The Conquering (Book #2 in The Inception Trilogy)

chapter thirty-four

**UNEDITED**

(WOW WOW WOW I'm so freaking sorry I haven't updated in turdy seven years--never gonna let that go--please forgive me. I explained it vaguely on my message board. My father & grandma have been in and out of the hospital, for different reasons and both of them are all right, but I've been super busy. I also tried to do NanoWrimo but... that was a fail :( anyways, here's an update and I hope it makes up for my absence. Only a couple chapters left... I'll be working on the third book soon! xx)

--also, new covers are done by the amazing and kind harryseditor on Instagram!--

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

EVELYN SWEARS UNDER HER breath as she kicks the dead beast whose throat she just slashed. The blood has gotten onto her boots, the stickiness of the liquid most certainly going to make the trek through the mud more difficult. She wipes the blade on her jeans, then tucks her knife back into her belt loop and looks up to survey the rest of the damage.

Harry finishes snapping a neck, his mouth mercifully clean to show he hadn't given into the monster inside him. He's panting, though, five bodies littered around his feet. It had taken Evelyn the entire five minute ordeal just to take care of that one, and here Harry is offing majority of the pack. The lot had been huddled in the house Damien so cleverly suggested they reside in for the night. Speaking of, he's currently fighting off a straggler, clearly not so adept.

Harry rolls his eyes and motions for Evelyn's knife. She hands it to him, and within moments it's hilt-deep in the lingering beast's neck. Damien shrieks, shoving the body off of him as it were diseased.

"Aren't you a soldier?" Evelyn remarks.

He shoots her a glare.

She holds her blood-stained hands up innocently--or as innocently as she could be. "Hey, you're the idiot who disturbed their nest."

"Despite my rank, I hate fighting," he bites back. "It's barbaric."

"Aw, how sweet," she coos. He gives her an obscene gesture in return.

She notices then how still Harry is beside her. She sighs dreadfully, knowing the look on his face all too well as he listens intently. She doesn't bother looking around or listening herself; it would pointless. For a brief moment as she considers this, she's baffled at how wholly she entrusts Harry with her life. Literally.

"How many?" she asks, stomping over to snatch her dagger out of the beast's neck. She cleans the blade again on her pant leg, the blood seeping through to her thigh. She cringes, but ignores it. She should be used to it, after all.

Harry purses his lips. "It's distant. Only one, so we'll let it be."

She nods curtly.

Damien frowns. "I can't even hear that."

"Well, you aren't the doctor's prodigee," Harry replies snarkier than he intended, she thinks.

Damien falls silent and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

"Come on," Evelyn says softly, lightly pushing Harry's back. "Let's go inside."

He walks without her forcing him, Damien trailing behind. The three of them scope out the house one more time to ensure there's nothing else lurking in the shadows. She scavenges through the kitchen afterwards, finding a few cans of green beans. Not the best dinner, but it'll have to do. She grabs one, and tries not to think about the dinner Harry and Damien will have.

She goes into the mainroom where a shattered television sits, and plops down on the couch in front of it as if she'd just gotten home from school and plans on watching cartoons to avoid her homework. She clenches her jaw as she ponders such a life that feels like eons ago. Almost angrily, she tosses a green bean into her mouth. She eats in silence, albeit against her better judgement, she imagines she's watching the rom-com she never got to see since it came out the week the world fell apart.