VAYL:“You will speak to me in a reasonable tone of voice. You will not scream or call out. Do you understand?”
GNOME-PUPPET(no doubt influenced by Vayl’s hypnotic suggestions): “Yes.” VAYL:“What is your name and title?”
GNOME-PUPPET: “My name is Dade Barnes. I’m the vice president of Odeam Security Software.” VAYL:“Do you understand what you carry within your blood?”
DADE: “Of course. It’s no big deal. Like an infection you get over once they administer the shot. And now I’ll be able to keep my house. My wife and kids.”
VAYL:“Dade, there is no shot. You have been duped.”
DADE: “Heh.”
VAYL:“Who else carries the larvae?”
DADE: “Just me. They call me the godpleaser. I’m like a saint to the gnomes.”
VAYL:“You have betrayed your country. You are about to cause millions of dollars of damage. You may be responsible for the deaths of thousands of human beings if—” DADE: “You think I give a shit? What’s my country ever done for me? What’s my fellow man ever done for me?”
VAYL:“Ah, so your status within your company, the house, wife, and children. Those would all have been attainable in any other country by a social misfit whose parents regularly demonstrate for the nation’s destruction?”
DADE: “How did you know about my—”
VAYL:“Answer the question.”
DADE: “Highly unlikely.”
VAYL:“And your fellow man? Are you saying you and yours have never benefited from advances in medicine such as antibiotics, cancer prevention and treatment, or even simple headache remedies? What about electricity? Clean water? Or perhaps we should discuss the woman who found your daughter wandering alone in Target and escorted her to the front, where her mother was waiting, before some monster could make off with her.”
DADE: “Are you some kind of psychic?”
VAYL:“No. I am Vampere. And I have come to kill you.”
DADE(his voice shaking now): “Y-you don’t have to do that. I won’t go into to the Space Complex tomorrow. Or ever.”
VAYL:“No, of course not. But you will die. The larvae erupting will cause you a most excruciating and bloody death. You will not be a hero, nor will your widow be rich. But you can redeem yourself today. If you do not know who else on your team has been turned, at least tell me who turned you.” DADE(sniffling): “It was the shaman.”
VAYL:“Where would a gnome shaman get such a large amount of money as you no doubt required?” DADE (sniffling harder): “I don’t know. I never even met her. After the first call it was all just Internet contacts and money wires.”
VAYL:“Her? The shaman is female?”
DADE: “Psh, yeah. Are you sure it’s going to hurt?”
VAYL:“Have you ever had a blister?”
DADE: “Yes.”
VAYL:“This is like being encased in blisters that explode from the bone outward. You will die screaming.”
DADE: “Aaaah, God.”
VAYL:“I believe your god respects his children’s choices. You made the choice, Dade. As a result your country has been forced to make another. Come with me.”
DADE(quick intake of breath as Vayl’s power lifted. I could feel it, even from outside, the icy-cold tendrils of a Wraith’s touch, freezing the traitor into lethargy even as the smooth undertone in his voice insisted on cooperation.)
Distraction, as gnomes began to emerge, not from their faked door, but from bolt-holes in the back corners of the lot. I picked them off. Two from one. Four from the other. Pause to switch clips. Bam, bam, bam. Another set of head shots that left Ufran with yet more dead to process.
“Help me out, ladies,” I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut, hoping the tears that rose would clear them.
Teen Me launched herself at the chieftain, her first bitch released before she’d even screeched to a halt within millimeters of his rage-blotched face.
