Page 11 of Avenger of Sins

He leaps as it speeds past, grabbing hold of the roof rack. The driver—Ryan, presumably—throws the vehicle into a tight turn to exit onto the road, and their body slides across the slick metal. But Gray’s hold doesn’t loosen; it will take more than that to shake him off.

The SUV accelerates, tearing off through the darkness, swerving from side to side in an attempt to shake them off. Night won’t be able to catch up at this rate. It’s up to Gray and Caleb to stop these mortals.

He punches through the roof; Jo screams in terror. A glimpse through the hole shows her huddled against the passenger side door, still holding her mangled hand, tears streaming down her face.

The vehicle doesn’t slow, so Gray grasps the edge of the hole and pulls, peeling back the steel. If he can just make the opening big enough to get inside…

Ryan glances up at them, just a brief break in his concentration on the road. He’s steering with one hand; in the other, he holds a gun.

“Tell John I’ll talk to him again soon,” Ryan says, then pulls the trigger.

A flash of light, followed by a greater flash of pain as the bullet smashes into their skull. The world flips over-and-over, starry sky swapping places with the ground.

Then they hit the road hard, all the wind exiting their lungs in a whoosh. The howl of the speeding car’s engine fades away into the night.

“Ouch,”Caleb says after a long moment.

Indeed.Gray sits up as the pain in their skull subsides, then spits out the bullet into their hand. Its silver jacket gleams in the starlight.

Unease stirs through Caleb.“That’s SPECTR ammo. Probably Pittman’s gun. So where is Pittman?”

We do not have enough information to say.

“Yeah, but…it doesn’t look good, does it?”

Mortals often wish reassurance that what they fear, however logical, is not how things truly are. Gray doesn’t bother to answer, instead climbing to their feet. The glow of the fire paints the sky behind them, and sirens split the night.We should return to John.

“Yeah.”Caleb’s frustration is Gray’s own.“He needs to know Ryan got away from us. Again.”

The blare of a siren sounded behind them. Zahira slowed and pulled onto the shoulder. A fire engine roared past, red lights flashing off bare trees and darkened windows.

Just a car crash, or a heart attack. Some late-night emergency that had nothing to do with them.

More sirens and lights came up behind them. Two more firetrucks screamed past, followed by an ambulance.

All heading in the direction of the house.

John sat up straighter, his heart thumping with a sudden surge of adrenaline. “Something’s gone wrong.”

Zahira pressed her lips together and stepped on the gas, falling in behind the emergency vehicles. Before long, a column of black smoke appeared above the trees, lit amber from the fire below.

They passed the point where they’d dropped off Caleb, Gray, and Night. Another mile, and the flaming wreckage of a house appeared before them.

Zahira pulled off the road well away from the emergency vehicles and took out her phone. “That’s the address,” she confirmed. “Foster’s house.”

John climbed out of the SUV. The stink of burning wood, plastics, and Goddess knew what else filled the air. Neighbors had come out of their houses and stood on the lawns. One woman clutched a small dog, her face buried in its fur. Beside her, a young man waved his arms at the firefighters and yelled, “Uncle Ted! Uncle Ted’s in there!”

John’s heart sank. The blaze burned fiercely—had Jo started it with her prokinetics? And if so, had it been on purpose?

And were Caleb and Gray inside?

Goddess, please no. He took out his phone and hit their number.

It rang through to voicemail.

Fuck.

Hands shaking, he started to text. But he’d barely hit a couple of letters before Night materialized beside him.

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