Samara

The door opened behind her. She recognized the footfalls.

"I am glad you came," Samara said as she stood. She moved to the window and took solace in the emptiness beyond. "I must ask for your help. That is not easy for me…"

"It's all right. Take your time and tell me when you're ready," Shepard told her.

She wasn't used to the kindness he always showed her. The asari she met on her missions were usually helpful and even reverent toward her. But they were never kind. They were too frightened of her for compassion.

Shepard was different. Samara didn't know if it was because he was human and didn't hold justicars to the standard asari did or if he didn't see Samara the justicar when he looked at her, just Samara. She believed it probably wouldn't have matter what race Shepard was. He always saw her as the person before he recognized the titles.

She inhaled deeply, preparing herself for the conversation. "When we met on Illium, I told you about a very dangerous person I was pursuing. Using the information you obtained the, I have located her. She's been going by the name 'Morinth.' I would like to apprehend her, before she disappears again."

"Of course. Where is she?"

"Omega. A night club called Afterlife – which seems a perfect place for her to hunt."

"EDI," he called to the AI.

She appeared at her projector. "Yes, Shepard."

"Let Joker know we'll be making a stop at Omega."

The room was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Jeff has adjusted our flight plan. He says we should be in the system in a few hours."

"Great." He turned his attention back to her. "As soon as we get there, we'll go to Afterlife and talk to Aria. I bet she'll know more about Morinth's whereabouts. Is there anything you should tell me about her?"

Samara debated with herself how much she should tell the human. "She is an Ardat-Yakshi. It is a term from a dead asari dialect. It means 'demon of the night winds.'"

"That's quite the name."

"Indeed, but that is mythology. She is simply a very dangerous woman who kills without mercy."

She felt his presence beside her. "If she's just a murderer, why does she get the special name?"

"It is not that she kills but how she kills that makes her so dangerous," Samara explained. "She suffers a rare genetic disorder. When she mates with you, there is no gentle melding of nervous systems. She overpowers yours, burns it out, hemorrhages your brain. You end up a mindless shell, and, soon after, you are dead."

"That is a unique way of killing. Why haven't I heard about this before? I know I'm not well-read in asari literature, but you would think stories like would be fairly popular to other species."

Samara finally looked at him. "When we were primitive, there was much fascination with Ardat-Yakshi. Some cultures worshipped them as gods of destruction. Now the asari have a place in the galaxy, and they don't wish this defect to be widely known."

Shepard nodded and looked out into the void, a move she mirrored. "I can understand that. I know there is plenty humanity wish they could erase from their past. I bet every race has their unflattering secrets."

"I only know of three that exist today," she continued. "Two chose a life of seclusion in a monastery built for their kind. The exact number of Ardat-Yakshi living there is a closely guarded secret, and I am only speaking of this to you because I trust you with the information." She paused. "The third ran."

"Morinth," Shepard breathed.

"She ran, and I am sworn to kill her."

"I'm not justifying her actions, but I can understand her running. Freedom sounds a lot better than a life locked away. Even in comfort."

"When she fled, she proved her addiction. To an Ardat-Yakshi, the melding makes them stronger and has a narcotic effect. She was not taking a great moral stand. She simply wants to keep killing. She is a tragic figure but not a sympathetic one."

"Then she is definitely worth your full attention."

"She is a predator. She confuses her victims, twists their feelings. They will do anything for her favor. I've spent four hundred years chasing her. I wish to finish this hunt before my life comes to an end."

"Don't worry, we'll get her."

"Thank you, Shepard. There are no words to express what this means to me."

He was walking back to the door when she spoke again. "There is one thing more: this creature, this…" she struggled, "monster. She is my daughter."

Samara didn't know what prompted her to reveal so much, but it was too late to take back the words.

She felt a hand on her arm. He gently turned her so she was facing him.

"Samara, I can't imagine what that would be like for you."

There was the compassion she was not used. She had to fight back the temptation to expose even more of her personal feelings. But the Code demanded that she stayed objective. She could not be swayed by motherly affections. Shepard's kindness was doing her no favors.

"I don't need you sympathy, Shepard. Only your understanding."

He mutely nodded, but his brown eyes told her he didn't believe her words. Then, she saw the pieces working together in his mind.

"You said this is genetic. How many children do you have?"

"Three. And I know of three Ardat-Yakshi in existence today. It is as it sounds. Morinth was always the wild one. She was happy and free but selfish."

She turned back to the emptiness of space, finding comfort in its vastness. "My daughter's condition is my fault. And my redemption lies in killing her. Do not pity me."

"Then help me understand. What happened?"

