AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He jerked his head up, then shocked me by baring his teeth and growling deep in his throat. I froze, then took a slow step back.
A shudder seemed to crawl over Zack, then he seemed to regain himself. “I will tend to him,” he said in a low, hoarse voice. He stood, still cradling Ryan, then started walking down the road.
“Zack?” I couldn’t keep the desperate note out of my voice. “Is he going to be all right?”
He paused. “I will tend to him,” he repeated. I expected him to continue walking, but he remained still. “Kara, you must trust me,” he said without turning. His back was stiff and straight. One of Ryan’s hands dangled at Zack’s side, and I could see the top of his head by Zack’s shoulder. I didn’t know whether I wanted to rush to Ryan and put my arms around him or run as far away from him as I could.
He blasted that golem with arcane power.
“He will be as he was, Kara,” Zack said after another several heartbeats of silence. “You have my oath on that.”
As he was . . . when I knew him? Or before? A chill shimmered through me.
I watched him walk down the road until he rounded the curve and was out of sight. Then I returned to the others and the rest of our mess.
Chapter 35
“What are we going to do about Michael, Sarge?” I asked quietly.
Crawford scrubbed at his face with both hands before letting them drop to his side. “Fuck if I know, Kara.” Somehow we both understood that we weren’t talking about who would take care of him. There was still a great deal of investigating before us, but from everything that had been revealed by Lida and Trey, I now doubted that Ben Moran had known of the murders. So, yes, his uncle would remain his guardian, but... “What if he does something like this again?” Crawford said with a sigh.
I echoed his sigh. Evening was falling and the mosquitoes were beginning to come out. The moon was barely visible through the trees. A couple more days and it would be full, and summoners all over the world would be inscribing circles and preparing offerings and making bargains.
The subject of our conversation was sitting on the ground on the opposite side of the bulldozer from where the bodies of his sister and Trey still lay. Michael hadn’t spoken a word since the shooting had ended and had acquiesced numbly to being led to sit by the bulldozer. He stared off into the distance, his arms wrapped around his legs and his chin resting on his knees.
“He’s broken,” I said. “His best friend blackmailed him into using his talent to kill, and the sister he adored actually hated his guts.”
“Fuckers,” Crawford muttered. “What happened to the father?”
I shrugged. “I can only guess from what was said. It sounds like their dad also had the ability to control earth elementals and was teaching Michael Junior how to make the golems. Something happened and it got out of control. Michael Senior was killed and Michael Junior and Lida were badly injured.” I shook my head. “I guess we’ll never know.” Lida had probably blamed him for their father’s death—in an accident that was most likely Michael Senior’s own fault.
“The uncle is his only family, yes?” Eilahn said, startling me slightly. She moved so damn quietly, and I’d half-forgotten she was with us.
I nodded.
“Send him to the demon realm then,” she said, folding her arms over her chest, her gaze on the young man. “He would be cared for there, and his skills treasured and guarded.”
I could only stare at the demon in surprise at the suggestion. Send him to live there? Was that even possible?
“Send him to the what?” Crawford asked, abruptly jerking me out of my own thoughts.
Oh, yeah, I thought with a grimace. I never did tell Crawford about the whole demon summoning thing. I cleared my throat uncertainly. “Um, it’s not what you think, Crawford. I mean, she’s not talking about hell.”
He slowly turned his head to look at me, expression so incredulous that I almost burst out laughing.
“Let me explain,” I began.
Crawford listened to my explanation about the demons in stony silence. I left out the little detail about Zack and Eilahn being demons, but I told him about me being a summoner, and what that entailed. At the end of he simply gave a long sigh. “Why couldn’t you simply be an alcoholic like all the other detectives?”
I grinned. “Demon summoning has less vomiting!”
“What kind of life would Michael have in the demon realm?” I asked Eilahn after Crawford had moved away to start making phone calls.
“What kind of life would he have here?” she replied evenly.
I shook my head. “Nope. That’s not good enough. His life wouldn’t be unbearable here, he wouldn’t be a slave or anything like that—”
“Michelle Cleland,” Eilahn interrupted. I struggled to place the name. A few heartbeats later I remembered, ashamed that I’d forgotten it at all. Michelle Cleland had been a victim of the Symbol Man, offered up as a sacrifice to the demonic lord Rhyzkahl by the serial killer. After the Symbol Man had been killed, Rhyzkahl had returned to his realm and Michelle had vanished at the same time.
