"Lilim Division: Tyrannis" is a direct sequel to "Lilim Division," located here on FF. While it's not necessary to read Book 1 first, it may be beneficial.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
The myriad of stars appearing through the thick wafts of clouds reflect off the steady ripples of the Hudson. The river's subtle stink, pushed close to its surface by a day of rain, just reaches Bella's upturned gash of a nose as she circles above a series of squat warehouses on the river's western bank. Her eyes stay trained on the ground, ignoring the anxious bristles along her neck as she flies a few hundred feet above the pier. Across the water, the bright bustle of Manhattan towers over her flight path. Millions of eyes remain a smart gaze away from seeing the winged monstrosity rotating over New Jersey.
As strands of hair whip out of her bun to slap against her back, she shudders. The damp air chills her skin just beyond comfortable as the wind cuts through her uniform. The tips of her clawed fingers are numb. She wants to unstrap the sniper rifle from her chest and raise the scope to her eye. Doing so would give herself a better view into the narrow gaps between the evenly spaced buildings jutting into the water, but the hard metal weapon stays tight against her. Near pitch-black shadows fall between the structures, forcing her to scan the area in hopeful patience she can spot the movement of the creature alluding them.
"Bella." Edward's voice cracks across the radio embedded in her skin and into her ear. "Let us know if you can't see it."
A brief growl rumbles from the base of her neck. Despite her comfortability with her team leader, speaking while in her mandarugo form makes her self-conscious. Annoyed with the delay and her voice, she presses the tip of her finger behind her ear as she responds with a rasp. "I'll find it."
A charge of frustration runs down her spine as she beats her massive wings. The alternative would be quicker, it's just a risk she'd rather not take. Besides, their target can fly as well. Staying airborne gives her an advantage if it flees upward. Curling her lips into a defeated snarl, they press tight against her fangs. Damn it, she thinks. Keeping her focus on the ground and shakes her head. As she speaks through the radio, her prehensile tongue warps her words. "Send Jacob."
"You'll cover top?" Edward asks.
"Yeah." Annoyed at herself but appreciative of Captain Masen's patience with her futile reconnaissance, she takes a massive breath. The crisp, disgusting air off the river coats her throat. She holds it in her lungs, allowing her cheeks to puff slightly below the deformed ridges of her face. The taste of watery rot wakes her, focuses her, and as an ache appears across her breasts she releases the air back into the wind.
The team is more efficient now. Six months of missions with Edward as the head of Gamma team have allowed her, all of them, to be comfortable with their human leader's logic and passion. There is no need for explanation. There's only trust. She knows Jacob is undressing now, likely transforming into a wolf. She knows Edward and Emmett will remain at the end of the pier to keep their target from escaping by land. She stays vigilant above them all. Previous commanders would micromanage the team on every mission, until would burn themselves out or die. Despite the danger, Captain Edward Masen somehow made missions pleasant.
The familiar crack of the radio followed by Edward's voice.
"Jacob's en route."
Tilting a wing skyward, Bella turns sharply back to the land. A hazy halo of yellow illuminating the ugly patchwork of water-logged wood of the pier briefly shows the dark, lupine form of Sergeant Jacob Black sprinting towards the warehouses. She repeats the motion, following through the air as her teammate tracks their target.
Across the steady ripples of the water, the island of Manhattan towers over her, populated by a billion people she, and her team anonymously defend. Perfectly rectangular stars crowd the horizon in their grid, the dull rumble of ignorance carrying across the river and reaching her deformed ears. When she lost her humanity seventy years ago, she never could have imagined the world she would live to see. The changes, the information and paranoia. Lilim's mission is more important than ever now. Keeping their secret, the secret of all cryptids is vital to her survival. She presses the hard tip of her tongue against her fangs and frowns, refocusing on the search below. It's hard to fight for a world you don't know.
"Jacob," Edward says through the radio, the voice appearing in her head like a conscious, "Track and corner. Don't attack."
The directive calms Bella down a bit. Jacob is still an impulsive kid, despite his recent promotion. But his passion is infectious and though he can't respond over the radio, she imagines he's accepting the order with respectful annoyance.
She loses his shape in the seams of shadows between the warehouses, so lets the steady hum of wind surround her as she listens for a howl.
The silence continues and she finds herself anticipating a snarky jibe from Emmett to hit the net. For decades, Master Sergeant McCarty would remain completely mute on missions though in recent months he's seemed more irritable and rude. In the past, Bella recalls Emmett challenging team leaders the more proficient they became. It's different now, more threatening, though Edward proves, mission by mission, that his ability to lead the team is innate and rivals the best in Lilim Division's history.