Of course Shepard would ask such questions, forcing her to explain herself and face the problems she buried with the Code and its unambiguous morality. It was a harsher kindness than sympathy but a kindness all the same. Still, she spoke without protest.

"I spent my youth on the move, adventuring. I killed people, mated with them, or just danced the night away. I learned so much, experienced so much. And then my matron days came. I could finally sit back, bask, and enjoy my family. But in one moment, it was all taken away."

Samara looked out the window again. It was easier to tell this story to the emptiness than the man standing next to her with compassionate eyes.

"I sat in a med lab while a nearsighted doctor droned at me. And I learned that nothing was as I thought it would be. I gave up all that I possessed. I own nothing, claim nothing. All my knowledge will die with me. Now my purpose is to destroy my own children. It is my penance."

As much as it is my curse, she thought.

"Those moments changed you. Into something you didn't recognize anymore."

The understanding in his voice reminded her that Shepard had experienced lost. He had much in common with Thane and herself. It was most likely the reason Samara was comfortable discussing with the two men the full details of her mission.

"Yes," she answered. "And I've hundreds of years left to live with that."

She looked at him. Her face was neutral, but Samara knew he could see the despair she felt.

"I say too much. Forgive me. Help me find my long lost daughter. And kill her."

Samara wordlessly returned to her seat in the middle of the room and began her meditations. She felt his comforting hand on her shoulder for the briefest of moments before he left, locking the door behind him. He needn't have bothered, but she was grateful for the gesture and privacy.

Aria's VIP room was quieter than the club's main floor, but the thumping beat could still be felt through the floor. Samara waited at the base of the steps as Shepard approached the asari and took a seat on her couch.

"What do you need?" she asked.

Shepard wasted no time. "An asari fugitive is hiding out here. She's an Ardat-Yakshi. We need to find her."

Aria's brows furrowed. "I knew it. Nothing leaves a body quite so… empty… as an Ardat-Yakshi does."

So she knew her target was here, yet she was doing nothing about it.

Samara stepped forward. "You haven't taken steps to kill her?"

"Why would I? She hasn't tried to seduce me. Her last victim was a young girl. Pretty thing. Lived in the tenements near here. That's where I'd start looking."

Shepard stood. "Thanks for the help."

Aria smiled at him. "Good luck finding her. Better luck catching her." She turned to Samara. "And justicar. Once you're done with your little mission, please leave my station. People around here get antsy around law enforcers."

"As well they should," Samara answered. "There is much here that the Code deems unfit. It is fortunate for Omega that I am sworn to Shepard or I may never leave this place."

"Is that a threat, justicar? You may be more powerful than me, but I have all of Omega at my back. I am the queen of this place."

"Yes, and look at your kingdom: half an asteroid with dirt and grim attempting to eke out half an existence on it. But you have nothing to fear from you. You are not as important to the galaxy as you wish to believe."

A batarian to her left shouldered his rifle. "No one talks to Aria like that!"

Aria raised a hand. "Stop, Anto. She could rip you apart with a thought." She sat back in some infantile attempt to appear relaxed when Samara could see she was seething from being dismissed. "Just remember what I said, justicar."

They left the club and found victim's apartment that she had shared with her mother. The woman was distressed and angry that no one was paying attention to her daughter's death, but she was mostly broken from losing the one person she cherished above all else. Samara knew the sensation well.

They searched through the young woman's room, being respectful and attempting to not disturb its contents more than necessary. Nef, the victim, met Morinth in the VIP section of the Afterlife. As the woman's journals played, Samara recognized the manipulation the Ardat-Yakshi used to entrance her victims and make them only focus on her.

Finding all they could about their mark's preferences, the two made their way to the VIP room in the back of the club. Samara turned to Shepard.

"The best way to draw Morinth out is to provide her another target. She will be watching. You must pique her interest enough that she will approach you. When you are face-to-face, subtly encourage her to invite you to her apartment. I'll follow discreetly, and, when you are alone, I'll spring the trap.

"You must do the first part alone, however. Morinth is a cautious person, and, if she discovers my presence, she will go to ground."

Shepard scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know how much I like being the bait for a killer that overpowers her victims' nervous system."

"I will be near, and I will come for you, Shepard. Trust me as I trust and honor you."

"That does make me feel better. Well, no time like the present."

He started to walk away when Samara caught his arm.

"Shepard, thank you. I do not share this burden easily, and you are one of the few souls I can imagine sharing it with."

He nodded with a soft smile and entered the Ardat-Yakshi den.

It took him only forty five minutes to attract and convince her to take him back to her apartment. Apparently, Shepard had skills beyond warfare.

