Chapter Four

The Messiah of Witches

By the time Lilith had entered his life, Josiah Sanchez was of the opinion that the concept of fatherhood was one of those missed opportunities in his life he would simply have to live with. It was a state of affairs that was completely self-inflicted when he considered the opportunities he could have had to raise a family and did not. At the time, he believed the decision to be sound; after all, why would he condemn his children to an upbringing that might metamorphose into the one he had experienced. No man sets out to be his father but invariably genetics would turn the tide and one the day a reflection in the mirror would cement its certainty. Even though he had told himself repeatedly that he would not be like his father in the event children did become a part of his existence, Josiah always found reason not to avoid being in that situation. Failure meant turning a daughter into a shadow like his sister Hannah or son becoming an empty shell waiting for the crows to come.

In his later years, when the secular life of a preacher was left behind him, Josiah did acquire a family of sorts. It was not a family in a conventional sense but rather the bond that came from seven misfits who seemed to make perfect sense together. In a sense their fellowship had begun an odyssey of change not just for him but also for all of them. Here in the town of Four Corners, the seven made had found a way to become a part of a larger organism while remaining uniquely set apart. They had found friendship and then love. Josiah was at heart a romantic but had more or less given up hope of meeting the love of his life even though he did indulge in relationships that made the absence of the real thing somewhat tolerable. Most notable of this was the passing friendship he shared with Maude Standish though they were both realistic enough to know it could be anything more then that. They were simply too different for anything permanent, much to Ezra’s relief. 

Therefore it was a pleasant surprise when Audrey King entered his life. 

Their first meeting was not even their first meeting. Not in this reality anyway. Josiah had come to learn over the past few years that reality was not as immutable as people liked to believe it was. The walls between what was perceived and was might were thin indeed and one of the things he learned most succinctly, was beneath the veneer of waking world, was another steeped in shadows and magic. It was a world where reality could be bent and sometimes shaped to suit the needs of those who knew had the power to do so. Despite the beliefs established by Christian dogma, magic was real and depending upon the conjurer, it was not always evil. Certainly, the spell invoked by Audrey’s daughter Lilith was never meant to be malevolent.  

Utilising an old book, which was something of a family heirloom, Lilith had no idea that what she was using so blithely was actually a grimoire, a book of shadows, containing powerful spells from millennia past. Her good intentions in invoking a spell that would grant those around her their fondest wish was a gesture of love not of evil even though any adult would have told the child had they known what she was planning, that such wishes ultimately had a price. While his own wish had placed him at the head of a pulpit being the preacher he always wanted to be, Josiah found that the life was not what he wanted and to no surprise, he preferred the one he had been living even with all its flaws. Although Josiah never discussed with the subject with the others, he noticed a mark difference in their manner when things were restored to its proper order.

Chris Larabee’s grief over the loss of his wife and son, lessened to the degree where he was able to mourn them properly, discarding the guilt that had plagued them since their deaths. Buck Wilmington welcomed happily the idea of being a father and proving that he was capable of remaining faithful to one woman, instead of bedding scores of them like he had been doing in the past. Nathan was able to talk about Rebecca without the guilt that he had survived where she had not. For once, the healer himself healed from wounds that had remained untended far too long. Less and less did Vin rebuke himself for allowing Eli Joe to trick him, citing that for all the inconvenience the man had brought him, being driven to Four Corners was something he would never regret. For JD, the glimmer of youthful brashness had faded from his eyes. There was no more talk of glory and fame. Men for hire did not have friends or lovers, they were solitary creatures that turned on their own. JD had no desire of that fo r himself. Ezra’s thoughts as always were his own and Josiah was certain he was affected just as profoundly as the others had.

In order to reverse the spell, Josiah in that strange world where he had a flock to lead, had sought out Lilith King and met for the first time, he mother Audrey. Audrey was a schoolteacher and the book she had read of the world beyond her existence had given her a viewpoint that was flamboyant and daring. Knowledge was not simply a requirement of surviving in a changing world but the appreciation of poetry, literature, music and art was a staple of existence. She believed that even in the harsh world of the Territory, beauty was where one found it, be in a note sung well or verse written from the heart. He adored her almost from the first even if he was a little afraid of what she could mean to him.  

In that alternate reality, it was he and Audrey who had disappeared into the mists to find Lilith and change things back. Unfortunately, while they had succeeded in that determination, the effects of restoring reality meant that whatever transpired before was erased and so Josiah woke up from his bed and discovered that what he perceived to be an alternate life, was nothing more than a dream. In the real world, he had not even met Audrey. Josiah was not satisfied with that and eventually they did meet and their love for each other survived its false start and flourished. Audrey had no memory of what they had endured together and Josiah did not mind, there was no reason for her to know and so it became his and Lilith’s secret. 

The results of Lilith’s brush with magic had taught Josiah one thing; she had power in her, power that was more than just the Grimoire at work. Josiah studied the text himself later on and learnt that the Grimoire was just a book filled with ancient incantations but on its own, it was inert. Its power lay in those who attempted to work the magic within its pages and whether it was fate or pure coincidence, Josiah did not know for sure, the book had fallen into Lilith’s hands because she was the only one strong enough to use its magic. Her first spell had seen her bringing down the walls of reality and shaping it accordingly. Josiah was certain that she had yet to reach her true potential and would only grow more adept with age. 

Forbidding her to use the book or learn about her powers was an impossibility and not necessarily wise, Josiah had learnt early on. She needed to learn control and mastery over her natural gifts. The preacher in him worried about her soul, whether she would be damned for playing with such supernatural forces. However repressing them, forcing her to go underground to learn could be equally damning. Thus he did nothing of the sort and offered advice and sometimes guided her when it was necessary. She learnt but she learnt slowly and she understood that power, whatever form it took, could corrupt and in understanding that she was cautious.  

By the time Josiah had married Audrey and they all lived under one roof, he had become more than her conscience and her teacher, she had become the father she had lost so long ago. Of all the thing she had been, being her father was the best of all these and he loved being that to her. He knew he could never replace the man who had sired her and so Josiah did not try. He was her stepfather but he was her friend first. He was the warm voice that coaxed her to sleep when a nightmare needed a strong, firm presence to chase away its unpleasant after effects. He was the teacher who taught her how to ride her first horse and showed her that books were not merely for spells and knowledge but were receptacles of wisdom beyond fact, that the soul needed feeding almost as much as the mind.  

