Seeds of Corruption Epilogue

Epilogue

Two weeks had passed since Alice had left that wine cellar and as she carefully fiddled the violin in hand she couldn't help but think a part of her was stuck down there, amongst the blood and muck. Although at least that had been cleaned up now, the council was quick to remove anything that could ID any of the bodies or the demons from the scene, they were going to destroy the cabin altogether but for Alice's insistence otherwise as the new owner of the property. They brought her father up who remained docile and unaffected by the world, at least he seemed to take care of basic functions when Alice wasn't around, hopefully whatever facility they took him too was far far away from her. Hunting the SDF members that had escaped that night had also not proven a challenge with how much information was found at the cabin and at Alice's family home they managed to track and find each and everyone, what the council did with them after interrogating Alice didn't know and frankly didn't care.

She had learned how to lose the bone like protrusions and plating in the car ride home, it happened naturally although not before ripping the car seat apart. She hadn't tried to get it to come back yet, although she hadn't tried to do much beyond feed and sleep. This wedding had actually been the first time she'd left the house or the club since, she'd been booked to play at the wedding back when she was still human and the luckily couple clearly didn't care that a demon showed up in the human's place. It felt different though, as she stood in the corner of a little stage, the music flowed from her as it always had, but a little bit of the energy she felt as the plating materialised in the cellar started to bubble within her, but nothing appeared. Alice kept an eye on the crowd but no one seemed to pay any attention, the dance floor filling with couples beginning to sway to the music.

Lilith had been unusually caring in the time that's passed, given that Alice had avoided most people other than Levash and Katherine, she spent most of her time talking with her ancestor. Lilith had started explaining all of the physical alterations that had been made in the fight, the sclera of her eyes had turned completely black, her ears had grown long and pointed, slightly jutting out of her hair. Her fingernails had turned to these obsidian claws which she immediately filed down so as not to hurt Katherine. A majority of her teeth had sharpened but as she hadn't eaten any human food since the kidnapping she hadn't paid them much attention. Finally the wings. They were cumbersome, sleeping with them had become a nightmare, and she practically lived in sports bras and some select halter tops. Lilith had explained the concepts of flight to her, which was exciting and something she'd love to try, if the governments enforced curfews and no fly zones weren't being rigorously enforced.

In the days since the attack on parliament, protests grew, people marching through the centre of london demanding something be done about the demonic invaders. The response had been a police crack down, no demon was allowed to be out between twelve at night and twelve in the morning. The Met had been armed and patrolled the streets in droves, the club while it hadn't been shut down always had multiple new police outside watching to see should anyone leave. Nothing new had been learned about the thing that caused the attack, no demon recognised them and it wasn't anyone from the Leeds group. Evangeline was currently having the council use the blurry image of his face to see if they could find anyone who's a registered human that could match but between the low quality image and the scales covering most of his face, the likelihood was low.

The dancers had grown more vigorous as Alice's music grew faster, people moving in tune with her as if puppets on a string. The second the thought came to her head she hesitated, missing a cord. No one cared and as she kept playing they kept dancing, although it was obvious some couples had begun sneaking off the dance floor, the bride and groom conveniently missing as well, she did one quick check of the purple haze that covered the room, leaking from each dancer confirming her thought, she was influencing them. She chose not to care though everyone was enjoying themselves, she was able to feed off the background lust she had generated without harming anyone or risking leaving them catatonic. She'd ask Lilith about this, maybe it was a power or just another extension of the apparent appeal all Children of Lilith held. Alice retreated back to her thoughts as she often did now, introspection being her only hobby. Thinking back on that night it wasn't the betrayal of her father, or Ex that hurt the most, nor the drugging and subsequent attacks she received, it wasn't even leaving her father in whatever state he was currently in. It was the celestial, as she watched the fear appear in what it had for eyes, she revelled in it, some, thing inside her wanted to drag it out, to feed upon the celestial's fear as she had the humans wrath and lust and as it died, as she felt the body it held give away, dust and ash pouring down her arms, satisfaction and wicked pride filled her, the same pride she saw reflected in Lilith's eyes as she described the fight between them. Levash had spent the last two weeks comforting her, and making sure she was okay, but she had only told Lilith this, that she enjoyed killing the celestial, that she enjoyed consuming her fathers soul. Lilith had laughed, she waved it off by saying that it was simply who Alice was now, who Lilith and all her children were. Alice couldn't decide if it scared her, if it excited her, or if it was her.

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Thank you all for reading. I will be writing a second story in this series and starting from the 18th of October I will be starting my new series set in the same universe which will include characters who will appear in the second seeds of corruption.