Is She The Goddess of Summer?

Lilith turned around to look at the woman who said those words and saw a beautiful woman who reminded her of the Goddess of Summer. The woman was alluring, Lilith thought. The woman's golden hair draped down softly curling at the ends and her bright green eyes seemed to lead into a field of fresh summer grass.

"Why are you looking at me like that, dear?" she asked with her melodious voice.

Lilith stared at her in a trance, not really hearing what the woman asked.

"I'll be going, then." she heard the man who she had been talking to mutter as he picked some books and stood up to leave.

"Huh? Why?" Lilith asked suddenly coming out of her daze.

"Come on Andrew," the woman said smiling seductively. "I won't be letting you go. You can continue your reading for now. Let me talk to the girl here first."

On hearing that, Lilith began to wonder if the two of the were dating. They did act like a couple that had gotten into a little fight. Besides although the man, called Andrew, was not the most handsome person she had seen, he definitely was attractive with his midnight blue eyes and raven black hair.

"And why should I listen to you?" Andrew retorted.

The woman ignored him and walked to Lilith. She smiled at her and Lilith began to wonder - 'Is she the Goddess of Summer?'.

"So, do you mind me seeing the book you just read?" she asked.

Lilith nodded her head and passed her the book.

'Damn it! Why are you so beautiful, woman?' Lilith thought.

"You really had to pick the worst book here didn't you?" said the woman.

"What do you mean?" Lilith asked feeling perplexed.

"This is the worst book you could pick here. In fact I wouldn't even call it a Marin book. It's more like propaganda by the oldies and traditionalists. And of course, the Dolls Organization." the charming woman said with clear disdain in her voice as she laid the book on the table.

"The Dolls Organization?" asked the man called Andrew. He had been slowly moving towards the exit of the section but on hearing that he suddenly seemed interested in what the beautiful woman was saying.

'Stop calling her 'the beautiful woman', you idiot.' Lilith scolded herself. 'But, she is beautiful...' she couldn't help but think.

"Oh, Andrew were you trying to leave? I was planning on telling you more about it, but it seems like you want to leave..." said the woman with a teasing smile.

"Okay, I will." grumbled the man as he returned to his seat and unhappily day down. "But I will leave if you don't."

"Stop being so impatient, my dear. Let me talk to this girl here first." she cooed.

"Huh?" Lilith blurted out. She had totally forgotten that she was in the room.

"So, why do you want to read a Marin book?" asked the woman.

"I'm want to know how they are. If they are actually bad or something my parents didn't like." Lilith lied. For all she knew, her parents wouldn't care about what she did anymore. Only the Organisation would. And she gladly took pleasure in pissing them off.

"Well then, what kind of books do you generally enjoy reading?"

Lilith thought about it for a bit. She enjoyed reading. As long as it was sensible. And didn't have unrealistic characters. And was interesting.

"Anything is fine with me as long as it's interesting, sensible and does not have unrealistic characters." Lilith answered.

"Well... then Marin books are the ones for you! But still I'll give you a book with little action so that you can get used to it." the woman said with a warm smile on her face.

'She really is beautiful...' Lilith thought subconsciously.

The woman then went and picked a book from a shelf.

"Here." she said as she gave the book to Lilith. "It's a good one. Trust me, you will love it."

Lilith looked at the red hardcover book the woman had given her. There wasn't much decoration on the cover, and if she didn't know better, she would have thought that it was a book with a tragic end. Everything on the cover reminded her of death, be it the White Glassy Flowers (they were offered as gifts to the dead) or the title itself - The Death of a Rose. But as it was a Marin book, she guessed that it was about the story of a prim and proper lady turning... not so prim and proper.

"Thank you, Miss." Lilith smiled at the woman.

"Ah, you can just call me Lena. What's your name, dear?" the woman asked.

Lilith's mind went into overdrive. Was the woman asking her name so that they could be friends? But then, could she -a murderer- have friends?

"I'm Lily." she murmured softly. She chose another name to tell her. She had never liked the name Lilith anyway. She would rather be called a flower than a demon.

"Well then, I hope we can be friends Lily." Lena said as she offered Lilith her hand to shake.

"Are you finally done with your conversation? I have places to go you know." grumbled Andrew. He had waited here only to know more about the Dolls Organization. He definitely was not interested in knowing about some Marin book.

"You really are too impatient, Andrew." Lena sighed. Then with a flirtatious look on her face, she sat on the seat opposite to him.

And then they began to talk about the Dolls Organization, which Lilith wasn't interested in and hence she chose to head back to the inn. She was craving for some crispy biscuits too.

___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Lilith was in a good mood. The Seasoned Meat Strips were delicious and the wine went perfectly along with it. With a drunken smile on her face, Lilith stumbled to her the door of her room and fumbled around in her sling bag for the key to the room.

A few seconds later she she found it and unlocked the door and half stumbled into the room, just barely remembering to lock the door behind her.

She dropped onto the bed wondering if Seasoned Meat Strips were better than the Unseasoned Meat Strips.

While pondering about the deeply philosophical question she noticed a sheet of paper with some writing on it right on her table.

"I wonder what this is...." she mumbled as she picked it up.

On the paper were only 3 sentences with no mention of who sent it. But Lilith knew immediately who sent it the moment she read it. The drunken look quickly disappeared from her face and was replaced by a frightening calm look.

Lilith crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it to a corner of the room where the broken glass bottles were. She wasn't going to give up her freedom all that easily. If they wanted her back, they would only get her dead body. Not that she would kill herself so easily. She still had fifty eight days before she turned herself in. And she would enjoy every moment of her freedom to the fullest.