Everything Old is new Again

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Nine

Hurricane Lilith

Neal was just starting to paint the bright orange hat on the older sister when he noticed the room was growing darker. Looking outside the lights in the garden had begun turning on. Checking his watch, he saw it was almost seven thirty. At the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking through the parlor, the room next to the studio. From the silhouette he immediately knew who it was.

Lilith slowly strolled into the Studio. She saw Neal working on a painting. She adjusted her long, black figure-hugging dress. It took her hours to pick out just the right one. She wanted to wear something special, just for Neal.

"Did you get enough beauty sleep?" Neal asked her. Looking behind him, he saw her wearing a killer dress. Most women envied her body. But today the envy ended there. Her eyes were bloodshot. He noticed that her makeup was not as thick as he last saw her. Grimacing, Neal resumed painting, "Don't kill the messenger, Lilith, but sorry not working."

"Oh Neal," she sung. "How I have missed that sharp wit of yours. But be careful my sweet, not to cut yourself."

She moved towards him. He could feel her behind him. Her breath was long and labored, from all the years of smoking and drug use. Even with the scent of linseed oil in the room, he could smell the sweet nicotine on her fingers.

Lilith stood behind him. "When I was a little girl, I used to stand behind my father as he painted. It is the earliest memory I have of him."

Neal tried to ignore her, as he continued to paint the hat. He felt her breath on his back. "I remember the last time I stood here as you painted." Her hand reached up, it was inches from his head. She moved her hand in the air, as if stroking his hair Closing her eyes, she breathed, "Do you remember that day, Neal?"

He could never forget that day. She was close to divorce number three. She was drunk, lonely and horny. She wanted something from him that was never going to happen. When he first met her, it didn't take him long to see her for what she really was, a woman that used and then destroyed every man she touched. As he tried to push away her unwanted attention her even drunker husband stepped into the room.

Lilith was in her glory, she saw a chance to see two men fight over her. But Neal wasn't biting, he told her husband he should leave her now before he ends up in her reject pile. Lilith was furious. She was tired of him saying no to her!

She screamed and attacked him with the anger of a tigress. He was lucky that Nolano was there that day. He rushed in and pulled her off Neal. That was not the first time she attacked Neal, but it was the last. That day helped to convince him that it was time to leave.

Lilith seductively smiled, "Neal, I must say, you have matured wonderfully since I last saw you. You are no longer the young awkward boy that first came here." She stepped to his side. Gazing up, she happily sighed. "I've never forgotten those beautiful blue eyes. I've dreamed of swimming in them."

Neal turned his head, he walked to a table. It was the same old game that they played when he first lived in this house. She wanted him, he wanted nothing to do with her. Only this time he didn't have Peintre to order her to leave him alone. Picking up a tube of yellow paint he squeezed some on his pallet.

Lilith stared at his back, once again he was ignoring her. She made herself beautiful for him, why couldn't he just recognize that? Slowly she moved towards the center of the room, Neal walked back to the easel and resumed painting.

Lilith was enraged, his silence to her was deafening! She couldn't physically hurt him, they needed him healthy to paint, to bring money back into the house. He knew that, but she had so many other ways to hurt him.

"Since you left, I have kept a close eye on you. I know everything about the beautiful women that you have had in your life. There were so many that instantly fell in love with your charm and handsome boyish looks, but you never returned their love. They were just a mark for you, someone to use and then move on to your next one. Ah, but there were a few that you allowed to enter your heart. I saw it when you first entered this home you know, your romantic heart."

When she first met him, she only thought of him as an addition to her entourage of men that adored her. Each time he pushed her away it only made her want him more. It was after he left that she realized for the first time in her life, she had feelings for someone. She had no idea if it was love, she never loved anyone before. She knew her feelings was still strong for him as her heart skipped a beat when she saw him walk into the dining room.

"You share that heart of yours with very few, don't you, Neal. You lock it up tight for so many."

He still said not a word, she was locked out of his heart. She continued using her words to hurt him. "It's such a shame what happened to your Kate. She was a beauty, not like me of course, but close. Her large grey eyes seemed to look right into your soul."

