Twisted Paradise

Chapter 10

Weeks passed by quickly.

Lily knew Selene was working hard on getting to Alfonzo. But she also knew that whatever had bothered her, it kept growing worse.

She was in an awfully bad mood these days.

So Lily steered clear of her. Who knew, Selene might get mad for real and stop helping her.

It was boring not being able to annoy her though. It was, after all, her much-cherished habit.

When Selene went out to have lunch with her latest victi-ahem-lover, Lily was very much relieved.

Maybe her black mood will drop down.

She always came back particularly pleased after a fresh murder.

Selene might have features that conveyed an innocence, worthy of being preserved yet nobody except Lily knew that woman was worse than a succubus.

Given how every man involved with her ended up dead, Selene was a prime example of why one shouldn't judge people based on their appearances.

Guess why they ended up dead, though?

Well, she killed them!

They caught her eye, poor unfortunate souls they were, and she caught theirs. They went on dates and she went to their place for the night. The following day, the sun rose but those men didn't.

Selene never liked feeling. She never liked the fluttering of her heart, the warmth spreading throughout her body or the heady desire hitching her breath.

Lily remembered the first time she did it.

Her small porcelain hands had been dripping with blood. The crimson blood, particularly eye-catching staining the fair skin. There was a quark of satisfaction swimming in those cold, indifferent eyes.

"I did it. I killed it," she had murmured flatly. Looking up at her in triumph, she'd revealed, "I surpassed my-that woman."

But was it really surpassing if she did exactly what that woman had been teaching her to do? Wasn't that playing right into her hands? But Lily didn't want to alienate her.

So she had kept quiet.

Even as she knew the point wasn't that she killed a man, Lily couldn't care less what happened to him, but that Selene had cut off the roots to certain emotions before they could dare to think of being bright in bloom.

But living such a life, how was it different to not living at all? Maybe this was why Selene was always immersed in the world of romance. She wouldn't have it, any of it, in real life.

Maybe this was why Selene often talked with her about the moments of friendships between the phantom characters on the yellowed pages of books. She wouldn't allow herself to acknowledge the friendship she had for real. But Lily didn't mind. She wasn't very well-versed in sentimental talks either.

But let alone love, even something as trivial as physical attraction was enough to disturb Selene to the point of those men having their throats slit - thanks to the woman by their bedside. After all, there was always the potential for it to grow into more.

Was it a completely normal and morally right thing to do?

No.

But Lily couldn't be bothered to care about such minor details. Just a few men. The world was overpopulated, anyway.

She took steps guiding her to the balcony overlooking the city. When her phone rang, Lily was surprised to see it was Selene but picked up nonetheless.