Vengeance: A Halloween Novella

Chapter 15

October 31, 2023

Vancouver, Canada

Halloween

Matthew Tkachuk freezes in place. He stares at the doorway, at the blond man in the center. Slowly, his mouth twists upward. "Elias Pettersson, back from the dead? How marvelous." He forgets about Brock for a second.

Brock gradually manages to turn his head to the side to look for himself. "Elias?!"

Elias Pettersson storms into the room. "I know what you did to me! I know EVERYTHING, Tkachuk! You're not the only one who has the ability to return to the living for a night."

"So, you're back to try and stop me?" Tkachuk snickers, spreading his arms out to his sides. "How cute?"

"Brock was only protecting me! The killing you was accidental! He wasn't looking to kill you, too bad you never listened to him!" Elias snarls, stomping his foot on the concrete ground of the room.

"Am I really going to have to lock you up so I can kill Brock and complete my quest to solidify my return to Earth?" Tkachuk snarls.

Elias laughs. "Don't count on it. I plan on stopping you!"

Tkachuk aims his gun at Elias and takes a shot. The bullet sails through the air and whizzes past the blond man's head, striking the frame of the door.

The orbs fly by Elias and manifest into figures, blocking Tkachuk's aim at Elias. Jason, Connor, Kailer, Clayton and Tyson all stand with their hands on their hips and a shell of themselves.

"Oh, this is really adorable," Tkachuk snickers.

"You can't kill all of us, can you?" Kailer snaps.

"You can try," Clayton tacks on.

"But you won't succeed," Jason finishes.

With Tkachuk distracted by the five, Elias sneaks along the perimeter of the room, heading for Brock and the chair.

He can see Brock struggling, pulling at the ropes around him.

Almost there, Elias mutters to himself. Almost...bingo! He reaches the chair and ducks down on the far side, in case Tkachuk spins around to see him.

Brock opens his mouth up, but Elias puts an index finger to his lips.

Up close, Elias can see just how bad of a state Brock Boeser is in. He is bleeding from cuts on his face and wrists and he's got multiple bruises showing. He's been through some torturous hell, courtesy of Matthew Tkachuk.

But it is all over now.

Elias unties the knots on the ropes that are holding Brock's wrists to the arm of the wooden chair.

Brock, clearly still dealing with waves of pain, gets to his feet. He slowly turns toward Tkachuk.

Tkachuk, in a furious frustration and ignorant to the two Canucks, throws his gun to the ground and leaps at Tyson. He finds out quickly that his is a stupid move and he falls through Tyson's ghostly figure and hits the ground.

"I think that'll snap reality and sense back into him," Brock chuckles. "Too late though."

Tkachuk pushes himself up and scrambles back up to his feet. He whirls around, just as Brock picks the gun up from the ground.

"Oh, how nice of you, Flame. You left me one bullet. One shot."

Brock lifts the gun up, aiming right at Tkachuk's forehead. Elias puts a hand, gingerly on Brock's shoulder.

Tkachuk masters the smug grin on his face. "Well, isn't this familiar...?"

"Yeah, I don't know what happened to you after you died in Limbo, but you seem to have lost your real mission. I know you loved Petey. You still love Petey deep down inside. But somehow, something inside of you snapped. You no longer viewed Petey as your soulmate, as someone you loved."

"But as someone I hated -- I hate -- with a dark passion!" Tkachuk finishes, winking at Elias.

"So you killed him. Then you wanted more, you came after me, because I was the one who stopped you from your original mission." Brock keeps the gun trained on the Flame as he turns his head around to look at me. "To that, I apologize. I should never have stopped that from happening. I was scared and worried, but it would have resulted in a much better ending than what is happening here."

"You're wasting time, Prince Charming...you forget that Pettersson has a limited amount of time on Earth. You might be able to kill me, but you would be too late for saving him!" Tkachuk snarls.

Brock snaps his head back to glare at Tkachuk. He curls his index finger on the trigger of the gun. A rush of pain strikes through him, but he ignores it, he fights through it. He will survive and so will Elias.

He is done talking.

"Thanks for the warning, but I know."

Tkachuk's eyes fly open wide with shock. He opens his mouth to let out another sassy comment, but the gun clicks and then--

CRACK!

The last bullet sails from the barrel, heading right at Tkachuk.

Jason, Clayton, Kailer, Connor and Tyson fade away, back into non-existence. But not Elias.

The bullet strikes Tkachuk, right in the center of the forehead. He staggers backward, blood gushing from the wound. He loses control and hits the ground with a hard, sickening smack.

Brock lowers the gun and Elias throws his arms around him. It's all over. Elias Pettersson is safe and alive once more.

And Matthew Tkachuk dies, for a second time on Halloween, but this time laughing like a madman.