Page 90 of Sinner's Sacrifice

“But, Yvgeny—”

She had to go to him, help him. Her gut churned and bubbled, burning the back of her throat. Was there anything she could do for him? Getting hit at the base of your skull was usually fatal.

“Is not dead,” Nika interrupted. “He’s simply...down for the moment. He’ll be fine in a little while.”

“The fuck you say,” Brian said, standing at the base of the stairs. “He was bashed on the head with a weighted club. No one is fine after that.” He pointed at the screens.

Sam couldn’t look. The image of Yvgeny lying on the floor, his blood pooling around his head had burned itself into her mind’s eye.

Nika glanced at the screens. “Like I said, he’s not dead.”

Brian turned to stare and he jerked back a step. “Holy shit,” he said again.

Sam couldn’t help herself. She looked.

At Yvgeny pushing himself up to all fours.

Shock, disbelief, and worry combined into some kind of toxic miasma in her head, and the world dimmed to a fuzzy, narrow tunnel.

The floor moved, voices mumbled a little too far for her to hear, and when had the room gotten so hot?

Then something cold rubbed against her face and she blinked as all her senses came back online.

“Sam?” Nika asked. The other woman was kneeling over her, patting her cheek with one hand and rolling a bottle of cold water against her other cheek. “Sam?”

“I’m...here.” She blinked again. “What happened?”

“You passed out,” Nika said, her voice careful in the way she often used when talking to a patient who might not react well to the extent of their injuries or the injuries of others. Careful and calm.

Yvgeny.

She tried to sit up, but Nika put a hand on her chest and pushed her back down. “Let’s take this a little slower. Okay?”

Right. She’d passed out, but other things were more important. “Yvgeny?”

Nika sighed and glanced at the screens. “He seems to be...okay.”

Sam turned her head, but she couldn’t make out what was happening. What she did see didn’t make sense. Yvgeny wasn’t on the floor anymore.

She needed to sit up. “Nika...what? How?”

“I told you things were weird.”

“He should be dead,” Brian said, sounding flat. “No one should have survived that blow.”

Nika snorted. “People have survived getting conked on the head before. Not often, but it happens.”

“Survived is one thing,” Brian said, his tone an accusation. “Getting up and walking around like it never happened is another.”

“Oh, he’s putting on a good show right now,” Nika said. “But he’s not in great shape.”

The world came into greater focus. “Let me up.”

Nika looked at her, then backed away and allowed Sam to slowly get to her feet.

She made her way to the screens and studied the one showing the interior of Yvgeny’s apartment. He was on his feet, but as he took a couple of steps toward Robert’s body, he stumbled.

Yvgeny never stumbled.