June
Lucy's Age: 6
I ultimately decided to take a mixed approach, although I'm not sure that any of it matters at this point. I've left my memories of time spent with Lucy alone, but I've ruthlessly destroyed or moved all memories of traveling back and forth to her apartment.
It means that Imastious can find out about her, but given the size of the city he shouldn't ever be able to find her. It seemed the best route, but recent developments have once again caught me off guard.
The other night I was picking up some of Lucy's books off of the floor and a picture slipped out of one. It was an old-style five-by-seven print, the kind of thing that I remember coming and then going once digital really took hold.
The picture was of a park that looked very familiar, but that wasn't what drove me into a fit of rage, at least not initially. There were dozens of pictures secreted inside of Lucy's books, and based on the differing outfits I had to conclude that they were taken over a prolonged period of time. There were other kids in the pictures, not just random kids playing in the background either. Someone had posed Lucy and the other kids so that they could take pictures together.
It went against every order I'd ever given Mrs. Agosti. I wanted Lucy kept safe, wanted her isolated from disruptive influences, from the kinds of attachments that could lead Imastious to her.
Already angry, I opened my mouth to call for Mrs. Agosti and ask her why she had disobeyed my orders and established a playgroup for Lucy, and then I saw it. The last picture was of Mrs. Agosti and Lucy and it was the same park as all of the others, only now I recognized it. I recognized it because Lucy was leaning against the exact same piece of playground equipment where I'd left Antoine's child after killing her.
My heart stuttered as I realized why I'd had such a hard time placing the park. I'd meant to destroy all memories of the incident. I had in fact destroyed everything obvious in an attempt to make sure that Imastious never learned about my having caused most of the reverses suffered by the Red Hand Consortium lately, but somehow among all of the other killings over the years I'd missed expunging this particular murder.
I connected it to the events from my journal almost out of instinct. There wasn't any way for me to be positive that I was remembering the time I'd killed Antoine's daughter, but I'd killed so few children during my life that I was fairly sure that I'd connected this particular death back to the proper incident.
The resemblance was uncanny and my heart raced as I realized that Lucy was now the same age as Antoine's daughter had been. I don't know that I've ever been full of so much rage. I've been angry before, but there was something different about this feeling. I was simultaneously in complete control of the situation and utterly powerless.
I could punish Mrs. Agosti in any fashion I chose, anything from firing her to killing her instantly, but I couldn't force Lucy to do anything, not really. The two of them had conspired together against me, had conspired to keep Lucy's friends a secret, and this was just a foretaste of things to come.
It took every ounce of control that I've been able to develop since I was turned, but I stopped myself from rampaging through the house. I carefully put the pictures back in Lucy's books and then I went into my room and began activating the contingency plans that I'd put into place back when Mrs. Agosti first started displaying the stubborn streak that has been an almost constant thorn in my side these last several years.
Renworst has little in the way of personality left after all of the constructs I've placed inside his mind over the last few years, but he's utterly loyal to me which is a difficult quality to find, even in a human. My fine control over my powers has continued to grow, but I probably couldn't have carried off such a successful conditioning campaign if not for the fact that Renworst desperately wanted somewhere to belong, someone to trust, a higher cause than merely his own miserable existence.
He'd been patiently waiting in a property I'd purchased in Yonkers for a time when I'd need him, and I could practically hear the eagerness dripping from his voice when I told him to get the car and meet me in front of Lucy's apartment.
I knew it would take a while for Renworst to make the drive down, even well after midnight, so I used the time to the best advantage possible. I packed a few things from my room. I didn't need much really—my laptop, a change of clothes and my journals. Then I drugged Mrs. Agosti, tied her up, and gagged her, all without making any real noise. Lucy didn't even wake up until I picked her up from her bed and moved her into my room so that I could pack some of her possessions, and even then she went right back to sleep once I set her down on my bed.
Once Renworst arrived I took Lucy out to the car while he retrieved the suitcases from inside the apartment. The drive up to the house went smoothly and was finished well before I needed to go to bed, so I've taken this opportunity to update my various journals.
I'll spend tomorrow with Lucy to help her adjust to her new surroundings and then I'll head back into the city and deal with Mrs. Agosti.