Chapter 19

Asking for the check with a bloody knife and a few bullets.

“Hang in there, boss,” one of the men said, trying to stop Willy from pulling the blade from his belly. He was grunting and crying from the pain, and Evangeline stared at those tears in complete bewilderment. He was dying, he knew it, as he kept trying to pull the knife out. His body was going into shock with all the blood leaking out, and there was a lot of blood on the floor. He dropped his head back, shaking it before grunting some more from the pain.

                Evangeline smiled, sitting against the wall while the men tried their best to help the boss. She almost started to laugh and point at Willy dying on the floor. Abel might have been dead outside, but the hero did his deed. He killed Willy before the sun rose. He failed to make sure Evangeline was safe, but at least he got Willy before he took his last breath.

                Willy moved his eyes over to Evangeline. She smiled back at him, and he cried even harder.

                “See you in Hell,” Evangeline said, “Dad.”

                “You stupid -“ one of the men roared, rushing at her with the butt of a shotgun; she shielded her face; she guessed if her dad were going to bite, then one of his men would finish the job, but she couldn’t watch herself get hit.

                The hit never came, with the man grunting and Evangeline opening her eyes to see the surprise in his eyes. There was a massive hand stopping the shotgun from reaching her, and when Evangeline followed the arm up to the hissing face of Abel, she couldn’t believe it. She saw him get gunned down. She saw all the bullet holes and blood peppering his body, but now, all of it was gone.

                The rage he had staring at the man before him wasn’t gone. Abel moved his face closer to the shooter, growling at him.

                “How?” But the question would never be answered for the man. Abel jerked the shotgun free, smacking the man over the head with it, sending him flying backward into the group of guys. They turned to face Abel, shocked and not sure what to believe, until Abel leveled the shotgun, blowing two of the men away. Their bodies crumbled to the floor with blood flying out their back.

                He didn’t drop the empty shotgun; instead, he started to use it as a club, batting and hitting the killers rushing at him. Some of them started to shoot at Abel, but they either hit their people or their shots went wild, hitting the walls behind him.

                As Evangeline watched the fight, she thought she saw some of the bullets punch holes in Abel’s body, causing some more blood to leak out. The gunshots didn’t slow him down, and she thought she saw the hands of a woman reaching out to those holes, healing them with a touch.

                Evangeline looked over at her father, who was staring at her.

                “Help me,” he cried.

                But she looked back to see Abel holding the last of Willy’s men up by his neck off the ground. The man was fighting to get free from his massive hands, but there was nothing he could do as the air was crushed out of his throat. Abel dropped the body like a stack of meat.

                “An invocation rests over you, warrior,” Mr. Crow said in the doorway to the kitchen, “but ain’t magic, it’s something else.”

                Abel huffed, not saying a word, seeing the hunter pull free his knife. Abel rushed at him, and Mr. Crow cut him along his mighty chest. They started to dance around the house, fighting as if they were equally matched in their skills. Evangeline viewed the blows against the two men like they were boxers in the ring. She didn’t move. She didn’t say a word the whole time, in awe of the fight, until she saw her father starting to move.

                He had jerked the knife from his belly; the blood was pouring out now, and he was crawling for the door, trying to get out of the house, but there was a lot of dead and dying in his way. He wasn’t going to give up crawling over some of the bodies, leaving a trail of blood. She sat there as he almost passed her, glancing over at her but not stopping.

                He was a dead man. He might have known it, but then again, his ego might be too big for him to think death would come for him on this night. But there was no stopping the hole in his belly pouring out all his blood and guts.

                Evangeline took a deep breath, pushing herself up the wall with painful grunts. She stood there for a moment, holding her ribs, taking a step to one of the men on the floor. She reached down, taking his pistol from his corpse. She opens the chambers of the pistol, making sure there are enough bullets in it, and then looks at her father, reaching the door. She looked back at Abel fighting Mr. Crow.

                Willy reached out to the top step when he heard someone behind him.

                “Pa,” Evangeline said, making Willy look back at her, “this is for my mother.”

                The bullet kicked Willy right in the head, blowing out the back of it as the boom caused Abel and Mr. Crow to pause for a second. They both looked at the girl holding the smoking pistol and before Mr. Crow could turn back to the fight, Abel nailed him right in the nose, blinding him for a second, allowing Evangeline to spin on her heels, pointing the pistol right at him.

                She fired. She fired until all the rounds in the gun were gone, and all that was coming out was click, click, click.

                Mr. Crow was pushed back with each shot, taking a seat on the table with holes all down his chest. He choked, looking at the blood, and then dropped his head, not moving at all.

                She dropped the gun, looked at Abel, and asked, “Can we go now?” The same way a man might ask for the check at a restaurant, with no emotion and no care.

                Abel nodded yes, with the first rays of sunlight traveling down the mountains like water.