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The darkness of night, when even the pale moonlight is hidden behind the deep clouds is the perfect time for Lady death to walk amongst the living. She could walk among them during the day, which she often must because death does not rest and neither can she, but in the stillness of the night she feels almost present. Almost as if she could reach out and touch her beloved humans and they might reach back to her without fear.
She has helpers, of course, the crows that are often used for her sigil, not to be mistaken with the Unkindness of ravens that people think belong to her. No, the ravens belong to another god. An all-seeing God and father. Not someone she would want messing with or being mistaken for her Murder. His ravens were meant to watch all that was good, all that was evil, in a balance that never felt truly just. Whereas she and her crows walked among the humans, guiding them to the one experience all humans share. She and her crows guided them in death, seeing that those souls passed on. For regardless of good and evil, all humans share one experience. Death.
The souls could run, or at the very least try to slip through her fingers, becoming ghosts, but no one can truly outrun death. Not forever.
And she knows. Knows it like the sea is blue and the sun burns bright- some souls need more time than others to truly move on. She is in no rush. If anything, time is all she truly has.
“Lilith?” She hears behind her, air being taken in with a fierce choking sound, as if he were surprised she was out and about.
The alleyway had been empty when her mind began to wonder. She had been enjoying her peaceful midnight stroll, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
“Ozzie.” She turns, seeing him close, the deep red cloak around his body, as if trying to hide something. She didn't- doesn't- actually care if he is purposely hiding anything, let him keep his secrets. Though it was her first time seeing the great Asmodeus in his more humanoid form. Usually the brilliant blue flames of passion that surrounded him burned as hot as the sun, but his light has dimmed, flames extinguished, the masks he hides behind has slipped away, releasing his one true face.
“What are you doing here?” He asks, eyes locking onto her.
“Out for a midnight stroll.” She replies calmly.
They aren't friends. They don't talk outside of simple pleasantries and softly spoken praises at family gatherings. So it's hard to remain calm and casual.
“That's nice.” She can hear it in his voice that he feels the same way as her.
His cloak rustles a little as he clears his throat. And when he speaks, she pays him no mind. Instead her focus is what he's hiding. And though she tells herself she doesn't care, that isn't always true.
Curiosity gets the better of her more than not.
It's probably a human. As a god of love- of lust and sexuality- it wouldn’t surprise her if that were true. And it wasn't as if the gods didn't have their own affairs from time to time. Demi-gods were more a problem for mortals than they would ever be for their siring parents.
But she doesn't get to ask.
As she opens her mouth, a member of her Murder dives down from the heavens, cawing of an unfortunate event about to take place.
And it is strange. Usually they help her with the soul collection. They rarely drag her out, away from whatever grabs her attention, before the body has perished.
“I'm sorry, Ozzie. It appears I have some urgent business to attend to. However, it was a pleasure. We'll have to talk again soon.”
She gives him a smile, not unfriendly, before turning away to face her crows that flaps their ebony wings annoyingly in front of her. Her crows are usually so well behaved that she hasn’t had a moment like this in the past. No, they take care of everything, rarely calling for her to help them.
She is barely a few steps out of the alley way before more of her murder comes fluttering up, cawing for her help. Something is going to happen, they screech in unison. But nothing has happened yet. This soul isn’t dead yet.
“I do not understand.” She says, allowing her helpers to guide her. They pull and caw. Claws do little damage to her hat, beaks against her skin nothing more than love pecks.
“We can’t.” They echo together. “You must come. Lady death must be there. Must be present during the event.”
She didn’t understand at all. She had lived for eons. Far too long in fact. Never had she herself had to be present for a death. Sure she had some wayward souls that needed guided by her own hand, something too much for her murder to handle, but it was always after death. She was death, there is no reason for her to be there before the death occurs.
“Up. Up!” They yell, fluttering around her, the few that sat on her bolting up.
Her eyes lift, seeing the massive swarm above her, at the top of the tall building. And she could see, just barely through the cloud of darkness that could only be her birds, the body standing on the ledge.
Another young suicide. She had witnessed countless young people commit to her without knowing how permanent she could be. And there were so many ways they could. But someone jumping for a large building was nothing new to her or her murder.
“I don’t understand.” She says again, looking to her nearest crow. “This is nothing new. Why must I be here for this?”
The crow cocks its head at her as if to tell her that she should understand. Like she should know that this is where she was meant to be.
She sighs, lifting the hem of her gown, using the powers she had been granted, to take that first step. Her magic creates the staircase, one black pillar at a time, disappearing the moment her feet leave it.
“Up we go.”
