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"It's not," her voice trembles as she continues. "Nicolo… he," she audibly gulps down. "When he was younger, Michele had leukemia. Nicolo came to me with an idea, saying that he could get well if we found a match." The moment she utters those words I already know where she's going.

My entire body stiffens, but I can only listen to her as she recounts everything.

"He knew Michele was his son," she gives a dry laugh, "just like Benedicto knew he wasn't his.

From the beginning Nicolo had been trying to quietly find a match, and he'd gone through all their relatives with no success.

Until he came to me and told me there might be another possibility," she stops, raising her gaze to mine, "you. "

"I don't understand."

"Nicolo said there was a possibility you might be his daughter, and by that point you were the last option.

Michele was almost dead and getting worse by the day.

And so we did the tests," she pauses, her eyes glinting to something akin to…

pity? "And they came back positive. Not only were you his sister, but you were a match too," she says, and there's an unusual cadence to her voice, as if she had a personal stake in this.

"So you did the transplant," I continue and she just nods.

Vlad is there to cup my shoulders when I feel myself getting lightheaded.

Nicolo is—was my biological father. Just like Michele is my biological half-brother. My hands start trembling from anger as I realize Nicolo had known all along, and yet he'd been too willing to sacrifice me for Michele.

"Sisi," Vlad whispers in my hair, but I put a hand up.

"Why?' I address Mother Superior. "Why go through all this trouble to help him?"

Her mouth presses in a hard line as she turns her head away.

"Why?" I repeat, taking hold of another candle.

She reacts immediately, thrusting her body backwards.

"He's my nephew," she whispers, "from his mother's side," she finally admits and for a moment I feel sorry for her, because all she did was for the sake of her family.

But at the same time, how many other people have to suffer for that? Why did I have to suffer for it?

I break free from Vlad's embrace, my fingers tightening over the small oil container.

Snatching her jaw open, I pour the entire liquid down her throat, enjoying the gurgling sound when she chokes on it as she tries to spit it out.

When all of it has been ingested, I simply grip the hilt of the knife as I plunge it into her stomach, years of pain and humiliation coming to the surface and making me drown in the memories.

I rotate the blade around, making an even bigger hole in her lower abdomen. Her screams of pain don't even phase me at this point, my only goal is to make her death as painful as possible.

For me and for everyone else she's abused.

I dig into her stomach until there's a gaping hole, blood gushing out and spilling on the floor. She screams and chokes on even more blood coming up her mouth and nose, but all her attempts are in vain, because she's held in place by restraints.

Grabbing another candle, I bring the fire over her stomach, holding it close and burning at her insides until the flame meets the flammable oil in her stomach, a spark igniting and quickly extending throughout her open gut.

I take a step back, breathing hard. I can only admire my work as her body lights up like a bonfire, her screams swallowed by small explosions. Her expression is stuck in horror, eyes wide, mouth open. She's already passed out from the pain, and I relish the way revenge never felt sweeter.

For a long while, I just stare at her, letting her death course through me in an attempt to fill the void in my own heart.

But does it really work?

Shaking myself from my musings, though, I look around to find Vlad missing.

"Vlad?" I call out.

I'd been so focused on making Mother Superior pay that I hadn't been paying attention to anything else.

For a moment I'm worried that the sight of blood might have driven him to one of his episodes, and he'd left to get himself together. But as the doors to the church snap open again, Vlad strutting inside and dragging two women by the hair after him, I realize what he'd been doing.

A smile appears on my face as I give him an airy kiss.

"You just know the way to my heart," I gush as he throws Sister Celeste to the ground, accompanied by Sister Matilde, my old teacher.

"I told you everyone who's ever harmed you will be dead , hell girl. I might have also paid a visit to those two obnoxious girls from earlier in the afternoon, and safe to say they won't be leaving their beds—ever again."

"You were fast," I praise and he just grins at me, showing white gleaming teeth, his canines long and protruding and making him seem even more the predator he is.

"For you? In the blink of an eye." He winks at me.

Both women stare at me in shock, and their expressions only worsen as they look at the highly flammable Mother Superior who is currently sending sparks all throughout the church.

"Assisi?" Sister Celeste asks, raising her head to look at me.

"What's the meaning of this?" my former teacher asks.

I look down at their pathetic forms and suddenly I can only muster pity for them. Pity for the bitter women that wasted their lives abusing others, and that probably never knew any type of happiness.

"Do your thing, Vlad," I tell him. "I want to watch," I say just as I take a seat.

There's an emptiness within me that I hope will be filled by having a front row seat to the spectacle that will be their death.

Vlad doesn't disappoint. Not in the least as he builds a script to hang them off the ceiling, head down.

He's even more impressive as he deftly uses his blades to cut them open from the junction between their legs right up to their jaws. His blades are so sharp, it only takes one good cut for organs to spill on the floor, a more forceful tug and the ribcage is wrenched open too.

I cross my legs, my chin in my palm as I watch their quick disembowelment. When only the carcasses remain, he takes what's left of the oil from the lamp, splattering it around the two bodies before throwing a candle at them.

The flames are quick to engulf them, and just like Mother Superior, they all lose themselves in the fire, smoke gathering in the church, the smell of burned flesh permeating every corner.

The entire back part of the church is now ripe with voracious flames looking to swallow everything in their path.

I stand up, ready to leave.

After throwing the last candle, feeding the greedy flames, Vlad turns toward me, blood staining his face and entire outfit. His eyes are midnight black as his pupils melt into his irises, his mouth tugging around the corners in an arrogant yet dangerous smile.

There's something to be said about the way he looks at me, especially when, keeping eye contact, he opens his mouth, his tongue licking the blood from his lips, his teeth stained with red.

A shiver goes down my back as I instinctively take a step back.

I know this side of him. It's the one that demands blood to flow. And yet, it's not just that.

He comes closer, lifting his hand in the air and inspecting the specks of blood. The fire is screeching behind him, the flecks of light illuminating his features and making him seem exactly like Mother Superior had said—a demon.

A demon from the depths of Hell, stepping on hallowed ground and wrecking all kinds of destruction. And there's nothing that can stop him.

His eyes snap to mine, and his smile intensifies. Only one word crosses his lips, and I know I'm in trouble.

"Run," the gentle sound escapes him, but I know what awaits me is anything but gentle.