May I Enjoy My Life: Entry 41 (Patreon)

Entry 39, Day 82-83

I wish I could say the very first thing I did when I woke up was to ask where Sussurro was. The reality is that I woke to complete blackness and in incredible pain. The first thing I did was scream and cry. It hurt so bad, I couldn’t even think of anything but the pain.

Then, a glowing angel appeared in my vision. That didn’t quite seem right. I should have been in hell. But the angel smiled at me and said, “It’s OK, Bones, I’m here.”

Then, the blessed angel injected me with morphine. At least, I assume it was morphine. I can’t see shit anymore. 

Well, OK, that’s not quite true. I can see people, or at least, I kinda can. As the morphine flooded into me, I realized I could see Exusiai. She…glowed? I could see the outlines of originium in her circulatory system, a lot of it, actually, but it was more than that, really. I could see all of her, though it wasn’t quite in color, but rather a bright, blue-red light. It was a bit odd, but it gave her a 3D glasses kind of look, and at least let me clearly see her. 

Still, that was when I asked about Sussurro. “Lucia! Where is Lucia?!”

Exusiai’s smile vanished, and she looked rather pained. “I’m sorry, James. I got here too late. I only killed one of the Blades. You killed one, too. The other…it got away with Lucia.”

“Right…” I took a deep breath, but I was still in pain. “Help me up. And get me a dose of Solvignis.”

“Uh…I gave you the morphine already, James. What’s Solvignis?” Exusiai said, but she did assist me in sitting up. 

“It’s a drug that acts as an amphetamine for me as well as an arts amplifier. And I’m going to need it if I’m going to be functional,” I said through gritted teeth. “Lucia had the doses, but they should be in the medical supplies, locked away.”

“Oh, right! I think I have the code for that,” Exusiai said, and left me sitting up on the bed as she ran off. I looked around, but, of course, all I could see was blackness. A new ghost stepped into my view, but they were so faint I couldn’t figure out who it was. 

“Bones. You’re alive,” Texas’ voice said. 

“Yeah, I guess. Uh, where am I?” I asked. “I…I can’t really see anything.”

“Lavina’s house. It’s the safest place at the moment. You are in her guest bedroom.”

I didn’t even hear steps, and I couldn’t really make out Texas’s figure, so I started when I felt her hand on my forehead. “You have a fever. You should rest.”

“Fuck that, those monsters have Lucia! Do you have any idea where she is?!”

“No. We are searching. But… many of us are wounded,” Texas said. “Including me.”

“What? Fuck, put my hand where you’re hurt,” I ordered. 

Texas complied, and I felt her put my hand on her left abdomen, under her shirt, where a bandage was. “Crossbow bolt there.” She moved my hand to her left forearm. “Burn, here. Got hit with arts. Not too bad.”

“Where the fuck is Exu?” I muttered. 

“Here!” she called and hurried forward. “Um, this stuff looks really dangerous, Bones. It’s all orange and glowing, and-”

“Inject me,” I ordered. “Make it fast.”

She did so with at least a little expertise, shooting me up in my right thigh. It burned like hell, but I gasped, then grabbed Texas. I still had my arts, thank God, and I managed to re-knit her wounds. “Right, get me to everyone that’s hurt, and fast. We need everyone back on their feet.”

The list of injuries was extensive. Red and Rosmontis were first up, because they were waiting right outside my door. Red had a cracked skull and a concussion from her fight with the Blade, while Rosmontis had broken her collar bone and right leg. She’d been holding herself together with arts, but barely. I healed both of them, even managing to fix up the concussion, or at least the visible damage. 

Red was sniffling after I healed her, and I didn’t think it was the pain, just the shame. “Sorry, Bones man. Red fail. Bones man get hurt. Dr. Sussurro is kidnapped.”

“I wasn’t strong enough. I’ll have to train harder,” Rosmontis said, sounding even more subdued than normal. 

“Christ, there were three Blades! Do you seriously think that just the two of you and Ingrid should have been enough to stop them? You did your best,” I told them.

“Red still fail. Red not fail again,” my bodyguard growled. I couldn’t see her very well: she was more well defined than Texas, but not by much, being just a faint ghost. 

