 
### The Anointed

### Demon Trackers ~ Book One

### By Clover Autrey

### Copyright 2012 Clover Autrey

### Smashwords Edition

### ~~~

Being half human isn't so bad for demon tracker brothers Jake and Cael, especially when their job is keeping unknowing humans safe from every evil thing that crawls out of Hell. So what if the full-blooded _Anointed_ don't think they're up for the task? Jake and Cael have lives to save and beasties to kill and lack of sleep, lack of weapons, and lack of trust from the haughty _Anointed_ demon slayers won't keep them from it.

~~~

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover art by Damone Nickerson

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2012 by Clover Autrey

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Dedicated to all the awesome guy partnerships in media.

Starsky & Hutch

Han & Luke

Frank & Joe

Riggs & Murtagh

Bo & Luke

Crichton & D'Argo

Starbuck & Apollo

Hoss & Little Joe

Trip & Archer

Cal & Niko

and

Sam & Dean

Table of Contents

~~~

"Cael. Don't move."

Cael glanced up and into the barrel of his older brother's shotgun. Jaw set tight, Jake stood near the other end of the empty parking lot they were searching. Cael's flashlight beam cast his lean face into angular shadows.

Knowing Jake would never shoot him, Cael turned his head to see what was behind him, but his brother's call stopped him.

"Don't look. Don't even breathe." Jake edged closer, trying for a better angle where Cael wouldn't be at risk, specialized shotgun—the splitter—steady, feeling each placement of his sneaker on the uneven ground. "It will be on you before you can take a step."

Cael swallowed, listening. A rough exhalation grated behind his back. The heat of it blew across his elbow. "Hellhound?"

"Yep. Be quiet."

At sixteen, this wasn't the first hellhound Cael had tracked, but it was the nearest any of the beasts had gotten to him. They were big, fast, and mean and were pretty much the only inhabitants of Hell that could dig themselves out of the vast fiery down-under at will. It was Cael and Jake's job to stop that from happening, plug up any holes in the Hades dyke with little more than their thumbs. Which was why they were here, all the signs of an erupting hole alerting them to this very spot. Guess they were a little late to the party though.

Easing his hand toward his hip, Cael snapped open the sheath hanging on his belt. His fingers slid onto the cool opal of his _kremloc_ dagger.

Jake's gaze ticked to Cael's hand. "Don't be a hero. Just drop when I say drop."

Cael nodded imperceptibly. Hot stinky breath washed across the back of his neck, ruffling the ends of his hair. Low otherworldly growls vibrated across his senses. The urge to run beat like a warning cadence through his chest, but Cael remained still, trusting his brother.

"Drop! Now!"

Cael obeyed, falling out of the way of the first concussion of light that streaked over his head and hit the glossy black beast in the chest. Yelping, the hellhound scrabbled to the side. Heavy paws clipped Cael, tossing him across the pavement. Jake's next round flashed, exploding into white lightning that shot straight into the mutt's ear. The hound's front legs folded and it thudded to its knees, giant head dropping in a cloud of dirt. A solid ice bullet straight into the brain never failed to bring the thermal based beasts of Hell down.

"Cael? Buddy? You okay?"

Instantly, Jake was by his side, pulling Cael over onto his back.

Cael winced at being jerked around. "I'm fine. Stop. I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Jake's features scrunched with concern. "I kinda lost you under the big guy's feet for a moment there."

"I'm fine, really. I got out from underneath." Okay he'd been rolled and tossed and he'd have a few bruises come tomorrow, but Jake didn't need to know that.

Offering his hand, Jake pulled Cael to his feet, gaze flitting over the younger tracker. Cael rolled his eyes at the scrutiny before letting his own gaze settle onto the steaming hellhound.

