Necrosiac 23 Part 3 of 3 (1002 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Necro
Rating: 1.89 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Snark << snarkk.at.gmail.com (View user info) at 2004-11-01 11:46:45 EST
The first 22 Chapters are here:
http://www.ubersite.com/u/snark
NECROSIAC 23 Part 3 of 3
Terri stood outside the door to the Director's office and considered what she was about to do.
Using her ability on anyone outside the line of duty without their express permission was a chargeable offence. If she was caught, it would be grounds for immediate dismissal. The law regarding using magical talent on another person against their will was clear but widely ineffective where her talent was concerned. Detecting the use of the Truthsayer ability was hard enough, proving it was next to impossible, and to her knowledge, Smith didn't possess any magical ability, let alone one that would alert her to what Terri was doing. Still, she found herself morally unease at using it on her boss. She'd always prided herself on taking the high ground where her talent was concerned. She didn't like using it on anyone but her suspects. Something about using it on her colleagues or friends felt too much like a breach of confidence, almost like lying to a parent.
Still, as much as she didn't like it, she supposed the situation warranted a certain moral flexibility.
A quick glance at her watch told her she'd better get the meeting over with. Smith had requested Terri's presence the minute she got back to the office and between her meeting with the Lead Investigator and checking on Mattaius she'd delayed close to four hours.
Smith would surely be angry with her if not outright furious. Leland had been relatively forgiving by the time everything had been said and done. She wondered if she would be as lucky with the Director.
Terri knocked on the solid oak double doors in front of her and wondered when she'd perfected the skill of getting herself into shit, and decided it had probably been around the same time she'd been reunited with her partner.
After a few moments without a response she knocked again then opened the doors to greet the smiling face of her strangely slant headed boss.
"Who chained it?"
"I believe the Clerics spells are what bind it. They're the only thing keeping the cancer from running rampant"
Taela nodded at the confirmation of her suspicions and turned back to her mentor.
"Monty, setting it free may be the only way to stop her"
Stevens crossed his arms in front of himself and shook his head.
"You've tried that my dear. Every time you step into the ring she resets you. The first time you tried you actually got to him but couldn't find a way to break the chains"
She looked up at her warden then down to the sawdust at her feet and ran one hand through her thick black hair in thought.
"She doesn't seem to be paying attention to me..."
"She always looks like that. Believe me, she's aware of you"
"Maybe if you distracted her?"
Stevens shook his head again.
"We've tried that too. If something's going to distract her from your activities it's probably going to have to come from outside"
Taela kicked the wood chips at her feet in frustration then frowned back at the Ringmaster.
"Never a Knight in Shining Armor around when a girl needs one"
Stevens gave another of his trademark half smiles then glanced up and froze.
"Methinks you may be mistaken m'lady"
Taela returned her gaze to the wire above her and focused on the unfamiliar figure of the tall woman walking across it towards the waiting waif at its center.
"Should I know her?"
"Yes, her memory was one of the first our jailer destroyed"
"Destroyed? Not stripped?"
Stevens answered but chose to remain focused on the women facing each other above him.
"You remembered her as a woman of some strength. Her memory put up quite a fight. I don't think she had a choice but to destroy it"
For the first time since her arrival in the tent she could feel a glimmer of hope begin to grow within her.
"Is she a caster? Is she powerful?"
"I don't know" he replied "She was your memory, not mine... I do know that she has a special meaning to our host. She was screaming something about her father as she tore her apart earlier"
Taela took a few steps back to better position herself, to view the two women and said "Do you know her name?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I guess we should call her something..."
Taela nodded agreement then turned to the Ringmaster once again.
"Let's call her Percival"
"Terri, come in, please have a seat"
(I want to know)
Terri left the closed the door behind her then crossed the space in front of her and settled into the plush leather chair across from the Directors black marble desk.
"I apologize for my tardiness Madam Director. My partner was injured during the altercation at Agent Tasker's home"
Smith's strangely thin lipped smile wavered for a second then widened.
"It's quite alright. I understand. You and Mr. Pitt are incredibly lucky to have survived"
(I want to know)
Know what? Terri wondered. It was already evident to her that something was out of the ordinary with her boss. The fact that she'd referred to Mattaius as Mr. rather than Agent was strangely out of character. As was the way she sat, as if at a formal dinner, back stiff, head cocked to the side.
"Is there something wrong with your neck?"
Smith let the smile fade a little.
"It is nothing more than a trifle really. Please don't be concerned for me. There is something of greater importance I would speak of with you"
(I want to know about you and him)
Terri made an effort to appear calm as the strangeness of the directors words turned her suspicions into a full fledged fear. She wasn't yet sure if she was talking to the enemy or a madwoman but she understood that she was in danger. Smith's smile was becoming more and more like a snarl and her eyes seemed cold, almost threatening. Almost unconsciously she found herself reaching one hand towards the knife hilt in her boot, and considered bolting for the door, then thought better of it. If she was going to raise an alarm she would need more evidence than a few strange words. She was already on shaky ground where her reputation within the agency was concerned, and she knew she couldn't afford to cry wolf. She decided to continue the charade in the hope her talent would provide insight into the woman across from her.
