Cut To The Bone free porn video

Cut to the Bone What struck Rachel Spencer as most odd about this particular moment was that it was not that she was about to die which troubled her greatest, but the realisation she had been beaten. So much for all the adages of good guys winning in the end, justice prevailing and all that guff. It simply wasn't going to pan out that way. For over 2 years she had matched wits with her nemesis; for she truly was by any definition; only for it to end like this. Kara Steele, surgeon, psychopath, serial killer, had merely slid out of the shadows of Rachel's bedroom, her gun trained on the police detective. Kara was a tall brunette with hard but attractive features, dressed impeccably. Perhaps Rachel had the bias of an enemy but she felt that a mere glance at her eyes revealed the true evil beyond them. The malice that pervaded her core. Kara was taller than Rachel. But not much. Rachel had dark brown hair that she never coloured. There were only a few shades of colour between them. But the similarities stopped there really. Although Rachel's facial expression carried a weary despondence about it, she was prettier than Kara. Her features warmer, More ethereal. More natural. Perhaps that difference was a reflection of the disparity between the goodness in their hearts. Or the light in their souls. Who would stop her now, Rachel wondered in her final moments. Could Steve? Steve Manders, her police partner and lover, had dropped Rachel home only moments earlier. She'd not invited him in. Sending him back to his place, citing the need for a good night's sleep, which she knew full well his presence would not allow. It was true. She did need a good nights sleep. But they both knew she'd never get it. She never did. Still, her atypical disinterest in intimacy with Steve on this night had no doubt saved him from sharing her doom. But she wondered when she was gone whether he would carry on with the same zeal she had as she hunted this madwoman. Although she noted she was now the hunted. No surprise really though when you are trying to capture or kill a predator with this degree of ruthless cunning. At some point she would attempt to turn the tables. And sadly she had succeeded. Knowing her foe like she did, Rachel was certain Kara would take a moment to gloat. Say something derogatory or humiliating to savour her victory. Not yet giving up, Rachel wondered if this distraction would allow her time to lunge for her gun on the bedside table. She purposely didn't glance at it to not give herself away, but sized up her approach. As if reading her mind though, Kara focused on it, fixing her gaze on it for a moment, almost inviting Rachel to try. There was no way Rachel could dive, grab it and return fire without several rounds heading her way. Both of them knew that. But Kara did not speak. She did not mock or deride. She just looked at Rachel impassively. Yet still she did not fire. What is she waiting for? Rachel could only speculate. She wants me to die fighting; was her conclusion. She doesn't want to simply execute me. Is this a concession? A show of respect? Rachel silently agreed this was better. She would go for her gun. It was her that would speak then. She had to try and unsettle Kara to increase her odds, even if it was the remotest of chances. "When will you stop Kara? Aren't you tired? Surely killing all these innocents can't be thrilling anymore. And who will you goad when I'm gone? It won't be the same without me." Kara continued with the emotionless stare until finally she drew herself to speak. "I.......hate you," she stuttered in a very uncharacteristic display of feeling. This was Rachel's cue. She dived and rolled expecting to hear the ear piercing blast and feel the searing pain. It never came. She grabbed her gun and fired without aim. Her bullet pierced Kara's upper right chest. The force of it flinging her back against the wall. Indeed the bullet had gone straight through her and embedded itself in that wall. Once she slammed hard against it she slid down it, leaving a red trail descending the plaster. Kara ended up in a sit. On the floor propped up by the gyprock. Rachel could hear the rush of air as Kara's lung deflated, and she opened her mouth, as if to speak, but the only sound was the gurgle of blood filling her airways, and coming out her mouth. Rachel couldn't believe this. She had won. Kara was incapacitated. Probably dying. The time for victorious mockery was now hers. She walked over to the dying woman and positioned the nuzzle of her gun on the woman's forehead. Literally right between the eyes. "This is for every one of them Kara. For all the people you killed." She clicked the gun back for effect. Her finger tightened on the trigger. "Rachel! No!" It was Steve's voice. He had come running into the room. "This is not the way." "She can't be allowed to live Steve. To have a trial. It has to end right now. Right here." "We can't be like her Rach. We have to be better than her. We have to believe in justice. Otherwise these last two years will have been for nothing." "Fine." Rachel pulled the gun away. "Maybe this is better. Let her drown in her own body fluids." She turned to the gasping woman. Who still remained conscious, her eyes fixed on Rachel. "Are you scared Kara? I hope so. This is how every one of your victims felt before you carved them up." As if to emphasise her point she shoved the point of her gun into the bullet wound. Kara let out a rasping scream of pain. Steve was on the phone by then. "It's me. We need a meat truck to Rachel's place. But on the sly. Not over the radio." "How quick?" He is repeating a question. He looked at Rachel who scowled and shook her head. "Yeah. Pretty quick. We got a woman here with a gun shot wound to her chest." "No. Of course it's not Rachel. Just send them and I'll fill you in later." Kara was no longer conscious by the time the ambulance arrived. But she was still alive. As they bundled her up and took off Steve encouraged Rachel to go with them. "You need to keep an eye on her," he said. "But don't do anything to her." He warned. "What about you?" Rachel asked uncertainly, after nodding in affirmation that she would respect his instruction. Her strong desire to kill her abated slightly once the heat of the moment passed. "I need to stay here and contain things before it's roped off as a crime scene. I need to delete your CCTV Rach. No one can see what you did to her after you shot her." He knew he had to protect her. "Okay," she conceded. He was right. She followed the paramedics as they wheeled Kara out, and the ambulance screeched away in a flurry of wailing noise. When Steve was alone he pulled up the footage on screen. Kara had simply let herself in. She had a set of keys. How on Earth? The apartment had state of the art locks and as far as he knew only he and Rachel had keys. Then Kara had disarmed the alarm with the code. Again; an elaborate code that only the two of them knew. This woman was so formidable. No wonder she had been hereto unstoppable. He sped forward to when Rachel came in, and got to watch the whole scene unfold. He watched as Rachel lunged for her gun. He watched Kara Steele as Rachel did this. He watched her lower her gun. He saw that by the time Rachel fired Kara Steele's arms were by her sides. She had let Rachel shoot her. It made no sense. It was almost as if she wanted to die. Steven couldn't think about that right now. He knew he simply had to delete that. And all that came after. He erased it completely and totally from the hard drive. Steve then called it in, and waited for the belated cavalry to come plundering in. He left the flat when they arrived and went back to the station to file his report. After he was done he headed straight for the hospital. By then a couple of hours had passed. He didn't want Rachel alone with her for too long. He