Page 42 of Avenger of Sins

Kaniyar had her excuses for setting them up, of course she did. All along, she’d intended for them to be not only the distraction that would let her forces get inside the compound, but her excuse for raiding it in the first place. After all, she claimed, she’d just been acting as necessary to save an agent of the federal government from an organization summoning demons in violation of both national and international law. With Harlow’s wrong-doing recorded and exposed, his Pentagon ties immediately distanced themselves. No one wanted to appear as if they were siding with Armaros over the Department of Justice.

Kaniyar even had an excuse as to why she hadn’t let them in on her plan. She’d assumed—wrongly, as it turned out—that Harlow would have an empath on hand for any questioning, if they were taken captive. An empath couldn’t tell if Caleb was lying, but John would be an open book.

In terms of cold calculations, it made sense. One could easily argue the human cost was far smaller than allowing Harlow’s experiments to continue.

Assuming someone else didn’t take up the mantle and start afresh, somewhere far away from the Armaros compound.

“Mortal foolishness,”Gray said with disgust.“Why do humans insist on inviting demons into them? In the five thousand years I have walked the earth, they have never learned this simple lesson.”

We’re really into committing the same mistakes over and over again,Caleb replied.Besides, if they didn’t, you wouldn’t have anything to eat.

“This is true.”

For the moment, Harlow was out on bond awaiting trial. Jo was in jail, but her lawyer was sending statements to the press alleging illegal human experimentation within SPECTR. Harlow’s name had already come up, and there were rumors she might get a deal in exchange for testifying against him.

But who knew. It was early days, and Harlow was a rich man with powerful friends.

At least they’d all survived. Well, not Ryan, but everyone Caleb personally cared about. Though when they’d seen John possessed…

Gray growled at the memory. The moment had been horrifying, confusing, enraging. Howdaresome demon do such a thing?

John had to do something. We were incapacitated, and none of us knew Kaniyar was on her way.

“That does not mean I have to like it.”

“Does any of this feel familiar to you?” Caleb asked John as they drove along the tree-lined streets. “I don’t think we came this way last year—not like we were here long enough to really explore the city, and you were still pretty beat up from Charleston.”

John frowned a little. “I don’t know. Maybe? Or maybe my mind is just deceiving itself.”

As they got closer to their destination, John began to fidget. When they turned onto a street with small working-class houses along either side, he bit his lip and looked worried.

Caleb reached over and took his hand. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.”

John swallowed hard. “What if she doesn’t want to see me? It’s been so long; she must think I’m dead. What if coming here makes things worse for her?”

The GPS beeped to let them know they’d arrived. Caleb parked along the street rather than in the driveway, shut off the car, and turned to John.

“I don’t think it will go that way,” he said. “But if it does, we’ll be right here with you.”

“I know.” John gave him a small smile, followed by a distracted kiss. “I just need to suck it up and go ring the doorbell.”

“Want us to come with you?”

“Not yet.”

Caleb watched John climb out of the car and walk up the sidewalk to the house. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt, maybe trying to look as normal as possible. Or maybe he’d just wanted to be comfortable.

John rang the bell and stepped back. After a few seconds, the door swung open, and Caleb got a look at the woman who lived in the house. Even from a distance, he could see the familyresemblance, from her dark hair streaked with gray, to her vividly blue eyes.

Thanks to Gray’s enhanced hearing, Caleb had no trouble overhearing her say, “Yes?” She frowned, as if she thought she should recognize John but didn’t quite.

“Darlene Low? Dolly?” John cleared his throat. “It’s, uh, me. Jonathan. Your son.”

Her eyes went wide, and one hand flew to her mouth. Then she flung her arms around him.

Caleb watched as they wept together; John said something, but it was muffled in her hair. After a few minutes, Dolly took a step back into her house, drawing John with her. The door closed behind them.

Gray stirred, not entirely certain when it came to human relations and uneasy about the closed door.“Should we go after him?”

---