Salt in the Wounds

Tension and Respite

"Patricia, wake up!" Marie begged.
Peacock lie in her bed, weak with a high fever. Marie's eyes were watering, her concern for the other too strong to restrain.
"Patricia... please..."
"Relax," Valentine said rather harshly.
"Don't try to order me around after what you did."
This caught Valentine off guard. She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? What did I do?"
A booming, deep hiss of hostility answered Valentine. A drop of sweat appeared on her brow. She closed her eye, now visibly unsettled. Marie breathed heavily, trying to calm herself.
A black lizard-woman came in, looking concerned and upset.
"What is it?" Marie asked.
"A fellow Shadowlord... I sense one of my brethren... Zuromez, the wolf of obsession. Unlike us, he does not need a host to leave his home world. He takes the form of a corrupted wolf...I fear he possessed Beowulf, though."
"Namí, what does that mean...?"
"It means he senses something within her that is drawing him here..." Namí continued. She tensed suddenly, striking a battle stance.
Her eyes widened,turning red as she heard a song ring out.

It wasn't long before Zuromez made his presence known. A black wolf the size of a bear pinned Valentine down, its jaws contorted with wrath while its red eyes expressed a seething, barely restrained hatred. It looked deeply into Valentine's eye. Its snarling quieted; it released her. Namí, in her lizard-woman form, glared at him, her now violet eyes containing hostile slit pupils.
"Oh, relax, sister. I wouldn't kill without first finding why."
"You better stay that way, Zuro."
"I know it would be unwise of me to cut to the chase... but I must anyway. Why do you keep this betrayer alive?"
"Many reasons, Zuro. I believe she is redeemable."
"Sister, you are a naive fool."
"I would kill you here and now if it wouldn't disturb the children... the poor, children..."
Zuromez's form shifted into that of an opaque black werewolf. He walked over to Peacock, gazing into her closed eyeholes. His eyes began to seethe with a much more malevolent shade of red; the color of fresh blood.
"There are now three gods in this room. Mind your manners, Valerie." The Serpent said, appearing in the form of an anaconda-sized albino rattlesnake, minus rattle. The serpent slid over to Peacock, gently draping his cool white scales across her tiny body.
She stirred.
"Muh...ree...Marie..." She gasped weakly.
"As strong as ever, I see." Valentine said with a soft smile under her mask.
Peacock's eyes all opened simultaneously.
Namí immediately grabbed her, pinning her arms to her scaled back.
"I FUCKING TRUSTED YOU, BITCH-!" The wrath in the little girl's voice shocked even Namí and Ouro.
I LOVED YOU LIKE FAMILY, YOU-! YOU HAD THE NERVE-! THE FUCKIN' GUTS TA-! RIP IT ALL APART?! DO YA THINK I'LL EVER FORGIVE YA, HUH?! HUH?!"
"Patricia, please... calm down..."
Peacock stopped.
"Marie...?"
"I'm right here."
Namí released Peacock, who proceeded to hug Marie.
"God damnit, don't scare me like that again!"
"You're the one who had ME worked up, Patricia... you were very sick..."
"I should leave..." Namí said, ashamed.
"What? Why?"
"My power can make her more sensitive to emotions... and as such, she is more prone to outbursts like that... she... overused my power not too long ago... and I was too angry at those she was attacking to stop her. This is mostly on me..."
"Unfortunately, some is on I, as well..." Ouro said, lowering his head with shame.
"Hey! Don't sweat it! Gods can be mooks, too!"
The three gods chuckled at Peacock's comment.
"But... what of the ones who ruined her entirely...?" Zuro asked hesitantly.
"Oh, they died slowly and painfully~!" Peacock said with a dark cheerfulness. Namí grinned wildly, and Ouro beamed with restrained insanity. Marie smiled.
"Good to know you haven't changed... still the sweet and psychotic girl I met those years ago..."
"Well, I promised myself some things would never change!" Peacock snuggled her affectionately. Marie snickered.
But Valentine... she dusted herself off, then turned and walked out. Something felt wrong about her.
Even she felt it.
Even those who hated her felt it.