felt the temptation to end Kara may be too great. He felt satisfied with the report he filed. Rachel will be able to stay with him at his house till forensics are done with hers. And without the footage the story will play out just as they want it. The version of events they tell will be definitive. There will be no blow back on his lover. Everything would be okay. "How is she?" He asked, on arrival. Rachel was in the single room with the unconscious assassin, still watching the body, hawk like. "She'll live unfortunately," she lamented. "She survived surgery. Lost a lot of blood and will be in a coma for a while." She pointed towards the unit of blood trickling into Kara. "What a waste. Someone donated that in good faith. Imagine if they knew it was being used to keep a killer alive." "Don't be like this Rach. Don't be consumed. Maybe a trial will be good for the families of the victims. Some sort of closure perhaps." Rachel said nothing. She was consumed already. She had been for the longest of times. This woman had cost her so much. All the sacrifices she'd made in her relentless pursuit of her. All the things she'd lost. And of course that was the trigger to recall her greatest loss. 12 months earlier, her obsession had cost her the man she loved. He had walked out of her life. Because he was afraid of what she was becoming. Sure she had Steve now, and that was fine. Better than fine really. The sex was great. Hard, wild, angry sex. Not at all like the soft gentle intimate sex she'd previously known. And of course they understood each other. Both being police detectives. They knew what it was like in a way no other could. So it was perhaps mere gentle reminiscing that she thought of David. It would be nice though at some point, to tell him it was over. That the thing that had driven him from her was gone now. But she didn't even know where in the world to find him. She could ask MSF of course. And even if they knew where he was in deepest darkest Africa; or somewhere in isolated Asia; could she even reach him there. The greatest irony about the man she considered sometimes to be her one great love, was that it was because of Kara that they'd even met. When they had finally worked out the identity of this body hacking woman and her group of devotees they had sought to find out everything they could about her. This had brought her into contact with David Summers. A paediatric ENT surgeon who had known Kara through Medical school, and then through surgical training together. Rachel was sceptical. Anyone who had such a close bond with Kara for so long must have known what she was capable of. Could he even be trusted? He did know exactly what she was capable of, and even though Rachel wasn't sure why, she did find herself trusting him. "Kara was brilliant," David had said. "But I knew she wasn't like the rest of us. She didn't seem to understand human emotion at all. Yet she was so technically proficient. She was the most skilled plastic surgeon I'd ever seen. But with absolutely no bedside manner. The human bodies she operated on were just an artist canvas to her. She did not care about people's motivations and desires. Only insomuch as when it served her own ends." He wasn't surprised she was mutilating and butchering people for sport. They were experimental animals to her. He'd invited Rachel to dinner. He was confident. She was going to say no - in no uncertain terms. But he was a wealth of information on Kara and she wanted to know more. He wasn't particularly tall or handsome or buff. Sure he was fit, and healthy and groomed. He was just ordinary really. She thought she would easily resist his smarmy charms. But he wasn't like that. She knew she was in trouble when he'd made a joke. "I know what you're thinking. Rich surgeon. He's gonna be all about the T & A. Well I totally am." "Really?" Tits and arse. That's blatant. "Yep. Tonsils and Adenoids man. That's me." She'd laughed. But he wasn't even that. He specialized in cleft lip and cleft palate surgery and his greatest desire was to take those skills into the third world one day. When he was able. And help those who had no one else who could or would. She had thought perhaps he was too good to be true. But he was genuine and disarming and she watched the way he truly cared for the welfare of his patients. She didn't plan to, but she'd fallen hopelessly in love. He'd made it pretty clear he felt the same way and they had 12 wonderful months together. Opposites in so many ways. Her tense serious police personality; his laid back kindly Doctor manner. They adored each other. But as the murders continued and the spectre grew darker and darker David worried about the changes in Rachel and more than once suggested they just up and leave. Set up the clinic, just as he'd planned, in an impoverished needy area and help those that needed it. Let someone else end Kara's murderous rampage he told her. But Rachel would not go. She had to see this through and finish it one way or other. It was her mission. Almost her raison d'etre truth be told. She had to stop it. In the end he went on his own, to work with 'Doctors without borders.' His only goodbye a note. Now she had finally stopped it. But too much water had well and truly passed under the bridge. She hoped he was happy. She knew he would be. Somewhere in the world, helping people, doing what he loved. *** Steve sent Rachel home from the hospital to sleep. She had parted with vitriol still to espouse. "I hope she dies in the night." Steve didn't react. He had tomorrow on his mind. Even though Kara was stopped there was still her bunch of zealots to deal with. She was charismatic and worshipped like some underworld God. Her followers would need rounding up and stopping in the coming days. But without their leader they would hopefully be easy pickings. Except perhaps the mysterious Vincent. He was Kara's sidekick. Maybe even her lover. His true identity was unknown but it was rumoured he was a Doctor too. A surgeon like her perhaps? Steve could only hope the killing rampage would stop with her. And that there would be no attempted rescue. Steve was processing all this, still watching the unconscious Kara, when the Thoracic surgeon came around to check post operatively. "So who is this woman that needs 24 hour guard after being shot?" he asked. "You know I can't say," Steve replied. "So it's okay for me to patch her back together but not know who she is?" "Yeah. Something like that." Steve wasn't rude, almost apologetic. "Well I can tell she's no ordinary Jane Doe that's for sure." The surgeon was not offended. "Why do you say that?" Steve's curiosity was peeked. "I don't think there's much of her that's original. But it's some of the finest work I've ever seen." "What?" Steve asked, stunned. "Yeah it's subtle. The scars are almost invisible. She's had her whole face redone, the boobs are augmented. Work on her hips, butt, everywhere really." "Like plastic surgery?" Steve begins to comprehend. "Yep. But like I said. By one of the most skilled surgeons I've ever seen." "Oh." His mind was already processing. The surgeon left then but Steve was left still pondering. After a time he began to be filled with a sense of dread. More than once he'd heard Kara Steele described as one of the most skilled plastic surgeons ever seen. And she could hardly perform plastic surgery on herself. The realisation came gradually, but sickeningly. What if this wasn't Kara but one of her followers made to look like her? Some random girl that Kara had used to duplicate herself with all the skill she possessed to be able to do such a thing. Then she had sent this lackey along to do her dirty work. Kill Rachel. Steve quickly contacted his own forensic Doctors. He needed her identity confirmed by DNA. They had Kara's DNA on file. It would be easy enough to match. In the meantime he would continue the 