I really did not expect "slower" to mean "not at all." I'm so sorry. Don't worry. As promised, I am back, and I have started attempting to pick up the pace with the next few chapters, so I should be back to my semi-regular posts. Here is the first, approaching the end of the ME2 section of the story; I hope you enjoy and wish a happy new year/decade to everyone.

Chapter 50: Predators

Some hunt for blood
Some hunt for a thrill
Some hunt for love
Some hunt for the kill

Solana wrote her back the next morning—the expected shocked reaction, brief tirade, and eventual overwhelming joy. She had clearly needed that dash of hope, to know her favorite human was alive and kicking again. Terra could already hear her snapping at both her and Garrus for not telling her sooner when they met up again, before she inevitably started hugging her to death. The thought made her smile. Just as much as it made her miss her sister.

After archiving the message, Terra went down to deck 3 to start making the rounds. It occurred to her she probably should've started on deck 2 or 4 since she would inexorably wind up spending several hours in the battery with Garrus, but she was just as likely to wind up spending hours talking to Tali or with Mordin and the upgrade progress reports, so she followed through. The first stop was with Samara, who wasn't exactly the most talkative of her squad-mates; their lengthiest conversation so far had been discussing the justicars, which was certainly very interesting to hear, especially against the backdrop of the stars rolling past the window Samara near constantly meditated in front of. Samara may not exactly have been open, but she was the kind of contemplative an artist like Terra could relate to, something she took comfort in.

When she entered the observation deck today, though, something about the justicar seemed different. It was hard to tell with her, but she seemed disquieted. "Samara? Is something going on?"

Samara quickly stopped her meditations. "I should have known you would recognize it." She stood, looking out at the galaxy beyond the viewing glass. "The fugitive I was hunting when you found me. Using the information you retrieved, I have located her. She has been going by the name Morinth. She is hiding on Omega."

Terra stepped up. It was clear this was important to the justicar. "How dangerous is she?"

"She is an Ardat-Yakshi. It is an ancient word from a dead asari dialect. It means 'Demon of the Night Winds.' But that is superstition. She is merely a dangerous criminal who kills without mercy. She has a rare genetic disorder. When she mates with you, there is no gentle melding of nervous systems; she burns yours out, hemorrhages your brain. I have been chasing her for 400 years while she has hunted and killed."

This all sounded like the plot of a horror vid about a succubus. Terra wasn't about to sit by while that ran free. "We'll head for Omega and take care of it."

Samara seemed to breathe easier with this assurance. "Thank you."

Terra nodded, turning to leave the room and tell Joker to set a course for Omega.

"One more thing," Samara spoke up before Terra could walk away, "This creature we are hunting, this…monster…" She sighed dejectedly before confessing the painful truth: "She is my daughter."

Terra had been stunned silent before. Rarely, but it had happened. This went far beyond that. She turned back to look at Samara, struggling to find the words to console her though she knew no such words could possibly exist. "Samara, that's…I can't imagine—"

Samara shrunk back. "Do not pity me, Shepard. Merely understand. This is why I became a justicar. Help me find my long-lost daughter…and kill her."

Terra couldn't believe she was agreeing to this, but it was clear to her as much as it was to Samara that this had to be done. So she had EDI tell Joker to set a course for Omega. They weren't very far, which meant it was only a few hours' ride, so that cut short her plans to talk with the rest of the crew. She instead went up to briefly check with Mordin about the upgrades—of which he had managed to complete the plating, rifles, and medi-gel, leaving just the shields and SMGs to improve—and then down to the battery to talk to Garrus.

Halfway to the battery, she froze. Oh, no. They were going to Omega. She couldn't take him back there, but there was no way he was letting her go without him. She sighed, realizing she was going to have to either sneak away or convince him to stay behind. Neither was going to go over well. No point in delaying it, though, since they were already approaching the nebula, so she headed in.

And, surprisingly, Garrus didn't immediately turn away from the console to face her.

Concerned, she stepped up. "Garrus?"

He almost jumped as he turned to her.

She gave him a curious look. "You really didn't know I was here?"

He smirked. "Honestly, I usually smell you before I hear you and…you've been down here so much the room is saturated already."

She couldn't help but smile. She knew how the scent of a mate could be a comfort or a thrill for a turian. She knew him well enough to know that the ship was a sort of home for them but the battery and her cabin would truly feel like where they belonged—together. That thought, though, reminded her why she was here, bringing the smile to disappear as quickly as it came. "Uh, I actually came down to warn you that Samara had a problem she needs us to solve."

