Page 34 (2/2)
She took his wrist, which was the thickness of a nor in with hooked thuht nail-blades She worried holes and scratched, hoping to snag a vein or a nerve
The Executioner felt no pain
He wasn&039;t even her real irl up on the irin
Red lights exploded in her skull
&039;Who are all these people?&039; Penelope deuessed &039;The senate and populace of Rome?&039;
&039;Oh, them!&039; Penny spat
Kate saw that the crowd in the stands was eois, isolated and pri close to the arena, craning for a smell of blood There nised none
Except the little girl in Nero&039;s seat
Kate recognised the coht This hat she had feared Penny was appalled and fascinated by the spectacle
&039;Is this soan revival?&039;
&039;I think it&039;s more than that,&039; said Kate &039;That creature is the secret ruler of Rome She&039;s taken upon herself the duties of the Emperors Maybe they were always her duties, and she let the Eaift and a de up but Kate couldn&039;t hope to explain everything in the tiht they had come upon was nearly over The Crimson Executioner held up Genevieve, as a tribute for Mater Lachryh,her way down an aisle, toward the arena itself Penelope followed, pacifying the irritated spectators Kate had pushed aside with a flash of her fangs and a witheringly British glare
&039;Bloody foreigners, eh?&039; Penny hts&039;
Kate was not about to bring up fox-hunting and pig-sticking
The cheering and calling subsided Even the Executioner&039;s hollow laugh shut off The monster child pondered the verdict
Kate vaulted a rail and landed in the arena Broken pillars were all around Penelope let herself down gently and brushed dust off her good coat
&039;You,&039; Penny commanded &039;Put that woman down&039;
The Crimson Executioner&039;s head swivelled like a hed, a sound hideously fa at her mind If the Mother of Tears had ht take hold of her ht be forced to hold Penelope dohile the Crimson Executioner finished off her friend
No She was not a puppet
The British vampire Kate knew to be a spy stepped out froun at Kate and Penny
&039;Commander Bond?&039; Penelope said
He was the puppet here He&039;d always been a thin character, too easily slotted into a stereotype That hat made him vulnerable He was the sort ofto and to tidy up after him
For the first time, Kate wondered who the Executioner really was A circus strongman? An actor in peplum movies?
Bond levelled his aim between Kate and Penelope
Penny ined, and took the gun away from the new-born She squeezed the weapon in her hand, and it popped into clunky un, Bond was a boy whose favourite toy has been taken away A coirl&039;s brain to his and he tried to put his fingers in Penny&039;s neck She took hi forainly arc and fell badly Though broken, he scraether but as a puppet he wasn&039;t allowed to bother with his snapped bones
A section of the crowd cheered
Penelope gave a cheerful wave, like aat a Commonwealth airport
Kate faced the Executioner
Genevieve&039;s eyes were bloodied She looked at Kate, silently i her not to sacrifice herself
The Mother of Tears could not be bested She was as eternal as the city She was True Death, who overtakes all living things in time She was mistress of a million puppets She was, Kate could ad
The Crile He squeezed and Genevieve let go of his wrist Her bloodied hands flapped by her sides He h to let the audience in all corners of the Colosseum see the defeated elder He looked up to the child eirl stuck out her arm, hand flat, thumb out
The crowd called for death
The hand wavered The thumb turned down
The crowd cheered like a hurricane
Kate saw thein the Crie slowly sparked along his nerves, the order to wrench off Genevieve&039;s head
Mater Lachrymaru But the Crimson Executioner was a man in her thrall
Under her spell, Bond hadn&039;t been free to look out for hih he&039;d have been more use to his mistress without the shattered li a puppet, the trick was to cut the strings
Penelope pounced, sinking teeth into the Executioner&039;s forear therip didn&039;t tighten on Genevieve&039;s throat Penny stuck her thuroaned as one, in sympathy They could take any amount of diseed eyeball and they wanted to spew
Kate tackled low, hugging the biga shoulder into his sto off hiround shook with the i at his aro of Genevieve&039;s neck
Kate crawled over the fallenPenelope out of the way She looked deep into his re to reach the man he must once have been
There was only one way
Penelope orking on his hand, shredding the skin and flesh fro Genevieve Her hands and lower face wereher knees on rubble, until she was kneeling at the Cri down at his upside-down face - upside-down, like the reflection in the Fontana di Trevi - and the ruin Penelope had made of his neck Blood seeped fro, but his o until the last elder in Rome was dead
She loosened her collar and stuck a thu a rent that dripped blood onto the Executioner&039;s face She dislocated her spinal column and pressed her wound to the Executioner&039;s s into his torn-apart neck
She sucked his blood into her mouth and let her blood trickle into him
There was an electric connection
She had a sense of who he had been An actor She uessed
His mind was still there, and her blood reached it If he turned, he&039;d be her get, a responsibility for centuries She was taking him away from his mistress She felt his lips close on her throat He suckled fro, strings of blood between Kate and the o, Kate,&039; Penelope said