Rosmontis was…odd. I could see her head, or rather, I could see an artificial organ in her head that was full of originium. It was rather eerie, but at least it let me easily identify her. 

Next up was Lisa, who was in bad shape. She was conscious, but Ingrid was sitting by her in Lavina’s sitting room. Exusiai was quietly whispering in my ear about where everyone was, and she and Texas helped me hobble over. I heard a chair scrape on the floor, and Ingrid gasp, “You, Bones! You will heal my daughter this instant!” Her voice was rough and raw, and she was slurring her words slightly. Not good.

“M-mamma-san, it is not…not Bones-sensei’s fault,” Lisa’s voice said. “B-Besides, you are hurt too…”

As I came around, I sucked in a breath. Just like Exusiai, I could clearly see Sussurro and her features as an opaque blue figure that looked kinda like a Force Ghost or hologram. She did look beat up, lying on the couch with several areas on her body that were…fuzzed. Like, video game damage? It was weird, but she was clearly hurt.

“Ingrid’s in really bad shape,” Exusiai said into my ear. “Her right arm was completely shattered, and I think if you weren’t here, we’d be looking at amputating it. She attacked an Emperor’s Blade head-on…and survived. Not many can say that. She’s also got a cracked skull and a lot of internal injuries.”

I could vaguely make out Ingrid’s outline, and she didn’t seem to be standing up straight. “Sit down, Ingrid. I’ll heal Lisa first if it makes you happy.”

She collapsed back into the chair, or at least, I think she did. I just saw her outline sag down, and Exusiai set me on the couch by Lisa. 

“Prognosis?” I asked. 

“Bones-sensei, I have many internal injuries. I cannot use my new arts on them: m-much like you, I can only heal others, not myself. I-I also have arts overdose, but I will recover soon! I am strong! You should heal Mamma-san first.”

“I’m going to need her to take her shirt off. You can cover her with a blanket: I can see through her clothes already,” I said.

“You can what!? Let me go!” Ingrid half snarled, half slurred. 

“Uh, I can see you too, Exusiai,” I admitted. “I…I’m blind, but…Somehow, I can see the two of you. Not what you’re wearing, just your bodies. Uh, I mean, you’re more like a doll, head’s detailed, the rest isn’t. Not sure why, everyone else is just a faint outline, except for, uh, well, a part of Rosmontis…”

“It’s probably because we’re the only two Infected here at the moment,” Exusiai said, and I could tell she was blushing. “It’s OK, Lisa, he’s a doctor.”

“I trust Bones-sensei,” Lisa said, and her mother seemed to acquiesce. 

Lisa ended up just taking off her shirt, and I put my hand on her chest. It really was bad. She had two broken ribs, one of which had punctured a lung. A miracle the kid could even talk, really. Kids are tough. She had various other injuries, but I did manage to heal all of those, even the mild concussion. 

I also got…some other stuff. Stuff that didn’t make a lot of sense in the moment, and I was too pressed for time to worry about. But why the hell did I get the sense, when I used my arts on Lisa, that there was some sort of… resonance? She also felt like she was…I don’t know! Like she was singing? Humming? I can’t express it right, and at the time, I ignored it. 

“Get some fluids and rest,” I told her. “No need to worry about the concussion now, you can sleep. In fact, if we have a sedative, it should be administered, though I’ll need to calculate the dose. First, your mom though. Ingrid, I’m going to have to touch your injuries.”

“If I trust you with my daughter, I trust you with me,” Ingrid gasped, and bared her breast to me, or at least, I think that’s what she did, I can’t see her real well.

I put my hands on her with Exusiai’s help and repaired the damage. Ingrid shuddered and convulsed as I fixed her up, but at last, she was whole again. She put a hand to her head and groaned. “I…thank you, Dr. Bones. I was…unwell. You saved my Lisa from the Blade, did you not? Exusiai claims you slew it.”

“I…think I did?” I admitted. “And you sounded pretty badass: Did you really fight one on your own?”

“No, I was with Rossa and Narcissa. They are two very brave and strong women,” she said, and I got the impression she was smiling at my two bodyguards. 

“Great,” I sighed, and slowly panned my head around. “Uh, is there anyone else here? Where are Sora, Emperor, Croissant, and Lappland? Or Lavina, for that matter. That’s Pennance, right?”

