too in that explosion. They were good friends of mine in fact.”
“I was putting an end to the monsters you were creating,” Lexia said in defense. She knew she needed to end her, yet still, she listened to Lucy speak on.
Lucy laughed. “Slowed down, not ended.”
“Lexia, enough. Don’t listen to her lies anymore,” Derrick interrupted as he stepped to face her, his expression pleading.
“Oh, but there is so much more.” Lucy laughed, not ruffled in the slightest.
“How about the juicy tale of how your animal’s parents killed three of your brothers and sisters?”
“They were nothing like me,” Lexia said, slowly breaking. Her mother’s words were worming their way inside of her, distorting her views.
“They were just like you, Maura,” Lucy said softly, reaching out for her.
Lies. It’s all lies. Lexia held her gun up. “My name is Lexia,” she screamed.
Lucy smiled, seeing the first crack in Lexia’s mask. “I find it so interesting that you cling to the name given to you by a man who wasn’t even your father.”
“He was my father in every way that counted,” Lexia countered, playing right into her game.
“But what about your real father? I always did find the way you two connected interesting. Tell me do you know, or is it just a gut feeling?”
“Know what?” Derrick snapped, pushing Lucy back roughly as she closed the distance between them.
“That she’s your daughter,” Lucy goaded.
“What?” Derrick gasped, turning to stare at Lexia.
Laughing musically, Lucy clapped her hands, the sound echoing around the room. “There was just something about you, Derrick. I longed to have you, to play with you and I have for so many years. I took pieces of you and cut and spliced and look what I made.” She smiled, sweeping her arm toward Lexia lovingly.
“You’re a monster,” Lexia breathed out, holding her gun steady. “But now it’s time to put an end to this.” She forced her words to be calm, controlled. “Every plan you made, I destroyed. I played you until they crumbled and now you are going to die.”
Her finger twitched on the trigger. Heart beat pulsing through her head, like a timer to the end. Lexia took a final breath and prepared to shoot.
“Killing me will not change who you are, Maura. I made you, remember? And like me, you destroy everything you love.”
She hesitated. Hesitated when she’d told herself once she’d never hesitate again. Hesitations led to death. A hesitation was all the time Lucy needed to pull her concealed weapon free and fire.
The sound of the gun reverberated through Lexia’s bones, yet instead of fear, she felt relief. She’d failed but at last the battle was over. Lucy’s gun would put an end to the turmoil inside of her and Lexia might finally find some semblance of peace.
Though things rarely worked in Lexia’s favor. Derrick moved in front of her at the last second, taking the bullet intent on taking her life.
“No!” Lexia screamed as Lucy’s cackle filled her head. She was like poison, every word, every touch killed and destroyed. Lexia had let Lucy poison her. She’d let her win.
Anger, a wild beast, controlled Lexia. The trigger pulled, repeating its destruction until it did nothing but click. Lexia didn’t even notice Lucy dead, mangled with bullets. There was only Derrick.
“No, no, no,” she sobbed, dropping to her knees, the gun in her hand falling with a clatter. “Please, no.”
With a blood-covered hand, Derrick touched Lexia’s cheek, wiping the tears tumbling down her face. “It’s time to go, Lex.”
“No, I’m not leaving without you,” she sobbed, trying to pull him up.
Derrick rasped out in pain, “Lex.”
“Please, please, you can’t die too. I can’t lose you, too.”
“You will never lose me. I’m a part of you.”
Lexia smiled at him through her sobs, seeing his kind face through pools of tears. Everything made sense now. Of all the lies Lucy told, she knew this was the truth. “I need you.”
“No, you don’t,” he said through a pained cough. With a labored breath, he held her gaze. “You are so strong, Lex. Go live. Promise me you’ll live. Live for the moments so bright, so pure, everything else just fades away. Live for those moments, Lex. Grasp them and never let go.”
She was out of time. She knew that. Any longer and she’d never make it out alive, but then that had always been her intention. She’d always planned on destroying everything of her mother’s.
“You don’t see it, but I do. You are not your mother’s creation, Lexia. Nothing