The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect (49 page)

AnneMarie
moved to shield her crotch and her breasts with her hands. Caroline actually felt sorry for her for a brief moment, a feeling she crushed as soon as she was conscious of it. If the passing centuries had poorly prepared the bitch to be at another's mercy, then it would only make her vengeance sweeter.
"Got it yet?" she asked.
"You...so you're going to kill me now?"
"You seem nervous."
"It's a little startling, that's all."
AnneMarie
giggled slightly, as if that might drive the terror away. Of course, for Caroline and those who savored their Deaths, the terror was part of the attraction. Fear is real, and pain is real. But
AnneMarie
had asked for Death because it was the in, trendy thing to do, and she was not really prepared for it at all.
"Well, brace yourself ... for ... this!" Caroline swept her hand through the air, and came up with a hypodermic needle.
AnneMarie
, once a nurse by trade, fixed her eyes rigidly on this deceptively simple instrument. She had no way of knowing what the clear fluid was within it. But to her credit, she didn't back away when Caroline pressed it against her arm.
The sting startled her; it had been a very long time since
AnneMarie
had felt anything uncomfortable. But Caroline finished the injection, and as
AnneMarie's
eyes started to roll, she wished the hypo away. Its job was done.
"It...it...
ohhhhhh
,"
AnneMarie
sighed, and she collapsed against Caroline, who supported her gently. It would take a few minutes for the effect she wanted to manifest itself.
Of course, Prime Intellect could have done what she wanted in an instant, but where was the fun in that?
"It's junk,"
AnneMarie
whispered, and Caroline cradled her with deceptive gentleness.
"That's exactly what it is, girl," she replied.
 
Death Jockeys had devised a number of ingenious ways to restrain and torture themselves using Prime Intellect's advanced control over matter, but Caroline would have none of that. She had figured out what she wanted to do to
AnneMarie
within a few years after the Change, and none of it required Prime Intellect's help at all.