Nathan smiled coldly, trying to pierce through everybody in the court room. He looked as if he were about to say something more, but Christine put a hand on his arm, then turned to face the crowd. "It is customary that we say something on our behalf."

"A few last words in yer defense, not that it'll make any difference, an' keep it brief." Capri said sharply, looking at them with such contempt.

Christine smiled, the most cold, evil smile imaginable. "Take care, for he did warn you. And rest assured that *this* is not the only copy of this document. There are others. Not even you can hope to find them all. Nor all of those responsible for carrying them out." She looked to Nathan. "Dear?" her eyes glittered like twin pools of ice.

Nathan spoke next, his cold smile raked the room. "She is right, so it might be a good idea for you to end this farce of a so called trial now, if you don't want these things to happen."

But Capri was unmoved.

Nathan then stood up. "Since the Princess Comnena has declined to participate in this little game of yours..." he turned to Sarah, "Mrs Tallant, I believe we have some...unfinished business."

Before either Sarah or Capri could react, there was another angry voice coming from the crowd. "Shut your putrescent hole for once, you infernal, damnable,scumbag!" NT yelled, sending a magic bolt through Nathan.

Sarah's eyes were the reddest anyone there had ever seen them, and she was trembling with the effort to not give in to her instincts. "Never! Never in a thousand years!! Not even if I were the last vampire on earth and there'd never be another unless I turned you!!" she hissed.

Then, Capri spoke up. "You all may rest assured that whatever threats Mr. Tompkins an' Ms. Benson are tryin ta make now in order ta save their wretched necks, are empty. Every last one o' his contacts 'ave been dealt with, every other copy o' this list 'as been destroyed."

There was a collective sigh of relief from the spectators, who had for a moment began to wonder if Nathan had managed to give them all the slip again and had them over yet another barrel.

Then, it was time to designate a new overseer of Tompkins's companies. It would be a temporary position until such time as the business people could devote all their time to installing a permanent new boss.

All of Nathan's stolen properties were to be reclaimed by the people or relatives of the people he had taken it from. The remainder--the property which had belonged to the Tompkins family at the time Nathan had first taken control, after his father's death--was placed in trust for Miranda, until she came of age, and could decide what she wanted to do with it.

It was then that everyone was invited to come forth and let Nathan and Christine have it, time for people to let their feelings show as they confronted Nathan on their own terms. They came in droves, and one at a time, hissed, yelled, cried, shrieked out their feelings about what Nathan and Christine had done to them, their families, their companies, everyone from Rebekah to Judge Chalmers filed past.

When they all took their seats again, Capri said, "Now, this is the end o' the line, an' I'll start with you, Christine."

"You? Don't make me laugh. You can't do a damned thing, and you know it." Christine's hand came up and she traced a magical pattern, which flashed towards Capri.

"Forget that." Capri remained as unaffected as ever, "Yer not gonna get Tracy ta do it fer ya no more." and with that, Capri severed the link Christine had been using to feed off Tracy's supply of magic.

"Damn you!" Christine shrieked, and next, she tried to leech off Capri. It didn't work. Instead, she found herself being drained, any ability to get to other magic sources was now being destroyed. In several frantic attempts, she tried to leech off Ameh, then Donna, then NT, and lastly, Shawn, all to no avail.

Tracy in the meantime was panting and flushed, trying to catch her breath and strength after all Christine had just taken out of her. "Damn you bitch!" she growled hoarsely, glaring at Christine. That curse had forced her to be as helpless in resisting others' magic as Ariel was, and although for the moment, she was glad to see Christine being subdued, she wasn't at all sure Capri wouldn't give her the same treatment, or force Tracy to become her servant, or something just as bad. Even death would be better than that.

Christine continued to scream and fight for all she was worth, but Capri said nothing and just continued without a word, methodically cutting any link and ability Christine had. Once the link work was finished, it was just a matter of taking the magic away, and then the physical.

