A Legacy of the Damned: Daughter of Astaroth

Chapter 10 - Deidra

Ughh...vodka. I grimace after taking a swig. Then another and another until I drop the bottle on the floor and lie back in the bed. The bottle is still more than half full. This is the last bottle of the booze that I swiped from Astaroth's collection and I don't even care. I haven't had a proper meal in days, I should have died of hunger and alcohol poisoning by now.

I don't normally like the taste of alcohol. No, I hate it actually, but I don't know how to get rid of this pain. I can't eat, I can't sleep. I can't breathe. Everything hurts. How do I go out in the world when I'm feeling so sick inside out? Why is it so painful?

I spend the last five days cooped up in my bedroom, except for that one time when I went to raid Astaroth's wine cellar. I don't even go up to the roof in the morning anymore. Hope is dead.

I haven't seen anyone except for the maid, Mona who comes in to feed the anole lizards every day and the snakes once or twice a week. Sometimes she leaves food on my bedside table. I never touched them and she silently took them away the next day.

The door bursts open and I assume it's Mona coming in to feed the reptiles again. But the blanket is being yanked off my bed and suddenly Deedee's face is staring haughtily down at me. "You stink!" she announces. Her pert nose scrunched up in disgust.

"No, I don't," I argue, trying to hide my face and curl myself into a ball. Sure, my hair is a bit greasy but I don't smell bad. I can't smell me...therefore I don't stink.

"Get the hell up, Danica. I'm tired of this." She's now wrenching the curtains open. The sunlight that bursts into the room hurts my eyes.

"Nobody asked you! Just get out and close the door behind you," I slur, covering my eyes with my arms. At least that's what I meant to say. Not sure if it comes out that way. "Don't let your ass hit the door..." No, that doesn't sound right. "Don't let your ass let the door hit your ass out..."

"I said get up!"

"Leave me alone! I'm sick, see?" I burrow my head under the pillow but that too is being snatched away. Darn it, Deedee! I'm not drunk enough for this.

"What I can see is a stupid girl who's wasting her short life pining over a man who doesn't give a damn!" Deedee's eyes are blazing red. She looks viciously angry and I'm starting to sober up. I'm not sure why she's so angry.

"Now, stand up!" she yells.

When a demon or a half-demon's eyes are glowing red, that means they're almost out of control pissed or they're stalking a victim. Or when they're in the throes of passion sometimes, which I think is not the case right now. It's not wise to argue with them when they're in this state unless you're ready to go head to head with them. I scramble to stand, but I'm dizzy and lightheaded, so my butt falls back on the bed.

She leans in until her eerie glowing red eyes are all I see. "I want you to take a shower," she whispers. Every word is dripping with menace. "If by the time I get back in here you still haven't showered, I'll smash your stupid head against the wall and drag you into the shower myself," she adds before she marches out as though she couldn't stand to look at me a second longer.

I run my hands over my face. I know Deedee doesn't dole out empty threats. She will beat me up and drag my body, either dead or alive into the shower herself. I haven't eaten in a while and I'm half drunk, too weak to fight her.

I close my eyes, fighting another wave of dizziness and nausea. Why won't she just let me die in peace?

A while later, I get up to take a shower. One glance in the mirror makes me wince and turn away. My looks and my brain are my biggest vanity. I've never neglected the way I look before. Ever.