Page 37 of All Your Bloody Lies

“Fantastic,” I reply with forced enthusiasm, trying to move the conversation forward. “Anything else?”

“She’s been writing letters to you,” she says as she hands me the folder. I snatch it so quickly that one of the pages goes flying. I hastily reach out and grab it, then spread out the papers on her desk before me. “She’s requested to send them to you. We communicate in the same way, and she mentions never having met you before. She wants to get to know you. I can provide the letters she’s already written. She would love—”

“Pen, please,” I request, eyeing the three lines I need to sign. “That woman will never know where I live; she can send them to the local trash heap for all I care.”

As she passes me a pen, she lets out a soft laugh. “Of course, your notes strictly say you want no direct contact with her unless you initiate it.”

“Correct, so why suggest it?” I sign quickly, not caring that none of the signatures look the same.

I place the pages back into the folder and rise to my feet. “You can burn the letters and say you gave them to me.”

As I’m turning, the director clears her throat. “Stephanie, she is trying. It isn’t her fault your uncle was what he was.” She’s fortunate I’m happily fed because if I wasn’t, I know my anger would be out of control. “Your uncle was an abuser. She shielded Xeraphine as best she could. It’s why Tali is here, and not her. She just wants to try to have a family again.”

“Yeah? And where is Xeraphine now? Hmm?” I ask with condemnation in my tone. Personally, I don’t blame Tali for me being kidnapped and tortured, but I’m sure if I had an actual family, I would have been found before being buried alive.

She sighs heavily, her voice weighted with mourning. “That isn’t fair to ask. She misses her daughter every day, and you know it.”

That’s the biggest fucking lie and I don’t even need to pull it from her aura to know it.

I shake my head. “You aren’t my therapist, director. Go fuck yourself. I’d like to request no more contact unless she is dying.” With that, I’m out the door before she can respond or try to stop me.

Frankly, I don’t even want to see her. I’d sooner gouge out my own eyeballs, and I’m seriously considering it.

No, they’d just lock me up right next to her, knowing my luck. Instead, I head toward the stairway and ascend a single flight.

A nurse stands at the door leading into the hallway. “Good evening, which room and for whom?”

“Tali Orchid, room 0229.”

The door creaks open slowly, and I slip through as soon as there's enough room.

If I knew then what I know now, when Tali left me on the steps of an orphanage when I was six, I would have made that the last time I saw her. I don’t remember anything before that, and as for my father, he died before I could form a connection. Well, “died” as much as any Incubus could be “dead”. I have no idea what happened to him, and when she told me the news when I was fourteen, I remember being so heartbroken.

It was then that she tried to kill me. That crazy bitch tried to kill me, a child. The worst part? She told the authorities I had attacked her out of rage because of what she confessed to me. Gaslighting psychopath—if it weren’t for the public lawyer I had actually being good, I may have ended up in a juvenile detention center.

A lot came out during her trial. Evidence of my father’s abuse on her, and me: physically, mentally, and sexually. So much sympathy was extended to her, leading to a decision not to confine her in a high-security prison, but to regard her with pity instead.

A woman, broken and battered by a man she thought loved her, needed a second chance. Didn’t matter that she stabbed me and left me for dead in her kitchen. If it hadn’t been for the neighbors hearing me scream, I wouldn’t even be here.

That crazed woman caused me so much trauma, and having to deal with it alone, it turned me from a decent human being to a terrible person, just like her. My adopted family put me back into the system when I started flunking my classes and doing drugs.

It was all too much for a teenager, and yes, I do blame this woman for that. I had absolutely no one, and they want to sit here and tell me that she is doing better?Pfft. I just want her to die. One less nightmare of my past I won’t have to worry about.

I’m thankful I’ll far surpass her lifespan. She’s Mundane and I’m an immortal half-breed Succubus. So, if I have to wait fifty more years to dance on her grave, then so be it.

I’m not sure how long I’ve been standing in front of her door, but as I focus and notice the darkness beyond the stained-glass strip, I contemplate not even attempting to enter.

Yet, I still do and push the door open.

“Tali?” I whisper into the darkness, receiving no response. It’s pitch black, but I can see clearly thanks to my demonic vision. She’s lying in bed, her back turned to me, her mid-length black hair spread across the pillow. I can’t tell if she’s asleep or not, but her breathing is steady, plus, I imagine if she heard me she’d at least turn to face me.

“It’s... Stephanie,” I murmur softly. “I’m just letting you know I renewed your paperwork. I told them to only contact me when you're dead, so stop trying to reach out. I want nothing to do with you,” I continue to whisper, not wanting to actually wake her, but slipping the words in, hoping she’ll subconsciously hear them.

I wait a moment, but she doesn’t stir. “I hope they tell you I was here, and that it hurts you that you couldn’t talk to me.” In that moment, I address her as if she knows I’m Xeraphine, alive, and never visiting. I want her to feel pain, not only because I despise her but also because I’m a bitter bitch. “The day they tell me you are dead, will be the happiest day of my life.”

As she softly mumbles in response, I don’t hesitate to step out of the room, closing the door behind me. I want this to be the last time I’m ever in her presence.

Maybe Belial will hear my pleas and end my suffering, taking her from this world and any beyond it.

---