| The Greater Good |
[04 Mar 2008|10:05am] |
The greater good.
I keep asking myself, over and over,
Can I do it for the greater good?
Scrap good and evil for a moment. I’ll look at
Cold Hard Facts.
I could use the money.
I could use the resources.
I could use the back-up.
All the times I wished I could drag the Slayers to their feet and
Make Them Act?
Now there’s someone to do it for me.
Someone else to play the guilting one.
I think of what they can do to my life if I say no.
Everything could be over.
My new dreams of my new future are popped like virgin cherries.
I can forget about them. I never even had them.
Instead, I’d have a life of hiding.
Skulking through the shadows like the demons I kill.
Besides, do I want to fight monsters and
The government?
Demons and demi-gods aren’t enough,
I need to take on the badges, too?
The truth is,
They could’ve put me in prison before.
I know I’ve been caught on camera doing deeds that the
World would consider crimes,
But they didn’t come after me, didn’t
Charge me with anything,
Because the press would’ve found out.
And in court I would’ve been asked all the little details—
Why was I in that alley?
Who was I chasing after?
Why did I break into that building?
Why was my name scrawled all over the walls?
I would’ve had to choose—
The truth (insanity)
Or lies (incrimination, a life jailed)—
And it would’ve gone public.
The police couldn’t risk it, so they covered it all up.
Just like they’ve done for a hundred Slayers before.
Incidental allies that pretended amnesia or ignorance.
They let us slide.
They let me slide.
No more.
I don't want to do this but
If I say no,
Will they dig up things I did years ago and
Hang them around my neck like a noose?
If I say no,
Will I be condemned for slaying a demon with a badge?
Will I have to kill humans to save myself?
God, please tell me what to do
One more time.
Can you hear me?
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| Strange Bedfellows |
[04 Mar 2008|06:31pm] |
A week had never seemed like such a short time. Maybe it was something about already having eternity to deal with that made it seem like an eyeblink. Or maybe she was just aggravated about having to deal with this at all. She always had been the hair-trigger sort.
Grace had left the meeting quietly, sidling out through the doors past the line of those who'd already decided to sign up for the government's little training program. For some folks, all you had to do was wave a little power under their noses and they went all Pavlov's dog. She already had power, more or less, power and independence and none of the stupid shit you had to go through to hold on to it. This was going to change that, at least if the program succeeded. The vampire lit another cigarette and blew smoke into the air, slouching against the wall like the world's oldest juvenile delinquent.
"Here's your fuckin' tax dollars at work," she muttered, gesturing towards the interior of the building. "God bless America."
GW left the building, tucking one of the agents business cards into his pocket in case he decided to talk to them some more about the offer. He felt the need for a smoke and fished his pack out of his jacket and moving toward another smoker off to the side of the building. The fact that the other smoker was a vampire gave him pause for a few heartbeats, then he shrugged and continued toward her.
( Ain't This a Bitch? )
The vampire caught the lighter in mid-air and flicked the wheel to make it spark. Then she stuffed it out of sight into her pocket. "Who knows?" she asked in a musing voice. "Maybe this is their way of trying to even the playin' field. A different turn of the cards, another roll of the dice, and you could be in my place and I could be in yours. Still hunter and hunted, just for different reasons."
Her eyes flashed yellow for an instant as she looked at him, then returned to normal. "Now there's some scary thinkin'."
She pushed away from the wall with one strong shoulder, dropping her cigarette to the sidewalk to put it out with her shoe. "Meantime, I gotta shake some dust. It gets late sooner in the winter months. Don't do anything I might."
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