Terri forced her own smile and started to place her hand back in her lap, but then let it hang as she noticed the Director's hands busy beneath the desk, as if she were fondling something in her lap, a gun perhaps.
"What would you like to know?"
"Please tell me of your altercation in the Antique Shop" Smith replied "Tell me about the man you killed there"
(I wish to know how you killed my Father)
The intention behind Smith's words hit Terri like an electrical shock and her reply slipped treacherously out of her mouth despite herself.
"Hello Lillith"
The flesh puppet before her smiled genuinely then picked up the phone on her desk, hit a button, and spoke into it quickly and calmly.
"Security? Yes, this is Director Smith. Please send someone up to take Agent Anaka into custody. I'm afraid she's gone quite mad... Thank you"
Terri leaned forward and firmly gripped the handle of the knife in her boot.
"You'll never get away with this you bitch. I'm getting up right now and walking out of here to get Smithy. Then I'm coming back with an army of Casters to kick your twisted ass back to the rotting brain you call home. You can try to kill me if you want, either way the charade's over"
Lillith's shell snarled back "Murderess! You're not going anywhere. I'm going to peel the skin from you one strip at a time. Until then, you are going to sit in a dark cell and wait for me!"
"Bitch! I've been killing Necromancers since before you were an undead gleam in your father's rotting eye. You can't touch me and you know it!"
Terri unsheathed her knife in case Lillith was desperate enough to attack her, then placed a hand on the desk before her, to push herself out of the chair.
Across from her Lillith smiled victoriously "Darling. You're going to do my work for me" she spat, then reached across the table with a catlike quickness, grasped Terri's hand, and dragged her straight to hell.
Taela watched the women balanced precariously on the wire above her embrace then turned a questioning look to her friend.
"What's going on?"
Stevens frowned back.
"It would appear Percival is in trouble. The Necrosiac has her now too. Something tells me the place she finds herself in won't be as pleasant as this... where are you going?"
"I'm going up there. I have to help her"
Stevens moved to block her and gave her a dour, almost condescending look.
"You've tried that before too. If you attempt to cross the wire you'll fall and we're back to square one. Even if you somehow manage to get to them what can you possibly do?"
"I don't know! Something! Anything!"
"I agree. You have to do something but understand Taela, you have one chance. You can't afford to let your passion ruin it"
Taela shot a look at the women above then back to her friend as the knowledge of what she had to do made itself horribly clear in her mind. Reluctantly she turned towards the pulsating clown and said "One Chance"
"Yes" he said "Do or die"
"Die"
Stevens placed a consoling hand on her shoulder "I believe it's the only way"
Taela took a deep breath and wiped a nonexistent tear from her cheek, then crossed into the next ring towards Tumor the Clown.
Brian's screams seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real"
Across from her, her brother stepped out of the blackness and screamed again as he tore a strip of skin from his own raw bleeding chest.
"Oh God Brian... I know this isn't real you bitch!"
"Darling it really doesn't matter. It is real enough. We are going to play and then I am going to rip into your mind. By the time I let you go, you are going to be completely insane"
Terri opened her mouth to respond but the words stuck in her throat as Lillith stepped from the blackness beside her sobbing brother, and slowly sunk the black painted nail of her index finger into the bleeding trench on his chest.
Once again the high pitched scream of her dead brother filled the emptiness surrounding them.
"Leave him alone! You want me don't you bitch? Come fucking get me!"
Lillith sucked the crimson stain from her finger and grinned evilly.
"No. You get to suffer first..."
"Like your father suffered? Have you found my memory of it yet? Did you watch him beg for his life like a coward before I tortured him to death?"
"You didn't!"
Terri laughed and gave Lillith a wink. She understood that she was probably inviting disaster with her lies, but she decided anything was better than spending her last sane moments listening to Brian's screams, real or not.
"Oh yes I did" she replied sweetly "I slow cooked him for an hour. You should have heard him beg me to let him out of the oven. He sounded like a little girl by the time I finished him off"
"FATHER WOULDN'T BEG"
"No? How do you think I know your name? You know, it only took half an hour before he offered to personally bring me yours and Adrian's heads..."
Lillith stood shaking with rage, her small hands balled into fists at her side but didn't respond.
"I obviously didn't believe him" Terri continued "so I took his head. It's in a jar on the mantle above my bed, right next to your Mother's"
Terri tensed as Lillith took a trembling step towards her and replied between clenched teeth.
"No playing for you filthy Murderess!"
Terri opened her mouth to respond but the words died at birth as Lillith shot impossibly fast across the space between them and grabbed her by the head.
"I'm going to rip your mind wide open!" she screamed "You're going to wish we'd played!"
"I can't break the chains!"
"She's fading!" came her mentor's panicked reply "I think the Necrosiacs destroying her!"
Taela fought against the almost overwhelming urge to run screaming from the abomination in front of her. The malice washing off of it seemed to soak into her like water into a sponge, filling her with the promise of her destruction.
"Monty what should I do?!"
