Chapter 9. Anniversary

ALICIA CHAY

I wiped away my bloody tears as I stared at my reflection in the tinkling glass-encased on a wall in the bedroom of the dead Queen, once the slaves were given her wealth and freedom.

After a moment, I turned away from my true essence, my reflection in all its splendor. I couldn't face her. My authentic self I left imprisoned in the mirror forever. A great weight was lifted from my shoulders.

My reflection pounded on the tinkling glass with rage and anger. As her hair burned with flames, her face twisted into scorn.

"You can never escape me, who you are, who you will always be!" I want no more to do with her. The sadistic part of me has come to an end.

The hideous part of me that loved feeding on humans, hunting them, snubbing them like one mindlessly stomps a cockroach.

If this was my evolution, then I must trust the process. Who was I, truly? A killer? Even though I murdered the Queen through the slave's hands, her blood was on mine.