He shrugged. "I wish I could say I'm surprised, but since everyone else had a turn…"

She laughed. He had a point. "Yeah, well, this one is a bit heavier. That fugitive she was hunting when we found her? She tracked her. 'Her' being a serial killer she's been tracking for 400 years…that happens to be her daughter."

Garrus didn't know what to say to that. "…oh."

"I'll spare you the details on the 'how.'"

"Right. So we're heading there now?"

"…if by 'there,' you mean Omega."

He tensed up for a few seconds before turning back to the console to set aside the algorithms he'd been poring over.

"What are you doing?" she quickly asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm heading to the armory."

She responded to that by blocking his path to the door. "Garrus, I'm not taking you."

He gave her a sharp look. "You're talking about hunting down a serial killer on Omega. I'm going with you!"

"No, you're not!" she snapped back, "This is still the station chock full of mercenaries who want you dead. Last I checked, they might think Archangel's taken care of, but there is still a bounty on his head!"

"That doesn't mean I can't help you."

"No, it just means you can't leave the ship to do so."

"Terra—!"

She finally grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to meet her eyes as she put her foot down. "You want to come so you can look out for me. I get it. So you can let me look out for you for once. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you."

He saw her point. He found himself smirking as he gestured to his scars. "Something already did. Even I'm not so unlucky it'd happen twice."

She smirked back. "Yeah, and I'm not so unlucky as to die so soon after coming back, but you're still following me around."

He scoffed, shaking his head. "We're mated, Terra. It's part of the deal."

"Exactly. So I'll keep you on speed-dial on the COMMs, I'll stick close to Samara—who you know as well as I do is too formidable as to let anything threaten either of us—and you will stay here and keep the ship safe for me." Just to drive the point home, she confessed the real reason she wanted him to stay behind: "Besides, you just managed to put everything that went down there behind you. The last thing you need is to go back."

It wasn't until she said it that he saw why she was so worried. Now he did, knowing how much it hurt her to see how lost he had been without her, he knew better than to keep arguing. "…OK. So long as you realize I'm not sleeping until you get back."

Having been there herself, she laid a comforting hand on his scars. "Did I ever tell I love you?"

He smiled. "You might've mentioned it, yeah."

She kissed him quick. "I'll be back before you know it." With that said, she left the battery to start gearing up.

Garrus watched her go. "You'd better."

Once Terra was ready to head out, she went up to the bridge to talk to Joker until they docked. It was a preoccupied conversation on both sides, since he was focused on steering the ship and she wound up working on her sketchbook the whole time, but it was still nice to talk to the pilot. She could certainly count on him for a laugh when things were looking bleak. Samara came up to meet her at the airlock just as they began their approach and, upon finding her drawing and writing, asked after her artistic side, prompting her to explain how she had grown up as a painter and a poet. Samara seemed to smile contemplatively as she casually glanced at the sketchbook before Joker's announcement that they were docking reminded Terra to put it away and ready for trouble.

Trouble was the one thing they were most likely to find on Omega, after all.

"The daily death count on Omega," EDI informed them as they left the dock, "is too high for me to pinpoint an Ardat-Yakshi's location. However, given their reputation among asari, it is likely Aria T'Loak has tracked her movement."

"Thank you," Samara answered, following Terra to Afterlife to start their investigation.

Aria was remarkably helpful, telling them exactly who she believed the most recent casualty was—a young human girl in the tenements outside the Gozu district. Terra led Samara straight to the apartment and the grieving mother therein. Both of them took only a few moments to ask questions before meeting the unavoidable result of simply attempting to comfort the poor woman, if by no other means than promising to avenge her daughter's death. Samara continued to do so quietly while Terra carefully examined the girl's room for clues, finding some art pieces she couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of and a diary that told the story of how the girl stumbled upon the Ardat-Yakshi that drew her in and proved to be her end.

About the time Terra finished investigating, Samara stepped in. "This is exactly the kind of prey Morinth prefers—artists, slightly isolated from their peers. She impresses with sophistication and sex appeal. Then she strikes. The hunt interests her as much as the kill."

"Sounds like just the kind of person we can't let get away."

"Correct. And this is the closest I have ever been. But we cannot storm her den. She will have 100 escape routes planned."

Terra nodded. "So we have to lure her out."

"Exactly. Shepard, you read my mind." Samara started thinking over how to approach this. "She seems to favor the VIP area of Afterlife as her hunting grounds. She will flee if she sees me, but you can go as long as you are alone and unarmed."

