Paparazzi Rising
Epilogue. Beatriz's Story
Beatriz uncoiled her massive tail and let the suffocated body drop to the floor. The thud of the corpse was masked by the continuous clattering of the printing press.
Beatriz took one final look at the body of her victim. The illusion disguising him as the Aalbanese inventor Herr Hermann von Braunberg had worn off, revealing his true size and shape, that of a crushed gnome. She then turned her attentions to the frightened figure huddled behind the printing press.
“Don’t be greedy like your brother here. I pay you to print the magazine. Blackmail is not part of our contract.”
Beatriz slithered over to the nervous gnome, known as Jürgen von Braunberg —a human, to the rest of Leenz.
“I know you can see through my illusions just as easily as I see through yours. It does not matter to me. No one would believe anything you say about me. But I know the Aalbanese Constabulary—not to mention several mad Alchemists—would just love to get their hands on a fine specimen of a gnome.”
Beatriz, her illusion of a statuesque Caurenzan belladonna back in place, sauntered away seductively.
She turned suddenly and shot one final warning.
“And if they won’t get you, I will.”
The Beginning
