Fallen Ashes |✔️

Inferno

Domino

I couldn't tell how long I'd been listening to the monotone beeping of machines, watching the stillness of Zoe's body as she wavered between life and death.

"Please." I half-whispered, begging noone in particular.

She didn't move.

"Shit." I cursed with no signal to use my phone. I knew Myra or some other sadistic fucker wouldn't stop- not with open season still being declared upon Venus Castellanos and the rest of us.

Perhaps once I got out of here with Zoe the world would be a different place- perhaps we'd be safe for once. Or maybe our world could have destroyed itself with our enemies at eachother's throats.

Perhaps. The uncertainty of the word clanged through me, driving me insane.

My eyes shifted to the heartbeat monitor, widening in fascination at the spikes that could only mean something good.

"Zoe." I gasped, inching closer to her pale face as those eyes fixated upon me, fluttering open with a surety I could sense in the absence of words.

She was going to live. And those eyes promised to unleash a hell that would bathe the world in a glorious inferno.

___

Venus

"You killed him." I observed plainly with growing unease at the sight of my father's corpse- the Greek mafia lord. A dead man.

Myra's features contorted in what appeared to be delight though part of me sensed she hadn't felt the satisfaction she'd anticipated from the man who'd taken so much from her.

A hollow part of me ached as if in mourning and I could feel my face turning a sickly shade of green from nausea.

He deserved to die, I convinced myself.

Not like this, another part of me cried.

And it must have been at that moment, drowning in my own pity and sorrow that I realised-

I wanted to live.

I'd let my friends suffer at my expense, let Ash face death at every corner because of me. Maybe I'd given Zoe a fool's chance at survival- but falling like this wouldn't be the end.

I saw the plain truth plastered across Myra's face- she wanted more. More vengeance, more power- and she'd set her sights on the throne of my father. Our father.

Defenceless, I circled the room in feigned anxiety, hovering close to the onyx fireplace. I was a dead woman- but grabbing a poker might have become my last chance at survival against Myra Castellanos.

Anything can be a weapon, my father had taught me.

But Myra herself was a weapon- and I knew I felt too weak to stand a chance against her, not when I felt sicker with every passing moment. Perhaps it was from my toxic thoughts or the corpse of my father in the centre of the room. But part of me acknowledged the dawning realisation that scared the shit out of me.

No, I thought to myself in blind panic- refusal to accept the feeling that settled in me.

No, I would live. I would live for Ash. For Zoe. I wanted to live for everyone and bury my mad bitch of a half-sister in the ground.

Sister- I almost vomited at the word. I shared blood with this... monster.

My heart thundered in my chest as I pivoted slowly, my fingers curling around the coolness of the poker as Myra continued her intoxicated glee over the kill she'd made.