Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

hung it on the proper hook. Let it drip.
    It didn't matter. And only then did she realize there was someone else in the apartment with her. He was standing very still in the shadows at the far end of the room beyond, where the lights couldn't reach. Evangeline's heart jumped in her chest, and she sucked in a sharp breath, suddenly wide awake. She didn't waste time wondering which of her enemies had found her. There were too many.
    What mattered was that he had to be a professional, to have got past the security systems, and she didn't have a weapon on her. She hadn't thought she'd need them at a funeral. Stupid, stupid. The kind of enemies she'd made had no respect for occasion. She was still looking about her for something she could use as a weapon when the figure stepped suddenly forward into the light, and her legs suddenly went weak at the knees.
    "Hello, Evie," said Finlay Campbell, smiling. "You really should do something about your locks. Breaking in here was child's play."
    Evangeline started toward him, and then stopped herself. "What are you?" she said hoarsely. "Some ghost come to haunt me? My guilt, for sending you to your death? Or maybe some esper, hiding behind a mental mask. A clone, perhaps, prepared beforehand in case of the original's death. Or have I finally lost my mind, and now see only the things I want to see?"
    "None of the above," said Finlay. "It's me, Evie. I made it out of Tower Shreck, a bit singed around the edges but basically intact. After what I'd done to Gregor, I thought it best to go to ground for a while. I couldn't contact you. I didn't know who might be listening in. And then I heard I was dead, and decided that might be best for everyone. Time for a new face and a new identity, I think. Make a new life for myself. With you. It was cruel of me to let you think
    I was dead, I know, but it was for the best, for both of us. Say you forgive me, Evie."
    "Of course I forgive you," said Evangeline. "I always do, don't I?"
    And in a moment they were in each other's arms, hugging the breath out of each other. Tears finally ran down Evangeline's cheeks at her love returned, whole and real and in her arms again. They finally loosened their grip, and moved back a little to look into each other's eyes. They had parted on a quarrel, and thought each other lost, but now they were back together again, and their love burned so fiercely in them they could scarcely breathe. Finlay felt the need to calm things down a little, and stepped back, still holding her hands in his. He glanced around at Evangeline's new lodgings.
    "Don't think much of your new place, Evie. Whoever owns it must have really pissed off his interior decorator. And what happened to your two friends in jars; Penny De Carlo and Professor Wax?"
    "They're at the main hospital, waiting for their cloned bodies to stabilize so their heads can be grafted back… What does that matter? How the hell did you get out of Tower Shreck alive? And what did happen between you and my father?"
    "I killed him," said Finlay, his voice calm and controlled. "I killed him for you, for all the awful things he did to you. I took my time, making sure he suffered as you suffered, and when I finally sent him to Hell the fires of the Pit must have seemed like a relief. Valentine Wolfe was there too. I shot him."
    "Hold everything. The Wolfe is dead?" said Evangeline.
    "Unfortunately, probably not. Though how he survived a point-blank disrupter blast is a mystery to me. After I was finished with Gregor, I discovered Valentine's body was no longer where it had fallen. Searching for him, I found
    the secret panel through which he'd escaped. It turned out to be a concealed passageway, no doubt prepared by Gregor for last-minute emergencies. I followed it to its end on a lower level, disguised myself in a dead guard's armor, and joined the other guards as they evacuated the burning Tower. Then I just walked away. No one stopped me. And I've been hiding out here and there ever since."
    Evangeline let go of his hands and stepped back. "We held your funeral today.
    Placed an empty coffin with your name on it in your Family vault."
    "I know," said Finlay. "I was watching. From a discreet distance. Not much of a turnout, was it? Good of Robert to come, though. We never could stand each other. And Addie and the kids… they should be all right. Addie was doing very well in stocks and shares, last I heard."
    "So now you're officially dead. What next? A new life;