Like an approaching siren, a low sustained howl reverberates off the metal structures on the pier and climbs skyward. Instinctively, Bella rolls her shoulders and forces her wings into a sharp V-shape as she dives toward the noise. Drawing near, the crash and clatter of panicked commotion combines with the sound of Edward in the radio.
"Don't eliminate. I need to talk to him."
The talons on her elongated feed dent and scratch the metal roof of the warehouse as she lands. The ruckus below her seems to shake the entire structure, quaking the whole of the pier. Jacob's howl remains steady over the noise. She loosens her rifle off her chest as she runs to the edge of the building and jumps off, extending her wings to slow her twenty foot descent. The light disappears, forcing her to activate the flashlight below the muzzle of her weapon as she touches down. The ring of light bounces across the uneven boards and towering shelves of crates as she sprints into the building towards her calling teammate.
An open space in the back corner reveals the black fur of Jacob, his eyes intent on the cacophony of noise in the dark corner. Crates and shelves and machine parts litter the floor, knocked down in a failure to escape. Somehow, the frantic grunts and squeaks and slams of an airborne creature slamming against the roof like a month against a lightbulb can be heard above the wolf's deafening howl. Stopping a few paces behind her teammate, Bella stops and raises her weapon to the sound.
A mass of motion makes details difficult to discern in the white circle of Bella's flashlight. Wings turning and flapping and flailing allow only brief glimpses of the skeletal creatures form. A flash of its eyes reveal square pupils against an orange background. Stringy hair that runs to its chest, veiling its pale flesh. An elongated snout and small mouth like a horse. Hindquarters that bend backwards. Shreds of filthy, stained cloth a makeshift tunic. It's a creature Bella's has never seen, but always heard of. The Jersey Devil.
Bella deliberately shifts the aim of her weapon and its light, causing the shadows of the creature and the surrounding wreckage to dance and flicker with its rapid movement. Fatigue starts to take its hold as the Devil slows. A guttural wheeze, haggard and sad, leaks from its mouth. The noise causes Bella's stomach to tighten in guilt.
"Just shoot the damn thing." Emmett's voice comes from behind her like a bad dream.
"Damn it, Emmett," Edward immediately shouts back. "No one shoot." Two more circles of light converge with Bella's, fully illuminating the creature.
Jacob ceases his howl. In the void the Devil's harsh breath becomes more distinct as it stops its frantic flight. It uses a wing like a wall, crouching behind it with just a bit of its snout poking out from the edge as it perches atop an overturned boat motor. It shivers. Thin blue veins visible below its whitened flesh.
A threatening growl rolls out of Jacob's chest.
"Jacob," Bella says, the rasp in her voice harder than normal.
The team does nothing as the heavy breathing of the creature slows. A dull whine pierces the calming dullness as its cloven foot loses its grip. Staggering like a confused drunk, the Devil struggles to rebalance itself before simply squatting on the mechanical, make-shift stool. Its mouth gapes as it protrudes from behind its winged shroud, revealing a row of dulled fangs spotted with black rot.
The image strikes Bella, stinging her eyes and tightening her chest. She wants to lower her weapon. Walk away. She does neither.
"It's okay," Edward finally says. His voice is low, comforting, rolling out of the dark behind Bella like daybreak. "We don't want to hurt you."
Emmett exhales a heavy breath.
"We want to help," Edward continues. "Do you speak?"
From behind the raised wing, the snout nods.
"Will you speak to us?"
No response.
"What's your name?"
Nothing.
"We just want to help." The light from Edward's weapon leaves its focus on the creature and moves to the ceiling. "I'm setting my weapon down. My team won't hurt you. They're just going to keep their lights on so we can see you. Is that okay?"
Bella senses Edward stepping beside her in the dark as the creature nods. He places a gentle hand on her shoulder as he silently moves past. He stops even with the muzzle of her rifle, the peripheral vestiges of her light dimly lighting his face.
"Can you see me?" Edward asks. "Can you lower your wing?"
After hesitating, the pale, veiny wing shifts back revealing the head of the creature. Its skin is pale, near translucent, and clings tight to his bone, making his face look like an equine skull. The thin, knotted strands of hair are black and white and brown as they stick to his flesh. An elongate ear on the side of his sloped head points back sharply, mimicking the horn of a gazelle.
"Why?" The creature's voice is a high-pitched growl that bristles the hair on Bella's nape, as if a child's throat had been scrapped raw by sandpaper. "Why? Here?"
