Acolyte (The Wildermoor Apocalypse Book 1) (23 page)

‘Lucas…’ he whispered.  Evelyn nodded.  ‘You said bloodline but that’s impossible.  I took him in as a brother but we were not bound by blood.  He had no family.’

He could hear words echo around the cold kitchen although they existed only in his head.  The night he had hidden in the trees and witnessed Stamwell’s murder;

‘
Your son Stamwell, for my brother. If you will not give your life for his
.’

‘Oh my God,’ Ewan muttered the words staring at the floor.  ‘All this time…?’

‘Time matters no more, my love, ‘ Evelyn soothed trying to bring Ewan back once more, ‘Time will cease to exist if we cannot do this.’

Ewan turned from her again, trying to steady his breath and reclaim the thoughts as his own.  In life he had not considered he amounted to anything and now he was here with the fate and weight of the world resting on his shoulders.  There was no escape, He knew that.  If he wanted the chance to live again, to live that life with Evelyn, this was what he had to do.

The Reaper. 

The phantom he had dispelled as nothing more than ravings of a madman.
Colin Dexler.
  Slowly it all began to make sense.

‘Evelyn, I never got to say it before, and may not have the chance to say it again so it’s now or never.  I…” he turned around to find he was alone in the kitchen. “…love you.’ 

He ran out of the door and was greeted by the rolling, empty lands of Wildermoor. It was a sight that he both loved and loathed. This was the place that gave birth to him, killed him and shackled him to it forever. Still it asked for more.  He nodded a grim acceptance still not fully understanding but knowing that he wanted to.

He looked down at the envelope that was still grasped in his hand, starting to crease and bend as his fists clenched.  He tore open the seal and removed the contents: a thick document of around a hundred pages, containing separate files and photo’s clipped to the sheets haphazardly throughout.  As the envelope tipped in his hand, another object slipped out and fell to the ground; a leather wallet.  Ewan picked it up and turned it over finding a bright yellow post-it note on the other side. 

We are who we are but don’t forget all you have been.  I love you too. I will be waiting. Evelyn
.

The wallet opened like a book - no clasp to hold it shut – and the gold badge glimmered as the sun emerged behind a heavy cloud ahead.  Ewan smiled humourlessly to himself as he stared at the name written on the other side.  A shiver ran down the length of his back as heavy storm clouds returned and reclaimed the sun. He turned back towards the house as the shadows grew and he felt the eyes on his back.  Not hundreds this time, just one set. The heat behind him grew as fierce as it did in his vision of the burning moors. 

Ewan looked behind to find nothing had changed, but he could feel Him watching.

Waiting.