Chapter 18: I Am The God of Hellfire, Part 18

Kyrie saw something slip under the door as she was preparing to go to bed. A white, neatly sealed envelope. She clicked her tongue. Whatever it was, it couldn't be anything good. She had no interest in getting involved in a power play.

So she was going to throw it in the trash without reading it, but something compelled her to open the envelope. With trembling hands.

It read as follows: You know who I am. Come see me in the common room when the clock strikes midnight.

She licked her lips. You know who I am. She wasn't so out of it, so sleep-deprived, to jump to the idea that her dead daughter had written her a letter. But someone wanted her to meet them in the cemetery where her daughter had been buried. All the possible culprits had heard about her hallucination, she had had no reservations, it hadn't been possible while she was falling apart.

There was no doubt. This letter had to be from her daughter's killer. She tore the letter to pieces. She threw the pieces out the window, letting the wind carry them away.

"No. I don't know who you are, you son of a bitch, but I'll find out and I'll tear your heart out."

Her husband came out of the bathroom and they got into bed, turned off the lights. But she didn't close her eyes. Anyway, she could barely fall asleep even when she tried. She waited lying down, looking at the ceiling, for Nero to fall asleep. She wasn't able to sleep well, but he slept as always. As if nothing had happened.

She knew it was unfair. She knew that didn't mean it didn't hurt him, and that he hadn't seen the body, but sometimes she hated him for it anyway. She didn't want to hate him. He was the only person she had left in this world full of jackals, the only person who could understand her. But sometimes she did.

In the end, Nero fell asleep before the clock struck midnight. If he hadn't, it wouldn't have been difficult to find an excuse to go out for a while. Nero wouldn't question it. He usually didn't, but now especially not.

She slipped out of bed and the room carefully so as not to wake him. He had the right to revenge too. She was as much his daughter as hers, but if a mother aching with grief didn't have the right to be selfish, no one did. Kyrie approached the living room, ready to fight. The clock struck midnight just as she opened the door.

The magical energy was gathered at her fingertips, ready to explode, but it didn't go anywhere, it dissipated without doing anything. Because she was there.

Sitting on the couch, wrapped in the shadows of the night.

She was there, as if everything had been nothing more than a bad dream.

"Hello, mom."

Kyrie trembled from head to toe. This couldn't be real, a small voice desperate to believe it, vulnerable, told her. Could she really be hallucinating not only her image, but also her voice?

The ghost approached her softly. Her footsteps made no noise, but she could hear her breath.

Kyrie swallowed. Common sense told her that she couldn't be there. Not even magic could resurrect the dead, and ghosts didn't exist. However, everything was too real. Evelyn stopped close to her. She could even feel her breath on her skin, for God's sake.

"I understand that you're scared, mom," Evelyn said, "but it's me. I'm here. Look."

She extended a hand to touch her cheek. Kyrie trembled under her touch as if it burned her with an otherworldly cold. But she was definitely there, she existed.

"My daughter..."

She didn't cry. She had already shed too many tears, and anyway, she was too surprised to react. The world was swaying around her. The only thing she could think clearly was that this was her chance. If it was her, here were the answers she was looking for.

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Her daughter stepped forward and hugged her. Strangely, the only warmth she felt was the illusory sensation that she had been stabbed in the chest. The world wasn't swaying, it was her who was doing it. Kyrie clenched her jaw as if trying to maintain control.

"What happened? What's going on here? I don't understand. Am I crazy, am I going crazy? And if I'm not, what...? I don't understand anything."

She babbled like an idiot, trembling from head to toe. Slowly and after a while, very gently, as if not to hurt her, Evelyn broke the hug.

"That's why I'm here, Mom. To explain things to you. I'm dead, but God has allowed me to cling a little longer to this world to explain things. I didn't fall, mom. I was pushed."

Those words left her breathless, like a punch to the stomach. She fumbled to grab the armrests of one of the sofas to avoid ending up on the floor.

