Moonlight and Magick. Isobael Liu
distinct sounds of fighting emanated behind her, but a quick glance over her shoulder revealed nothing. Deciding they must have dragged the fight into the alley, she turned to look back up at the man.
“Lilian Quinn. Who’re you?”
He grinned at her. “Matthias.”
She heard a loud snarling sound from the alley, but when she turned to look, Matthias used his hold on her and kept her from looking. Was he trying to distract her from seeing something?
“Why are they harassing you?”
Lilian looked back at him, frowning. “Why do you want to know?”
He lifted a brow at her. “I asked first.”
She studied his face. Every logical fiber told her not to trust him. Still, he and his friends did come to help her when she needed it.
“I can’t tell you. I don’t even know who you are. Please let me go.”
Matthias released her and she took a step back from him.
“Thank you.” She rubbed her arm.
“You know why those men are after you, don’t you?”
She sighed. The man is infuriatingly persistent.
“Yes, but I’m not going to tell you why.”
She could feel him studying her, but those sunglasses hid his eyes. What color were they? Lilian tilted her head slightly as she studied his face.
“Why are you staring at me?” Amusement colored his tone.
“You were staring first,” she said.
“Was I?”
“What color are your eyes?”
A faint sense of satisfaction came over her when she saw his brows lift over the rim of his shades.
He was spared from answering by the return of his friends. The men joked a bit back and forth, teasing one another about their lack of practice, but the words didn’t sink in. Instead, her attention was drawn to the crimson color. A couple of them had bloody noses and others had scraped knuckles. Even from where she stood, in the darkened parking lot of the diner, the blood stood out like a bright beacon. Time seemed to slow, and then stop as she stared at them.
Long buried memories crashed down on her and she couldn’t help but relive the night her stepfather had murdered her mother. All she could see was the crimson splatter left in the wake of his brutality.
Lilian backed away from the approaching group, but ran into Matthias. Feeling weak and lightheaded, she turned to face him.
Her knees threatened to buckle and she stiffened her muscles. She had to get out of there, away from the blood and the reminders of her past.
Matthias reached for her, but she jerked back from him. He frowned, but before he could speak, Lilian turned and bolted for the entrance of the diner.
* * * *
It had taken a couple more hours before she braved leaving the diner to head home. She’d gotten a ride with a customer who lived near her home. As they left the diner, she glanced around for signs of the suited men or of Matthias and his gang, but neither were to be seen. Overly cautious, Lilian knew, but she had to remain vigilant.
Once home, she checked and locked the doors and windows before taking a hot shower to soothe her frazzled nerves. She took her time, washing off the taint of fear and loathing from her skin. By the end she relaxed, her mind clearer.
Twenty minutes later, she was enjoying a cup of chamomile tea when her phone rang, shattering the peaceful silence.
“Hello?”
“My pretty Lilian. I’ve missed you.”
Lilian’s heart jolted and then pounded back to life as pain coursed through her chest.
Stephan.
She didn’t believe in coincidences, just as she didn’t believe Stephan’s call had nothing to do with the presence of the suited men in Hawk’s Point.
“Miss me?” he asked.
Goosebumps rose along her skin and the hair on the back of her neck tingled with chilling fright. Lilian said nothing in reply. She couldn’t. There wasn’t enough air in her lungs to say anything.
“Do you remember the last time we were together, my darling? Do you remember how much I hurt you? Do you remember the blood?”
Lilian slammed the phone down. Her stomach heaved and threatened to empty its contents as she struggled to breathe, to keep from panicking.
Memories flooded into her mind’s eye, reliving every moment in supersonic speed. Stephan’s smile, cold and unfeeling, superimposed over the memories, the physical abuse, the hospital visits, the blood stained towels. He’d been so kind in the beginning, but slowly changed. He’d begun to abuse her, mentally, verbally, and at the end, physically. She had planned to run away and leave him. Once he discovered her plans, he took away all her money and the ID she had, and threatened to turn her over to the police for murder.
The final straw had been when she found the printed email giving him directions of how to hold her for the agents to pick her up. It had been a shock to her and the idea of returning terrified her. In the many times her mind accidentally brushed against his, never once did she pick up the thought of him knowing the truth about her. Lilian didn’t know how he’d found out about her past, or if perhaps he’d been a trap set by them all this time, but after two years with Stephan, she left that night.
She went through her house one more time before she retired for the night. She was tempted to pack a bag and head into town, just in case, but her own home was her haven, for the moment, and so she stayed. When she lay down in bed, curled up beneath the covers, Lilian knew sleep would be fleeting, if it came at all.
* * * *
She could hear the hounds baying in the background. Looking around, she saw no trail, no landmarks she recognized, but knew she had to run. Lilian had already been running, her heart beating hard in her chest, and was out of breath. Still, she knew if the hounds caught up with her, they would tear her apart.
She crisscrossed the ground quickly, her feet barely touching the soil, leaping over fallen logs and ducking low branches in order to escape the death at the jaws of the hounds and spear of the hunt master.
How did she know this?
Even with her speed and agility, Lilian knew the hounds were gaining on her. It was only a matter of time before they caught her, and when they did, they'd tear her apart. She stopped and looked around, for a way out, a place to hide; anyplace she could wait out the hunt. There was nothing, only the dark forest which stretched out before her in every direction.
Suddenly, there was a flash of white in her peripheral, a glowing white, almost ghostly. She turned her head and saw a white stag. It stood tall, the top of her head reaching its shoulders, and had a proud head, heavy with antlers as wide as the beast long. As she watched, it pawed the ground and waved its great head at her.
“There is not much time, my child. Come with me.”
She was surprised when the stag spoke to her, not aloud but in her mind. Even though she hadn’t heard its words, there was an urgency and she nodded.
It turned and ran, Lilian following behind it. As she did so, she heard the baying of the hounds and the enraged bellow of the thwarted huntsman.
Lilian jolted awake, heart pounding.
Chapter 2
Lilian slept little. Going through the motions of starting her morning,