In the past, there had been many who chased after her. There had been some that she even chased, for the fun of it. But it always ends the same. It ends with Lilith ending the chase, because in the end, there is nowhere anyone can run, there is nowhere they can hide, that she won’t find them. Being Death meant being the last to witness someone’s existence as their soul leaves their body, it means being a guardian, a guide to the beyond. Even she can’t answer where they go, but they go eventually, and she is always left alone.
Her heeled shoe touches the concrete roof, clicking loudly, as she smooths her dress back down.
“Stop.” The body to her left calls. He stands so steadily on the lip of concrete that overlooks the world below, refusing to look back. “Another step closer and I’ll jump.”
Surely not, he couldn’t be talking to her. But there was nobody else around. Nobody else could have made a sound that would make him think they were coming to stop him.
She opens her mouth, black lips parted in surprise already. “I- Hello.”
There’s a tense moment where she thinks she’s being an idiot. Children of this world can not see death in front of them. Even demi-gods can’t see her, not fully.
“Don’t hello me. You- you can’t stop me.” He says, head tilting to the side.
“I am not here to stop you child.” Lilith says, daring to take another step forwards. “I am here to bear witness to the end, but also the beginning."
“You shouldn’t say stuff like that. You could be locked up for assisted suicide.” He informs her, as if she doesn’t already know. She’s seen it all before. Every way a person could go she’s seen. But even she hasn’t seen her murder flock to a scene like this. It’s almost like this moment is stealing death away from the world.
“I told you I would jump if you took another step.” He says. “Don’t make me do this faster than I want to.”
She stops, right behind him. She can push him over the edge if she wants to. But she doesn’t. His death, if he wants to end it early, should be his choice. “I won’t stop you, for I am Death, here to help guide you to the other side once you are ready.”
“Oh.” He chuckles, the wind forces his short blonde hair to tickle her nose before leaving him to look as if he had just crawled from bed. “I guess I should be honored. Lady Death, herself, is here to fetch me.”
“You're not afraid?” Lilith brushes his hair with the tips of her fingers, at the back of his neck, with curiosity in her heart. From where she stands, behind him, she can’t see his face.
“No.” He says boldly. “There is so much to fear in this world, but not death. Death gives meaning to my life, so I refuse to be afraid.”
Lilith blinks at the boy. She can only imagine how his eyes glisten while looking out over the skyline. It's a twelve story drop. The view must be beautiful from where he stands, steadfast and strong without sign of tilting or fear on the raised concrete ledge.
Death has always given meaning to life. It's just surreal that a human would recognize it. She had met others that flirted with her, out of curiosity mostly. Others who understood at the end of their lives, long to them but far too short to her, that they would leave behind legacy, names carved into history forever through their accomplishments. But he was different, he was young, not even reaching maturity yet. He shouldn't understand as well as he does.
And yet, he does.
“You're strange.” She whispers in his ear.
The murder caws overhead, watching her. There is a tug on the bond that they share. It should be strange to them, the goddess of death trying to talk a human out of dying. It wasn't her place, nor was it the place of any of her crows. But she felt the gentle tug, as if they, as the collective murder, wanted this boy to live. It made sense to her. They had, after all, brought her to him before he could even die.
She pushes back, melding her will with their own. She wants this boy to live. Not many understood like he seems to. The wise and the intelligent always die before their time. What was that saying that Emily loved so much? The brightest stars always burn out the fastest? Or something poetically romantic like that.
This boy was wise beyond his years. Probably hurt by all that life had to offer. She knew what that was like. When life hurts so much that the souls would beg in the darkness of the night to join her. It crushed whatever soul she supposes she has.
“Step back boy.” She commands, keeping her voice even. She wants him to step back, her hand being left in the air instead of faintly touching the nape of his neck.
“Why?” He asks. “You don't even know my name, why do you care?”
He's right, of course he's right. He's stunning and perceptive. He has a gift that allows him to see beyond himself, so he probably already knows the answer. But he wants her to say it.
But he doesn't know that she isn't a human. He doesn't know that Lilith is Death. Well, he does know, she’s told him. But he probably doesn’t believe her. She wouldn’t believe her if she were in his shoes.
“I don't care.”
He sucks in a breath. She can only imagine as his eyes widen with disbelief. No one would expect that answer.
“I figured.” He takes a step back, one foot down off the ledge, the other still perched there as if at any moment he could climb back up. He moves his head slightly, pulling away from her tiny timid touch.
Lilith allowed her hand to fall to his shoulder, pulling him forcefully all the way back off the edge.
“I do not care.” She repeats. “However, I deemed this moment to not allow your death.”
“It's strange.” He says. “You're strange.”
She goes to open her mouth to ask him what he means when he spins to face her. He has green eyes, like poison. A venomous acid rolling down the teeth of a snake.
“To have a goddess appear before me is one thing.” He says, eyes hardened. “But to have the Lady Death herself drag me from the edge, I feel as if I have experienced a miracle.”
