The Beginning of the End

pg. #6
         "I pause. Dervish's head has slumped. I tilt his head back, keeping my fingers clear of his mouth, expecting him to bite again. But this time it isn't a joke. His eyes are closed. The last breath has slipped from his semi-parted lips. His heart has stopped beating.
         "Guess the last laugh's on you, old-timer," I croak, letting his head rest on my shoulder and patting him clumsily.
         Rising, I gently lay him back against the rock, then pad away and choose a spot in the shade. As I bend, I get the feeling that Dervish is sneaking up on me. I turn quickly, lips lifting into a smile, but he hasn't moved. He never will again.
         Sighing emptily, I clench my fingers tightly, then drive them through the dry, hard-packed soil, scooping out the first fistful of my dead uncle's grave.
         


         Grubbs Grady, the one who's telling the story just lost the uncle who taught him ways of magic and fought alongside him against the demonata for around a year. Grubbs and Dervish both have sick senses of humor, explaining the joke Grubbs says when Dervish dies. With his family all slaughtered by the demons, Dervish  was the first to die humanely, he had a heart problem. Grubbs may sound like the average teen, but like most of the Grady family, he has turned into a werewolf like creature because his ancestors bred with the demonata. He's in the middle of a desert, but with all he's been through, the desert heat feels only slightly warm.


           -From Hell's Heroes, by Darren Shan