Samara followed them through the streets of Omega, keeping a distance so Morinth didn't notice her, but it appeared unnecessary. He was performing an ample job at keeping her attention solely on him.

They disappeared into a complex not far from the club. As she moved to follow, a crowd formed around her and hindered her path. She tried to push through, but it was slow. Fear that she would be too late to save him struck her, and she risked pulsing biotic power to clear a path.

When she entered, Samara quickly found herself hesitant about which path to take. She searched frantically for a sign, anything that would indicate which floor they had gone. Her hope for reaching Shepard in time was quickly fading when she spotted a small symbol next to one of the elevators. She scanned it with her omnitool and discovered it was the human icon for the number six.

Shepard had left her a trail. She had no idea how he accomplished the task, but Samara wasted no time following it.

Once she reached the sixth floor, she found more marks telling her the direction and leading her to the apartment.

Samara walked inside, ready for the coming fight. Morinth stood, but, before she could act, the justicar had her pressed against the window, sending cracks radiating outward by the impact.

"Mother," Morinth sneered.

No. Samara could not be swayed by her parental feelings for this creature. She was a murder, and it was her mission to end her spree.

"Do not call me that," Samara yelled back and sent another pulse to slam her again.

Morinth struggled against the hold. "I can't choose to stop being your daughter, mother."

"You made your choice long ago."

The Ardat-Yakshi moved, coiling into a ball, before unleashing a biotic shockwave that forced Samara to steady herself with her biotics. She noticed Shepard being forced over the couch by the push.

"What choice?" Morinth easily lifted her along with a chair nearby. "My only crime was being born with the gifts you gave me."

She threw the chair at the suspended Samara. The justicar did her best to protect herself from the object, but she was tossed back from the blow. Her target walked toward her.

"Enough, Morinth!" Samara commanded as she sent the Ardat-Yakshi spinning with another biotic blow. She sounded like a weary parent dealing with a petulant child.

Because that is what I am, Samara thought.

She turned to see Morinth charging at her, another biotic ball of energy ready to be unleashed. Samara counted with her own. The energy unleashed lifted all the furniture in the room, but they remained unmoved. It was a stalemate that neither would back down from.

"I am the genetic destiny of the asari," Morinth claimed. "But they are not read to reveal this, so I must die."

"You are a disease to be purged, nothing more."

For the past four hundred years of her hunt, those words were the mantra she consistently repeated to herself. The young asari before he was not her daughter but a rogue Ardat-Yakshi, a disease that denied itself the solace of quarantine. And Samara was merely performing the duties the Justicar Code demanded.

It was the single greatest lie she had ever told herself.

Morinth's eyes flashed to her left before refocusing on her. Samara did the same to see Shepard had regained his footing.

"I'm as strong as she is – let me join you!"

She was using her will in an attempt to gain the advantage. Samara hoped Shepard would be strong enough to resist.

"I am already sworn to help you, Shepard," she reminded him. "Let us finish this."

The man took only a moment to decide. He grabbed Morinth's arm and pulled it away, breaking her concentration.

"End of the line, Morinth."

She sneered. "And they call me a monster!"

Samara knocked her to the ground and closed the distance to finish this hunt. Morinth crawled backward as fast as she could, but she caught up to her easily. The justicar gripped the Ardat-Yakshi by the throat. She pulled her fist back, igniting it with biotic power.

"Find peace in the embrace of the goddess," she whispered.

Samara slammed her fist down, ending the Ardat… ending her daughter's life. She stood, unable to take her eyes off what she had just done.

"I am ready to leave this place and get on with my life." She finally shut her eyes and was able to turn away. "Are you ready to go, as well?"

"Are you okay?" Shepard asked as he approached. His hand was ready to land on her arm.

Samara stepped back. This had been her duty. She did not need his sympathy or compassion, no matter how much her heart cried out for it. She still felt the wall that was the Code fall away as she answered, however.

"Shepard. What do you expect me to say? What can I say? I just killed the bravest and smartest of my daughters. There are no words for what I am. I will try another time." She breathed. "For now, show mercy on a broken, old warrior, and let us leave."

He nodded, and they left, leaving behind Mirala's broken body and a piece of Samara's heart along with it.

Author's Note:

So I thought this chapter would maybe be 2,000 words long, but the internal battle Samara seems to be constantly fighting before her loyalty mission was finished just got me going. Almost very time I think I won't be excited about writing a particular chapter, it turns into a monster where I (hopefully) flesh out a lot about the character. I guess that's what writing does for me.

Thanks for reading and please review! I thrive off reviews.