24 hour guard but would himself get back to Rachel. Just in case his outlandish theory bore out to be true and the real Kara was still out there. Because Rachel then, was still in danger. As he made haste to his own apartment, where Rachel awaited, he felt it may explain what he saw on the video he'd erased. If this woman was not the real Kara, even if she was the most dedicated disciple, she may not have been capable of killing when the moment arose. It takes a unique kind of pathology to kill someone in cold blood. Very few people were actually capable of that. So this girl had failed her mistress. A transgression not taken lightly he imagined. If this far fetched folly was right, and this wasn't the real Kara, then there would be no rescue attempt by her underlings. But the girl was a liability. For the information she may be able to reveal. So they would come for her; to finish the job that Rachel almost did. Steve felt either way the guard was well justified, in spite of the patient's incapacitated state. He would know the truth by tomorrow though. Meanwhile he would say nothing to Rachel about it. Not until he was sure. He hoped that this woman would be revealed as the true Kara Steele. And that Rachel's ability to sleep tonight would not be a sadly isolated one off event. His prediction was right. Rachel was asleep when he got to her. Sleeping sounder than he'd seen in all the time they were together. He climbed into bed beside her. But it was his turn to be consumed by insomnia. ** It was the next afternoon when the results were in. He'd been rung by the lab. By Quentin, a guy he'd dealt with before. "So?" Steve asked. He felt the question was evident. "So you better get down here." "Why?" That request had filled him with dread. "I have to show you this in person. I can't talk about it over the phone." Steve suspected his worst fears were about to be realised. "Just tell me Quentin. Is it Kara Steele or not?" "Just get down here Steve." ** He held the envelope in his hand. Ripped open. "This has gotta be some kind of joke Quentin," he virtually yelled, agitated. "No. It's not." "Then it's a mistake. Run it again." "We already have. Several times." "Then the sample's been tampered with. Get more." "Jesus Steve. I'm not a quack. We've done that countless times. I got samples from inside her cheek. White cells from her blood. Hair follicles. All the usual stuff. And when I saw how anomalous the results were we even took samples from other places. One in particular that is quite unique in this case." "What? Where?" "A HVS." "A what?" "High Vaginal swab." "Good lord! And?" "The results there were the same as everywhere else on her body." "This is fucking bullshit! This is unbelievable fucking God damn sci-fi kinda bullshit. So let me get this straight Quentin. You're telling me that woman in the hospital. Not only is it not the real Kara Steele. It's not even a woman." "Yep." "And you're telling me with 100% certainty....." "Well 99.99," Quentin interrupts. "You're telling me that it is. Or it used to be......David Summers?" *** Steve knew he had to keep this from Rachel. Sure he would have to tell her that this wasn't Kara Steele, for her own safety if for no other reason. But she could never know the real identity of the person in that bed. He could not begin to speculate what her reaction would be. This could unhinge her completely. How had this even come about?; Steve wondered. He had taken plenty of time to chew on it, and he now had a plausible theory. David Summers was in fact 'Vincent.' Kara's serial killing co- conspirator. This made perfect sense. They had been through med school and surgical training together. They were secretly lovers. David's whole relationship with Rachel was fake. A set up purely to manipulate her. David probably continually confounded Rachel. White anting her. Putting her off the scent. Talk about the ultimate sleeper agent. But his true love was Kara. He must have adored her. So he stages his disappearance to Africa and then allows Kara to use her surgical skill to turn him into her replica. Even sacrificing his manhood. Now that's a dedicated groupie. Then it was Kara Mark 2's job to kill Rachel. The keys, and the alarm code; it all made sense now. David had both those things. He imagined they both thought it delicious irony that Rachel would die at the hand of her former lover, albeit unknowingly. What a narcissist Kara Steele must be to turn her own lover into her mirror image. Would Kara want her back? Or is she, like Steve predicted, dispensable. The only thing that didn't fit was David's reticence to kill Rachel. He had every chance. But didn't. And he would have known full well that failure to do so would result in his own death. And it certainly would have. Rachel would have put a bullet in his brain if Steve hadn't stopped her. He was strongly regretting not letting her right now. This whole thing was so sickeningly bizarre. Steven felt extremely nauseated. He waited till the next day, at her desk at the station, to tell her. Principally that it wasn't yet over. He explained that the woman in the hospital wasn't Kara Steele but one of her underlings made to look like her. Rachel took the news as expected. Dismayed but still determined in her resolve. It occurred to Steve that at some point this 'woman' may recover and he couldn't hope to keep Rachel away from interrogating her. Then the truth will certainly come out. And could Steve truly trust that Rachel wouldn't still kill this person who had betrayed her so ultimately. In fact he felt it would make it more likely. Maybe that was Kara's play. For Rachel to be so incensed as to execute this person. She wanted to turn Rachel into a cold blooded killer like her. Oh my Fucking God. Thought Steve. It was an epic mess. *** Rachel spent the next couple of days reviewing all she had in a more determined effort than ever to end things. As far as she knew, Kara had come for her. Albeit by proxy. Or a very good facsimile. It was more personal than ever. Kara had to be stopped of course, but it seemed to Rachel more urgently than ever. Steve had positioned things so he would be there when the woman awoke. It took two more days but eventually she did. He made sure he was alone with her at the bedside. The Kara clone eyed him harshly on awakening and after a time finally spoke. "I know you. You're Manders. Rachel Spencer's partner. And her lover." She added the last snidely. "And I know who you are. Or at least who you used to be. At least until you mutilated yourself. You're David Summers." "What?" The woman laughed surprised. "I know you're a good likeness of Kara Steele but it's pretty easy to run your DNA." "You should know better than try any psychological mind games on me Manders. I invented them. What the fuck is this? Try and make her doubt her own identity bullshit. That's childish. You're a fucking amateur. Bring me Spencer. I don't want to deal with moronic henchmen. I want my supposed worthy adversary." "So that's how you're gonna play it? Still pretend you're Kara Steele even though we both know you aren't." "If you're sure I'm not Kara Steele honey then let me out of the shackles and I'll prove it. Maybe you'll believe me when you're dying on the floor." "Have it your way. I'm sure you enjoy having a cunt now. Because you so totally are one." Steve left her. A little disturbed. If she was going to keep pretending she was the real Kara then it might actually take Rachel longer to work out who she really was. This may be a good thing. ***** He returned to work to find an envelope on his desk, with his name on it. Rachel was out. He would tell her later 'Kara' was awake but would be sure to accompany her when she went to the hospital to question her. When the discovery was made he knew he would need to be there to intervene. The envelope contained an USB stick. No note. Not