“Sora is asleep. Arts overdose,” Texas stated simply. “Boss, Croissant, and Lappland are out hunting. Lavina is trying to keep the government from collapsing.”

“Odda’s with them, too,” Exusiai put in. “It’s bad, Bones. Apparently, the Venezias have allied with Ursus. They were working with the Blades. The Salluzos also seem to be with them, or at least, they’re trying to reap the benefits of the chaos. All the famiglia are at war now, because Donna Sicilia has been taken by the Blades. If something isn’t done, and fast, Siracusa itself is going to devolve into complete anarchy, even worse than the Giorni di Anarchia between the War of Independence with Leithania and the Donna establishing Pistole e Ordine.”

“And the way to solve that is to rescue Donna Sicilia,” I sighed, scrubbing my left hand through my hair as my right twitched nervously. It was even more useless now: I’d done all that healing with my left, and my right mostly felt like it was asleep, sort of numb and tingly. “Which is neat, because I imagine if we rescue Lucia, the Godmother won’t be far away.”

“I am going to murder my father,” Ingrid hissed. “How could he do this?! For that matter, I am going to rip Antonio’s cazzo off and shove them down his-” she coughed suddenly, and Lisa squirmed on the couch.

“Mamma-san…I saw…I saw the men try to kidnap me. Kidnap Bones-Sensei. Did…did nonno-san and zio-san really…”

“Yes, they did,” Ingrid said, and I saw her outline shift over to the couch and hug Lisa fiercely. “I am sorry, Luce. Rest now.”

There was a click hiss, and Lisa sighed as I assume Ingrid injected her with a sedative. “You should have asked me about the dosage…”

“It is not the first time I have had to do this. Excuse me,” Ingrid said, and I watched her ghost carry the glowing form of Lisa out of sight. A few moments later, she returned. “Now. What is this about you seeing my daughter only?”

I groaned. “Ingrid, I’m a doctor, and she’s like…six. Or maybe seven? Look, she’s a little girl. And right now, I want to get back my girlfriend because I was going to propose to her and I will be damned if I let some maniac mafia don, and a couple of demons keep me from her!” 

I was half hysterical and shouting by the end of that. Lucia would have been so happy to hear me lose my shit over her, but I was on super-meth and stressed out of my mind. 

“That is not what concerns me, Bones. What concerns me is yet again, my Lisa is further involved in this madness. She was targeted. By those Blades and…by my own family,” Ingrid said, her voice calm and measured, which was frankly scarier than her shouting.

“Uh, he can see me too, Ingrid. Not the first time, and I won’t let it bother me,” Exusiai said, and rather deliberately came over and sat down beside me. Uh, Exusiai is…very hot. And even with just an outline, I had a very good idea of her anatomy. Including-

“What, what the fuck, why are you Infected?!” I gasped, whirling on her. 

Exusia frowned at me. “It’s not important, James.”

“And what the fuck happened to your halo!? Why do you have horns and a- Oh. Oh fuck. You…you…” I couldn’t say it. 

“I Fell,” Exusiai said firmly. “It’s fine.  Moving on.”

I very much thought it was not fine. This had to be my fault. Exusiai had not Fallen in the main Arknights timeline. This was entirely new. And the main new variable…was me. How had it even happened? I still don’t know, actually, but I’m going to get it out of her eventually. But we had bigger fish to fry. 

“How do we get Lucia back? Where is she, the Venezia stronghold or something?” I demanded. 

“Yes, but by our last report, that has an entire company of Ursus Imperial Guard, and an Emperor’s Blade, as well as all of the soldiers of Venezia as well,” Ingrid said with a shake of her head. “We cannot assault it head on.”

“We could if we knew where Lappland and her wolves were, but she fucked off and we have no idea where she went,” Exusiai added.

I glanced at where I thought Texas was, and I heard the faint crunch of pokey. 

“I can go after her.”

“No, Texas, let Boss try first,” Exusiai said with a shake of her head. “We have to wait.”

“Fuck waiting, we’re going,” I growled, and struggled to my feet, though Exusiai was quickly up and helping me. “Everyone’s good, right?”

“Let me get Sora,” Texas said. Apparently, she went to do just that. A few moments later, I did hear footsteps.

