Days this quiet, days this cold, Lyza did not care for them one bit. While she was grateful for the lack of work she’d much rather spend her day with someone she loved rather than just doing nothing. She longed for Maya’s warm embrace or at least some form of company that could pull her mind away from isolation.

But the seasoned killer was gone, having left the previous day, and not returning at all, leaving only a text message as to their whereabouts. Maya had said she would head home, to clear her mind. Lyza wasn’t sure if she was lying or not, only that this was one of the few times they had been willing to go home by themselves. The designer assumed there was nothing there for her, seeing as her ‘one and only’ was elsewhere.

Perhaps, had Lyza told her where Six actually was, she’d have stayed behind. Was that the cause for Maya leaving so suddenly? Was she upset with her? She had reason to be, surely. Lyza has after all made an effort to keep her and Six apart, per the beta’s request.

Lyza shook those thoughts from her head as she lazily continued to work her way through her breakfast; a simple plate of eggs and toast.

No matter how badly she wanted to, she couldn’t tell Maya where Six was. There was just no telling what she would do with that sort of information. But the lengths the psychotic killer would go through to get her first beloved was something Lyza could easily imagine.

She held no real love for her sister, truly. The only bond the two of them shared was their blood and nothing more. Were it not for the Vermont name then none would really expect the two of them to be related. Lynette could disappear and Lyza was almost certain she’d only notice once someone told her.

But did that mean she wanted them to die?

Death was the only certainty Lyza could see, should Maya ever try and retrieve Six. Either his or Lyza’s foolish little sister. It was such a nerve-wracking thought. The prospect that Maya, in her desperation to keep Six from harm, would end his life to do so. Or that, in some small way Lyza cared for her sister. Or at the very least cared for the trouble that would arise should they perish.

It was all so draining, and though the morning was meant to begin the day with renewed energy Lyza could only sag into her seat the more she thought about it.

When did her days get so bothersome? When did her quiet, mundane life without the worry of killers or secret plots escape her? It felt like a lifetime ago now, and yet it wasn’t even three years since Maya came into her life. Along with the little problematic beta that was, at the time, nothing more than an eyesore.

Lyza smiled, recalling just how she came to meet Maya. She gripped her throat and wondered just how close she came to death that day.

She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so dark, so lost. A chill shook Lyza’s entire body yet still it was covered in a cold sweat. She was pinned against the snow-covered ground on an alley somewhere in Los Demonios. Cold metal was held to her neck as Maya forced her knee into the designer’s back. They had them at her mercy and already the crude knife the killer was using had found itself cutting into Lyza’s throat.

Not enough to be life-threatening but more than adequate to draw blood. Wonderful crimson that dripped onto the snow-lined earth, coating colorless white with dabs of beautiful red.

 They had seen each other several times before that night. That fateful night which should have been Lyza’s last few minutes on earth. Instead, a few minutes turned to nearly a full hour, with Maya having held her position longer than she should have allowed. Though Lyza’s back was turned to them, she didn’t need to look into their eyes to see that they were hesitant.

Prior to this one moment that would change both of their lives, they had slept together, shared meals together, had grown close to one another. Lyza truly believed she saw Maya for who they were. But, as with all other relationships in her life, it felt…slow. Mundane and quiet. She cared for Maya as one would care for…a desire. A brief escape from reality. A toy, a novelty. In that sense, she was no different than her mother or sister. But then again, that’s what she saw most of normal life. Mundane, quiet, and so dreadfully boring.

For some time that’s how Lyza viewed Maya. Just another regular individual in a city already filled with those who’d rather walk with the cards dealt to them. Oh how quickly her views changed when Maya came so close to bleeding her dry out in some alleyway, the designer’s name apparently not enough to warrant a better spot to be killed on.

Some no-name street in the ass end of Los Demonios, where people were too scared to walk for fear of coming across the same woman Lyza had believed she had known. Only now did she understand what it was Maya truly was. Only when she was so close to death at the hands of one so familiar with it did Lyza truly see what beauty was.

With snow still fresh from blood and guilt plastered upon Maya’s face, only then did Lyza truly know why all else in her life felt so dull. She was outcasted by her own mother and sister and despised by those who she was of similar social standing. She loathed the fact that, even after their mother’s death, she was forced to work alongside her sister. She was lost, alone, surrounded by the insufferably average masses whose actions you could always predict.

But Maya, she was different. She could not be so easily predicted, if at all. They cared little for the names and statuses of those she killed. She didn’t care if they were weak or old, weak, or strong. Maya killed all things without discrimination, yet here she was. Hesitating to kill someone who, in the short time they spent together prior, had actually managed to steal her heart.

