Seemingly empty (part 5)

"How could you, Morrigan?"

The corners of my mouth twitch into an ugly smirk. I slam my fist on the display table, which the crystals almost fell off of. Glaring into Danica's soul. She steps back, holding an arm out to protect the one who persuaded her to leave us in the first place.

"No, Dani, how could YOU?! We were partners. I know you like the back of my own hand. You betrayed us. Nilson, Praxidike... they were furious. I was forced to sit and watch the chaos go down, all because you wanted to pursue 'true love'. Now the servants are forced to stay inside the mansion. We can only go out to get supplies. That's it. I can't believe that you, out of all people, YOU rejected the whole reason of why you were recruited in the first place."

She covers Evangeline's ears, to protect her from what complete nonsense I'm spewing. Well, it's not as absurd as it may sound because it's true. 100% fact. I promise. Actually, why don't I take you down old memory lane?

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Praxidike is a father to me. Tough love all around, strict, but has a soft heart deep down. Which might sound crazy to you, since he's going to make a huge calamity and kill over a thousand of people in cold blood. Some with be spared and others won't. Lots will die, but some will survive. Based on your karma points, we'll see what your death can be.

He is the ultimate judge of a lifetime. He even looks like one, but more majestic with a dark aura. His long natural black, silky-smooth hair. His soft, bushy salt and pepper beard. The tall, muscular build. The deep turquoise green eyes that can shatter all of your self-confidence. This dapper man is the one I look up to. He sees all of us loyal servants as his children.

As his current and hopefully forever favorite child, I am not going to disappoint him like Danica and Nilson has. Not today, never going to happen, EVER. Love is fake. There are only alliances. Trust. Not some stupid, pointless affection.

Evangeline somehow brainwashed Danica to fall in love with her, forcing her to leave us behind to start a new, better life. Well, those are only for the movies, darling. A fresh start is just a way of saying that you are running away from your responsibilities. There's no use in hiding here. She knows what she's doing is wrong.

The only reason we kept her around is because she's Moxie's big sister. She has way less of a potential than Moxie does, but it's good to just put her aside and out of Praxidike's way. I don't think she even realizes that they're siblings. How sad... for them at least. Better for us!

It's less drama about her family about more about the grandparents. Praxi has a really dark past with them. He won't even give me a hint about it! How rude, but to be expected of him thanks to his trust issues. I don't blame him. I would be too, if I was betrayed by someone close to my heart.

She knows that we've been searching for the ingredients for YEARS now, and she's keeping us away from the final one, when we're so close to finishing. I'm not going to allow that. Not with this much pressure on my shoulders. Praxidike is depending on me.

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I take out my dagger, a gift given to me by Praxidike himself, as it glows an ominous neon rose pink. Cyrus's eyes widen, for he is familiar with this very blade I hold in my claw-like hand. He and Danica rush forward, grabbing the nearest deadly object they could find in such a short amount of time.

"After getting this far, I am not backing down this time!" I exclaim, as I dodge Cyrus's spiked flail. My plan is to take Evangeline as hostage, Danica and I have a showdown, and Cyrus flees the scene as always. The spineless coward. He may have loyalty to them now, but once things get dicey, he'll leave them behind. I'm sure of it.

Danica throws a spear in my direction, and I catch it on impact. The spear was going to strike my ankle, but after training, I've learned to listen to my surroundings. The loud whoosh from the spear was a dead giveaway, even if it was in my blind spot. Instead, I impale Cyrus's hand, which was reaching for my neck.

His hand squirts out blood, which trails down his arm. He howls out in agony, but he's determined to not let that get in the way of him. Evangeline tries to aid him, but Danica is aware that she is my target. "Hand over the reeds, damn it!"

Angie takes a bejeweled box and dashes out of the yurt using a secret passageway underneath. I attempt following her but Danica and her freakishly tall body blocks the way. "Move out of the way Dani, I'm not here for you." I half-lie.

Well sure, I want to fight her. But it's not her, Cyrus, or even Evangeline who I'm actually going after. It's WHAT. I need the wrath reeds. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. If only they could just hand them over like I suggested earlier, but they always have to make this harder for me than it needs to be.

My palms glow neon lime green, as I ram my finger into Danica's left eye. She staggers backwards, bumping into the bookshelf, and collapsing onto the floor, trying to get back up and failing miserably. "Pathetic. After your harsh training, you still can't fight? Pitiful creature." I mutter as I deliberately knock over a lit candle. "Oops! Guess you'll go out in flames. See you in hell, then."

Running through the underground passageway, I spot Evangeline's medium champagne hair glistening through the cracks of sunlight. "Aha, there you are." I whisper as I silently creep around the corner and yanks on her hair, pulling her to ground. She whimpers as I put my dagger to her throat. "The reeds. Give them to me. And you won't get hurt if you do."

I thought the gasp came from her, but I was clearly mistaken. A lanky, ashy tow-headed boy in an indigo sweatshirt saw me. Tacito. I hiss at her to move faster and grab the box from Evangeline. I got the reeds, but at what cost?

-To be continued...-