He's not wrong. Not at all. To have her pull him back, the stars must have aligned. She protected death, guided souls. She did not save humans. All humans experience death in their own time. He would be no different. But she single handedly pulled at his fate, weaving the golden thread that should have been snipped, into a knot, unbreakable.
It was selfish of her. Why should this one live when she had tempted others with a gentle promise to ease their pain?
“I could jump.” He says lightly as if his life is meaningless. No life will ever be without meaning.
“You do not command death. I simply will not take you.”
“Wandering souls and runaway spirits all fall under your ward. Eventually you'd have to face me.”
“Eventually.” She agrees, because he is correct. Death comes for everyone in time. They might demand extra by fleeing from her. She might spare them a few moments to check on loved ones. But the result is always the same. Death comes for everyone with no exceptions, not even the gods themselves are above death. “However, today is not the end for you, and your eventually has yet to pass.”
She turns her back to him, if it were anyone else she would think it was a mistake, but she knows that he knows the value of her word. He knows she will refuse, leaving him to wander even more unseen than he could be now.
“You'll see me again soon.” He says almost as if he can hear her thoughts. She wills herself not to shake her head at the impossible. She can, however, hear his jacket shifting, as if he's waving goodbye to her.
“I may see you, but you will not come with me for some time.”
“I'll be back again tomorrow night.”
It isn't until she's far from that roof top that she has to stop to wonder- how was he able to see her when others before could not?
The next time she sees him isn't the following night. It mustn't have been too long though because he has barely aged at all.
No, the next time she sees him she is working.
There is a soul, that of a young girl who can't remember her name. She is weeping when Lilith comes to her, the crows had warned her of the distressed state the soul was in beforehand, they had warned her that she was too difficult to guide by themselves.
Lilith walks up to her, she's wearing a gray dress, color already faded from her skin and hair leaving her with silver locks and a deep ashy undertone to the pale visage that would have been her flesh if she was alive and not simply a wisp.
“Dear.” Lilith says softly, not reaching out to touch her. Not yet.
The girl's head whips around, one eye missing, the cut on her neck showing Lilith how she had died. How she had her life taken from her way too soon.
In the distance she can hear the raven cawing. The Unkindess. Her records had been kept by an all seeing old god.
At least someone saw her through all the pain that life had to offer- watching her till her last moments where Lilith would whisk her away.
“I can’t find it.” The wisp bawls, hands going to her eyes as if to wipe away tears that couldn’t come. It wasn’t fair. She was so young. Far too young for Lilith to pretend to be anything but sad for her.
“What are you looking for, my dear.” Lilith asks bending down low.
“My bow.” The girl cries. “My mama gave me a red bow. And I lost it. I lost it and I thought it was here.”
“There will always be another bow.”
“There won’t. Mama won’t know I’m dead if I don’t have my bow.”
It isn’t true. Lilith knows that. She knows that the mother of this little girl will wail and cry when she realizes later tonight that her daughter hasn’t come home yet. She’ll know, even with an eye missing, and her throat slashed, body crumpled up in the garbage that this was her daughter and she will cry.
“I can’t leave without my bow.” The little girl whispers to her. Her head is down, one good eye hidden in the fists that should be wiping away tears.
“Even if you do find your bow, you can’t pick it up. You can’t return it to your body.”
Her head snaps up, brown eye looking at Lilith in horror that most people look at Lady Death with. Her lower lip trembles. “I can’t?”
“You can’t.” Lilith confirms.
“Can I stay? Until they find me. I want to make sure that mama isn’t worrying for too long. I know she’ll be sad, but I want to know that they find me so they can tell her.”
“I will let you stay for that time. But it would be so much kinder and easier to come with me. You don’t have to worry about the pain of others anymore. That can all be something of the past for you.”
“I want my bow.” She mumbles. “If I can’t have my bow, then I want to stay until mama finds me.”
Lilith nods. Not really understanding the feeling. She knows that humans like to be seen, it's why so many of them don’t last long, they feel unseen and unheard, but she doesn’t understand it fully. She is unseen and unheard.
“I found it!” There is a loud gasp.
Lilith turns slowly, looking back to the entrance of the alley way to see a pale hand holding out a red hair bow. The head that appears shakes Lilith to her core. She had been chased after many times, in fact people still do, but none have ever come to help her with a job in their form of lusting after her.
But the blonde hair and sparkling green eyes weren’t ones that she was going to forget anytime soon.
“Oh, it’s you.” He spoke, the same determined tone that he used up on that roof ledge. Even if he didn’t believe it, he was still staring death in the face.
“It’s you.” She says in return.
