Long, long downhill

Elizabeth helped him up.

She was taking too much risk, letting him touch her, grab her. She must have known it too. Which showed that she was really desperate, that she wasn't lying.

Or she should prove it, but that didn't mean he was going to let his guard down so soon. He couldn't.

So soon? Or not at all?

What would he decide?

At last, Jonathan dropped his hand. He needed all the help he could get and information. That woman seemed like a good bet.

"Now you're going to ask me to call my men off," Jonathan said slowly.

"No. We can trust each other, up to a point, because there's something keeping us tied to this suicide mission. The same cannot be said for them. They would choose themselves. Just like any normal person."

She didn't hesitate for a second before answering.

Surely Elizabeth had imagined how this conversation would go before he ever set foot in the mansion. Running through dozens of possible variations, to try and find what would make him cooperate.

She'd been a pirate, but she'd been living in different waters for years now. Fucking politics.

Jonathan was a leader, too, but he wasn't used to that kind of environment. To the deceit and manipulation, to trying to see everything two steps ahead.

Pirates were usually bad liars, just as bad as drunks in a tavern as average as they were. As bad as when said drunks would say: Another round, and this is the last one. In fact, many times the pirates were those very same drunks.

Elizabeth would be a good ally to anyone.

That had never been the problem.

Jonathan nodded his head.

"You understand that they all have to die. Not just the soldiers," Elizabeth continued, impassive. It wasn't something that had taken him completely by surprise. But he was still left at a loss for words.

He had thought he was prepared for it. He wasn't so sure anymore, for a variety of reasons.

"I haven't had the right to look my wife and daughter in the eye for a long time. But if I do this..."

"What's more important to you? The approval of dust in the wind? Or getting revenge?"

How blunt.

What a... What a bitch.

Jonathan gritted his teeth.

"The soul exists." That was a fact, not a question of faith. Things like the stats screen were something that existed outside the body, outside of everything physical, on a higher plane. "Maybe the afterlife too."

Maybe. Just maybe.

But hope was the last thing to go.

"That's not the point. You know that."

Once again, what a bitch. But she wasn't wrong.

"I'll leave the civilians out of it."

That didn't mean, of course, that the city guard was guilty. But it would be easier for him to kill them. Because at least they could defend themselves.

And because, well... Scores to settle with ghosts from the past.

"Is that your decision?" Her expression didn't change one iota, but her tone became harsher than before. Not that it mattered, but she was very different from what the stories told.

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"Yes."

For a moment, he wondered if she wouldn't throw the plan to hell and shoot him between the eyes, this time.

But only for a moment.

"Okay. I guess it's better than nothing."

Could it be true, was she as desperate, with nothing to lose, as he was? Jonathan opened the office doors again. Still not turning his back on that woman, though. It didn't make sense; even he knew that. If Elizabeth had wanted to, she could have shot him a long time ago; she hadn't needed to trick him, since she'd already won. But...

It was easier to think about it than to act on it.

"You don't trust me? "It sounded like a question, but it wasn't a question, of course. "Okay.

To his surprise, Elizabeth extended the gun toward him. Inviting him to take it, clearly. Even if it didn't make sense. He cautiously moved his hand closer to the gun. After touching it, he removed it from there briskly, as if fearing she would jump on him. She had let him take the gun from her. This was far worse than grabbing his hand. There was nothing to stop him from killing her. Or from having his resurrected soldiers tear her to pieces.

"Why?"

It didn't make sense.

It was convenient, but he couldn't get that out of his head.

"I've already told you. If nothing changes, I'm fucking dead." Yes, she had said it. But hadn't bothered to tell him the details. "I'd rather you shoot me than have the Count lay his hands on me, for reasons you know very well."

He frowned.

Yes... Of course.

"Okay."

Jonathan broke into a run.

Back to the entrance hall, back to the fight.

With Elizabeth following close behind. Sword at hand. As he ran, he made sure to observe her out of the corner of his eye. Sooner or later he would have to dare to turn his back to her or this wouldn't work. But it was still too soon.

When he arrived, he saw that the fight was practically over, anyway. The dead had remained on top. As expected. Many dead had joined his ranks, and now there were only exactly four survivors left.

Well.

Within sight of him, at least.

Maybe there were more scattered around the mansion, but it was won. And, in general, he didn't think there would be any problems.

"Madam?"

Oh. Sure, he was confused that he'd come accompanied by the woman they were supposed to protect with their lives. He didn't have time to process it.

That was the last thing he said. Then he ran out of the ability to say anything.

Because the madam ripped his throat wide open. The two remaining survivors stagger back, horrified, they didn't manage to keep their buddy's blood and viscera from splattering on them, though.

"What do we do now?"

"I knew it. I knew she was just a fucking pirate."

The last of them was smarter. He simply turned and fled, running at full speed. The others followed suit soon after, seeing that the battle was already lost.

None of them got very far. They were torn to pieces before his eyes.

While that was happening, he watched Elizabeth closely to see if her expression changed even one iota. A sign, if not of remorse, at least of pain. Even if it was a quivering eyebrow, that would have been enough for him.

But she didn't react. It was as if nothing had happened.

Or as if it had nothing to do with her.

I don't know which of us is less human, Jonathan thought, but then told himself he was being unfair. She wasn't required to show her feelings here and now, least of all in front of someone who had been an enemy until recently.

Unfair, yes. But what the hell did he care?

She was nobody to him.

No one was anything to him. He had even dared to strangle his brother with his bare hands. He'd thrown away doubt and fear.

If anything, I need to be more like her.

"What now?" Elizabeth asked him. As if she hadn't been the one to set this up, as if he hadn't simply walked into her trap.

But he did have something to say to her.

"If you're risking your life, you must have a plan. Tell me what it is.

"It's not a plan. Not exactly, but... it's a chance. You can kill him, thanks to the power you've gained. The Undead class. I have to bet everything on that hope. That's it."

"How?

"How what? Ah." Elizabeth blink. "Killing him. Plain and simple. He's immortal, but if you mortally wound him, he'll remain that way. Of course, the same goes the other way around."

Jonathan frowned.

Good news, for once. But now he had it confirmed. Not only had he ceased to be human, he had ceased to be mortal. When this was all over, he wanted to rest, not go on living until the next guy came to cut his head off. But he would cross that bridge when he got to it.

I don't have to think about anything. Just move forward.

"What now?"

"I'm the one who as..." She sighed. "Ah, forget it. Before you came, I gave the order to have the harbor locked down. Just in case. If you insist on not involving civilians, the next step is to reverse the order."

So they could escape.

So Leonard could escape, if he hadn't already. But Jonathan had to put that aside, at least for now. What mattered was the Count. What mattered, what should have always mattered, was his family.

Right?

"Okay."

Long, long downhill: END