It was a warm August day. All the heiresses held feather fans while their hair fell back in the breeze. The home was lit as if it was daylight, making all the white furniture sparkle. But all eyes fell on Lilith who was by far the tallest and the blondest, her dress was iridescent in the moonlight. Not far behind her were two companions, Arabella and Henry. While they were not as physically striking as Lilith, they both carried a sirene air to them. Lilith faded into the crowd mingling with the friends she had not seen in months; whenever they asked her where she had been she simply responded, ‘The Continent’. When in reality she had not left the home she shared with Arabella and Henry in months. Soon the three began to share scornful glances. The tension was felt by all the guests in the extensive garden until the host was forced to take them inside. When the guests realized what was happening they stopped the music and dancing, the party gazed at the the three being lead away.
The three had grown bored not just with the party but with each other. They had seen all the demons within and wanted to hide from the world once more. The host led them to a room alone as to not disturb the elation down below. It was dressed plainly unlike the rest of the palace. Lilith lowered the music for what was to be a dangerous conversation. After a few moments they heard the celebration down below continue. They sat seemingly not blinking for they felt as though if their eyes closed not even for a moment that the person across from them would vanish or morf in front of them. What felt like forever and a day was only broken by Henry’s words.
“I think you know what is coming.”
Another long silence awaited them, this time broken by Arabella standing rapidly. She locked eyes with Lilith; Lilith remained in her seat perfectly still, looking as calm as she ever, not a bead of sweat on her brow. Henry has his eyes on Lilith afraid of what she could do to Arabella, to him.
“I think it is best for us to split up, for us to all go our separate ways, we are killing each other and we don’t know how to stop it, because I love you I cannot spend everyday of my life feeling as though there is a nail sinking into my palms,” Henry says after a while.
Lilith breaks her gaze with Arabella and as though she was no longer in the room, Lilith speaks the cold words,
“I hate you.”
Henry clenched his fists and although he was calm he began to feel challenged. Henry rotated to grab a cigarette, while he was lighting it, breaking his gaze with the women, he heard a crash, he saw blood on a white napkin, whose blood he couldn’t tell yet. He was deaf to all the noise. He turned and saw the demons battling each other as if he had been removed from his body paralyzed to snuff out the fire raging in the room. He smoked the whole cigarette with only his arm and lips moving. Finally he couldn’t stand it any longer, he saw Arabella reach for Lilith’s throat. He grabbed a bottle and broke it against the table and held it above his head. He heard the wailing of Lilith and saw the demon retreat back into Arabella.
“What is wrong with you harpies!”
The air grew stale. Lilith’s wails began to fade. The group began to calm but fires still raged behind their eyes.
“Oh how can what was once my only love be robbed from me so viciously and become so soon to be my only hate? How can it be that my daydreams have become my nightmares?” Arabella pauses, she holds a cigarette between her teeth but doesn’t light it, “Oh my dear Lilith after all this time I felt you were my sister my partner. I never thought things would decay like this. I never thought you and I could be so torn apart. I would burn the world for you if only it would make you smile. Oh Henry, what demon have we released onto the world?”
“Mon Seul Desir”
They looked at Lilith, she removed her gloves finger by finger and laid them neatly on the table, her porcelain skin was cooler than ice. She stood and moved toward Henry, her blood red lips close to his, she turned her glare to Arabella. Arabella’s face had gone from terror to dread. Henry’s face had gone blank finding the same cool of Lilith. Arabella watched in stunned silence as Lilith walked toward the music raising its volume again to tune out anything Arabella could retort with. Then she glided back to Henry like an angel of mercy ready to descend upon her victim, she placed her hand on his and her head on his chest and started to sway to the blues of Billie Holiday. Henry closed his eyes in a euphoric way while Lilith gazed passionately at Arabella.
The distance between the two parties grew as if the earth had begun to separate. Arabella found herself defeated, broken. Lilith and Henry continued to dance, Lilith’s look changed from passionate to mocking, mocking Arabella’s foolishness. Arabella willed herself to move, to leave the two behind, devastated at the thought of leaving the society she had been at the top of. She opened the door and shut it gently behind her. The party below was staring up at her silently, all the eyes in every face, waiting with baited breath for her next move. All that could be heard in this grand house was Ms. Holiday’s blues, her words of remembrance,
“I'll be seeing you, In every lovely summer's day, In everything that's light and gay, I'll always think of you that way”