“Sorry, everyone, I’m alright now,” Sora said, though she sounded like she was in pain. “Dr. McCoy, are you really well enough to be up?”

“I’m fine, need to move actually,” I said, my hand tapping restlessly on my leg as the drug raced through my system. “You hurt?” 

“Just some arts overdose, but I just took an amplifier, so I’ll be fine,” Sora assured me. 

“Then let’s move. Get in touch with Emperor and Lavina. And get me to where the injured arebefore I turn into a maniac monkey,” I ordered. 

“...what’s a monkey?” Exusiai asked.

“If it doesn’t have a tail, it’s not a monkey, even if it has a monkey kind of shape,” Rosmontis deadpanned, and I just lost it, as I nearly toppled over from a fit of giggles.  

“Did I forget? I made sure to write it down,” Rosmontis said, sounding rather plaintive. 

“Is Red monkey then? Red has tail,” her companion pointed out. 

“It's…it’s what my species evolved from,” I gasped as Exusiai guided me out of the room and down some stairs. “Sort of. Like…it’s an insult to call an Earthling a monkey. Sort like…calling a lupo a wolf? Only, uh, well, I guess sometimes calling someone a monkey is endearing? It’s complicated.”

We stood in an elevator for a bit, and I looked around, doing a quick headcount, or, well, I tried. There were four ghostly images, one of which I could tell was Rosmontis, while I could see Exusiai quite clearly, even if she did glow. 

“Ingrid stay behind?” I asked. 

“No. I saw her open a window. She left. I think…I think she’s going to try and kill her familiy,” Sora told me.

I moaned. “Texas, you need to go after her.”

“She’ll be fine,” Texas agreed. “I’m worried about you, Bones. You can’t even stand.”

“You’re right, which is why I’m not going to charging off, I’m going to stay here and try to set up a small trauma center. Instead, I want you to go and save Lucia. That’s honestly the best way you can keep me safe, because otherwise, you’ll have a blind idiot wandering into the mob’s crossfire!” 

“Texas, I know you want to help Ingrid and Lappland,” Sora said. “It’s fine. Exusiai will stay here with me and Bones, and we’ll have Red and Rosmontis too. Lucia needs your help, and you can help your friends. It’s the right thing to do.”

“If you’re sure,” Texas said, but she sounded like her mind was made up. I saw her ghost go over to Sora’s, and they seemed to embrace. Then Texas turned to me. “Bones. Keep her safe.”

“You save my heart, and I’ll keep yours,” I promised, and Texas dashed off. 

“Right. Someone get Penance on the horn, and tell her we’re turning her apartment into a trauma ward.”

Exusiai pulled out something and made dialing motions, then explained what was happening to the invisible phone.

“The wounded? To my apartment, you say?” Penance’s voice said from the ether.

“Look, if I can save just a couple of lives with my miracle arts, send them my way. My babysitters won’t let me out, it’s past my bedtime,” I told her. 

“You really are a Rhodes Islander,” Lavinia said with a heavy sigh. “Very well. I’ll take it up with Signore Bellori later, but for now, we’ll reroute the most urgent injuries to your location.”

“Good. Any word on where Lucia, that is, Dr. Sussurro, is?” I asked desperately. 

“There is still too much chaos. We think we know, but we do not have the forces for a direct assault against an entire company of Ursus elite troops. Not with the Venezias backing them and the Salluzos causing chaos. Well, one Salluzo in particular, mostly.”

I groaned. “Lappland?”

“Lappland and her wolves,” Lavinia agreed. “Now, I must go. I will call you if we have more.”

I felt nervous energy surge through me as we waited, and I had Sora, Rosmontis, and Red set up a makeshift OR by scrubbing down tables and moving around furniture in the lobby of the apartment building. It wasn’t huge, but it would be enough for my purposes. Exusiai, however, I kept right beside me. 

“Don’t let me go,” I whispered to Exusiai as I tried to follow the activity. I was getting better at seeing the originium ghost outlines of people, but it was still tough. “You’re the only one I can see, and it’s all that’s keeping me sane.”

“Aren’t you worried I’m going to shoot you in the ass again?” she teased. 

“Frankly, I’m hoping you will, just use morphine this time. Last dose is about to wear off,” I said, gritting my teeth. 

