Necrosis

Act XIV: Slaughter and Laughter

"Evil is a point of view." ~ Lestat (Interview with a Vampire)

"Say, Adam? Why would you want to fight me? We are best friends, you and I. To me, you and Athalia are both very precious - I'd never want to hurt either of you. So why would you let me die a second time, at your own hand?"

Joshua remained silent for a moment, waiting for a response. Seconds passed, and the blond sighed, tapping the blade of his scythe to his head.

Adam hated the sight of it - as if the powers of a demon were a mere child's toy. Of all people, Adam hoped Joshua would respect demons better.

it would be a lie to not admit that it was thrilling for the raven to fight once more - after all, Adam was a demon. And if a fight was styled right, it could even be a form of affection or courtship in Hell. But the stance Adam had now spoke of murderous intent.

Steadying himself, Adam got to his feet. The slash across his back had caused him to fall to the ground, where he stayed silently, thinking of the past. Thinking of how Joshua used to be. The injury itself wasn't very painful - the threshold for pain was quite high for demons - but it would've easily been fatal for humans.

His tongue licked up blood that had fallen on his lips from an injury to his head. He figured he was about even with Joshua now - in their fight so far, he'd given the blond a few cuts along his legs, and even cut him deep enough to hit bone one his arm.

Yet no pain seemed to reach Joshua.

Adam shook his head, smiling ironically. "It's as I thought," he said in his voice of crushed velvet. "You are no longer Joshua Christenson."

Bafflement was apparent on Joshua's face. He raised a brow, idly tossing his scythe back and forth between his hands. "That's a lie, Adam. Although I shouldn't need to prove myself before my best friend," he said in mock anguish, gripping the scythe tightly.

"I'm not friends with a twisted corpse," Adam murmured. He closed his eyes, red electricity sparking out from his scythe, humming with power. The red sparks flew out, shattering all the lightbulbs around them and creating a rain of colored glass.

Joshua glanced at them, and in his instant of being distracted, Adam attacked, scythe hissing through the air.

_______________________________________________________

Look.

I told myself that he would never see me like this - that I would be out of his life before it even happened. He'd never know how unhinged I was, how little it took to send me into a murderous frenzy.

He was never supposed to know how weird I was. How strange.

But look.

Ellis stood in front of Eve with his single eye widened in shock. His lips were parted, but it didn't seem as though he thought of what to say. What did one say in such a scene? Everyone who had seen Eve in such a state were speechless at first.

And why? What am I doing wrong?

"But killing is bad...isn't it, Miss Eve?" came Echo's broken voice in her mind.

Is it? Who was the one who declared this? Eve wanted to know who made it so that killing was bad. If she knew the reasons why, then she'd know exactly why Ellis was giving her such a look. Eve wanted to hide from that gaze and simultaneously wanted to show Ellis the full extent of the urges that dwelled inside her.

It wasn't a demon feeling. It was just Eve. Perhaps it was time, here with the stitched boy as a witness, to accept that.

"Where have you been?" Eve murmured, reaching out with a bloodstained hand. "I was worried. Athalia...she took your eye. I tried to get it back, but she...she crushed it. I'm sorry. I really wanted to give it back to you..."