Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

Shreck.
    "You'll die, and then you'll help us," said Elias Gutman.
    There was a commotion behind them, and Toby and Flynn turned to look. Two blank-faced servants were hustling Clarissa through the open doors. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were red and puffy, as though she'd been crying for some time. She saw Toby and ran toward him. He took her in his arms, and held her tightly as she tried to force words past her tears. He stroked her hair gently.
    "It's all right, it's all right, Clarissa. I'm here now. I know what's been going on. I won't let them hurt you."
    "Love," said Grace, not looking around from where she sat in her chair. "Such a useful weapon with which to control humans. You won't make any trouble, Toby and Flynn, because if you do we'll hurt Clarissa until you stop. And she has done as she was told, because we said we'd kill you if she didn't."
    Toby gently pushed Clarissa away from him, so he could stare into her eyes. "Are you all right? Have they hurt you?"
    Clarissa controlled herself with an effort. "You don't know what it's been like here, Toby. Grace only acted like herself for visitors. The rest of the time she didn't even pretend. Then the servants changed. Finally Grace told me the truth.
    I tried to run, but the servants caught me. I was held prisoner in my room, told what to say to you and the outside world, on pain of your and my deaths. I've been the only human thing in this house for so long…"
    "Hush, hush," said Toby. He looked at Gutman. "Let her live… and you won't need to replace me. I could work for you, freely."
    "No!" said Clarissa immediately. "You can't do that!"
    "I'm saving your life!" said Toby, not looking at her.
    "I wouldn't want to live in the world Shub's going to make," said Clarissa.
    "I'll kill myself before I let them use me to control you."
    Toby turned reluctantly back to her. "There's a way out of this. There's always a way."
    "I don't see how," said Shub, through the mouths of Grace and Elias and all the servants.
    "Easy," said Kit SummerIsle from the open doorway. "He has friends in high places."
    He raised his disrupter and shot Elias Gutman in the face, blowing his head apart. The body slumped to the floor, finally free of Shub control. The servants rushed forward to jump Kid Death, but he already had his sword in his hand. He cut them down as they came to him, blood flying thickly on the air, and none of the servants made a sound as they died. The Fury in Grace's skin jumped up out of her chair and turned to run, only to find itself facing Ruby Journey, who had arrived unnoticed through the rear door. The Fury and the Maze survivor studied each other thoughtfully.
    "I'm not entirely stupid," said Toby, to Clarissa and Flynn. "If things were as heavy as I suspected, I knew I might need heavy duty help. So I arranged some, just in case. I knew Ruby Journey, and she contacted Lord SummerIsle. Fight fire with fire, I always say. All I had to do was keep the bad guys occupied until they could sneak in."
    Kid Death cut his way through the servants crowding around him, not even breathing heavily. The servants had Shub's thoughts, but their bodies were only human. He had to dodge a few disrupter blasts as the numbers thinned, but in a very short time all the servants lay dead around him, and he stood calmly among them, wearing their blood like badges of honor. He looked hopefully around for someone else to kill, but only Grace remained, still locking eyes with Ruby Journey; two women who were both so much more than they appeared.
    "I hear you're not nearly as powerful alone, without Jack Random's power to draw on," said Grace.
    "But I'm always growing stronger," said Ruby. "I'm much more than you could ever hope to comprehend, machine."
    The Fury smiled with Grace's mouth. "I shall kill you, and take your body back to Shub, and tear all your secrets from it."
    "Dream on," said Ruby Journey.
    "Want any help?" said Kit SummerIsle.
    "Don't you dare," said Ruby. "This one's all mine."
    She gestured with an empty hand, and a blaze of heat roared from it to smash against the Fury. Grace's skin blackened and cracked and peeled away from the blue steel beneath. The human teeth still grinned defiance as Grace's clothes went up in flames. But without Random to join with, Ruby couldn't summon up the
    intense heat that had melted Furies into so much metal slag, back on the plains of Loki. The heat quickly stripped away the illusion of Grace, but the machine beneath