Somewhere in northeast America.
Lillith was driving across the country somewhere on interstate 40. They had been on the road for days, taking back roads but she was sick of it. She also knew she could charm her way out of anything if they got pulled over. Chey was in the trunk because it was broad daylight and that left Sĕigo riding in the passenger seat. The guy was a total creep, they both were really but at least Chey was in the trunk. She was already over this road trip and frankly she was over the whole thing. Chey was a loser with anger issues and Sĕigo was just… Odd. She had never met a Lich but she had a feeling that whatever this guy's deal was, he was a special type of weird. Noticing the town car needed gas she signaled to pull off at the next exit. She wasn't even sure what state they were in at the moment but she planned on taking I-40 east then head south on I-75. She pulled into a nicer gas station and parked next to the pump. For fun she popped the trunk and heard a muffled yelp and saw smoke rise out of the trunk. She had left the back of the car in the sun, not pulling completely into the shade from the overhang. “Oooopsie! I'm so sorry! I thought that was the gas cap release!” She played up the dumb blonde act, despite not being blonde or stupid, and the two morons completely bought it. She got out and put the nozzle in to start pumping gas. She simply looked at the pump and the screen froze up, glitched a bit then started to dispense fuel. They hadn't paid for a single drop since they left. “I'm going to go powder my nose, can I get you gentlemen anything?” Sĕigo just gave her a blank stare and the trunk was silent. Neither of them ate… Well food anyway, she knew that, but it was so fun to toy with them. Inside the gas station she walked around, turning every head in the store. She grabbed a case of white claw and a hot dog off the roller. She walked up to the counter and set down the case of Calw. The middle aged guy behind the counter just stared at her. GOOD. She pulled the hot dog off the bun and licked it suggestively a few times before swallowing it whole and wiping each corner of her mouth with a napkin. She dropped the napkin on the floor, grabbed the case of Claw and walked out the door. She loved messing with mortals... She returned the nozzle to the pump, got into the town car cracking open a drink and peeled rubber out of the parking lot chugging the White Claw on the way. A maroon minivan slammed on its brakes and the driver laid on the horn as the town car sped out of the gas station through oncoming traffic. Sĕigo was furious with her, that much was obvious to see. “We are not wanting any attention! What the HELL do you think you are doing?!?” He yelled at her. “If you don't want attention you probably shouldn't have an Enchantress with you. I get attention everywhere I go, even if I'm doing nothing. We might as well have a bit of fun along the way.” Lillith said flippantly.
The Order compound.
After the engagement and some rooftop celebratory shenanigans, Angiola and I went back downstairs to see if there had been any updates. Philip had gone through the archives and found a few references to Enchantresses and a few more times in history where he believed one was being worshiped. He had also cross referenced the ‘deities’ names to see any additional information we may have on them. The archives department was vast but he had an almost photographic memory, plus a searchable digital database. On a closed server, of course, the last thing we need is after action reports getting hacked. Philip was heading into the conference room, a meeting was scheduled shortly so we followed him in. He gave us an odd look like he knew something was up but he didn't want to pry. Thomas, Simon and Reginald soon joined us and when Reginald and Simon saw us they both smiled broadly. Simon turned to the room and said, “Before we start things, I believe Tobias and Angiola have an announcement.” I hated being put on the spot like that but I was really excited. “We got engaged!” Angiola blurted out, holding her left hand up showing the ring. There was a heartfelt and warm round of celebration from the group. Reginald started the meeting, he had found some daytime footage and oddly enough a video from a gas station recorded only a few minutes beforehand. The daytime footage showed the same town car as before. It was now heading east on interstate 40. Lillith was definitely driving in this clip. It was odd but we still couldn't get a good view of the passenger. Thomas had been busy and actually had an old artifact he wanted to use to see if we could get a better view. It was an old hand ground lens about 6 to 8 inches across and had facets cut into the glass along the edges and an etching in the flats. He said it was an artifact designed to show through any glamor cast and was reported to even show the true form of doppelgangers. Reginald wanted to hold off a moment because the next clip had the vehicle parked right in front