Chapter 104 What Was Erased
Selena sucked in a sharp breath as her eyes flew open.
The world didn’t return gently it slammed into her.
The fluorescent lights above buzzed like restless insects. The air tasted like stale coffee and printer ink. Her chair dug into her spine as if reminding her she was still here… still alive.
Lilith’s hand rested on her arm, warm and steady too steady.
“Hey,” Lilith whispered, voice trembling just enough for Selena to catch it. Her brows were tight with worry. “What’s going on with you today? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
If only it were just a ghost.
Selena blinked, but the room still felt tilted, wrong around the edges. Her pulse throbbed in her ears as she slowly lowered her gaze to her open palm.
And everything inside her body stilled.
A faint shimmer coiled beneath her skin soft, shifting, alive. Like starlight breathing through her veins. Like something trying to break free.
Not again.
Not here.
Her breath hitched. She curled her fingers so fast it almost hurt, trapping the light before Lilith’s eyes could follow the glow.
“Selena?” Lilith leaned in, her perfume brushing the air between them. Concern sat in her eyes… but so did something else. Something unreadable, flickering at the edges like a forgotten memory.
The sight of her so familiar, so close struck Selena harder than the light in her hand.
Tears burned up without warning. “I can’t believe you recognize me,” she whispered, barely managing the words.
Lilith jerked back, startled. Then with the dramatic flair only Lilith could pull off she stepped closer, grabbed Selena’s cheeks, and pinched.
“Agh! Lilith!” Selena squeaked.
“There,” Lilith said, crossing her arms. “You’re definitely awake. So now you can tell me why you’re acting like someone wiped your brain clean. What’s this nonsense about me not recognizing you?”
Selena parted her lips… but her throat locked up.
How did she explain the shimmer under her skin?
How did she explain the memories Lilith no longer had?
How did she explain that she didn’t even know what reality she was standing in?
“Let’s… go to the rooftop,” she finally said, voice barely steady.
Lilith stared at her. A long, quiet second passed one that stretched too thin, too sharp. Then she nodded, curiosity and unease tightening her features, and followed.
The hallway lights flickered as they walked. Their footsteps echoed like whispers. A faint coldness brushed Selena’s arm cold enough to raise goosebumps.
She opened her palm again.
Nothing.
The shimmer was gone.
Her lungs loosened. Relief washed over her in slow waves… but beneath it, deeper still, something else stirred
A warning.
A shift in the air.
A feeling that whatever had awakened inside her hadn’t left…
It had simply gone quiet.
The moment they stepped onto the rooftop, the wind hit them hard cold, sharp, tugging at Selena’s hair like invisible fingers. The city stretched below, restless and loud, but up here it felt like the world had paused.
Before she could stop herself, Selena turned and wrapped her arms around Lilith, clutching her as if she were anchoring herself to reality.
Lilith stumbled. “Girl what is”
“I missed you,” Selena breathed into her shoulder, her voice trembling. She held on tighter, afraid that if she loosened her grip, Lilith would dissolve like mist.
Lilith gently pried her off, her palms warm on Selena’s cheeks. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.” Her thumbs brushed away the wetness forming there. “Did something happen? Are you sick? Did someone threaten you?”
Selena shook her head, but her thoughts whirled like a storm she couldn’t outrun.
Lilith’s touch felt real. Her voice felt real.
So why did everything else feel wrong?
If the Queen of Nature restored Lilith’s memories, then why was her eyes empty of recognition? Why was her gaze so calm, so normal like she had never watched Selena vanish into another realm?
“Do you remember…” Selena swallowed, trying to steady her voice. “When I told you I was going to the city library… and you warned me about the vampire realm?”
The wind carried the words away, but not fast enough.
Lilith’s expression shifted. Not to memory to shock. To disbelief.
“What?” Lilith stepped back, palm pressed to her forehead as if trying to make sense of Selena’s words. “Selena, you’ve never been to that library. And you don’t even believe in vampires. Or gods. You always said it was all nonsense.” She frowned, the worry deepening. “So what’s with you today? Why are you talking like this?”
Selena’s stomach dropped. It felt like the rooftop tilted beneath her feet.
No library, no warning.
No memory.
Lilith had been there. Selena remembered the blood-red moon hanging like a wound in the sky. The stone altar cold beneath Lilith’s body. Lilith shaking, choking on terror as Lucifer stepped forward, shadows clinging to him like armor. Selena screaming her voice cracking before the ritual tore her soul through realms.
It wasn’t imagination.
It wasn’t a dream.
It was real.
She smacked her cheek, lightly at first. “Wake up,” she whispered. She hit harder. Pain bloomed. Still here. Still real.
Not a dream.
Not a hallucination.
Something was terribly, impossibly wrong.
Lilith grabbed her hand. “Selena, stop that!” She tugged her closer, frustration and fear mixing in her voice. “Come on, let’s go before your handsome uncle starts searching for us. I’m not getting yelled at again.”
Selena froze.
“You… know Lucifer?”
Lilith blinked at her like the question itself was strange. “Of course. Everyone knows him. Handsome, rich, infuriating.” She waved her hand dismissively. “He used to pick us up after school, remember?” Without waiting for Selena’s answer, she headed toward the stairwell. “Seriously, get some rest. You’re freaking me out.”
Selena didn’t follow.
The wind thrashed around her, colder now, biting into her skin. The city below blurred as her vision tightened, her heartbeat slowing into something heavy.
The Queen of Nature’s words rippled through her mind:
The path is shifting. What was erased may return differently. Protect the one you love, or fate will choose for you.
A shiver crawled down her spine.
If the dream was real if it wasn’t just a warning but a prophecy
then Lilith was standing at the edge of danger again.
Even if Lilith didn’t remember the pain.
Even if time had folded itself into a new shape.
Even if the universe had wiped the slate clean
Selena would not let her be sacrificed no matter what.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you so much for reading this chapter! Things are getting intense, and Selena’s world is starting to twist in ways even she doesn’t understand. I hope you enjoyed the suspense and the emotional rollercoaster between her and Lilith.
Let me know your thoughts do you think Lilith’s memories will return?
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