A/N: Hello? Hi. I know it's been awhile. Well, I'm back. With my original idea for Where Butterflies Never Die. Back when it was still titled "A Grave Mistake" and didn't have any witchy stuff. It was darker, more violent, and had more sexual content.
The White Zodiac that would have been featured in Hearts Burst Into Fire – which, sadly, has been discontinued for the time being – was originally created for this story.
Without further ado, let us embark on this story together.
Saturday, October 26th, 1957
The Sullivan House
Madison, Ohio
Johnny winced, pressing his hand to his abdomen. Emily had gotten him good when she had slashed at him, slicing through two layers of skin. He pulled his hand away and studied them in the limited light shining through the window of the room he had slipped into. The rays of the full moon outside the pane of glass shone wetly off the blood dripping steadily from his fingers.
"I took a bow, and aimed it low, and caught you on the chin, chin, chin," a tremble went down his spine as his younger half-sister's voice rang and shimmered, echoing off the walls. He heard an eerie metallic sound as she dragged her blade along the cheap plaster of the walls that adorned the upstairs hall of the home she had only spent one month in. Before her mother had scooped up her newborn daughter and fled back to her parents' house on the rich side of town. "My mother said, now go to bed, I'll have to lock you in, in, in."
His fists clenched at his sides at the thought of Evelyn March.
The woman who had brought Emily into this world.
Johnny had never loved his half-sister. Had never even liked her, truth be told. From the time she was born, he had despised her. He had pushed her out of a second story window when she was four. While his father had explained it away as behavior typical of a five-year-old, his sister's wealthy maternal grandparents had disagreed and insisted that if Markus wanted to see his daughter from that point on, he would be doing so in their home, March House, under the watchful eye of Thomas March, on the Soc side of town.
Emily had formed friendships with several of the residents on that side of Madison.
Of them, no one was closer to her than Royce Clayton.
Johnny had not realized just how close his half-sister was to his enemy until two years ago.
The sight that had greeted him as he walked into the courtyard of Madison High that day for lunch had caused acid to churn in his belly.
On the edge of the fountain had sat Royce, Emily perched in the empty space between his legs, her back against his chest as she nibbled her cucumber with her obnoxiously white and perfect teeth. Royce had been conversing with her quietly, lips pressed to her ear, occasionally nuzzling her temple.
It had been odd to see someone who was normally aggressive appear so docile. Not that Emily was an exception to that rule in its opposite form. She came off as sweet and quiet, playing her little songs on her violin, but when you rubbed her the wrong way, she could be far more lethal than even the deadliest of spiders.
That was never more clear to him than it was now as he shifted and pain ripped low and wicked through his abdomen, a sharp reminder of Emily's ire and the bite of her blade. Icy terror seized him as he felt something soft brush against the skin of his neck.
"Found you."
As Emily sank the cold metal of her knife deep into the flesh of his shoulder, he found himself wishing for the first time in fifteen days that he had never killed Royce Clayton.
A/N: I hope you liked it. There is more where this came from.