(Revised and edited: 7/3/2015)

Deceitful Things

Chapter XX: One Bad Apple

Say goodbye to everything,

Forget your regrets, they're better left behind

Say goodbye to whispering uncertainties,

What's holding us back, is keeping us alive

The last few days had come and gone, but Lilith was still having trouble processing it all.

The day after the whole blowout and being let in on what had the neighboring monster community on edge, her cousins had moved in with Dracula and his three brides. Though she was offered the chance to move in too, Anya had insisted she stay in her house to keep an eye out for Clair and Chad- especially after the news was revealed that Danilo had managed to get to three people in her neighborhood. Though Lilith wanted to protest, Anya managed to convince her to stay, telling her that "if people who are three times powerful, live hundreds of years longer, and have been a threat to humans managed to be taken down by one of their own, we humans don't stand a chance." Eventually, Lilith relented.

Though, something had told her that wasn't the only reason that Eric and Anya had her go back.

It was a bit an amazement how they were related- her cousins and her were far different when it came to not only looks, but personality as well. Both siblings had curls of strawberry blonde, while Lilith's golden blonde mane was only slightly wavy. Eric and Anya both had their father's bright green eyes, while she carried her mother's beautiful teal ones. She had a natural tan while their skin was pale- whether it be from lack of sunlight or it was just natural was unknown to her. While she had lived the typical white-collar American lifestyle, they were born and raised in Ukraine, exposed to an entirely different culture and language. The only thing she could really consider having in common with either of them was that her and Anya both had the same silky skin texture, a deep contrast to the hundreds of scars that littered the surface of Eric's.

Thinking of this now as she helped him with fixing his broken weapons, Lilith felt a slight twitch of humiliation. When she had first come across the monsters, she had acted tough, threatening, but that was nothing compared to what her estranged uncle Nicolai and his children went through. They had traveled the world, fought life and limb and had the physical leftovers to prove it. They dressed like semi-Victorian aristocrats and their wardrobes had shown evidence of plenty of times when a willing component had torn precious fabrics to shreds.

But what did Lilith have? Only a bunch of old stories from Uncle Lawrence, and a pile of old, ridiculous clothes that made her look like someone out of Tarzan. They had fought creatures of every size and each spoke well over four languages- she hardly ever left the county. And her only attempt of trying to prove she was hardcore as she thought she was almost resulted in the loss of an innocent life. They were the true monster hunters. She was only a naive little girl who was spoiled beyond the stars.

"Something wrong?" Eric's voice asked from in front of her. The great-great-granddaughter of Van Helsing looked to see him looking over his shoulder from his work desk, one eyebrow arched. He was dressed in a simple outfit of ripped jeans and a plain white t-shirt, exposing the numerous scars lining his arms. It truly amazed her how Eric looked like someone who stepped on a landmine was Anya barely had so much as a scratch on her skin. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she trotted over to him.

"It's nothing. What are you doing?"

She looked over his shoulder to see a drawing of blueprints. Sketched out in white pencil appeared to be some sort of large crossbow, one that was designed to be thinner and seemingly more portable then the one they were used to. Eric shrugged as he took the one sitting on the surface, placing it within the crook of his arm and trying to fix the string.

"I tried shooting him with an arrow the first time and only succeeded in having is snapped like a twig. We have to make sure that he won't see it coming."

Lilith didn't have to be an expert to know that the HE in question was Danilo. Though Eric had diverted his attention to his broken crossbow, she nodded and turned away, looking through some old papers of his. She bit her lip and turned to look at his back.

"Eric?"

"Yes?"

"You said the only way to kill a volkodlac is by a stake, right?" she asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

"Well, a stake made from an aspen tree, but yes," he answered, not turning around, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering," she began to explain, twisting a lock of gold around her finger, "How...if he's not affected by things that kill vampires or werewolves, and that's the only way to kill a volkodlac, then...how did they manage to lock him in that mountain for so long?"

Eric's head tilted up, a sigh escaping him as he went back to fumbling with the split limb, "The binding stone Dracula and Gabriel used were ones forged by a few of Circe's children, and they were specifically made to hold any monster in that spot, even ones like Danilo- Circe was Hecate's daughter, after all."

He stated this like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and it stirred a bit of annoyance in Lilith. Actually, his entire attitude with the way he talked to her had been a bit irritating to her today. Like an ignorant child. Anya, she could handle, since the orange haired girl was normally cold and mean, but Eric was actually quite different. He was pretty much level headed and calm, and immediately greeted her friends with good intention and kindness. However, today he was somewhat like that of stone.

"Sooooo," she added, wanting to get more into conversation.

Though she knew her cousins and they were not quite strangers to her, their relationship with each other was not exactly close. Given that her father had a very rocky relationship with his brother and Lilith's paternal grandfather, it was expected; especially since the few times her other uncle was mentioned was often inferred by my rat bastard brother. However, the last time she had spoken to them was probably right before she had graduated high school, and even then, it was light due to her father's unwillingness to give her a relationship with Nicolai.

"Sooooo what?"

"So...well, they're meant to hold someone in the same spot for however long the wielder wants, right? Like, they're never meant to expire?"

"That's the intention," Eric responded, "Which is precisely why the two chose to put him in the mountain; less curious tourists. Given that they were more or less sold for jewelry, I guess that would give a trapped monster nearby the advantage of being free, but the general thought of everyone's mind was that sometimes, it's best to let the way things happen be the way they happen- trying to change it could cause more trouble than it was worth."

Setting the crossbow on the surface of his desk, Eric leaned in as he now messed with its stirrup.

"Though you obviously wouldn't know that," he muttered under his breath.

