Alex Mercer thought about it, but couldn't find a suitable excuse to move to another room or kick her out. Considering how her former husband had treated her, he knew she wouldn't protest as long as she could get him out of her sight, but he wanted to get off on the right foot. So Alex kept his eyes closed, pretending to sleep, as his thoughts kept spinning. That's how he spent the rest of the night.

It wasn't as unpleasant as he had expected. For him it was a new experience to lie down with someone next to him. A warm body, the body of someone who didn't wish him harm...

Well, not him, even if the woman didn't know there was a difference. And he would make sure Angélique didn't know. As monstrous as her husband had been, if he revealed his true nature, the first thing she would try to do would be to set him on fire. There was no one in this world or any other who would accept him as he was.

No one except Dana, but she was in as deep a coma as if she were dead. He should be physically able to cry, but he didn't. He just lay still, lost in the darkness of his thoughts and the past that was like an open wound.

Until the sweet, blessed dawn. Until the arrival of the next intruder to burst into this room: sunlight.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Alex.

Angélique clearly didn't know what to think. So even something so simple counted as a strange and unexpected kindness? Wow. Alex didn't know everything about his food just from absorbing them. It's not like he could remember it all perfectly. When he ate someone he got their brains, not their memories.

It sounded like the same thing, but there was an important distinction. People forgot or didn't put the same importance on some things that others did. Some memories fell through the cracks and were lost. For the monster that Edmond Dantes had been, the kind of abuse he subjected his wife to had been nothing more than another fact of life.

It would be different if he had only beaten her from time to time, but since the incidents were so frequent it would take time and effort to excavate it all.

"Yes," she said, slowly and after a while. Changing her mind, getting her to open up to him, would also take time and effort. He was used to being hated. But if he wanted things to continue as they had been since the moment of his confused awakening, he wouldn't have set this plan in motion.

He wouldn't have tried to change anything.

Alex changed out of his pajamas into more appropriate attire. He was slightly worried that he would screw up and sometime claim to be named Alex, not Edmond Dantes, but he couldn't help it. He was always going to think of himself as Alex Mercer. That didn't mean he had to mess up, though.

He left before the woman had a chance to undress. He had no interest in seeing her naked or having sex with her, even though he evidently possessed the necessary equipment.

The human Alex Mercer hadn't felt much interest in the pleasures of the flesh either. He wondered if that would have something to do with it, since that being was the base. Technically no more and no less than the first person he had ever eaten, as much as he wanted to think of it differently.

Alex moved through the mansion to the dining room without hesitation. The layout of his home wasn't a memory he had to dig up. It was instinct, familiarity. He knew where everything was the same way Edmond had after living here for several decades.

Lived and died. To him it wasn't mere information. A part of him was Edmond, as well as everyone else. And yet Alex Mercer was somebody, not merely a collective mess...

Right?

He saw that a little girl had arrived first. She was so small her feet didn't even reach the floor as she swung her legs under the table with an easy, warm smile that could only be seen on a child's face.

She was supposed to be his daughter, Julie, her name was. But what he thought of was Dana. Not as he had known her, but as Alex Mercer had known her long before the disaster that had befallen that damned city. A little sister to take care of.

He thought: My God, you're beautiful.

He thought: My God, I'm glad that son of a bitch never laid a hand on you.

The little girl turned her head and at the sight of him her smile grew easier and warmer. Did it really matter that the love in those eyes wasn't for him?

"Daddy!"

Oh, my little Dana, he thought as he walked over to the table and hugged her. My precious sister. I was supposed to protect you.

"Good morning, darling."

"I made something for you. And for mom."

"Oh, yeah?" He broke away from her, wondering what it was. She'd been waiting to give it to him. A drawing, of course, as good as could be expected from a child her age. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

She's not Dana, he thought. She's really nobody to you. And you won't get anything out of this, nothing at all. Deep down you know that.

Angélique arrived soon after and the girl, as enthusiastic as the first time, showed it to her too. It was amazing that living with such a monster hadn't broken her spirit and innocence.

It should be natural, the poor child was only six years old (and it said a lot that he'd had to dig through what was left of Edmond to remember that fact). Alas, it was indeed a miracle. As far as he was concerned, she'd never have to know what her father was really like. She wouldn't have to lose that innocence.

She is nothing. She's nothing. You know that perfectly well.

The woman would fear you for the monster you are, an inner voice told her, but this girl would hate you with all her heart because you would be revealed as the monster who took her precious father away from her.

A strange protective feeling and an equally strange rage at himself battled within him. If he was sure of anything, it was that it wouldn't come to an end today or any time soon. Just that.

—

They ate as if they were a normal family and then parted. Even though he was but a Count, he could sit quietly while others did most of his work for him. He really could do whatever he wanted and therein really was the rub. Faced with so many options, he had no fucking idea what to do.