Josiah also found that being the father figure in her life meant that he learnt to. Children as he found out like the others in the fellowship, were a learning experience. While he did not have an infant to deal with, the fact that he would deal with a teenage daughter far sooner than anyone else in the group, made the others pay attention to what he was doing. Lilith’s adolescence was no different than any other young girls and Josiah had all the usual headaches, rebelliousness, obnoxiousness, peer pressure and all the other uncertainties that came with growing up. In some ways, knowing JD had prepared Josiah for it a little and he was not alone in attempting to understand what was going through Lilith’s head during those turbulent years. Audrey suffered along with him and by the time Lilith was sixteen, Josiah had come to the conclusion that there was nothing else that could catch him unawares. 

He was wrong. 

Coming of age for Lilith King was very different indeed for one as tethered to the spirit world as she and until her sixteenth birthday, Josiah realised how truly mistaken he was about what he perceived to be magic. 

************

They had been watching the girl for almost a year now in secret. 

This was not easy to do in a town where everyone knew each other and where strangers were often viewed with deep scrutiny, especially by the seven men who acted as the town’s protectors. Officially, Four Corners had a sheriff but everyone knew that when trouble arose, the seven men would come together to stave it off. The acolytes were reluctant to engage the seven because there was an aura about their fellowship that was deeply binding and formidable. The acolytes who lived their lives in accordance to such things recognised it, just as they recognise that the number seven was a number of power. The men who were once called the Magnificent Seven and still remembered fondly as such were threads intertwined, whatever the reality they may exist. Fate had a vested interest in the fellowship of the seven and the acolytes were reluctant to tamper with destiny it had planned.  

However, the acolytes had learnt long ago just how to blend in. The nature of what they were made it an absolute necessity to move about the world unnoticed, without drawing suspicion. Too many of their own had made mistakes in the past where Christianity and pious puritans with little tolerance for anything beyond their own dogged beliefs had obliterated their numbers in barbaric rituals of torture and fire. With this acquired expertise, the acolytes had carried out their surveillance diligent, keeping a close eye on their quarry, starting from their first discovery of her until the present time where her coming of age was now a matter of days away.

They had never expected to find her.

For some of the coven, their faith had been eroded from years of searching. After so many disappointments, they had started to believe that the prophecy was merely words, that there was no chosen one and little point to watching the stars for the signs that would herald her birth. Then by some miracle, the markers indicated in all the portents appeared and the planetary alignment that had been foretold so long ago in the book they revered so much. Of course finding the child had been no easy thing even with so much written about her birth and studied closely by the learned members of the order. It took them nearly fifteen years to find her, all the while feeling time pressing up their spines, the closer the approach of her sixteenth year became.

The rest of the order had slowly filtered into town over the past few weeks, entering the community with as much anonymity as the others that had watched over the girl for the past year. There was no doubt in their minds that she was the one they had sought. Her aura was powerful, stronger than they had possibly imagined. Her potential was a beacon of blazing white light in the darkest night and those who knew how to see, could feel it. She of course was oblivious to their surveillance but had some idea but had some idea of the craft despite her best efforts to hide it. It more or less removed any remaining doubt in their mind that she was the one they had waited for so long.

Charles Godfrey Leland arrived in Four Corners two days before Lilith King was to turn sixteen.

A native of the continent, Leland had spent his entire life in the pursuit of witchcraft and fancied himself a warlock though he had never manifested the power he knew was within his reach if he was only taught how. His talents were limited to card readings, a prescience which was dubious in his results and a charismatic manner that was capable of duping many into becoming his followers. His followers came from all walks of life, from the indolent rich to the poor and uneducated, linked by their ambition to have power beyond imagination. They all wanted to be greater than they were and relied upon his religion to give them that glory.

Leland had become the head of the order when he came into the company of an Etruscan witch named Maddalena during his travels in Italy. A frightening and shrivelled old crone, Maddalena had been something of a local celebrity in her village. The dedicated Roman Catholic priests were reluctant to cause her any trouble because for all the piety of Christian religion, the worship that Maddalena engaged in was older than Christ was, its origins dating back to the Roman Empire. Superstitious and poorly educated, it was easy for the villagers to believe that the witch was an agent of the gods that predated the Christians and gods, no matter how old should never be dishonoured.

When Leland came to her, Maddalena had seen in him a willing student, not to mention an heir deserving of the knowledge buried inside her aging mind. He in turn was mesmerised by her knowledge and for a time they forged the deep bonds formed between master and pupil. He learnt that he had no ability with the craft for it was something that had to be taught to those who were not born under the grace of the moon. Only a select few were ever born favoured while the rest wandered aimlessly, searching for a missing part of themselves they did not understand.

Maddalena was keeper to an ancient text known as the Gospel of Witches or after its primary figure, Aradia. According to the writings on the old and yellowed paper, Aradia was daughter to Diana, the Goddess of Moon. It was Aradia’s destiny to establish the craft on Earth. For a time, she had done that, creating a generation of mages, sorcerers, conjurers and other practitioners of the supernatural arts that would pursue history until the time of her return, where she would teach new lessons, new spells for the new age that was dawning. Without her teachings, the new order, the one where science and logic could crush the spiritual world with equations and invention, would ensure the end of the craft for all time.  

Leland became fascinated by this legend. With a world that was even now, leaving the craft behind with Darwin and his stories of simian ancestors, Mendel and his ideas on genetics and Babbage who was creating machines that were capable of thinking like men, Aradia’s presence was never more needed then now. Aradia had to come and for the next few years, Leland armed with the Gospel given to him by Maddalena, prepared for her coming and watched the sky for signs of her birth. Astonishingly enough, it became apparent that Aradia would emerge not from the land of the ancient but rather across the sea in the New World, specifically in a small town in New Mexico called Four Corners.  

Aradia would be born in the sixteenth year of the girl named Lilith.

 ********

"Josiah I can't do this." Lilith exclaimed, losing her nerve at the very last minute. 

Josiah let out a sigh and cast a patient eye on his stepdaughter, anticipating this resurgence of anxiety at the last minute. "Yes you can." He said gently, in a voice full of nurturing strength. "All you have to do is know it in here." He tapped his chest with a finger.  

"No I can't!" She swallowed, clutching the piece of paper in her hand and wondering what had possessed her to display such presumption? She should have never even voiced it to anyone, most of all Josiah. Josiah had this infuriating knack of making her believe in herself, to make her throw caution to the winds and obey her heart even though her mind knew better. "What if she hates it? I'll never be able to show my face again! Not to the whole town or Billy!"  

Josiah tried not to become impatient at her hysteria. However, he was the father of a teenage daughter and such exaggeration had become commonplace to him by now. Teenagers were a mass of insecurities and fears, bundled up unwisely with raw emotion and stubborness. This latest expression of that was only one in a long line of brush fires he had been present for during her adolescence. It was the same thing when she was thirteen and thought gawkiness was a sure sign of impending ugliness, at the age of fourteen, it was because she was not developing a full enough figure and at fifteen, it was being too tall. Where did all these insecurities come from? Josiah had asked himself on more than one occasion before he remembered that this was what it had been for all of them, be there male or female. They had all gone suffered the same doubt and uncertainty in their adolescence at one point or another. Its content varied but generally the angst was all the same.  

