Teleporters were the most dangerous of sorcerers, she had decided. Fletcher’s was not a power designed to hurt or kill, but all it would take was one sinister motivation and no one could stand against him. She had figured that out a while ago, and she’d made a decision to kill Fletcher without warning the first chance she got.

True, calling his name didn’t exactly qualify as ‘without warning’, but he deserved to at least see her face as she killed him.

He turned his head to her. In that moment, she examined his power, poked and prodded at it, saw how it worked. Then she flicked her fingers and his heart burst inside his chest. He made a small sound and keeled over, and Desmond and Melissa both jumped to their feet.

“Mum,” Darquesse said. “Dad. It’s time for our tearful farewell.”

Desmond stood in front of his wife, protecting her. Darquesse had expected no less.

“You’re not our daughter,” Desmond said. Tears ran down his face. “You killed our daughter.”

“We’re all just …” Darquesse began, then laughed, and shook her head. “I was going to say we’re all just energy. I was going to say there is no death. This, what I’m doing? In the grand scheme of things, it means nothing. Only … only if I really and truly didn’t get some little bit of pleasure from doing this, then why take the physical approach? Why blast Cassandra’s head off? Why get my hands dirty?”

“Because you’re sick,” Melissa said, hatred ablaze in her eyes.

“I think you might be right,” Darquesse responded. “I think I’m sick. I reckon I’m evil. I must be, right? To have fun doing this?”

She laughed again. The wind carried her laugh who knows where.

“What a relief,” she said, “to admit that. Not just to you, either, but to myself. To admit that I like doing this. Fighting. Killing. Destroying. It’s just … it’s just so satisfying, you know? I must be evil. That’s the only explanation I can find. But then … but then I came from your daughter. So does that mean your daughter was evil?”

“She’s a hero,” said Desmond.

“Was,” Darquesse corrected. “Better get used to referring to her in the past tense. Or, hey, forget it. You don’t have to get used to anything. You’ll be dead soon, too, right? But that’s interesting, isn’t it? All this time I thought I was doing something nice for the universe and actually … actually no, I just wanted to tear it all down.