cold. Mathias and I were sitting on his sofa in front of a fire, enjoying a fine glass of brandy when the front door was blown off its hinges. Everything happened so fast. I turned to see my mother standing behind the remains of the door— eyes blazing.
Before it really sunk in what had just happened, she was upon us. She stalked him like a cat hunting a mouse. I had never seen anything like it before. I wish I could have helped and done something, anything, but she froze me with her gaze. She managed to overpower him and dragged him out of the cave.
I was both hurt and confused. Why did she do this to me? I had no way to gain an explanation. It took everything within me to try to figure out why Mathias let her overpower him. Later, I came to the realization that Mathias had been so hurt by Lilith and Lestan’s accusations that she was able to overpower his mind. I could only think that maybe he just remembered his previous life and how she had abandoned him and left him to burn. I imagine that he also must have thought about how she rejected him when he’d sought her out.
I think that she must have truly believed the lie that Lestan fed her. And it was that and how Mathias died, when I ceased to think of Lilith as my mother.
* * * * *
Lilith jailed Mathias in a cell. Where it was, I honestly do not know. All I do know is that Stuart described it as a dark place with moisture coating the walls. It must have been, at one time, part of a castle dungeon. Bars lined one wall of the enclosure and Mathias was held behind them.
She threw him into the barred room, clanked the door shut, and screamed at him for hours. Once she was done screaming, she left. Stuart remembered Mathias saying that she didn’t return for a solid week. When Lestan tried to get her to let Mathias go, she almost ripped his wings off. So he did nothing.
Mathias was left in that cell without food, blood, or water. He was forced to lick the mildew on the walls to get moisture down his throat. By the time Lilith returned, he was very weak.
Stuart said that she opened the cell door with a crazed smile on her face. Mathias hoped that she would see the truth and let him go, but instead she threw him onto a stone slab that she erected on the other side of the enclosure. She then proceeded to torture him. While vampires are known for their marvelous capacity for healing, Lilith put it to the test on Mathias.
At one point, she eviscerated him, and then went on to force him to pick up his own bowels and place them back inside his body. Over a period of months, she racked him, gouged out his eyes, ripped out his fingernails with tongs, sliced his wings to ribbons, and many other horrible things that Mathias refused to tell Stuart.
According to Stuart, you could hear the screams for miles around, but anyone who tried to find the source of the screaming would become confused and simply walk away.
When Mathias’ body tried to heal, his strength gradually decreased. No matter when Lilith arrived, she never brought food, never brought water. And the blood within him was depleting.
Mathias, the greatest warrior the vampire world had ever known, was forced to live amongst and eat his own waste. He was starving to death for the second time in his life.
After a while, Lilith did not torture him every day. Maybe she was gradually becoming less insane and what she had done to Mathias was starting to sink in. But I think that she wanted to drag out his pain for as long as she could. She broke him completely. The Mathias I had known was lost forever.
Finally, Lestan convinced Lilith to let him see Mathias, under the ruse that he could tell if the “devil” was out of him. In her maddened state, she let her consort inside. What Lestan saw drove him to tears and, like a coward, he fled.
The only thing I can say about Lestan is that after seeing what Lilith was capable of, he never stepped foot into her home again and renounced their union.
And on top of it, Stuart
Before it really sunk in what had just happened, she was upon us. She stalked him like a cat hunting a mouse. I had never seen anything like it before. I wish I could have helped and done something, anything, but she froze me with her gaze. She managed to overpower him and dragged him out of the cave.
I was both hurt and confused. Why did she do this to me? I had no way to gain an explanation. It took everything within me to try to figure out why Mathias let her overpower him. Later, I came to the realization that Mathias had been so hurt by Lilith and Lestan’s accusations that she was able to overpower his mind. I could only think that maybe he just remembered his previous life and how she had abandoned him and left him to burn. I imagine that he also must have thought about how she rejected him when he’d sought her out.
I think that she must have truly believed the lie that Lestan fed her. And it was that and how Mathias died, when I ceased to think of Lilith as my mother.
* * * * *
Lilith jailed Mathias in a cell. Where it was, I honestly do not know. All I do know is that Stuart described it as a dark place with moisture coating the walls. It must have been, at one time, part of a castle dungeon. Bars lined one wall of the enclosure and Mathias was held behind them.
She threw him into the barred room, clanked the door shut, and screamed at him for hours. Once she was done screaming, she left. Stuart remembered Mathias saying that she didn’t return for a solid week. When Lestan tried to get her to let Mathias go, she almost ripped his wings off. So he did nothing.
Mathias was left in that cell without food, blood, or water. He was forced to lick the mildew on the walls to get moisture down his throat. By the time Lilith returned, he was very weak.
Stuart said that she opened the cell door with a crazed smile on her face. Mathias hoped that she would see the truth and let him go, but instead she threw him onto a stone slab that she erected on the other side of the enclosure. She then proceeded to torture him. While vampires are known for their marvelous capacity for healing, Lilith put it to the test on Mathias.
At one point, she eviscerated him, and then went on to force him to pick up his own bowels and place them back inside his body. Over a period of months, she racked him, gouged out his eyes, ripped out his fingernails with tongs, sliced his wings to ribbons, and many other horrible things that Mathias refused to tell Stuart.
According to Stuart, you could hear the screams for miles around, but anyone who tried to find the source of the screaming would become confused and simply walk away.
When Mathias’ body tried to heal, his strength gradually decreased. No matter when Lilith arrived, she never brought food, never brought water. And the blood within him was depleting.
Mathias, the greatest warrior the vampire world had ever known, was forced to live amongst and eat his own waste. He was starving to death for the second time in his life.
After a while, Lilith did not torture him every day. Maybe she was gradually becoming less insane and what she had done to Mathias was starting to sink in. But I think that she wanted to drag out his pain for as long as she could. She broke him completely. The Mathias I had known was lost forever.
Finally, Lestan convinced Lilith to let him see Mathias, under the ruse that he could tell if the “devil” was out of him. In her maddened state, she let her consort inside. What Lestan saw drove him to tears and, like a coward, he fled.
The only thing I can say about Lestan is that after seeing what Lilith was capable of, he never stepped foot into her home again and renounced their union.
And on top of it, Stuart
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