"Lily," Josiah placed his hands on her shoulders so that she could not run away and would be forced to look at him. "I know you can do it." 

Lilith let out a groan of exasperation because when Josiah regarded at her that way, with his eyes full of reassurance that she was as special as he believed, even if she was a wreck at the time, Lilith dared not disappoint him. Still, Josiah never seemed to take her failures as badly as she did. He would merely say in that comforting way that fathers did to the daughter they loved dearly, that it was he was proud of her anyway and that always seemed to make the pain tolerable even if it did not go away entirely. It was his faith that often prompted her to do for herself what she believed she was incapable for fear or some other obstacle that hampered her progress. "You really think I can?" She asked him uncertainly.

"I really think you can." He nodded with a smile. 

She let out a heavy sigh and turned her worried expression in the direction of the Clarion News. Her lips curled into a nervous pout, the one that Josiah had become familiar with since she was ten years old and knew that its appearance was a good sign. It usually indicated that she had made up her mind and was going to launch herself into the fray. She took another breath to steady her resolve before she glanced at him. "You’re right," she swallowed. "I can do this."

"Of course you can.." Josiah egged her on. "Now go do it."

Without saying another word, she marched up to the door of the Clarion News and paused a second, giving Josiah another look, hoping that if he had any last minute thoughts before she did this, the pause would give him time to voice them. Unfortunately he did not and her stall for time dissolved before her eyes, allowing her no other reason for delay. Taking another deep breath, Lilith reached for the doorknob and twisted it open. Entering the offices of the Clarion News and leaving Josiah outside because she needed to do this on her own, Lilith could not ever remember the place feeling so ominous. She had visited the newspaper office countless times over the years with Billy but this was the first time she was not coming here as a friend of a family but rather a supplicant. 

Mary Larabee was at her desk, working on the next edition of the paper when she raised her eyes at Lilith’s entrance into the office. Lilith marvelled at how tireless Mary was and how she managed to juggle being wife, mother and editor with such ease. As it was, Mary was now carrying her third child and the curve in her figure showed that the baby’s birth was only three months away and the lady showed no signs of being hampered by her physical limitations. Lilith never voiced it to anyone, especially Billy but Mary was something of a role model. A perfect balance of so many roles by a person who knew how to have it all and did.

"Hello Lily." Mary greeted with a smile. "What a pleasant surprise." 

"Hello Mrs Larabee." Lilith answered shakily, her fingers trembling slightly as she held onto the paper in her hand. "I’m not bothering you am I?"

"Of course not," Mary retorted, setting her pen down. "What can I do for you?" 

Lilith felt her courage dissolve and for a moment, she merely stood there, unable to force the words out.

Mary could tell immediately by the terrified expression on the girl's face but for the life of her could not fathom what it was.

"Lilith, is something wrong?" The editor of the newspaper asked concerned, rising from her desk and approaching the fearful young woman.

"Oh no!" Lilith returned quickly, cursing herself for fouling things up completely. "Nothing's wrong. I just need to talk to you." She managed to say finally.

The girl was positively trembling, Mary ealised and placed her hand on Lilith's shoulder, in a reassuring gesture to convince her that nothing could be so bad to warrant this kind of anxiety. "Lily, tell me sweetheart, what do you need to talk to me about?"

Swallowing thickly, Lilith remembered Josiah's words about courage and his faith in her to do the right thing. She had rehearsed what she was going to say for the whole of last night so that she would be adequately prepared when the moment of truth arrived. Josiah said she could do it and if he believed in her, then she would have to trust him. That alone was enough to prompt her into speaking.  

"I wrote this." She finally spoke and presented the piece of paper she had been clutching so tightly to Mary after long last.

Mary's face betrayed her surprise but the older woman did not comment as she took the page from Lilith's hand and returned to her desk. After lowering herself onto her chair, Mary reached for the spectacles on her desk and slipped the steel frames glasses over her eyes. She began to read in earnest, unaware that while she did, Lilith was holding her ground before her slowly metamorphosing into jumble of nerves. Mary did not respond as her eyes studied the words before her and the minutes that ticked by as Lilith waited for her to say something felt like an eternity. The wait began to build a steady surge of paranoia run through her as Lilith started to be plagued by all sorts of morale crippling ideas. What if Mary hated it? Why hadn't she picked something more interesting to write about than a local fair? She should have focused on something that had power, not a subject that was laced with a mediocre attempt at good cheer.  

What had made her think she could write in the first place? 

The question came just as Mary looked up at her, having finished reading the page, and perfectly aware that the girl required an answer immediately because her nerves were near breaking point. "Well I must say I'm surprised."

That couldn't be good, Lilith told herself and her face showed her fears for the worst. "Is that bad?" She dared to ask gingerly a moment later. 

"No," Mary shook her head a slow smile crept across her face. "Actually its very good. I like it. The style needs a little polishing but that's to be expected. There’s a great deal of potential here." 

"You think so?" She asked, almost unable to believe it could be true, that someone as accomplished as Mary Larabee would think that she had potential. "I was sure you would hate it."

"I would never hate anyone's efforts to put pen to paper." Mary responded warmly. "However, I get the sense that you did not simply come here to let me sample your work."

"I want to be a writer like you are." Mary's glowing report had given her the courage to say what this entire exercise had been about. "I want to be a reporter like you. I want you teach me. You don’t have to pay me, I’ll work for free. I just want to learn." 

Mary had suspected as much when she had been given the girl’s sample report and it did not take her long to come to a decision. How many times had Chris told her that she needed help with the paper? It was not as if her days were not full enough and with a baby coming, she would be doubly taxed. Her only resistance to the idea had been the prospect of allowing a stranger free reign over her newspaper that in its own way was also like one of her children. She could not entrust a stranger with it but Lilith was no stranger. Mary had watched her grown up and had insight that some day Lilith would become one of the family. She and Billy were inseparable and had been since they were children and while her son had yet to see Lilith in that way because men were naturally dense about these things, Mary knew her son enough to know that one day Lilith would become someone very dear to him.

"I wouldn’t feel right about letting you work for free," Mary replied and saw the downcast expression appearing on Lilith’s face because the girl had the idea she was about to be turned down. Unable to bare seeing that sorrowful visage once more, Mary quickly added, "I can’t offer you a fortune in salary but how does five dollars a week sound to you?" 

Five dollars a week was more money than Lilith had even imagined. In truth, the financial side of this had never even occurred to her, she was so focussed on winning Mary’s approval that nothing else had mattered. "You want me to work for you?" She stuttered.