"I suspected it." Yes. The confession had almost knocked her down, despite the fact that she already suspected it. But suspecting and knowing were very different things. She was living with her daughter's killer. Somewhere that son of a bitch was sleeping peacefully. How could it not make her lose her balance? "Who was it?"

"It was Nero."

"What?"

Evelyn frowned.

"Don't you believe me?"

"No, no, it's not that. You're the most important person to me, the only one I care about, it's just that I don't understand. Why would he do that?"

Evelyn nodded.

Then she brought her mouth to her ear and told her the truth.

She wasn't sure how she didn't faint on the spot.

She didn't want to believe it, but it was her daughter's appearance. Her smile, her voice. How could she deny it? This miracle. She couldn't spit on the miracle of this reunion by refusing to listen.

"That son of a bitch, all this time..." Her teeth were chattering. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Evelyn smiled with a deep sadness that broke the last pieces that remained of her heart.

"Because I was afraid. Because I thought he would love me. Because I dreamed that someday he would stop. But that's why he pushed me, he knew I was finally going to tell you everything."

"That monster."

She remembered hugging her today and many other times. She remembered every kiss, every intimate moment, in and out of bed. And she felt like vomiting up her own stomach. She didn't feel alive at all, but like a straw doll without stuffing.

She too was atrociously repulsive for not having realized in time. Evelyn shouldn't have had to tell her anything. She should have known. She should have noticed her daughter's pain.

My little one, my only daughter. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

"I'll kill him."

"Yes, you must kill him so we can rest in peace."

"We?"

"I know it perfectly, mom. You died with me. When you finish the job, you can follow me. That way we'll always be together. Wouldn't that be beautiful?"

Evelyn had always had a penetrating gaze, but now it really seemed that she could see through her. She was nothing but an open book for her and, damn it, why not? Who could know her better than her own daughter? She had nothing else. No siblings, no parents, not anymore. And friends, well...

Friends always looked for something, and the relationship with Nero had always been one of convenience, no matter how well they had tried to carry it.

In short, Evelyn was all she had. She always had been.

"I'll kill him," she repeated, kissing her on the forehead. "And I'll make him suffer. Don't worry."

But she wasn't in a hurry, deep down. She didn't want to break the hug. She didn't want to separate from her. She didn't want to stop seeing her.

The promise of reunion on the other side was fine, but it wasn't enough for her here and now.

Again, if she didn't have the right to be selfish, who did?

Evelyn smiled, caressing her cheek.

"Now close your eyes for a few seconds. It's time for me to leave. I'm sorry, I wish I could stay longer."

Kyrie swallowed. It was too soon, but deep down she was aware that she should be grateful for every second. The goodbye had come when her head burst against the ground. The farewell hymn had been the sound of her blood gushing and staining the fountain water red.

This was a miracle and although miracles existed, they didn't last.

So Kyrie closed her eyes softly. She wanted to scream don't go when she stopped feeling her arms around her, when their fingers separated, but she managed to keep quiet. Just a few seconds. Evelyn took a step back.

Just a few seconds. So Kyrie couldn't resist opening her eyes.

She opened them in time to see a white dove flying out the door, getting lost in the dark night.

Like a shooting star.

Evelyn, of course, was nowhere to be found.

——

As soon as she left the room, the dove took flight. It landed on the rooftop and, of course, took the form of a young man.

Of Sam Wright, sitting there with his legs crossed and his demonic yellow eyes burning like hellfire.

It had taken a lot for him not to burst out laughing, but finally everything had gone perfectly.

——

Nero woke up with a start.

"What's wrong, honey?"

That was good because she wanted him awake. The knife she had taken from the kitchen gleamed under the moonlight filtering through the windows. She could have done it with her magic, but it wasn't enough to send him to hell. It had to be personal. Painful.

It had to be...

Nero screamed.

But not as much as she did.

I Am The God of Hellfire, Part 18: END