“Oh shit! I’m sorry, let me.” And my blessed angel did indeed shoot up in the ass. That was about the time I heard sirens, and the first ambulance pulled up. 

“What do we have?” I demanded of the EMTs as Exusiai helped me hobble over to the table. I heard cries and moans of pain, and I was back in business. 

“Two adult female lupos, aged about 30 years and 50 years. Wounds from an explosion. The 30-year-old has second and third-degree burns over 40%of her body  and multiple shrapnel wounds, while the 50-year-old has second-degree burns over 20% of her body, and a large piece of shrapnel perforating her pericardial sack, suspected injury to her heart and or lungs,” Exusiai translated from not-Italian for me from the EMT.

I looked at the women, but I couldn’t see them well: Neither were infected. “No Oripathy,” I stated. 

“Uh, yes,” the EMT agreed. 

“Right, 50-year-old first. Get the shrapnel out, don’t worry, I’ll heal her up,” I ordered, putting my hand on the wound and feeling the extensive injuries. She screamed as the EMTs yanked it out, and she would have bled out from the nick in her aorta. Fortunately for her, I was able to mend her organs completely, and heal up the second-degree burns as well.

“Merda!” the EMT gasped, and that didn’t need translation. “Hai davvero delle doti miracolose!”

“Next,” I ordered, and the EMTs helped get the shrapnel out of the second female, who was crying quietly from the pain. Having burns over 40% of her body meant she should have died. It was a miracle that shock hadn’t killed her already. For me, it was a relatively easy fix; regrowing skin and damaged tissue isn’t hard for my arts. 

“They’re saying they thought this was some kind of joke when we said send the cases that were going to die here, but now they’re going to have a lot of work for you, Bones,” Exusiai translated as the EMTs babbled at me excitedly. 

“Well get back out there and bring me some patients!” I ordered. “Because the moment you stop, all I can think about is Lucia, and how I can’t do shit to save her! So bring me someone I can save, dammit! And Exusiai? More morphine.” 

“Uh, you sure, Bones? You’ve had 30 ccs in the past hour…”

“I’m a chronic case and in severe pain. Give me 15 more CCs. In the ass, please.”

She complied, and I felt a bit of relief as another ambulance arrived, this one with an old man with a ruptured liver and nearly bled out from a stray crossbow bolt. He would live. I could only pray that Lucia would too. But that was up to Texas and Ingrid. 

It didn’t take me too long to catch up to Ingrid. She had headed in the direction I thought she would, and I was more familiar with Nuova Volsinii. Straight for the Venezia holdings. But I wasn’t the one who found her first. Instead, I heard the baying of wolves. 

I found Ingrid in a park, fighting Lappland. I was a bit surprised that Lappland was losing, retreating while she laughed and parried, a grim and implacable Ingrid coming after her. The Signori dei Lupi were hovering about in a cloud, but it wasn’t them I focused on. Instead, it was the small bird in a skully and golden chain who was watching from the sidelines with Croissant. 

“Boss,” I said as I landed beside him. 

“Fuck, woman, I have told you not to do that to me!” Boss squawked while he started at my sudden landing.

I hide my smile. Some people think I do things like this because of my autism. Perhaps. I think I do them because it is funny. The first time was unintentional. After that, I do it on purpose.

“Heya, Tex. We was just about to try talkin’ some sense into Lappy here when Ingrid showed up and challenged her to a duel. Y’all Siracusians ever try just jawin’ and not tryin’ to murder one another?” Croissant asked. 

“I am not Siracusian,” I stated. “I am Columbian.”

“Bless your heart,” Croissant told me. I am fairly certain that is her version of “bullshit,” but not enough to say so. 

“We don’t have time for this,” I decided, and charged into the fight. I used my arts to draw a line of swords down the middle, causing Ingrid and Lappland to jump apart. 

“Ah, Cellina! Here to make this a ménage à trois?” Lappland cackled.

Ingrid flicked an ear and glared at me. “Stay out of this. This is between me and the Salluzo.”

“Lappland. Tell her who attacked Lisa,” I stated. 

“Aw, and why should I do that? I was having so much fun!” Lappland giggled, wiping a bit of blood from her cheek where Ingrid had cut her. 

