Consumed (Blood Ties Book 9)

She didn’t see him.

Not the demon who’d followed us home, then hid in the shadows parked in his car at the corner of the street. I wanted it to stay like that. I’d give anything for it to stay like that. God knows she deserved some peace.

“Thom? What is it?”

I forced a smile, unclenching my jaw and took her hand. “Nothing.” I answered. “Nothing at all.”

I pressed the button and waited for the door to close, making sure the demon stayed outside as I led her deeper into the kitchen. I pretended. I was getting good at that, pretending when it mattered most.

Contentment made her sleepy. She’d had her fill of champagne and food, and was now content to rest.

“You go.” I urged her, nodding to Kane, who yawned for the fourth time in as many minutes. “I’ll be just a minute.”

“You sure?” She murmured.

I brushed her cheek and leaned down, kissing her softly. “Positive.”

She didn’t fully believe me. Still, she nodded and left. I waited for a moment, making sure she was gone before I reached for my cell and pressed the number, waiting for it to be answered.

I didn’t have to wait long.

“Priest,” Caleb murmured as I went to the front door of the house and stepped outside.

“We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“An FBI kind.” I closed the door gently behind me, making sure the door locked.

“At your house?”

“Riven’s one in the city.”

“Jesus Christ. We knew this might happen.”

My stomach sank as I stayed behind the towering shrub, my focus fixed on the gleam of light bouncing off the car window in the distance. “Yes, we did.”

“I’ll call Colt and be right there…and Priest…don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t,” I answered, fighting every instinct I had in me.

I hung up the call, watching the sonofabitch who’d put a gun to my head sit across the road from where my family slept. I knew he was there. I’d seen him before at the mountain, perched high up, had followed his car as it slowed outside our drive.

They wouldn’t leave us alone. Even now in the wake of Hale’s real death and the destruction of The Order. Still, he kept coming. Protecting a ghost…or was he? That nagging thought filled my head. Because why else was he here?

Beep.

I looked down to my cell.

Caleb: Two streets north.

I stepped out, pushed my hands into my pockets and hunched over, keeping to the shadows. Agent Bremmer never noticed me, not when I slipped around the rear of his car and headed north. But I noticed him, hunched down behind the wheel.

Why was he here?

What was he planning?

Headlights flashed once in the dark up ahead. I quickened my steps toward the four-wheel drive and climbed into the back.

“We’ve done some digging and found his address.” Caleb said from behind the wheel.

“Good.” I tugged my belt low. “I think it’s time we paid him a visit.”

The engine started, we turned hard without the headlights on, worked our way around him, then headed to a quiet part of the city where we slowed down outside a lowset dark brick house. No car was in the driveway. No evidence anyone else lived there at all.

“Single from what we found. Had a girlfriend but she left him six months ago. Now he lives and breathes the badge.” Caleb pulled the car in and parked further down the street.

“A version of it at least,” I added. “One that protects the corrupt.”

Caleb lifted his gaze to the rear-view mirror. “Are you ready to hunt now, Priest?”

Those words haunted me.

“Yes.” I pushed open the door. “I am now.”

Colt handed me a gun. Any other time, I might’ve recoiled from the weapon. But not anymore. I took it and slipped it inside the waistband of my jeans at the small of my back. Together we headed for the FBI agent’s house. Colt picked the lock, getting us inside in minutes. I readied myself for a dog, but it looked like the agent didn’t even have that.

His house was sparse. The study and bedroom were the only rooms which looked lived in. Microwavable meals in the freezer, the cupboard bare except for coffee and creamer. This man was a wasted life, one which needed an ending.

“Over here,” Caleb called softly.

Both of us headed over, stood in front of the makeshift desk in the living room, and stared at the transcript sitting in front of the printer.

“They’re names,” Caleb said, pulling sheet after sheet forward. “And instructions. These are men he’s been paid to protect. Men Hale paid him to protect.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Colt glanced at me.

He rarely spoke, but when he did, it was exactly what I was thinking. We stood there for ages, pulling apart all the documents, gathering what information we could until headlights cut through the window, blinding us for a moment before they were gone.

A car engine died and the thud of a door followed.

“Grab that chair,” Caleb murmured. “Colt, you know what to do.”

But the Son was already moving, cutting across the door to stand at the side as the jingle of keys came. Bremmer never stood a chance as he opened the door and stepped inside. Colt moved fast, wrapped his thick arm around his neck, and squeezed.

Seconds was all it took.

Seconds for the keys to fall and hit the floor.

Seconds for him to be out cold.

Colt dragged him to the chair, leaving Caleb to search his pockets and grab a set of cuffs he used to secure the agent’s wrists behind the chair. Now all we had to do was wait for him to wake. He slowly opened his eyes, his head rolling to the back until Caleb cleared his throat.

“Who’s there?” Bremmer snapped his head upwards, seeking us in the dark.

Caleb stepped closer. “The names beside your printer. Why do you have those?”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“It doesn’t matter. The names…why do you have them?”

He scowled. “Do you know who I am? What kind of trouble you’re in just by breaking into my goddamn home?”

“The kind of trouble that won’t see the light of day if you’re dead.” I said slowly, stepping forward. “Will it, Bremmer?”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“The Priest?” He stared at me. “You? You’re behind this?”

I reached around and pulled the gun free. “Are they Hale’s partners? Men who are involved with The Order? Is that your job now? Covering the tracks and hiding men who buy and abuse those women?”

“Fuck you.”

Fuck me?

I stilled, rage burning in the pit of my belly. Flashes of that room at the rectory rose to the surface. Blood…so much blood.

Are you ready to hunt now, Priest?

The moment those words filled me, I lunged, grabbed his shirt, and shoved him backwards so hard the chair rocked on two legs. “I don’t think you understand who you’re dealing with here.” His eyes widened as the surge of rage fought against the need to keep the bastard alive.

“You kill me and the entire FBI will be on your doorstep.”

“Not if they don’t find the body.” I snarled. “Besides, this whole fucking place stinks of corruption. I think the FBI will be quick to close this as a missing person. Look how fast they shut down the attack at the warehouse. Was that you? It reeks like you.”

He shook his head.

“Names,” Caleb prodded. “You lie and we’ll find out.”

“They’ll kill me.”

I dragged him closer. “How does it feel to have a gun pressed against your head?”

His shook his, his eyes wide. There was no Hale now. No big names to keep him safe. I pulled backwards, leaving his chair to drop back to the ground.

“Here is how this is going to go.” Caleb stepped closer. “You will provide us with the names and details of the men you’re paid to keep clean. At any time we feel you’ve betrayed us, you’re a dead man. Nod, so we know you’ve heard us.”

His lips curled into a sneer. Hate raged in his eyes.

I released my hold and stepped backwards.

“Nod.” Colt growled a deep, animalistic rattle in the back of his throat.

A sound that’d terrify anyone.

Bremmer gave a slow nod.

“Good,” Caleb turned. “We’ll be in touch, Agent Bremmer. Oh, and one more thing.” He stopped. “We so much as feel you’re following us again, and we’ll take it as a direct attack. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” Caleb answered. “Gentlemen.”

The agent’s gaze never moved from me. The heat stayed with me as I followed Colt and Caleb back out of the house and headed for the car. Bremmer would give us names, that was for certain. How long he stayed alive to do that was a whole other flip of the coin.

Until then we would hunt.

And we would kill.

Destroying The Order one sick motherfucker at a time.

“You good, Priest?” Caleb asked as we climbed in.

“Yeah,” I answered. “I think I am.”

Now…we hunt.