Could You Love Me? || Ms Venable

XVI.

Ms Venable smiled, taking hold of my hands, "Exactly, it would work, you don't have to be involved in anything sweetheart. All you'd have to do is wait in your room. So, will you?"

My mind was a whirr, I couldn't believe that I was actually going along with this.

".... okay."

*

We were all sat in the main room, everyone looked half dead from the boredom. Michael had walked into our lives, given us hope, then somehow mad us all feel worse than ever. I held onto Ms Venable's hand tightly, closing my eyes briefly, wondering what it would have been like to know her in the real world, before the apocalypse. Would we have even met? Probably not, I'd spent most of my day locked in my apartment and working from home everyday, leaving the building only to buy groceries.

"Hey, sweetheart, look at me." Ms Venable spoke softly, touching my chin, "It's going to be okay, I promise. Tonight, at dinner, we're going to spike his drink and it will take about ten minutes to work, and by then he'll be alone in his room, okay?"

My heart started to beat a hundred times an hour, and panic started to rise in me again, which Ms Venable noticed, "I-I don't know if I can do this Mina, this is wrong.."

"Sweetheart, it's okay. I promise you it's okay."

We finished our hushed discussion when Ms Mead entered the room, informing us that dinner was ready. She glanced at me and Ms Venable, indicating that she'd spiked the drink, and that the plan was running smoothly.

*

"Hm, this smells nice, I have to admit that the food here isn't that bad." Michael tucked into his food, eating quickly, almost in a childlike way. Everyone around the table just watched him with stony expressions, eating their food silently, though Michael didn't seem to care about that.

When Michael was finished, he stood up, not bothering to stay seated for the rest of the meal like a normal polite person would, "Well, goodbye."

I glanced at Ms Venable, sickness washing through me. Michael Langdon would die in only a few minutes.

Once everyone was finished, Ms Venable dismissed everyone, but she stayed seated, as did I. Soon it was just me, her, and Ms Mead.

"It's done, it'll be over soon." Ms Mead informed us before leaving.

"Sweetheart, come here." Ms Venable stretched out her arms, so I slowly got up and sat tentatively on her lap, burying my head into her shoulder.

"He's.. he's.." I couldn't bring myself to say it. All I could think about was what I'd just let happen.

"Karinya, it's okay, we'll check on him in ten minutes, and it will all be done, I promise." She smiled a little, rubbing my arm soothingly, but that wasn't quite enough to soothe my nerves.

Fifteen minutes later, Ms Mead returned. I'd spent the whole time in the comfort of Ms Venable's embrace.

"I'm going to check on him, would you like to join me?"

Ms Venable nodded at Ms Mead, standing up, guiding me to my feet, "Do you want to come sweetheart?"

I hesitated, holding onto her hand like a lost lamb, then nodded slowly, hating myself for it. Soon the three of us were walking down the corridor, stopping outside Michael's door.

"Mr Langdon? May we come in?" Ms Mead knocked on the door, pressing an ear against the door. The was no reply, so the two women smiled briefly, knowing that he was probably dead. Ms Mead opened the door, swinging it wide to reveal the room.

But it wasn't how it was meant to be. Michael should have been a crumpled heap, or slumped on his chair, but no. He wasn't there.

"What? Where i-" Ms Venable started to speak, but was cut off when a deep voice sounded behind us.

"You thought you could poison me?"

We spun around in horror when the tall man stood there, a cold smirk spread across his face.

"I-I.." Ms Mead tried to find the words but failed. Michael knew, and somehow he'd survived or managed not to digest the poison.

"Surprised?" He chuckled, taking a few steps forward, inevitably making us take a few backwards into his room, "You should know, I am of greater importance and worth than a simple human. My father, Lucifer, we are far greater than pathetic women like you three, and nothing can stand in my way. I have to admit that it was a somewhat interest plan, poisoning me, but it didn't work, and it never was going to work."

Terror and worry filled my stomach, and I automatically reached out for Ms Venable's hand, which she gave me gladly, squeezing mine, letting me know that it would be okay, though I didn't believe that right now. Lucifer? What the fuck is he on about? But that part of his speech wasn't at the top of my list of things to worry about.

"It was your intention to let a man die tonight, but on this turn of events, you should know that it will in fact be three women dying tonight." Michael laughed cruelly, flexing his fingers in obvious delight, making me almost cry in terror. I was going to die. I really was going to die.

But just as Ms Venable looked as if she was going to strike Michael with her cane, a deafening bang sounded, almost like the main entrance to the outpost had been blown open. We all jumped in surprise, even Michael. All of us simultaneously walked forward, looking over the balcony down below to the ground level.

There, standing and looking up at us four, was three women, women I'd never seen in my life. Two blonde women and one striking ginger woman. The obvious leader of the three called out, sounding so incredibly powerful.

"Hello Michael."

****

Hola, I'm back. Yup, properly back from the dead. It's been a billion years, and people have been coming at me, on Instagram mostly, asking me to update, so here I am. Please understand that I'm trying hard to write, but the state of the world right now has completely fucked up my head more than it was before, so concentrating on writing has been near impossible. Thank you for the majority of you who've been patience and so supportive, I appreciate you all so much.

As you can see, the end is nye, and it's going to have our beloved witches in it, of course. I'm not sure how many chapters are left, but whatever it is, there will definitely be an epilogue because of the way I'm going to end it. (Is that a hint of what's to come? Who knows).

Have a nice day, all of you, sorry for that huge authors note lmao.

- H

(My name doesn't actually start with a 'H'. I just had to find a way to sign off all of my author notes, and I don't like revealing my name lmao.)