I turned to Ingrid. “You know who it was. Just say it.”

“My brother. Antonio Venezia,” Ingrid spat. “It was him, was it not?” 

Lappland sighed. “You take all the fun out of this. Yes, it was the Venezia. I do not know if it was the Don or Sottocapo, but it came from high up,” Lappland confirmed. “I was just about to go talk to him about it! They have Signora Sicilia, you know. I was just thinking, what a party it would be if I could get all the Dons in the city together! We could set off some grand, grand fireworks!” 

“That would cause chaos,” I said with a shake of my head. 

“It would kill Siracusa,” Lappland hissed, striding over to lean in towards me, a snarl on her face. “All the masks would come off! The wolves would be revealed for who and what they are! Monsters, stalking the sheep like prey! They would kill one another in brutal violence as they vie for the top, and I would pick them off, one. By. One. And when it was settled, it would be curtains for me too. One way, or another.”

“No,” I said flatly. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO!? I WON’T MAKE YOU HELP ME, BUT DON’T TRY TO STOP ME!” Lappland ragged. 

“Too many casualties. Bad plan. We need another,” I told her. 

“I would not mind seeing Grey Hall and the old bitch burn, but I will kill my father and brother. Then, I will quit this country forever,” Ingrid snapped. “That, I will help you with, Salluzo. Then, I shake the dust from my cloak and go live in Higashi as a housewife.”

“Pff, I would like to see that. You, playing homemaker? Sooner see Celenia in a skirt and apron playing housewife to her little Sarkaz doll,” Lappland sneered. 

“I did. For ten years. Until Lisa was infected. It was the best time of my life,” Ingrid said, her voice raw, and tears on her cheeks. “I didn’t have to kill anyone. I lived in a wonderful house, with a man who loved me. There was no blood. The only fights were in the bedroom, and I didn’t care if I won, or lost. No, actually, I made sure I nearly always lost. More fun that way. I had my Luce, and that was all that I needed. You should try it, Lappland Saluzzo. Wearing a skirt and having a man you love and a child you adore…it is the best life. Better than this.”

Lappland trembled with rage, slowly raising a hand and pointing at herself. “Me? Do you even know what my family was like, Venezia? Do you have ANY IDEA WHAT MY FATHER IS LIKE!? He treated me like grapes in the winepress, to be trodden out! You think I’m crazy!? You think I’m violent?! I AM WHAT I WAS MADE TO BE! WHAT SIRACUSA MADE ME TO BE! AND I WILL EXPOSE THIS FARCE FOR THE LIE IT IS AND BURN THE WINE PRESS UNTIL ONLY ASHES REMAIN!” 

Ingrid stepped forward and slapped Lappland across the face, shocking her to silence. “Idiot girl. Yes, you suffered. We all did! We are, all three of us, the animals and murderers our fathers and Siracusa made us so! So why do you want to inflict what happened to us on everyone else!?”

Lappland blinked at Ingrid, her hand slowly rubbing her jaw as she stared in wide-eyed shock. 

I stepped forward, and put a hand on Lappland’s shoulder, making her jump, but I just squeezed gently. “It’s why I left. Made a new life.”

“And left me and the rest to suffer! It is why Siracusa has to die!” Lappland snapped, slapping my hand away from her. 

“No,” I said, feeling frustrated. “Listen. Please, Lappland.”

She trembled with obvious rage, but she bit her lip and didn’t speak. 

“I left…but I came back. For you. For Sora. What happened to me, to you, to Ingrid…it was wrong.”

“You don’t say,” Lappland huffed, but she held her peace. 

“It would be wrong…to make more girls…more boys…suffer. Like we did. Is that what you want?” I asked. 

“How could you say that?! I want to burn it all down, to rip off these masks, so that NO ONE EVER HAS TO GO THROUGH WHAT I DID!” Lappland screamed, spittle flying in my face. 

“Then don’t be like your father,” I told her. 

Lappland reeled back as if I’d struck her, and I turned to Ingrid, trying to let her know I needed help with the words. 

“Your father used violence and abuse. Would you do the same to Siracusa? Or would you build a better life like the Texas did?” Ingrid demanded. 

