The Blood Witch

11: The Monster I've Become Now

~ Cressida Sinclair, wraith ~

As Cressida Sinclair walks into the mansion known as the gods' home, which everyone whispers to call it the Hellfire Clan, she finds Verona lurking by the entrance to the big chamber where she usually sees the gods.

But Cressida isn't known to be kind to Verona, and she also is broken from the fact that she lost her mom. She's here to cut ties with this place.  And if Verona gets in the way of that, she will happily kill her.

"Well, look at you," Verona says, sneering at her. "What are you doing back so soon, perfect little soldier?"

"None of your business, Verona," says Cressida. She tries to brush past the girl, but the witchy Verona snarls.

"If you're here to cause trouble, it is indeed my business," she snaps.

Cressida rolls her eyes.  "You do not want to try me today, Verona."

Verona sneers again. "Oh, I don't even think you could take me any day, regardless of what your mood is. You're weak, a foolish girl who lets her emotions rule her."

"Is that the best you've got? Call me weak and mock my battle prowess? Gotta hand it to you, Verona. Everything I think you can't get more desperate, you dig a new low for you."

She lashes out, striking Cressida across the face. Cressida laughs. "And I'm the one who lets her emotions control her? Wow, you called me weak, too. But that smack didn't even draw blood! Does it make you feel better, Verona? Hitting people? Does that make you feel big?"

"Shut up," Verona growls.

"Ah, I get it now. You dish it out, but can't take it when it comes back to you," Cressida says, nodding. "Alright, guess that makes sense."

Verona inches closer to her, red eyes blazing bright. "You are a petty little bitch, Cressida. You are a monster, and you are indeed nothing more than a pox on this group. This city, no, this fucking world would be better without you!"

Cressida grins at her, a feral delight forming in her shriveled up heart. She just watched her mother die. She has nothing now. Nothing at all. So, she grabs the wicked, black, curved dagger tucked behind her back. A wraith's blade. Her mother gave it to her when she became an adult.

So, as she watches Verona, who is still ranting about how obviously worthless Cressida is, Cressida grins. She laughs when Verona stops speaking.

"You think me weak? You think I am a foolish, petty girl who has no worth? No strength? You are more idiotic than I'd originally thought. Oh well. I'll give you this chance. One last chance. Back. Off. Leave me the fuck alone. Forever. Or, you will regret it. Immensely."

"I do not fear you! You are nothing, Cressida. You are worthless, and I cannot wait to taste your blood," she says, grinning at her.

"Okay then," Cressida says.  "Your chance was just wasted. So now, what? Well ..."

Cressida launches herself at Verona. She drives the blade into Verona's stomach, twisting the blade and then ripping it free. Verona screams, trying to slash at Cressida as she stands there, but Cressida avoids each of the slashes.

"You fucking bitch," Verona hisses.  "I will kill all of your family. I will bleed them dry. And then? Then, I will kill you. Slowly. Intimately. In every single way I know you fear, and once you're dead, I will destroy your spirit.  And when we arrive in the Afterworld, I will come after you once more. And I'll have the determination to see if you wraiths can die more than once."

"Oh, okay," says Cressida.  She grins. "If that's how it is..."

She then plunges the blade into Verona's throat. Ripping it free, she clenches her fists tight around the blade, watching as Verona bleeds out. But she knows, deep down, that Verona is a witch. She can possibly come back. She can return. So, once she's dead, Cressida, in her fit of dark state of mind, she cuts up Verona and buried her in several different places.

Verona is dead, and when Cressida comes to, she realizes that she is indeed becoming the monster that everyone had said she was. She is indeed a dark, demented wraith who just went through a huge, traumatic incident as she watched the only woman she ever had in her life, her mother, who'd been there for everything, die. She lost her.

But it isn't just a mistake of fate that made it so that Verona was here. Because Cressida is now hunting for those who have made her life a living hell. Gods included.