Chapter 25

Emma's loud voice called Kale's attention from inside, and then it made him come out to meet the two ladies who were standing by the door.

Upon seeing Stacy with Emma, Kale nearly wanted to run into a hole.

"W-what's going on?" He stammered.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Kale!" Emma barked, referring to Stacy who remained in her confused state, "what is she doing here?"

"I have no idea!" Kale swore, turning to Stacy, he asked her, "I thought I told you that we couldn't see each other again, Stacy. Why did you have to come here?"

"I came here because I wanted to talk! You can't just throw away so many years we've spent together, Kale."

Emma laughed sarcastically, patting her protruded belly upon hearing Stacy's statement, "so you're making an attempt to start seeing my boyfriend again, huh? After I personally came to your house to tell you about our affair. What if I weren't around? You would try to sneak to him behind my back, huh? You bitch!!!"

Stacy had no idea what was going on, neither did she have a clue as to what Emma was ranting about, but she guessed that the supposed "day" that Emma claimed to come to her house would have to be part of the ones lost in her memory. But that wasn't the issue, what surprised her the most was Kale's behaviour.

"So you had a girlfriend behind my back? After everything I sacrificed for our relationship to remain standing, you dare to disrespect me like that?"

Kale's nervousness multiplied, "Stacy, I… I…"

Something else came to Stacy's notice then, something she didn't fail to ask about.

"Who is the father of that child she is carrying?"

Emma didn't respond, as she was waiting for Kale to say something, when he failed to utter a word, she prompted him, "are you going to tell her or should I be the one to tell her myself?"

Kale bent his head as he immediately answered, "I am."

The answer brought a fresh wave of pain to Stacy's heart, if only she'd known, if only she'd earlier taken the advise of her two best friends, maybe she wouldn't be in so much regret by now.

"That's good," Emma stated, giving him a seductive pat on the shoulder before turning to Stacy, "I don't know what your motive is by coming here right after I just informed you last week, but now that you've found out what's truly going on for the second time, I hope you'll give yourself some respect by remaining in your lane." With that, she forcefully grabbed Kale's arm and led him inside, shutting the door loudly against Stacy's face.

There was a thunder clap at that moment, indicating that rain was about to fall, but Stacy didn't care, and neither did those who'd just shut the door on her. As the rain drops soon began to fall to the ground, Stacy walked home through the harsh weather, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

***

Charlie walked out of the meeting room with so much joy in his heart and a huge smile on his face. The main cause for that smile was for the meeting at dawn proceeding the main deliberation, the one where all the circle leaders had stood fully in support of his decision. But it wasn't mainly his decision, he had someone else to thank for that.

His smile widened as he reached the garden; Queen Lillian was seated on one of the benches reading a historical book. Out of any other place in the main clan house, this was her favorite spot to read.

Upon seeing her son, she smiled back, dropping the book and offering him a seat beside her.

"So, how did it go?" Lillian asked as he sat.

"It went way better than I expected, honestly. I want to thank you so much for your advice, mom. Thanks to you, Stacy is finally free."

Prior to this, Charlie's plan was to have just annulled the agreement made at the ritual for no reason at all. He knew the circle would not dare to oppose him if he imposed any of his decisions on the clan like that, but he also knew that would not make them view him as a respectable leader that gave everyone a chance to be heard. When he confided in his mom about it, she agreed with him, giving him an even better idea; a better way for them to see sense in his decision and choose to vote in his favor.

She told Charlie to take responsibility for what happened, and choose to accept the punishment that Luther would give for not presenting the ritual, as she knew there would be none.

"You're welcome, honey. You know when you first told me about the incident at the ritual, I found it a bit absurd that Hiva would think that it could be corrupted by a human merely seeing what they were doing."

"Hiva and his strange beliefs."

"Strange indeed, not to talk of the fact that he still believes that the Makkue ritual remains a relevant part of our customs. It was just history our ancestors practiced. When we were still serving in hell, your father and I found out that Lucifer doesn't even care about any of those rituals."

"I've always suspected it, but whenever I tried to advise the elder that it might all just be a waste of time, he saw it as if I was spewing garbage, so I left him to keep believing as he pleases."

Lillian nodded, "your father too was also like that until he found the truth for himself. All the offerings are there, lined up. Lucifer doesn't even bother to check any of them. When we were there, we found that many other clans had even stopped the practice for a long time. They were even surprised to hear that the Daivie still practice the Makkue ritual at such modern age."

"We should have Hiva to thank for that. I usually ask him that how many other clans does he see on ritual grounds? But then, he ignores me."

"I am just glad that you were able to resolve this problem. Stacy would have died for nothing; I'm glad that you were able to save her right before she got killed."

"Yes; the woman I love is finally free, and for her sake, I will not be returning to the human world. I will remain here to rule instead."

Lillian frowned, "what happened? Did she take the breakup well at all?"

"It was hard to let her go, mom, and she wouldn't let go of me, so I had to erase every memory she ever had of me from her mind," Charlie confided.

"Charlie! Why would you do that to her?"

"I know it was wrong, mom. There's nothing I can say to justify what I did, but I had to do it to protect her. I didn't want her to go round looking for me when I left, or to enter another dangerous portal again. I'm not giving that as an excuse for wiping her memory, but trust me when I say this, mom; it's better if Stacy has no memory of the demon world existence."

Lillian sighed, "it must have been so hard for you."

"Not just hard, but difficult. It was the most painful feeling ever. For the first time as an immortal, I felt so much great pain in my heart, but I knew it would be for the best."

"You're only going to hear these two things from my mouth once, Charlie, and you can make out whatever you think of them; number one thing is that sometimes, what seems right might not always be so. And number two; don't deprive yourself of a wonderful experience because of so much fears and uncertainties you place in your heart."