Ivy Bathory

[52]: Just take me.

"Love is soft. Like petals. Love is destructive. Like fire...

Petals and fire..."

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Third Person's POV

The night drawled on.

Ivy, from the balcony of her house, stood and watched it, against the briskly breeze that stung her skin. Above in the darkness, tiny diamonds blinked and winked at her, tugging the edges of her lips up to an imperceptible smile. A wave of serenity washed over her with the icy night air and she leaned upon the rails and dropped her gaze to the graveyard neighborhood. Inside, Mary had been laid down in her room and placed down to rest, cutting the events of the night short. Ivy didn't mind. Mary was back, in a proximity in which she could easily be protected.

The world around Ivy came to a freshening standstill, she gobbled up a relaxing deep breath and thanked whatever powers governed the world for at least being on her side.

Its been a funny night. Raymond piqued from a corner in her mind, sliding forward.

Anger sparked sharply within her. Sure, father. Oh. And thank you, for never informing me I had blood relatives out there.

She could feel him roll his eyes and slither around more cracks in her mind. Don't talk like that. You know how much I never valued family.

Ivy tried to stop herself from the mental bicker in her head. Because she knew, this version of her father didn't exist and was more of a figment of her imagination. What she knew, it knew. And it thrived on haunting her. Sweet hell, you're unbelievable!

Raymond mockingly clucked back at her, though, coiling around her conscience with a sickening grip. Its stupid, Ivy. Family, everything about it. It never once mattered to me.

A star unabashedly twinkled in the dark sky. You made that clear with me and Laura.

His ghost hovers around for a second, a demur shaking his movement once. He remains silent and simply glides away to another dim corner of her mind, folding into the space and turning his head in the other direction.

Below, a car glided down the driveway, first its blaring headlights shining before its full body came into view and announced Claude's return from the cabin. Ivy harshly shoved a wall between her hallucinations and her reality as she watched the vehicle slow to a halt in front of their house. The backseat door hastily opened and she had to control herself as Kent hopped out quickly.

I'm not perfect?!

Look at you!

I'm not crossing that line anymore.

He instantly scurried to the driver's door and ripped it open. Ivy observed how he quickly he reached out to Claude who'd nearly passed out on the wheel. Her brows furrowed. She shouldn't have let him go pick up Kent when he was in search a condition, though she was sure he hadn't been so hurt when he left.

"Here. Just hold on to--" The boys face was pale, a huge patch of blood painted his shirt. "I've got you, King. Wait, I think--"

Ivy bent over the rail. "Don't apply much pressure to his shoulder. There's a-- I'll be down in a minute."

She hurriedly made her way out of the room, and down the stairs into the living room where she found them hustling to hurry into the house. Ivy winced at Claude's bloody disheveled state before placing herself on his other side and swinging his arm over her shoulder.

"Help me take him to the guest room."

A trek of heaves and gasps as they went on. Twice, they all nearly fell back and tumbled on the stairs, once, Claude coughed up blood that splattered across the floor. Ivy scowled at that. She keenly guided them down the hall and into one of the unoccupied rooms, hastily flinging the man onto the bed and grabbing the first aid kit from the bathroom. She paused beside Kent's tattered frame, and frowned before she hurried over to the bed.