"Yes," Mary smiled, taking great satisfaction from the delightful pleasure stealing across Lilith’s face. "I need a junior reporter, someone who can learn the trade and do a few things around here. As you can see," Mary patted the crest of her belly, "I’m not going to be very mobile in the next couple of months and once the baby comes I won’t have much time for awhile. So do you think you’re up to it?"

"Am I up to it!" Lilith burst out and hugged Mary. "I won’t let you down!"

"I know you won’t," Mary laughed, wondering if she had been that enthused when her father had first told her she could start coming to the paper with him. She probably was but it was too long ago and for right now, she was enjoying Lilith’s reaction, feeling as if that there was something terribly right about all this.

"I have to go tell Josiah and ma!" Lilith exclaimed excitedly as she broke away from Mary. 

"Go on," Mary replied and then added as the girl hurried towards the door. "I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early?"

"You’ll be lucky if I don’t camp out on your front door tonight," Lilith chuckled. "Thanks Mrs Larabee."

"If we’re going to be working together, I think you can call me Mary." The editor of the Clarion News remarked. 

"Mary it is then." Lilith answered and then hurried out the door, eager to tell Josiah that once again, he was right. 

************

When Lilith emerged from the offices of the Clarion News, she noted that Josiah was no longer on the boardwalk, however, this did not surprise her. He was most likely at the jailhouse where he acted as JD’s deputy, waiting for her to bring back her news, good or bad. The seven still rode together despite their obligations to their families. All that had changed was the details. While Buck, Chris and Vin were too busy with their ranch to take a daily part in the law enforcement of Four Corners, they came together naturally when the threat warranted it. Josiah had remained at JD’s side, guiding the young sheriff when the young man had assumed the duties of the office in all its entirety. When Ezra was not playing a full time father raising his children, the gambler also counted himself as one of JD’s deputies. Thus Lilith made her way to the jailhouse, eager to tell Josiah her news before she went to find Billy.

She was walking down the boardwalk past Gloria Potter’s store when she saw a man standing against the post at the edge of the walkway. He was in his early forties with a thin angular face and dark eyes that seemed focussed on her as she continued walking forward. Lilith felt a shiver of something that could only be defined as a chill run down her spine as she neared him and considered altering her path so that she would take herself out of his way. However, their eyes had made contact and it would be a slight and Lilith had no wish to be rude when all she had to base her discomfort was a feeling. Continuing on her path, she ignored the uneasiness rumbling in her belly as she walked by the man in his expensive suit and hat.

 "Hello there." He greeted politely, raising his hat to her. 

"Hello." Lilith replied, keeping her eyes lowered and not pausing.

"You’re Lilith King aren’t you?" He asked, determined to make contact with her. 

"Yes," Lilith halted because he had used her name and gave her little choice in the matter. Lilith took comfort in the fact that they were in a crowded place and Josiah was a scream away.  

"My name is Charles Leland." He bowed slightly and removed his hat. "I’m new to these parts and I happened to learn of a ravishing beauty who was daughter to the local school teacher." 

Lilith tried not to blush but she did, not merely from his description of her but embarrassment that people might have been speaking about her in such a way. She certainly did not think she looked like a ravishing beauty. Although her mother said she had elfin features, as if her mother had ever actually seen an elf to be able to tell. "My name is Lilith but I’m not beauty as you put it. What do you want?" She asked, trying to sound polite but her voice was laced with suspicion.

"Nothing underhanded I assure you." Leland responded immediately. "Do you know Lilith is the name of Adam’s first wife?"

"Adam as in the first man?" Lilith stared at him.  

"Yes," Leland nodded. "The first man created by God." 

"I didn’t know he had another wife." Lilith answered, interested for the moment in the tale if in not the man doing the telling.

"Lilith was his first wife, in essence, she was the first woman, predating Eve." Leland continued. "Unfortunately, Lilith demanded to be treated as Adam’s equal and when she was refused, she left Adam and the Garden."

"What happened to her?" Lilith asked fascinated about the history of her namesake. 

"Well they say she and Lucifer became lovers where she spawned a race of demons. When Adam begged God to return her, she was visited by two angels who told her to return but she refused and in punishment, they destroyed her children, a hundred a day. Can you imagine the pain she must have endured?" Leland looked at Lilith as if she knew the answer.

 "It must have been terrible." Lilith remarked, still feeling uncomfortable when his eyes met hers.

"It was but Lilith was a powerful woman and in abstaining, in being true to herself she achieved immortality the way Adam could never even dream off. She became a force unto herself and while her children may have died because of Adam, she ensured his children would never sleep soundly again."

Lilith shuddered. "She was evil." 

"No," Leland shook his head. "She was not evil, just angry. She had a right to live as she wished and she was not afraid of using her power. You must never be afraid of power Lilith, you must embrace it, allow to become a part of your fabric."

"I’m not afraid of power." Lilith found herself saying.  

"I sensed that about you," Leland stated as if he had intimate knowledge to her inner workings. "I think you are someone who knows all about power and how to wield it? Am I right?"

"Maybe." Lilith replied, wondering why he asked her that question so pointedly. Did he know something about her? Did he know about the one thing that she felt uncomfortable about revealing to anyone other than Josiah and Billy. "It depends on what kind of power you mean."

"There’s a smart girl," Leland grinned, his lips pulled back into a smile that seemed to be for the purpose of disarmament. "You know how to ask a good question."

"I’m not a child," Lilith returned, disliking the use of the word term. In two days, she would be sixteen years old and as far as she was concerned, a woman.  

"Of course not," Leland quickly corrected himself. "I should have known better than to refer you as such but when you’re as old as I am, you tend to forget things like that."

"I have to be going now," Lilith said deciding she had enough of this conversation especially when her uneasiness did not abate even though they had exchanged words. She resumed making her journey towards the jailhouse once again.

"Tell me, do you know anything about magic?"

 Lilith froze in her tracks and turned around slowly. For a moment, she thought she had heard incorrectly and prayed that this was the case. Her magic was a closely guarded secret that only Josiah and Billy were aware of. Josiah had explained once that it was something people would not understand and adhering to his wisdom, she had obeyed, keeping her talents a secret from everyone, including her mother. As she grew older and learnt about the trials at Salem where witches were burnt at the stake, she realised that Josiah’s warning had more sinister implications. For a time, Lilith had almost given up practising all together until realising what she was able to do could not be contain and required mastering to control. The extent of her power surprised her and frightened her all at once and though Billy sometimes watched her conjuring, she hid from him her practise of the darker arts because she was certain it would frighten him. 

"I read about it in stories." Lilith said gingerly, not about to give away more than was necessary. If he were just toying with her, she would let nothing slip inadvertently to allow him more power over her.

