the castle were mages, lounging about, oblivious to the fact that it wasn’t their palace. I flicked my wrist the moment they moved, freezing them in place.
“It’s so rude and just plain disrespectful to pillage and plunder the dead. You are mages, right? I mean, you come from the same world that I do, and yet here you are, plundering this tomb as if you have the right. You don’t. This is my best friend’s home, and you are not welcome. But since you are here, let’s chat. How did you decide on which team to go with? What made you want to be welcomed into this deadly, honest-to-gods horror story of a world? I mean, even the flowers will fucking kill you here.”
They stared up at me, frozen where they sat or stood. When no one spoke, I frowned.
“It isn’t a trick question.” I strolled in between the mages frozen on the floor. “I was born to believe I was human, so I adopted their rules and laws. I was then brought here and told I was of Faery.” Pointing an accusing finger at one of the mages against the wall, I smiled. “Then you motherfuckers killed me, and whoops, I became a goddess.” Shrugging, I continued walking. “Now, I have to pick between the human world or Faery.”
“And you’re not sure which world’s side you want to fight for?” one of the mages asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Oh, no, I totally want to slaughter all of you. That’s a given; you killed me. You hunt my babes, and for what? Because some stuck-up courts decided you weren’t good enough? You should have accepted the horde. They’re ruthless, but considering what you guys have done to us, you’d have fit right in. All the other courts, they were okay, but I mean, if you were planning to join one that would have your back, Ryder would be the one you’d want. My problem is that I have to choose my humanity or Faery. I’m afraid that if I can figure out how to eradicate it from my soul, I’ll lose everything that makes me who I am. Following?” I asked, noting his wide eyes.
“Are you having some kind of mental breakdown?” another one asked.
Turning toward the mage that spoke, I considered his question, then shook my head. “No, I think I’m losing everything, and I don’t know how to stop it. I also don’t know how one is expected to just get rid of a sliver of humanity. I mean, how am I supposed to know how to cut it out?” I sighed.
“I have a knife,” one offered.
“I don’t think I’m expected to literally cut it out, idiot. It’s more of a metaphor, I think, or actually hope.”
“Just trying to help,” he shrugged. “You could ask our god how you get rid of it,” he smiled, exposing his blackened teeth.
“Dude, you seriously need to see a dentist. And you guys know that Bilé is the God of Death and the Dead. I mean, who willingly says, ‘let’s go follow Death,’ because that screams brilliant. Why am I asking you guys?” I muttered, and when black-teeth started to respond, I snapped my fingers, watching him explode all over his friends.
One by one, the mages exploded the moment they spoke until silence filled the palace. I tilted my head, snapping my fingers again to slaughter the ones that were hidden out of sight. Looting was utter bullshit and just plain trashy. You had to be a pretty shitty person to loot the dead.
I didn’t bother walking any deeper into the palace. I decided to sit beside the corpses while I rearranged Adam’s fortress to fit his personality: dark and oh, so beautifully broody. I’d also checked every closet he owned for that body we were missing. If he had it here, it wasn’t in his home.
I placed skulls all over the tables as centerpieces and hung pictures of naked chicks all over the walls to fuck with him. I added the guild’s new symbol on the ceiling, and then some penis-shaped pillows on the round sofas. I wouldn’t go