Chapter 24 — Never Far Away

Susan’s sharp nails dug into the throat of a man, she left a deep gash there, and released her fingers, the man crumbled to the floor, she looked at the crowd of Chadwick’s followers before her, and smiled.

“It’s an honor,” Susan said and stopped smiling. Everyone’s head rolled off their neck and bounced to the floor, their bodies falling with resounding thuds. She turned and walked out of the building.

“Fire,” she said.

The entire building became an inferno.

And so the crisis began. Susan brought war to Chadwick’s followers, haunting them with ease, and killing as much as a hundred thousand every day before she thought to put an end to her unrest. It was blood she was in demand of. It was her sole reason to seek these people.

She hoped they never learn, for she didn’t want to kill the innocent. Chadwick was the real challenge here. But then, there was the Red Haux Eleanor had warned her about. That would only make them an addition to her enemies.

Susan didn’t have to worry about them, for with each killing, she grew stronger.

Blood trickled down Susan’s nose as she stood on the top of a skyscraper, she touched her hand to her nose, and wondered why this was happening to her. She was supposed to be the perfect picture of health. But this, she hoped it wasn’t something bad.

Just then, Eleanor appeared next to her, a grin on her face. “You’re getting weaker.”

“What do you mean?” Susan asked.

“Each kill you bring to Chadwick’s followers does strengthen you, but it also weakens you as well.”

Susan shook her head and fully turned to face Eleanor. “What do you mean it strengthens me, but also weakens me? How could something be the cause of your strength, and weakness.”

Eleanor looked at her. “Love does that a lot.”

“Yeah, you do have a good point,” Susan said. “But really, what is this?”

“I heard rumors that Chadwick blessed his followers with the glad tidings of death. It means, so far they die happy, or with the hope of a new world, they are bound to cause you weakness. But perhaps, you shouldn’t stop. You defy reason, and seeing this curse that was placed on you by me, no curse could possibly stand against yours. So, the bleeding and weaknesses would just be for a short period of time. Usually, when you’ve accumulated a large portion of power. How many did you kill today?”

“A hundred thousand,” Susan said.

Eleanor arched a brow. “Wow. Even I couldn’t kill that much at your age.”

“I’m ageless, Eleanor. I don’t know how old I am.”

“Exactly my point. Beings like me who were created do feel fatigued. We pause, we rest, we feel fatigued, we try to recuperate. But you, you don’t know the value of rest because you especially, Susan, weren’t fashioned into the likeness of a human, but that of a weapon. What bombs, and nature can’t meet, you were graced to meet tenfold. You can break the limit of a hundred thousand if you want to, but it may tear you apart on the first day.”

“And what would happen if I’m torn apart?” Susan looked at Eleanor with curiosity.

“Extinction,” Eleanor said. “Well, I don’t know. You’re powerful enough to have gotten rid of so many beliefs. To this world, you’re a myth. But to us, well, you’re real.”

The bleeding stopped, Susan looked ahead. “Thanks, Eleanor. Never knew I could have such a long conversation with you even though you’re not really here. Now, return to being my prisoner and stay that way.”

Eleanor frowned, and vanished.

Susan’s phone rang, she got it out of her pocket, answered, and placed it to her ears. “Jake!”

“Susan, there’s a robbery happening at B’s place. Beatrice is in danger. Susan, go there!”

In a flash, Susan was before B’s place.

“I’ll call you back, Jake,” Susan ended the call and dashed into B’s Place.

In the freeze of time, she saw a man holding a gun to Beatrice’s head while she gave him all the money from a safe, Susan looked around at his colleagues, and wondered what manner of death to offer to these men.

If they simply disappeared, it would raise a lot of eyebrows at possible witchcraft, or something. So she chose something else, that was using her sharp finger to bore holes through their heads so they would look like bullet holes.

In the space of a second, Susan went back outside, time unfroze, then she walked back inside. Beatrice was stunned that she didn’t notice when Susan was right in front of her because her gaze was on the dead man.

When she looked up and saw it was Susan, Beatrice said, “He was alive, then he fell and wasn’t. He’s dead. They are all dead.”

Susan tried her very best to comfort Beatrice, and not long, the police arrived, and so did Jake. Susan left Beatrice in the care of Jake, she got out her phone to call Elvis.

Elvis answered. “Hello, Susan.”

“Elvis! Some bodies would be turning up for autopsy. I want you to stop it, and simply order them to incinerate the bodies.”

“What happened?”

“They came to rob my friend, I killed them and made it look like bullet holes.”

“This your friend doesn’t know who you really are?” Elvis asked.

Susan appeared before Elvis in his office. “If you’re thinking of using this,” Elvis jerked and lowered his phone, not so surprised at how she got here so fast, “as a form of leverage to get to me, it won’t work. Instead, I would kill you.”

Susan approached him, and in a leaning fashion, she placed both hands on the table. “Try to come out with my secret, and your head will roll off before you begin. Do this, before I do it myself. I don’t have issues setting police stations on fire to cover evidence. Or I could simply leave it be and let them chase a ghost. You’ve been warned.”

Susan vanished and appeared at the restaurant.

Jake saw her and asked, “Where did you go?”

“I was on the phone with someone,” Susan said.

“Well, I did look for you, and for a second, it looked as if you had gone.”

Susan grinned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I am never far away. Now, let’s take Beatrice home. I think she deserves a day off.”