Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

fiercely. There was blood all over her hand and her arm now, and some had sprayed across her distorted face.
    Finally Anne realized that Emma Steel had stopped moving. She knelt down, still clutching the gore-soaked paperweight in her hand, and checked the pulse in the Paragon's neck. There was nothing there. Emma wasn't breathing, and her eyes were fixed. Anne straightened up, and let the dripping paperweight fall from her hand. She was panting for breath, as though she'd just run a race, and her head was swimming. She noticed there was blood on the front of her dress, and brushed at it absently, making it worse. Anne looked at the blood on her hand for a while, and then at the dead body before her. Blood was soaking into her carpet, ruining it. Finn. She had to call Finn. He would know what to do.
    She went over to the comm unit, giving the body plenty of room, and called Finn on their special security line. He was busy, as always, and didn't want to be bothered, but somehow she managed to make him understand how serious the situation was, without going into details. Dazed as she was, she still knew better than to speak openly on a comm channel. Finn said he'd come immediately. Anne sat in her chair, and waited, trying not to look at the body. She tried to wipe the blood off her hand and arm. Her breathing didn't want to slow. She felt giddy, and sick. It seemed to take forever until Finn finally came.
    He had to knock and say his name several times, before she roused enough to unlock the door and let him in. He was very surprised to see the dead body. He made Anne tell him everything that had happened. Anne explained what she'd done and why, in a mostly calm voice, and Finn was very reassuring. When she finally finished, he put his arm around her shoulders.
    "Now you're not to worry, Anne. You did the right thing. And you did very well, taking out a Paragon, all on your own. And Emma Steel, too. I'm impressed, Anne. Really. I didn't know you had it in you. I shall see you in a whole new light from now on. But you're not to worry about a thing. I'll have my people come in and clean up this mess. No one needs to know Emma Steel was ever here. Now, she told you she had evidence against me. If she didn't bring it with her, she must have left it with someone, as insurance."
    "She mentioned a reporter she'd been working with," said Anne. "But she wouldn't reveal the name. I did try…"
    "I'm sure you did. We'll track down whoever it is. Someone always knows. You're not to be upset, Anne. You did well. You saw a threat to us, and you stamped it out." Finn laughed suddenly, and took both of Anne's hands in his. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make you my Queen! I can't think of anyone more suited to reign at my side. King Finn and Queen Anne; what a team we'll be!"
    The streets were crowded all through the Parade of the Endless, for James's funeral procession. Sobbing crowds lined street after street as his coffin progressed slowly through the city, borne on a gun carriage, with mounted ceremonial guards going before and after. Wreaths adorned the coffin, and the people threw flowers into the road before it. The man who should have been King, betrayed and slain by his own jealous brother. The media was full of it, on every channel. Cameras broadcast the slow solemn procession live, to every world in the Empire. To have lost him once was bad enough, all those years ago; to lose him twice was unbearable. To many, James's unexpected and miraculous return had been a
    sign that things were changing for the better, an omen of better times to come. That there was still hope, in the face of the Terror.
    And now that hope had been snatched away from them, by a man they'd once admired and adored. It was almost too much to bear.
    One person alone in the streets of the city didn't give a damn for poor dead James. Nina Malapert, anonymous in the ubiquitous mourning black, her pink mohawk subdued under a heavy black cowl, shouldered her way through the packed crowds, not even glancing at the street. She was on her way to the public mortuary, where Emma Steel's body was being held. No public procession for the Paragon Emma Steel, even though she deserved it more. No, Emma was condemned as a traitor now, her body destined for the city incinerator, her ashes for the city dump. Not even a stone with a number on it, to mark her resting place. Nina was damned if she'd let that happen.
    She had to bribe her way into the mortuary,