Probably the last chapter…

Eto… I know I’m twisted. *Shrugs* And if you diidn’t know, well, now ya do!

Chapter 8

“Not another word Ashline, or I shall blow us all up.” Lance said, calmly. “Of course, the honor rests with you, Mademoiselle. If you turn the grasshopper we shall all be blown up – there is enough gunpowder under our feet to blow up an entire section of Paris, Mademoiselle… if you turn the scorpion, on the other hand, all that gunpowder will be soaked and drowned, and you shall make a very handsome wedding-present to a few hundred Parisians who are now applauding some poor masterpiece of Meyerbeer’s… you shall make them a present of their own lives, when you turn the scorpion with your fair hands, and merrily, merrily, we shall be married!”

All of this was said in a tone of increasing desperation, and Ashline trembled…

“Lance! Do you swear to me…. Swear to me that if I turn the scorpion, you will free him?”

“If you turn the scorpion, then you agree to be my wife… you would do so for your young man? How admirable… but remember – I can tell if you’re lying to me…”

Ashline screwed her eyes up. She had to… save Brock…

She had to!

She moved up to Lance, held out her arms…

She kissed him…

And then she screamed.

Lance withdrew the dagger quite calmly, flicked the blood off his fingers. “You’ll never leave me now, my dear…”

“Lance…” A terrified look…

“Shh, shh, sleep now, dear heart…”

She couldn’t resist the crooning voice, and her struggles ceased, eyes closing…

It seemed as though angels were reaching out for her, and she heard the faint sound of celestial music…

This was Heaven…

He smiled.

He hit the switch.

Brock’s world ended in a roar of hellish heat.

THE END

Yep, angst! Because without angst… the fic would suck! Seriously though, the book is very angsty. And one would think an aristocrat like Raoul wouldn’t angst…

Completed 7/30/05