Chapter one hundred and eighteen

     I left the my grandfather's office but I decided to stay in the mansion for a little while. Sure, I needed to go to England as soon as possible or the world would be in danger but I had just made a lengthy trip to the middle of nowhere and I wasn't going to leave until I at least got a tour out of it and who knows? I might even take the time to take a closer look at my dearest great aunt and her nefarious little coven while I enjoyed my tour.

     Since I had decided to stay, I chose a random direction and started to take a leisurely stroll down a hallway. I was humming the tune for the song 'TNT' while taking a relaxing walk through the meaninglessly massive mansion to sate my own curiosity and stave off boredom. Delilah, who was walking next to me, was looking at me and shaking her head.

     "What?"

     "Nothing, it's just that I get nervous whenever I hear you sing anything by AC/DC. It usually means that you are going to do something violent."

     We reached a rather interesting area as we walked. Instead of the regular walls, this area had three sides made entirely of glass affording us a rather spectacular view of the crystal lake. We stopped to once again marvel at the sheer raw splendor that was probably one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon on earth.

     "It's not that that bad Delilah. I haven't decided to act yet. I'm related to these people or at least my father is, so unless I am sure that they are irreconcilably evil, I won't destroy their little coven."

     Delilah looked out the window and the light reflecting off the crystal lake momentarily made her eyes flash purple.

     "And what is irreconcilable evil? You do know that I am a demon, right? Before I met you, I have done things that you might not find acceptable. I have killed the innocent and the guilty alike. I have enslaved good people to do bad things. My very being is dedicated to slowly consuming the lust in people's souls making them lose parts of themselves. Am I not evil Sophia?"

     I grabbed her shoulders and roughly turned her around so that we were face to face. I could see that her usual happy go lucky attitude had vanished without a trace. She looked lost, lost in memories that probably spanned centuries if not millennia, memories best left buried. 

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     We rarely spoke about Delilah's past and I don't know what brought this up now but I couldn't bear to see the sad and lonely expression on her face.

     "You are not evil Delilah. You never chose to be a succubus. You never chose to be enslaved by the Atelli or the other assholes that summoned you to do their dirty deeds. I may not know a lot of things in this world but I know you Delilah and you are not evil. You are not responsible for the things you were forced to do."

     She looked away from me, refusing to meet my eyes and whispered,

     "But was I truly forced? I enjoyed doing it Sophia. I enjoyed sapping my victims vitality until they turned into empty shells. I enjoyed having people under my power, unable to disobey me. I enjoyed the absolute power I held over their lives. You don't know me Sophia, not really. I am a monster."

     "Bullshit! I don't know you? I might not know who you were but I know who stands before me. A monster? Who do you think you are standing in front of? You might be able to hide from others but I can see you. I can see your tail, your horns and your wings perfectly clearly but you know what? I don't give a damn! I don't give a damn what you have done in the past. I don't care how many people you have killed or how much you enjoyed it. So what if you are a monster? Nobody is perfect and everybody has a past but guess what? I still don't care. I will never care. I love you Delilah, nothing you have done can ever change that."

     She finally stopped staring at the ground and looked up at me.

     "Isn't that a double standard?"

     I brought her close and kissed her forehead lightly.

     "Yeah it is but what the hell made you think I would judge you by the same standards I judge everybody else in the first place?"

A.N. I know that everybody is probably frustrated and I'm lucky if I retain even one reader because of my schedule but let me try to explain myself. I had surgery on my toe because of an ingrown toenail but it got infected so I was out for a while. I am back now but I am still quite weak. Combine that with the fact that the government in my country has been shutting down the internet intermittently to suppress protests around the country, it really has been a crappy couple of days. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.