"LADIES. OOH, YOU'RE LOOKING WELL TONIGHT," the Supreme stumbled into the room. Her voice slurred ever so slightly. Behind her, Madison tripped over her own feet. A squeal left her lips as she stopped herself from fumbling forward and landing face first against the hardwood floor below her.
"Let me give you some advice." Fiona tossed her purse onto the piano, laughter bubbling up as she swayed back and forth. "Get your portrait painted when you're young. Just look at these old bats." She took in a deep breath as Madison went along with her.
The young witch tried to follow in suit as the Supreme strolled along the room. She lobbed her cellphone in the direction of the piano. It clattered against the floor and slide as far underneath the baby grand as possible. A muffled giggle left her lips as the Supreme continued to speak.
"Mine is gonna go over there." Fiona extended her arm, a regal finger pointing to an empty spot next to the portrait of Mimi DeLongpre. "And yours'll go... over there." As she turned, her pointed finger landed on the vacant chunk of wall next to the portrait of Selene Nicks. Madison threw her head back in a laugh, her balance slightly off as she wobbled.
"Doubt I'm even graduating this shit show." Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on the portrait that had seemed so far away. The tunnel vision quickly took over. "No way they're gonna commemorate me." She leaned back, trying to catch her balance as she looked up at the ceiling with a sigh.
"Well, they'll have to..." Fiona stalked forward, her hands planted firmly against her back. The act of 'drunk Supreme' was over. Madison was far too intoxicated to be able to tell if the older woman was or wasn't.
"Because... you're the next Supreme." Madison's smug look fell from her lips. The cogs in her head turned as she tried her hardest to comprehend what the woman was telling her.
"Wait." Her brow furrowed. She tilted her head as she tried to get a read on the older woman. She truly couldn't tell if Fiona was being facetious or not. "Are you serious? How do you know I'm the next Supreme?" Madison swallowed hard. The breathy laugh that Fiona let out as she smiled wide sent a chill down her spine.
"Because I am the old one." Fiona continued to circle around the girl, a vulture watching her prey buckle beneath her. "And I'm dying," she stopped. She let the actress study her for a moment. Madison immediately brought her hands up to her waist, her fingers fidgeting as she looked at the Supreme with sad eyes.
"My time is up," the vulture returned. Madison's weakness to her predicament was highly evident. "And you're... killing me." A threatening finger wiggled in the air. The prey watched ever so carefully yet somehow still missed all of her red flags.
"Your powers, you've been feeling them growing?" Fiona watched as the girl's brow furrowed, even more confused by what was going on than before.
"Yeah, like crazy. But I'm not the only one who's powers are growing." She tried to make the situation make sense in her head, but everything told her that the snake-oil salesman in front of her was anything but honest. The alcohol within her held a counter-argument.
"Have you ever wondered why?" The Supreme held her head high. The smile curled up in the corner of her lips when she heard the scoff escape the other girl.
"Uh, apart from my being awesome?" Madison's lips let out a drunk 'pfft' as she leaned back, her arms extending outward. She wasn't expecting the Supreme to become hostile.
"I'm the source." Fiona's volume raised ten-fold as she leaned into the girl's personal space. Her index finger pointed inward, knocking against the center of Madison's rib cage in anger.
"My life force is literally pouring out of my body and into all of yours." Fiona took a step back. She took a deep breath as she tried to collect herself. Now wasn't the time to play games. This was kill or be killed, and only one of the parties involved was aware of it.
"This is no mystical mumbo-jumbo. This is real." Madison swallowed hard. The fear in her eyes took over the rest of her body as she stood with her feet planted against the center of the white fluffy rug in front of the piano. It was the same spot she'd stood only nights before, comforted within Corey's tight embrace.
"I have cancer." Fiona let out a laugh. She slouched down into the chair that rested opposite the actress, its back firmly against the wall underneath Mimi's portrait. "I won't last the year." Madison stepped forward. She hesitated before taking a step back into the space she had felt safe in.
"I have connections," she struggled to find the words to say. Compassion wasn't her strong suit when it came to anyone other than Corey or Stevie. That was clear enough in her failure to help Zoe. "My agent can get the best oncologist in the country here in a flash." Fiona laughed at the suggestion. Her eyes locked onto a far corner of the room.
"Chemo? Oh— Oh, no, no— No, no, no, I'm not going out bald and shriveled and..." Madison nodded. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips as she looked down at the floor in front of her. "Begging for morphine. No. I've lived a disreputable life, but I've done it in style, and I'll die likewise." Fiona wrung her hands together. She refused to allow herself to look at the actress that dared to make her feel any real human emotions. She scoffed as she looked from wall to wall, continuing to avoid looking at the obviously uncomfortable witch standing before her.
