Chapter 5 : As Secrets Reveal And The Past Unfolds

Joseph's POV

'That *is*pretty messed up I,' thought to myself... and Inheritance, 'Your thoughts, Inheritance?'

*Yup, not something a sane person would do.*

'We should probably start doing something and stop procrastinating, huh?'

*It's your body, not mine. You get the final say on the when, where, how, and why here.* They replied.

We looked up from the scene to the walls of the nearby buildings.

'Whoever did this had to be able to get up there,' I remark, 'Any sign of how the perp got there?'

*None right now. The buildings aren't all that hard to scale, especially if you have access to the upper floors, in which case, with sufficient upper body strength, anyone should be able to reach the roof.*

'So, you're telling me that there's no way we can decide whether or not this was done by a demon, right?' I ask, 'Anyone can get up so, even if it wasn't convenient, with enough planning.'

"You really ought to distance yourself from these kinds of scenes, you know."

I jumped. The Leader, actually, did anyone know her real name?

*Still no clue of anything about her. Fact is, I don't think anyone actually knows her real name. She's still a black hole... she was probably a professional at espionage or something of the sort in the other world. Can't get a clue for what she's up to.*

'So she was something like a spy back in the other world?' I asked jokingly.

*Seems likely*

'Oookay, wasn't asking that seriously, but sure, ok.'

"And it would be nice if you could stop talking to your friend over there?" she smirked, "It's rude to talk between yourselves when there's someone in front of you, in case your parents didn't teach you that."

"Wha-?" was all I could muster.

"Listen, kid, I can tell when people are hiding something. Don't think you can hold a council meeting with those people in your head without me knowing."

There was a pause.

The council knew that the jig was up so they kept quiet.

'She's gotta be a demon,' I thought, 'I can't think of any other way she could've found out.'

*Actually-*

"Also, I saw you talking to yourself earlier," she added.

*That.*

She continued "Just saying, they think that all the lunatics are also demons. Pretty much purged their asses in the first half an hour. Better make sure no one sees you doing that or else you two may just end up as nothing more little wicks, unless, of course, you break out with her. That won't be too hard for you. Only issue would be that she'll know that you're a demon and she'll be labeled a witch so she won't be able to stay here and if she does, it's off to the stake she'll go."

"Jeez, miss," I start jokingly, "No pressure for me, I see. Thanks."

She looks me in the eyes.

That cold stare again, basically a signature move at this point.

Then I see something.

'Barbed wire?'

'What's that doing here?'

'Where did it come from?'

"The fuck?," I whisper to myself.

"You got a problem kid?" she leered at me.

It was translucent, almost like a ghost.

It was as if it didn't exist but was still there.

"N-nothing."

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Kath- I mean Lust's POV

We knew each other from before we got here, Damien and me.

I watched as clouds gathered above to bring the rain. It was on a day like this that we first met.

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Young Katherine's POV (It's a flashback)

I watched the clouds gather above, holding the sunlight hostage again.

I never liked the rain.

It was on a day like this that Mom and Dad left me at the other house and told me that they would come back.

It had been 3 years since then. Almost 3 if you consider the day of the I had to stand in the middle of a sea of black dresses and suits in the cemetery.

They said they were sorry.

'What could they have done?' I thought to myself. It's not like they could've stopped it or anything.

I asked my grandparents after everyone left and grandpa replied, "Well, that's just what people say at a time like this, Kat. Doesn't matter what the person meant to them. Anyway, don't wrinkle that pretty face worrying about that."

He ended the conversation at that.

His voice was the same as usual, happy, but there was something else this time...

He still smiled the same but I could see something else this time...

We tried to live together the same way we did when I came over like I always did, once every year, but there was something lost to us this time...

They didn't take that loss very well, my grandpa and grandma. Both died in less than a year after my parents.

Soon, I had to stand in the middle of yet another sea of black.

Soon, I had to move to an orphanage, not too far from.

It was nice at first, then the whispers began.

It started with the people in charge.

Somehow, people found out that both my parents and grandparents had died while I was in their care.

At first, it was a joke, but some of the kids took it seriously. They either stayed away or pushed me around.

I could take that.

What caused them to turn against me was when one of the staff stopped coming.

Her name was Miss Sparrow. She was really pretty and took care of me from the moment I got there till she died.

That shouldn't have raised any eyebrows, only that she was completely healthy and it was an accident.

An accident like the one that happened to my parents, and the one that happened to my grandparents.

It wasn't a joke anymore. At least to them, it wasn't.

The whispers grew into chatter.

The chatter into scorn.

The scorn into rage.

And the rage...

The distance grew between me and the rest of the people who lived in the orphanage.

People there began calling me "Death's touch" because of a bunch of coincidences that I never had a part in.

They began trying to get rid of me since then, but I was always sent back. I was never too bright. Built a wall around myself too. The wall proved too much for the well-wishing families wanting an adopted child and ending up with me.

I was on a trip to my family's graves two years after my grandparents' died.

That was one advantage that came with the notoriety, if I used it right, I could get what I wanted from anyone who actually believed in the rumors.

