As an annoying headache stirred, she couldn’t help but recall those nights where Kinzer had stressed to her the importance of killing the Christ.
He’s not a child.
Maggie had to remember that. But how could she when his form was just like any other baby’s?
It didn’t matter. She knew what she had to do… what she’d trained to do.
She rose from the bed and crept to her vanity, checking around. Though no one was in the room with her, she feared that some unseen presence might witness what she was about to do. She grabbed a hand mirror that Veylo had set before the vanity mirror for her and bashed it against the side of the vanity. The mirror fragmented and scattered across the floor.
She knelt down and picked up the largest shard. It came to a sharp point, which was perfect for her task.
She tucked the shard in her pocket and left her room.
As she walked through the hallways, making her way to her baby’s room, she tried to muster the strength to complete her mission.
I have to do this. It’s the only way. It will destroy the world. It’s not a baby, even. It’s a weapon. You’ve seen what it can do to you when it’s just a baby… you know what it’s capable of.
She trembled as she came to the nursery.
It’s not a child, she reminded herself.
And yet, it was.
When she opened the door to the nursery, she saw Trento resting in the recliner.
He noticed her, but seem unfazed by her presence. He nodded, granting her entry.
As if I need permission to see my own child!
She approached the crib, clutching onto the shard of mirror in her pocket.
She could do this. She had to do this. It was the only way that he wouldn’t become their horrible weapon.
As Jeroda came into view, she saw those beautiful sapphire eyes, sparkling in the moonlight that poured through the window.
How can this be what evil looks like?
It was a silly question since she’d known in her own life how beauty easily disguised evil, yet she couldn’t believe this child she had birthed could have formed ill intentions.
No. He’s not like that. He can’t be. He’s just a baby!
A surge of energy moved through her, and her pain evaporated.
He must’ve known how much pain she was in and wanted to soothe her.
An evil creature wouldn’t have done that. No. It could care. It could love. It loved her, which was why it had given her those great sensations. Somehow, it had sensed her craving for them, and thought it was doing the right thing by providing them to her.
All her mental preparation to kill Jeroda had failed, because she couldn’t do it. She relaxed her grip on the shard in her pocket.
There had to be another way.
If only she could get him out of there. She just had to rescue him from these monstrous men.
Yes. That was it. She could take him from them. She was just going to have to be cunning about it.
As she plotted, she found herself shaking as she fell to the floor. She would have to plan later. Right then, she would have to surrender to the fix her child had just given her.