They were actually beautiful creatures, sleek and powerful. Destructive. It was almost laughable that such a small thing as ice could take them down. Its fur-covered hide was splitting open, little curls of heated vapor escaping from gashes that glowed red-hot. Soon the hellhound would ooze apart and melt back into the depths of Hell where...Cael frowned. They didn't really know what happened then. As immortal creatures the hounds might very well just regenerate, like the demons did, to claw and dig their way out of Hell another day.

"All right then." Jake nudged the overlarge dog with the toe of his shoe, sending sparks in the air. "While the big guy here is percolating, let's find and plug up the hole it dug. Quick, before anyone comes." Grinning, Jake pushed dark bangs out of his eyes, nearly bouncing on his toes from the keyed up energy of taking the hellhound out.

Scooping his backpack off the ground, Cael followed after his exuberant brother in the direction the Hades mutt had come from. It didn't take long to find the hole near the edge of the parking lot at the rear of a graffiti covered apartment building. The hole was at least six-feet across with dirt and sheared off chunks of cement scattered outward like a giant fist had punched through the pavement.

"Damn." Jake peered over the edge. "I knew that hound was larger than most, but look at the size of this thing. It's gonna take all the _omthrodite_ we got left to seal it."

Cael's head jerked up at that. There was only one place to restock on the precious crystal. "Not like we have a choice." Crouching near the edge of the gaping hole, Cael pulled out the large blue crystals from his pack. He only had three left, which normally would seal off at least two or three more Hell-holes.

Jake kicked a rock into the depths, which clattered as it hit the walls on the way down until they couldn't hear it anymore. They both knew it would never hit bottom. Resigned, Jake shrugged out of his own pack and pulled out another two _omthrodite_ crystals "This bites."

Cael grinned and began placing the blue stones around the edges of the Hell-hole. He had the last one in place when a sudden niggling sensation blossomed in his gut. "Wait. Do you feel that?"

Jake cocked his head to the side. Pebbles started vibrating across the ground. A low tremor passed through the air.

"Crap!" Jake stumbled back. "We gotta close this thing up now!"

Cael rocked to his feet, threw his hand out to unleash the flow of his energy into the crystals. They had to ignite them fast because where a hellhound breaks loose, demons follow.

He felt his energy building, swirling, expanding inside him, filling his chest even as he felt his brother's energy settle upon the air, a cool steady force, burrowing out toward the crystals. With this much _omthrodite_ it would take both of them to ignite the power in the blue stones.

Beads of sweat broke out across Cael's forehead. He stared at his brother across the small chasm. Jake shook with effort. Cael's outstretched arm throbbed where the energy pulsed through him. The crystals began glowing. They hummed. Tangled webs of light clawed outward over the empty space, pulling, reforming the edges of earth and stone over the dark hole. The ground groaned beneath them.

Cael swayed, but quickly righted himself, digging in.

The newly forming stone pushed close together nearly complete, cast in shiny blue light from the crystals' glow. The center of the newly formed stone almost touched, almost sealed together, when shards of rock blew upward.

"Look out!" Cael shouted, throwing his arms over his head, rolling away from the blast. Demon after demon leapt out of the center, latching onto electrical poles and the back wall of the apartment building like spiders.

To the mortal eye, they looked like regular people—well, okay, maybe not while they were skittering upside down across power cables and apartment balconies—but Cael and Jake could see straight through into a demon's aura, could see the oily slick residue of Hell whirl around them like water droplets shooting out of a sprinkler in slow motion.

"Jake!"

He couldn't see his brother beyond the crackling light of the crystals and the demons leaping out. How many had gotten through?

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?" The exodus was slowing to a trickle, most of the demons scurrying away, but this one jumped down from the building, cracked its bent joints into place while it straightened and was now striding toward Cael. "And I just happen to be starving."

Except for the swirling sprinkler effect and being completely nude, the demon looked like any clean-cut regular Joe. The blue glow from the crystals instantly snuffed out.

Cael let him approach, close enough to see the pinkish tint to his irises. Damn, he really was hungry. Don't they feed these guys in Hell?