Lilith narrowed her eyes. She knew that it was meant to be something that only Eric would hear, but something told her he purposefully meant for her to understand it.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked in a tight tone, her fists starting to ball. Eric stood up straight and left his crossbow, turning to her and leaning back against the desk, crossing his arms. Judging by his furrowed brows and his frown, she guessed that it was the latter- he meant for her to hear every word.

He scoffed, "Oh, did I stutter?"

She clenched her teeth behind her lips, her eyes stormy.

"What did you say? That I don't understand staying out of things? What wouldn't I understand?"

He rolled his eyes and threw his hands up, responding, "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that Gabriel spent his whole life trying to make peace between humans and monsters for a reason? Maybe that interaction between our two species isn't always a bad thing because we're not living in the dark ages anymore? Or maybe it's because you and your family are so fucking ignorant and stubborn you can't accept change and try to uproot everything that our ancestor worked so hard to fix?"

Lilith took a step back, but her eyes became hard as their gaze met.

"Nothing was uprooted, Eric," she growled, "The monsters and normies are starting to get along-"

"No thanks to you!" he lashed out, his lips curling back like a werewolf's snarl, "Dad told me everything about what you and Lawrence did. How he tried to turn the wolves and vampires against each other when they were starting to make peace because he thought that they were gonna turn on the humans. And you, Lilith, always falling for the fucking act. He told about that night, you know. That Halloween you framed that Hyde kid just to prove a fucking stupid point you had- never mind the fact he almost got killed for it- because you guys are such fucking bigots, you always want to reverse whatever progress is made!"

Mentally, Lilith winced. She remembered that Halloween very clearly. But in her defense, she only wanted to show the townspeople why they should be kept separate from the monsters- she didn't know that they were actually planning on killing Holt like an old 1930's lynch mob. And besides that, at least she prevented it from happening. She knew for a fact she had since grown past the young teenage girl she used to be; she deserved some credit!

"I fixed it, didn't I?!" she threw back, a few strands of her hair coming loose from her ponytail, "I know I was stupid and selfish and what I did was wrong, but I was willing to push aside my pride and realize that before the poor guy got his head chopped off! You act like I shot somebody in the eye!"

"Everything was okay! Everything was fine!" Eric yelled, leaning in towards her as olive green met teal, completely ignoring her statement, "He would've still been locked up in that cave turning to ashes, but your fucking family never learns to let things be!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Who do you think released Danilo from that cave, Lilith? What, you think someone just coincidentally had a thing of binding stones on them and just coincidentally travel to the Alps, and just happened to find out there was a big hole in the cave? No! I'll tell you who it was! It seems our 'dear' Uncle Lawrence decided to go exploring for mystical artifacts without doing any research because some old coot told him there was something 'great' in that cave! So, he pays the guy fifty something hundred dollars for a thing of 'mystical' stones, and do you know what they came across, Lily?"

The pieces clicked together instantly, and Lilith's angered gaze was suddenly dropped as her eyes widened and her hands went to her mouth in horror. If Eric meant what he was saying, then that meant...oh god, her dear uncle...

"No," she whispered in desperation.

"That's right, they came across our dear old friend, Danilo!" Eric sarcastically cheered as he threw his hands out side to side, "And because he was too goddamn stupid to look in Grandfather's documents before setting out, he didn't know what the hell he came across! So, in his curiosity, he set the bastard free! And because of his careless mistake, he, his crew, dozens of other monsters and people are now dog food! Because you Van Hellscreams don't know the your limits! You think you're so fucking invincible that you never think of the consequences before you do something! Gabriel and Anna are probably turning in their graves as we speak!"

By this point, the two were almost nose to nose, Eric's face bright red in anger. He was a few years younger than Lilith, but his slightly taller height and threatening green gaze might as well have made him a giant at the moment. Lilith tried to keep an eye connection, but the growing realization that her search party was all in vain overwhelmed her. Her lips trembled as her eyes filled with tears, pushing away from him and turning her back, burying her face in her hands and allowing the sobs to escape.

She had last spoken to her uncle two weeks before he left, only a few weeks before Christmas. And at the time, she did not know that was the last time she would hear from him alive. All that time she had spent worrying was not in vain. Only this time, it was her hope that was useless. No more would she hear his cheery voice on the phone, his aging but still very lively face in the screen as they video chatted, the scrawl of his chicken scratch handwriting as letters came and went. No, he was gone. Taken from the world by a cruel creature who might as well been the Antichrist.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as her shoulders went up and down, her heart feeling like it was shattering into a million pieces. She felt a hand wrap around her shoulders and pull her into an embrace, and she buried her face into Eric's shirt, tears soaking the cloth. Eric's expression was still grim, but no longer was the anger there. He rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want this to be the way you found out," he admitted. Lilith let loose a shaky breath as she wrapped her arms around him.

"H-H-How long?"

"Father found out about it from an associate two months ago. Your parents have probably received word right about now."

She nodded absently, and he continued to hold her while she cried. That meant for almost half a year, her uncle's body had been rotting there, left to wither away like an old flower in an abandoned garden.

A gentle knocking came from the oak door.

"Eric, is everything all right in there? We heard yelling," Annalynn's voice sounded from the other end.

Lilith lifted her head, looking to see her cousin turn his and call out, "It's nothing, we're fine."

Pulling away from him, she wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her blouse, gratefully accepting a tissue he gave her. She wiped her eyes.

"So...what are we gonna do now? I mean, we have no idea where he's gone."

She looked to her cousin. A shadow came over his face before he closed his eyes and side, a hand coming up to his face to massage his temples.

"In truth? Wait and see how much worse it can get."