"I don't belong on these walls. I took my inheritance too soon and..." Her voice was almost a whisper, as if saying it any louder would tell the universe that she'd regretted taking the throne when she did. "Squandered it. All that power, all those gifts. I just took it and poured it back into myself and dressed it up in Chanel." She stuck her tongue out, letting it run across her upper lip to keep herself from crying. Fiona didn't care that she was telling Madison the truth. Her goal was never to allow the actress to rise as the Supreme. It was to make her vulnerable enough to snuff her out and continue on her merry way.
"I was a shitty Supreme." Her eyes landed on the blonde. The young girl caught her breath as she inhaled. "But, now, my mentor, Anna Leigh Leighton. Now there was a Supreme." Fiona rose from her seat, finally stalking towards Madison. Towards her purse atop the shiny black piano that Corey had previously poured her soul over every night that week.
"She was majestic and powerful. She taught me everything I know." The Supreme's voice wavered. Her focus locked on the eyes of the portrait against the wall. Madison watched her with a furrowed brow, trying to understand the words coming out of the older woman's mouth.
"You know how I thanked her? By cutting her throat. Right where I'm standing." The panic washed over Madison's face as she watched Fiona reach into her purse and produce a short blade. A letter opener, overly sharpened and lightweight. One quick thrust in her direction and she'd be done-for.
"With this. I've kept it all these years. And now I give it to you." Fiona stepped forward. Her hand wavered ever so slightly near Madison's throat. Again, the young girl swallowed hard. Her eyes moved frantically between the letter opener and the Supreme.
"Why? I don't want that." Madison could feel her chest tighten. She wanted to leave, to run away and hide, but she remained planted in place as the pure fear took over.
"Yeah. Come on, here." Fiona grabbed the blonde's hand. She wrapped the girl's limp fingers around the handle. She could feel that Madison was trying her hardest to let go. She clenched her own fist over the girl's fingers, making sure it remained in her hand.
"No, I have to go." Madison took a step back but Fiona yanked her body forward. The blonde lurched in the Supreme's direction, the tears falling down her cheeks. In that moment, she knew there was no getting out of this situation. Madison was either going to die right where she stood or take someone else's life. She refused to do the latter. Fiona had never wronged her, as far as she knew.
"Don't be afraid. Use it. Kill me for the sake of the coven." The Supreme spoke over the other girl, a deranged pitch in her tone.
"No." It came out as a mumble. As faint as her racing heartbeat with all the same gusto of her fear that bore through her eyes.
"Yes, come on. Don't be afraid. Do it! Come on, now, do it!" Madison pulled back. She tried to escape the death-grip against her hand.
"I can't!" She yelled. She hoped that anyone else in the building could hear her. One person. That was all it would take for the blonde's life to be saved.
"Yes, you can, you stupid girl!" Fiona shook the blonde's arm. Her face was full of anger as she continued to intimidate the young witch. The squeak that escaped Madison's throat as she tried to hold in her sobs was amplified by the rattle of her chest.
"Do it! And feel my power flow into you! I know, because I was standing where you're standing!" The Supreme grew more adamant with each shake of her hand. She'd known the plan all along, but she'd never expected her body to take over. It was as if someone was puppeteering her. Like something had crawled into her core and locked onto making sure she snuffed out the next Supreme before anyone could initiate the Seven Wonders.
"Stop yelling at me!" Madison screamed at the top of her lungs. She yanked her arm towards herself harder with each turn of her shoulders.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Fiona chanted the order over and over again. A broken record demanding her own deranged poetic justice. She wondered if part of her really was ready to die. If this was all just her soul preparing herself for her inevitable end.
"No!" Madison screeched. Her hand finally slipped from the handle of the blade. She stepped back, turning to take off. To find help. To get to safety.
"Do it!" Fiona swung her hand again. This time it slid across porcelain skin. She heard the gasp from the blonde, but her eyes were focused on her work. Locked onto the sloppy cut she'd made before thinking everything through. Red wine against pale white.
"No." Fiona was frantic. The word that escaped her lips was merely a whisper as her hands flew forward in an attempt to stop the bleeding. She'd forgotten all about one important piece of the puzzle.
Corey shot upright from a dead sleep. Her body was covered in a cold sweat as her hand instinctively moved to her throat. Her earbuds fell into her lap as she struggled to breathe. It was a combination of a strong gut pain— almost as if she had been hit by a truck— and what felt like her airways being cut off completely.
She told herself it was just a nightmare as she checked the time on her phone. 4:30am with no call from Madison sent the redhead into a further panic after the terror she had awoke from. Before she could even attempt to call the actress's cell phone, a tornado blustered into her room. Her eyes tried to focus on the figure that quickly approached her. Without her glasses, it was nearly impossible. The figure blurred as it continued into her line of sight.
Corey sighed, the figure disappearing the more the redhead blinked. The sweat across Corey's brow caused her hair to cling to her face and she quickly pushed it out of the way. She grabbed her glasses, haphazardly shoving them onto her face. She swallowed hard, struggling to catch her breath as she forced herself to calm down from the dream that had caused her such physical difficulties.