Determined not to become a demon snack, Cael slid out the _kremloc_ dagger and stabbed.

"Watch it! Hey!" the demon clapped a hand over his chest, slapping out with the other that sent Cael tumbling, landing with a jolt against a parked car, then bouncing to the pavement.

Disoriented, Cael shook his head, seeing two of the demon running at him. He rolled, not certain which way to go since he was seeing everything doubled, just hoping to get out of the demon's path enough to grab up a rock or something for defense when his brother shouted, a dark blur that jumped in front of him and took the brunt of the demon's supercharged momentum. Bodies slammed against the car behind Cael. Legs tangled around him, feet stomping.

His breath gushed out in a whoosh when a bare foot clomped down on his belly.

Jake hit the ground hard beside him, the demon easily holding him flat with one arm while Jake struggled, trying to pry the hand away from his neck.

Blinking hard against his wavering vision, Cael pulled himself up to do...something. The demon stretched out his other arm and a wall of air slammed into Cael, pinning him to the ground.

"You're up next, cupcake." The demon grinned, and then leaned closer to Jake, sniffing. "Mmmmm-mmmm, delicious." Cael's pulse kicked into high gear. _Not good, not good._ Not all demons had a penchant for human flesh, but some...some really hungered for it.

Cael's vision finally fused together into one view. The demon edged back and looked from Jake to Cael.

"Wait a minute. I've heard of you." Hot fingers feathered along Cael's cheek. Grunting, he tried to turn away, but the pressure of air held him fast. The demon's hand slipped into Cael's hair. "One light as gold..." He looked at Jake. "And the other dark as a raven. You're the little half-breed brothers who have been making our get-out-of-Hell free cards not so easy to cash in. Word gets around down there you know. You're Celalundria's little bastard whelps."

"Not bastards," Jake ground out, his feet gouging across cement.

"Your mortal husk of a dad must have been a good ride for the rebellious princess to go back for seconds." The demon flicked at glance over to Cael. "Ah, well, you know how the Anointed are, all high and mighty, yet horny as Hell."

"You don't talk about our mother," Jake growled.

"Your mother." The demon snorted. "Noble of you to defend her when she tossed you two halflings out on your asses."

"She didn't have a choice."

Cael flinched at the venom in Jake's voice. Several of the lights in the apartment building windows went on.

"Didn't have a choice," the demon sing-songed. "Here you are, the two sons of the great Celalundria, taking on gigs that are beneath the true Anointed. Plugging up the little holes made by the hellhounds—terrific job on that by the way—or taking out a few evil spirits here and there. Maybe a zombie or two on a good day? Clean up work at best. It's kind of like you guys are the Anointeds' janitorial service." He laughed. "You're nothing more than garbage men."

"Yeah?" Jake's dark brow rose. "Guess that makes you..." And there it came, that full out smirking smile that was pure unadulterated defiant Jake "...garbage."

It scared the crap out of Cael because he knew what his sibling was doing. Jake was keeping the demon's focus on himself. And it was working.

The demon's nostrils flared like a snorting bull's. The pink of his irises dilated. "Say that again."

The green of Jake's eyes darkened. "Gar...bage."

The demon lost it. Enraged, his neck craned back. A grinding, crackling noise reverberated across the demon's skull as wicked sharp teeth extended, breaking through his gums.

_No! No!_ Cael pushed against the bonds of air. The demon was going to eat Jake! Cael fought with everything he had, surging upward, the veins in his neck throbbing with effort.

The demon dived onto Jake, bloody strings of saliva flinging off his bleeding gums. Jake screamed, thrashing.

And the bands of air around Cael loosened.

He flung himself at the demon, knocking him off Jake. They pitched across the rock-strewn parking lot. Adrenaline roared through Cael's veins. He kicked, gouged, and punched the much stronger creature. "You...do not...get to eat...my brother!"