"Stop!" she cried, her eyes begging for mercy and betraying her emotions.

"An' 'ow many times did ya listen to Ameh er Donna when they wanted ya ta stop, eh?"

"Damn it..." Christine snarled, fighting the weakness that was sweeping through her. "Without me..." she managed to wave a hand towards where Donna sat, holding herself and still crying. "you'll never be able to control her...she's stronger than any of you realize!"

"Yeah, right, tha's why she was forced inta slavery by you. Give it up, it's really gettin stale." Capri muttered back.

"Why...do you think...we had...her magic blocked?" Christine demanded, feeling herself getting weaker magically by the minute, and still fighting it. "Didn't the other night...or what just happened...tell you anything?"

"Aw who cares? She's a kid an' kids lose control. Doubly so when they get abused by the likes o' you, so can the rant!" And Capri stepped up the pace even more with which she was taking the magic.

Finally with the magic drained away, Capri began working to finish off Christine, when she felt a hand tap her on the shoulder. She looked up to see The Crow standing there. "What the...? I thought you 'ad gone."

"I will deal with her. She will never harm anyone ever again, but she must suffer, she must pay, for all the evil she has brought upon others. You have already stripped away her magic. Leave the rest to me."

"Ah-all right," Capri hesitated, "Jus' as long as she really ain't gonna be 'urtin anybody again."

Christine barely had time to scream before The Crow had swept his cloak--which looked like nothing so much as an enormous cape of black feathers--around the two of them, and they vanished.

"Well, tha's one...gone." Capri looked up.

"Dammit! He shoulda let me! That way I'd know she'd really be dead!" Ameh fumed. "Just a couple o' shots!"

"Crow knows what 'e's doin," was Capri's only response. Then, turning her menacing gaze on Nathan, "Yor next!"

As Capri started weakening Nathan physically, Sophie rushed forward, "Wait!"

"No problem, jus' takin a little o' the fight outa him so 'e'll be easier ta move."

"I'll handle him, you don't need to do that." Sophie replied.

Nathan looked from Capri to Sophie, and while he was trying not to show it, there was a definite flicker of fear in his eyes. At least Capri was human. Sophie was something else entirely. Damn it, if only he still had his magic, he thought, or that damnable bird-man hadn't already taken Christine away. He tried to run, but couldn't make his legs move.

"Very well then, court's dismissed." Capri hit the gavel for the last time and everyone filed out. At least, she thought they had. Then, she suggested to Sophie that they do away with Nathan somewhere outside, in a secluded place. "We don't wanna mess it up in 'ere er cause a panic."

"Right." Sophie nodded. Taking hold of Nathan, she and Capri moved with him out of the court room and down some halls, and finally outside. Capri did a search and found a private place where she transported herself, Sophie, and Nathan.

Nathan struggled, but couldn't break away--what had that Monroe bitch *done*, his limbs felt so heavy. Where was Christine?? Even Tracy, foolish child that she was, would be better than nothing right now.

"Capri, make sure he has no silver on him." Sophie whispered to Capri so that Nathan couldn't hear. Capri nodded and did a magic check and found nothing. "Done, an' there ain't none."

Sophie then turned to Nathan. "For your crimes against Gaia and her people, you will now die." At that point, Sophie let her rage take over. There, standing before them was a huge pure white werewolf. Then in a flash, Sophie was on him clawing, ripping, biting, anything that hurt him.

Although Nathan tried to fight back, he was no match for the beast who snarled, battered, clawed, bit, and tore at him. Soon his shouts of indignation were replaced by screams of agony as the werewolf tore out one of his eyes. As she had him pinned under her, she continued tearing mercilessly like a wild animal. Nathan reeled and kept uttering blood curdling screams for help, over and over again.