Stevens turned towards her and shrugged "My dear, there is nothing more I can tell you except that we're out of time. I saw her do this to your assistant. In a moment our Knight will be vanquished and you will be reset"
Taela turned back to the struggling bloated rage beside her and did her best to think through the despair baking into her bones, then turned back to her Mentor sadly as the answer came to her.
"I'm going to miss you old friend"
Montgomery Stevens removed his hat from his head and bowed deeply.
"The pleasure was all mine Madam Director"
Taela turned then ripped the gag from Tumors mouth and rode his wet throaty bellow into oblivion.
"DIE!"
Terri came to the realization that she was somehow back in reality too late to stop the blade of her knife from piercing the Directors forehead.
Across from her, Smith sat motionless, tongue sticking loosely from the side of her mouth, eyes rolled up into the back of her head as if trying to look at the handle protruding from its center. Suddenly her entire body trembled then stopped, as she coughed once then slumped forward onto the desk, the impact driving the blade in to the hilt.
"Oh god no!"
Todd Burke looked at security monitor 22 - 0 and froze. Before him on the screen he could see Director Smith, slumped face down on the top of her desk, a red pool slowly expanding around her head.
"Oh no... Not again"
For a moment he stood in disbelief, torn between duty and the urge to quit his job for real this time.
After a brief moment he decided on both then pressed the button on the microphone before him.
"This is Burke. Get me Wong"
Security Chief Wong answered almost immediately.
"This is Wong. What is it?"
"Two things... One, I quit. Second, Director Smith is in her office, I'm pretty sure she's dead"
Confident he'd done as much as was necessary, he ignored Wong's response then grabbed his knapsack and threw his ID badge and gun on the console in front of him. A minute later he left the security office with the weight free saunter of a freed prisoner, slamming the door behind him.
"No more dead people!"
Half way through the lobby he stopped as a sudden chill swept through him followed by a deafening CRACK, as the front of the building disintegrated into a cascade of splintered glass.
"You gotta be kidding me!"
Todd Burke turned and ran for his life as a howling swarm of dead people crossed the threshold into the building.
User Reviews
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-06-14 19:52:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It must have been torture waiting for each new installment to come along. Even now I feel desperate for more, and I am only seconds from opening part 24.
Submitted by Revolutionman (user info) at 2005-05-06 18:25:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Charred (user info) at 2005-03-31 16:45:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Seriously?
Find a publisher.
Submitted by Malificent (user info) at 2005-03-25 10:42:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jo_of_the_golden_P (user info) at 2004-11-29 21:32:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2004-11-19 20:49:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jogging_Monkey (user info) at 2004-11-03 12:55:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
snark wins
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-11-02 16:24:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think "Alive" may be stretching reality a bit, but I am able to rate.
The mayhem, death, destruction, and pure evil genius of this series never fails to lift my spirits and put a spring in my step.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-02 10:51:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
AshK,
She lives... She's Alive. SHEEEE'S ALIIIVE!!! MUAHAHAHA!
I thought you went on an ocean voyage and fell off the side of the earth. (It's not really round you know)
Circe,
All I can say is everything is going to plan. (Except for the crappy ending to the story)
also, your last two posts were humbling. I want to have your baby (or at least try for a few hours)
Cryo,
I hate the wording. The story is progressing as planned.
Like I told Circe earlier, there are two simple rules to Necrosiac:
1 - Everyone must die.
2- Not everyone has to die.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-11-02 09:05:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
...series!!!!
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2004-11-02 02:40:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The dead people are invading?
"Has your character list gotten out of hand? Do you need to knock out a few main characters in order to keep the story going? Do you need death on an apocalyptic scale? Bring in the Zombie Army! In no time at all, your cast of thousands will be whittled down to something you can manage easily! And if you pay by credit card, we'll include, for no extra charge, this set of steak knives."
I'm right, aren't I?
Submitted by Cryopaul (user info) at 2004-11-01 20:02:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Pure liquid awesome.
So do you not like the wording of the last sentence or do you not like what you've set it to lead to?
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-11-01 17:47:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2004-11-01 14:15:13 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm running out of eloquent ways to say this is fucking fantastic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by Cisco at 2004-11-01 15:23:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent.
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2004-11-01 14:15:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm running out of eloquent ways to say this is fucking fantastic.
Submitted by wazzawazzayo (user info) at 2004-11-01 14:00:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Are you kidding me? I love this ending! You might have worded that last sentence a little more poignantly, but the overall effect remains strong regardless.
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2004-11-01 13:25:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Awsomeness!
Submitted by Xena (user info) at 2004-11-01 13:10:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fantastic as usual...
I think you're being too hard about the last line...I don't think it was your best choice of wording...but it's far from shitty.
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2004-11-01 12:35:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Consistantly brilliant.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-01 12:02:44 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Yeah, that last sentence is going to stick out in my mind as something that should have never seen the light of day.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-11-01 12:00:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Regardless, still more than worthy of a +2.
And really, the only bit that seems a little weak to me is the wording of the last sentence.
Submitted by funk_boy (user info) at 2004-11-01 11:52:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm not sure whether i disklike it or not
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-01 11:47:31 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
The ending on this one sucks. The more I read it the more I disklike it.