Mary scrambles away, holding her side as blood oozes out of her wound.
She stumbles into an alleyway, blinking against the harsh lights. “Avery, where’s-where’s Avery-”
The icy voice sends a shiver through Mary.
She turns, face-to-face with her adversary. “No-one.”
“Someone important, then.”
Mary steps back, keeping her eyes on the blade in her opponent’s hands. “I was trying to do something good.”
Rage flashes in her enemy’s eyes. “Good? You wanted to do good?”
The blade presses against Mary’s neck.
Haley leans in, snarling. “What good came from murdering my husband?”
Mary chokes, the magic blade dulled at Haley’s will. “He was a demon! I was trying to save you from-”
“From the only good fucking thing I had?!”
Haley’s scream is heartbroken, heartbroken and furious.
“You killed my husband, you attacked my friends-”
“The one in the yellow wasn’t human either, nor the-the girl with the blue-”
“I KNOW THAT! AND I LOVED HIM ANYWAY, I LOVED ALL OF THEM!”
“The redhead was an unfortunate causality- AH!”
The sword burns where it presses into Mary’s neck.
“They were my family,” Haley growls. “They were all I had. And you took them.”
“Just-just stop, you’ll regret this, we both know-”
“Beg. Beg for your fucking life, right now.”
Mary flinches. “P-please. Please don’t kill me. Please, please.”
Haley’s expression doesn’t change. “Beg like they did.”
Mary feels tears streaking down her cheeks. She swallows. “Please, please, oh please let me live, please, I have- I have people who need me-”
“Their exact words. Say them. Say what they said before you slaughtered them.”
She shuts her eyes, recalling their words.
“My-my dad won’t have anyone left. Spare my friends, just take me. Please, you can’t do this, you can’t want to do this, let us go-”
She sucks in a shuddering breath. She peeks open an eye.
Haley’s expression is still steely, cold, but there’s tears running down her face.
Mary’s voice is but a broken whisper. “Please.”
Haley’s grip on her sword tightens.
Mary dares to open her eyes again.
Haley is standing still, sobbing silently. Mary’s blood stains the front of the widow’s dress, turning the soft yellow to rusty, rotten brown.
Mary is still, for a moment.
And then she turns to run.
Haley listens to the footsteps get farther and farther away...
She grits her teeth, and screams.
She raises her sword and throws it. Her necklace burns on her chest, and the blade shatters into a thousand shards of light.
They stabs into Mary’s back, and she falls on her face.
Haley stands still, heaving breaths, sobbing quietly.
She shuffles over to Mary.
Turns the body over with her foot.
Mary’s eyes are wide, afraid. Glassy.
They look just like Malum’s. Like Carter’s, like Evelyn’s, like Ashlyn’s.
She kneels down, and closes Mary’s eyes.
“Whoever you are, Avery, I’m sorry,” she whispers.
She pulls her knees up to her face, and looks up into the night sky. Her eyes well up.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs.
