Page 10 of Signed in Blood

The anger I feel is undeniable although shocking. I’ve long since given in to the fact that I’m an unstoppable evil. And likewise, in this realm, I am unable to stop any evil.

My heart stopped beating the moment my family was slaughtered in front of my eyes centuries ago. During the religious persecution, executioners came to our home and murdered them in broad daylight, right in front of me.

At the time, I was a ten-year-old kid, and I hid in the secret floorboard my parents taught us to go into, reminding us of it often. Almost like they expected that day to come, killing us all in the process.

The moment I watch those men rape Lilith, I’m instantly taken back to that place and time where I witness my father and mother dying. When they tie Lilith up in the shape of an X, I know without a shadow of a doubt what happens next. Visions of my mother, tied up in the same way, assault every fiber of my being.

Human sacrifices are a tale as old as time.

When they need to feed off Lilith’s fear, they taunt her to scream, to beg for mercy. She has to be afraid for this exchange to work. They want fame, sacrificing her to me.

It’s a sick and twisted ritual. Where they get what they desire and yet they don’t know, I will have their souls tortured in the same manner, but with interest paid.

Usually, I can find solace in this part. I get to collect another soul to live in my kingdom with me, but this one is different, this one hits too close to home.

I can feel her soul giving up. Her hopelessness. But there’s a beat of something else: a dimly lit fire of revenge.

I know that feeling. I know it all too well. And I know what a person will do to add fuel to that flame. To hold on to rage, rather than give in to despair.

I relive my family’s death while I witness hers through the sight of the crows.

When they repeat their mantra, their little ritual, I remember how the executioners did the same, repeating their Bible verses as if it made what they are doing okay, as if it wasn’t evil, as if it cleansed them of any sin.

Maybe it does…

I tried to make a deal with God when I laid beside their lifeless bodies. The moment he didn’t grant it to me, I rebuked and cursed him in such a powerful way that the devil granted it for me. I was able to kill those men who claimed my family’s souls and in the end, I belonged to the kingdom of hell. I ended up ruling it.

Through the centuries, I proved myself to Satan and in his final days, I fucking killed him to take his place as Lucifer, and trust me, he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Afterall, I learned evil from the best.

But all I knew was pain and revenge. In Lilith’s presence…there’s a flicker in my heart. A memory of hope I once had.

The moment they stab her, blood splatters everywhere—from the trees, to the snow, to the skin on their faces, and flesh on their bones. It’s a sickening sight, watching someone’s life being ripped from them, and that’s exactly what they do the moment they thrust into her.

Her screams are so loud that if it isn’t for the woods they hide her in, she might’ve been saved. They know what they’re doing, planning it out thoroughly. This isn’t their first ritual, and each one is more hate-filled and brutal than the last. I hate this for her, especially as she continues to plead for the life they’re stripping from her.

Like my family did.

“Stop! Please, fucking stop!” she begs over and over again.

Tonight a rage I’ve tampered down burns inside of me, searing to boiling tilt.

They slice her like she’s nothing more than a piece of meat, and I guess to them, she is. After they take their turns with her, each one of them killing another piece of her, she starts to die as the tears and blood stream down her broken, beautiful face.

“There!” Jake spews, throwing the knife down on her dying body.

Warren snickers, his fascination on full display. “That wasn’t so bad, actually. I kind of enjoyed that. We should’ve waited for her friend too.”

Murphy shoves him back. “That’s not the point of this, you sick fuck,” he mutters.

“Oh?” Warren mocks. “I’m the sick fuck? You’re the one who stabbed her while you were fucking her!”

“That’s part of the ritual,” Jake reminds his supposed friend, shaking his head in disbelief over these fucking idiots.

I want nothing more than to kill them all, but that’s not how this works, no matter how much I wish it to be.

Gesturing to the bloodied body, Warren states, “Look at the pretty mess we made.” He pretends to be disgusted, but he’d kill both Murphy and Jake in exchange for a clean slate. I know. He’s debated the offer more times than I can count. A solo act…