While Lyza had seen Maya as little more than a brief escape from her reality, the same feelings could not be shared apparently. Maya saw the designer as more than that. She saw them as special, one of the only few people she’s truly loved in her life. And just like her previous love, Maya was ready to do as she did to him.

Yet she gave pause to her actions. And while Lyza wasn’t certain if Maya would stay her hand forever it gave her the time to realize something life-changing for the both of them.

“You are so beautiful.”

Four simple words which shattered the course of Maya’s actions. Neither can recall what exactly was said after that. Maya broke down, apologizing fanatically. She pleaded and begged for forgiveness and yet the funny that Lyza wouldn’t have asked her for it.

The designer was each and every bit as insane as Maya, but in ways that allowed her to better conceal it. That seemed the most likely explanation really, as what sane person would fall head over heels for the woman who had just tried to kill them?

Whatever the state of her mind may be, Lyza knew at that moment that she truly did love Maya. And judging through the tears they shed they truly did love her. Lyza didn’t care how long she had to sit in the snow and console her newfound lover. Her true lover. Even as blood continued to drip out from the wound upon her neck, now long since healed, she still sat beside and held her sweet Maya. For the first time in a long time, Lyza felt connected. She felt needed and loved.

Everything felt…perfect.

And then Six came into the picture.

A stubbornly kept secret who, for months, Lyza had been unaware of. It didn’t help that Six was a secret Maya wished to keep hidden, even away from her girlfriend. Perhaps the prospect of having two lovers, one of which was pretty much forced into the position, wouldn’t sit well with Lyza. It certainly seemed that way for the first time she had actually ‘met’ him.

The circumstances of their first meeting was…less than ideal. And that’s putting it lightly. At the time, the small beta was still untreated, the very bandages that bound his body still remained. Only at half an inch, Lyza wasn’t quite as intuned to those of such a small stature quite yet. She was far from the same level as Maya and as such Six would constantly need to worry about where she walked or sat. More than a few times was he caught underfoot, forced under the sole of her heels, slippers, or bare feet. And more than a few times did Maya have to offer a foot massage to retrieve the stuck beta. More often than naught those sessions of mere retrieval turned very intimate very fast, and poor Six would often find himself caught in between two living mountains of flesh or under tongue, either Maya’s or Lyza’s. In the case of the latter, that was actually how the two first met.

During such an act of passion, where Maya’s tongue explored the crevices of Lyza’s body, Six had found himself carried across the landscape that was his, at the time, second tormentor. Had his skin been like every other beta’s back then it’d have likely been torn off halfway into the two titanesses’ make-out sessions.

From Lyza’s abdomen and all the way up between her breasts, Maya worked and wormed her way into pieces of her lover’s clothes. She practically tore them off with her teeth, the half-inch beta upon her tongue force to watch in fear as great walls of ivory tore apart portions of cloth far larger than anything had reason to be. He held no fear that he’d be crushed underneath the great structures that tore and mashed food with ease. Instead, he dreaded the idea of being transferred from one mouth and into another, a fear that was normally well founded at the climax of each of these sessions.

Maya licked at Lyza’s lips, the small beta immediately becoming plastered to great masses wreathed in red lipstick. He was given just enough time to take in his surroundings and notice the look of confusion from Maya when finally she realized Six was no longer with her.

He didn’t need to imagine where he was, he knew. Six clung to Lyza’s lower lip as a fly clings to some trap. He couldn’t so much as move his arms, and from how high he was he had no reason to even try. It was only when Maya realized what had happened did her eyes fall onto the beta, and just as Lyza’s upper teeth came down upon him too. She couldn’t do anything as Six was rather forcefully into Lyza’s unaware cavern of tooth and tongue.  

Maya had thought the remedy to the situation would be simple. It wasn’t like this was the first time this had happened. She needed only to wrap her lips around her girlfriend’s to ‘fish’ out her little lover. Quickly proved easier said than done as Lyza was done simply letting someone else lead her on. With a speed that surprised even a seasoned killer, Lyza lunged forward and sunk her teeth into Maya’s neck. This early into their relationship, Lyza had been relaxed. More than content with letting Maya take the lead.

Eventually, she held a desire for something more aggressive. Lyza wasn’t certain how Maya would react to the sudden lunge or if she’d be all too forgiving of it. It was a complete shot in the dark that, eventually, was proved well founded. Maya fought against the urge to take part in Lyza’s games, the urge to reclaim her ‘one and only’ still there. It was a battle of will that she inevitably lost as, much like Lyza, Maya took a sizable bite out of her lover.

