And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 17-1

Chapter 17

I walked out of George Washington High School into the hellfire of Chandler. The town burned from the dragon’s breath and demons ran amok, ripping people in half like it was nothing. Once they’d finished with the sheriffs, they started to pull people out of shops and homes, slaughtering them for fun. I always hated the people of Chandler, but they did not deserve this fate.

“What have I done? What have I done?”

The murmuring was coming from the corner of the school. I tipped my head around the side of the building to see Principal Anderson, curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth against the side of the school, his black cape singed at the edges.

“I thought you were dead,” I said, walking down the stairs.

“Oh god!” Principal Anderson shouted and looked like he might jump out of his skin. His eyes and face were swollen with tears. He noticed the daggers in my hand, caked with demon blood. “Don’t kill me.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Bob. I’ll let the demons do that.”

He shook his head and started rocking again. “No, no, no, no, no.”

“You should be happy, Bob,” I sneered at him. “Demons slaughtering you in the street is a far better fate than you deserve, and much better than a dragon burning you alive. How did you survive that, anyway?”

“I-I-I hid under the burning corpses until they stopped smoldering.”

“And then you ran to the school?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

“I thought I could hide here. It was big and empty. The demons, they wouldn’t look here, at least not first. But it was locked, and I forgot my key.”

I scoffed at him. “They didn’t fit into your robes, huh?”

Bob shook his head, and then began sobbing again. His head fell into his hands. I almost felt sorry for him, until I remembered that he brought this on himself. And I thought of Elka.

“What did you think would happen, Bob, when you opened a rift to Hell and unleashed a massive dragon?”

Bob rocked back and forth. “Jim told me they could control him. That the dragon would make me rich beyond my wildest dreams. That I would have power and money. Do you know what I could do with that kind of thing? How many people I could help?”

I lunged toward him, unfurling my arms. “So, you were okay with killing me and my mother, just to get power for yourself?”

He jumped back, but there was nowhere for him to go. “What is one life when weighed against millions?”

I pointed the dagger at his face. “And how did you think this dragon was going to get power—you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care, Bob. I only have one question for you—” I pointed the knife squarely at his heart. “Did you help kill my father?”

Bob shook his head. “No, no. I only joined three years ago. They recruited me when I became principal, said their society helped people become powerful. It was like a club. I had never been in a club.”

“How many people did you kill, Bob?”

Bob threw up his hands. “None! I swear. I just went to the meetings. I never killed anybody.”

“Until tonight, when you were willing to kill my mother.”

He dropped his head again. “Yes.”

“You are pathetic, Bob.”

I wanted to kill him, but jowls soaked in that much sick made him even more pathetic than usual. Besides, even if I was learning a lot of things about myself and my abilities, I still wasn’t a murderer. I didn’t have to help him though, and without my help, the demons would do the job for me.

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