“How can I build a better life!? I have NOTHING. SHE LEFT ME! EVERYONE LEAVES ME!” Lappland raged, then pointed at the floating wolves. “Even them! They are only here because I am AMUSING. Because I can kill them and fuck them better than anyone else! Isn’t that right, Zaaro?!” 

You are…a very interesting wolf, Lappland Saluzzo, the largest of the Signori dei Lupi said, floating a little lower. 

“Funny. Because it looks like Celenia Texas is standing beside you right now, Lappland Saluzzo. Not leaving you,” Ingrid said dryly. 

Lappland whirled on me, an expression of anguish on her face. “But she doesn’t love me.”

“I do. Just…differently,” I told her. “Like…a sister. Perhaps.”

“Well, if incest is what you’re into-”

“Do not finish that, Saluzzo,” Ingrid said in disgust. “Look. We can cut out the heart of the beast. I do not care if you burn down Siracusa and cause death and chaos, or if you domesticate this wolf and turn him into your lapdog. It is the same to me. But I will have my revenge. My brother and father will answer for what they have done. What happens after…that is up to you. Now, are we going to talk, or are we going to hunt?”

Lappland laughed and raised her sword. “Let’s go hunt a Blade! And Venezias!”

We sprinted off, the Signori dei Lupi following us, boss and Crossant getting into a car with boss and following. I wasn’t sure we could face the Venezias and the Ursus troops, but we would find out. 

It didn’t take us long to find the front lines. Barricades were up, burning cars, and a few pockets of Nueva Polizia having shootouts with Veneszia famiglia and Ursus troops. 

They weren’t ready for us. 

Lappland hit them first, laughing and directing the Signori dei Lupi like a conduttrice at the opera house. The baying wolves attacked only the Ursus, not the Venezia, but that just left something for Ingrid and I. 

Fighting the famiglia thugs wasn’t like fighting Lappland. That always felt passionate, hot, desperate. Like making love, only worse. This was cold. Calculated. A dance I had memorized the steps too from an early age. I simply followed the forms and motions, and bodies were left in my wake. 

Ingrid was grim and cold. Rage burned in her eyes, but not the hot rage of Siracusa. This was the cold rage of Higashi. She didn’t kill for passion’s sake. She killed because she had to. 

Not that it mattered to the Venezias. They died just the same. 

One of the capos Ingrid took alive. She pinned the lupo woman to the wall with her sword, then snarled into her face, “Marina Serafini. Was it you who infected my daughter?” 

The woman coughed blood. “I-Ingrid? Why would…I would never-AH!” 

Ingrid twisted the blade a little. “Do not lie to me. Who was it? You would know. You were always one of my brother’s most trusted.”

“I-it wasn’t me! I-I didn’t find out until after Antonio ordered the hit!” Marina pleaded, blood trickling from her lips. “P-Please, Ingrid! We were friends!” 

“So. It was my brother. Did my father know?” Ingrid demanded. 

“N-no. He…he’s been taken by the Ursus. Antonio has taken control. Fabrizio, he is imprisoned with the others. Antonio…he ordered Lisa captured, and you…you were to be killed…”

“Because of our friendship, I won’t make you suffer,” Ingrid said. Marina seemed to relax slightly. Then Ingrid wrenched her blade free, and decapitated her old friend. Then she flicked the blood off the blade. 

“It seems my father is innocent. Very well. He may live. Do not touch him, Saluzzo. Or my brother. They are mine,” Ingrid growled. 

“Far be it from me to deprive someone else of achieving my dream of patricide,” Lappland chuckled. “Well, there is more fun to be had yet this night. Shall we go for a moonlight walk?”

“No,” Ingrid said, and strode up the street to where more Ursus guards were assembling for a counter attack. “We hunt. We kill. Do not dress it up with flowery words. You are the one who hates masks.”

“So I am, so I am. Well, Cellina. Up for one last dance?” Lappland asked me. 

I saluted with my sword, and nodded. “Find Lucia. James needs her.”

“So many lovers, and no time for me?” Lappland said with a pout. Then she laughed and dashed up the street, deflecting crossbow bolts as she ran. 

I surged forward, as in the distance, the Venezia estate blossomed into smoke and flames. My heart sank. I had not been perfect. 

James. I am sorry. I will try to get Lucia out safe.