EXTRACT FOR
Rebirth
(Terri Pray)

Listen.

	Lilith lifted her head, sniffed the crisp, clean air before she closed her eyes and listened. That voice, she'd heard it a time or two since she had turned her back on the Garden and it always came from within. She scowled and shook her head. She'd find the source of that voice one day. Find it, and rip out it's damned mental vocal cords - if such a thing actually existed. 

	Listen. The order rang out again. 

	Even if she wanted to ignore it, she couldn't, not with the way it pushed through her thoughts and forced her to bend to its wishes.

	Pain. I know that pain. Deep. Unforgettable. 

	She was tempted to ignore it, especially with the way that the other voice was pushing her to pay attention but the pull was compelling. The emotion rippled through the air and ground alike, vibrating the very soil she stood on, until she had no choice but to acknowledge it. Lilith frowned. Emotions followed the initial pain. Grief, rage and confusion blended, turning the smallest of pebbles over, spinning them from their place in the dirt and forcing them to settle elsewhere. 

	Who? A child of Adam's line but which one?

	Yes, the who was important but the why - oh that she wanted to know. Children of that line were protected and cared for, so the pain - it was unusual. There'd been no sense of comfort offered to the one in pain. It didn't make sense, not with the way they all clustered together - which she'd found made it difficult to hunt them in the first place. When she'd found out their kind weren't as appealing, taste wise, as she'd hoped Lilith had turned her attention to other prey.

Yet the pain this one was suffering now called to her, tempting her to come closer. Damn voice.  So it had been right, she needed to listen. It didn't mean that she had to like the idea. Lilith closed her eyes and cleared her mind. 

	You know what to do.

	"Shut. Up." No, that wasn't going to work either. That voice never listened, even if she was attempting to do what it suggested. Ordered. Yes, ordered made more sense, it pushed until she obeyed and then pushed some more. 

Find him.

If she didn't track the source of the pain down then that seven hells damned voice would never shut up. Silently she sought out the source of the outburst knowing it would take hours to reach the one who called to her, but she had time and what else was she to do with her life? 

	Hunt. She smiled at the thought. Oh, there was always that, but the children of Adam were few and far between - and their taste was somewhat lacking.

	Others.

	That brought a smile to her lips. Yes, there were others who were far more appealing prey. They hid though even now they hid from her, knowing that they were her preferred prey. And who could blame her for hunting them when they tasted so much better? It didn't even seem to matter to them that she had taken care never to kill one of their kind. Well, perhaps not 'never', but she seldom killed, which they should be grateful for, and their blood was a thousand times better than the weak blood of the children of Adam so what were they complaining about anyway?

	Why kill the prey? It was much more fun to keep them alive and play with them. Done correctly and they became a source of fun for months, even years. No, she normally only killed by accident. Or if she was very hungry?

	Or bored.

	Or wanted the chase.

	Or? okay, so maybe she killed them a little more often than she originally planned, but she always had a good reason for it.

	The source of the pain was closer now and she walked between the trees, grateful for their shade. The sun left her tired, prone to hunger, but shade helped - still, she preferred the darkness when she could run faster than the wind, faster than a thought or the wish of a man. Strange how quickly she could move, but she had accepted it as a part of the change once she had walked away from Adam.

	Insolent, arrogant beast, I had no reason to stick around not with the way he treated me.

	Beneath him, indeed. No. She was not beneath him. She'd been made the same way, to stand at his side, not behind him, not at his feet, but that foolish male had demanded she obey. Her! Obey! And why? Because she looked different, because she was female, because he believed that she was the weaker? Because she could bring children into this world? How foolish of him, that last part made her the stronger one! 

	Never will I lay beneath him. He'll learn. If it takes the rest of eternity to teach him, he'll learn that I was never meant to sit at his feet!

	So, she had left to walk the earth without him. A choice she didn't regret. Would never regret. She'd done the right thing! That male would have driven her to destruction, mass destruction, if she'd stayed. If they'd had children - he'd have turned them into neat little puppets, obedient and mindless, just the way he'd wanted her to be. She was a strong woman and not made to bow down to the demands of others. She was happier this way. Yet, she was alone and there was a part of her, a small part of her that wanted someone else in her life. Someone to share the hunt with. 

	Perhaps one day there'll be someone who is fit to walk at my side. One who will not demand that I lay beneath him, meek and mild, as Adam tried to force me to do. 

	"Why!" The male screamed. "Why did you push me to do it? Why could he not listen? He was first to them, first. Would it have been so wrong to be first, just for once? To be loved, to be cherished just as he was?" 

	Lilith paused, watching him from the cover of the trees. This was a child of Adam, yet one that did not follow the meek and mild ways of such children; one with a potential she would be a fool to ignore. Intriguing, he was one with the scent of blood still clinging to his flesh.

	"I didn't want to kill him! This isn't my fault! He did this to himself, you know that, so why won't you answer me?" The male raged, his hands clenched into fists. "All you had to do was accept me, accept who I am, and it would have been fine. I'd never have lost my temper with him. Please - you have to listen to me."

	Lilith took a step toward him, inhaling, tasting the blood on the air. Kin. The one he had killed was his brother. Of course they would be kin and such anguish, this I could feast upon for months before I grew tired of the taste. There weren't that many children of Adam yet, and all of them were related in some way, yet there was something special about this blood. 

	Kin Killer. Cast out. Forsaken.