Lilith groaned, grabbing her head. The throbbed headache she had told her she was alive. Where she was though was anyone's guess. Slowly opening her eyes she now took in her surroundings.
Lilith and Alyssa were in a cell. A pair of bunk beds lay on one side with a sink and toilet on the other. Laying nearby was Alyssa, her teenage girl still unconscious. Quickly, Lilith now crawled to her daughter as she attempted to wake her.
"Alyssa," Lilith whispered gently shaking her.
Alyssa groaned, her eyes slowly fluttering open. "Mom," she asked quietly. Lilith immediately shushed her daughter, motioning to the cell and bars. "Where are we?" the teenage girl asked.
"My home."
Jumping in surprise, both mother and daughter turned, noticing a middle aged woman slowly approach the cell. The pair now reached for their Solar Guardian items, surprised to find they were missing.
"Oh, you won't need those trinkets anymore," the woman stated. "They are an abomination in the eyes of the true church. "
Lilith scowled, slowly rising to her feet and standing in between Alyssa and this mystery woman.
"Okay lady who the hell are you?"
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Linda Michaels," she said. "You've already met my daughter Eliza, the Seraphim."
Lilith and Alyssa watched as another figure now stepped from the shadows. This figure was a woman in her late 30s with dark hair and striking blue eyes. She stood firm and straight like a well trained soldier.
"Aunt Sophie," Alyssa gasped.
"Yes, that was her name," Linda replied. "Daughter of the great Ezekiel Kane and the older sister of your mother. She is the greatest weapon the true church has. Truly she upholds the legacy of the Kane family."
"Yeah right," Lilith scoffed. "If you're talking about the bastard that tried to smother me in my crib, then you're way off lady. Ezekiel Kane was a monster. He's the reason I ended up in foster care."
Linda scowled, the woman's hand clenched in a fist as she stared at Lilith.
"No," she snarled. "that bastard Jacob Moreland is the reason you ended up in foster care. If I had my way, I would have raised you, molded you into a weapon of the light, the way I have molded Eliza. I would have been the mother you deserve."
"I have a mother," Lilith growled. "And despite her issues, she leagues better than you!"
"The Dark Wizard Misery," Linda scoffed. "Oh I am well aware of her. A deranged psychopath who draws upon the darkest magics. I commend her actions in destroying the filth that lingers in the shadows, but she is a rabid dog who should have been put down ages ago. She certainly isn't worthy of you. And neither was your own birth mother."
Linda and Lilith locked eyes, the ebony haired woman furious at the condescending tone of Linda Michaels. Hearing her talk of Misery like this only made Lilith blind with rage. In her anger she now spat on Linda, hitting the woman directly in the face.
"Talk shit about my mother again and I'll gouge your eyes out."
Linda simply wiped her face with a cloth, the serene expression never leaving.
"I understand your anger," she said softly. "It's due to a lack of upbringing. In time, like Eliza, you will call me mother. It is what Ezekiel Kane would want."
"I'm not buying it," Alyssa countered. "How do you even know him?"
Linda paused, a dreamy expression crossing her face as she thought back to her first meeting with the Kane family.
"I was a girl," she said softly. "Not much younger than Alyssa. Ezekiel was an impressive hunter along with Jacob. Two hunters at the pinnacle of their powers. I dreamed that one day I could be just like them. When I finally met Jacob Moreland, I learned that sometimes you should never meet your idols. But Ezekiel? Oh my, Ezekiel was a different story. I worked closely with Ezekiel and he taught me so much about hunting, the supernatural, and I even thought we shared a connection with each other."
"Perfect," Lilith grumbled. "All this because you had a fucking crush on a psychopath."
"Watch your tone," Linda snarled, the woman hitting the bars a steel baton, startling Alyssa. "You know nothing of his greatness or his vision. He understood better than most that the supernatural could not be reasoned with. Simply destroyed. He inspired a movement, his philosophy was the very foundation of the Superior Church. For years I toiled as a hunter under the banner of the false church until I realized they were corrupted by weakness."
"Look lady if you're going to go into the villain monologue shtick then just kill me and get it over with with," Lilith sighed. "I'd rather be dead again than listen to some delusional bitch who never got over her first crush tell me how she's built her life around an idea she had when she was still wearing a training bra."
Alyssa stifled a laugh at her mother's vicious take down as Linda Michaels simply scowled. The last thing the teen expected was for her mother to verbally cut Linda down. Still, it did little to help their current situation. They were still trapped and staring at her aunt told her Sophie wouldn't be much help. All Alyssa could hope for was that the picture would jog something in her memory.
"No matter," Linda stated, straightening her blouse as she glared at the Kane women. "In time you will learn to call me mother. All it will take is a helping hand from my fairy Briar. Then you'll be just as obedient and will be the perfect soldiers as my beloved Ezekiel once was."
As Linda and Sophie now departed, Lilith and Alyssa glanced at one another. They were in dire straits with their chances of escape decreasing by the minute. If they were going to escape, they would need to come up with a plan.