Three Men Are Dead

"If they're from the Society," Nat said, "then rest assured that they deserved it. I wouldn't have expected you to be so upset, though. Surely you must have killed people before? And you were telling me how much more callous folk were in your time." "Yes, I've killed people before, but with a sword. Never before with my teeth and my claws. I was in a frenzy, Nat. I completely lost control. That's what frightens me so. I've never done that before. Even after all three were dead I continued to savage them, until eventually I calmed down."

"If you hadn't lost control, though, with three against one they would surely have captured you. I'm surprised that they didn't anyway. But I imagine that they may have been hired criminals, who perhaps didn't fully appreciate what they were up against. Their employers may not have wanted to alarm them by being too graphic. Didn't they have any weapons?" "Two of them had guns. They must be hidden under their bodies." Anastasia seemed to be recovering a little of her composure now, and was speaking more calmly. "No silver bullets, though," she went on. "Of course, they had to make sure that they took me alive, so couldn't use those. A direct hit on a vulnerable area with an ordinary bullet would probably have disabled me for quite a while until I healed - I don't know for sure, because there were no guns in my own time. As it happened, though, they were too frightened of me rushing at them to shoot straight, and all I got was one flesh wound in the side that is already almost healed. I could have just disabled them, Nat. I didn't have to kill them - let alone do what I did to their bodies afterwards."

"You were frightened, Annie. (Is it OK if I call you that? It seems ridiculous to go on calling you 'Anastasia' at a time like this.) There were three of them and they were armed. You couldn't be expected to be coolly rational in that situation. And I've already discovered how all emotions are heightened in this form." "But I remember when the mob chased me and caught me, before - the time that I dreamt about. It was a few miles outside Lyons. I was terribly frightened then, but even when they finally had me cornered I never lost control. It may just have been that I was so heavily outnumbered on that occasion that I sensed it was hopeless, I suppose."

1. "Have a quick shower, and then let's go back to my place before the Society sends any more people here. They won't underestimate you a second time."
2. "Are you willing to tell me now why they put you in that tomb rather than just killing you?"
3. There was a knocking on the outer door of the apartment, and a voice that Anastasia recognised [6208] called: "I heard noises. Are you OK in there, Stacy?"

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