The Flames that Engulfed Us

Chapter 52: To Catch the Devil Monolouging

The Devil entered the room, seeming oblivious to how we were both still aching until he actually looked at us.

"What's wrong?" he asked carefully.

"Everything," I whispered, my trembling voice filling the room with a delicacy I didn't think I was capable of.

"More specifically?"

"This place," Lincoln spat, his pain turning into a venom that seemed too dangerous to be laying next to, but I just held him tighter.

"That's not new. What specifically happened?"

"Is it true," he muttered, his tone still hostile but less so, "that time passed slower for her than it did me?"

"Yes."

"And did you ever hurt her there?"

"No."

"And did you honestly meant for her to go forever with no idea I existed?"

"Yes."

"Does it bother you that your job is making people, even if they're not your equals feel this much pain?"

"No. It doesn't."

"How do I know if you're being honest? You've lied before."

"Who hasn't?"

"How do I know?"

"You don't, but trust me. I wouldn't hurt her. My sister would figure out a way to kill me if I touched Skylar."

"And who on Earth is your sister? Why are you being so dodgy?"

"Be quiet, and I'll tell you. Skylar, at least, deserves to know. My sister was a girl who made herself mortal to fall in love. She'd made plans to get married to him too. Soon enough that it was fine for her, in her opinion at least, to get pregnant. I don't know if she even thought she could get pregnant, but she did.

"She'd just found out the day I decided her fun had gone far enough. She didn't tell anyone but the guy himself. I believe his name was Joe. Joe Flemings. He was ecstatic and agreed not to tell anyone else until after they were married. I couldn't have known.

"That day, he went to a small café. I went in and sat at the table next to his. He ordered Clam Chowder that day. No one suspected the man sliding slickly out the front door when he choked. No one blamed me for the fact that the phone line didn't work when they tried to call an ambulance.

"I don't know how my sister found out that her fiancée was dead. I don't know how she so immediately know it was me. You know, people are always afraid of their mothers, but any woman can be just as terrifying. She's my older sister, and that day, she acted like it. She stomped down here, her perfectly curled hair bouncing as she screamed at me until her face turned red. Then, she told me. She was with child.

"She told me it was my fault, as it was, that her baby would grow up fatherless. I didn't know. To me, he was just a human who was going to ruin her. She'd want to grow old with him, and maybe even die, and as Death, I didn't want that. She left, saying she'd never come back.

"I watched her over the years. She legally changed her name from the made up one of Smith to his, Flemings. The child had the man's name. He grew up, knowing nothing of his mother's identity or why his father had died. She named him Andrew. Andrew Joe Flemings. He got married. Lily walked him down the aisle in place of the man I'd killed. The bride's name was Helen. Helen Marie Watkins. Then, they tied the knot, and they were Mrs. And Mr. Flemings.

"Lily did a remarkable job managing her aging. Not so perfect that I'd thought she'd given up her immortality, but good enough that her own son didn't suspect anything. Soon enough, she had her first grandchild. Ashley Helen Flemings. Lily always made up nicknames, just like her fiancée had. 'Ash Fire,' she called the girl. There was a second daughter too. Skylar Lily Flemings. Lily dubbed her, 'Skylark.'