Part 42 (1/2)

Nate Resurrected from the lifeless vessel she had abandoned at Llyn Gwyr

The skin around his eyes crinkled as he smiled, and when Hannah saw the aniht her heart would burst froed, just about, to stay on her feet Felt the scalpel, slick with her sweat, begin to slip through her fingers

It's not him! You know it's not hied, gushi+ng fro across the floor It soaked into the wooden boards beneath her feet, staining them black

'Han,' he said And it was Nate's voice Unmistakably Nate's His tith

A wretched sound bled out of her as she stared at him and wanted it to be true She forced her eyes shut, squeezing out tears Opened theain Saw his face, his beautiful face 'You're dead,' she whispered

Nate sighed His face creased, and he shook his head 'Oh, Han Don't say that How can you stand there and say that? Don't write me off Don't write us off'

'You killed hiht here He'she was and more I can take care of you, protect you, love you Look athave I searched? How long have I co for you, only ever for you? And now suddenly you're here, and I'ether, the three of us, sustaining soht you'd lost for ever Do you kno s I'd say to you, the promises I'd make?'

'You killed all of them'

He shook his head 'It was a different tio For you, several lifetimes Whatever happened before, this is where we are now This e the past But I'm your Nate The Nate you want me to be, the Nate you're so desperate to have back I'm here, Hannah Just let e the past but together we can ive me a chance and let me in'

Behind hie

Nate smiled, reached out a hand 'Hannah?'

From the heap of old tools in the corner, Leah picked up a wooden fork handle and swung it at her father's head When it connected with Nate's skull ita ball

Not Nate

Jakab

Hannah blinked away her confusion The creature wearing her dead husband's face crashed to its knees and pitched over on one side, eyes rolling in their sockets

Leah dropped the fork handle She raised her hand to her ers

'Leah, that was so brave of you,' Hannah told her 'So very brave And this is all going to be over soon I proirl looked up at her

'Leah, go on Go outside and wait there until I come out'

'Will you come with me?'

Hannah nodded her head 'I will But first I have to finish this You don't need to see this part Go on'

Tears rolled down her cheeks 'Can't we just leave? Right now? Do you have to hurt him? He looks so much like Daddy'

'Please, scamp'

Leah stumbled across the floor of the mill When she reached the door, she hesitated, turned back Hannah discerned sorione, leaving Hannah alone with Jakab

Around her, wheels turned, axles rotated Upstairs, the ether Dustair

Hannah gripped the scalpel Crouched over Jakab

This, then, here it ended for him She wondered, if he had known his lastin filth before the woman who rejected him, if he would have asked hiained

As she raised the scalpel to his throat, tensing her are the blade into his carotid artery, he opened his eyes

Not Nate's loving eyes

Not Gabriel's ical eyes

Not even the eyes of a demon

These were too ordinary lustreless Dull

In them she saw madness and she saw fear

Blood skated down the side of Jakab's face where the fork handle had opened his skin His sht with pain 'For a moment there,' he said, 'you considered it'

She shook her head

'Yes Just for a second or two But you did'

'Never'

'If you do this, Hannah, it'll make you no better than me'

'That's a joke'

'You'll really watch , she raised the scalpel, scanned his neck, saw the flicker where his artery pulsed She glanced upon his face a final time Not Nate's features, she told herself firh time, and whose time had finally run out

Not Nate's face but so like it Jakab was right, though In the end, she couldn't watch, couldn't witness that awful sundering a second tied doith the blade And even as she did, she knew she had hesitated a fraction too long and her opportunity had been lost She felt his fingers encircle her wrist, gripping her so hard that she gasped in pain He leaped to his feet, dragging her with him, and when she tried to transfer the scalpel froely that it tuers and clattered across the floor

Jakab panted, blood dripping from his face, mouth twisted into a snarl 'You actually would have done it, too, you crazy bitch You really thought it would be that easy? You thought I'd allow you to kill me?' He shook his head 'I'm not even here for you, Hannah I'm not even interested in you It's Leah who's iainst me Filled her head with nonsense and lies just like Nicole did with you But it's not too late this tih to heal Once she's out of your reach'

Hannah swung her left fist at hiht that wrist too and when he yanked her ar she had not to scream

If you scream, Leah will come Whatever happens, whatever he does, you can't allow that