The Midnight Flare

How to Kill a Couple Traitors

Demi and I stand up and look at each other. She nods. We walk out and leave the throne room. Cecilia stops us on the way out.

"Who did it?" Cecilia asks in a serious voice (which is kinda surprising).

"Who do you think? The traitor twins who just flew away on a mutant bat," I say. Cecilia nods.

"Well, I already know what the king wants me to do. He's already told me ahead of time. Almost as if he knew he was going to die. But before I do anything, you two need proper clothing."

"I thinks it's amazing how you always relate everything to clothing," I say to Cecilia. She rolls her eyes.

About five minutes later, Demi and I are in all black. And what's surprising is that it was suggested by Cecilia. Black t-shirt, black jeans, and black combat boots. She even gave us black hoodies. The only visible difference between Demi and me is our obvious gender difference and hair. Otherwise, we're twins.

"Now, before you go, I would suggest either staying in the shadows or waiting 'til nightfall. Otherwise, you'll stand out," Cecilia says.

"Believe me, we won't need to," I say with an evil smile. "Also, quick question. Do you have experience with crap like this?"

"Yes actually," She responds. "The only reason I don't is because I... never mind. Just don't ask, ok?" Demi and I nod.

We start to walk out, but I stop and turn to Cecilia. "Oh, I forgot to say something," I say. "Thanks. You've been a great help, y'know."

Cecilia walks to me and whispers in my ear. "I think you'd make a pretty decent king. Especially with her as queen." I can feel the slight blush on my face. Cecilia walks away. Demi looks at me.

"What did she say?" She asks.

"Nothing," I quickly say, chuckling nervously. "Let's just go kill some motherfuckers."

Demi smiles. "You read my mind."

- - - -

After walking in the snow for awhile, we reach the end of Nytmerius. The snow slowly melts away into the huge city within Silmthyr. Dusk starts to arrive as we continue walking.

"Y'know, I never thanked you," I say to Demi.

"For what?" She asks.

"For snappin' me out of it. I felt like I was going insane."

"Oh. That's funny. I was gonna thank you for comforting me."

"Well, I think we're kinda even at this point," I say, shrugging.

Demi shakes her head. "I still owe you," She says, smiling. "Especially after how many times you saved my life."

Let's just say, it's a good thing the darkness hid my face. Otherwise, the public would see me blushing pretty badly.

We continue walking towards the castle. From the outside, the castle is huge, dark, and almost overwhelming. It's as if it could swallow you whole if you stepped near it. As we get closer to the hill it rests on, you can see the path leading up. The path is lined by rose bushes and the occasional post with a torch holder. Most of the holders are empty though. The castle itself is dark grey, but not quite black. We stop in front of the large doors at the entrance. I turn to Demi.

"Before we go in, I wanna say I'm sorry," I say. "I'm sorry I brought those idiots in. I'm sorry I couldn't help your family. And I'm sor-" She interrupts me by pulling me in and kissing me. And boy, it felt amazing! And a little overdue to be honest.

She stops and steps back. "Stop apologizing," She says. "I don't care what you did. What's done is done. Believe me, I will always forgive you for whatever you do. Whether you cause bloodshed or you end it, I'll only see you. So, that being said, let's go end some lives."

I smile. "Ok then," I say. I push the doors open.

We walk through the main room and almost open the door. But the door is frozen shut before my hand touches the handle. Demi and I look behind us and see the traitors themselves.

"Well well well," Blake says. "Look who it is."

"Oh, it's the ice princess and the random rat that loves her," Siphelia says. "Or wait. Wouldn't she be an ice queen now that there's nobody else to sit on the throne?"

"So?" I ask. "Does any of that matter? Nope. Especially to kids like you two. Because believe me, by the time we're done in this shithole you call a castle, she'll be the only blood royalty on the planet."

"Is that a threat?" Blake asks, drawing a sword.

"Nope," Demi says. She pulls out her daggers. "It's a damn promise you fucking murderers."

I make exact copies of her daggers out of ice. "Y'know, I think this'll be fun, don't you?" I ask Demi.

"Oh, this'll be more than fun," She says with an evil grin. "It'll be a hell of a good time."

The siblings both lunge at Demi. She blocks both of them at once, pushes them away, then sends a wall of ice at both of them. They back away... right into a column of flames. They quickly dodge away from it, only to be followed by it. I continue to follow them with it, until they back into each other. It begins to envelope them, until they put it out with water. They then melt through the walls of ice and dash forward. I dash at them, throwing ice daggers as I run. They both start dodging the daggers and trying to hit me with their swords. Suddenly, they both jump up and swing their swords down. I sidestep and try to jab at them, but I instead get a fireball to the face and fall backwards. I sit up open my eyes.

"Wait a second," Siphelia says, looking at me. "How the fuck are you not burnt?" I feel my face. It feels completely normal. Not even a hair is touched.

Well. That explains a lot.

I get up and shoot an icicle up from the ground and into Siphelia's heart. It goes straight through. Her eyes go wide and her body goes limp.

"One down, one to go," I say as Blake charges at me with his sword dragging on the ground. I wait for him to strike, then dodge the attack and kick him in his side. It knocks him into Demi, who then does the same thing back to me. We keep kicking him back and forth like a soccer ball until he starts to bleed. Then Demi takes one of her daggers and plunges it through his right eye. She rips it out and plunges it into the other. She pulls it out and kicks his corpse to the side.

"Burn in hell," Demi says. I set the corpses on fire. Demi drops her daggers and looks down at her hands. They're both covered in blood. She looks at me. "Why do I feel so... satisfied?" She says.

"You just killed a traitor, not to mention avenged your father," I say as I melt the daggers in my hand. "Anyone would feel satisfied."

She wipes her hands on her jeans, then picks her daggers up. I walk to the door and wave her over. I melt the ice and open the door. We walk into the hallway.

"You ready to kill the rest?" I ask Demi.

She looks at me with a grin. "Let's finish what we started."