Blood dripped from my chin, mixing with the tears I no longer understood.I stared at the two of them — Elizabeth and Adam — collapsed on the floor, trembling like cornered animals.
A laugh tore out of me, sharp and broken.
"I just killed your husband, Elizabeth… and you stayed quiet?"My voice cracked with amusement and rage. "And you, Adam — I mocked your mother, I strangled your father, and you're still hiding behind her like a scared child?"
The sound that left me wasn't human. It rattled the walls.
But then again… I wasn't human anymore.Maybe I never was.
Elizabeth's tears finally overflowed as she tried to form words. Her voice shook."W-What kind of monster laughs while killing another human being? What did he ever do to you?"
She lunged forward with a mother's blind courage.
I caught her by the throat mid-charge.
Her pulse hammered against my fingers as I lifted her up, her feet scraping the floor. I could've choked her like the old man, but… no.
There was a better way.
My hand shot forward — through skin, through ribs, through the warmth she still had — and I pulled her heart free in one sharp motion.
Her eyes widened, then emptied.
I looked at the organ pulsing in my palm and smiled bitterly.
"Wrong, dear mother. I'm not a human being. Not anymore."I tossed the heart toward Adam. It landed against his chest with a wet thump."And all of you did far worse to me. If anything, I gave you both a kinder death than you deserve."
Adam crawled toward his mother's body, shaking uncontrollably."Mom… Mom… please…"His voice cracked into a broken sob. "S-Stop… please stop…"
He looked up at me with hollow eyes and screamed:
"Kill me! Just kill me already! You monster!!"
The desperation… it reminded me of myself.Pathetic.Helpless.Begging for an end.
My expression twisted into a cruel grin.
"Kill you? Why would I give you the peace that death offers?"I leaned down so he could see his reflection in my blood-coated eyes."You'll live. You'll think about this night over and over. Every breath will remind you of what you lost. That's your punishment."
My eyes burned red — deeper, brighter, alive with something vile.
I stepped toward him.Blood pooled at my feet, dripping rhythmically, like a countdown.
That's when a hand grabbed my collar and violently ripped me backward.
The world spun. Pain exploded across my jaw as a fist smashed into me.
Then another.And another.
The blows were too strong — far too strong for a human.Each strike felt like bone meeting steel.
Through blurred vision, I saw him.
The jester.
Not laughing now.Not smiling.
His expression was pure disgust.
"Wh-What the hell—" I coughed blood. "Why did you pull me off? And how are you—this strong…? You're just—just a clown…"
Another punch shut me up. My head slammed into the ground.
He leaned in close, voice cold and steady.
"I allowed you to fall this far because of what Lucifer told me about you. But this? This isn't revenge, Sammael."His eyes narrowed in disappointment."This is butchery. Slaughter without purpose. You act like a beast, not a devil. Not yet."
My vision darkened.His voice faded into a distant echo.
The last thing I saw was his painted face looking down at me — not with fear… but with contempt.
I hoped I would die right there.
But I didn't.
I fell into darkness instead.