Midnight Lily Novels & Stories

"But the Trial of Fire is for the uncertain. My children are not a question. They are the answer." ​I reached into the small pouch at my waist and pulled out a handful of crushed white petals—Lunar Lily, a rare flower that only grows where the True Bride walks. I tossed them into the air. Instead of falling, they ignited in mid-air, burning with a brilliant, cool silver light that didn't smoke.

The city felt different at night. Not the warm kind of night LA sometimes gifted — the kind with glowing streets and buzzing sidewalks and laughter spilling from rooftop bars — but the kind that felt staged and hollow. Like the calm before something monstrous. Lily stood outside the address Elara sent her. A private botanical conservatory. Midnight appointment. Lights out. Gates locked. Except— The side entrance glowed with a soft, deliberate white light. Like an invitation. Or a warning. Her heart thudded violently as she stepped forward.

Something about it drew me closer. Lily's Moonstone Tombstone was beautifully crafted, the polished granite embedded with small moonstone crystals that seemed to absorb and reflect the light. But it was the photograph that captured my attention—a young girl, perhaps four or five years old, with emerald green eyes so familiar they made my heart ache. "Lily Winters," I read aloud, my fingers tracing the engraved name. "Beloved daughter. Forever in our hearts." The dates indicated she had lived just five short years. Such a tragedy for one so young.

Pale yellow lilies with great star-shaped blooms, speckled with pink, bloomed from the snow. I knew these flowers. They’d been my mother’s favorites. She’s called them Rising Moon Lilies. She’d grown them in the garden when I was younger, and she’d told me that they were drops of light the moon had left behind when it was closest to the earth. The rising moon was always yellow because it was coming up from the soil, and it would shed that dim yellow light back to the ground before rising, naked and pure, back into the sky. She said they were a sign of awakening. Of the dawning of a good night.

After Ryan left yesterday, I spent the entire day drawing and labeling each ingredient we’ll need for the antidote, including the rare flower the healers told me is probably gone forever. While researching the Moonlight Fire Lily, I found that it only blooms in full moonlight as well as only blooming in the wild. The image in Sarina’s plant species book was orange and red with hints of yellow at the tips of the petals, making it bright and hopefully easy to locate.

She’d not broken for lunch nor stopped for any snacks; too great was her desire to get away, to put the Blood Moon pack behind her before she could turn tail and run back to those who had shunned her. Working quickly so as to make the most of the remaining shards of daylight, Lily constructed her small, canvas tent. Tugging loose fabric and tying straps kept her hands and head busy, breathing short-lived relief into her aching body. Swelling loneliness ate away at her, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the silence that would come once she had exhausted her duties.

Midnight My name is Midnight. I was born exactly at midnight, on December 29, 2002. My last name is Lipovsky, although it should be Vosse, but that's a story for another day. I am 20 years, 4 months and 2 days old. And I'm a bit weird.

Without even realizing it, I touched the ruby brooch at my collar. It was a present from Edwin. However, the most important thing about it was the tiny camera Edwin had put in there himself. I watched Shirley, lost in her daydreams, with a cool look, and a small smile crept onto my face. She couldn't possibly think I was still the same silly girl she bullied and lied about on Christmas Eve, unprepared for her tricks, could she? After laughing to her heart's content, Shirley opened an app, started a livestream, and tearfully claimed I had lost my mind and was out to get her.

She has read that book too? Midnight was a character from one of his first books. The book was about a young man, who because of being possessed by demons, would go on a killing spree every midnight, the sight and scent of the blood being the only salvation from the mental and physical pain these demons brought him. That fucker was a total psycho. Jake felt wronged. Why should she call him that? Does Ryder think of him as a psycho? Yet, upon noticing Ryder beaming proudly like a little child, he didn't have the heart to refuse. "Why not."

I then asked my Butman to light it up after some time. I went back to my room and I placed the earrings on the side table and after changing I was standing in the window in my night suit. I called the batman and asked him to light the fire. I was standing on my terrace and was seeing those flames. I think I should have done that so earlier. I came back and lie down and I noticed those earrings. I held them in my hand and was staring at them and was thinking of that night. The most important night of my life. I could never forget that.