The Purple Flame (A Mephisto Pheles/Blue Exorcist Romance Novel)

Chapter 17

"What are you getting yourself into, my dear?"

"Jennifer?"

I hear a faint, yet twisted laughter echoing everywhere around me.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd wish it was this... Jennifer." The voice says. "No, I am far better than this woman you speak of, Judi."

"Then who are you?"

"Your real mother."

I clench my teeth, and my body tenses up. "Lila Rilegeki is dead. She's dead because she was a monster and she was given what she deserved."

The laughter begins to echo again. "My child... I never imagined that my lack of presence in your childhood would cause you to... change so drastically."

"I'm thankful you weren't apart of my childhood. If you still stuck around while I was young, I would've ended up just like you."

"And you consider that to be a bad thing, Judi?"

"Yes. A terrible thing. Jennifer raised me to be the better person I knew I could be."

"All that Jennifer did was raise you to be naive and weak. Look at you, now. All wounded and sickly." The voice becomes louder. "If I had anything to do with it, you'd never shed a tear in your life. You're drowning in your lack of strength, and sooner than later, you'll receive the same fate as me."

"No. I am nothing like you. And I never will be."

"And maybe that's just the reason you're father got rid of you."

I attempt to stand up from my fetal position, but I cringe as soon as I move my leg. I stay down, not moving a muscle. "...Father got rid of me because he was a coward, and gave up on me since he didn't want to raise a child on his own."

"Oh, and suddenly you remember?" The voice laughs. "When that boy asked you weeks ago, you claimed that you didn't remember. Did you want to spare him, and yourself, the shameful truth that is your dignity?"

"There is no shameful truth! You and Father are the shameful ones, blaming your cowardice and your neglect on everyone else around you... blaming it on me!"

"Hmm... this Jennifer-"

I suddenly feel my throat beginning to tighten and close up, causing me to choke for air.

"She has changed my daughter."

"I...am not your daughter."

"You can tell yourself that all you want, Judi." I can feel my veins popping out of my neck. "But no matter what, you will never be able to escape what you are. You can never escape me, you can never escape the fate that is waiting for monsters like you and I!"

"I am not a monster!" I manage to speak although I have few breaths left in me. "I... I will not be condemned to whatever you have lined up ahead of me... I will not."

I close my eyes and attempt to block out the voice.

"I will not."

~

When I slowly open my eyes, I see a blinding light.

Similar to the first light I saw when I woke up in this academy... but this one...

This one is less harsh.

I blink and squeeze my eyes shut a few times more before I manage to keep them open entirely. I look down at myself, large gauzes wrapped around my stomach, my shoulder, and my hands. Under the gauze, I see the outline of the thick stitches they must have put on while I was under.