a totally uncommon scenario for 'anonymous tip offs.' He placed it in the slot of his computer. It contained a video file. He looked around the room to see if anyone was watching. No one was, so he played it. It began with Kara Steele on screen, which gave Steve quite an unpleasant shock. It was time stamped about a year ago. "Hi fans," she started sarcastically. "I've got a special guest with me today." The camera panned around. There was a man. Tied to a chair. He had been beaten but not severely enough to obscure recognition. "This is Dr David Summers. Eminent ENT surgeon. He's an old friend of mine. Isn't that right David?" He looked at her fearfully but did not speak. He couldn't. His mouth was gagged. "David's also the lover of another dear friend of mine. Rachel Spencer. And I'm making this video for her so she'll be able to see first hand, and be able to know intimately what became of her poor dear Snookums. Although she will never get to this video I suspect. Because guess what David." She asks him conspiratorially in a stage whisper. "You're going to kill her!" David grunts and struggles, but is powerless. "Anyway," Kara continues into camera, "let's not get ahead of ourselves. David left Rachel a note today. Sure he had to be coerced a little to write it, but what's a couple of broken pinkies. I can fix them later. What did it say you ask? Just the usual really. I can't be with you any more because of your unhealthy obsession with that gorgeous Kara creature. Although maybe I'm paraphrasing. So I'm off to Africa to save the babies. Don't wait up I'll see you in a few years." "Do you think she'll buy it David? Believe you just up and left her. You know she probably will. She's so fragile. She doesn't think she deserves love. She expects to abandoned. I think she might have daddy issues." Kara laughs with derision. "So that suits me just fine. You're a lousy boyfriend David. Not sticking by her when she needs you. You should be punished. Luckily that's what I'm here for. Anyway that's all for now. We don't want to bore our audience. We need to keep it snappy." The video fades for a moment and then comes back on. It's evident that time has passed. David is on screen and Steven is momentarily shocked by his appearance. Kara's voice comes on. "Well a few months have passed now and I'm sure you can see the wonders of diet and high dose hormones. David's no longer the man he was, that's for sure. The side effects have been rough on poor diddums. Vomiting every day. We've lost a lot of weight. But thankfully there's still been enough fat to redistribute. Boobs are coming along nicely. And the laser has everything soooo smooth. Of course David's not stupid. He knows what's happening. Getting in touch with his inner woman. Who'll soon be his outer woman. He just doesn't know why yet. I think he's still hoping Rachel will come for him. That she'll rescue him. He still loves her. But not to worry. He won't always feel that way about her. And I'm sure she's forgotten you already. I hear she's already getting cosy with her new detective partner. Fickle perfidious women hey?" David sits there mutely. He looks gaunt. Pale. Broken. Defeated. The screen fades again. When it returns Steven gasps audibly. If David looked bad before, now he looks close to death. It's about 5 months after the video started. "David's feeling very sorry for himself today. He's just woken up from anaesthetic to discover I've taken his boy toys away. Although I really don't know why he's so upset. It's not like it worked any more. But I guess he's realised Rachel won't want him ever again now that he has no man bits. But he just thinks I've castrated him. He doesn't know what a wonderful gift I've given him. As long as we're diligent with the dilating he'll soon have a fully functioning vagina. And all the nerve endings have been preserved in your new clitoris. You'll be able to discover the joys of female orgasm as soon as you're healed up. Vincent will certainly enjoy giving you that. He's an excellent teacher." Even though Steven already seen the end result of all this, being the shot woman in the hospital, watching the process was horrific. It did give perspective though. It made the unbelievable notion that the woman in the bed was once David Summers so much more, well, believable. Steven was seeing it with his own eyes. He was dreading what was next, but at the same time morbidly curious. Six months now and the next excerpt had David's face wrapped in bandages. "Now for the big reveal!" Kara announced as she uncovered him. Even expecting it, it was amazing the likeness now between the two of them as the dressings came away. "Oh honey," Kara mocked. "You look fabulous. Here; take a look in the mirror." David did nothing to resist but complied meekly. When he did so, a look of horrified recognition swept across his new face. "That's right darling. Now she gets it. There's your future in the mirror. Congratulations! You get to be me!" She laughs. "But I'm going to hand your reigns over to Vincent now. He's so much better at the psychological torture and brainwashing. By the time he's finished with you, you'll have never even heard of David Summers. Not only do you look like me. But you're going to think like me, act like me, and kill like me. You are going to completely be me. I'm going to make you the perfect Kara Steele!" The next scene, nine months now, shows a man and woman mid sexual congress. Wild and ferocious. "Sorry about the sex tape," Kara is heard from behind the lens. "I just wanted to show you how well new Kara was taking to it. The first twenty or so times were a bit of a struggle. She resisted quite a bit. But Vincent wore her down. And now she just loves it. Of course I have to stay hidden now. She thinks she's the one and only. Bless her. I must say though. Even when I'm having sex I still look darn good." Steve felt decidedly uncomfortable watching the sex scene. Focusing an inordinate amount of time on the new Kara and her apparent enjoyment. The next one had Kara Steele gleefully commentating. "It's graduation day! This is when our hard work for the last 12 months finally comes to fruition. This is when we prove my prot?g?s training is complete." "Kara dear," Vincent's voice says now from off screen. I've brought you a present." He comes into shot dragging a semi conscious older man with him. He looks homeless. Vincent throws him on a trolley and straps him to it. Steven, watching on, feels an incredible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Kara comes into shot. She looks poised and emotionless. Steven realised as he watched she truly was indistinguishable from her creator. She cackles gleefully at the victim and climbs on the trolley, straddling the shackled man. "No need to tell a former ENT surgeon where the carotid is," original Kara comments, quietly from behind camera. With that the other Kara produces a scalpel. She leans forward and kisses the frightened man on the forehead and then in one swift motion slashes his throat. "Jesus! God!" Steve squeals, watching it. Reeling back from his computer. Blood spurts out of the dying man's neck, all over new Kara's face. She uses her tongue to lick some off her lips, and smiles. Just like that, Steve realised the last of David Summers humanity was extinguished. She was Kara Steele. Sure, she was a clone. But that was it. She was exactly like her creator in every possible way. There was not putting this horror into any definable terms. Kara came on again after another break. The time stamp now was dated today. "Rachel dear. I'm not sure how you survived your encounter with my little doppelganger. But you are close to discovering that she's not quite me. So I sent you this video to give you the heads up. I hope you enjoyed it." "Shit!" Steven thought out loud. This is not how Rachel should find out the truth. Who