- Probably the reason is in the genes. - Madeleine shrugged her shoulders. - Her father is just as dumb as she is. Your father is just as cowardly as you are.

- I venture to suggest your father is just as arrogant, selfish, and hypocritical as you are. - Thea retorted.

- Do you think your words can hurt me? Pff... ha ha ha.

- I don’t want to kill you, but if you don’t stop...

- Then what? After all, I’m here to kill you. So that you die, so that you burn in hell. To have your eyes pecked out by griffins. Isn’t it a wonderful prospect for you to quickly get rid of and not lead these people to slaughter? - She pointedly stepped on the vampire’s corpse, which was still fresh and bleeding.

Thea clenched her teeth so tightly that pain ran down her cheekbones. She felt heartache for those who died fighting for her. It seemed that Madeleine had crossed her own line separating her from the madman. There was nothing reasonable, human, or gracious left in her, like in her mother.

Turning abruptly around, she drew an invisible circle with her hands, scrolling through the image in her head. Fine specks of dust, grains of sand, and pieces of earth began to rise as if swept up by a hurricane wind, swirling around her before turning into tiny steel blades and shards in an instant.

Thea waved her hand again, returning the magic sword to its place, and slicing through the air mass, sending it into Madeleine.

As Thea had guessed, Madeleine had not turned into a vampire, following her mother, but had only learned some witchcraft techniques, but it still wasn’t enough to resist her. After all, Madeleine’s father was also not too smart to pass on the necessary genes to her. Thea grinned to herself and charged again.

She tried to deal damage to her that could weaken and stop her without causing irreparable damage. Still, Thea’s soft heart was unable to accept the idea that she had to kill her sister with her own hand. Even if this sister was not her own.

Madeline’s attacks became more and more ruthless, as if reveling in her own malice, she tried to inflict as painful damage as possible.

- I was the first in this family. - She growled. – You shouldn’t have been born at all! You should have sent for your lame mother to the grave so that everyone else could live well. But you ruined everything, you always ruined everything.

Sharp glass fragments shattered from the impact of the sword. Thea wiped a drop of blood from her cheek, smearing it on her skin.

Madeleine was breathing heavily, her legs and arms were bloody, although she was still moving. She was visibly staggering, trying to attack Thea again.

- You wouldn’t be the first if your mother hadn’t broken into someone else’s family and destroyed it. And my mother wouldn’t have died if Lillian hadn’t had her rotten hand in it. - Thea hissed in anger.

Madeline coughed up blood, putting her hand to her side as her body slowly began to fall to her knees. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

- If you think that my death will help you blackmail my mother, then you are deeply mistaken. - She laughed again. - My mother doesn’t give a damn about you or me.

Her last words were spoken with such deep emotional resentment that only a child abandoned by his own mother can feel.

Thea came closer, keeping a distance of one meter and looking down at Madeleine. She suddenly felt an extraordinary rush of pity for her, a desire to hug and comfort her. Maybe that’s what Madeleine has always lacked. Simple human love and warmth. Maybe then they would have been able to be other people and this whole situation would not have happened between them.

- I’ve never hated you or Xana. Yes, I didn’t love you, but there were reasons you knew. - Thea said. – And yet, you chose to choose the wrong side in your desire to take revenge on me, you ruined your own life and it’s not my fault.

- Blah, blah, blah... our holy Thea, eternally compassionate and kind. I don’t need anything from you, do you hear? All I want is for you to die.

Madeleine screamed, and taking advantage of the moment of surprise, she leaned forward sharply, pulling out a naked blade from under her robe, aimed at Thea. But before Thea could stop her, a silvery glint of steel flashed before her eyes. The precise cut landed on Madeline’s neck, releasing a huge stream of blood-red warm liquid.

Madeleine clutched her throat with both hands, choking and choking on her own blood. From the inability to take a breath, she did not even immediately understand what had happened, before the familiar shape of a man from whom she had never dared to expect her own death flashed in front of her eyes.

- Your death will not be in vain. - The cold voice soothed her, holding her head slightly raised and tangling her hands in her soft hair, stroking them as if trying to calm her down. – Your body and your soul need peace and tranquility. This can’t go on anymore, you don’t have to follow in our mother’s footsteps.

She heard his words so clearly, even though she was trying her best to keep her mind open.

Tears sprinkled her eyes and at that moment she really felt relieved and free. There was no longer a desire to prove anything to anyone, to try to win back his place in this world. She just wanted to close her eyes and disappear into this serene, inviting, calm world.

And having captured the grieving image of Terrence in her eyes for the last time, she smiled and the world went out in front of her eyes.

Thea stood with her mouth covered in horror. Her eyes were wide open and there were unshed tears in them. Everything happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that the words did not rush out. She just shook her head in denial, as if that would fix something.

- What were you thinking anyway? She was going to kill you! - Terrence’s scream crushed the ears of Temithea, whose gaze went out again in one eye, and her hair turned half brown.

Her sword hung in a heavy steel pile at her feet and she realized all too clearly what kind of burden she would have to carry through her life if she managed to survive.