of a camera. He played the next video, and sure enough the town car parked right in front of the camera. It was really odd too, almost like the car was parked there on purpose. Lillith got out and started filling up the car without paying. Reginald paused the clip and enlarged the passenger side. Looking through the lens, we could clearly make out the passenger. Long hair tied back in a braid wearing more or less traditional native American dress. His skin however, was like beef jerky. “It's a Lich... that's not good. So an Enchantress, a Lich and a vampire are out to get us... I don't get it. Sounds like the start of a bad joke.” Said Thomas as he held the lens up to the screen. I cleared my throat and sheepishly said. “I think I know why Lillith is after us...” “Lillith? You know her name? That would have helped my research a ton!” Philip interrupted. I was happy to see as Reginald zoomed out, and as the lens went over Lillith, she was just as beautiful, and well, human looking. “I glossed over that part earlier... When I was with the Gypsies, she found me and... We had a relationship for a few weeks before my dreams returned. I would wake up screaming Angiola's name in the middle of the night. After a week or so of that she left.” Thomas, Philip and Reginald all stared at me absolutely dumbfounded. “Seriously Tobias, you broke the heart of an Enchantress, and she didn't just kill you???” Philip said. He had been reading up on these things so, his shock must have had a valid reason. Reginald had saved me by hitting play on the video. It went on to show her going inside and grabbing a case of white claw, and a hot dog off the roller. The camera switched to an overhead view from behind the cash register. She gave the clerk a little “show” with the hot dog and walked out the door without paying. Unfortunately, everyone was staring at me again after her hot dog performance. The video ended with her peeling out of the parking lot, leaving twin streaks of rubber behind it and almost running a maroon minivan off the road completely. “This was taken in Tennessee, I was able to follow the car to the I-75 south ramp. All the computer models agree they are likely heading to your house. That is, if she knew where you live?” Reginald asked once the video was over. I went pale... Before she left, I remembered seeing her petting Mouse and pausing briefly at his collar. “I never told her where I lived, but Mouse...” I trailed off. They all looked at me incredulously, all except for Angiola who was familiar with Mouse. “She read your address off his collar!” She said, Unfortunately, she was correct. On the off chance Mouse got out, his tag had his name, my phone number and address on it. The tag didn’t have city, state and zip because it wouldn't fit. I had told Lillith, in passing, that I had a house in Florida so that was all the info she would need…
Lillith had driven into north Georgia just before sunset. Tennessee had been pretty to drive through, and she had hit every pothole she could find along the way. It had been hard not to laugh when she could hear Shay bouncing around back in the trunk. She had been all in for revenge when this started but the longer she spent with Shay and Sĕigo the more she was having second thoughts. It wasn't that she wanted to forgive Tobias, she just couldn't stand the vamp and the walking bag of dried out bones. Shay was a pretentious and arrogant little prick and Sĕigo was... Well, he was just way too creepy. He rarely talked and when he did, it wasn't anything good. Tobias had broken her heart. Sure she had known Angiola was still alive, but she could also see Tobias's love for her. That had been what had called her, she felt him crying out in loss and anguish and it just drew her in like a magnet. Not necessarily the loss, but the love. She could feel the void the loss had left and she wanted to fill that void. She wanted to feel the love he felt for Angiola for herself. She needed it. Love, admiration, and worship had been her sustenance throughout the ages. It had been a long time since she had been worshiped. Shay had glared daggers at her when he got out of the trunk, she had played the “Ooopsie, I'm so sorry! I guess the ride may have been a bit bumpy back there?” Dumb blonde act again and that was the end of it. Shay was going to drive through the night and try to get them into lakeland. Although he preferred back roads, they had already been on the interstates all day, and the drive to central Fl wasn't really a straight shot on back roads. The plan was to keep south on I-75 then head east towards Orlando on I-4 when they got to the I-4 junction in Tampa. Sĕigo really didn't like to drive, but Lillith needed to get some sleep and she planned to nap in the back seat. The awkward silence was drowned out easily enough with the radio when she was driving, but Shay and Sĕigo would just talk about the “Plan” over and over again. It got really old really quickly and she was snoozing in the back seat in no time.