 "That’s not what I mean." Leland responded, his eyes fixing on her like a hawk. "I mean real magic, the power that lies between the mists. The knowledge of the old ways where the laws of nature are not as immutable as science would have you believe. You have the sight and you have the knowing of the craft. I can tell."

"I don't know anything." Lilith declared, starting to become frightened.

 "Would it help you to know that you are not alone? That there are people who believe what you have is a gift to be treasured not squandered by being kept in the shadows. There are too few of us left Lilith, the age is dying and so is the craft. Soon we will disappear and that wonder will die with us." She muttered, trying not to be swayed by his words but could feel a part of herself responding to what he was saying. She did not want to hide what she was and the idea that there were others who shared what she learnt, who perhaps knew even more than she did, tantalized her.

"What do you want from me?" She finally asked.  

Leland knew that he was reaching her on some level, despite her natural fear. The girl had been taught to submerge her knowledge and her abilities, exposure was a terrifying aspect but somehow he had to breach all that, he had to show her that he could be trusted. He would need her trust if Aradia was to be born into this world again. "Just to show you that you are not alone, that we would like to show you that you are apart of a rich tradition."

Lilith wrestled with her thoughts for a few seconds, trying to decide whether or not he was what he claimed to be. There were so many questions in her head, questions she had believed no one could answer, not even Josiah who seemed to know so much. She had reached the limits of what the grimoire could teach her and she knew it. However, if this stranger was telling her the truth, it could mean a whole new world of understanding. All she had to do was take a chance on it. What did Ezra Standish say that the highest stakes were usually the gamble worth taking?  

"How?" She asked, making her mind up with the utterance of that one word. 

Leland smiled but just enough so that the girl would think it was pleasure at her acceptance of his offer and not at his triumph in winning her over. "By showing you your destiny."

**********

 "JD, who is that?" Josiah Sanchez asked when he peered out the window of the jailhouse and caught sight of Lilith speaking to a man he did not recognise. It appeared as if his stepdaughter was on her way to see him at the jailhouse when the stranger had captured her attention and engaged her in conversation.

JD raised his eyes from the checkerboard where they had been currently engaged in a game and lifted himself from his chair high enough to peer through the window and catch a glimpse of the man Josiah had interrupted their play in order to observe. "I'm not sure Josiah," JD remarked after a second. "I know he blew into town last week. He's foreigner, English I think." 

"Seems to be pretty interested in Lilith." Josiah rumbled in disapproval and did not think well of older men who simply came up and introduced themselves to young teenage girls.

"He's probably asking her for directions or something." JD remarked lowering himself into his chair once more.

"This isn't that big a town." Josiah retorted.

JD suppressed a smile and then added, "Josiah, she's growing up. There's nothing you can do about that."

Josiah faced JD and stared at him with a frown. "What do you know?" he grumbled but knew JD was right. He could not help being protective. While he did not have anything to do with Lilith's existence biologically and his presence in her life had come late, he still felt like her father and he had played the role for the last seven years. "You still got years with your kids." 

JD sighed, knowing they would get nowhere with their game until this issue was resolved. "Josiah, I doubt she will be leaving any time soon. I mean her entire life is here, everything she knows. Why would she leave?" 

"You did." He pointed out. 

"That's different." JD returned, unfazed by the counter point. "I had nothing. My mother was gone and the house we lived in was following her. I was on my own and I made a choice. It was here." 

"I'm sorry JD," Josiah responded. "I know it's strange but these last few weeks, I've become afraid. I know she's only sixteen and there's so much growing up left for her to do but I feel like she's slipping away from me and I'm going to miss her being gone. I'll miss all the little things that never meant so much until now, like hearing her and Audrey arguing about something, hearing her scribbling in her room or watching her and Billy go off together, I'll miss all that and I know once its gone, its forever. I won't get back those years." 

"But there will be new years, Josiah." JD smiled, understanding his worries completely because he thought the same sometimes about Adam and Annette. "You've guided her through one part of her life and now you'll just have to be there for the next. Alex told me something once and I guess for girl anyway, there's got to be a little truth in that, sometimes the only man a girl can really have faith in is their father. I think she'll always need you especially when she thinks she doesn't."

Josiah looked at JD with a smile, "when did you get so wise?"

"Well," JD grinned. "I grew up too."

*************

 "So who are these people?" Billy Travis questioned Lilith as they walked through the woods to the location Leland had given her as a meeting place for others of her kind.

"They're a coven." Lilith answered wishing she had gone alone as they made their way through the woods surrounding the Parisi place. Leland had declared that Mr Parisi, a settler that had arrived in Four Corners about six months ago, had allowed the coven the use of a clearing on his property. Since witchcraft was still viewed with animosity and suspicion by most, Parisi, who was a believer as Lilith had come to learn, preferred the gatherings be conducted some distance away from his home so that he could deny any knowledge if they were discovered.  

"A real witches coven?" Billy asked dubiously, not liking this one bit because Lilith had so little information and his nose for trouble said this did not feel right. Chris always said to follow one's gut instincts and right now his instincts told them that they were in real trouble. Unfortunately, he doubted he could convince Lilith to abandon this plan to meet them tonight. For as long as he had known her, Lilith had been mesmerized by the power of witchcraft. While she continued to learn from the Grimoire in her possession, she did not test herself fully because she feared her lack of guidance by those who knew the craft intimately might cause her to harm those she loved. Billy knew there was something at the heart of that fear she did not reveal to anyone even though he was certain Josiah knew what it was. Thus because of this fear, she had always held back and now that she was presented with the possibility of people who knew more than she, there was no stopping her.

"Yeah, the Order of Aradia, they call it." She explained as she continued into the darkness, eager to reach Leland and the others. She and Billy had sneaked out of their homes in order to make this trip because Lilith was not foolish enough to meet strangers at this hour of the night without at least having an escort. 

"Lily, this is a bad idea." 

Lilith paused and stared at him. "I know." She said with a sigh. "But Mr Leland was right, I'll never know my potential if I don't at least try." 

"And he's right there," Billy agreed. "But there's something strange about all this."

"That's why you won't show yourself and just watch what we're doing. If something does go wrong you can go get help."

"I won't leave you." He returned her gaze, astonished she could even make such a request. 

"If I'm in trouble, you better." She looked at him. "I didn't ask you to come with me so you'd get yourself killed too."

 "Nice to know that I'm appreciated." He remarked sarcastically.

"You know what I mean." She retorted. "I want you to come with me in case something goes wrong."  

"Then why go at all?" He asked. "Lily I don't wan to see you hurt."