Terra didn't like the sound of this. "You're saying I'm bait?"

"I regret putting you in danger, but yes. You are an artist—on the battlefield as well as with words and paints—you have the vital spark that attracts her. She will be unable to resist you."

She really didn't like the sound of this.

Oh, boy, Garrus was going to HATE the sound of this. Maybe, for more reasons than she had anticipated, it was a good thing she'd made him stay on the ship.

Still, this seemed to be the only option left to them, so Terra sighed and conceded. "Alright. We'll head back to the ship to drop off my gear and start hunting." And hope I can sneak on and off before anyone notices what I'm about to do.

Somehow, she did, in fact, manage that, returning to Samara in five minutes flat in civvies so they could start planning on the way to the club. Once they were in, it was just a matter of Terra playing her hand properly to draw the serial killer's interest. One Samara was quick to inform her would do terrible things to her and, if she wasn't careful, would make her want it.

Terra sighed. "No pressure, then."

"Shepard," Samara spoke up before she could step in, "thank you. This is not a burden I share easily and you are the only soul I could think of sharing it with."

Terra was honored to hear that. She had no small amount of respect for the justicar.

"Go. Quickly. I will remain here."

So Terra moved in. She had never been fond of clubs. At least this one wasn't terribly crowded and the music was bearable. Still, this wasn't exactly the type of place she found to be as fun alone. She didn't come here for fun, though. She was on a mission. Not a mission she liked, but a mission nonetheless. And she was going to carry it out.

Terra figured the best way to go about this was to show both sides of herself, though she couldn't draw herself to do so quite so much as she would for Garrus. She'd take a few minutes to have some fun (or attempt to) and stir up some trouble, then she'd take a few minutes to find a corner and work in her sketchbook (there was no landscape to capture and she didn't want to draw her feelings in case she was already being watched, so she attempted to capture visually what the music incited emotionally and went from there). She knew it was working when she felt shivers down her spine and eyes following her. She hid it as best she could, but she felt uneasy even if it meant she was on the right track.

As proven when an asari leaning against a wall finally pulled her aside. "My name is Morinth. I've been watching you. You're just about the most interesting person in this place. I've got a booth over here in the shadows. Why don't you join me?"

So it was a matter of talking to her. That much Terra could manage. She kept her sketchbook safely stowed away for now, but she let her poetic side out as she played on what she had learned of Morinth's interests from her previous victim's diary. Samara was right, Morinth couldn't resist her. That was definitely not a good thing. At not until Morinth suggested they leave the club and head to her apartment for some "time alone." Terra had done her part. Now she just had to follow Morinth to her den and hope that Samara was following close behind.

With every step, Terra was starting to see what Samara had been trying to warn her about. Half of her was deeply unsettled by this where the other half was drawn in. As if her rational side was reminding her what Morinth really was while the asari seemed to twist the rest of her. But she anchored herself by clutching her necklace and thinking of Garrus. Her heart belonged to him completely, so she couldn't be persuaded to anyone else. That also helped her keep faking her interest by showing how she felt about her mate and letting Morinth think it was for her.

The strategy worked up until they were actually in Morinth's apartment. Then there was nothing Terra could do but stall for time. She pulled this off easily for about two minutes before Morinth made a move of her own.

"Independence over submission," Morinth said as she came to sit with Terra, "I think we share that, you and I."

Terra had been playing along so far, but this was where she drew the line. "We've both killed many times, but that's where the similarities end."

Morinth flinched. "Why do you say I've killed?" She may not have had an answer, but she knew enough to clamp down on Terra's wrist before she could make good on the underlying threat in her words. "Maybe we should stop playing games."

Terra agreed with that sentiment, but she was a bit underequipped for this. She knew better than to try fighting off the grip of a biotic that could snap her wrist in half, she didn't have any biotics of her own or tech tricks to lean on, and her guns were currently lying in the armory on the Normandy. All she could do was hold her ground and wait for Samara.

So she had no way of avoiding it when Morinth used her greatest weapon, her eyes turning entirely black as she latched onto Terra's mind. "Look into my eyes and tell me you want me. Tell me you'd kill for me. Anything I want."

It was like something was pulling on her mind, a constant barrage of whispers and beguilement. It was difficult to think straight at all, let alone resist. But this was nothing compared to the Prothean Cipher and ensuing visions. As Liara had said, she was remarkably strong-willed, forged in the fires of her childhood home. And she still had incentive to fight it waiting for her on her ship. So she pushed back, using how it caught Morinth off-guard to twist the hold on her wrist and push the Ardat-Yakshi away. "I'm not the starry-eyed victim you're looking for."