knows what she will do. But where was she? He wandered past her desk again. He paid more attention this time. There he saw a USB stick emerging from her hard drive, just like his, and a ripped envelope, with her name on the front, identical to the one he received. "Oh God!" he thought. "Oh my Fucking God!" He knew where she was. And he knew what she was about to do. *** Steve had raced to the hospital as fast as he could. Lights and sirens fast. He screamed into a park reserved for emergency vehicles and ran for Kara Steele's room. The seats for the police guard outside were empty, confirming his suspicions chillingly. A nurse came out of the private room as Steven thundered in approach. "Where are the guards?" He demanded of her. "The detective sent them away. She said that under no uncertain terms is she to be disturbed in there." Steve barged past her. "That doesn't include me," he quipped. He opened the door to find the exact same scene for the second time in less than a week. Rachel Spencer with her gun nozzle pressed up against Kara Steele's forehead. "Rachel not again! Put the gun down." "Don't you see Steven. I have to kill it." "But don't YOU see Rachel 'It' is David. You can't kill him." "David is already dead. This thing is not David. It's just a mockery of him. An evil murderous parasite that needs to be eradicated. "We don't know that. David might still be in there. We might be able to help him." "We can't. You have no idea what he has become. What he has done." "I do. I saw the video too." "Then you know that this is not David. She just slashed that mans throat. And laughed." "We can't imagine what she's been through, Rach. What's she's endured. She wasn't acting of her own free will. She's brainwashed. Everything that's been done might be able to be undone." "You think you can give her her dick back Steve?" Rachel oozes with cynicism. "No. But we can help her get her humanity back." "She's way beyond any possible sort of redemption." "I know you're mad Rachel. And you've got every reason to be full of hate. But that woman at the end of your gun is someone you used to care about. And if you put a bullet in her brain there's no coming back from that. You'll be the one who finds yourself beyond redemption." After a considerable silent pause Rachel screamed a loud guttural roar. Sickening in its impotent rage. And she lowered her weapon. "Fuck it Steve! Why do you have to be the voice of reason? And why do I have to be a stupid fucking sucker for your heart wrenching brand of false hope." "I still don't believe it's false," Steve lamented. "What about you Kara?" Rachel turned to the woman. Is he right? Is there still good in you?" "That's so typical of you Rachel. You're so binary. Good. Evil. You just don't get it." "You're the one who doesn't get it. You're not even the real Kara Steele you dumb fuck. You're just too stupid to realise it." "What I do know is that you have had your gun on my forehead twice now," the bed ridden Kara stated coldly. "And you haven't had the guts to pull the trigger. Trust me when I say this. You won't get a third chance." "No. She won't," a woman declares from behind Steven and Rachel. The bedridden Kara Steele looks up and sees her identical twin with a silencer laden pistol pointing at her. She had entered the room unnoticed and now had the upper hand. Steve and Rachel spun in unison and reached for their guns. Two subdued pfft pfft noises signalled the shots from Kara's gun. Steve Manders dropped his own gun and sunk floorward. Dark blood oozing, spewing even, out over the clothes on his abdomen. Kara had her gun trained on Rachel then. "Uh Uh! Drop it," Kara said. Rachel had no choice. "Well you know the old adage. If you want a job done right you gotta do it yourself," she said to Rachel. She then directed her attention to the girl in the bed, who still had an expression on her face like she'd seen a ghost. "One job Honey! You had one job. Kill Rachel Spencer. One year of preparation and you still fucked it up." The second Kara looked confused and frightened. "Oh gorgeous, you still think you're the original. No. I'm afraid what your little friends have said is true. You are a facsimile. But you're a pretty good one. Like God I created you in my own image. And although you've let me down now I'm sure you'll get another opportunity to redeem yourself. Now just let me kill the nice lady and we can be out of here." Rachel flung herself across the room then. This was Kara Steele as she knew her. Waxing lyrical and tormenting her victims. Distracted by her own superiority complex. It was not just her impending assassination that motivated Rachel to launch through the air, but the thought of what Kara had done to David. It seemed the sheer power of hate was enough to induce feats of unheralded athleticism. She collided with Kara before a shot could be fired and they tussled for the gun. They were both aware it was a fight to the death now. They fought like their life depended on it. They grappled and rolled. Punched and kicked. As they struggled harder a voice near them screamed. "Stop!!" They both glanced up to see the other Kara standing over them with Steve Manders' gun pointing at them. Or more precisely aimed at Rachel. "Good girl," Kara Steele assured her replica. "I told you you wouldn't get the chance to point a gun at me again." The other woman, the artificial Kara, barked at Rachel. "David! Please! No!" Rachel screamed. But to no apparent avail. A shot rang out from Steve Manders' gun for all the hospital to hear. *** Steve Manders slowly swam back up to consciousness. Taking a moment to orient he realised he was in a hospital bed. A throbbing pain emerged in his gut and he reached down gingerly to feel himself wrapped in a bandage. His other arm was tethered. He looked towards it. It was held in the grip of a woman sitting in a chair beside the bed. But she was asleep. Her head forward such that her face was planted on Steve's mattress, her arm outstretched, her hand holding his. He tried to gently extricate his arm but she felt it and stirred. "Hey," he said as she looked up bleary eyed. "Hey yourself," Rachel Spencer replied and her face broke into a relieved grin. "So what's the damage?" he asked. Indicating his abdomen. "Two shots through the liver. Cut it to bits really. You'll probably never be able to drink alcohol again." "Seriously?" He looked pretty concerned at that revelation. "No." She laughed softly. "But certainly not for a while. Your surgeon told me the liver heals pretty well." "So not too bad then?" "Yes bad!!" she stated. "Those wounds are usually fatal. But if you're gonna get shot; Best do it in a hospital with a trauma centre and surgeons on stand by apparently." He tried to laugh but it hurt too much. "Kara?" It seemed the next logical question. "She couldn't be saved. Bullet straight through her heart. Shattered her ventricles. There was not enough left for them to put back together." "It's finally over then? You got her?" "Yes it's over. But I didn't kill her. It was her replica. Turns out the pupil was a better shot than the master." "David shot her?" Steve attempted to clarify. "The other Kara," Rachel corrected. "Well I didn't see that coming." "Me neither. I was sure she was about to shoot me." "Where is she now?" "Still in her hospital bed. She pulled out some tubes or something when she leapt out of bed in the scuffle. Set her back a bit. But as soon as she's a little better we'll get her off to the prison hospital." "Prison?" Steven responded with a stunned exclamation. "You saw the video. She's a cold blooded murderer and an accomplice to a serial killer. She deserves to rot." "No. She doesn't. You know full well Kara killed that man. David was not acting of his own volition. He's not responsible." "Stop calling her that. Murder is murder. And we have the evidence." "Destroy the