Habit looks shocked as he falls to the ground. He looks up at Jeff, and I know he knows that it's me. But I have to make sure.
"You taught me well. Make your opponent think that they've won, distract them, and then kill them." I shrug. "But it's all about the intent, isn't it, Daddy?"
I grab his throat. He gasps as Jeff's nails dig into his skin.
"But I don't want to kill you," I say. "I just want you to suffer. Just like you made them suffer."
"What will you do to me?"
"Make sure you never hurt the boys again."
"How?"
"You'll see."
Lilith, sensing my intent, or perhaps my thoughts, takes the knife from me and then hands me her own hand. Habit recoils as the new energy is added to this. We, working as one, teleport Jeff back here, and swap places with him.
I stand where Jeff just was, my hand now on my father's throat.
"It's all about the intent," I say. "We banish you, Habit. We make you just an echo in the back of the darkest corners of Evan's mind."
"You're not going to do this, are you?" Habit asks.
"Yes," Lilith says. "We are."
Then, all of our energy pools together and settles inside Habit and Evan, and I release it.
.....
- two weeks later -
Habit is now trapped in Evan's mind, and has been silent the whole time thus far. Lilith lives with us in a new house closer to Princeton, and now we are safer.
All of us are okay, and we can now live normal lives (as normal as it gets with our family dynamics).
I just hope that it lasts this time. As long as it can, that is. What we did to Habit won't last forever. But as long as we are fighting, he will never win and escape.
- Want more? Read the sequel, Blood Ties, coming soon! -
