C'thelli's Demonic Orphanage

19

Feimo stood dumbfounded in the doorway, whilst Dom and C'thelli stared at each other. The devil's skin paled, as if she were attempting to blend in with the glittering moon in the window as the vampire's grin grew wider. His lips were painted with Elise's blood from where he fed from her gaped neck. The life in her eyes dulled, like her very soul evaporated and rendered her a limp husk. 

As if noticing the woman for the first time, the priest released his hold on her, and like a discarded sheet of paper, her body crumpled to the ground with a hollow thud. "Elise?" Louis whimpered as he fell to his knees by his wife's side.

"I suppose an explanation is in order." Dom said as he produced a handkerchief and wiped his reddened lips clean. C'thelli said nothing. Her trembling hands squeezed her sword until her knuckles went white with fury. The demon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder whilst the vampire spoke. It was all he could do for the time being.

"So it seems I'm not the only one who decided to look into Vivian's attack? Well, as it happened, I was able to track down these two and with a little drop of Elise's blood," He waved to the limp corpse in the centre of the room with a casual demeanour, as if he expected them to forget the dead girl before them. "Her memories have become mine." he said with a disgusted scoff.

Beneath Feimo's sweaty palm, he felt her shoulder tense. This disgust went both ways it seemed. "What did you see?" the demon chirped. Fear of his friends jumping into action led him to try and cut the boiling tension before one of them (C'thelli), decided to cut the other in two. With his voice cracking the silence, the man's scarlet eyes settled on him like two rays of light in the darkness.

He licked his lips, no doubt he could still taste the blood on his tongue as the pungent stench of metal bloomed in the air. "I saw everything. I saw her birth, I saw her childhood, and how she had made friends with Vivian. I saw how they laughed and played. I saw them grow up together, and meet Louis, and I felt her jealousy when she learnt that Vivian had feelings for him." He took a breath as he folded his hands behind his back and ventured towards the window. 

"Neither girl could agree on whom ought to woo this fool, and she did not think so highly on her appearance. So she killed her. Stabbed her more times than there are days in a month, and she enlisted him to dispose of the body." A grim look cast over the sobbing man who bowed in grief of his beloved.    

With his thumb stroking his smooth chin, the demon pondered aloud, "So the meeting in the woods really was a set up. To tie up loose ends." 

"Killed the griffin's spouse in its sleep." Dom nodded solemnly to the conclusion.

"So you murdered her. Without a trial." the devil growled.

"A trial? Oh please, they're murderers. As soon as the sheriff catches up to them they would have hanged. Why bother with the wait." Another scoff escaped his mouth.

"We're not the ones who decide, Dom. You were the one that told me that killing is a sin. This was God's judgement to make!" C'thelli shot back with a look of disdain. "You had no right..."

"No right?" A fury crossed the priest's features, "I'm the only one who is right. Look at them! How long had they gotten away with it? Living in this cushy house and partying with everybody else. God's eyes may see all, but he has been silent, and what of the justice you promise? A public execution filled with jeers and bloodlust? When will you see, 'Thelli. Only sin can prevent sin. This is just the natural state of things." His voice softened with a quivering lip as he raised his open hand for her sword.

With his palm upon the blade, his voice softened, "Why give these monsters the satisfaction of a public killing, when we could be done with it now?" In those few seconds of silence and Louis' whimpers, Feimo truly questioned what her next action would be. Would she take heed, or -