Chapter 554 (2/2)
Lucretia, Randidly asked after a pause. Whatever happened to that spear?
*****
Hank refrained from pulling the trigger, but only just.
“What the fuck have you done?” He growled. The barrel of his pistol was locked on Ezekiel’s heart. The man was glowering furiously at Hank, as he stood above the girl’s body.
“How many times do I have to fucking say it,” Ezekiel hissed. “I just FOUND her, Hank. Why would I make a scene if I killed her myself?”
“You weren’t very vocal about your findings until I started walking over this way,” Hank spat back. He had been so caught up in the training with the people of Donnyton. He was improving at a visible clip. But if it cost the life of this girl… if she had died because Hank was too focused on himself to care about what was going on around him…
And she was just a girl too, a slip of a thing that was probably not even 20. Pretty, if only due to her young age. Her whole life was ahead of her. Even though the System was incredibly dangerous, with proper protection she would have grown to a ripe old age…
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now?” Hank said, his eyes blazing as he looked at Ezekiel. But the longer he looked, the more he understood. Ezekiel had felt he needed to do this. His stats would slowly decrease over time if he didn’t kill. Those stats were something that he worked for. To have them slipping away, due to a Class…
But then Hank crushed all his empathy out of himself. He had warned the man, and he had still insisted on behaving like this.
“A moment, Mr. Howard.”
Without taking his eyes from the man in front of him, Hank sensed the man who had moved to stand next to him. He was tall and gaunt, and very slow a name floated up to the surface of Hank’s mind: Glendel.
Glendel’s smile was sharp as he looked at Ezekiel. “There is no need to accuse the man without evidence. Very soon we will know the details of the girl’s death. And if it should turn out that he did indeed kill her… there will be no need to raise your own hand, Mr. Howard. The vengeful ghost will take her own pound of flesh.”
Even standing near Glendel, Hank could feel a chill rising off of the man. THere was an air around him that was slightly unnatural. Hank had never heard what exactly he did around the Donnyton, but he was high ranking.
To Hank’s surprise, Glendel just kneeled next to the girl. His hands gently reached forward and closed her eyes. Then he knelt next to her as if praying, for fully five minutes. During that time, Hank took a step backward from Ezekiel and lowered his repeater. The other man still glowered at Hank, but a lot of the aggression drained away as he waited for Glendel to make his move.
Abruptly, Glendel’s eyes shot open. And as it happened, the air shimmered above the girl. Then, like a flower blooming, a ghost rose, pale and translucent. Her eyes opened too, and there was nothing there. Her irises and pupils had become one until her eyes looked like a pale cueball.
“Did this man kill you?” Glendel asked gravely.
Slowly, the specter turned and faced Ezekiel. Hank’s hand tightened on his pistol. Just as slowly, however, she shook her head no.
Even Glendel seemed surprised. “Then who?”
The ghost only pointed, West and North.