"Marie.... You've got to understand, I'm doing this because I love you." Sheila stepped closer to Marie, her arms held in front of her to get a better shot at Marie should she try to run.
"Yes, honey, just relax and let Mom and Shiela help you get back to yourself... Maybe even better, I sense that Sheila can actually purify spirits." Marie's mom was advancing in time with Sheila. This really was for her daughter's own good, even if she didn't believe it herself. She almost suspected that this was just the latest event in an attempt to get back at her for turning that particularly vicious wrath demon a few years back, even though it had more the feel of a random recruitment to it. "Just lie back, and relax. This will all be over in a moment..."
Marie panicced. She barely had enough energy to stand, let alone fend off two Avatars, one of them her own mother! Still, the betrayal was exquisite... She felt a small surge of power as Shiela decided to side with her mother, and Marie smiled, "You promised," she started, "You said you wouldn't if I didn't try to turn you, and now look." This was a gross twisting of the promise that Sheila had given, but that didn't matter as much as the inexperienced Avatar's feelings on the matter. Marie hit her mark, and the guilt filtered into her.
"No, don't!" called Mrs. Wilcox, but it was too late.
Marie stood up in all her demonic darkness and grinned hugely before setting fire to the bed and hurling herself through the window. "Later, traitor, Mom" she called, her vaoice dripping with loathing and sarcasm. They were both sorely mistaken if they thought Marie Wilcox could be caught that easily. She flew parallel to the enterance to the under-campus, so as to help prevent them from finding her too quickly, then doubled back and returned to the demonic realms to rest and recover.
Anna Wilcox grabbed a fire extenguisher from the hall and quickly doused the fire on Marie's bed. It was just her luck that she would recover so quickly, and she couldn't help but feel a certain motherly pride at her daughter's cleverness. Then again, there was the matter of the inexperienced Avatar who had nearly gotten the both of them killed. "Sheila," started the more experienced of the two, "I think we need to talk about exactly who and what we are."
Sheila was too stunned to speak. She was certain that she had gotten through to Marie, that she had planted the seed of goodness into her and she would be an angel like the imp, instead of the creature she remained. And the shock from discovering her heritage from Marie's mother of all people? Sheila had no idea that Marie had ever been human, but did that mean that all those other incubi and demons had at one time been human as well? As it stood, she was on the verge of tears with the knowledge that this was all somehow her fault. She didn't hear Mrs. Wilcox until the elder woman shook her shoulder gently.
"Hello, Sheila? Are you all right?" She looked into the girl's eyes briefly before smiling wanly and admitting, "No, of course you aren't. You really have feelings for my daughter, even in her current evil form, don't you?" Sheila nodded weakly, twin trails of tears forming on her cheeks. Anna brushed off a section of the burnt bed and sat on it, patting a spot next to her which Sheila almost immediately took with her head still downcast.
As Sheila lay with her head on the shoulder of her heart's desire's mother, she could sense the similarities in the two. Both Marie and her mother had a certain strong, yet tender aspect to them. An unshakable determination, even if one was the epitome of good and the other the embodiment of evil. Anna Ramsey-Wilcox knew that discovering one was an Avatar wasn't easy. Nor was losing someone you loved, but she had the experience to know that it was possible to get their Marie back from the darkness that was threatening to consume her. But first, there were other things to tend to. Sheila didn't have the same hope as Anna, but only because she didn't yet know. Not that Sheila was ready for that yet, as first the girl needed to cry, and feel the embrace of a mother's love.
Sun Aug 15 11:15:48 2004