The woman, if it was right to call it a woman, looked less familiar than Jack had expected. In appearance, it was clearly Lily, but not the Lily that Jack knew. This was, in appearance at least, a mortal Lily and not the faerie creature that Jack knew so well. Yet of the two, this was the impostor.
She stepped up to the door of the converted Victorian terrace and reached inside her bag for her keys. Jack stood in the shadows a short distance down the street and watched the creature enter the flat, revulsion welling up inside him. If there was one thing he was glad of it was that he had never had to confront the being that took his place in the mortal realm. These soulless constructs were tools of the True Fae, assisting in the capture and durance of those like Jack and Lily, all for the chance to live their hollow reflections of life. He remained in the shadows for a long time steeling himself for the task ahead. Lily had the opportunity to get her life back, one of the few who had not been away for so long. Jack would make sure this creature would make way for the real Lily, for the girl he loved. In order to do this he must kill the thing that now called itself Lily Kavanagh.
Taking a deep breath Jack strolled from the shadows and approached the door to Lily's flat. He hoped the key was where Lily had told him it would be. Casting a brief glance up and down the street, and seeing no one approach he stole up the short flight of stairs and searched amongst the flower pots beside the front door. Sure enough there he found a key, it was a little rusty and moss covered but after a quick clean it looked like it should still work. With another furtive glance up and down the road he approached the front door, slowly inserted the key and silently twisted it.
As the door opened Jack could hear the sound or running water, a shower perhaps? Closing the door behind him Jack crept into the hall way and immediately the sound of running water stopped. There was nowhere to hide so he quickly ran into the dark kitchen. The blinds across the windows cast a strange striped pattern across the room, he stood in the centre of the room and waited. His course was now laid in and there was to be no change of tack, he had to see this thing through. He kept telling himself that this was no woman, it was not human, not Changeling. Nothing more than a walking pledge, a promise made real, ancient Fae magics. Jack heard the door to the bathroom open and in walked Lily. She opened the fridge without turning the light on and took out a bottle of milk, she drank deeply as Jack regarded the girl as she stood, bathed in light from the fridge. She was identical to Lily in looks, but she had not lustre that he knew so well no spark, no life. The familiar fire behind the eyes was absent and he kept telling himself that this wasn't his Lily.
He spoke and the words sounded strange and distant to his own ears, almost inaudible over the sound of his own hear pumping wildly. "You do not belong here." There was no malice in the words, no anger, yet Jack's sudden presence scared the girl half to death and she dropped the bottle of milk with a scream. "Who the hell are you? get out of my flat!"
Jack was startled by the swelling of rage within him at these words. "This is NOT your flat! You do not BELONG HERE!" With that she knew instantly who this man was, knew all along that this day might arrive, that its chance of life would be ended by his hand. She shook her head and pleaded. "No, please. I didn't do it. I didn't take her away. You can't blame me." She backed away slowly, shaking her head. Pity began to mingle with the fury in Jack's heart, a full spectrum of emotions followed and he was almost looking down upon himself, removed from the scene as he drew his blade from the cane. The fetch shook its head and silently mouthed a single word over and over; no.
The blade slipped easily through the pristine white towel and on through the things body. Deep red blood flowed down her legs to mingle in stark contrast with the milk pooling on the floor, slowly mixing into pink as the figure crumpled to the tiles. Before Jack's eyes the skin on its arms began to fold and crease, aging and drying like bark. Its face began to elongate, the flesh sloughing off to reveal the skull of an animal tied to moss and branches that now made up the body of the fetch. Jack stood there over the collection of objects and regarded them for minutes unnumbered, the dark liquid dripping from his sword was no longer blood, but a viscous tar-like substance that smelt like treacle.
The blood was still pumping hard in his ears, his heart thumping in his chest like an engine. Then he saw them; Graham, Jessica, Elizabeth and Sarah, each wrapped in an immaculate white towel, his betrayal etched into their faces. He knew them all, they were like close friends, lovers, siblings all rolled into one, yet their faces swam before him, their names were difficult to recall, he didn't want to remember, he tried to ignore them, pretend he didn't know them, but it was no use.
The quartet simply stood staring at him, the ribbons of light from the kitchen blinds distorting their beautiful, flawless features. It was Jessica who broke the silence, her voice full of poison, "you didn't come back for us Algie, you left us here with Her."
It was Jack's turn to shake his head as the blood fled from his face, "no it was not like that, I could not go back there, I had to go. I cannot save everyone." His voice was small, childlike as he admitted his failings. Surely this vision was not real, but now the walls began to change, the light took on a greenish hue, roots began to surface through the tiled floor which in turn changed to resemble so much detritus from a forest floor.. It all seemed real enough to Jack although his mind was screaming at him, telling him it wasn't real, as Elizabeth began to cry, "why Algie," she begged between sobs, "why did you leave us behind?"
Graham was more angry, his words spat from behind gritted teeth, "you know what she did to us when you left? Can you imagine what she did. You were supposed to be my friend!" Jack could take no more, he ran, fled blindly through the hall, crashed through the door and fled into the night...