Lilith wickedly grinned when she saw Neal hesitate on his next stroke. Her words were piercing and as sharp as his wit. "Such a horrible way to die, don't you think? An explosion, and then the fire. But wait, you saw it for yourself didn't you. You were there when it happened. I'm curious, was there anything left to bury? Couldn't have been much, after such a big fire. A cup full perhaps?" She saw his hand start shaking. "Was that the price your Kate paid for being a part of Neal Caffrey's heart?"

Lilith slowly moved next to Neal. "Is that the fate of all the women that you allow into your heart, my precious Neal?" She saw something flash across his eyes. Was it love for his Kate? She wished he would look at her the same way. Pouting she said, "In my youth, no woman matched my beauty. The men fought just to see me look at them. I admit, the years have not treated me as well as it has you. But with the money you will be bringing into this house, I can use it to push back the years. Perhaps push them back far enough that I may appeal to you like your Kate?"

Neal struggled to focus on the painting. He knew better than to anger her. She had a violent side that he'd seen firsthand. When she was at her worst not even Peintre could calm her down. But this time she went too far, he didn't care what she did to him, he could not stand by and hear her talk about Kate!

He looked deep into her eyes. He was repulsed when he saw hope, hope that he would finally say yes. The look quickly faded when he said, "When I look at you, when anyone looks at you, they see an ugliness that mirrors your soul. No matter how many years you push back sweet Lilith, you would never appeal to me like Kate."

Lilith tightly fisted her hands. "You bastard, how dare you! You see an ugliness? You have no idea what I can..." She was drowned out by Albert's screams of joy. He hurried into the room with Nolano.

Albert gasped in delight as he rushed to the easel. "Neal, you're much faster than our father. It took him days just to start sketching." Noticing an angry look on his sister's face, he ignored her as he stepped to the other side of Neal. "Already started painting the sisters, that is impressive."

Albert saw a look of rage on his sister's face. He knew why, she wanted some alone time with Neal. Since the first day Neal stepped into the house, his big sister had a crush on him, a big crush. But Neal saw her for what she was. A woman who wanted him as a trophy on her mantle with all her other conquests.

Neal was the only man that dared to say no to his big sister. After he left, she spoke of him as often as his father. She still held hope that he would come to his senses.

"Honestly, Lily, would you please just let it go. While he's here he's never going to say yes to you." Twirling his cane, he said, "I wonder why? Could it be because you kidnapped him and threatened his friends?"

"Could be," Neal whispered.

Smiling as he saw her anger growing, Albert continued, "But if some of that rage I see is also directed at me, I want you to know that you were sleeping when I received an email from a buyer. I decided to tell Neal to start painting right away." She reacted just as he expected.

"You decided? You should have woken me up and told me!" Her voice was deep, and hoarse. She was still not fully recovered from her drunken binge from last night.

"There was no need," Albert briskly replied. Mission accomplished, he thought. He directed her full wrath at him instead of Neal. They needed him fully focused on painting, not occupied with rejecting his sister's unwanted affections. He pointed to the painting, "As you can see, I have things totally under control."

"You have things under control?" Lilith screeched. "If you did, you wouldn't have allowed Sullivan to kill those people. Father never would have hired him. He would have seen how violent he was immediately."

"What should I have done to stop him, stand in front of his gun?" Albert shouted back.

With the screaming sibling's close to Neal, he was starting to feel very crowded.

"Please," Nolano begged them. "This is why your father insisted on painting alone. You must leave Mr. Caffrey to do his work. He needs to concentrate on the painting. You can argue just as well in the garden, or in the house. Anywhere but here."

When Peintre was alive, it was Nolano's job to keep his children away from him. He would order them to leave their father alone. But their father was no longer here to back him up, this time they were in charge.

"Nolano," Lilith angrily hissed as she marched across the floor. "Father is gone. This is my house now. You are never to speak to me in that way again." She stopped in front of him. Her head barely reached his shoulders, yet Neal could see him avoiding her fury. She looked up at Nolano. "I have begun to wonder if we need you any longer."