She heard Genevieve coughing
The sweet strong blood was in her throat She sed so out, into her conquest
She had come to Rome for love And found it
&039;He&039;ll turn,&039; Penny warned
That didn&039;t et like the Crimson Executioner, she could stand up to the Mother of Tears, could set herself up as Queen-Eht of Charles
And broke the connection
She stood up and squeezed her neck-wound shut Her blouse was stiff with blood Ruined
Penelope helped Genevieve, holding her upright as her crushed neck filled out and healed
&039;Hail to la vampira,&039; someone shouted The cry was taken up Flowers rained from the sky
The Crimson Executioner - whoever he had been - was shaking in his death throes Kate&039;s blood was in his mouth, but he didn&039;t s He choked and vampire blood poured out of hi to let anyone else claim him
A man died He&039;d had a name once A life
As he died, the crowds left Kate, exhausted, slu hand Genevieve couldn&039;t speak yet, but was gasping gratitude Penelope, elegant despite the gore smeared on her face, was still puzzled by the drama into which Kate had impressed on her
The people of Rome went back to their dreams Kate saw Inspector Silvestri and Diabolik, Cabiria and Marcello, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Palliatti, the waiter from the Hassler and Elsa Martinelli And hundreds of others, from all walks of life and death Everyone she hadto the city, and those who had been there but unnoticed A circus parade and a funeral party, a riot and an orgy, a communion and a coirl suames? This spectacle was shut off from the everyday life of the city, but could not be taken out of it The city was a great, beating heart, and all hearts need blood as ht-selves of the populace the games, and the memory would not outlast the dawn But the spilled blood kept Rome alive
How often did this happen?
Kate felt death as the blood in her mouth went rancid She spat, and wiped her one
Penelope gave Genevieve to Kate They hugged, fiercely
Again, all three va
&039;Thank you,&039; Genevieve croaked
&039;That&039;s all right, ,&039; said Kate &039;Least we could do&039;
They broke the hug
The Mother of Tears ith thelowing face Her purity was hard, unsy to Father Merrin, she told only the truth Under some circumstances, Kate would have preferred to deal with Mamma Roma, who told only lies
&039;Elder va Genevieve &039;You irl could pour forth fire
For the first tirew, pupils whirling spirals Genevieve was struck, gripped by an invisible force Kate tensed, feeling an impulse to throw herself between the two Was that brave or stupid? She couldn&039;t decide
Suddenly, Penelope dee, missy?&039;
Penny didn&039;t understand who she was dealing with That made her brave and stupid She walked towards Viridiana, ready to give this i as if she were soirl not the secret mistress of an eternal city Penny would be destroyed Kate couldn&039;t let her step into the line of fire without understanding
Kate didn&039;t think about it She stood in front of Penelope and Genevieve It et to ht about it
&039;Miss Reed,&039; she said, &039;the love of your life chose this elder over you, and yet you&039;re willing to die for her Miss Churchward, you don&039;t even like this elder, and yet you&039;re willing to kill for her&039;
The saint was genuinely puzzled, but still cunning Her shot went straight to Kate&039;s heart
&039;We&039;ve been through a lot together,&039; Kate said It sounded feeble, put like that
Viridiana stepped back into the darkness and stepped forward as Santona Her &039;ndrangheta servants lurched out of the shadows of the colus will pass, Katharine Reed,&039; the fortune-teller foresaw &039;Va remnants are mindless Their souls have flown As have yours, missies You only feel out of habit It will pass&039;
The &039;ndrangheta raised silver-tipped spears
The Mother of Tears evidently had a killing pack to spare in case her chief puppet failed
Genevieve laid her hands on Kate and Penelope&039;s shoulders She gently pushed them aside like doors, and stepped forward
&039;I&039;ll stay,&039; she said, croaking &039;But narled face wrestled with a puzzle
If Genevieve illing to die for her friends, then she could love and hate and feel And Mater Lachry about elder vampires
Santona considered Genevieve
Kate realised they were saved Not just for tonight, but for all tienuine, then it was possible to becoirl Kate did not have to yield to that gradual withdrawal froun to think the inevitable lot of her kind
Daas breaking Pink light rose in the sky
Genevieve, though torn, was not broken Her hair caught the dawnlight and shone Her face refors receded Her hands lay on Kate and Penny&039;s shoulders, like a real rip that said you were protected, that no harled and weary after a night servicing the lusty
&039;You are ga emotion you do not feel You cannot love&039;
There was contempt in the whore&039;s accusation, but it made Kate&039;s heart burst with joy
&039;You&039;re lying,&039; Kate said, exultant &039;You always lie&039;
At the last, there was only the little girl, nameless, silent, cruel, lost For the first tie her mind She wasn&039;t happy about it but that didn&039;t stop the The little girl was as half-blind as a one-eyed jack, as capable of taking one side of an arguht decide the other way and they&039;d all be cut to pieces by silver blades
Kate and Penelope supported Genevieve between them They left the arena