Page 96 of Dead Vengeance

“Really?” Fabian breathes in wonderment.

“You have no idea.” This Simon accompanies with a lascivious laugh.

I clap my hands loud enough to wake any random dead who might be in the vicinity, and shout, “Out! Out right now! Not another word today, get out of here and let me think.”

“All right,” Fabian states in a faux-calming manner, as if I’m the one being mad right now. “I was just going.”

“Not fast enough!”

He actually rolls his eyes. I’m regretting resurrecting him more and more by the second.

“Until tomorrow,” whispers Simon.

“Tomorrow,” Fabian breathes, like the promise is a curl of hair he’s going to keep in his locket, as if he’s some Victorian-era widow.

He turns, perfectly well now, and virtually skips towards the front of the house. I nod at Simon, then stride off after him, hoping to get back to Liam before he does.

But when we turn the corner, no Liam.

No Liam, and the front door wide open.

And fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Liam went back inside.

My heart skips a beat. I take the stairs two at a time, then almost walk straight into him. “Liam! I’m so sorry, I—”

Liam levels his gun right at me. “Get the fuck away from me.”

“What’s… What’s wrong?” My first thought is possession. This isn’t like Liam. His eyes are scared, pure terror, but twisted with… sadness. Anger. But so much fear. Of me?

“Don’t even think about it,” he snarls, his tone sharp, cracking like he might cry. “I know what you are.”

Holy shit. He doesn’t. He can’t know. “Liam—”

“Get the fuck back!”

And so I do, almost tripping down the stairs, hands held high, my mind scrambling to understand the complete change in him. I stumble against Fabian, who freezes at the sight of the gun. Then Liam stops dead. His mouth drops open. And, “Fabian?” he gasps out.

“What the fuck, man?” says Fabian, two hands high in the air like mine.

Liam’s eyes drop to the gun, like he forgot he’s holding it, then he lowers it, eyes so intensely focused on Fabian it’s like he’s seen a ghost. Only he has seen a whole bunch of ghosts this week and hardly looked at one so intently as this.

“What the fuck happened to you?” he rasps, staring at the enormous and bloody hole in Fabian’s clothes.

Fabian’s head drops. Then he laughs. “Nothing. Nothing much. I’m going to go now.”

“You’re going to…” A frown darkens Liam’s entire face, a confused, bewildered, but still sad and angry expression.

“Yeah,” Fabian slightly confirms. “Back to London. I think I’m done with this job, to be honest. See you there, all right, mate?”

Liam doesn’t say a thing. Only watches Fabian retreat down the pathway.

But the second I make a move, the gun rises again.