Morinth stumbled back in shock. "But…who are you?" When Terra answered by staring her down, she slowly put the pieces together. "Oh. Oh, I see. Where is she?"

"MORINTH!" That was when Samara stormed in, setting off a biotic attack that threw Morinth into the window and held her there.

Morinth glared in response. "Mother."

"Do not call me that!"

"I can't choose to stop being your daughter, Mother."

"You made your choice long ago."

Morinth curled up enough to lash out, throwing the justicar's hold off of her so she could fight back. "What choice?!" She lifted a nearby chair, tossing it at her mother, who just barely dodged it. "My only crime was being born with the gifts you gave me!"

"ENOUGH, Morinth!" Samara snapped, throwing Morinth again.

Once both of them were on their feet, Morinth locked Samara in a biotic duel that neither of them could overpower. "I am the genetic destiny of the asari! But they are not ready to reveal this. So I must die."

"You are a disease to be purged! Nothing more!"

Morinth turned to look at Terra. "I'm just as powerful as she is! Let me join you!"

Samara immediately responded. "I am already sworn to you, Shepard! Let us finish this!"

Was Terra tempted by the Ardat-Yakshi's offer, even if just for a moment?

No. She was not. She knew exactly who she was dealing with, and she was not letting her anywhere near her crew. So even though she had been keeping her distance from the biotic energy so far, she braved it just long enough to get behind Morinth and immobilize her. "End of the line, Morinth."

Morinth sneered at her. "And they call me a monster."

Samara moved quickly, one last biotic strike throwing Morinth to the floor. Before her target could recover, she knelt down… "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess." …and broke her neck.

Terra winced, not having it in her to watch the fatal blow. When it was over, she turned her attention to the justicar, waiting for the brokenness she was sure would follow.

Samara stood, not facing Terra. "I am ready to leave this place."

Terra looked at Samara in a sympathy she could barely describe. She knew what it was like to lose family, but she could not imagine what it was like to do the deed herself. She had lost her parents, her siblings, but this…

What Morinth had become didn't change what she was. No parent should ever have to bury their child.

She knew better than to ask if the justicar was OK or even going to be. She simply agreed and led them out.

It was only when they were back on the ship and preparing to leave Omega that Terra's own reaction to what had happened sunk in. Morinth had twisted her emotions, preyed on her feelings and her creativity, touched her mind. It was hard to come back from, like she'd been violated on the deepest level. …like she had gone against her mate by letting it happen. She finally realized this was one feeling she couldn't work off on her own and asked EDI to call Garrus up.

The second Garrus had stepped in the door to her cabin, Terra grabbed him and started kissing him. He didn't question this at first, kissing her back and keeping her close. It was only when he started struggling to breathe that he pushed her away and realized how sudden and needful the act had been. "Terra, is something wrong?"

She didn't want to talk about it. But it was Garrus asking, so she did. She sat him down and told him everything that had happened that day. She couldn't bear to look at him and see how he was reacting when she finished.

If she had, she would've seen he was distraught for her far more than he was about her. He knew she would never give in that easily, so he couldn't see why she might be worried this could be seen as a betrayal. But the way she said it all, how far it had gone before Samara had arrived, and the fact she was actually shivering as she remembered it…it was too much for him. "Terra…" He took her hand, pressing it between both of his to try to calm the shaking. "…you did what you had to do. It's over. I'm right here."

She clung close to him. "I should've brought you. I almost…"

"You didn't. You're too strong for that." He nuzzled against her. "It's one thing I admire most about you."

She had to smile at that.

"Feeling better now?"

"I don't know yet. What else you got?"

He just barely stopped from laughing. "Your perseverance. Your compassion. Your curiosity. The way you see the beauty and poetry and music in everything and everyone." He smiled as she turned her eyes to his. "How you found a way to love me as much as I love you."

She smiled much more earnestly now. "What can I say? You saved me from being a damsel in distress."

Now that she was sounding more like herself, he did laugh.

That was what she needed to hear. "I still feel like someone's been poking through my brain, but…" She sighed. "Could you stay with me?"

He didn't care if she meant for the next five minutes or for the rest of the day or even through the night. He agreed.

So she spent the next six hours in his arms, safe in the knowledge that she was known and loved and protected. All by someone who would never let her falter.

Her Archangel.