Page 88 of Demons & Damnation

“You’re a nasty lady,” Lina said, her voice full of scorn. “You’ll never get into Heaven.”

Kyla turned her head and smiled at the little girl. “Who said I wanted to even go there?”

Lina sucked in a sharp breath and grasped a hold of Anna-Rose’s arm, clinging onto her like a koala onto a branch. Arana still sat on Anna-Rose’s lap, holding onto her mother like a baby monkey.

“I think I’ve heard enough out of you for now,” Kyla said. Lifting her right arm, she pointed her index finger over to the corner of the room. “Go and stand over there and take your sister with you.”

Lina shook her head and huddled closer to Anna-Rose.

“Do it now, before I get my viney friends to drag you over there. Your choice.”

Lina glared back at Kyla, not moving, her blue eyes filled with defiance yet tinged with fear.

“Fine,” Kyla snapped. “You had your chance.”

Kyla moved her right arm and pointed it at Lina. In that instant, the living room floor began to creak and rumble. Seconds later, the floor burst open, thick brown vines snaking through the jagged hole in the middle of the room.

Lina screamed. Arana sobbed. The vines flew through the air, heading straight for their ankles. As the tip of one wrapped itself around Lina’s leg, she yelled, “Ok. I’ll do it.”

Kyla dropped her arm, the vines retreating back to the hole in the blink of an eye, peeking through the opening, waiting for the next command.

Lina grabbed her sister’s hand and tugged at her. Arana shook her head and continued to cry, only holding on harder to her mum.

“Come on, Arana. Do you want that thing to touch you?”

Arana shook her head.

“Then you need to come with me.”

Arana nodded, then several seconds later, she finally released her grip on Anna-Rose and followed her sister like a lamb over to the corner of the room.

“Good,” Kyla said, giving them a small smile. “Now, what happens next is for your own good. All of it.”

Kyla envisioned in her mind exactly what she wanted, watching with nothing but sheer satisfaction as the vines responded, giving her her desired result in less than ten seconds.

The vines coiled around the two girls tightly, covering every inch of them, save for a small gap for their noses and their eyes. Hot tears fell from the girls’ eyes as their muffled screams and pleads were almost drowned out by the thick vines keeping their mouths shut.

“They’re terrified,” Tony said. “What is wrong with you?”

Kyla rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to him. “I’m bored of you now. Time for you to be quiet.” With a flick of her wrist, a thick vine slid back across Tony’s mouth, silencing him once again.

Moving to stand in front of her mother, Kyla folded her arms across her chest and smiled at Anna-Rose. Anna-Rose looked up at her daughter, the emptiness in her eyes telling the world she’d resigned herself to her fate.

“Not even a tear to shed?” Kyla asked, cocking her head to one side.

“I’m not going to give you the satisfaction,” she replied. “I want you to hate yourself forever for this.”

Kyla dropped her folded arms and squared her shoulders. “Do you hate yourself for what you did to me?”

A second of hesitation passed through Anna-Rose’s eyes before she replied, “Of course.”

“You’re a bad liar.”

Anna-Rose sighed and looked down at the floor. “If I hadn’t done what I did, Kyla, I wouldn’t have Lina and Arana. I don’t regret having them—”

“Fucking wow,” Kyla said, a fresh stab of pain searing through her heart. “You are unreal. What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?”

“If you’d let me finish, I was going to say but I regret the situation that happened that made their lives possible. You’re my daughter, Kyla, how could I ever hate you? Every time I look at you, I see myself.”

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