Chapter 803: Merle's fate

“Damn quarter-brood slut, there’s no way you’d dare do anything to me,” Merle retorted with a gloating sneer. “You feared us as a kid, and you still fear me now.”

“You think?” Stacey asked as she pulled out her blaster, rotated the dial to the second setting and fired it at Merle’s left ankle.

The red blaster bolt tore through the ankle and decapitated her foot from the rest of her body, causing her to scream in pain.

“Still think I don’t dare?” Stacey asked as she looked down at the screaming Merle, who tried to writhe in pain but was prevented from doing so because of her bindings.

“It’s such a shame you don’t have anyone to feed on, Merle; if you did, you could probably recover that foot,” Stacey teased.

“Is that how it works?” Adam asked in surprise. “Can feeding really allow a brood to recover missing body parts?”

“Only pureblood, but yes, that’s how it works,” Stacey nodded before adding. “And the more potent and youthful the blood they feed on, the quicker the recovery. She could probably grow an entirely new foot in a few seconds with your pureblood babe.”

“Are you sure it’s wise to mention that when she’s here, and the feeding from earlier now that I think about it?” Adam asked.

“Why not?” Stacey shrugged. “She’s going to die regardless, and I’d like her to understand how small she is compared to me now, especially since I have a boyfriend like you.”

“Do as you please then,” Adam replied while pecking her on the cheek.

Stacey smiled and turned back to Merle, who had tears in her eyes before saying, “So Merle, how exactly is it that your sister Tierney came to know that we were here on Aqua Primus?”

“H.. how?” Merle asked while grimacing in pain.

“How did I know it was Tierney that tipped you off? We hacked your uniband,” Stacey said gloatingly. “And my, oh my, we have been a naughty girl. Not only are you cheating on poor Belmilor, but with an academy professor no less; I guess even professors can’t say no to the euphoria people receive when being fed on.

I must admit it’s a pretty sweet deal: you feed off the professor and occasionally have some fun in his office, and he alters your grades to make it look like you're doing better than you are.”

“No… no,” Merle said in disbelief, to which Stacey just smiled and said, “Yes, oh yes. But don’t worry, Merle, since you're going to die anyway, you're not going to face any repercussions for your actions, well, except having your reputation ruined when I post all this on Xer-verse, having poor Belmilor hate you, your friends all think you're a skank and ruin that professor's career and reputation.”

“No, no, please, please,” Miele begged as she began to sob.

“PLEASE? DID YOU JUST SAY PLEASE?” Stacey shouted angrily before she pointed her blaster at one of Merle’s wrists and blew off her hand.

Merle screamed in pain as blood gushed out over the floor; however, Stacey didn’t seem to care as she angrily asked, “Did you and the other stop tormenting and bullying me when I said please and begged you back then? No, you just carried on, and so what makes you think I will be any less heartless?

As she finished speaking, Stacey pointed the blaster at Merle’s other ankle before pulling the trigger, causing Merle to scream hysterically as she lost her other foot.

Apparently, all this was too much for her because she fell unconscious a moment later.

This text was taken from the author's publication without permission, though the official posting remains a way to support their work.

“God damn spoiled bitch, can’t even take a bit of pain,” Stacey cursed. “This is how people turn out when they’ve been raised with a silver spoon.”

Adam nodded in agreement before saying, “She won’t last long under torture if that’s the case.”

“Shit,” Stacey spat before looking at Adam and saying, “Our children are not being raised spoilt; they're learning early how harsh the universe is. Only that way will they survive.”

{I hope they'll survive.} Adam couldn't help but think before asking, “So what now?”

“No, I guess I’ll send a message,” Stacey said with a vicious smile as she pointed her blaster at Merle again.

***

“Still no word from your sister?” Alaric Nosferatu asked as he entered the house to find Tierney sitting in the living room with a worried look.

“No,” Tierney replied before adding. “And it’s making me worry.”

“You know what she's like; she'll contact us when she's ready,” Alaric replied, to which Tierney nodded and was about to reply when her uniband received a message.

She quickly checked to see who it was from before saying, “It’s from Merle.”

“What does she say?” Alaric asked with clear relief on his face.

“This is what awaits you and Rene, love, Stacey,” Tierney replied in confusion before adding, “There's a video attachment.”

Alaric’s stomach clenched as he heard the message contents before ordering, “Throw it up on the console.”

Tierney nodded and did as she was told, and what appeared on a large holographic screen was Merle’s unconscious form that was bound up with one of her hands and both feet missing, causing Tierney to gasp in shock as she covered her mouth.

However, before either of them could say anything, a female voice said, “This is what awaits you two bitches for trying to kill me,” and after the voice finished, blaster bolts repeatedly tore into Merle’s body, jolting her awake and causing her to scream in pain as more and more holes were torn through her body, until finally she could take no more and died.

The video cut to show her now-dead corpse being ejected out of a shuttle and on a direct path with the sun.”

“NNOOOOOOOOOOO!” Tierney screamed before she fainted from shock.

***

Meanwhile, in the largest house on the Nosferatu estate.

“FATHER, FATHER,” Rene called as she burst into Asema Nosferatu's office in hysterics.

“What?” Asema asked in shock, since he had never seen his daughter act this way.

“Merle is dead; Stacey killed her. Look,” Rene replied before showing her father the footage she had also just received.

***

After jettisoning Merle’s corpse into the nearby sun, Adam and Stacey returned to Muriel’s residence, and immediately after their arrival, Rowena approached them and asked, “Is it done?”

The flat tone in which she spoke showed that she clearly had mixed feelings regarding this whole ordeal.

“It is,” Stacey nodded, to which Rowena only sighed before turning and walking away.

Stacey stared after her and was about to follow when Adam put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head while saying, “Let me.” After which, he followed Rowena back to her room.

“Can I come in?” he asked after noticing that she had left the door slightly ajar.

“That’s why I left it open,” Rowena replied after she sat down on the edge of the bed. Adam entered and closed the door behind him before proceeding to sit down next to her, after which she leaned her head against his shoulder and asked, “Am I a bad person?”

“Not at all,” Adam replied. “This is something Merle and the others brought on themselves; you had nothing to do with it.”

“But if I had paid more attention to Stacey and what was happening to her back then, this might all have been avoided.”

“That wasn’t your job; it was her parents',” Adam replied coolly before adding in a warmer tone. “As her grandmother, your job is to spoil her.”

“I didn’t even do that, right?” Rowena sighed.

“Really?” Adam asked in surprise. “That’s not the impression I got. Would she have been so attached to you back then if you didn’t treat her well and shower her with affection? Sure, you may have been too focused on Philip when the whole attack happened, but he was pressuring you to turn him, so you can’t be blamed for that, and honestly, I don’t think Stacey does anymore.”

“Really?” Rowena asked as she looked up at him with hope in her eyes.

“Sure,” Adam said, nodding. “She may have blamed you when she was younger, during the time she ran away, but that’s only because she didn’t know the entire situation. Now, however, she knows what you were going through at that time, and so I don’t think she blames you like she once did.”

“I hope so,” Rowena replied.

“Why don’t you talk to her about it?” Adam asked. “I’m guessing you haven’t really spoken about everything that happened back then because you were afraid of what she might say, but I think the two of you having a good heart-to-heart will help you both move on from what happened, and maybe even take a step towards how things used to be.

Also, you should tell her your feelings on this whole situation, especially with regard to Amalia, since Stacey herself is still unsure about what to do with her.”