It was Addie. Eleazar spun toward her voice, back toward the clearing where Rene stood. Preacher clambered to his feet. He could see no sign of Addie, but he had heard her. He had very clearly?—
Thetwangof a bow. He saw the arrow. Saw it heading straight for Rene. Saw it hit him square in the throat.
Eleazar let out a howl of rage and ran for the girl, now standing ten paces away, stringing her bow again.
Addie
Addiecouldn’t ready her bow fast enough. She ought to have been able to—she’d made sure she would have time to fire two arrows. One for the monster that had stolen Charlie’s body and one for the monster that had helped him. Yet as she strung the second arrow, the ground seemed to fly up under her feet, as if by magic.
She toppled backward, and Eleazar was on her, wrenching the bow away with one hand while grabbing her coat withthe other. She went for her knife, but before her fingers could touch the handle, he’d grabbed it himself. Then he whipped her around, knife at her throat, shouting at Preacher to stop.
Preacher halted in midstep, and stood there, his eyes wild with fear, breath coming so hard she could hear it.
I’m sorry,she thought.I ought to have shot Eleazar first. Let you escape. But all I could think about was Charlie. That monster in his body.
The monster that was dying now. Lying on the ground, wheezing its death rattle, arrow lodged in its throat.
“Let her go,” Preacher said.
“I cannot,” Eleazar said. “I need?—”
“I know what you need. And I know that what you have isn’t satisfactory. What you had wasn’t either. So I’m offering you a trade.”
“Are you? Interesting…”
“Take it,” Preacher said. “It’s what he’d want. You know it is.”
Addie struggled to figure out what they were talking about. Preacher was making sure she didn’t. She could tell that, and a knot of dread in her gut grew bigger with each passing moment.
“Take it,” Preacher said. “Quickly.”
Eleazar seemed to be considering the matter, but then, without warning, he grabbed Addie by the hair and whipped her against a tree. Her head hit the trunk hard, blackness threatening as she fell. She lay there, fighting to remain awake, as she heard them continue.
“You did not need to do that,” Preacher said.
“Oh, I believe I did. She’s a feisty little one, and I don’t think she’ll like what I’m about to do.”
“Just get it done. Quickly please.”
Addie managed to raise her head and saw Eleazar walk to Preacher. She saw his hands go to Preacher’s neck, wrapping around it, and she understood what he’d meant. That withCharlie’s body dying, the monster—Rene—needed a new vessel. Eleazar had been going to take hers. Preacher had offered his instead.
“No,” she whispered. “Please no.”
She could see her bow there, only a few paces away. She dug her fingers into the dirt and pulled herself toward it and?—
And she passed out.
Preacher
AsPreacher watched Addie lose consciousness, he had a sudden vision of her death, of Eleazar killing him for his master and then walking over, kneeling and wrapping his fingers around the girl’s neck. Preacher’s hands flew up, catching Eleazar’s, stopping them as they squeezed.
“Wait!” he said.
He held the man’s hands still as he looked at him.
“You’ll not hurt her,” he said. “After it’s done.”
“I have no cause. You’ll have given me what I want.”
