Brigitte grabbed the knife her sister had tried to cut off her tail with the night previous and held it in her left hand. She turned around as she heard Gingers soft snarls at her, and then, the beast herself. Backing away, she raised her right hand.
"Is this what you want?" she asked, offering the monkshood cure. The beast snarled again, but almost in a way that said she did want the cure. But then she changed her mind and started stalking her younger sister. B backed away and into the wall, she quickly veered into the space between her bed and the wall, holding up her left hand in pain.
"I'm not dying in this room with you!" she cried. Her left arm shook with the effort of holding the knife up to her sister. To her, it felt like her arm was asleep, or she had just woken up from sleep and tried to clutch her hand into a fist, it was almost painful. The beast of Ginger continued stalking her into the corner. Trapped she jumped onto her bed as her sister leapt at her. "I'm not dying!" she yelled again.
The beast jumped onto the bed and then at her in one quick, almost elegant (if that could be said of such a monster) motion. Brigitte tried to put her right arm up in defense, but wasn't fast enough. Instead, the implement in her hand went into Gingers' side. The beast looked at her in surprise, tried to bite her, but couldn't. Confused, Brigitte looked down to her side and saw that the needle containing the cure was in her sister. She realized what was happening and injected most of the bluish-purple fluid into the beast.
She shoved the monster that embodied the seven sins and watched in fixed horror at what was happening. It screamed in animalistic howls, writhing on the floor as bones cracked and went back to their smaller, human, counterparts. The large, muscular face mutated, the snout shrunk and the eyes seemed more humane. The paws cracked as they morphed into human appendages, the nails shrunk and turned from black back to the glossy white of normal nails. Every muscle, B could see, contracted and became smaller. The ribs crunched as they broke, vertebra snapped as they shrunk. The screams became more revolting, they were animal whimpers by now and human shrieks of agony combined. The skin looked loose, but wasn't as thick as the hide had been. The beast started looking more like a human Ginger, despite the little contortions of skin.
Shaking, Brigitte got up from the wall and crawled to her sister. The newly transformed human girl shook and cried, sobbing. B took her sister's hands into hers and pulled her into a hug.
"B," said Ginger, her voice sounding slightly different, deeper, "I'm so sorry."
Holding back her own tears, Brigitte took off her big grey trench coat and wrapped it around her naked sister. She noticed the needle was still in Ginger, so she carefully took it out of her. The effects of the infection started taking their toll on her again, she felt lightheaded and she collapsed on Ginger.
"Ginge," she said in a raspy whisper, "help me… cure me…" Ginger, already having stopped crying, took the syringe and put it into the younger girl's vein. Brigitte shook in her sister's grip as the rest of the monkshood cure made its effect on her. She screamed when white pus poured out of the cut on her left hand.
"B, it's okay," Ginger whispered, trying to calm her sister. Even though she had just turned back to her human form after trying to kill her sister, she had to take her role as older sister again. B shook and succumbed to sleep in her sister's arms.
While her sister slept, Ginger was in a mental turmoil. I just tried to kill B… It was the infection, she reasoned with herself. Or was it? Was she so adamant about the pact she'd do just about anything to stay true to it? Try kill her own sister, her own flesh and blood, her best friend? Fuck off, she said to a part of herself, the messed up part of her psyche, the part of her that loved the infection and welcomed it. A deep voice said to her, You loved it. You loved me, I know it, so why are you trying, now, to get rid of me? She banged her head against B's bed. You are a psycho. You made the pact, made your sister your slave and protector so that you can always have control. Having sex with Jason, you needed control. You're a control freak. You want so much stuff, and when you get it, it's not good enough. Are you so worthy to be alive? When she, Brigitte, steps out of line, you get mad at her. When you step out of line and she steps up to you, you get mad at her. She's different now. I know that, now, and there's no way I can change her. It's for the better. No it's not. You regret her growing up, you want her to be your slave forever. If you- Fuck!! Off!! She's not the only person to have changed. I don't want her to be my slave. She's my sister, and all I want is for us to stay alive. You're trying to convince yourself of this. No I'm not. Yes you are… If you weren't, why are you trying to reason with me?
There was a laughter, cold and high, that broke the silence of the bedroom. It wasn't Ginger's, but it came from her mouth. It was the messed up part of her psyche that took over her body for that split second and laughed with a howling resonance. She was surprised, but covered her mouth so that Brigitte wouldn't hear. The voices, except her own monotonous thoughts, were gone, but not forever.