Carmine smiled up from my screen, pleased with my compliance. I wished he was here in person, so I could wipe the smirk off his face. But that was going to have to wait.
“Now, to start with, who do you have there, listening in?”
“Is that relevant?”
“It is if I say so. Don’t trifle with me, Rayna.”
I sighed and turned the phone slowly, showing him the inside of the car.
“Ah, Gail how nice to see you again,” Carmine exclaimed as I panned across the driver’s side. “It’s been too long.”
“Carmine,” Gail acknowledged, eyes fixed on the road. “I’m happy to see you whenever you want. Just give me a location.”
“A kind offer,” he chuckled. “Perhaps when this is all over, we can meet for coffee.”
Gail only grunted in reply, I moved the camera to show the back seat.
“Ah, Simon. What a pity that things turned out this way,” the incubus’ voice took on wistful quality. “I remember how much you used to respect us, the Domini, what we were all working towards, together. It is sad to see how low you’ve fallen, how much you have allowed your weakness for their species to control you, even turn you against your own people.”
Simon shifted uncomfortably in his seat but said nothing.
“You used to have such grand plans for what you would do, when we were all finally free. What happened to that man?” Carmine continued.
“Man!?” Simon shouted, unable to hold his tongue any longer. “I was a boy, then! A boy who bought the garbage you sold, because I was too stupid and too weak to think for myself. You manipulated me. You manipulated so many of us. I almost did something terrible, unforgivable, because of you and those like you. I will live with the guilt of that my whole life. The only thing I don’t regret is betraying you. So go fuck yourself with the mind games. I’m done with them.”
Carmine shook his head, to all appearances the disappointed father of a rebellious child,
“A shame you have to be so stubborn. Perhaps you’ll change your mind, once you are back in the fold.”
“I’d die first,” he spat.
“That can also be arranged,” Carmine dismissed him with a wave and turned his attention to the other passenger. “And you must be Elizabeth, a shame we didn’t get to meet under better circumstances. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise. None of it good,” Liz replied.
“Oh? You spend too much time with humans, I suppose. I have done nothing but try to advance the cause of our people. A shame some can’t see that I am working for them, for their freedom. Like your friend the Councilor. Was it wise to leave Oliver alone, under the circumstances?”
“Oliver can handle himself.”
“I suppose we’ll see, over the coming weeks,” Carmine sighed. “It seems I will have a lot of house cleaning to do, once things are stabilized here.”
Liz gritted her teeth but didn’t engage him any further. I turned the phone back to me.
“Is that all?” Carmine sounded disappointed. “I had hoped dear Jessi would be with you. We have so much still to talk about, she and I.”
“She isn’t here. And if I can help it, you’ll never lay eyes on her again. You’ve already done enough to her.”
“I bet if I asked her, she wouldn’t agree,” he grinned. “My pets always eagerly come back for more.”
“You are sick, you know that?”
“No, this is how we are meant to be, Rayna. It is the others of my kind that are sick. We used to be predators, we sated ourselves as it suited us. Now we bow and scrape to our prey. It’s unnatural and I am going to put things right. On that note, let’s get down to business, shall we?”
Carmine adjusted the camera to bring James’ face into focus, his eyes were bloodshot, with dark circles under them and his left cheek was badly swollen with a partly healed bruise discoloring the side of his face. He grunted something through the gag, but I couldn’t understand him. Then the butt of a gun struck him on the cheek and his head dropped for a moment, before raising again, blood flowing from a fresh cut, anger in his eyes.
“I warned you to keep quiet, James. It is rude to interrupt,” Carmine spoke from offscreen. “Now, as much as I hate to admit it, Rayna, you and Simon have caused me a lot of trouble, recently. I spent many years and a lot of effort on this plan, only for the two of you to do your level best to derail everything. The effort it is going to take to smooth things over…” he shook his head. “But, I don’t intend to give up on it now, nor do I intend to let either of you off the hook for the damage you have done. Hence, my two demands. You are going to help me put things right, if you want to see your boss again. Then we go our separate ways.”
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“Separate ways? You expect me to believe that you will just… let us all go? After you already tried to have every Partial killed?”
“Only to stop you from interfering. Which, I think you can now see was obviously necessary. But that ship has sailed. I don’t need you all dead, I just need you to stop getting involved. Walk away, live quiet lives, stop all this nonsense, and we can call this over.”
“To be clear, you are still planning on assassinating several world leaders and taking control of their governments, though? And you want us to just… let that happen?”
“Why not? Could we really be any worse than the people in charge already?” he laughed.
“That is, admittedly a low bar to slide under, sometimes,” I rolled my eyes. “But considering what I know about you and your friends, yes, it would be worse.”