"That's true," Albert sighed. He slowly walked around the room. "Remember, anyone can be replaced. Even you."

Lilith walked back to Neal. He fought to hold still as her hand reached up and caressed his shoulder. "Everyone but our sweet wonderfully talented Neal." Once again Neal saw her emotions change in an instant. She had completely forgotten what he said to her, she was back to a cat in heat.

"Yes, that is so true, sister," Albert said. "Neal is a one of a kind, irreplaceable."

Neal tightly gripped his brush. The wedge he tried to put between brother and sister was suddenly gone. Replaced with their mutual anger now targeted at Nolano. He had a feeling that once they started making money from his paintings, Nolano's days in this house could be at an end. If that happened, he would be losing his only ally.

"That would be a mistake," Neal said. He looked at Lilith. "He worked with Peintre for many years, he knows what to do to sell the paintings. If you want to resume his business Nolano is a big part of that."

Lilith was surprised to hear concern in his voice. She quickly surmised why. "He's right, Albert. Nolano ran father's business, we can't let him go, yet."

"Very well, but know your place, Nolano," Albert warned him. "You must accept that the situation has changed. Once we start receiving money for Neal's paintings things here are going to shift very quickly. If you wish to be a part of that, then recognize that father is no longer here. We rule this house now, do we have an understanding?"

"Yes, sir," Nolano said with a bow of his head. He made a promise, he needed to keep it even if it meant being reprimanded by the siblings. He would bite his tongue and take what they gave him. "I will help him with the paintings and watch him as you ordered, nothing more."

"There's a good boy, Nolano," Lilith purred.

She tightly squeezed Neal's arm. He flinched when he felt her sharp nails dig into his arm. He tried to pull away, but she held her grip on him.

"That was for you, sweet Neal," she whispered. "But I will be expecting something from you in return, or he's gone. Remember that."

She quickly realized that a friendship was developing. Threatening getting rid of Nolano cemented that fact. Neal agreed to do the paintings because he treasured his friends, she now had more to work with to break his will down. This was just the beginning of her payback for him daring to say no to her. She gave him one last squeeze before she began to leave the room. "I'll be in the drawing room if you need me."

"Don't drink the last of the brandy, dear sister," Albert shouted. "We have not been paid yet."

Albert chuckled when he saw Lilith's back stiffen with his words. Happily sighing, Albert picked up Neal's goblet. He emptied it of the wine. Looking at the glass, his brows angrily furrowed, "Nooolaaano," Albert sung. He showed him the empty goblet. "You said that we had no more Petrus Pomerol."

"I found one last bottle, sir," Nolano replied. "I will fetch what is left for you." Slamming the wine glass on the table Albert said, "You do that." He briskly left the room.

"You never told me there'd be a show after dinner," Neal said, as he tried to lighten things up.

A small frown appeared on Nolano's face. "I am sorry, Mr. Caffrey. It appears that the dynamics of the house have drastically changed for the worse."

"It appears so," Neal said. He began cleaning his brush in a cup filled with linseed oil. "I think I've done enough for today. I want to start on it early tomorrow morning."

The walk back to Neal's room was quiet. As he moved past the drawing room, he saw Lilith lounging in a chair drinking from a large goblet. He knew she would be there most of the evening. She was a night person, her father would call her his little nightingale.

As the door to his bedroom closed, Neal was surprised to see a small plate of cookies and milk on his dresser. Taking the plate of cookies, he ate them as he looked out the window. The sun had now set. Finished eating the cookies, he brushed the crumbs from his hands. He pulled a paintbrush from his sleeve. He took it as Albert and Lilith argued with Nolano. He absently twirled the brush in his fingers as he watched the lightening bugs flit in the night.

His thoughts turned to Lilith. Using his friends was how they forced him to work for them. Knowing that Nolano was becoming a friend, she made it clear that she would now be using that against him. Neal needed to get out of this madhouse now. He wondered how close Peter was in finding him. It was the only thing that kept him from giving up, hope and trust in his friend.