| 2 Days |
[03 Mar 2008|01:28pm] |
’I, Dahlia Rimes, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.’
Dahlia remembered taking the oath very clearly. She was proud, and her mother was proud. The badge didn’t feel authentic in her hands. Often over the first few months, she opened its case to look at it, and that wave of unreality came over her. She was a federal employee. There was nothing in her background that they hadn’t dug up and scrutinized, and she’d still been chosen. It was an honor.
Looking on as a vampire took the same oath, Dahlia realized that the government’s definition of ‘honor’ wasn’t as sacred as she’d hoped it might be. On some level, the badge in her coat had been tarnished by Project Integration. She would never view her role the same.
The stakes were higher now. This was a war against enemies more foreign than she could’ve ever imagined. Now, when she fought to protect her way of life, apocalypse was on the line. The badge should’ve felt more valuable, but it didn’t.
“Two more days,” said Agent Purvis. He slurped coffee and watched the progression of another recruit through registration. The lines were longer today. Time was running out for the supernaturals of Nevada to make their choice.
Agent Purvis was chomping at the bit. Dahlia detected a tinge of disappointment on his behalf. Every recruit was one less creature that would be terrorized on the street. A notch he wouldn’t get to carve in his professional bedpost.
In two more days, everything would change.
Dahlia slid her glasses up her nose. “Once the personnel manifests are updated, make sure they get to your supervisor in the tactical division. They’re dividing the recruits into small squads for the first few weeks of training and field experience. It should reduce resistance in the field.” She looked at her colleague’s profile. “Remember… they should employ persuasive techniques before physical coercion. Integrating any captures into our recruitment program will be easier for me if they haven’t been beaten to bloody pulp first.”
Purvis nodded. She doubted his sincerity.
If Project Integration hadn’t been enough to tarnish her badge, working alongside Thomas Purvis would’ve done it.
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| Meditations On Sacrifice |
[03 Mar 2008|11:57pm] |
Should I imbibe this potion... I will die.
To enact its magic, would be to diffuse me through the surrounding ether, in a moment, as if I were a mist to be thinned into infinity, only to awash me in accursed light. A perfectly efficient method of disposal... It will be painless, they say. They tell me they know the extent to which I suffer - as though they could. That with nought but a swallow, I could finish my exile, my very existence, forever.
They say I should be the one to do it. But they are weak... They can no longer bring themselves to look at me, much less end me. They hesitate. They fear me. Even when I am like this and they have their perfect, pure, strong forms, still blessed by the Abyss' embrace, they fear me. And well they should. I am no longer like them... I am beyond them. I have the ultimate power - the power of choice.
This body, this likeness... This is my dominion... Mine to command. No other's.
I can sense them... Out there, outside the mines. Cowering. Not daring to speak. They are the frail ones. They are the crippled. They are the ones enslaved by Atia's will.
And they... Shall... Die. They will lose this war and be purged by the stinging cry of light's cleansing kiss. I could join them in defeat and death. But should I survive... Then a stronger dawn shall rise. A new horizon, as yet unmatched in supremacy.
I will not drink this concoction. I will not cower. I will not end. And through a Slayer now to act as my chosen, I shall be reborn, anew...! This is not the end... This has never been the end. Atia's spawn shall be upon my leash and then... Then they shall know my suffering and so very much more, besides.
And thereafter, even the Abyss shall overflow with the bleeding of many an ebony heart...
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