His head snapped back, vision blurring at the lucky punch from the demon. Hands shot out to push him away, but Cael hung on like a dog to a bone, fighting wild and sloppy, nothing like he was trained for, yet the unpredictable jabs actually seemed to be throwing the demon off.

Suddenly Jake was there, throwing himself into the demon like a football player at a blocking sled. "Into the hole!"

Cael changed tactics, twisting over the demon to get to the other side and pushed with his brother before the evil thing could get up off its back. Together, they slid it to the edge. The demon howled, clawing, swiping at them, but the brothers were determined and working together.

The demon teetered, eyes flared wide. Cael kicked. Jake shoved. The demon fell past the jagged upheaval of cement. He latched onto Jake's arm, determined to climb back up.

"Now Cael!"

Jake's free hand slammed onto the demon's head, holding him down. The crystals flared bright as Jake's energy poured from him, into the _omthrodite_ , over the demon's stringy hair.

Cael let his energy stream out, anger and fear unleashing it in a wild uncontrolled rush. The ground groaned, splintered and moved beneath them.

Cael yelled, his voice blending with Jake's as the force leaked around them, stronger than he'd ever felt it, built on rampant emotion. The demon scrabbled at the earth folding over him. Jake snapped his hand back just as the stone sealed over the demon's head, severing the demon's hand still clamped onto Jake's other wrist.

With a resounding crack, the crystals went dark and Jake and Cael sank to the ground. Where the hole had been, there was a smooth layer of unbreakable stone surrounded by broken upturned pavement and dirt. Whoever owned the parking lot was going to have a hard time figuring this one out. Hope his insurance covered gaping holes to Hell.

Their ragged breathing huffed across the silence.

Grimacing, Jake shook the demon's hand still dangling from his wrist. When it didn't give, he pried the fingers off and flung it away. "Gross."

Cael looked blearily over at him. His head throbbed and his sight was gray around the edges.

Jake scooted closer. "You're bleeding."

"So are you." Cael pointed to the red stain at Jake's shoulder.

Jake moved Cael's head to the side to get a better look. "Blood's pouring down that light as gold hair of yours."

"Shut up." He batted Jake's hand away. "Raven."

Something in Cael's tone must have alerted Jake. His brows lowered. "Hey."

"I'm fine. Let's just clean up and go." Cael stared at the demon's hand.

"In a minute. I don't want you bleeding all over the Jeep. Ut." Jake pressed Cael down when he started to get up. "Stay put. I mean it, don't move."

Cael frowned, but remained still. His head pounded with every movement anyway.

Jake was back with his backpack in moments, sitting once again in front of Cael, and pulled the little first aid kit they always carried out of the bottom. He handed him a folded square of gauze. "Hold this against your cut for a second. Headache?"

Cael nodded, wincing at the movement and accepted the two little pills and water bottle Jake handed him next. He watched his brother as he pulled the collar of his own torn T-shirt across his shoulder and pressed another square of gauze to it. "How bad?"

"Not too deep." Jake pulled the gauze away. "Not even bleeding anymore."

Cael leaned forward to get a better look anyway. It really wasn't that deep, just purpling around each little puncture, a perfect little half-moon pattern. Stupid demons and their stupid pointy teeth. A wave of nausea bubbled inside his belly. It could have been so much worse. The demon could have ripped through Jake in seconds. The ground tilted. Cael's hand fell away from his head, the bloody gauze dropped.

"Whoa, you okay?" Jake held Cael's arms, steadying him.

Cael nodded, miserable.

"Ah, Cael." Jake stared at him, forehead crinkled. "You didn't pay attention to anything that hell spawn said, right?"

He shrugged.

Jake wasn't going to let it go. "You know they spin things to get under your skin. They're demons. Talking crap is kind of in their job description. Just...don't listen to them, alright. What we do is important. You know what would have happened if that Hellhound got past the parking lot."

"Yeah, I know. It would have killed people. Anyone unfortunate to be in its path."

