Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

Deborah's eyes were like that of a deer in the headlights when Katherine stalked towards her. "I-I…thought you left. You weren't supposed to be here." 

The older woman dropped to the floor in a frantic manner, trying to pick up the tablets that scattered around everywhere and then putting them back in the bag, her hands trembling about. Katherine was still perplexed but all signs were now blaring in her head while her aunt was panicking and looking very much like she was trying to hide evidence.

Katherine reached down and grabbed hold of Deborah's shoulder, gripping it hard as she questioned, "What are you doing with those pills?" Despite already feeling a knot in her gut at what this was all about, she demanded answers from her aunt, wanting to hear it from her own mouth.

However, Deborah's hands continued to shake as she refused to meet Katherine's stare. She kept her head down and resumed picking up the pills on the floor. "I-It's nothing, dear. They're vitamins!"

Pissed by her aunt's deflection, Katherine grabbed the older woman's wrist to stop her. "Aunt Deb!" 

Deborah swallowed and then slowly looked up, meeting Katherine's deadly stare. 

"I know those pills. They're banned by the DFA. Why are you putting them in Grandpa's pill box?" Katherine demanded.

Deborah opened her mouth to respond, but then she abruptly closed her mouth and kept it shut. A mixture of panic and anger contorted her face, seemingly caught red-handed and didn't know what to do or say.

Feeling enraged, Katherine tightened her grip around Deborah's wrist that the other began to whimper and retract her hand. "Answer me, Deborah! Are you poisoning my grandfather, is that it?" Katherine questioned under gritted teeth. She'd clenched her teeth so hard, they looked like they might crack.

Deborah still didn't speak, though her face already said it all. She was growing flustered by the second and she could barely look Katherine in the eyes. The change of expression on her face answered Katherine's question.

Grabbing Deborah's shoulders, Katherine gripped it hard and screamed at the other's face. "How could you! He's your father!" She was shaking in rage, her fingernails digging into Deborah's flesh.

"Father?" Deborah snapped. "He's not my father!!!"

"I know about you being adopted. You're still his daughter even if not by blood. How could you be so ungrateful!"

"That man never treated me as his own! He and Mother always saw me as an outsider! Do you know how I felt when I heard that I was adopted and that Mason would receive more inheritance? It's because I'm not their real daughter! Father knew I always wanted the company and yet he still gave it to his son! All because I'm not their blood!!!"

The wheels in Katherine's head turned as she listened and Deborah took the distraction as a momentary weakness that allowed her room to push Katherine off her and tried to get away. "Get off me, you wench!"

It was only for a split second that Katherine lost balance as she was on one knee just now when Deborah tried to escape, but she regained balance just in the nick of time. She then grabbed Deborah's thick hair from the back of her head and then slammed her against the dresser. "You're not going anywhere!!!"

Deborah screamed in pain and started cursing, her arms flailing about while trying to scratch Katherine on the face. Katherine was evidently stronger than the older woman but the latter was desperate as Katherine subdued Deborah and tried to pin her on the floor.

Katherine didn't see it coming when Deborah lashed out at her.

"That old man should have died that first time! And you! You should've been long gone with your pathetic mother and father that night! I should've made sure of it!"

Katherine couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her eyes widened and all she could see was the twisted face of the woman who just cursed her own family. It was as if her aunt was a whole different person. Who was this woman?

But then everything became clearer in a second and Katherine knew deep inside that the truth was staring right at her. "You… You're the one who killed my parents."

Deborah didn't speak, but Katherine swore she saw a tiny smirk on the other's face. And that pushed her over the edge—that was enough of a reason for her to kill Deborah right there with her own hands.

A shrilling scream tore out of Katherine as her hands went around Deborah's neck. Her eyes were misty and menacing. All she could see was red. It was like a switch in her head had flipped and turned her into something else, black fire burning in the depths of her core. "I'm going to kill you!!!"

There was no stopping Katherine. She became the killing machine, "Queen", that she was back in Shadow. She wasn't aware of it, but there were certain times in the past that she was uncontrollable. She attacked anyone who was in her way—it didn't matter who it was. It was hard to stop her; even Chris and Gus couldn't. Queen became someone unrecognizable. They had to inject a sedative into her to stop her, and when it was all over, she'd wake up not remembering what happened before she lost consciousness.

Right now while she had her hands on Deborah, the person who killed her parents, she wasn't the same as the one she became in the past, but she was dangerously close. All her focus was squeezing the life out of Deborah that she didn't even hear someone yelling behind her. Her only goal was death. Death to the person whose life was literally in her hands.

Images of that tragic night when she lost her parents flashed in her head, clouding her brain. Gunshots, screams, darkness, fear—all of them bombarding her entire being and she was stuck there, unable to escape. But instead of hiding away and crying like she used to whenever she was reminded of the death of her parents, Katherine used all of her anger and gathered them all in her hands. She consumed all of the darkness and allowed it to swallow her whole. Her parents were gone—no, they were killed, murdered. And nothing could ever bring them back.

This… This was justice.

Deborah was desperate for air,  her face was nearly purple—gasping and choking, her legs frantically kicking about.

Someone tried to pull Katherine off of Deborah, but in just a fraction of a beat, Katherine pushed away whoever it was who interrupted her and immediately went back to Deborah's neck. "Die! Die you—"

A shattering glass echoed in the room, and Katherine's hands loosened around Deborah's neck. Her vision became blurry before she fell limply on the floor, groaning in pain. Katherine tried to move but she was gradually becoming weak. She wasn't sure what happened. It was as though things were happening in slow motion while the ringing in her ear continued to blare in her head.

She reached for her head where she thought was becoming numb, pressed her fingers on the tender spot, and felt wetness. Her breathing became shallow as she looked at her trembling hand, seeing blood on it just before her vision went dark and she lost consciousness. 

A loud shriek erupted in the bedroom as the lifeless Katherine laid on the floor.