The Devil in the Form of Those That Follow: Lethiferous

CHAPTER TWELVE

TW: Assault, Violence

"Everything they do..."

As Lana sat back down at her desk, still in shock about what happened, her mind couldn't help but wonder what Vincent had been like before... before whatever had happened to him. He had almost seemed like the perfect man, which made her even have a bit of a crush on him. At least he seemed perfect.

⤀

Two Years Ago

"So I just finished the novel, and I'd say I'm impressed," Vincent exclaimed with a giant smile across his face with the prototype of Lana's book. They were having a meeting about it. They were almost at the top of the building they were in and there was pretty much glass everywhere.

"I usually don't get any starters like this," Vincent added before putting the book on the table in front of him and Lana, "Barely any corrections."

"Are you sure?" Lana asked with worry as she slowly opened her laptop, "Did you actually like it?" She added before he could answer.

"Well yes," he replied, "I wouldn't be saying that if it wasn't true. Lana, this is by far one of the best things I've read in a while and it's your first novel."

"Well, what did you like about it?" Lana asked, her suspicions rising.

"Pretty much everything," he started, his energy rising while just talking about what he saw as a masterpiece, "The character arcs and the backstories of everyone being so complex. The descriptions of everything. Your word choice alone. I could go on."

"So is there anything I need to add?" she asked, blushing at the compliments.

"There is one thing, but it's optional," Vincent started, "Maybe you could make this 'villian guy' have a weird quirk about him."

"Like what?"

"Maybe you could make him talk by using outdated words,"

"Such as?"

"Maybe 'buffoon' or 'hooligan' or words like that,"

"Buffoon... hooligan..." Lana repeated as she typed a note. "Maybe darling?" She looked back at Vincent, who had been staring at her already with a sweet smile and adorable eyes. She sunk into her seat, blushing even harder.

"I think it would make the audience even more scared of this villain," Vincent said as he got his briefcase that he had brought. He pulled out a few papers with drawings on them.

"These are some illustration ideas I had for the cover," he said while handing the sheets to Lana. All of them were just pencil sketches and had no color to them, but they all were really well-drawn.

One of them, in particular, stood out. It was a man with his face ominously covered in shadows holding up a marionette doll that resembled the description of the main character.

"I really like this one," Lana said, showing Vincent the paper.

"You don't have to choose that one. We could find an actual illustrator," Vincent said, seeming to blush from embarrassment.

"No, it's perfect," Lana exclaimed as she put down the other papers and kept the one, "Was there anything else?"

There was a moment of silence, as Vincent had been in a daze staring at her. "Uhm, not that I can think of," Vincent looked at the clock, "Oh, we do have twenty-five more minutes left. Well, what made you think of the idea for this novel?" Vincent tried to think of something so that he wouldn't have to end the meeting early and not see her the rest of the day.