USB." "What? No!" "Rachel. I don't know what happened after I was shot. But it sounds to me like that woman you are so keen to condemn saved your life." "She probably didn't do it for me. She probably did it so she could be the only Kara." "Are you seriously trying to convince yourself that? In your apartment, where you shot her, she'd already lowered her gun. She's had two opportunities to kill you, and the way you keep threatening her that would be the most logical thing to do. But she hasn't. And there are only two possible reasons for that. One is that on some level she still remembers the man she was, and what you meant to her; and the other is that she remembers the difference between right and wrong. And frankly I think it's both." "What would you have me do? Just let her go? I can't have Kara Steele free in the world. Even if it's not the original. Because then it's not over. And what if she goes back to Vincent? And he reprograms her. And Kara Steele restarts her killing spree all over again?" "That's never going to happen. She's not Kara Steele. And I'll prove it." "Well you better. Otherwise I'm making sure she goes to jail for the rest of her miserable pathetic life." Steven sighed audibly. "I understand your anger Rachel. And how much more it's amplified since you saw that video. But can't you see how misplaced it is?" He pauses, then continues. "David didn't just give up on you and leave. Like you probably thought. He was taken from you. And for 12 months he was tortured, mutilated and eventually repeatedly raped." "Steven don't..." "No. You need to hear this out loud Rachel. To break down whatever fantasised scenario you've concocted. Yes Kara and Vincent succeeded into turning him into a monster. He has no idea who he is anymore and yes he did believe he was Kara Steele till he saw the other one. But no matter how much you deny it. How much you disconnect yourself and how far you distance yourself, the fact remains that the woman in the other room is all that's left of David Summers. And it seems to me that everything she's done lately is some sort of proof there is a lot more left of him than you think." "I don't wanna hear it." "No. You clearly don't. I don't want her to come between us Rach, but I can't in good conscience sit idly by and watch whilst you lock her up and throw away the key. Every moral fibre in me tells me that's the wrong thing to do." Rachel was about to counter but a man wandered in to the room. "Hey. Awake at last," he announced jovially. Steve studied him silently. "Matt Prescott. I'm your surgeon," he announced. "Oh Hi Doc. So yeah. Thanks so much for saving me." "You're welcome." "Rachel says my wounds would have been fatal if this had happened anywhere other than inside a hospital." "Well yep. That's true. And ironically even that wasn't enough to save you." He half laughs. "What?" Steve expressed his bewilderment. What on earth did that mean? "Didn't she tell you?" The surgeon looked at Rachel. Rachel looked away and down in response, clearly she had withheld something. Steve looked at her, then at the surgeon. "Well. After we heard the gunshot and worked out what the hell was going on. It still took a few minutes for the code blue team to arrive. And it was chaos. No one was willing to run into a room where there might be armed assailants. Meanwhile one of the bullets had pierced your Hepatic artery. Frankly you were bleeding out into your abdomen. By the time we reached you you would have been well dead." He paused, and looked concerned. "Sorry, that was a bit blunt." "I'm assuming by the fact that I'm still breathing there's a but..." "There sure is. I've never seen anything like it in my life." "What?" "That woman. She's fucking crazy. I mean crazy arsed MacGyver kind of batshit crazy." "Which woman?" Steve asked, looking at Rachel. But he already knew. "The other patient. The prisoner. Get this. She ripped the suction off her own chest drain, that was keeping her punctured lung inflated, stuck it straight into your guts to clear the field, suck up the blood I mean; then grabbed the clamp off her own chest tube and pinned your artery. She stopped your haemorrhaging. It bought you the time you needed. So when we got there we had a woman with her heart practically blown out of her chest, you bled half to death, but the bleeding now stopped, and that one with a tension pneumo, going blue and gasping like a dying fish. Well we couldn't save you all." "But you did save her?" Rachel had indicated she was still alive but Steve needed clarification. "Yes. She's stable. Set her treatment back a fair way though. I take it she's some kind of surgeon. I hope that whatever she's done isn't so bad. Because I'd hate to think she couldn't operate again. I'd gladly have someone like that, with that sort of quick thinking ingenuity, on my team." Steve took a deep breath, Well as much as he could without it hurting. Then he looked at his lover. "What's it going to take Rachel? What more does she have to do? She's saved both our lives now. Can you truly not see how indebted to her we both are? Destroy that fucking USB!" "Fine!" Rachel yelled. And she stormed out of the room. ** "Thanks Rick," Steve Manders said to the policeman pushing his wheelchair. "I'll take it from here. Just go back outside." "I dunno Steve. I don't think I should leave you in here alone in your incapacitated state." "Trust me Rick. I'm in no danger from her." "Okay. If you're sure." "I'm sure. Just leave us alone for a bit. It'll be fine." Rick left the room and Steven silently surveyed the woman in the bed. She was curled in a ball and had barely acknowledged the presence of anyone in the room. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life," he spoke to her. She was silent for a while before she softly mumbled. "You're welcome I guess." Well that was something. By all accounts she'd been practically catatonic for the last 48 hours. Refusing to speak. Refusing to eat. "What would you like me to call you?" She turned to face him then. "Well that's the thing isn't it? I've discovered I'm not Kara Steele, and I have no recollection of ever being this person people say I was. So I don't actually have an identity do I?" Steven thought for a bit. "I think I can help. I guess my worry is I could make matters worse. Kara Steele kept a video diary of the things she did to you. It shows where you started, and well, where you got to. But its pretty confronting. Pretty graphic. Pretty disturbing. And that's without those things happening to me. I can show you but I don't want to distress you any further. But at least it might give you a sense of perspective." "I don't see how anything at the moment could make things worse." "Well okay then. But you tell me at any time if you want me to stop." The woman propped herself up as Steve rolled up beside the bed and played the video on his laptop. She watched with furrowed brow whilst Steven let it roll. "That was me?" she asked in the initial stages. Both of them felt it rhetorical, and no answer was sought or given. She continued to watch David's transformation with apparent emotionless appraisal. Tellingly, the woman barely reacted to what Steven found quite horrific. David's castration. He supposed it was a case of not missing something that you simply don't remember having. But it was seeing David's reaction to his new face and Kara's accompanying declaration of the torture to follow that seemed to unnerve her most. When it reached her sexual congress with Vincent she announced, "I remember everything from here." The next scene it skipped to was when Vincent brought in the man for slaughter. "Stop it please!" she hissed with face ashen. Steven did, before the garrotting was shown on screen. After a prolonged silence she spoke. "Will I be executed for that?" "We don't have the death penalty here." "I think I wish we did." "That