With that, he disappeared into a red mist. When the mist dissipated, there was nothing left behind but the stone floor.
Tiller sighed, half-turning to address the stiff guards standing behind him. “Call the others in to collect the corpses he left at the other buildings on this block. And once you’ve collected all of them, have the warlocks come to clean the blood away.
Finished giving orders, he took his exit ignoring the corpses strewn along the hallway.
Alek had rampaged for two days, killing anyone who’d ventured too close.
But Tiller had gained himself a new weapon. If he had to cover up a few murders, so be it.
He’d do anything to gain power.
Anything.
LANIAS
Lanias walked up the side of a hill with a bouquet of white roses in one hand while she used her other to lift the edge of her red gown. Her toes luxuriated in the feel of grass and earth under her feet. She’d picked a day where grey clouds gathered on the sky’s horizon slowly becoming a storm. As she moved, she spelled herself to be unseen.
Though she knew she shouldn’t chance it, she’d decided today she would confront the secrets that had molded her life.
The secrets originated as far back as her grandmother’s time, and trickled through the ages to her mother until they slowly became her own, mixing with those of strangers she’d blackmailed.
Lanias climbed to the top of this filthy world and conquered those who sought to use her. She’d spent her youth living for others, hiding the truly grim truths from her little sister’s eyes.
Reaching the peak of the hill, Lanias stopped in front of three headstones.
Each was made of grey stone, one bearing the years of the person’s births and deaths, no names. She stared at them in silent contemplation, the silence broken only by the rattling of the branches and whistle of the wind. The burning in her eyes she blamed on the wind.
“You all have come and gone.” Lifting her bouquet, she added, “And I was nice enough to clean up after your shitty job of raising me and Sabina.”
She pulled one white rose from the bouquet.
“I don’t plan on asking for forgiveness from the people I’ve killed, the monsters I threatened or even killing myself to defeat a Surrem. I decided the night I peered into the eyes of my clone I wouldn’t regret anything ever again. Hell, once I leave this place, I’ll be going to do something much worse.”
She tossed the single rose at the grave to her right.
“I won’t think twice about it.” She jerked out another rose and twisted it back and forth, the white darkening to black. “Luckily, I don’t have to worry about the girls anymore.” She threw it down before the grave in the center. “They’ve found love with monsters you three would probably cringe away from. An ogre, a warlock and a werewolf.” Her lips quirked into a smile. “What did you call werewolves, Mom? Ah, yes, I remember now. Mutant dogs.”
She reached into the bouquet and pulled out another rose. Pursing her lips, she blew on it, the bright white color bled out replaced with black. She grinned, satisfied with the change.
“I’ve paid my debt to the family who took me in.” She gracefully lowered herself and gently placed the black rosebefore the grave. “Grandmother, this is the last time I’ll visit this place. It’s time for my blood to end along with those bastards who manipulated the hunt for our kind.”
Standing, she stared at the last grave for a moment.
Eventually she raised the rose bouquet high and with a flash of light flames flicked to life swallowing the entire bouquet.
The ashes flew up and she watched them as the clouds parted, revealing the flickering light of the sun.
“I’m coming…Father.”
Guided Revenge
5 MONTHS LATER…
LANIAS
Elegant boots clicked along the slick, rain-covered sidewalk. The black shine reflected the lights from overhead. Large textile banners set up outside small bars continued to flutter in the bristling wind.
People ran for shelter to escape the cold pelting rain.
