Satan's Queen

9

'H-hello?' she said.

The creature stiffened. It gave a racking cough, then gagged. Slowly, it rolled onto its back. Gripping onto her skirt, Kaitlyn's eyes trailed over its flesh.

She licked her suddenly dry lips. 'Who are you?'

She looked into its eyes, then away again. Physically, its eyes didn't look familiar, bloodied and sunken, but the way they looked at her struck her like a kick in the chest. So sad. So weary. She'd never really understood that look before. That ancient look. A weariness of the world that was hard to grasp in her twenty-five years. An angel's look.

Kaitlyn swallowed.

The brilliance of the flames was hurting her eyes. She was sweating through her shirt. Her skin tingled. Her face was sticky and she realised that she was crying.

Racing over, Kaitlyn seized onto what remained of the creature's ankles and dragged it away from the heat and dangerous sparks. Its skin felt greasy in her hands, and when she dropped its feet, bits of charred flesh flaked away into the air.

The creature continued to stare up at her and Kaitlyn forced herself to stare back. 'It's not you. Please tell me it's not you.'

The creature opened its lips but it seemed to have trouble speaking. There was a scratching sound coming out of its throat, as though it was trying to reply but couldn't make the words.

Kaitlyn fell to her knees, hardly feeling the pain as it shot up her thighs. She hardly felt the heat now. She hardly heard the sharp crackle of the magical fire. She barely noticed the rancid stink of the creature as she leaned her ear in close to its moving lips.

'Kaitlyn,' it gasped, barely discernible and easy to deny. But she could see the word on his lips. Even more, she could see the truth in his eyes.

Something seemed to rise up inside her. Something warm and familiar and good. Perhaps there was something of her old self still alive yet. Even after all her heartache and all the terrible things she'd seen, it was still there.

He's after your humanity, your goodness. And there is so much of it. It blazes inside you as bright as our wings.

Her tears pattered the floor. 'Jacob. Jacob.'

He sucked in a rattling breath that made Kaitlyn's heart clench. 'Kaitlyn.'

'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' She pulled him into her arms. He was surprisingly light. It made her feel sick.

He lifted his arms to try and hold her back but he didn't have the strength and they kept slipping away.

'He lied to me,' Kaitlyn said. 'He lied to me! He was always a liar! How did I not know? I hate him. I hate him.'

With a grimace, she buried her face into Jacob's neck. What was she going to do? How were they going to get out of this?

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.'

She turned with a start at a loud hiss from the raging fire. Right before her eyes it began to waver, then shrink until it became nothing more than a single flame lapping over itself on the volcanic rock floor. Kaitlyn narrowed her eyes, trying to see through the bright light burned on her retinas. Though she didn't need to; it was clear who was responsible. She knew it in her heart, in her bones, in her guts ...

Her heart sank as a familiar figure stood watching from across the room.

'I'm disappointed.' He spoke quietly and yet it was as though he was shouting.

Kaitlyn held Jacob closer. 'You're disappointed? You lied to me!'

'I've been watching you. How could you not know? Such a fool.' He shook his head. 'Your underestimation of me continues to be your downfall.'