“Worse for some, perhaps. Better for us. Maybe it is finally our turn to set the rules. After all, why should ubarae have to subjugate ourselves, just because of other people’s fear? Why should those like me have to suppress our desires, never experience true pleasure, because others consider them ‘wrong’?”
“Your desire to make people suffer for your amusement and gratification? You are really going to try using that language to paint yourself as a victim here?”
“I don’t see why not. I didn’t choose to be this way.”
“Go fuck yourself, Carmine. You aren’t special. Everyone is required to act in a way that minimizes harm to others, not just you. If you have to prey on others to be happy, then no, you don’t deserve happiness. And the fact that you would even try to make that pitch is, frankly, disgusting.”
“It doesn’t bother me, one way or another what you think of me. I was just trying to soothe your conscience. If you aren’t going to play along, that’s fine. Either way what I want from you hasn’t changed, so let’s not waste any more time discussing it. It’s simple. You’ve heard my demands; I gave you time to consider. Now, all that is left is for you to give me what I want”
“How do I do that, exactly?”
“Well, let’s start with the easy one, shall we? I want the traitor, and I want him now.”
“How can I do that, if you won’t meet me for an exchange?”
“There isn’t going to be that type of exchange. I’m not an idiot, Rayna. No, we’ll do this my way. I want you to pull over the car and let Simon out on the shoulder, show me on camera, so I know there are no tricks. Then, tell him to walk east. I have some friends in a car nearby; they will take care of things from there. No need for you to trouble yourself further. Once that is done, we can discuss how you will fulfil my other demand, and then James will be released.”
I glanced back at Simon. Carmine had thought this through.
“I can…”
“Shut up, Simon,” I snapped.
I knew what he was offering. If I asked, he would do it. But if I did, I would be sending him to his death. If they didn’t simply run him down right here, they would bring him to Carmine for execution. Either way, I wasn’t going to trade a life for a life, even if I thought Carmine would keep his word.
“You know I can’t do that, Carmine. Both of your demands are impossible, and I suspect that was intentional.”
“Oh no, not impossible,” he corrected. “Simply difficult, either logistically or morally. Remember, Rayna, I know you, know what you are capable of. I didn’t ask this of you because you couldn’t do it, I asked because I knew you wouldn’t.”
“Then why? Why do any of this, if you knew I would never help you?”
“You want to know the truth?” Carmine smirked, bemused. “I’ll tell you, because it won’t make a difference, even if you know. You see, it’s like I said at the beginning, you and Simon have really made a mess for me to clean up, and I owe you for that. Yes, I knew you would never agree to what I am asking, obviously. But I still had to ask, and I had to make it possible, because now, for the rest of your life, however long that may be, you will wonder if you could have saved him. And you will blame yourself for failing to do it. Maybe if you did what I said, risked a bit more, maybe if you were just a bit smarter, a bit quicker. Even if part of you suspects it would have ended the same, no matter what you did, there will always be that piece of you that wonders, won’t there? A piece that blames you, wonders if the others blame you, if James here blamed you, in his last moments. People will, of course, try to comfort you, they will say that you made the only choice you could, that you did the right thing, that it wasn’t your fault. But that won’t really change anything, will it?”
I glared at the phone in silence, what was there to say to that? He was probably right. I considered hanging up. This had never been a negotiation, it had been a game, a ploy to hurt me, nothing more. I shouldn’t indulge him. I should hang up the phone, deny him the satisfaction. But I saw James’ eyes, saw the fear he tried to mask with anger, and I couldn’t just hang up or turn away. If this was my choice, if he was going to die because of me, to get to me, then he wasn’t going to die alone. I owed him that much.
“If this is between you and me, don’t involve others, Carmine. I will come meet you, wherever you are,” I attempted, one last time.
“Oh, that would be going far too easy on you, wouldn’t it? Besides, I am sure I will see you soon enough, anyway. I will give you one last chance, though. Send Simon out, and maybe I will have mercy, give you a bit more time to figure out a strategy, to find me and stop this,” he laughed. “Maybe you’ll figure out a way, if you just think about it a little longer.”
I gritted my teeth. Gail looked over at me from the driver’s seat, questioning what I wanted her to do. I just shook my head slowly.
“You are certain, then?” he asked.
I didn’t answer the incubus, instead, I held James’ gaze,
“I’m sorry, James.”
There was a muffled grunt through the gag and for a moment, the corners of his eye crinkled, as if he was smiling. He was trying to tell me something, but what, I couldn’t be sure. Then, the camera shifted back, framing both Carmine and James in the image, the incubus raised the gun to James’ temple, holding my gaze as he did.
“Remember, Rayna,” Carmine grinned. “This isn’t your fault.”
Then, he pulled the trigger.