Page 14 of Sins of the Fathers

“Yeah. It was found by the body. This guy wasn’t an ex-hunter. He was still working for the organization.”

Jasper dropped into one of the chairs in front of Archie’s desk. Archie wanted to ask him how coffee with Sarah had gone, but he knew Jasper would want to talk about this. They’d have to talk about Sarah, anyway. She might be the only way for them to find out what was going on.

“So obviously, they’re killing hunters who were there the night the sanctuary was destroyed,” Jasper said.

“You don’t even know who the last victim is.”

“I don’t have to know. It’s a pattern.”

“You’re right. I checked the reports, and the last victim was there, too.”

“So either someone’s going after hunters, and it’s a coincidence, or someone’s specifically going after hunters who were at the sanctuary that night.”

Archie agreed. “Why wait so long, though? It’s been almost twenty years.”

“Maybe they were hurt the night of the attack and had to take time to recuperate. Maybe they had to leave the area. It’s clear that this is extremely well-planned, though, and it probably took years.” Jasper hesitated. “Or it could’ve been someone who was very young during the attack, like me.”

“You’re not behind this,” Archie said. He was sure of that, but he wouldn’t be surprised if some of the hunters tried to pin this on Jasper.

If the killer was a sanctuary survivor, Archie would hate to find them. They would be in the right to want to kill everyone who’d hurt them. Archie needed to be sure that the hunters weren’t going to pin this on Jasper, though, and that he wasn’t in danger. He wasn’t quite sure how to do that.

But he would find a way.

* * * *

JASPER COULDN’T SAY he cared much about the hunters. He’d never been friends with them, and while he vaguely remembered Daniel, they obviously hadn’t been close.

To be fair, the only hunters Jasper had ever been close to were Kerry and Corey, and they’d left the organization at the same time he had. He didn’t know why Daniel had, although it seemed like something had happened that night at the sanctuary that spurred him to leave. Whether that made him a good person or not, Jasper didn’t know, and he didn’t think it mattered.

Daniel was dead. Whatever he had or hadn’t done when he was alive wouldn’t change that. Jasper had had nothing to do with his death, and he couldn’t do anything about it, but a part of him couldn’t help but identify with Daniel. Like Daniel, he was an ex-hunter who’d left after one specific case that had been too much for him to deal with. The thought of leaving had already been there for weeks, but it’d been easier for him to stick around. The hunter’s life was all he’d known, and at one time, it was all he’d thought he’d ever know.

He knew differently now. Leaving the hunters hadn’t been easy, but it’d also been the best thing he could have ever done for himself. He’d found another life. He’d brought his friends along, so he hadn’t lost the people he considered family, but at the same time, he had another job, Archie, and new friends in Braith and Cullen. He wasn’t as separated from the hunters as he would’ve liked, unfortunately, but maybe, once this mess was over, he could finally reach a point in which the hunters wouldn’t be a part of his life anymore.

He needed to find out what was going on because it was clear that all of it was linked to the sanctuary, and that was where he’d been born. It was a past he didn’t know but wanted to. Maybe it wouldn’t bring him anything of value, and maybe he wouldn’t like what he found. Right now, he didn’t care much about that. He only cared about making sure that the killer didn’t hurt anyone else and finding out who they were. Had they known his parents? Why were they killing? Whom had they lost?

Jasper identified with the killer, too. If they really were someone who’d survived the sanctuary, Jasper was in the same boat as them. The only difference was that he didn’t remember ever being at the sanctuary or the people who’d been there, but it didn’t change the fact that he very much had been present when the sanctuary had been attacked. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would’ve grown up to kill Daniel and the other two if he’d been a little older. He never would’ve been pulled into the hunters’ organization. He wouldn’t have been adopted by Leroy. Where would he have ended up?

Jasper didn’t know, and in the end, that didn’t matter, either. It wasn’t what happened. What happened was that Leroy had taken him and adopted him. He’d forced part of the hunters’ organization to keep quiet about Jasper’s presence there. Most hunters who worked there now had been unaware of what Jasper was until it was revealed to them. They’d come in after the sanctuary. They’d only ever known Jasper as Leroy’s son.

Now, they knew better. Everyone did, including Jasper. He still had many questions, and he still didn’t understand why his parents had decided to take him in, but he didn’t think he would ever get an answer to that. His father refused to talk to him, and his mother, well. She never went against what his father wanted. Leroy had all the power in the relationship, something Jasper had learned when he was very young. Maybe she hadn’t even wanted him. Maybe it was a decision Leroy had made that she was forced to live with. It would explain why she’d always been a little cold and distant.

Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted a monster as a son.

“Jasper?” Archie’s voice asked gently. It made Jasper realize that he’d been lost in his thoughts. He shook his head, trying to put them into some kind of order that made sense. “I was just thinking about everything we just said.”

Archie nodded. “This is a difficult situation for you. You identify with too many of the players.”

Jasper wasn’t even surprised that Archie understood. He knew Jasper’s past and his history. He could see the similarities. “We obviously can’t bring Daniel back from the dead, but maybe we can give his partner peace.”

“Well, at the very least, we can try giving her what she’s paying me for. I just think it depends on who the killer is.”

“And why they’re doing it.” If it was revenge, Jasper could understand. He might even share the decision depending on what Daniel and the other two had done. Had Daniel been the one to kill his parents? Or maybe the killer’s parents?

Jasper groaned. “We need to know more about the night of the sanctuary.”

“I agree, but the hunters’ reports aren’t helping us, and Sarah told you that she wasn’t there that night. It’s the only reason she survived.”

“She’s not the only survivor. I survived, too, as did the killer.”