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“I don’tloveanyone, Narcissa,” I said, avoiding Cece’s eyes, “I can’t.”

“I thought it would beme. I thought you could love me. But it was the bag of blood beneath me,” I watched as her mania resurfaced, and if she could cry I think she’d already have done it. Instead, her face was blanched, her breathing coming rapidly, “You used me, left me out to dry.”

“It couldn’t be us,” I whispered, as Warren inched forward, “we had fun, Cissa. But I didn’t find myself in our tryst, I couldn’t, because we have always been the same.”

Cecelia was different, and she made me different. She dug a hole so deep in my soul that it was becoming impossible to tell where she started and where I ended anymore.

“She’s different.”

Narcissa narrowed her eyes, a guttural moan erupting from her chest like a wounded animal.

“Mercy, I was made for you, designed to be your equal. Just let me kill her, I promise I can show you what strength means again. I can keep you from going weak, something she will never know how to do.”

It must have been the wordkillcoming from her mouth that set into motion a series of moments I couldn’t stop. Warren tripped over his footing, causing Narcissa to turn towards him. She growled and reached her free hand, close enough to hit him, with such force that he stumbled several feet backward. It allowed her to stand up with Cecelia again, front flushed against her back and with Cece’s head roughly pulled by the strands of her hair.

“Don’t you fucking move,” she warned Warren. Warren pushed himself up, wiping a hand against the sweat and debris on his forehead, “I will kill her. I will start with her, and I will find everything else in this immortal life that you love and I will destroy it.”

I watched in slow motion as her nail slid across Cecelia’s neck, and a well of thick, ruby red blood trailed down her chest. Warren yelled my name but I couldn’t move. I was frozen to the spot, my eyes intent on staring at the pool that was becoming Cecelia.

“Carlisle is here,” she chanted softly, caressing Cece’s cheeks and removing a piece of hair from her face as my trembling girl fell into her arms. She’d passed out from the pain and the shock, and I was afraid Warren and I would follow closely behind her, “he’s waiting for you. I told him we’d have you prepped and ready. He wanted someone that would at least give him a little bit of fight,”

“You’re lying,” Warren seethed. Narcissa tsked in disappointment.

“Why don’t you go see for yourself? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind killing a traitor like you first…you know, to warm him up a little.”

“Fuck off, Cissa,” Warren practically lunged at her, I could see him simmering, threatening to overflow. .

“Warren!” I said sharply, “Go. Make sure the house is cleared.”

Even the threat in my voice was not enough to make him move. My lip curled over my teeth in a silent snarl. His eyes widened, resistant to leave me alone with the vampire that threatened our coven.

“You heard her,” Narcissa teased, “go on now, like a good little dog.”

Warren shifted back and forth on his feet. He waited for me to nod before taking off in the other direction. I could hear his footsteps echo in the distance as he sprinted away to warn the rest of the estate, if they were still alive.

“Do you miss me at all?” she sighed, forcing me to return my attention to the horror in front of me. I shook my head.

“I miss the safety you provided me. It is not you that I miss.”

“Shucks. You never were the sentimental type. How does it feel to not have my safety now?”

“I suppose I’ve felt better.”

The monotone in my voice made her throw her head back in laughter. She knelt in the puddle of thick syrup blood that I’d been trying to ignore. Dipping her finger and swirling it around as if it were nothing but a chocolate fountain, Narcissa brought the tip to her mouth and sucked it clean.

“No wonder you left me for her. Her blood is so sweet, surely you’ve already had a taste though, right? You already know.”

“Narcissa, please tell me what it is you want. We can get it to you, you know that I can.”

“You’re not as powerful as you pretend to be, Mercy. I used to think that you could do everything. I used to think that you were invincible. Now do you know what I think?”

I stared at her, frustrated, but still refusing to answer.

“I think you’re weak,” she said, all malice and bite in her tone, “I think you’re nothing but a sad nobody who should have died. And I know you think so, too. If they gave you the choice that night, I think you would have also chosen to die.”

I winced. As much as I pretended that she didn’t know me, years of servitude were enough for her to get a glimpse of my life before all of this. About the night I was beaten, bruised. About the night I should have died.

Men in this world made me what I was, a killer, a demon, a menace to society. I spent my entire immortal life trying to reclaim what was mine. I made sure that Sin City would bow to me, a woman who made a choice.