Lilith saw the real concern in his eyes and said softly, " I know that Billy." She took a deep breath and looked up at the stars above, trying to find the words to make him understand why this was so important to her. "I love magic Billy, I always have. That and writing, it makes me what I am but the truth is, I've gone as far as I can go with magic and unless I get some answers, I'll never get any further. I'll never know what I'm capable of. I need to know Billy and maybe these people can show me. All I know is I've got to try."

Billy did understand. She was his best friend in the world and perhaps even more. He knew her better than anyone else and was grateful to the marvels she had shown him but he could not help deny that aspect of Lilith also frightened him. Things with too much power often did and while he never mentioned it, Billy suspected that her true potential might become more than even Lilith could cope with if she were to allow it to become unleashed. The gathering with this mysterious coven worried Billy a great deal because it might succeed in doing just that. Worst of all, they had come here without anyone's knowledge and that was a matter of great concern to Billy indeed.

"Okay," he said with a sigh. "I'll stay out of sight and if anything goes wrong, I'll go for help." 

"Thank you Billy," she smiled and leaned over to kiss him gently on the cheek.  

For a moment, time seemed to stand still as her lips touched his skin and it felt as if his face was on fire at her touch. He knew she felt something too because when she pulled back, she seemed surprised by how it felt and took a step back from him as if being near him might resurface the feeling again. She swallowed thickly and Billy felt his heart racing just looking at her. It was the first time they'd ever kissed and he wished it wasn't under such circumstances. Billy wanted to say something about what had happened but could not find the words and when Lilith turned around and started walking again, the moment was lost.

They continued walking the darkness for a short time until Billy began to hear the sounds of chanting in the dark. The litany of words being spoken in unison immediately sent a shiver down his spine even though he had no idea what it meant. There were old words, steeped in a language he did not understand and he glanced at Lilith, neither did she but the expression of excitement on her face was unmistakable.

"This is it Billy," she turned to him. "There really is a coven." 

Billy did not doubt that but he still did not like it. "Let's just see what they're doing." 

The duo inched closer to the clearing from where they could see a campfire burning, careful to ensure that they were hidden behind the bushes when they spied upon what was taking place within the illuminated circle of fire. Billy's eyes widened and Lilith's breath caught when they saw more than a dozen people forming a ring of flesh around the flames, dressed in dark robes and chanting words that sounded eerie the more they heard it. At the head of the gathering was a figure clad in red and he was reading verses from a large, leather bound book which did not look too dissimilar from the grimoire in Lilith's possession. If Billy had been worried before, this made his fear escalate to new heights. The whole scene not only reeked of danger but a word he had never associated with magic until now, evil.

"Lily please don't go out there." He stared at her.

"Billy I have to go." She rolled her eyes in exasperation because they had already discussed this.  

"Lily, I got a real bad feeling about this." He declared. "I really do." 

"Then you have to stay here and make sure I'll get help if you're right." She responded and gave him little time to say anything else when she moved out of the bushes, leaving him concealed but exposing herself to the coven that was waiting for her arrival.

"Lilith!" He hissed at her but it was too late. She was already gone.

************

 Lilith forced away her fear when her arrival sparked silence as the chanting stopped right away. The hooded figures stared at her in something akin to reverence and awe as she made her way to Leland who was the only person at the gathering she knew. Swallowing thickly, she wondered what incantation they were invoking under the light of the full moon. Leland was standing in a circle of red composed of some kind of powdery substance. His robes though red were also different by the embroidered sigil of a bird on the breast. Their chanting did not pause for long because as she joined their number, they began chanting something else and this time Lilith understood perfectly because it was just one word they were saying, over and over again.  

Aradia. Aradia Aradia. 

"Lilith," Leland stepped out of his circle and came to meet her. "I am glad you came." 

Even though he still made her uneasy, Lilith felt comforted to see someone she knew. "What's going on here Mr Leland?" She asked nervously. 

"We are preparing the way for Aradia." He said with a smile. There was no reason to lie to her, she had a right to know the power she was going to be vessel to less than a day from now. 

"Aradia?" She asked, never hearing the reference before.

"Aradia is the daughter of Diana, the Goddess of the Moon." He answered, his eyes gazing reverently at the full moon in the sky, aglow with silvery illumination. When he lowered his gaze once more, he glanced at of the people behind her briefly before continuing his narration. "Diana is the goddess who gave us witchcraft. She gave us Aradia so that we may learn all there is about witchcraft. Aradia was her gift to us and the Messiah of all witches, as told in the Gospel." 

"And she is coming again?" Lilith asked, feeling something knot in her stomach at the mention of this story and suddenly she was very glad for Billy's presence in the woods, watching her.  

"Yes," Leland nodded. "Her coming has been ordained for as long as her legend has lived and tomorrow night she will walk among us again."

"Tomorrow night is my birthday." Lilith stated, her brows wrinkling into confusion.  

"I know." Leland smiled and nodded. 

A small gasp escaped her when she realised what her part in this awakening of Aradia would entail and she spun around terrified, ready to run when she found that another robed figure was already prepared for her flight. She had just enough time to scream before the folded piece of cloth was pressed to her face. 

From where he was Billy Travis watched the unfolding scene with horror. His first instinct was to run out into the clearing and help her but he forced himself to remain calm as he saw Lilith become limp in the grip of the man she called Leland, the effects of the drugged cloth working swiftly on her. Heart pounding inside his chest and filled with agony, Billy knew that there was only one thing to do; run.

Run as fast as he could and get her help before it was too late.

*************

 By the time Josiah and the some of the seven returned to the place where the order had held their nightly gathering, it was too late. There was no sign of the cultists or Lilith anywhere. The only evidence of their presence in the clearing was the cooling remnants of ashes where their bonfire had been and the residue of powder left over from that strange circle Leland had stood in. Billy had ran all the way to Sanchez home in order to sound the alarm and within minutes, JD, Nathan, Ezra and Chris were ready to ride. However, for all their efforts, it appeared that Lilith's kidnappers were better planned then they were and the lawmen found themselves standing in a clearing that gave little clue to where the young woman was taken.

"I shouldn't have left her!" Billy swore angrily. "I should have found out where they were taking her." 

"You did the right thing Billy," Chris said gently to his stepson, aware of how close the two were and knew that this would be taking its toll on Billy in guilt. "There's not telling if you could have stopped what happened if you had not left. I can't even say that they wouldn't have taken you with them." 

"Why were you two out here at this time of night anyway?" JD stared at the young man.  

Billy saw Josiah looked at him sharply and Billy dropped his gaze, unable to meet anyone of them in the eye because he could not betray Lilith's secret. "I don't know. She said that she had to meet him but not why. "I couldn't hear what he said to her just before he grabbed her. She was a little nervous, that's why she had me come with her, to make sure I could get help if anything went wrong." 

"Look its not important why he took her," Josiah spoke up, taking the pressure off Billy because the boy had told him the truth earlier. "The fact is they did and where she could be right now." 

