Page 15 of Avenger of Sins

A second agent met them at the door and checked their badges again. Apparently Kaniyar really wanted to protect this psycho from Ryan.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to Director Kaniyar,” the agent said, before briskly heading into the house.

A huge Christmas tree greeted them in the foyer, its branches laden with ornaments that looked as though they’d been carefully placed by an interior designer. The rest of the house was gorgeous in that weirdly sterile way rich-people houses sometimes had, at least judging by what Caleb had seen on TV. Everything in its place, no pile of crap dumped on the chair just inside the door, no stains on the carpet, not even any dust. The ecru furniture was artfully arranged on the taupe carpet, with tasteful paintings hung just-so on the eggshell walls. Bouquets of flowers dotted the rooms; some were beginning to wilt, cracking the facade of bland perfection.

A spare bedroom suite on the second floor had been converted to SPECTR’s command center. Laptops covered every surface, the king-sized bed had been pushed into a corner, and the empty walk-in closet hastily turned into a break room with coffee maker. Agents with headphones on stared at monitors showing various security camera feeds of the property.

Kaniyar had been peering over one of their shoulders. Now she turned to them, hands folded behind her back. “You bit someone, Mr. Gris?” she asked him pointedly.

Of course she wanted to start with that. “She stuck her fingers in my mouth. Oh, and those fingers were literallyon fire.So, yes, I bit her. I assure you, nobody enjoyed that experience.”

“I see. And your compatriot? Where is she?”

“Waiting in the car.”Away from this bullshit.

Kaniyar pressed her lips together, then jerked her head toward the door. “Come with me.”

They followed her into the next bedroom over, another spare which Kaniyar had apparently made her private office, including desk and chairs. Rather than sit down, she went to the window and looked out into the rain.

“I’m concerned about how desperate Jo seemed for your blood,” she said.

John cleared his throat. “Ryan is manipulating her, ma’am. She isn’t responsible for her actions right now.”

“No doubt. I’d be less concerned if some of the Charleston agents who…partook…weren’t complaining about lack of access. They seem to suspect I’m holding some in reserve and assure me they require it to do their jobs.”

Caleb went very still. Yuri had controlled his renfields by giving or withholding his blood. He’d called Isabelle greedy that night in the alley, just before she sucked his blood straight out of an opened vein. Was their desire for it, for its power, not entirely under their control?

“Director—” John began, but Caleb cut him off.

“They’re just being whiny,” he said. “John’s had it and he’s fine.”

Her dark eyes fixed on him. “Is he? Or does he just have access?”

Caleb restrained the urge to tell her to go fuck herself. Instead, he said, “And what about you? You had our blood that day. Areyouhaving any cravings we should know about?”

“No,” she said, her gaze steady. If only he was an empath and could know for sure she wasn’t lying. “This is all moot right now, anyway. I’d like for you and Night to patrol the grounds and keep a sharp eye out for Ryan or Jo. Starkweather, Noorzai, report to the command center and relieve some of the agents there.”

Thank god they could get outside and away from Kaniyar. “Happily,” he said, and turned to the door. Before he could leave, however, Kaniyar spoke up again.

“Before you go…you didn’t see any sign of Agent Pittman, did you? Other than his gun, of course.”

He glanced over his shoulder. She’d turned back to the window, so he couldn’t make out her expression.

“I’m sorry, but no.” And, to his own surprise, he was sorry. It sounded like they’d been a team for a long time. “I don’t think he was with them anymore.”

John and Zahira stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind them.

Sourness turned his stomach and clawed at his esophagus. Somewhere in this house was Carrie Lydell, the exorcist who had summoned demons and put them inside him. Inside Ryan, and Jo, and their poor dead friends.

The knowledge threatened to make his hands shake, or send him running to the bathroom to throw up. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

Zahira noticed. “Are you all right, John?”

“No.”

She let out a sigh. “I don’t see how you could be. Do you need to take a break?”

An idea began to grow in his brain. It would be a mistake, he knew it would, but…

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