"I opened your eyes Mortala, you are engaged to Death and carrying his child. Unless you realize what's at stake, you will lose everything including Ciaran."
"Ciaran?" As memories flooded her mind, she touched her head. "My dreams, he had been visiting me in my dreams. Mori has him, he told me."
"You remember now, good. Mori is Morian, he is posing as a human, and you are engaged to him."
"Oh my God," she exclaimed, her heart sinking to her stomach, she became nauseous as she processed what she had just learned.
"All these months, it has been him. this whole time. How could he do this to me?"
"Yes, and we need to save Ciaran, we need to draw his spirit out of imprisonment. But I cannot do it without you."
"I will do anything to save Ciaran, tell me what I must do?"
Lance sent her home, telling Delilah that he would send for her as soon as he had more information. To say the least, the entire ride back home was strange. Her mind struggled to accept and comprehend what she had discovered. She stayed up late that night researching every occultic book about Death. She fell down a rabbit hole. Morian kept calling her phone, and she kept missing his calls. She wasn't ready to confront him, she wasn't ready to face him. Her mind was a whirlwind of confusion, pain, and rage. She felt emotions that she couldn't put into words.
She knew she couldn't avoid Morian forever. He was her lover, her fiancé, her soulmate's captor, and Death. The idea of Death falling in love with her was simply too strange to bear. She had bedded him, kissed him, and fallen in love with him. She was overcome with gloom and rage; how could she even begin to navigate this betrayal? thoughts of Ciaran competed for her attention. She didn't want to face it, but Ciaran is a reality, not a figment of her imagination and dreams. Her entire outlook and perspective on life had shifted in one day.
Delilah awoke the next morning with a terrible headache, no doubt the consequence of staying up all night to overthink and research. She had 50 missed calls from Morian, and her stomach sank. She got up and took a shower then drove to the library. She figured a library would have books better researched with answers closer to the truth. With the help of the librarian Remi, she got access to books on the occult. Remi sensed a tense strangeness in Delilah. He showed her to a secluded private place in the library to begin her research. The books did have some answers, she knew the answer she sought couldn't be answered by humans. If she wanted the truth, she would have to get it from the horse's mouth himself. Delilah wasn't aware of how much time had passed as she researched.
"Hey D, I'm so sorry but it's time to close, everyone is gone and it's 1 am. Go home and rest, these books will still be here tomorrow."
Delilah smiled at him, embarrassed at having lost track of time.
"Can I ask you a question, Remi?"
"Sure,"
"Do you believe in the supernatural?"
"Hmm, I mean I am aware of the role supernatural ideas have played in human history."
"I'm not talking about stories or tales by moonlight Remi, I mean the real deal."
"Why do you ask this? Is there a problem? Did you encounter anything supernatural?"
She hesitated to respond to him, wondering if he would believe her or think she was crazy.
"Yeah, I'm just going to go, I'll see you tomorrow," Delilah said as she took her bag and left the library. Remi stood there perplexed as she watched her walk away.
She walked to the parking lot and heard a low growl as she approached her car. She turned around, but there was no one in the parking lot. Remi was still in the library. She dashed to her car and drew her keys from her shivering hands. Her keys fell to the ground, suddenly she was thrown across the parking lot before she could pick them up. She stood up and looked around, panting and alert to danger. A strange creature appeared before her eyes. It was a monstrous creature with fangs protruding from its mouth.
Delilah couldn't believe her eyes; if she hadn't been so terrified, she might have taken a moment to marvel at the awesomeness of the supernatural's reality. Her entire existence flashed before her eyes. The beast had bitten into her skin before hurling her across the parking lot, and she was bleeding from her shoulder. It started walking towards her, menacingly. She walked backwards, trying to think of a way out. A blinding light appeared out of nowhere. She landed on her head after falling to the ground. She saw a man battling the beast in her final moments before passing out.
She kept going in and out of consciousness, the man carried her, she looked up to find his face, it was Morian.
"Morian? Why did you lie to me?" Those were her last words before she lost consciousness.
She awakened in her room, Morian sat at the edge of the bed, it was her apartment.
"Morian?"
"I'm here my love, you are safe," Morian said as he touched her face gently.
Tears fell from her eyes.
"I was so worried Delilah where have you been? Why were you ignoring me?"
She wanted to confront him, scream at him, she was confused and hurt, but she knew she couldn't tell him what she had discovered. She must continue to play the fool for Ciaran's sake. She needed to come up with a plausible explanation for why she had been avoiding him so as not to raise his suspicions.
"I am pregnant"
"What?" Morian was shocked and overcome with all types of emotions.
"I was scared and didn't know how you would react." He pulled her into the tightest hug.
"I'm so happy dela this is the best news ever!"
He kept kissing her face. Delilah faked a smile, she kept looking at him and remembering all she had just found out. How could she have been so blind? At the same time she loved him, she loved him so much and couldn't believe that he was truly Mori. She didn't know how much longer she could keep pretending or hiding the fact that she knew he was Mori. But until lance saved Ciaran she will have to play this role.
"Delilah I am the happiest man in the world."
Morian was elated, at the news of this pregnancy, he would get to be a father and start a family with the love of his life. This lifetime was everything he had imagined and hoped for. He did worry a little about the state of this baby, given that he was an entity of nature in a human body. By all means, the child should be mortal but he couldn't help but worry since his situation was very unique whatever the outcome he and Delilah would face it together as a family.
"What attacked me last night?"
"Nothing, Remi found you passed out in the parking lot and called me to get you."
"He was lying, she knew it because she still had her memories. Lance had cast a spell on her to protect her kind from being messed with by him.
"You are right, I'm so exhausted that my mind is making things up."
It is ok my love please rest, ill come over after work said morian as he kissed her and left. Morian had wiped the memories of the souk eater attack from her mind while she was unconscious. He was livid at the audacity of these creatures to venture into the earth and attack humans and not just any human, his Mortala. He will deal a deadly blow to the soul eaters.