As one, the crowd of vampires around the troll’s prone body parted silently, creating a corridor to the big man. Only one creature remained, and suddenly Sinunu understood what had made the scream and why Flak had faltered. Her stomach lurched, and her knees threatened to betray her.

“He kept calling for me, Sin. I just had to come.”

Truxa stood over Flak’s body like a ghost of her former self, the troll’s blood on her mouth. Sinunu knew what she was looking at. De Vries had told her, had warned her that Truxa might still be out there somewhere, had described in detail what Truxa might have become. He’d called her a banshee. Still, he hadn’t prepared her for what she was seeing now.

“Truxa?” To Sinunu, her own voice came out like that of a lost child, and her despair was punctuated by the detonation of a rocket exploding on the far side of the compound.

The banshee nodded and Sinunu blinked quickly, as if her vision had become blurred. It was Truxa, and yet it wasn’t. There was something missing, and Sinunu had seen enough corpses to know what that something was. Without life, without, the spirit that makes a person human, these creatures are nothing more than a collection of matter. That’s what I’m looking at now, a lifeless corpse.

“Come to me, Sin. I know what this looks like, but you don’t understand. You’re running around destroying the most wondrous creations ever made, without the slightest understanding of what you’re doing.”

Sinunu felt strength come back to her, and she found herself laughing a low deadly thing among all the death around her. “Shut up.”

Suddenly, the grin faded from Truxa’s face, and for just a moment, weakness swept through Sinunu. “Sin,” pleaded Truxa, “you’ve got to understand, it’s me. It really is. And what’s more, you and I can be together again. Forever. Isn’t that what we always promised each other? That nothing would separate us? Not even death?”

Sinunu stopped, her heart tearing itself to pieces in her chest. She looked at the mass of vampires to her left and right. She’d never thought of them as individuals before, had killed them without ever distinguishing one from the next. They had all been the same to her, but now she made out differences, These had once been normal men and women, and looking at their solemn faces, she could see old scars, different nationalities, different ages.

“I can give you the gift, Sin.”

Sinunu turned back to Truxa and realized that she could have been wrong. Wrong about everything. After all, Truxa had never lied to her before, had always seemed incapable of lying.

Sinunu felt a smile cross her lips and watched its mirror on Truxa’s lips, still covered with Flak’s blood, and yet so beautiful, She was about to step forward, her arms coming up to embrace her love forever, when she felt the light touch of a hand on her shoulder.

“I know it hurts,” whispered Rachel, who must have come closer during the fighting, “but that’s not Truxa, Not anymore.”

Rachel. there for her, again. As if coming awake from a dream, Sinunu looked at Truxa once more, and the thing in front of her was no longer beautiful. Instead, all Sinunu could focus on was the blood smeared on Truxa’s lips.

Incapable of lying? Sinunu thought. Truxa would never have been able to kill Flak before, either. Who knows what new tricks she s learned?

Sinunu squeezed Rachel’s hand, and looked Truxa in the eye.

“So that’s how it is?” asked Truxa. “Was I that easy to replace?” The look of scorn on her face fueled Sinunu’s anger.

Sinunu strode forward. “The Truxa I knew and loved can never be replaced, but you’re not her.”

Then, the air behind Truxa seemed to condense, conforming to a shape. With blinding ease, Martin de Vries shook off the magical shadows that had hidden his approach and took hold of Truxa, immobilizing her. He bent to say something, and Sinunu could barely make out the words.

“I know what you’re about to try, little girl, but trust me, you can’t. I know tricks you haven’t even thought of; and don’t presume to pit your puny magic against mine. I know the real Truxa is in there somewhere, buried under the abomination of the virus. I also know that woman is screaming right now. Screaming for release. Let us help you.”

Like a ground swell, a hiss arose from the assembled vampires, but for some reason none of them moved. All eyes were fixed on de Vries, who looked up and smiled sadly at Sinunu.

In Sinunu’s chest, her heart had become a stone. She strode forward, bloody stake in her hands, with Rachel at her shoulder.

As she came close, Sinunu watched Truxa go limp in de Vries’ arms. The only thing hinting that her body was still animated was the wavering track of the elf’s eyes as she watched death approach. Sinunu pulled a fresh stake from her belt.

“I love you.” Truxa’s voice was soft and quiet, just barely loud enough to make its way over the distant sounds of battle.

Once again, Sinunu’s resolve faltered. She looked up at de Vries, who held her gaze with a steady look. “And I love you,” she said.

Truxa smiled then, and despite the blood, it was Truxa again. “Then give me peace.”

Standing over the dead body of her best friend. Sinunu rammed the stake through the heart of the only person she had ever loved.

35

In summary, we believe the evidence shows beyond any doubt that Marco D’imato has violated the bylaws of the corporation, Fratelanza, Incorporated, of which he is responsible as Chief Executive Officer: He has diverted corporate assets for his own private schemes, then knowingly concealed these activities from the corporations management and those parties who share in its ownership. He has shown a pattern of behavior that is at once unstable, deviant, and gravely harmful to the functioning and best interests of the corporation. Had it not been for the intervention of Julius D’imato, the corporation’s Chief Operating Officer; the fraudulent and erratic actions of Marco D’imato might have resulted in the failure and dissolution of Fratellanza, Incorporated.

– 

from D’imato vs D’imato, brief presented by Fillips, Bonavear, and Justran, Attorneys at Law, Magnolia District Court, Judge B. L. Clausen, presiding, 07 August 2060

Raul Pakow crouched behind a table in the operating theater as the concussion brought down more of the ceiling. A large chunk of concrete hit his head, sending bright bits of light spinning in front of his eyes. Pakow reached up, touching blood, and carefully pushed the flap of skin, which lay curled against his scalp, back into place.

Wiping blood from his eyes, he peeled off his shirt and used it to slow the flow of blood. He keyed the portable telecom again. “I don’t fragging think so. This whore damn place is coming down around my ears.”

Wake’s voice was distressingly calm. You can and you will. I need that chip. Just download the access codes so I can get to the data from the Matrix. That shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Then get out of there through the tunnel. When you reach the main exit, simply hit the red button, and it will set up the timers for the explosives. I’ll be waiting at the heli pad. Bring me the chip and we’ll lift out of here forever, and get you back to your family.

It was the thought of Shiva that did it. Just the hope of seeing her again, of holding her, of saying he was sorry, that was enough to get him moving.

Standing upright, he keyed for the download. Seconds took hours, as the wealth of information transferred to the chip. This was the key to everything. All the most up-to-date information on the Delta strain, which they’d been compiling for the last two weeks.

Wake had been personally overseeing the extraction of some of the more sensitive equipment when the new attack had begun, and he needed to get out now if he was ever going to get out. Pakow knew that Wake needed this data even more. Without the data to show his masters at Ordo Maximus, Wake might not be able to count on their continued patronage.