man. When we identify him. Will be filed as another one of Kara Steele's victims. There will be no associating him with you." "But that's wrong. I killed him. I need to be punished." "For a start you were not in any mental capacity to be accountable for your actions, and after seeing this, don't you truly think you've been punished enough." "But I can't live with the guilt. With what I've done." "You have to realise that it wasn't you that did this. It was the monster that Kara Steele created. You aren't her instrument of death anymore. I know you don't know what you are, but you certainly aren't the thing she manufactured." "I can't just kill a man. Apportion blame and then just move on. That seems like something she would do." "I know you can't forget it. But you shouldn't be seeking punishment. I think what you need is atonement." "Atonement?" "You saved my life. And you saved Rachel's. I think perhaps there is a critical mass for you when you realise that you living, is a far better thing for the world than you dying." "How can I possibly be of any use to the world?" "Seriously?" Steve asked dramatically. "Whether you are Kara Steele or David Summers, they both had one thing in common. You're still a surgeon." "I can't possibly operate any more. I don't think I can and no one would ever let me." "This from the woman who was elbows deep in my abdomen 48 hours ago." "That was just reflex." "Exactly. David Summers is buried in your subconscious. The first step is accepting that you are him." "Were him." "Okay. Well let's call that semantics. So back to my question. What do I call you?" The woman sighed. Steve was relentless. But he was right. She couldn't remain nameless. "Well not David. That's hardly appropriate now is it?" she remarked sardonically. "Well what about Daisy then? It seems the most derivative." Steve offered. "Daisy Summers." She smiled. "That will be just perfect if I decide to become a porn star." "Well you choose something then." He chuckled. The woman thought, "When I was little I had a Great Aunt Rose. She was the coolest woman I know. And Rose keeps the whole floral theme going doesn't it?" Steven looked at her with mouth ajar. "What? Don't you like it?" She was suddenly self conscious. "That was a memory!" Steve almost squealed with excitement. "What?" The woman seemed unaware. "You just had a childhood memory. And I'd bet you a thousand bucks that it wasn't Kara's." Rose's face strained. "Oh God! You're right. I have memories! David's memories." There was silence for a moment whilst they both processed that. Rose's initial smile faded as it was overshadowed by doubt. "I'm no expert in this by any means. But I suspect there will be plenty more where that came from." Steve affirmed. Rose looked pensive and unconsciously bit her lip. "So Rose Summers," he continued. "I'm pretty sure we've just given you a purpose. A reason to live. Get your memories back, and then get your job back." Rose smiled a nervous smile then. She knew it would be hard. But she also knew he was right. *** Rose Summers stood up from her cafe seat as Steve Manders approached, by way of greeting. She was dressed as one would on a coffee date in late spring. A light floral dress with flat sandals. It had not been without considerable deliberation. She didn't know whether she wanted to affirm or refute her gender. Not so much for her benefit, but his. Maybe jeans and a tee would have been better. But she could do nothing about that now. "Hi." He stood awkwardly by the table. "Hi." She replied. Then she thought 'fuck it', and leaned in for a cheek kiss. I saved his life for fuck sake. That makes us pretty familiar with each other by my reckoning. He complied without hesitation, and just as Rose had hoped it actually made things less tense rather than more. She smoothed her dress under her and returned to a sit, prompting him to join her, seated at the table. "Thanks so much for coming," she said. "It's my pleasure." It was still a little formal. Then, perhaps to further ease the tension, or because it was so dramatically obvious, Steve remarked, "Wow. I love your hair." "Thanks." She cringed a little from the compliment. "It's not really my preference to be blonde. But it was literally the only thing I could do to make myself look less like her." He raised his eyebrows. He wanted her to elaborate, but maybe he'd come back to that. They ordered coffees and they arrived presently. They enquired about each others general recovery from their bullet wounds and their assorted ailments. Rose asked how the hunt for Vincent and the other members of Kara's sect was proceeding. Steve was able to tell her that the information Rose had imparted had been very helpful in rounding many group members up. But Vincent remained at large. It reached a point then where Steve could finally find out what he really wanted to know. "So how are things going with you?" he asked. "I have so much to tell you. I don't know where to start and in what order. And I'm not sure what you'd want to hear without boring you to death anyway." "I think I kinda want to hear it all." "Really?" "I'm not sure how to say this without getting into trouble. But you look very different to the last time I saw you." "It's just the hair." "No. I don't mean physically. Well a little. But if you remember it was just before they shipped you off to rehab hospital. You still looked pretty broken. Confused. Uncomfortable in your body. Uncertain about your future. I was worried you wouldn't be able to live with who you were." "Well it wasn't easy..." "I'm sorry. I wanted to see you. To check on you. But Rachel was pretty clear that I wasn't to have anything to do with you." "I suspected as much. Does she know you're here today?" "No. But I'll tell her tonight. After the fact. You know what they say. It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission." "God. It feels so illicit all of a sudden. How do people have affairs? This just feels underhanded and dirty." Steve starts at that. "I think it's the thrill. And the whole sexual excitement thing." "Oh," Rose said, maybe a touch sadly. "That's why I don't get it. I don't really feel that." Then she adds, "I'm sorry if I'm making trouble for you. You don't have to stay." "No. I want to. It'll be fine. She'll get a bit pissy but really what can she be mad about." Steve knew well she would be pretty mad, but he still thought it was worth it. "So how have you been?" he asks again. Perhaps to redirect. "I got my memory back," she announced. Almost proudly. "Like you predicted. Slow and gradual at first. Then it kind of snow balled. I remember most things. Right up to the point I was abducted. It's a bit different after that." "That's great," Steve noted. "So now that I had all David Summers memories again. My first step was to work out how I could be him again. I mean me again. You know. Whatever." "Yes. I'm still following." He laughed. "But that was pretty heartbreaking." She looked downcast. Steve remained silent. "I know you're not medical Steve so don't think I'm patronizing," she began. "But once your dick and balls are gone. They're gone. And surgery to turn girl bits into boy bits is pretty much an abject failure. I knew all that. So my options were already a little limited. But I could get testosterone injections. That would coarsen my features up. Maybe get some facial hair back. Although I think it was lasered away for good. Then I could get a double mastectomy. Even get my vagina removed. I'd be a complete eunuch though. And the danger with that is the testosterone would give me a sex drive back but not the equipment to do anything about it. Which could lead to a lot of frustration I reckon." She paused. "Unless of course I kept my lady hole." She laughed again, but nervously. "So I suppose I could get half way back," she continued. "But I would be a little stuck in the