Ember spent the next days smiling and pretending nothing was wrong. She went about her business as usual, if a little more subdued as she contemplated how exactly everything was going to go down.

'Friday,' she decided as the date. That was when they usually killed. Friday at eleven at night.

She'd considered doing it sooner, but Ember wanted to kill her at the same time as every other victim. Make her no better than the countless men who died at her hands. Yes, all the men had deserved their death, however, her mother did as well now. So, it was Ember's responsibility to bring justice upon her.

The week passed by in what felt like a rush. Ember did her best to keep her emotions and anger from showing past her happy facade. She knew Joan knew something was up. Ember's behavior was off, no matter how much control Ember thought she had. Her shakiness, and lack of back-talk broadcast that something was wrong, but Joan attributed it to her not being over David's death. That thought alone made Joan roll her eyes. David, more than any of the other men, deserved his death. It's not like they just murdered an innocent woman. Nonetheless, though, Joan tried to go easy on Ember and decided they could take a break for a week.

***

"Momma?"

Joan looked up from where she was laying in bed, trying to sleep. Joan looked up at Ember and grimaced. "Child, do you know what time it is?"

"Eleven."

"Yes. And I'm trying to sleep. Go away."

"No." Ember stepped into the room, a strange look across her face.

Joan sat up and looked at Ember. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Do you not understand 'no'?"

"November Ana Blaire you stop this nonsense right now."

"Hmm, no, I don't think so mother. See," Ember stepped even closer to her mother, "you did something bad. Terrible even. Forced me to commit patricide. And you've always taught me how to deal with people that do bad things."

"November-"

"Don't call me that!" Ember screamed so loud she was scared for a moment the neighbors would hear.

As Joan's expression melted from anger to shock, then to fear, Ember knew she finally understood what was about to go down. The fright in her eyes made Ember smirk happily. 'I wonder how many times I looked at her with that exact same expression.'

"Y-yes, Ember, okay. Calm down, please," Joan rambled as she began to climb out of bed.

"No." Ember was loving the sound of the word. 'No' had never been an option for her before and now here she was in complete control and very able to say 'no' as much as she wanted. "No, no, no, no." She laughed at the sound of the word that was quickly becoming her favorite. "See, Joan, you have no power here. I'm done."

"Done?"

"Done being your tool. That's all I ever was to you, right, Joan? Just a tool to achieve justice against men?"

"No, no, No-- Ember, you're my daughter. I love you, Ember."

"No!"

"Ember, look, please, don't do anything! I'll change I promise, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'll do better, just, please, find some mercy for-"

"How many times did they beg you for mercy?"

"What?"

"How many times did you beat and hit and talk down to me while I begged for mercy?!" Ember's voice rose into an angry yell as she spoke.

"Ember, I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean any of that -"

Ember smirked. "You just want to survive. You don't actually mean that. You're not ever going to change. Sure, maybe for a few days, hell even weeks or months, you'd act like a mother, but inside, you're a monster. And that's never going to change. You can't believe the words a person says while facing their god."

"What? Ember, you're mad. God?"

"Hmm, well, not god I suppose. Goddess."

"Ember, please, listen to me. You're not in your head."

Ember laughed loudly. "I can control [ep[;e, I can take life at will. I am the puppeteer. The Judge, the Jury, and the Executioner. The bringer of justice. The Alpha and Omega and every fucking thing in between!" Ember laughed again, loudly. Madly. "What would you call that?"

"Part of being a deity is mercy-"

"I think I'm done listening to you." Ember raised a hand up, seeking out her mother's lifeforce and closing her mouth tight." Muffled noises made their way out of Joan's closed mouth, but that was it.

Ember closed her eyes and started focusing on tightening her grip over the lifeforce until it was being cut off and slowly dying, but got halfway there and realized, no, that's not what she wanted to do. That was too fast. She opened her eyes and released the vice grip she had on her mother's life. She still held her under control, but stopped the killing and allowed her speech.

"Oh, thank you. Thank you, Ember, thank you."

Ember smirked at her mother. "Don't think me yet, Joan."

She motioned upwards with two fingers, bringing her mother stand back up from where she'd fallen and accessed the force in her legs making them each move one at a time. 'Hip, knee, then ankle,' she thought to herself as she slowly worked the joints in her Joan's legs. Her mother moved unsteadily under Ember's control, almost falling a few times as Ember kept forgetting she needed to use her arms and back and core to keep her balanced and upright. It was easy to forget that walking isn't just in the legs. Oops.

"Ember, Ember, what are you doing?"

Ember ignored her, focusing all of her energy on moving her mother forwards.

"November-!"

"I TOLD you, do. not. call. me. that."

"I-I'm sorry, Ember-"

Ember clamped her fist closed, silencing the woman again, before leading her into the kitchen. She continued controlling her mother's body, having Joan stand in the center of the room while she jumped up on the counter, to watch and narrate.

"You know, mother, all week I've been planning this. Been smiling while all the while looking at you thinking 'I'm going to kill you.' At first I was scared by how little I cared. I thought, 'she's my mother! She's raised me, shouldn't I feel something?' And then I realized since I feel nothing, it must be okay. You abused me. You murdered so many that may have been innocent. So, in the name of justice it's your turn to go."

The look of confusion Joan gave Ember made Ember giggle. "Oh, if want to kill you what are we doing in the kitchen?" Ember had Joan start to rifle through the drawers. "Well, you see, the plan was to just kill you like I always kill. I waited until now so you'd know you were the exactly same as all those men we killed. Then, while I was cutting off your life force, I decided, 'no'. This needs to be special. She should know it's her own fault. She's the one that's killed herself. Had she not done what she did, she wouldn't be dying. So, really, this is more of a suicide than anything."

Ember watched as she turned her mother around, once she'd found what she was looking for. A knife. Ember giggled again. "Bye-bye momma." And, with that, Ember used Joan's arms to shove the knife into her chest. There was more resistance than Ember expected, but she still found the heart and fell to the ground.

With that done, Ember erased every trace of herself from the apartment and left, not once looking at her mother's lifeless body on the floor or the pool of red blood, some already drying onto the linoleum as a brown color.

She was free.696Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjmIleRQvG