Chapter 26

Damien was finally allowed to return to his room after what felt like years.

He had been on suicide watch since the moment he got to the hospital. They kept him in what they called the recovery room, a large padded cell. They had designed it so that no harm could possibly come to whoever was inside. In there, they monitored him 24/7 to make sure he didn't kill himself. Not that he could, but the staff didn't know any better. They still thought he was human. Luckily, they hadn't forced him to remove his eyepatch, and he had managed to avoid the food and toilet issue. He pretended to go to the bathroom every hour, and flushed the food they gave him. So far, he had fooled them brilliantly. He didn't want to get cocky, though. It could still go wrong for him if he wasn't careful.

Sighing, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. The nurse told him that Claire and Kitty had visited this morning. They couldn't see him since he had been so vulnerable lately. Apparently, he needed to be of stable mind to receive visitors. What a load of shit. Surely seeing his loved ones would make him feel better rather than being detrimental to him. He was missing them terribly, especially Kitty. He hadn't seen him for so long. He longed to see his beautiful green eyes, his pretty round face with his freckled nose. He wanted to stroke his lovely long blond hair that always smelt like roses.

Damien huffed, trying to distract himself. Thinking about Kitty always made his head go fuzzy. It didn't help that he hadn't spoken to anyone other than the nurses for weeks. He couldn't even talk to any other patients. Because of his self-harming tendencies, they had to isolate him, for his own safety as well as theirs. It was stupid. It wasn't like he'd kill them or anything. He only wanted to kill himself, but that was impossible anyway.

There were only two ways he could die: if someone chopped off his head and stabbed him sixteen times in the heart, or his guaranteed death at the age of 100. He couldn't exactly go up to someone and ask them to kill him, and he couldn't wait eighty-four years. He was completely stuck. He couldn't do it himself. He would pass out as soon as his head was cut off, so he couldn't stab himself even once. The cycle would keep repeating: head came off, no longer conscious, then he'd wake up half an hour later after it had been stitched back on with a sore neck.

He let out a sigh and rolled over onto his side. Maybe sleeping a little would make him feel better. He hoped he wouldn't wake up in the morning.

☽☾

By the time Dana got to the hospital, Damien was fast asleep. She floated next to the window, butterfly wings flapping silently, and watched him.

A manic smile broke out on her face. This would be easier than she thought.

She opened the window as quiet as she could. It made a slight creak despite her efforts, but it didn't wake him up. She took one last glance at Julien on the ground below and climbed into the room. She floated down onto the carpet without a sound, wings disappearing as she landed.

She looked over at Damien and smiled. She sat on the edge of the bed to watch him sleep. He looked so peaceful, so sweet. But he wouldn't for much longer. As she imagined all the agony she could put him through, her grin widened. She could pluck out his eyes, slash his soft pale flesh with razors, cut off his arms and legs so he couldn't run away or fight back. The possibilities were endless, and incredibly exciting.

While she dwelt on these twisted fantasies, Damien had rolled over onto his back. Dana gasped with joy. He was inviting her in, begging to be abused and mutilated. She crawled over so she was on her hands and knees above him.

Stroking his face, she whispered, "You'll be all mine." She leaned over to kiss him, not noticing him stirring from his slumber.

☽☾

Damien opened his eyes to find Dana's face right in front of his, her lips puckered, coming closer and closer. A flash of horror swept through his mind. Of course he wasn't going to allow that.

He lifted his legs, planting his feet on her stomach, and booted her away as hard as he could. She rolled off the bed and fell at the foot of it with her legs sticking up. It would have been comical if the situation wasn't so frightening.

How did she even get in there in the first place? Damien felt a panic attack coming on. Why was she here? And what would she have done if he hadn't woken up and fought her off? He looked around the room and saw the window open. He had forgotten to lock the window. How could he have been so stupid?

As he reached over to press the emergency button by his bed, he heard Dana giggling. Hit by a sudden anger, Damien crawled over to face her.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked with a shaky voice. Her face became a sinister grin, and the giggling got louder. "Tell me what the fuck you're laughing at!"

Dana let out one last snort. "Tell me, Aoi," she said with a calm smile, "do you think anyone other than me loves you?"

"What are you getting at?" Damien asked. The fear was taking over again.

"They don't, do they? Nobody does. Not your maid-mother, your hybrid, nor our mother."

"Shut up." Damien growled. "Don't you dare talk about her."

Once again, Dana giggled. "Why? Does it upset you? I mean, that's why you're here, isn't it? Because your pathetic little brain is on its period."

Damien snarled and grabbed the front of Dana's dress, pulling her up to his face. He meant it as a threat, but she just stared at him with a blank face.

"You're pretty sexy when you're angry, Aoi." Dana smirked. "Though I'd rather watch you get raped again. It was so thrilling. I miss it. Don't you?"

Damien's eyes widened. Dana fell from his grip. He felt like he was going to throw up. Was that her intention the whole time? To sexually abuse him, like he did? She was only young when he suffered that kind of torture. She used to spy on him during it. He didn't think she understood what she was seeing.

"Stop it." Damien mumbled. He gripped his hair. "Don't fucking remind me of that!"

All those awful memories resurfaced, the memories he had been trying to forget for all these years. He felt dizzy. Tears stung his eyes. He instinctively scratched at the cuts on his arm, self-inflicted as a way to release the pain and anguish he felt. It was how Daisuke died, bleeding out from his wrists. Damien did the same to himself, praying that he would die, too. He clawed at them until they began to bleed, but he didn't notice.

"But that proves my point even further. No one loves you, not even the people who raised you." Dana's smile became crooked, the very picture of insanity. "I mean, nobody bothered to save you, did they? Or the other kids? They just went about their lives, hoping their own children wouldn't be next."

A feeling of cold shock pierced Damien's heart. She couldn't possibly be implying what he thought she was. "What do you mean?"

Another giggle. "Everyone knew what mother and Kenta were doing to you, Aoi. But they didn't care. They just left you all to suffer and die in that dirty little room." She pressed her finger to her chin as if in thought. "If I remember correctly, your little boyfriend snapped and slashed his wrists, didn't he? Maybe all the cum went to his brain and drove him mad." She cackled hysterically at her own joke.

Damien heard a choked sob escape his throat before he could stop it. He couldn't take anymore. The tears spilled over and he slammed his hands over his ears to block out Dana's laughing. He couldn't breathe. He swore his heart was aching, thumping loudly inside him. Before he realised what he was doing, a horrendous shrill scream erupted from his mouth.

The outburst kicked off his telekinesis. The furniture was flung around the room. The windows and lightbulbs shattered. Dana grabbed her head in intense pain. Despite her efforts to block her ears, her head exploded like a balloon full of too much air. But she wasn't dead. Damien knew it. She was like him, hard to kill. No one other than God and his other children knew how to kill her kind.

The scream finally ended, turning into a loud sob as Damien broke down in tears. He heard a clattering coming from the window. Though his eyes were blurry, he could see a small chubby man come in up the ladder he hadn't noticed leading to the open window. The man climbed inside the room and picked up Dana's body and brain. He glanced at Damien with a sad expression, then left as quickly as he had arrived.

As Damien sat in turmoil, the door burst open and several nurses came inside. They asked him if he was all right, what was wrong, but he couldn't hear them. He felt himself shaking as if he were freezing, and heard himself mumbling incoherently.

The nurse took the decision to sedate him since he was in an awful state. As he was falling to sleep, Damien saw Daisuke standing at the edge of the room, covered in blood and gazing at him in sorrow.