Lucius put a hand on me, pressed down to lift himself up, and stood. But he was not letting me go—he placed one foot right on my neck, easily able to crush me if he so wished.
“Tell me, daughter,” he said. “For all that I have given you, for all that I have done for you... you run away for this man?”
“Yes!” Lilly screamed. “Because he’s a good man, Dad. And maybe if you stopped being so damn bloody, you would be too.”
She has to be bluffing. Has to be.
Or she really does care about her father…
“This man has blinded you, daughter,” he said. “In your immaturity, you ran off. You thought you found freedom, but you found the very thing I was trying to protect you from. You found the enemy. And look what he has done. He brought violence into your world. That very violence nearly killed—”
“I know enough about him to know that he is not an evil man,” Lilly said. “Let him go. I’ll ask them to let you leave here alive.”
I felt the foot of Lucius leave my neck.
I leaned forward.
And then I felt death approaching.
“I cannot let any Carter live.”
“No!”
A gunshot rang out.
And then I felt Lucius fall on top of me, knocking the wind out of me—but not the life out of me.
“That’s for killing Shannon, you fuck!”
I did not have the strength to move Lucius, but some of the nearby Reapers came by and rolled him over. He’d gotten shot right in the gut. Blood was not so much flowing out as spurting out, and I knew he would not have a minute more to live.
“Hah, you fools,” he said as Lane, holstering a gun, picked me up. “You think... you think this is the end?”
“He’s just taunting us,” Lane said.
But I knew though Lucius was an evil man, he was not a liar.
“All you have done…” he said, struggling for words, “is opened up your worst nightmare. You better... you better never leave…”
And then, just like that, he spoke no more.
It was done.
We had won.
At last.
At long last.
Lucius was dead.
Shannon’s death was avenged.
Red Raven’s death was avenged.
Father Marcellus’ death was avenged.
Anyone who had fallen under the watch of Lucius was avenged.
