Page 37 of Avenger of Sins

A sorrowful voice, full of compassion, whispered to him.“I see your sorrow. The ones who caused it should feel that same grief. They should suffer as you do.”

Yes,he whispered back, and felt something reach across the veil to him.

He took its hand and drew it inside.

“…the two former test subjects…”

Ryan. And John.

Gray was a silent void, and Night a heap on the floor, the exit door now sealed tight beyond her. And if that wasn’t bad enough, these fuckers meant to stick Ryan and John back in a fucking lab.

“Come now,” the woman said. “Surely this is preferable, is it not? Your NHE sleeps—you can think clearly again! And yet, you retain all of the benefits it has to give.” Her expression lost its smugness, and a troubled look briefly flickered over her face. “I know what it’s like,” she went on in a lowered voice. “The pain,the hunger, the…urges. But right now, your mind is free again. It will stay that way, so long as you cooperate and remain in this room. Surely you see this is for the best.”

Something clicked. “This…are they looking for a way to create a demon army, but without the psychosis of possession?”

“Not an army. Operatives would be a better word.”

Right. “And when the forty days is up? What happens? Does the possession still become permanent?”

Another flicker. “All your questions will be answered eventually, if you just cooperate.”

“You don’t know, do you?” he laughed incredulously. “You don’t even know if you’re doomed.”

“I’ll be exorcised long before it becomes an issue,” she snapped back, but his words had clearly shaken her. “Now shut up and wait.”

He reached again for the aching place where Gray should be. He’d never been alone in a situation like this. Gray was the hunter, the fighter, not him.

Caleb took a deep breath. He’d been a semi-competent human being before meeting Gray. He needed to act.

He had to save them both.

“No voice in your head, but all the benefits?” he asked.

She gave him a smile, clearly thinking he was coming around. “Exactly. Speed, strength, your paranormal ability more powerful than you ever dreamed.”

“Right.” He swallowed. “Listen, for what it’s worth…I’m sorry.”

And used his TK to slam her back into the wall.

A startled shout escaped her as he closed in, but she managed to bring her knee up. He twisted so it impacted with his thigh, only to have her punch him directly in the jaw.

Bone snapped and his head jerked back. Pain blinded him for a moment, but he was used to pushing through it by now.He tried to grapple with her, but without claws and fangs she slipped loose.

Fuck. Apparently manifesting physical changes was off the menu without Gray.

“Backup!” she yelled, staggering away from him. “I need backup! Someone call?—”

He sprang onto her back, wrapping his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist. She stumbled under his unexpected weight, then grabbed his wrists with her hands, trying to peel him off.

If he could get more etheric energy into them, maybe Gray could break free of the exorcist’s control. John wouldn’t like it, but this was a life or death situation for all of them.

This was going to suck. More for her than him, but still.

Caleb bit her as hard as he could on the neck.

THIRTEEN

It was a banshee,John thought dimly. A creature of grief, compelled to make all who heard it grieve as well. If death came to one, death should come to all.

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