The Consuming Heart

"There's a killer on the loose in our city," Susan heard a radio presenter say from a distant radio, she tuned down her hearing and focused on the newspaper she was reading by a roadside cafe.So far, there was nothing on her last night's victim, maybe an investigation was yet to be carried out, or he hadn't been discovered, she closed the newspaper and added it to the pile of other newspapers on the table before her.Susan took up her cup of coffee, sipped from it, a dark aura settled about her, she looked up to the sky, and adjusted her dark shades. Shaking her head, she briefly looked at both ends of the busy street, briefly noted the faces of the people moving on both sidewalks, and like a magnetic pull, her glance moved across the road to the newsstand th

Susan sat by an empty table at the same cafe she had been to the previous day, and she was reading a newspaper behind dark shades which somehow made her feel concealed under the morning sun. A duo of officers came by the cafe to see the owner who was present after he had heard of the sad news of his manager. Susan knew they won't really know what happened, nor would they know how he died. They would sum it up as suicide. That was to be their only conclusion.But to be sure, she eavesdropped just in time to hear one of the officers tell the owner that he thinks it was suicide, Susan stopped listening and focused on her reading.Stocks were high today. Business was looking up. Matters of insecurity would always be the case, she flipped to the next page to read other news.Beatrice came by Susan's table feigning a smil

Beatrice was standing before Susan's house with a paper that bore Susan's home address. She was about to knock when the door opened, and before her stood Susan.Beatrice lifted the paper. "My colleague gave it to me."Susan nodded. "Glad it found its way to you." "Yes, it did. Is your offer still on?"Susan stepped aside. "Come in. Pick any room you like.""Thanks." Beatrice walked in.Susan looked at the darkness outside, she turned to show Beatrice upstairs, the door closed behind her.The first room Beatrice was shown was the very one she chose, for she had a belief that beggars aren't choosers.

Susan was in the comfort of her room, filing her nails when Jake left for the city with one of her cars. He had gone to find himself a job, and she knew today, he won't be so lucky because she had wished it so. She needed him to return, at least, for his own safety.Beatrice on the other hand was supposed to be out by now, but the death of her manager and the incident of yesterday at Els Street came rushing back to her, making her eyes blurry with tears, and she considered not going to work today.In a flash, Susan was before her door, she knocked.Beatrice looked at the door and hastily wiped her eyes. "Just a second."

"Our tribe is known for hunting," Susan told Vivian over breakfast the next day at a diner named B's Place. "I had to throw mother off our scent. Although, I'm sure she did ask where we went.""And knowing the Hex Sisters," Vivian said, "they would die rather than talk.""Hence, the perfect distraction.""How did you manage it?""Easy. I knew mother had her gaze on me, so to throw her off my scent, I presented her with the immediate problem. I left a bit of me in one of the Hex Sisters, and that's how she discovered their location. If I had met the Chief priest without doing that, it wouldn't take anything for her to discover me. I don't want her knowing what I'm up to.""And that's the problem, dear sister. Mother knows."Susan sighed, and leaned forward, placing her hands on the table. "What works?"Vivian shrugged."Does she know you're here?" Susan asked."Mother always knows where we are," Vivian said. "A word of advice, sis