“Julius! You can fight it! By Mithras, you can beat it!”
The head shook again, wildly, the eyes as tight as a vice, but when they opened the rage that poured forth was stronger than ever, full of anger, and hate, and blood lust.
As the grip on his throat began to tighten again, Gaius cut deeply with all of his strength to saw through the neck of the man he had called friend. They fell in a heap and Gaius rolled away, his vision blurred this time by tears of desperation. His chest heaved and he vomited, weeping.
He had not lain there long but, when the raucous cries of more immortui pierced the mountain woods about the village, Gaius jumped to his feet. He could hardly recognize the form before him now, the rotting corpse that he knew he would never see as a man again. Gaius leaned down