“My bow.” The wisp of a girl sniffles looking at him with her tear brown eye. She moves around Death with such ease, brushing past Lilith in her anxious hurry to grab her bow. It’s as if she doesn’t touch the material, even though her hand would go straight through, then she would drown in sorrow. “You found it!”
“Of course.” He says gently, giving her the smallest smile. “You asked for my help. It just took me a few minutes.”
“Thank you.” She glows.
Lilith has seen it before, of course she has, the beautiful moment when a spirit finds peace on their own. A lot of times it’s seeing their family members, for some, like this girl, it’s finding a special item. Sometimes it is knowing that their killer was caught. Everyone needs their own time. And it was part of Lilith’s job to know when people needed that time.
But this girl, she moved on with the help of a human who shouldn’t be able to see her. This was a first for Lilith. Sure there had been humans before with abilities, most from a line of demi gods, blood so diluted that it didn’t actually matter. But Lilith didn’t see them helping people like this boy did. No, they stayed in their own lanes, oftentimes trying not to be outcasted from society for their ‘weird’ or even ‘dangerous’ disposition.
One of Lilith’s crows swooped in, landing on the ghost, cawing at her. Ah, her guide is here and ready to show her to the other side. For this poor soul, Lilith hoped that there was a beautiful afterlife, somewhere where this poor girl could rest for a little bit.
“That’s beautiful.” The blonde boy say, watching the glow of the girl as her spirit shifts from the realm of the living to the one beyond.
“It is.” The soft blue glow fades, the sound of wings beating in the wind as the murder scatters in the skies above.
“I knew you’d be here.” He says after a heavy pause.
“I doubt that.” Lilith looks at his green eyes. There isn’t a shred of doubt in them. It’s like he is staring straight into her soul.
“The crows told me.”
It is whispered so simply. Like it’s the only real explanation. But her murder doesn’t talk to humans. They refuse to even answer to other gods. Sure they will talk in front of them, but her Murder likes to play mind games. Choosing telepathy over spoken words just so they can communicate directly with her. The only time they chose words in front of other gods is when the matter is urgent. Like the night they called her away so she could meet him.
“So, Lilith, have you come to take me away too? I know I’m not on the edge of a roof this time, but I’m sure there are other ways.”
She blinks at him, not remembering a time when she could have told him her name. She feels it, a tug on her heart, a whisper in the back of her head. Her crow did tell him. They were confirming that he wasn’t lying, he wasn’t misleading. They like him, and they wanted her to like him too.
“No.” She smiles at him, not cruel, but there is little to no warmth in her voice. “Not today. I won’t allow it.”
“Lucifer.” He says.
“Lucifer?” She echoes.
“It’s my name.”
Ah, the fallen angel from christianity. The morning star. It fits him. So much so. He shines brighter than the lights of the spirits before they fade. He is radiant. Lilith isn;t blind, she can see that.
“Not today, Lucifer.” She amends. “I will not allow it.”
He hums at her, taking a bow before he leaves her alone in the alley way. He turns back, glancing over his shoulder as he rounds the corner before vanishing from sight. “I guess I’ll see you again soon.”
Lilith is left stunned. He doesn’t chase Death as others do. He is very strange in his ways to gain her interest. And she can’t say it’s not working. But it also leaves the question that lingers in her mind.
She picks up the red bow, from where it had fallen to the ground when the spirit vanished. She places it against her brown hair, secured safely at the top of her ponytail.
What had he been doing out here so late, so far from where they had originally met?
Lilith would be a lair if she were to say that was the last time she saw him. It was really only the beginning. Everytime should would have to come, personally, to help with a soul or the collection, he would be there. He would be there waiting to talk to her, willing to help the people who had been hurt by all that life had to offer.
And each time he worms a way into her heart. Digging a small place out in her heart that shouldn’t be there. A place where mortals weren’t allowed to be. Death doesn’t descriminate, Death can’t descriminate. It is her job to see everyone, eventually, to their final resting place.
“You seek me out.” Lilith says one night after helping an older man cross over. It's no longer a question in her mind. It hadn’t been a question for a long time actually.
“Of course I seek you out.” He says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. Isn't it though? His way of appearing wherever she was, making her feel something, a word she didn’t know. “You're beautiful and mysterious. Dark and enchanting. I will continue to chase you until my final breath. As I have since my first.”
“So you love what I represent, not who I am.” She whispers, letting out the fear she had been holding. It wouldn't be a secret that others have chased her before, or rather what she means. Nobody has loved her for who she is. They never do.
“Why can't I love both? You are more than just a job. At least to me.”
Those words break her into a million unfixable pieces. Everything about the moment destroys her. She will never be the same. She never wants to be the same.
“As are you.” She finds herself saying aloud. “You've always been more. So much more than just another nameless, faceless person whose soul is looking for a painless afterlife.”