"We're with Lilim Division," Edward says, his words halting in his throat as though he didn't escape the Devil's voice to be so unnerving. "You've heard of Lilim Division?"
"Yes." The creature nods. Bella's pulse accelerates.
"You know how close you are to the city?" Edward asks. "You know how dangerous that is?"
"All danger."
The creature's words hang in the air like a fog and cease Bella's breath. The Devil was rarely seen for decades, sticking to the mountains and woods of the northeast. When Alice reported the creature was nearing Manhattan, Bella initially didn't believe it, thinking it was a different creature. But after chasing the Devil for four hours under the watchful eyes of the city's skyscrapers, it became obvious that something was seriously wrong.
"What do you mean?" Edward asks.
"All danger," it repeats. "No safe."
"Why are you heading to the city, then?"
"Escape." The Devil spits out the words, as if terrified to speak them. "Escape... collect."
"Collect?" Edward glances back towards Bella, the edge of her light illuminating the concern on his face. "Collecting what? Cryptids?"
"Yes. No." The creature's voice accelerates. "Yes."
"The thing's lost its mind," Emmett says from the black behind Bella.
"Shut it," Edward shoots back, his voice furious but steady to avoid startling the pale monster before them. He takes a breath. "Are you collecting something?"
The creature shakes its head, 'No' with a series of small jerks.
"Who is collecting?"
"The fuck is that?" From the shadows, the expletive explodes out of the unknown source. It rips the team's attention away from the Devil as they turn, Bella and Emmett's light crossing across the rows of crates before stopping on the bedraggled figure standing in the aisle. His skin is filthy. His beard unkempt. Wearing a faded green and black camo jacket, the vagrant jerks back and blinks violently at the lights hitting his eyes.
A moment passes before the explosion of a gunshot pierces the air. In the brief flash of the gunfire, Bella sees the crimson crown blasting out of the man's head as Emmett's bullet speeds through his skull.
"Emmett!" Edward screams.
Immediately, a deafening wail surrounds them as the Devil spreads its wings and stands. Wrinkles cover his body as its muscles tighten. It lowers its head.
Two more rapid gunshots zip past Bella, smacking the creature in the chest. Bright splashes of red form on its chest and neck as the cry stops. It tumbles from its perch, its neck contorting with a sick crack as it hits the wooden floor.
Instinctively, Bella whips her gun around towards Emmett. As she finishes her turn, they both drop their rifles. Flying around her, Edward rushes the Master Sergeant. The exosuit whirrs loudly as the Captain cocks his arm back and slams a right hook across Emmett's chin.
"Fuck Emmett," Edward screams. "What did you do?"
Emmett holds up a finger as he resets his jaw. As the light from their weapons dully reflect off the floor, Bella can see Edward shaking with rage.
"Kept our cover," Emmett says, obviously. He stretches his mouth open wide, more concerned with his bone structure than the situation.
"He was human!"
"That's why I only used one bullet."
"God damn it!" Edward screams, louder. "Fuck. Why'd you shoot our target?"
Bella goes numb. The words of her teammates fade to static. She looks back at the corpse of the Devil, its orange eyes vacant as it stares unnaturally at the warehouse roof. She walks past the two men, nose to nose, and heads outside. Her wings graze the body of the unfortunate witness, drawing her attention. A single kill-shot. A small hole against the side of the nose creates a pool of dark red around his head. The light of her flashlight causes the blood to shine. She flicks it off and steps out.
The stench of the river is stronger as a crisp breeze cuts across the water and chills her skin. She checks her watch. Still two hours to sunrise. It needs to hurry. The crevices of her face feel dirty. Her wings seem like their wrenching down on her shoulders. The clawed tips of her fingers tingle.
The rotted wood creaks as Jacob, still naked from reverting back to his human form, joins her outside. They let the fevered argument spilling from inside bounce absently into the air.
"I messed up," Jacob says, his voice cracking at a near whisper. "I should have smelled him."
"No," Bella says. Her eyes narrow as water. "Emmett."
"Still."
Me too. Both Jacob and herself should have smelled the bystander. But even now, all Bella can smell is the river. All she can feel is the blood coursing within her.
"How bad is this?" Jacob asks.
Looking to the city, Bella thinks on the question. The towering buildings. The flashing lights. The constant drone of the oblivious. The terrified shake of the Devil as it spoke flashes into her mind. Its scratchy, high-pitched voice sinks from her mind and down her neck like a nightmare.
"Bella?" Jacob asks.
"Bad," she answers, as the city goes on.