"People are worth saving."

Cael snapped his gaze up at that. "The Anointed don't seem to think so."

"The Anointed are self-righteous dickwads who can't see beyond their own holy crusade." Jake frowned. "War's been going on for so long everyone's lost count of which side is actually winning. Mortals, Cael. Like Dad. They're the ones that need our help and we're the only ones who can do it."

"The Anointed could. The histories say they were once guardians, saviors of mankind."

"That was a long time ago, Cael."

"I know, but isn't that what the Anointed were, well, anointed to do?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know. If they were, they've clearly forgotten."

"Or don't care."

"Or don't care," Jake agreed.

Sirens echoed at a distance, getting closer. Someone in the apartment building must have called the police.

Jake started shoving things back in the backpack. "Let's just take care of this mess and get out of here."

Cael pulled to his feet. "How many demons do you think got past us?"

"Too many." Jake blew dark bangs out of his eyes. "Gonna have to track every last one of them down."

"Yeah, okay, but you know where we have to go first, right?"

Jake looked at the spent and gray _omthrodite_ crystals. "Yep, gotta restock. Looks like we're going to go see Mom."

Two

Jake pulled the Jeep onto the little country bridge. The wooden slats thumped beneath the tires. All dimensional cross-throughs to _Karavel_ spanned water as water was a natural conductor of all things energy, including the unique life force of the Anointed. As half-mortal, half-Anointed, Jake and Cael could still pass through where their human father could not. Had Henry Gillant been in the Jeep with them, he would simply cross to the other side of the bridge on foot, while his sons, vehicle and all disappeared. It was really unfair that a pile of rusty bolts could cross over under an Anointed's hand, while a human wasn't able.

Jake glanced sideways at his brother. Cael was being uncharacteristically quiet, head drooping. Having to go to _Karavel_ immediately after that demon messed with them wasn't ideal. But neither was doing their job without basic supplies. Sure they could handle werewolves or witches or any other kind of monster that liked to crawl out of the dark, but demons...nope, they needed the good stuff. And a slew of demons had just escaped Hell, thanks to that overgrown hellhound. That was on them. He and Cael needed to track them down and for that they needed the crystals.

"Hang on. Energy's buzzing," Jake announced as though the kid couldn't feel the shift in the atmosphere for himself. They didn't have to do anything, just know where the cross-throughs were. Anyone with an ounce of Anointed blood was simply sucked up into the dimension whether they wanted to go or not. Getting back out was an entirely different matter.

The air shimmered around them like driving through a film of oil, the buzz pulling on their molecules, and they emerged into a drizzling darkness on a country road. Hmm, it was either evening here or a stormy day. Jake wasn't sure since they'd never entered from this part of the continent so he wasn't certain what time zone they were in. He hadn't been back here since he turned nineteen several months ago.

Cael laughed beside him.

"Something funny?"

"It's raining."

"And?"

"We really should start putting the top up whenever we cross-through. Remember that time we came out right into a hail storm?" Cael's teeth flashed in the gloomy light.

"Good times."

Cael laughed again. "This dimension's weather sucks."

" _Karavel_ sucks." Jake grinned, relieved the kid had pulled himself out of his earlier funk.

They drove through a lush forest. Rain-laden branches arched across the dirt road, dipping so low leaves brushed across the young trackers, spraying them with water. At one point, Jake stopped and they pulled the canvas top into place over the green Jeep.

Following the little signposts to the capital, they soon saw _Tel-melah_ , the city of stone, in the distance. The skyline looked similar to pictures Jake had seen of the domed Mosques of Istanbul, the permanence of glittering gray stone instead of sleek western skyscrapers. Jake glanced over at Cael. His brother had gone ramrod straight.

They drove past the government plaza and to the dormitory, parking next to a flat gray vehicle. Their non-hovercraft got a few head-turns, but Jake was used to sticking out like a sore thumb here. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, ignoring the stares.