middle. And I'm not sure that was any way to live." "Wow," Steve expressed. "That was quite a lot for you to process." "Yep," she went on. "But it turns out It was all moot anyway. I discovered I couldn't even do that. Do anything to my body." "Why?" "It turns out 12 months of torture is not good for the heart. I apparently had multiple small heart attacks under Vincent's tender loving care. That and something called Takotsubo's. I'm no cardiologist but it's also called broken heart syndrome. Brought on by extreme stress and sadness. It actually literally breaks your heart." "Really?" "Yep. Google it if you like. So I have something called Cardiomyopathy. Basically I've the heart of a 70 year old." "Oh. That's not good." Steve wasn't sure why he felt the need to state the obvious. "No it's not. So my dodgy heart was a bit of an operative risk and made the surgeons very reluctant to perform what they called 'elective procedures.' It's all very well for them to say that. They're not the ones who are unexpectedly female." Steve only widened his eyes in response to that. "Then there's my lungs. I somehow ended up with a bullet hole through one of them and it's pretty scarred up. Bottom line. Surgery is just too risky unless it's emergent. I couldn't even redo my face. So I'm stuck with Kara's. And you can imagine how psychologically healthy that is every time I look in the mirror. Hence the hair. I know it's feeble. But like I said. It's my only option." "Oh Rose. I'm sorry." She ignored the sympathy. "So I know you're probably thinking. That still doesn't explain the make up and dress. And you're right. I was stuck like this but still doesn't mean I had to embrace it. But like I said I was virtually a eunuch. I had no male or female gonads. I had no sex drive. No interest in men or women. Once Kara's hormone injections had worn off that is. So I was free of carnal thoughts I suppose. And I'm sure that's supposed to be liberating. And maybe that works for some people. But frankly I was just lonely as fuck. I don't think human beings are designed to be genderless. Or sexless. Well certainly not me in any case. So I kinda had to choose a side as it were. And it wasn't just that. Without sex hormones my bones would have been snapping in two before I was 40. Calcium tablets and vitamin D could only do so much. So I had to go on HRT. Hormone replacement therapy. And whilst neither is great. Estrogen is better on the heart. So I kinda had to just go with it Steve. I know you probably think I sold out. Or betrayed David. I think that all the time too. But I couldn't be a man. And I couldn't be nothing. So this is me. I really am Rose." "It sounds like it was a sensible decision with a difficult choice." "I guess. So the result is I'm female. I mean I don't have a partner or anything. I'm not even sure what I actually want. But I do orgasm." She blushed. "So please don't judge me too harshly." "How could I ever? You're fucking amazing. You're a survivor." "Thanks. I'm still adjusting. But you know what? That's not even what I wanted to talk about. To tell you about. My exciting news." "Which is?" "I did what you said. I went to the college of surgeons." "And?" "Well let's just say. Welcome to womanhood 101. What a misogynistic old boys club. This Institution was a throw back to sexism from times past. The true irony I guess, which made me such a deserving victim of their prejudice, was that when I was a man I'd never noticed. It's tough being a female surgeon. Even today. It's enough to turn you into a psychotic serial killer." Her laugh was awkward, but genuine. "So it gave me great pleasure to play the transgender card. They were falling over each other to not be seen to discriminate. So I got reinstated alright!" "Good for you." "But it was just a means to an end. I got straight onto MSF. That's 'Doctors without borders' in English. They were happy to have me. For real this time. Not just in Kara's perverted game. And I ship out in a few days. I finally get to live my dream." "That's great. I'm so happy for you." "Of course it's quite different to how I originally envisaged. Not being David is probably most notable. And I'm not even really going for my ENT skills. I mean I'll do a bit of that. But it will be mostly general surgery. I'll be pretty rusty." "You'll be fine." "That's what I keep telling myself too!" She grinned. He laughed. "So now you're all caught up," Rose continued. "Shall we get to the elephant now?" "I guess." "How is she?" "She's good." "I have to say. The absolute worst thing about getting my memory back has been remembering her. Remembering us. Remembering how I felt about her. I thought that maybe talking to you about this would be weird. But I figure you realize I'm no threat. And you'll at least empathize with what's it's like to love her. I'm so glad she has you." "You left some pretty big shoes to fill." "They're not that big. They're only ladies 9." "I have no idea what that means." Steve laughed. "Neither did I once," she replied dryly. "Does she ever talk about me?" Rose asked it anxiously. "No. I don't think she can." "I don't know why I asked that. I knew the answer." "I think it's too hard for her Rose. In her heart and mind she feels she failed David. She was a police detective. You were a lay person. Rachel feels she was supposed to protect you. Keep you safe. Kara took you from under nose and she didn't even know. Did all those things to you for 12 months and Rachel never once tried to find you. Or tried to save you. It's easier for her to grieve you like you're dead. She can't ever accept what you've become. It would hurt her too much." "But that's what hurts me too. I'm still a human being. I know she can't love me. But does she really have to hate me?" "I think it's really complicated Rose." "So that's how it has to be?" she asked forlornly. "I think so." She's silent for a while, before asking a question that seems a change in subject. "Have you ever read the novel 1984?" "No. Why?" "Well in it. Winston, the hero, gets taken to room 101, where his worst fears are. He's tortured till he's made to hate the woman he loves. Kara and Vincent did exactly the same to me. Used my love for her against me. Distorted and deformed it. They turned it into the purest most vitriolic form of hate you could imagine. I think Vincent was certain I would kill her. To be honest I was certain I would to. I guess if there was one thing I'd want her to know it's this. Every day. No matter what they did to me. I cried out for her. I longed for her. I hung onto her long after all hope was lost. I'm so sorry I wasn't strong enough. That they killed my love in the end. I tried so hard to keep her in my heart." Steve felt a deep sadness for this woman as she spoke. Slowly he formulated his words. "I think we both know you succeeded. You buried it down so deep they couldn't get to it. And when it came time to kill her. You just let it out." Rose started to cry. Man's man that Steven was he felt decidedly uncomfortable watching the emotional display. Rose realised that and tried her best to contain it. When she finally regained enough composure she spoke in a near whisper. "It seems disrespectful to sit here in front of you and tell you I'm still in love with your girl." "No. It's not." Steve isn't surprised. "I owe you my life. She owes you her life. I love you for that. She should too. I just can't seem to influence the way she feels about you and I'm sorry for that." "I know," Rose states. Resigned. "I guess. Just say goodbye from me. And tell her I'm sorry for everything." "I will," he confirms. Rose swirled the dregs of her latte around a few times in her hand. Her goodbye message was the last she would speak about Rachel, but she still wanted to talk to Steve about something else. "He still visits me in the night you know," she announced. "Who?" "The man I killed. In my