"Josiah's right." Chris nodded. "Nathan and Ezra has gone to see Parisi." He told JD. "This was his land, he might have some idea who those people are." 

"We need Vin." Josiah replied. "We need to track them. That many people can just disappear so quickly without leaving some kind of a trail."

Chris was about to answer when they became aware of two horses riding towards them and saw it to be Nathan and Ezra returning from their interview with Parisi. The familiar shape of Ezra's hat and Nathan's oversized horse gave them away in the darkness. 

"Mr Parisi and his family appear to be away at this time." Ezra declared when he reacted them after dismounting. "There was no one there Josiah, I am sorry." 

"Either he doesn't know someone is using his place or he cleared out before we could get to him," Nathan speculated.

"It could be either one." Josiah sighed heavily, trying to hide his worry for his stepdaughter. He wished he could tell the others what it was Lilith was actually doing here but he had no idea how they would react to such knowledge. Although this had transpired through no fault of his own, Josiah wondered if perhaps he could have tried a little harder to help her with her understanding of magic. It was such an unknown and he lingered between wanting to help her and being a little afraid of it. However, what happened tonight was proof of his failure to support her in this most important aspect of herself. "She could be anywhere." 

"Josiah," Nathan put his hand on the big man's shoulder. "We'll find her." 

Josiah wished he could be as certain, when it came to Lilith and magic, he couldn't be sure of anything. 

 **********

Her head hurt.  

She woke up in darkness and tried to lift her head but succeeded in knocking it against a hard wooden surface. Uttering a small cry of pain, the sound disappeared into the gag that was in her mouth. Her head still felt woozy and when she opened her eyes, she saw cracks of light peering through the wooden obstruction before her. From the way she was unable to remain steady for too long, lying on her side, Lilith came to the conclusion that they were moving. Pushing her way forward, she peered through the spaces and saw that she was on the back of a wagon, travelling through a well-taken track. She rested her head down once more and studied the crate she had been sealed and tried to move her feet. Like the hands bound behind her back, her legs were as equally hindered.  

It was her birthday today.

Lilith swallowed hard, trying to think of all the things her sixteenth birthday should have been and was not thanks to the situation she was in and felt tears glistening in her eyes. She had been so foolish and now she was in dire trouble. She listened closely and heard voice talking, they were a few of them. Leland's voice emanated from the front of the wagon and Lilith felt her heard freeze.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" Leland asked suspiciously. "We need to be out in the open to perform the ceremony."

"There's some woods near Baker's pass that isn't used as a trail." Someone answered him. "We should be fee to conduct the ceremony without interruption."

She had to tell the others where she was! She had to do it before the sun went down and she had no idea how long she had been asleep. It was daylight out there but that gave her no indication how long it would be until sunset. Lilith told herself not to panic and took a deep breath, coming to the realization that she needed to tell Josiah where she was because if she did not, she would cease to exist after tonight. Lilith King would disappear and Aradia would have her body instead. Closing her eyes, she calmed herself and concentrated. What she was about to do would take all her energy to accomplish but she had no other choice, she had to get help. She could not rely on Josiah finding her in time.

She had to make a sending. 

Focusing hard, she began muttering softly the incantations needed for the spell to work.  

"By the light of the moon, by the power of Goddess, I call to thee across the mists, I reached thee across the dark, across the vale of time and space, hear my message, hear my call to thee Josiah, hear your daughter in her hour or need."

Her mind began to fog as the power inside of her broke fee through the mire of her fear and started bubbling freely. Her head began to spin and in the blur of imagery that swept past her inner eyes, she saw the land streaking past her, cornfields and untamed desert, moving quickly toward the town of Four Corners. She saw its building sweep past her as she entered the town limits and suddenly, Josiah was there with her mother. Audrey was crying in fear and Josiah was comforting her. Lilith could not be certain of the words just the action. She could not pay too much attention however, it was one thing for the sending to find him, it was entirely another for him to hear her call.

"Goddess open the mind of your daughter's guardian, show to him the answer to her salvation. Show to him the place of her desecration show him!"

It felt as if her soul has suddenly escaped her body for she felt all her energy escaped her in one final burst of effort. There was a shattering pain in her mind and if she had been capable, she would have screamed but as the sending flowed from her thoughts to its destination, the black that came with such an overwhelming use expenditure of power overcame her. She sunk into it dark depths, unconscious to all and praying desperately in that last instant of awareness that Josiah had heard her. 

************

Josiah was about to mount his horse when suddenly, something with the force of a sledgehammer, impacted inside his skull and with a loud groan, to the horror and astonishment of his friends and his wife, the big man collapsed.

**********

Josiah woke up with a start. 

"Josiah," Audrey quickly rushed to his side and threw her arms around her husband's neck. "Oh thank the Lord you're alright." 

Josiah felt his head swim for a moment, trying to understand what had happened. He was in his bed at home and outside, the sun had set behind the horizon to escape the stars chasing him. The room was slowly starting to cease its frantic spinning as he felt Audrey's arms around him, holding him close as she wept her relief at his awakening. What had happened to him? The last thing he seemed to remember was climbing on his horse. 

"What happened?" He managed to ask his voice but a croak following his slumber.  

"You passed out." Audrey exclaimed. "You were about to ride away and then you just crumbled!"  

"Crumbled?" Josiah looked at her in astonishment and disbelief until suddenly, he remembered that there was pain and a white blinding light that had detonated inside his mind. Words had slammed against every corner of his thoughts, overloading his senses with information that it was almost impossible to process. Words of great meaning! Word about....

"Lilith!" He burst out.  

"They haven't found her yet." Audrey answered tearfully, praying that fate would not be so cruel to take both her child and her husband in one day.

"I know where she is." He pulled her arm away from his. "I don't know its possible but I know where she is!"  

Josiah did not waste time trying to explain it to her, especially when he could do nothing to enlighten her himself. Somehow, Lilith had sent him a message and he had to act now before it was too late.

**************

 When Lilith came to the moon was high in the night sky.

Her heart started pounding at the sight of it in the sky especially when two members of the coven had removed her from the crate they had kept her in for the journey here. She looked down at herself and found she was no longer wearing her clothes and she flushed in embarrassment at the realization that someone had undressed her. Arms lifted her out of the crate and started dragging her away from the crate. As her feet were forced into working, Lilith regained her bearings and saw what awaited her at the venue of the ceremony. Once again, she saw the same circle formed in the dirt and the ring of hooded figures chanting ancient words. Leland stood in the center of all this, exulting in his role as high priest.

Upon Lilith's appearance, he turned his attention to her and smiled. "I guess it is time for you to meet your destiny."  

