Immortal Hunter. Kait Ballenger
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gonna be happy to hear.” Jace delivered the words slowly, as if he wasn’t certain he wanted to say them. “Frankie and I are at the hospital, and...Allsún’s not here.”
David eyed Allsún as she paced anxiously around the foyer. “Yeah, I know, J. She showed up here—at the crime scene.”
A string of profanities sounded from the other line. “And you couldn’t have fucking called to tell me that? Frankie and I were scared shitless that a demon had gotten to her before we did. I’ve been calling you repeatedly.”
“Sorry. She just now showed up.”
“Well, that’s a fucking relief. Aside from that, did you find anything?” Jace asked.
David bit his lower lip. He’d found something, all right. Something not fit for human eyes, something so evil it made his stomach churn and his heart hurt. “Yeah, I found something. I’ll tell you about it at the meeting.”
Silence answered from the other end of the line. David could tell Jace was waiting for an explanation.
“J, I’m sorry, man. I can’t even... This is just so evil. I’ll tell you when I get there.”
The images of what lay one level beneath his boots flashed through his mind. Those poor people.
“I’ll see you at the meeting, then. Get the job done, David. For their sake.”
David nodded. “Yeah.”
With a small click, the line went dead.
Allsún stopped pacing and faced him again, arms crossed over her chest. “So, are you going to tell me what else is down there or keep me in the dark?”
“You don’t want to know what’s down there, Allsún.”
“If I’m going to help you, I—”
He held up a hand. “Who said anything about you helping me?”
With a frown, she pointed to herself. “I did. If you refuse to let me leave your side, then you’re going to let me work the case with you.”
“I can’t let you do that. This is different than usual.”
“How different can it be, David?”
He shook his head. He knew Allsún, and he understood completely why she wanted to be a part of this. Back in the day, she had been amazing at hunting demons. They’d partnered together and had been damn near unstoppable, between her Fae power and his exorcist abilities, but that had been before he was a member of the Execution Underground, before Allsún decided she didn’t want to live a hunter’s lifestyle anymore. “Allsún, the demon massacred this family. You know that’s not typical.”
“It’s not typical for me to have premonitions about upcoming demon activity, either, not since I quit hunting. But somehow, in this case, I did—to the point that it woke me up from a drug-induced coma. That means I’m supposed to be involved somehow. If you were in my position, you’d want to be involved, too.”
She had a point with that one. He would definitely want to be a part of the investigation. Well, “want” was the wrong word. No one wanted to be involved with demons, but they did so because they needed to, because they felt it was their duty. Allsún had given up that duty long ago.
“What happened to ‘It can be somebody else’s job’? You told me that it wasn’t my duty to protect people from demons, despite the fact that I was born with this gift. Now, just because you have a feeling, that means that you’re meant to do this? You’re being a hypocrite.”
“Quit dredging up the past.” Allsún pushed past him and marched down the stairs before he could stop her. When she reached the bottom she turned and surveyed the side of the basement that had been blocked from her view before. David heard her breath escape in one large gasp. Shit.
His bad leg burning at every step, he hurried down the stairs as fast as he could.
As he reached her side, he saw that tears were rolling down her cheeks. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. Though the sight of her tears made him ache inside, he relished the feel of her in his arms. God, he had missed holding her like this, being this close to her. They stood together for a few moments before she pulled back, wiping vigorously to erase the streaks from her tears.
He cleared his throat. “I told you it was a horror show.”
Horror show. Talk about a massive understatement. The things the demons had done to the humans before their deaths were sick and despicable, twisted. Only pure evil could have been responsible for something like that. Anyone with an ounce, even a shred, of humanity, would have shown at least some mercy.
She looked toward him. The barest quiver still shook her lip. “So, what do we do now?” She was fighting to get hold of herself. He could see her face visibly change as she transitioned into work mode.
She took a deep, steadying breath. “Back when it was me and you, we would have taken the evidence we needed, called the cops and then continued the investigation ourselves, but...you know. Now that you’re part of the Execution Underground and all...”
“Similar protocol,” David said. “We take photos of the crime scene that will be processed and sent off to Headquarters, if necessary, but in the meantime the Rochester division begins the investigation. We need to be quick, though. We’ll take the samples and leave. We don’t want to hang around in case a neighbor heard something and contacted the cops.”
“I doubt they’ve been called, since they haven’t shown up yet.” She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “So, once you gather the evidence, then what? Do you take me to your meeting place, too?”
“Yeah, and I debrief the rest of the hunters.”
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “The rest of the hunters? How many of them are there? Jace and you make two, obviously.”
He’d forgotten her bias against hunters. While Allsún was all for hunting demons, her natural enemy, as a supernatural creature herself, she was wary of the Execution Underground and its policies. That was one of the many reasons why she hadn’t wanted him to join. “There are six total, me included.”
Allsún’s eyes widened slightly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I wasn’t surprised to find out Jace is one of you. I knew you two would eventually find your way on to the same team, or whatever your unit is called. I know he played a part in getting you to enlist.”
“Don’t be bitter toward Jace. It’s not his fault I joined the Execution Underground.”
“He and Frankie are together now, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, they’re together.”
Allsún nodded in return. “Good. I’m glad he’s making her happy. Frankie has been a good friend to me.” She paused, carefully considering her next words. “I don’t feel any resentment toward Jace. It’s been...what? Five years now.”
He opened his mouth to tell her exactly how many years, months and days it had been, but she lifted her hand to silence him. “Don’t give me the exact count. Just get your evidence. I don’t know how much longer I can stand to be here. These poor people.”
He closed his mouth and swallowed down the words he’d been about to say.
David scanned the scene. He wasn’t even sure where to start. As awful as the thoughts would be, he needed to re-create the events in his head. The way in which the demon had carried out the murders might give him some insight into its sick motivations. Part of him felt it would be like reading tea leaves—trying to understand remorseless violence was hardly ever fruitful—but on the off chance that something, anything, might give him a hint that would help him catch this murderous hell-crawler, he needed to do this.
According to the information Father O’Reilly had relayed to Damon, the mother had called, claiming that her husband had