The trip was longer than a day. I came with one of the staff members of the orphanage but she kept her distance throughout. I wouldn't have been surprised if I got kidnapped and she just let it happen.

It began raining again on our way back.

It's almost like the rain that came down three years ago when my parents died, then two years ago when my grandparents died, and then one year ago when Miss Sparrow died.

All I thought was, 'What now? You've finally come to take me as well?'

I didn't know that after three years of taking, on that day, the rain finally gave me something...

Of course, I didn't know that at the time.

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I never met him until that day.

Well, I *did* meet him, only we never interacted.

It was still raining, even after a few days. The news said it would keep going too. Something about a freak storm.

It wasn't long after Damien gotten to the orphanage that rumors started about him too. About the people he had beaten up in school.

About what he had done to his family.

I was sure it was just some rumors...

That aside, by the time I was back, most people already knew about it.

So he was like me.

Only, he didn't want anything to do with anyone.

He stayed away when I went to say hi.

He stayed away when I tried to introduce myself.

He didn't even look my way when I said that he wasn't alone when it came to having rumors surrounding us.

Eventually, I gave up completely on trying to be friends with him as well.

We still lost someone to the rain that year.

A young boy, this time. He just disappeared from the face of the Earth. No one knew where he went. No one would ever come to know where he ended up.

They blamed my curse of course.

They blamed me.

He had a sister. I never got around to learning her name but I empathized with her, her only link to the outside world was her brother. She was a shut-in after their parents died but her brother was her key back out of her shell. I never wanted her to get hurt, at least when compared to everyone else at the orphanage, but that meant nothing.

Didn't help that the kid was pretty much unanimously loved for being so outgoing and friendly... even to me at times.

So we all ended up at the playground, me crawling on the muddy ground, slipping and falling on my face, the rain beating down on my back and the mob led by the older sister who finally left her shell, only it was for the wrong reasons, all angry at the loss of someone they held dear.

I had nothing to do with it.

But, of course, they wouldn't listen.

They beat me into the dirt, stepped on me. Some of the older children even threw me around as my arms flailed like a ragdoll.

I was used to it by then. Not a peep from me.

Eventually, they were all done with their share, stepping aside for the girl they felt deserved the final few blows.

She had lost her brother to "my curse" after all.

Only she didn't feel like trading blows.

She drew out a bread knife, you know, the ones with the really serrated edge usually used for bread or soft stuff like that, in this case, it was me.

I screamed.

I didn't expect anyone to listen but I still screamed. As much as people hated me, no one ever pulled a knife on me.

I looked around at the others there.

Their faces showed shock, they didn't expect her to pull out a knife after all, but they stood there as if there was nothing that could be done for me, standing and watching it all happen.

One broke off from the group, running indoors to call the adults, not that it could've saved me even if he was trying.

I wouldn't know.

She pinned me down to the floor. I struggled but she was significantly older compared to me and as much of a shut-in as she was, she was still well-fed and fit, at least better than I was.

She held my arms in one hand and pinned the rest of my body with her weight.

She brought her knife to my, placing it on my skin, barely touching.

She leaves it there for what felt like a minute.

'The adults should be here any time now... they'll be here soon... they will, right? They might want me gone, but not dead, right?' I though over the girl's heavy breathing.

Nothing happened.

'Right?'

Nothing at all.

Then something happened.

Someone grabbed my head.

I felt warmth spread on my forehead.

Then I saw red.

She had gone through with it, pressing the blade into my head.

I screamed and tried to break free but couldn't move.

She moved the blade, dragging it along my face. I closed my eyes as she pulling it down my face over my eye, nicking my eye lid.

She kept dragging it reaching my cheek.

Then it took a sharp turn to the left, cutting open a deep gash.

I realized that she wasn't on top of me anymore and my arms were put up to protect my face, getting up to look around, keeping my left eye shut.

The girl was on the floor, getting up as well.

And there was the boy, Damien.

He was standing beside me, his hands balled up into fists. He was pissed.

But this wasn't his fight, though I appreciated not being killed.

"Tha-," I wasn't even able to complete the sentence before he cut me off.

"Later," he said pointing behind me.

I turned around jumping aside as I saw the girl cut at the air that replaced me as I dodged through tears in my eye.

Then they started piling on him.

Hitting her was a bad move on his part.

She was loved by everyone and they knew what she had been through, meanwhile, he had just knocked her down. No matter the circumstances, that was unacceptable to them.

That was the first time I used the "curse" to my advantage.

"If you hurt that boy," I yelled out through stifled sobs, "I will curse each and every one of you people!"

The people who believed the rumors backed away, leaving one or two people who backed off seeing that they had no one to back them up.

He had only taken a few hits.

I introduced myself to him again in the rain that had taken so much, "I'm Katherine. Thanks for helping me back there."

"I'm Damien," he replied, "and *you* need to get that looked at," he said pointing at the cut across my face.

"Yeah...," my voice trailed off.

I remembered hearing the splat from me hitting the mud.