“Get her up,” Lilith commanded. “We’ve still got a long way to go.”
“How much farther?”
“We’ll be there by this afternoon. If you don’t tarry.”
Warren knelt down beside Naomi, took her by the shoulder, and gently shook her awake.
“Is there someone else?” Naomi asked.
Confused, Warren glanced at her. “Someone else?”
“With us.”
Warren glanced at the zombies that flanked them, then searched the nearby brush and marshlands with his arcane senses. Nothing hit his radar.
“No,” he answered. “We’re alone.”
For a moment, Naomi remained silent. Then she said, “I get the impression that someone else is out here with us. I’ve had that feeling since we left London.”
Warren knew Lilith walked beside him, but he ignored her while under Naomi’s scrutiny.
“Perhaps,” Lilith said, “she’s not as stupid as I’d thought.”
Anger stirred inside Warren, and he wondered if Lilith chose to make Naomi feel her presence now. Even in the past few hours, Lilith had started looking more substantial.
“Is that it?” Naomi asked. “Is someone else here?”
“If someone else were here,” Warren said irritably, “don’t you think you’d know it?”
“I think I do. That’s why I asked.” Naomi fixed her gaze on the patchy dirt road they followed. The leaden gray sky beat down on them through the whirling haze of snowflakes. “I couldn’t see Merihim, either.”
“That’s because he didn’t want you to see him.”
“I was thinking this was the same thing.”
Warren remained quiet.
“You told me about Merihim, though,” Naomi said. “I just wanted to know why you weren’t telling me now.” She paused. “I also feel this is connected to that book. The one that you can read but I can’t.”
“How much longer are you going to allow her curiosity to threaten you?” Lilith asked.
Warren concentrated on walking. He still hurt from the battle the night before.
“I trust you,” Naomi said.
“Lie,” Lilith hissed.
Warren knew Naomi lied. He felt the lie on her. But he didn’t blame her. She trusted him some, but that wore thin.
“I trust you,” Warren said.
Naomi took his hand, his flesh and blood hand, and held it. “Then tell me what’s going on.”
Feeling the warmth of her, remembering the four years they’d been together and apart, Warren took a deep breath and told her about Lilith. He didn’t tell Naomi everything, but he told her enough.
Lilith hissed like a scalded cat and walked away. Fear quivered inside Warren as he watched her go. He didn’t want her to desert him, but he honestly felt that she wouldn’t. If Lilith had had anyplace else to go, she’d have already gone.
You need me, Warren thought at her.
For a moment, Lilith glanced back at him. “Don’t get too arrogant for your own good, human.” And in that one word, she reminded him of the vast divide between them.
“Do you believe she’s that Lilith?” Naomi asked. “The one who was supposed to be Adam’s first wife?”
“I don’t know.”
Curiosity chafed Naomi as she considered the question. They sat beneath a scrub tree on a log. Warren had dragged another log over and set it ablaze with his powers. She took a loaf of bread from their supplies along with a ham. Using her knife, she sliced the bread and meat and made sandwiches for them both.
“Do you know much about Lilith?” Naomi asked.
“She isn’t very talkative.”
“Not her.” Naomi glanced around and tried to find the woman Warren said accompanied them. Her inability to do so aggravated her. Warren described her as beautiful and young looking despite her thousands of years of existence. “The one in the legends.”
“I’ve researched her,” Warren replied. He stood and walked closer to the fire to warm himself.
Naomi held a hand out. The energy she’d used to keep from freezing in the winter cold had been enough to do that, but only just. The warmth from the fire seeped into her and felt so much better than what she’d been able to do.
“She’s supposed to be the mother of demons,” Naomi said. “Legend has it that when God first created her, she was attached to Adam. Then he separated her from him and evidently opened up a path to a world of demons. Some sources called it the Great Abyss, but that could have been the Well of Midnight.”
“I suppose.”
Warren’s obvious lack of interest in the matter irritated Naomi. “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”
“Of course.”
“You could ask her, you know.”
“I have. She won’t tell me. Also, I’ve learned that asking too many questions can sometimes get you killed.” Warren looked at her meaningfully.
“Me? You’re talking about me? That she might kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn’t like you very much.”
For a moment, Naomi thought that she heard a mocking peal of laughter. She hoped it was only the wind, but she feared it wasn’t.
“Has she at least told you what we’re out here looking for?”
Warren quietly wished that Naomi would just be quiet. Telling her about Lilith was a mistake. For the past hour, since they’d resumed their trek, Naomi continued to pummel him with a barrage of questions.
“No,” he said.
“Then why did you come?”
“Why did you come?” he replied.
“Because you asked me to.”
“Lilith asked me to come.”
Naomi frowned in displeasure at that. For a while, she was quiet, but Warren knew it wouldn’t last. As soon as she thought of a new way to ask the questions she wanted answers to, she’d ask once more.
Warren studied the countryside. Snow covered the sides of the hills and hung in the branches of evergreens lining the valley. If it weren’t for the zombies lurching around them as the undead things tirelessly kept up, the scene would have looked idyllic.
They were far from the beaten path now. He hadn’t seen houses or signs of habitation in over two hours.
Lilith suddenly stopped and walked toward a tree to her left. Unconsciously, Warren followed.
“Where are we going?” Naomi asked.
“I don’t know.” Warren pushed through tall dead weeds and brush as he trailed after Lilith.
A moment later, Lilith stopped and pointed at a tangle of snow-covered vines. “Here,” she said.
“What?” Warren asked.
