The Trouble with Evie

Chapter 14

Brad stepped forward, lowering to Niko as he pulled the hand away.

"Damn it, that doesn't look good."

"I'm afraid that you are right with that assessment. I'd like to offer a final gratitude to both of you. It has been a wonderful few days, and you might see it as terrible, but I don't. In you two, I can see that my beloved daughter survived longer than I thought she had."

Brad frowned, looking rather confused.

"You have shown me that there is goodness in this world that I thought was gone. Keep yourselves safe, and remember what I said. Search the past, search the house. Take back this town for the Corbin family and trust no one but each other."

Niko smiled, reaching out. The bloodied finger traced over my cheek.

"You look so much like her."

His firm grip faltered. I could feel the life fading as his hand slipped from mine.

"This is not fair," I whispered, full of hurt.

"Life is rarely fair."

Brad sat on the ground beside me, giving my shoulder a gentle nudge. He smiled gently when I looked at him.

"You wanna make them pay?"

"Absolutely."

"So, what's this thing about his daughter?"

"We're related to him, apparently. It's why I can wear this."

Brad looked at the necklace.

"Yeah, I wouldn't go announcing that too loudly at the moment. I think they're still out there."

Helping me off the ground, we looked at Niko's lifeless body.

"We should bury him."

"We should, but we don't have time for that. There's a cave nearby. It will do for the time being, which will save him from the sun. Tomorrow I'll find somewhere to dig a hole. You take his legs. It will be lighter."

We moved into position, ready to lift Niko. He didn't look heavy, but neither of us were fit, so this was going to take a lot of effort.

"Going somewhere?"

Brad gasped, dropping Niko's body. Glancing over my shoulder, I looked at the figure and knew it was Drakkus.

"He's dead. You've got what you wanted, so just go away."

Drakkus chuckled. Every part of it grated against me, anger boiling as I looked at what he'd done to Niko. He was such a nice person, and the creature behind me, he was a monster. I was sick of bullies, and that's what he clearly was.