Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
“This isn’t you,” the vampire said. “You’ve never been like this.”
“I’m not like myself anymore, though.” Tears came to his eyes. “I didn’t mean for all this to happen, but I went to the trainer and he… wasn’t a trainer after all.”
“Lash.”
“You know him? But I guess that’s stupid. Of course you do. He… bit me and forced this vile shit down my throat and ever since then, I’ve been… evolving.”
The vampire shook his own head. “I know you, Evan. You’re not a killer.”
He thought of the woman tied to the chair at Mickey’s, saw her eyes bugging as he covered her face with that pillow, heard the splash as her body landed in the quarry’s cold waters.
“Yes, I am. I’ve killed now.”
“Oh, Evan. You need to get out of this. You’re in so deep, you don’t even know it.”
“How—” He put his gun back up, having missed the fact that it had lowered itself. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Can you live with what you’re doing? Ask yourself that.”
“How about yourself. How many murders have you committed?”
“But your kind are killing innocents. Who should be allowed to live their lives in peace. You’re hunting those who would otherwise leave you alone because your master is a sociopath who’s using you.”
After a moment, Evan said forlornly, “He lied to me.”
“Of course he did. That’s what he does to get people like you lined up. And when you find out you’re trapped, and you can’t get out—”
“I know it’s too late for me—that’s what they’ve told me.”
“I can help you, though. It’s not too late—”
All of a sudden, the vampire’s eyes shifted up and to the left, and though that expression barely changed, Evan looked back over his shoulder.
A female with multi-colored hair stopped in mid-descent on the steps.
“Evan, don’t look at her. Look at me.” Nathaniel was talking fast now. “I’m the one you want. I’m the one you came for—right? You were out here with Mickey that night, that’s how you knew where to find me now. You’re the only one in the Lessening Society who knew where I lived.”
Refocusing on the enforcer, Evan felt a lancing pain in his chest. “I did bring them here.”
“Listen to me, you need to ask yourself if you can live with what you’re doing. You still have a conscience and you were cheated by your master—and I can end your suffering. You’re lying to yourself if you think you can handle what the future is going to be like for you. You’re not built for this and you know it. You’re not like Mickey, you’re not like Uncle. You are not your family and they shit all over you because of it.”
That was exactly the truth as Evan had lived it, but somehow, spelled out as it was by someone else, he felt a vital part of him collapse.
“How can you help me?” he whispered.
“I can end the suffering for you.”
“That’s not possible.”
Except then he remembered the warning that female lesser had given him… about steel blades and chest cavities.
“You’re better than this life, Evan. You’re better than all those assholes who’ve disrespected you. This is not who you are.”
Evan wasn’t sure precisely when he made the decision to lower the gun. But like so many of his actions since that night he had taken the elevator down into that black-oily basement, his movements were not conscious.
Only this time, it was another, sepaate part of him, not some groupthink that came from what had been done to him, that took control.
He nodded. “You’re right.”
And that was when the enforcer moved.
The vampire reached down and took a dagger with a black blade from out of the lax hand of the injured male. Then he stepped around the foot of the bed and came forward.
“I wanted them to be proud of me,” Evan said in a haunted voice. “That’s all I ever wanted.”
The enforcer’s voice was curiously gentle: “It’s better to be true to you and proud of yourself. Some evolutions aren’t worth the cost of pleasing others, and in the end, only your conscience, which truly knows right from wrong, can save you.”
As if he were putting down a heavy load, Evan exhaled long and slow. “Is this going to hurt?”
“Not any more than the pain you’re already in.”
Evan closed his eyes and leaned back on his hips, dropping the gun to the floor. The thump of impact was loud in his ears, and he was aware that he was starting to pant in preparation for what was coming.
Yet there was a peace, too. Whereas he hadn’t chosen how this fucked-up path had started because of a lie that had been fed to him… he was getting to choose when it all ended.
“Thank you,” he breathed.
“You’re doing the right thing.”
The next thing Evan felt was a piercing pain in his chest—