Page 71 of Demon Hunter

I roll my eyes. He’s such a bad actor.

“Or you could get out of my way,” Marc suggests mildly. They turn to look at us, and the safe door swings open. “There.”

Gus’s jaw drops. “Fuck. Why is that weirder than the teleporting thing?”

“Dude, you have no idea,” Matt mutters. “Is that the ledger?” He reaches for the heavy-looking leather-bound book.

“Yeah.”

We crowd around the desk as he opens the ledger and explains how it works, paging to the most recent page to show which demons are currently on-site here in the “dorms.” He also finds the latest updated information on which demons are still unaccounted for, and it seems to be closer to fifteen hundred than we hoped. There’s no way to even be sure if that’s all of them—at least, not until we, or rather Raum, can interview the demons we’re freeing to see if they can give us more names.

This operation is going to require a whole lot of data management.

“We might run out of time tonight,” Matt says, studying the list of demons here. There are nearly five hundred of them. The other branches collectively have about twelve hundred more. Then there are the ones who’ve been “sold” whose locations are known—over a thousand more. “If Gus has to individually take the necklaces off each demon, we won’t even get to the next branch for hours.”

“Do we take out the family first, then, and come back to free the demons after?” Ian grimaces. “I don’t love the idea of leaving them undefended and unable to leave in the event of an emergency.”

“Absolutely not,” Raum snaps, then holds up his hands when Marc glares at him for using that tone with Ian. “Respectfully, I cannot leave these demons behind. Not even with the plan to return in a few hours. It’s difficult enough to accept that not all will be freed tonight.”

“We better get started, then,” Ian says. “Gus, lead the way. And remember, these demons will be angry, but Marc and Raum will ensure you come to no harm.”

Gus swallows hard. There are dark shadows around his eyes now and a gaunt, haunted quality to his expression. He knows that his relatives who lived in this house are all dead. That can’t be an easy thing to process, even if it was the only way.

Outside, he directs us across a lawn, pointing over to a pool house as he says, “That’s where I live—lived. My equipment’s there.” He darts a guilty glance at Matt. “I have your kit too. They were going to destroy everything, so I told Granddad I wanted to keep it as a trophy. I-I’m sorry.”

“As long as I can have it back, I don’t care what you told him,” Matt replies mildly. Gus doesn’t seem convinced, but nobody jumps in to reassure him that Matt really is that reasonable. The guy orchestrated the attack—it won’t hurt for him to sweat a little.

“Uh—those are the dorms.” He gestures down toward the trees, where the bulky outlines of three long buildings can be seen. “They’re not very nice inside—just bunkbeds.”

Demons don’t have the same bodily needs as us, but still—that’s disgusting. I don’t know why I continue to be surprised by how awful this family is. Was.

At the first bunkhouse, Gus steps back and takes a deep breath. “They’ll probably be more comfortable if you go first,” he says to Marc, who nods and reaches for the door. Inside, he flips on a light, and nearly two hundred demon faces turn toward us. I resist the urge to take a step back, and in the next moment,when I see how worn down and unhealthy they are, I’m glad I did. Here in their “home,” they don’t need to maintain any kind of glamor to hide their demonish features, and while I’m not an expert on demon health, I know they’re not supposed to be like this.

The fleeting hope when they see Marc and Raum, though… Jesus. What Marc did to the old man wasn’t enough. If there was a way for me to bring Geoffrey Martenson back to life and give him to these demons to torture, I would.

Marc nods to Raum, who steps forward and, speaking in a very calm voice, identifies himself and Marc, then introduces us as representatives of the Collective working under the truce to protect and prevent demons from mistreatment. “You may also recognize August,” Raum continues in that measured tone. “He’s our inside agent, and he is going to free you now. He’s the only one who can, which makes him the most important person in this room. Once your necklace has been removed, you will return via gateway to Crmærdinesgh, where my team will treat any medical needs you have and ensure you reach your homes as soon as possible. Does anyone have questions?”

There’s a long silence, then a broken whisper. “Is this a trick?”

“No trick,” Marc declares, and the way his voice rings through the room makes it a promise. “You will be home and free tonight.” He turns to Gus and speaks more quietly. “I can feel the power of the necklaces, and I believe there may be a faster way than you physically removing each one.”

My ears prick up.

“The necklaces are circles attuned to the bloodline. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but a circle is usually broken by disrupting it—a smudged line or the like?”

“Yeah,” Matt confirms. “And anyone outside the circle can do it—unless the creator guards against that.”

“But the circle can only be activated when a hunter uses their power to do so, correct?”

“Depends on the circle,” Ian says, pulling a face. “Plenty of non-hunters have created summoning circles. Anything beyond basic, or that you really wanted to keep a demon controlled, would need a hunter.”

“And hunters who raise complicated circles with their power can… defuse them by discontinuing that power, correct?”

“Huh.” I glance toward Ian and Matt. “This is more your department than mine, but that checks out. Especially if you marry it withintent.”

“I’m so lost,” Matt says, but Ian’s nodding.

“It’s worth a shot. Gus, try reaching out with your power—can you sense the circles?”

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