Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Freya’s countenance flickered, but she still nodded. ” By your will, m’lord.”

“See that it is accomplished, Freya. Richter Snow is here by an enemy of the highest order. The other Shadowfell are to be your eyes only. If Layla is close by, see that she does it.” I confirmed, and Freya reconfirmed with a cold icy nod that brought a smile to my face.

“Good. Now then, I’m going on a hunt. And—”

“Ezra’s pregnant!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“What!!! WHAT!!!!!”

“AHAHA, JK!” Shouted Freya as she hung up.

Heart firing off like a marching song, I sucked in a massive breath of air, sensing the terror that my wife would bring on. Wiping away the sweat along my brow at the close call, I truly hoped Freya was merely jesting. Or Ezra is dead.

You can’t train crazy!

“Damn, I should have mind fucked Rictcher when I had the chance. No use crying about it. I learned my lesson.” I shook off the annoyance of my mistake and turned towards the north, where Vinay’s soul signature emanated. I peered past the darkness to a young woman cradling her child, running for dear life.

Pearls of liquid crystals I usually use as salt streamed from her eyes as her ragged breath filled with terror fell like stars.

“Please! Don’t di—” She paused and looked down at her child. And my brow grew arched as she suddenly stopped.

Divinity swelled within her hands, wrapping around the young child like a protective cloak, and to my shock, she kissed the tip of her infant’s head, and like a star piercing through the clouds, the little one vanished. She had actually sent her child away!

Opening my palm, my sinful divinity alongside the path hummed to life as I willed the child to appear in my hand. Hearing its wails dampen a little, my eyes grew bright at the little girl’s wails bellowing in my hand.

“You’re a cutie, aren’t you? Who’s going to be eaten? Who’s going to fill my tummy?

‘AHHH!” sang the bright eye doe reaching out to grab my hair.

“That’s right! You are! You are! Kisses!!!” I said in a baby voice, looking down at the cute baby girl with snow-white skin softer than any pillow.

A/N: I feel bad.

“Boop!”

Poking the little one’s nose, she laughed, giggling as she held my finger.

Shadow Stepping to stand before the tear-filled Vinay on her knees praying to some god, I smiled, “What are you doing?” I teased, enjoying the look of pure terror as her child’s joyous laughter filled her ears.

“No,” She whispered. “Don’t.”

“If memories serve, I said something along those lines about me not wanting to be in your office. And what did you do?” I patiently asked.

Her cheeks turned even paler, and I saw her veins emanating from her face. “I—”

“Tell me what you said,” I demanded, narrowing my eyes as she bowed her head towards the dirt.

‘Please! Don’t do this,” cried Vinay in the most heart-wrenching tone I’d not heard since my time on earth.

“Tell me what you said!” I barked, stomping down her head as the cracks of her bones entered my ears.” Tell me what you said. I want to hear how you boxed me into a corner, how you used my social worker to threaten me. How you tried everything you could to analyze me.”

“Luca, please!”

“Luca! Was that my name!” I howled, pressing down till I felt the back of her head cave in; the pressure on my leg lessened as I took a step back. I snorted, ‘ I killed Xelf by plunging my sword through his head, but you. I’ve got innate hate for you, my dear Vinay. You see, intelligence is the bane of people like me. We hate standing out. And getting a GED at my age, going off to live on my own, you cost me years. I had everything planned. And in a single classroom visit, you ruined not just my life but your and your child’s life. How many times must I do this?”

“Luca, please! ” she begged. “I was just doing my job! I was the counselor. And I saw you needed help!”

“And adults always know best right? They always know the best course of action. There are still people who believe the world is fucking flat!” I shook my head, spitting in contempt. “How do you want to die?”

“Luca,” She whimpered, trembling as blood pooled from the back of her head. ” Please just don’t kill my child.”

I laughed and then guffawed as she peeped up with hollow eyes. ” Darling. How about we replay everything that happened in our last life.”

“No~ NO~ NO~~~ PLEASE!!”

I snapped my fingers, sending a shock to her soul, and Vinay’s body went limp, and I pulled out the hollow cube, sending Lilith a message and a location.

“Dinner will be at your house, Vinay. One last family dinner. How nice of me. You get to say one last goodbye,” I said as embers of darkness swelled around our bodies, “And this time, you’ll stay dead.”

…

…

… ｂｅ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

“Sugar, spice, and everything demonic, these were the perfect in—Damn, what was the rest? I swear, even with an edict memory, I have gaps where I just forget stuff. It’s so odd. How does that even work? I should have studied the brain more.”

Mixing the potatoes that held bone marrow and tons of butter, I wiped the sweat from my brow and turned to Vinay, whose mouth lay open, filled with drool.

“Hey, stop that! Bad Vinny Bad!” I scolded, wiping her mouth with a handkerchief as she clenched her child bib. “Come on; it’s not so bad! I’ve just stuffed your little one with pineapple. Do you want the heart? It’s too small to do much with it.”

A tear of blood fell from her eyes as I laughed, ” I’m just kidding. She’s perfectly fine. I just fed the little one her very last meal and put her down for a nap. Meal prep takes forever. I should call Lili to help, but she’ll get too emotional.”

“Luca, please stop this madness.” Vinay sobbed with her lifeless eyes. “Just kill us! Please. There is no point in tormenting us.”

“No point?” I repeated. ” Of course, there’s a point. How else am I supposed to fill my stomach? How else am I supposed to feed my children? You did this, Vinay. Not me. You. I told you back off; I told you to leave me be. I did pretty much everything a child could do, but you wanted a story. Well, now you’ve got one” I leaned beside her ear, smiling. “Your soul will forever be mine; that way, you’ll never leave my side. Your torment will forever resound through the Myriad Heavens.”