He didn't know what he wanted or what he should do. That was what this was all about, he intended to discover himself now that he had no more battles to fight and no one could find him. So he should make some kind of decision, but he found himself paralyzed. He wasn't used to this. From the beginning of his short life what he had done was react to the hostility that had been there before he was born.

Being himself was the biggest challenge Alex had faced in his short life so far.

Fortunately, the universe brought him some entertainment before he did anything stupid. The universe and two of his guards. They had caught a prize by the arms and neck. They twisted and pushed down, forcing the man to his knees before him. This could be interesting.

"What's going on here?" Alex asked, though it wasn't hard to guess.

"Sir, this man broke in. Probably intended to rob you, sir."

"That's not..." protested the trapped prize. "You can't prove that."

"Shut your mouth in the Count's presence."

And he did. He was already screwed, there was nothing that could get him out of this, but he closed it obediently. At least for the moment.

"What do we do with him, Lord Dantes?"

Alex crossed his legs and put a hand under his chin, thoughtfully. He knew very well what he did with people or things that tried to hurt him, what he had done from the first moment. Tear them to pieces. He'd never been given a choice, though. The Blackwatch soldiers were too crazy to give up. Those infected by one of the viruses, whether Red or Blacklight, were more animals than anything else.

He had never had a choice. Another way.

But in this world he had options to spare. Wasn't that the point of all this, of what he was trying here? This man wasn't a threat, and neither would it be useful to devour him. He could tear him apart, but what for? It had nothing to do with right and wrong, it was just that it would be unnecessary. But while he was at it, he could make sure he didn't come back here.

"Don't kill him," Alex said. "Take him out of the manor grounds and cut off his hand."

"What? No!" the man protested as if he could do anything about it.

"What is your dominant hand? I'm asking if you're left"handed or right"handed. "It was a more than classic punishment for thieves. After that, he definitely wouldn't dare trespass on his property again. Besides... "Answer me or I'll let them cut it off at random."

"Left."

"Do you mean it or is it because you think I want to make sure they'll cut off the hand that would be most inconvenient for you to lose? You're wrong, I wanted just the opposite. It would be a mistake to lie to my face."

"I'm... I'm right-handed, my lord."

"You see? That wasn't so hard. Get him out of here. And seriously, don't kill him. One hand is enough. I'm not speaking in riddles, I mean what I say. Same goes for his hand. Cut off his left, not his right."

"Yes, Lord Edmond."

They dragged him out as he whimpered and whined. It had been entertaining, if brief. He was lucky to have lost only one hand. The idea of a man like that sneaking through the manor at night. The idea that if it hadn't been the guards who had found him first, but that innocent little girl...

It had made him furious.

For a moment he had contemplated asking the guards to leave them alone so he could show him his true form and wipe him off the face of the earth.

He had failed to protect Dana and now his sister slept an eternal sleep, but he was not here to repeat mistakes. He would do better this time, all of it. He could finally live the life he wanted. He didn't know what that looked like yet, but he wouldn't wait until he found out. He would do everything right from the start.

After that he retired to his quarters.

Alex sure to lock the door before he started practicing with magic. Edmond wasn't an extraordinary magician, but it would still be too strange to be seen practicing as if he wasn't at all familiar with magic. And, besides, he had Raymond's memories. Alex was convinced that he would be able to do something.

Something yes, but not much.

Like his attempt at levitating, all the spells went to shit soon after. They wouldn't do him much good in a real fight, not that he needed any help, and not for more esoteric things either. Even though he had eaten two nobles, meaning two mages, something was wrong. He didn't understand what.

It would be easy to say it was a matter of practice, but he had never needed it. A minute after eating his first Blackwatch soldier he had been driving a tank down Fifth Avenue. That simply wasn't how he worked. But hey, he'd solve the problem, whatever it was. He always did.

Maybe that was saying a lot considering he was only in his fourth week of life, it wasn't like he had a lot of experience.

But well, he'd give it his best shot.

—

The dark night. A dozen shadows gathered under the moonlight that seemed to be about to disappear.

"They must have all fallen asleep by now," the shadow in the center said. "It's time. Claudio, are you sure you want to do this? You're not a member of the gang. I have no intention of sharing the loot with you or covering your ass. You've already done the job I paid you for."

"I know, you don't have to tell me again." Claudio held the stump of his left hand with the other. "It's personal. You should understand that."

The shadow in the center of the group shrugged.

"As you wish."

The man who led this gang wasn't worried about Claudio being caught. He wasn't stupid enough to have given him information worth telling. He really didn't know anything about them. Besides, if things went wrong and that nobleman caught him, he wouldn't make him talk. He'd kill him for daring to cross him not once but twice. So, even if it had been otherwise, he would have nothing to worry about.

Now all that remained was to go on the attack. Under the cover of night, while all the guards had been rendered useless by wine and water poisoned with a sleeping potion. It would be like stealing candy from a child.

That Edmond Dantes wouldn't even know what hit him.