Where was Josiah? Lilith thought frantically as she struggled in the grips of the two men dragging her to the circle where she was certain her death was waiting. "You better let me go!" She cried out with terrified impotence. "I've got family who will never stop looking for me?"

Leland started to laugh. "You mean like him?"  

He pointed to the bundle on the ground she had not seen in the darkness. Lilith stared in mesmerized horror as she saw Leland walking over to the man who was tied up on the ground, blood flowing from the bruise on his head. However, Lilith did not notice the bruise as much as she did the wet patch above his stomach that looked decidedly like blood as it glistened under the moonlight. Lilith had never seen her stepfather so weak or for that matter, so small. It flashed in her mind with no doubt at all that he would die if he did not reach a doctor soon.  

"We captured him an hour ago." Leland gloated as he paused a safe distance away from Josiah who could not speak thanks to the gag in his mouth. The former preacher's eyes met Lilith's and tried to convey his sorrows for failing her so utterly.  

"You let him go!" Lilith shouted in fury. "He's done nothing to you!"  

"I'm sorry," Leland shook his head and gestured to one of his acolytes. "We kept him alive for your benefit, so that you would see that fighting this was pointless."

"Please don't hurt him," she begged as she was forced into the circle. "I'll do anything you say, just let him go." She pleaded, tears running down her cheeks. "He's my father."

"Soon I'll be that to you," Leland responded. "And more. Kill him." He ordered.

"NO!!!!!" Lilith screamed as she saw an acolyte move towards Josiah with a dagger, preparing to plunge it into the former preacher's back. She could stand if it was her life that was lost but not Josiah's. He had been her friend and her father, her teacher and the one person who always understood and could guide her through her fear. To lose him was unimaginable. She couldn't and as something inside her snapped, Lilth decided she wouldn't.

They wanted magic? Fine, then. They were going to get it.

In a burst of strength she knew not how she possessed, Lilith broke free of her captors and forced them out of the circle because they could have no part in what she was about to do. Fury was driving her and as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her lips began moving and suddenly, everyone stopped to see what she was doing because the words coming from her was not the invocation or the ritual that they had been expecting. It was something else entirely. 

"If I command the moon, it will come down;

And if I wish to withhold the day, night will linger over my head

And again; if I wish to embark on the sea, I need no ship,

And I wish to fly through the air, I am free from my weight.

I call to thee, Goddess of the Three,

Tisiphone, Alecto and Magaera come to me,

Take your daughter's form, become me

I call upon thee as a daughter of the moon

Avenge, avenge, avenge me!"

Her speech was punctuated by a crack of thunder and suddenly a wind blew from nowhere, swirling around them. Dirt, leaves and fallen twigs became captured in a maelstrom of gale force winds, billowing cloaks swept past the figures trying to contain their fear and remain on their feet. Josiah remained on the ground, watching as Lilith turned her eyes on Leland, even the whites of her eyes had turned black as she approached him. She did not walk, she glided over the ground, her blond hair forming a crown of gold around her as she neared the man who had been the cause of all this, who had tricked her by preying upon her insecurities. He was going to pay, not only for that but also for daring to harm one of the most treasured people in her life.  

"Diana help me!" Leland shouted as he scrambled away.

"Diana? We were before Diana was even conceived by the Greeks, mortal. We have always been, since there were fates to be recorded. What you are means nothing to us, she who has called us demands vengeance and as it is our favor to daughters of the moon, we will avenge. We are the Hecate, the Bacchae or if it is easier for your understanding, the Furies."

Josiah saw Lilith at least he thought it was Lilith raise her hands and another clap of thunder followed before Leland was flying through the air, carried by winds screaming. His followers had scattered by now, what they had seen as the girl spoke in that voice that was not quite her own, but that of something so old and predating history they could not even imagine, convinced them they had no wish to incur her wrath. Leland screamed as he sailed across the air, his red robes flowing in the wind. He landed headfirst into the large bonfire, flaying his hands wildly as his body slammed into the flames. The fire seemed to grow until its heat was such that Josiah could feel it against his cheek.

The preacher watched Leland consumed in the flames which seemed to have grown somewhat, until it was almost an inferno contained in one place, his screams tearing through the night as his robes encased his body in fire. Lilith continued to watch, her face glowing with power and her eyes still black as she watched Leland's slow and torturous death. A smile curled the corner of her lips and Josiah knew that whomever this was before him, it was not his Lilith. Struggling as best he could, he managed to wrap his hand around the dagger that would have killed him and cut the ropes that kept him bound. Once his hands were free, he tore the gag from his mouth.

"Lilith!" Josiah called out as soon as he was free, in hopes of reaching her. 

His voice sliced through her and she turned to him slowly, staring at first in confusion at who he was.

"Lilith it's me," Josiah tried again. "You've done what you've had to do. You saved us, now its time to let them go. You have been avenged!" 

"The mortal is correct. The daughter has been avenged."  

"Much power in this one. She follows the old ways, a child of the Goddess."

 "A daughter of the moon."

Even though the words came from Lilith, Josiah could swear he heard three different voices. They were unearthly and sounded like something that might have been carried on the wind. He knew who the Furies were, at least he think he did, and what he knew told him, he did not wish for them to inhabit Lilith's body any longer then necessary.

"Let her go! You've done what she asked." Josiah shouted boldly.

"We never truly leave this one, mortal. She carries us with her. She is a daughter of the moon and we will watch on her, always for when she needs us again."

As Josiah watch them disappear from Lilith's face, he prayed that she never would.

*********

When Chris and the others found Josiah and Lilith a short time later as per Audrey's instructions, the big man was holding his unconscious daughter in his arms. For a minute the gunslinger thought that the worst had happened, that perhaps Leland had killed Lilith, he had certainly hurt Josiah enough. However, what was left of the cult leader was presently roasting in the bonfire in the middle of the clearing, the stench of his burning flesh was so thick that the men present had difficult tolerating it for too long. They had seen the other members of the order fleeing into the night before arriving at the clearing but had been more concerned with finding Josiah and Lilith to go after them.

 "What the hell happened here Josiah?" Chris asked as he saw all evidence of a windstorm, in the surrounding area, except there had been none to their recollection.

 Lilith was sleeping in his arms, the way she had done since she was a little girl. Josiah brushed her hair gently as he held her, refusing to let go of her even though he was wounded badly. She was exhausted after what she had done and would probably sleep for some time. Just as well, she had an eventful birthday indeed. Josiah was still a little shaky and for a few seconds after the question was asked of him, did not answer.  

Josiah met Chris gaze and looked past the gunslinger at the fire burning behind him and the grisly remains of Charles Leland still turning slowly into ashes. "They got more than the bargained for." He said simply. "They got a hell of a lot more than they bargained for."

And that was all he would say on the matter, ever.

TO BE CONTINUED