Page 58 of Demons & Damnation

Chapter 24

Kyla woke around midnight, restless, her mind full of thoughts, replaying the days events over and over again. She didn’t know what was more troubling—the fact she’d killed Keith, the fact she’d discovered that demons were a real thing and she wasn’t even scared, or the fact that she’d enjoyed hurting Keith so much.

Flicking the TV on to have some mindless noise in the background, Kyla almost choked when the romcom Knocked Up flashed onto the screen.

For years now, Kyla had harboured the bitter, sour jealousy of hating any woman who fell pregnant, wanted to be pregnant, or had been pregnant. She’d hated them all with such wrath, it almost ate her alive. Even the sight of babies and swollen bellies was something she’d only come to accept around four years ago, nearing the end of her therapy. She knew it wasn’t their fault for their situation, just like it wasn’t her fault for her situation.

However, for some reason, seeing Kathryn Heigl struggle through pregnancy with a man she barely knew but that still supported her filled Kyla with anger. She could feel the fire in her veins, the burning desire for revenge, justice, vengeance.

Itching from the dark energy brewing inside her, Kyla flung the covers back and hopped out of bed. Heading downstairs, she went into her kitchen and stood staring at a cupboard door, one that sat above the built-in microwave.

Full of odds and sods such as painkillers, plasters, sun-screen, air freshener refills, takeaway menus and anything else that had no other home, Kyla found herself itching to delve into the back of the cupboard, to pull out that piece of paper she knew sat in there. Waiting.

Kyla stood rock still, staring at the cupboard door, debating her options. She knew if she opened it and pulled that piece of paper out, she would spiral back to where she’d spent so long trying to claw her way out of.

But the feelings she’d experienced today, the blind rage and the power fuelling her to take Keith’s life, the sheer exhilaration afterwards where she’d nearly had sex with Azazel, it all culminated into a hedonistic mix of something she wanted to revisit.

After agonising over her choices for several minutes, she threw caution to the wind and opened the cupboard door. Reaching inside, she felt around in the back right hand corner, her heart pounding as she waited to feel the crisp edge of laminated paper.

When it crunched beneath her fingertips, a wicked grin spread over her face. She’d forgotten the joy this simple piece of reprocessed tree could give her. Pulling it out, she shut the cupboard, sat on the worktop, and scanned over her words from years earlier.

Shoot.

Stab.

Hang.

Drown.

Set on fire.

Slit throat.

Slit wrists.

Cut off balls.

Feed to sharks.

Feed to crocodiles.

Feed to piranhas.

Throw from plane.

Push off building.

Poison.

Gas.

Inject air bubble.

Suffocate.

Kyla smiled, remembering when she’d written this all down and how the ideas had just flowed out of her like water. They were only the immediate thoughts of how to rob Tony of his life.

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