The Lost Soul by Suzy Turner Page A

black fur. Her eyes widened into their true feline shape and in a split second, Lilly had become a beautiful black mountain lion.
    Letting out a low growl of contentment, she jumped from tree to tree, scratching her dark claws, sharpening them against the bark, arching her back gracefully as she moved. Turning to look at her surroundings, she put her nose to the ground and took in the thousands of widely differing scents of the forest that had become so familiar. Her favourite being the smell of the damp trees, so fresh and clean.
    Running, she felt truly liberated by the knowledge that her father was okay. She wondered where he was and how we had got there. But her thoughts soon turned darker as she remembered the Nephilim and what Badrick had told Millicent. They somehow took people and tortured them before killing them. The Nephilim were pure evil. An evil she needed to know more about.
    From now on, Lilly decided her sole purpose was to learn enough about them to be able to rescue her father from their clutches. He had told December he was trying to find them in order to find his way home. She shuddered again. I need to get him home before he walks right into their lair. Before it's too late, she thought, turning back and running as fast as she could towards her home.
    As Lilly finished getting ready, she stepped out of her bedroom and into the living room where Oliver stood in a smart dark suit.
    "You look gorgeous," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him gently on the lips.
    He chuckled, "I was just thinking the same about you... although all this black reminds me of when you first arrived."
    "And that is why I'm also wearing this," she said, tying a bright orange scarf around her neck. "December lent it me, but you probably guessed that already," she laughed.
    "Is everyone ready?" asked Zoltan who appeared from the room he shared with his girlfriend, Tabitha.
    "Almost!" yelled Tabitha, hopping into the room wearing black jeans and a deep red blouse, one black boot on and the other in her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I ought to be wearing all black but I just thought, you know, she's not really dead so...."
    "It's okay, Tabitha, we understand," said Rose who had just walked through the front door with Walter in tow. Both wore black trouser suits. Behind them stood Chris awkwardly, who was wearing a suit that was a tad too big.
    "You look great, Chris. You're almost the same size as Ben," said Lilly with a wink and he smiled in return.
    "Okay then, let's go. Everyone else is meeting us there," said Zoltan as he picked up the car keys and headed out the door, leaving Tiffani and Sammy behind, who wouldn't exactly be welcomed into the church with their ample wings on display.
     
    "... We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to have pity on the soul of Thy handmaid;
    do Thou, Who hast freed her from the perils of this mortal life, restore to her the portion of everlasting salvation. Through Christ our Lord, Amen."
    "Amen" repeated everyone who stood by the final resting place of Jemima Dickson. Well, or so most people there believed.
    Lilly looked around at the sea of black that surrounded her. A sea of grieving faces. If only the people knew the truth about the supernatural world, then this kind of thing would never have to happen, she thought to herself as she watched Jemima's parents drop two red roses atop the casket before it was lowered into the ground. Her mother's face was one of utter devastation and her father's was completely blank, as if the truth about his beloved daughter's death hadn't quite sunk in. No parents should ever have to bury their children. But they wouldn't have had to if they could accept the truth. The truth that vampires exist. As do werewolves, faeries, elves and all other so-called mythical creatures. We are real, she wanted to shout out loud.
    She felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Turning, she faced her Aunt Meredith, who had lost her own husband not so long ago.