Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

there, lovey? I'll have to feed you up when I get you out of here."
    "Where are we going?" said Stuart, keeping an ear open for the sound of approaching reinforcements as he reached down to snatch up a guard's gun.
    "The Rookery," said Nina. "Emma kept a place there, for emergencies."
    "Doesn't everyone?" said Stuart.
    And they both laughed quietly as they left the lockup and disappeared into the indifferent city, plotting their revenges.
    Anne Barclay watched James's funeral procession on her office monitors. She had considered going in person, but she was never comfortable in crowds. People made her nervous. She'd always preferred to view the world at a distance, through her monitors. It gave her a necessary illusion of control over the proceedings; and keeping the world at arm's length made it much harder for the world to hurt her. Get close to the world, get close to people, like poor dear Jamie… tears welled up in her eyes, even though they were already puffy and sore from crying. James had been the only one who ever really cared for her, and now he was gone, and she was alone again.
    There was a new carpet on her office floor. They couldn't get the bloodstains out of the old one. Anne didn't think about Emma Steel. Didn't think about her at all. She slept perfectly well, after a few sleeping tablets.
    There was a knock at the door. Anne carefully checked who it was on the corridor monitor before unlocking the door and letting Finn in. He saw what she was watching on the monitors, and sank easily into the chair next to hers.
    "Well, if nothing else he got to go out in style. Not bad, for a few cell scrapings with delusions of grandeur. Look at the peasants, lapping it all up. They do love a good show, and a good cry. They're always much fonder of their heroes when they're dead. Still, James served his purpose. He broughtDouglas down."
    "What are we going to do aboutDouglas ?" said Anne, still looking at the monitors.
    "I don't think we'll take him to trial just yet. Let him stew for a while in Traitor's Hall, while we encourage public indignation to simmer and grow ugly. Then, a very public trial followed almost immediately by a very public execution. Something slow and messy, I think. A good show will help to take the people's minds off… other things. Perhaps I'll duelDouglas to the death in the Arena! Yes, I like that. Finally, a chance to prove that I'm the better man, and always was."
    "Why do you hateDouglas so much?" said Anne. "He was your friend, once. You were always together; you and Douglas and Lewis. You seemed happy enough. Now it's like there's no room in you for anything but hate. Why, Finn? You're not like me. You've always had everything you ever wanted."
    "No," said Finn. "I never had what I really wanted. I was never their friend, not really. We were just colleagues, with things in common that no one else could understand. So we hung out together… but it always felt like I was just going through the motions. Most of my life felt like that, back then. And anyway, friendship wasn't what I wanted. All my life I desperately wanted love to be real, and it never was, for me. No matter who I was with. I think perhaps I'm not capable of it. I tried sex, as a substitute, but even that didn't feel real, for me. Passion has always been a stranger to me. All my life I've wanted to know… what every other man knows. To feel, just once, what everyone else feels. And I never have.
    There's only ever been me. So, if I can't have love, all that's left is hate, and to be a monster."
    Anne looked at him. "We've been close. Done things together. We could…"
    "No," said Finn, not unkindly. "Because it would mean something to you, and it wouldn't to me."
    "Are you happy now? As a traitor and a villain?"
    Finn considered the matter carefully, and then smiled. "Yes. I've never been happier. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm on my way to seeDouglas . Why don't you come with me? It'll take your mind off James.
    Trust me, there's nothing like gloating over a defeated foe to brighten up the darkest day."
    "Sure," said Anne. "Why not?"

    Douglas Campbell—once a Paragon, once a King—now sat alone in a bare stone cell in Traitor's Hall, weighed down with so many chains he could hardly move. Douglas had fully expected to be drugged like his father, to keep him quiet, but it seemed Finn wantedDouglas to be able to savor the depths to which he had fallen.Douglas had done a lot of thinking, in the peace and quiet of his