilims have psi fed can their meeting happen.”

Cassandra gave a lusty laugh. “We're having an orgy?”

“It might seem so to a fledgling, but you will think otherwise after your first Gathering; we have to arrive a day before the lilim meet. Only …there are 500 of us. In a vast room …playing…”

No words could come to Cassandra’s mind at that image, but her psi spiked several levels.

“Now, unless you have more questions, we should get to …mmmm …work.”

But Cassandra was already hard at work, biting and licking Cherise's hardening nipples.
 
 

~o~O~o~
 
Cassandra sat purring at Luna’s feet, her head on the lilim’s lap. Cherise was in much the same position across the living room floor with her lilim Kallista.

The male lilims paced the room exchanging pleasantries, the ‘how is ‘so and so’s and ‘have you heard’s.
This was the Ssthrg, the cherished time after psi feeding, when for a moment, the lilim, could come together as a people.

Nerseus nodded his head as he listened to Jayden. The younger lilim was gushing about his plans to present a srryn-ba research presentation at the next Gathering.

“Mmm, thanks for the surprise,” Cassandra murmured, still in the afterglow of the szen, “It was wonderful.”

“I am glad you enjoyed Cherise, darling,” Luna answered. “She was one of Lori’s closest friends. But she was not the surprise.”

Not the surprise? Cassandra pried an eye open. Then what is it?

“I am convinced, friend Jayden, she is a srryn-ba.” Nerseus said, and cleared his throat. “Luna, I am prepared to forgive your temerity.”

Temerity? This sounded serious. Cassandra sat upright.

Nerseus walked over to where they sat. “I have viewed her work and you are correct, she is most talented. She could do it.”

Do what? And …is he talking about my paintings? Cassandra scrunched her forehead trying to figure this out. She also detected his faint French accent.

“Oh yes, little srryn, I see your confusion. I am speaking about you. Your lilim ordered me to come here and threatened me if I didn’t. The idea! A Second Turn lilim giving orders to a Third Turner. What is next, an uprising of First Turners?”

Cassandra turned to Luna. “Um, Luna? What’s going on?”

Luna smiled. “If I am not mistaken, Nerseus has something to show you.”

Looking back to him, she saw he held a device in his hand; a silver headband with a large blue crystal fixed at the ‘third eye’ position.

“Cassandra, would you mind putting this on? We call it a Palaron viewer; do not fear, you will love this.”

“ ‘Kay.” Cassandra had no clue what was happening.

Images filled her mind immediately after he placed it on her head; she saw a 360o slide show of landscapes, spiraling buildings, lilims in flight…

…This was lilim art!

She couldn't categorize the images in human terms, the scenes and subjects were naturalistic with realistic elements, yet abstract and with Gothic undertones tones too. Those ideas had to conflict, except in these works, they didn’t.

More than anything, it was the 3D aspect of their art that blew her away. Lilim artists stepped into their paintings.

After several minutes, Nerseus removed the Palaron viewer. Cassandra blinked tears.

“Thank you, I’ve never …that was …I can’t find the words to describe it, except I’ve never seen such beauty.”

“Humans have nothing like it, and our art is especially moving to an artist such as you. You see, our art is dying; I am the last living lilim artist.”

“I’m so sorry!” Cassandra gripped his gray downed hand. “You cannot let it die.”

“I am pleased to hear you say it,” Nerseus smiled. “We are so few now, and my apprentice, she who was to carry on the unbroken line of master-apprentice, died unexpectedly two years ago. I have screened all surviving lilim, and found none who possess the talent to carry on the tradition. I announced this tragedy at the last gathering.”

Nerseus sat down beside her on the floor. “I would have screened srryns too, but their life spans are too short. It takes a full Turn to master our forms, and then another Turn, of course, to teach an apprentice. But now that we have a srryn-ba, with talent…”

Cassandra grasped it at last. “You want me to become your apprentice?”

Nerseus nodded his head. “If you are willing. Luna has agreed the three of you will move to France to be near me so you may begin your training.

Cassandra shot a look to Luna. You arranged this …for me?”

Luna nodded. “I think it high time I relocated Trend’s headquarters to Paris; we are a fashion magazine, after all.”

Cassandra’s heart was in her throat; to be able to learn this amazing art form, to master it…

“I understand the proprieties, of course,” Nerseus said. “Before any student agrees to study under a master, she needs to view his work and determine if he is worthy.”

Cassandra was about to tell him she didn’t need to judge his work, when his image rippled, and a dark bearded man with a black beret stood before her.

“A century or more ago, I wore this human guise in public,” Nerseus said, “where I gained some small notoriety as a painter.”

She knew this figure. He was …he was …It was on the tip of her tongue, and she gasped when it came to her.

“You’re …Claude Monet!”

He swept off his hat and bowed. “And I would be most honored to have you as my student. Together, we will keep lilim art alive. Will you do it?”

“Oh Lord! Oh Lilith! I’m going to study with Claude Monet?”

Emotion swept her away and she threw her arms around Luna and wept.

“Trá¨s bien,” Nerseus grinned. “I take that as a ‘oui’.”

“You can study with Maya for another half a year or so, and then we move,” Luna said. “I can even arrange for Emilie to come too and study with you for a few years if you want. Would this make you happy, love?”

“More than anything! But why? Why are you doing all this for me?” Cassandra sobbed.

The lilim grabbed Cassandra’s face and kissed it. “Because I love you, you silly srryn. I. love. YOU. And we will build such a life together! Do you hear me?”

“I hear you, I hear you,” Cassandra laughed, cried, and spluttered, somehow all at once, before she buried her head in Luna’s chest again.

“Thank Lilith that is settled,” Jayden announced. “I have had all the drama over the last few months I can stomach, and I’m only just into the second Turn. After I present my srryn-ba report at the Gathering, perhaps I shall re-enter the tumultuous European derivatives world for a breather. Heh.”

Luna cradled ‘her Cassie’ and looked at Kallista, who was stroking Cherise as well. Kallista shot her an eye roll back that said it all:

Male lilims; they don’t get it, and they never will.

Luna nodded and whispered, “Hey, Cassie, you've managed to become the first srryn-ba in ten thousand years and you are going to keep our art from dying. Do you think you can pull off a hat trick?”

When Cassandra blinked confusion, Luna nodded toward Jayden, who was once again regaling Nerseus with his lofty research plans.

“Do you think you could get it through our thick-headed Jayden to appreciate that everything he needs is right here?"

Cassandra looked at the male lilim, who was gesturing wildly with his arms and his wings to make some point.

“Sorry, Luna,” she shook her head. “I'm not sure Lilith herself could work such a miracle."