Neither was used to anything quite like this but took to it rather quickly. Certainly much better than Six who, for all his fears, found himself shaking when forced to see the gargantuan teeth of Lyza bite down into the neck of his captor and first tormentor. He could do nothing but watch in silence as blood pooled from where the canines had sunk into.

It flowed onto Lyza’s tongue but in spite of the bitter taste, she persisted. What she felt was ecstasy, and she would not easily do away with it. For Six though, he was in perpetual torment. Every so often the pink leviathan of a tongue would shift ever so slightly, a minor reflex to the iron taste of blood yet still one that shook the beta with wild abandon. He had no control of his movements, the entirety of his body subject to the whims of someone entirely unaware of his existence.

Every second he could feel it, the pool of saliva slowly rising to resemble more of a pond or lake. He wouldn’t drown, but nothing would stop his descent into the pits which waited for every meal the titaness consumed. Six panicked, and in so doing he made himself known to Lyza.

He climbed to her teeth, furiously beating his fists against the enamel. It was a desperate act, one that shouldn’t have worked. But against the flawless white, such wonderful care went into maintaining Lyza’s, Six found some success.

A minor irritation that, while it could have been easily ignored, was addressed. Lyza pulled away from her embrace, a thin line of blood-infused spittle still connecting her lips and Maya’s neck. She sat there in confusion, the sensation of something against her teeth too annoying to pass up, and only growing more irritating by the second.

She bit down, fully expecting to take care of what it was that plagued her. She did not. Six quickly tumbled to the inner layer of Lyza’s cheek the second she pulled away, just moments before she chomped down. The crash was ear-splitting. Like two grand structures colliding with enough force to absolutely demolish one another. Yet the ivory structures stood strong but were unsuccessful in dealing with the irritation. Whatever excess saliva Lyza still had she swallowed.

She nearly took Six down with it all. He persisted; every bit as stubborn then as he was now. And just as much an annoyance. Lyza searched with her tongue, desperately seeking the little nuisance. There was no doubt in her mind now that whatever was within her mouth was small, fast, and alive. And quite the climber if she had to admit. Six clambered so much that, even through trial and effort, Lyza couldn’t quite pin him down. He slipped from her tongue’s grasp each time she managed to pin him down.

She rose him to her palette and squished him against the roof of her mouth. Six would slip free, sliding down her tongue before narrowly missing her throat. Lyza would trace him against her teeth and yet Six would work his way into spots she couldn’t reach. She even tried swallowing him a few times and found THOSE attempts just as pointless as the rest. Even digging him out with her finger wasn’t helping

“Fucking SHIT!” she was well and beyond annoyed by that point and only grew more so when she saw Maya trying to hold back her laughs. It was when Lyza actually forced the killer’s finger into her mouth did they lose their composure. Maya had to work between her laughter and maneuvering her lover’s mouth to find her little darling. Unlike Lyza, Six couldn’t escape from his original tormentor. She was skilled in fishing for him, his size and placement little more than a minor setback. She was very good at… ‘maneuvering’.

When finally Six was pulled free, adhering to Maya’s finger as though he had been dabbed in glue, Lyza was finally presented with who would be one of her greater annoyances and subsequent victims. Maya explained just who Six was, how he was important to her, and that she, despite the relationship she and Lyza had, was just as in love with Six as she was with her.

Lyza…didn’t know how to process this information. She was happy. More than happy, she was ecstatic to finally have someone she could value in her life. Now, she was meant to hold some sort of rivalry with someone who wasn’t even as tall as her thumbnail? One could only imagine her surprise when she didn’t view this revelation with anger. She didn’t even hate the small half-inch beta. Maybe Lyza held a certain amount of jealousy considering Maya, even to this day, still considered Six her ‘one and only’. She wanted such a title for herself, and though Maya would at times refer to her as ‘queen’ it still didn’t carry the same weight as her first.

Her first beloved. Someone who she truly felt a connection with, much in the same way Lyza held a connection with Maya. In many ways, it mirrored what the designer had gone through. Maya held Six in much the same light that Lyza viewed her. She loved him, in her own twisted and sick way. She wanted to hurt him, make him hers in ways deeper than passion. Mind, body, soul. It was concerning at first, but the more Lyza thought about it the more she believed she understood.

