A Spectre of The Zealous Mind

[Chastity]

I look up at Peter through tear stained eyes. I feel so far away from him, even though we are only sitting about a foot apart.

"If your gift is not meant to be shared, then why share it? You do not need to kill."

I stand up, pushing the chair out behind me.

"Pain is real, Peter. Though you may not be able to feel it with your synthetic heart, I can. Tears do help the world. They would if more people actually cared enough to cry. Even J'esus wept over Jerusalem, and now I weep. I will not ignore my pain and simply wipe away my tears and go on with life. There is a time for every purpose under heaven, and this is my time to weep."

I walk away from him and over to the kitchen. I start picking up dirty dishes and placing them in the sink. I turn on the hot water, plug the sink, and add soap. I watch as the steaming water swirls around the bowls and sthingys.

I stick my hands in the water, oblivious to the fact that they are being scalded. I start to wash the dishes, my face stoick except for the tears still running in little streams down my cheeks.

I break, and with a crash, I throw a bowl down into the sink, splashing hot water up in all directions. (Forgive me Lord for sinning in my anger). I whirl around and face Peter.

"Don't you care about anything? Is your heart so cold that you would just hand out death without even blinking an eye?"

[Kaschei]

"I am fine. I am simply used to haveing someone to fall before my power, and now, she will not. Though this is indeed very good for the Ministry. Let's discuss this no further. It is an unpleasant topic. I must be weary to let this bother me so. I think I shall go to bed." Kaschei says. He is confused by this sudden gap inside him,

["Zero" Americanski]

"No!" she says. "Any attempt to escape now will end in failure." she recognizes the look in your eyes. "My lord does not appreciate men who covet my body. I would suggest that you think about something else. In the mean time I am ordered to protect you. This does not include 'entertainment'."

[Machiavelli]

"Do as you wish my friend. I only wish to help. Do not submurge such things inside yourself. It will only eat away at you and make you weak at some point. Better to voice it out loud. But i will leave you to your rest my friend."

Mac smiles and kisses Kaschei lingering for only a moment on his lips before pulling away from his friend. He backs away and bows slightly.

"I will leave you to your own vices and to your slumber my friend unless i am needed for something?"

[Peter "The Owl"]

"Yes," he answers instantly. "I could kill anyone in this city and feel nothing." Peter stands, walking slowly towards Chastity.

"I remember it all," he says, tapping the side of his head, "Shielded ROM drive. Paris, teaching, life without LIF. It all became clear a few days ago.

I did some research when my memories started to come back. My family. Their dead.

My brothers. My father. My mother. All my aunts, my uncles. All of them.

Everyone I ever would have cared about is gone."

He says all this with stone face and his steady tone, nothing different at all.

"Their gone. And I can't even cry," He lays his hand over his heart, "Because it's dead in here. Empty. A shell that once was a man."

The Hunter draws out one of his .45s, places it against his chest, and fires, blasting a hole through where his heart should be. He doesn't even flinch.

"See? No heart. No emotion." Something passes behind Peter's eyes, something new, something that wasn't there before. "No soul."

[Dinari Dollar]

"Whoooah, hot chick alert!"

I walk over to Alex and hot woman.

The guards are on a smoke break, so I can be my boiserous self.

"Hey, what are you in here for, hot stuff?!"

["Zero" Americanski]

"Vlad sent me here to remove you. However it is still to early to make an attempt." she says coldly, even more so than she just did to Carnegie. "Do all mortals think about sex constantly, or is it just you?"

[Alexander Carnegie]

"Don't be a thingy, Dinari. This woman is getting us out. But just shut up about it or we will get killed."
He is such an idiot.
"Excuse my friend. He is mentally challenged. I am his caretaker."

[Chastity]

I scream as the shot rings out, and take a step back as Peter keeps on talking. A dark substance oozes out of his chest, coating the front of his shirt.

I cannot stand seeing him this way. I walk back from him. He has experienced so much pain, and it has deadened him. He is no longer a man, but a shell of what used to be a man.

I head toward the stairs, toward the sanctuary of my room, still facing Peter as I step backwards. This is all too much for me, It is too much for one day.

"Would you kill me?" I stop walking, simply facing him.

"Would you point that gun at me, and pull the trigger?"

Something inside of me, a small voice perhaps, tells me that I actually wish that he would fire a round into me and take me away from this world of pain. It would not take much, and I would never again have to see the carelessness with which people are treated. I would never again experience the loss of someone I love. This feeling consumes me, as now all sense of reason leaves me.

"Would you do it, Peter?" I step toward him.

"Would you shoot me," I point to my heart, "here?"

I am sure that if you were to look at me, there would be a crazy glint in my eye, though the rest of me seems calm and cool as ice.

"And would you feel nothing?"

[Dinari Dollar]

"Ooh that is a good one, and here I thought that the syphilis you contracted from sleeping with your little sister would have taken your wits by now."

I frown, no one makes a fool of Dinari Dollar.

"Not all mortals think about sex. Like priests and stuff. So what are you? A goddess. Yeah, I am a god too, the god of money and great sex."

["Zero" Americanski]

"Yob tvoyu mat!" she snarls angrily. "I am a servent of Lord Kolov, head of the Order of the Dragon. You are not a god."

[Kaschei]

"Good night Machiavelli, you may join me if you like. I need someone to comfort me. It has been a long day and I am very tired." Kaschei says as he heads toward his room.

[Dinari Dollar]

"No a god, you should have sex with me before you make such bold assertions."

I run my hand through my blue hair.

"So you speak french, huh? That is very sexy."

[Peter "The Owl"]

Peter's arm twitches, jerking slightly towards raising. It jerk again. Suddenly the Hunter's gun arm begins to shake wildly, shivering. The rest of his body is stone but for his arm and his face.

His eyebrows knit down, his eye's twitching ever so slightly. The gun falls from his hand, clattering to the floor.

"No... I can't. And that is the summary of my problems these days." Peter runs his hand through his hair, ignoring the hole in his chest, the black ooze soaking his shirt.

"It all started in Paris, everythings started in Paris. Simple, kill the demons, mission was easy. But no, had to see the kitchen. I just had to see you." His eyes lock on Chastity, flashing with something like emotion. "Ever since that day it's all gotten more confusing. Letting Aries live, watching over you so closely, my memories coming back. It's all because of you!"

His hands are grasping the sides of his head now, his eyes wide, almost like he's in pain, "Your doing this!" He shouts, "Your the one doing all this to me! Why won't you stop it?"

He starts to loose his footing, standing spread legged, holding his head like it's about to slip in two. "Get out of my head! My heart is dead, you don't belong there!"

["Zero" Americanski]

"You truly are a fool. I can see into your thoughts, and when I do I know that it is only your money that is worth saving. Like I told your friend, Lord Kolov sent me to protect your body, not to service it!!!