Capri had thought it might be only one or two whacks and Nathan would be killed. She knew there might be some loss of blood from the hits, but that the death would come very quickly, and before Nathan could register any pain. Even so, she had insisted on having it carried out privately where only she would look on to make sure the task was done. What she hadn't expected was for the thing to be so agonizing and drawn out and bloody. Capri turned pale and shook violently. "'Ere! Kill 'im already, don't drag it out!" But the werewolf took no notice, being too intent on her work. Capri stood up and staggered forward a step or two. "Get it done dammit!" she screamed.

Capri was no stranger to the sight of blood and injury, being experienced in search and rescue, but then she was always doing what she could to help the injured, and if there was cruelty still being carried out, fighting to stop it. Now as Nathan lay screaming and still trying to fight while the werewolf dismembered him alive, Capri could no longer recognize Sophie as the executioner, or Nathan as Nathan. All she saw was a monster tearing apart a man, a man who screamed and looked just as agonized as any innocent Capri had come across in all her experience at mission work.

Caught between a rock and a very hard place, every cell within her screamed to interfere, and she had to keep telling herself over and over again that this was Nathan Tompkins and not just another man, however much he looked like a victim. She stumbled forward another couple of steps, not intent on saving Nathan, but putting an end to his suffering, and an end to him. Even now, she knew trying to save him would only result in his making other people suffer, and besides, Capri knew that if Nathan was watching someone else meeting their end in this way, he would've sat and enjoyed it. Capri, however much she wanted Nathan dead, did not. Unable to stop herself, Capri broke into a shaky run, cursing and retching as she went. "I said kill 'im dammit, not torture 'im!" And she continued screaming at the top of her lungs between the violent heaves as she staggered on.

When it was all over and Nathan was very much dead, Sophie went back to her human form. Now, however, her hair and clothes were stained with blood. "Can I have a bath now?" she asked as she approached the sickened Capri.

"Uh...Yeah, 'ang on," and Capri transported Sophie where she needed to go get cleaned up.

Ariel and NT had already done this, after helping the others get home. Pippi had gone home also, but had only stayed there for a short while. Concerned Ameh had not shown up, she used her own transporter to take her to where Ameh was. When she took in the bloody scene, her eyes widened, and jaw dropped in horror. There lay Nathan, evidently mauled to death, and Capri sitting on the ground, violently sick. And, there, to Pippi's horror were Ameh, Donna, Shawn, and Miranda, all of them in nearly as bad a state. Tracy too, was there.

"Oh good heavens!" Pippi gasped when she had recovered enough to speak. "Whatever were you doing here!?"

"I w--wanted to make sh-sure...he was killed." Ameh managed. "I didn't expect it to be..." Ameh's voice trailed off into a sickly moan. "Oh wow, why couldn't I have just shot him?"

Donna nodded. "I w-wanted to...see him dead...too." she sobbed. "Sh-should've l-let me use...that damn knife..."

Shawn was shaking, trying to hold both Donna and a weeping Miranda, who was crying so hard that she didn't even notice it was Shawn who had an arm around her.

"Dammit you guys!" Hearing Pippi's outcry, Capri had just managed to get to her feet, and while doing that, she had looked around and seen, with horror, Pippi wasn't the only one there besides her. There was Tracy, Ameh, Shawn, and the two that rattled her most were Donna and Miranda. Next to NT they were the last who should've seen this, even if it had been a humane death. Surely this was bound to cause them terrible nightmares in the future. How could it not, even if it was Nathan being mauled, and especially for Miranda, *because* it had once been someone she had loved.

"Holy cow, she's as shook up as we are." Ameh gestured toward Capri.

"If not more so," Pippi replied.

Capri stood for a few moments, shocked and horror stricken. When she finally reacted, it was not what anyone, least of all Donna, would've expected. Capri broke down all at once and actually cried. Try as she might, it was too late to hold back or hide her emotion now, the others had seen her begin crying and she couldn't keep it out of her voice either. Still, she had to get away from them, it wouldn't do to have them see her falling apart. "You shouldn'a done that!" she managed to choke out, before turning her back and running away from the group.

The aftermath: what happened