And the more she thought about the small little beta of whose life she once made hellishly unbearable, the more she came to realize. What she felt when she first saw him wasn’t some semblance of hate. Jealousy perhaps, but not hate. Were it hate she would have been able to do away with him much earlier on in their ‘three-way’ relationship. He would stand up to her, he would argue and berate her. He would fight back even when victory was an impossibility.

As much as Lyza wanted to deny it at this instance, she didn’t think she could. The thing was, much like Maya, she saw Six that day much in the same way she finally saw Maya when she had tried to kill her. And much the same way, she wanted him with her. With them both. She wanted all three of them to remain by one another’s side in this confusing world that seemed to work against them.

“Gah, this is so confusing!”

Lyza pulled at her hair in frustration. From her kitchen she had moved to her living room, trying in vain to watch various horrid movies or worsening qualities in an attempt to take her mind elsewhere. Instead, she was met with aggravation and adoration. She loved both of them, Maya and Six. While she knew the first to have been the case for some time now, the second came as more a shock than anything.

She initially believed it to have been only a recent infatuation, but in reality, this had gone on from the moment she first saw him.

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” she teased and tormented him, much in the same way Maya did. She taunted him, like some schoolyard bully who held this crush that they didn’t understand. They argued, they bickered, they…”

“Oh my FUUUCK!” she acted so childishly! She was in her early thirties and still, she acted in such a manner. Lyza felt her cheeks run red with embarrassment. She didn’t know if she wanted to feel happy or sad that it’s taken her this long to realize this. Or both. Honestly, both might be fitting. She paused whatever movie she was watching before sinking into her couch, the weight of all this just forcing her down.

Before she knew it, however, she found herself smiling. It was beyond her control, this grin, and she did nothing to prevent this new warm sensation from taking hold within her. She was insane for loving a serial killer. She was crazy for loving some experimental beta, the first beta really to be shrunk. And really, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

So what if she were as mad as a hatter? Two people. She had two people who were important to her. Two people who meant the world to her. There was no limit to what she was willing to do for them.

Even if…

Even if that meant keeping them apart.

Lyza’s smile faded as reality once more set in around her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t bring them both together. Not just yet, not when Six still lived in fear of Maya. As much as the designer wished it to be otherwise, the facts were that Maya had killed Six. She had forced him to endure a hell no one should live through before kidnapping him and forcing him to remain in HER life.

Lyza understood that she had wronged the beta. Greatly, in fact. Though they had a healthy relationship now was it enough to warrant a relationship? And If it was could Lyza convince him to give Maya a second chance?

She knew it was something of an impossibility. What she was asking for was no different than a miracle. What Maya had done…

Even if she tried to rationalize it, Lyza knew that their crimes were far beyond anything she could have done.

No, she had to wait. Wait for the right moment, the right time, to tell Maya everything. She’d tell her the truth and the facts. That if she wanted Six back within her life then she would have to change. Not for her sake, not for Lyza’s, but his. Because if she remained the monster Six saw her as, not the beauty Lyza knew her to be, then she’d never see her ‘one and only’ again. And even for all the love Maya held for Lyza, the designer knew that would break her.

Possibly beyond repair.

“Okay…okay, just one thing at a time.” Both of those she loved were in some form of danger. Mentally and physically were entirely dependent on the one in question. In both areas, Lyza could do little to offer aid. What’s more, she wasn’t certain of exactly what it was she could do to help them. So much was going on around her that at times it was too much to remember. Much more than she originally thought. Many things were out of her control.

All save for one. A leash that had been held by her sister for too long. Lyza held a few strands of her jet-black hair between her fingers. She always went to such lengths to keep herself from having it all turn white from stress. Now, she was willingly allowing it to change. She prided herself on never dyeing her hair before, even when pressured by others. Now, if she wanted her sleek black back she’d very well have to.

At the very least she wouldn’t have to worry about getting any paler. But her eyes…

“I suppose lenses should hide the red for a time.”

She wasn’t certain if this would work. Hell, Lyza wasn’t even sure if this would make any difference or if she’d even be in a state where she could offer aid. But it was a direct attack on the control her sister had. Not over Demonios but on herself. If anything, she was just letting her emotions guide her actions. But even if they were, Lyza was thinking clearly for now.

She would do away with the hand that held her back, not through some espionage bullshit but through her own means. And who knows, if Lyza played her cards right than she could get this to work out in her favor.

Six was gone, freely choosing to stay close to the hands which controlled the City of Demons. Maya was off to do god knows what, likely lost now that she did not have her first beloved. Roxanne…well there’s no telling what they were doing. But in the end, they were all working against Lynette in way, shape or form.

And now, for Maya and Six’s sake, Lyza would too.