Inside, their wet sneakers squeaked on the large square tiles, echoing loudly through the vaulted chamber of the gigantic lobby. There were only a few students lingering in couches and chairs arranged for studying or socializing, much like seating arranged in intimate clusters in hotel lobbies. Jake smiled, enjoying the noise they made in the otherwise quiet surroundings. Several of the teen initiates glanced their way.

Though he and Cael had been raised here, the dormitory had never felt like a home, just a place that had tolerated two half-blooded children the administrators didn't quite know what to do with. So they trained them with the Anointed, they were Celalundria's only children after all, though Jake remembered the somber stares and whispers... _training wasted on weak human blood...they'd never last long enough anyway...a pity Celalundria had no true Anointed sons_ ...

Cael plodded beside him, hands in his pockets, head lowered, but Jake noted how he glanced into each corridor they passed, making sure no one stepped out of the living quarter hallways to catch him unaware. After what happened two years ago, Jake couldn't blame him.

They took the servants' stairway down to the basement, avoiding the more populated areas. As far as Jake was concerned this was an in and out job. Get the supplies, leave. They plowed through the swinging double doors and into the lab-slash-weapons storage. Shelves and drawers held an array of weapons, most common among mortals like assault rifles, swords, and grenades, but others...not so common.

Paps sat at the far worktable hunched over some sort of glowing green worm he prodded with tweezers, his balding head shiny in the soft glow of the lamp. After all the pawn shops Jake had _procured_ man-made guns and ammunition from, it always surprised him to simply walk into such a large weapons cache without running up against any kind of security, though since the Anointed dwelt in an entirely different dimension, he supposed it was a moot point.

"You stink," Paps said without looking up.

"Nice to see you too." Cael grinned, more at ease now that they were away from the living quarters.

Jake sniffed his shirt. He had pulled a clean one from his duffel once they'd left the repaired Hell-hole.

Paps's gaze finally flicked up. "You reek of demon."

"Ohhhh. Yeah, I got something for ya." Jake swung his pack off his shoulder to dig inside. "Here." He tossed the severed demon hand to Paps. "A little present for you."

Only Paps could squeal like a delighted little girl over the stinky body part of a hellspawn. Guy was an entirely different level of odd, but also a bona-fide genius. Like James Bond's Q only with added elements of the supernatural and spells and incantations in his arsenal. Paps had come up with the idea of using time-slowing spells on the ice bullets to keep them from melting inside the shotgun chamber.

"What's this?" Cael leaned over the little glow worm.

"Whoa, kid, not too close." Setting the demon hand down, Paps scrambled over and nudged Cael back a few steps. "Nasty little buggers. Some kind of parasite one of the teams picked up while exterminating an _akhlys_ in Cambodia."

"Ew. Swamp hag?" Jake mimicked a shudder. "Hate those. Their eyes especially, all hollowed out and pitty."

Cael and Paps just looked at him. "Pitty?" Cael deadpanned.

Jake cocked his chin. "So whatcha gonna do with a parasite anyhow?"

Paps plucked the worm up with the tweezers and placed it in a jar. "Oh you never know what properties they have. Could have a deadly toxin. Maybe a cure for cancer. Or I could throw them on a pack of werewolves and give them the scabies for a week."

"Now you're talking."

"Yep." Paps passed Jake to put the jar on a shelf. "And you still stink."

"Demon bit him," Cael informed the weapons maker.

Paps spun. "What? You cleaned it properly?"

"Course." Jake stepped back from Paps who charged toward him. Little guy looked fierce, forehead lined in concentration, while plucking up a tiny brown vial from the shelf and cotton balls from a drawer on the way."

Jake threw his hands up to ward off the man. Last time the dude looked at one of his wounds he stabbed some kind of stinger into it. Stung like hell, even if the wound did heal up in half the time. "What? I washed it, poured consecrated water over it and everything."

"Where?"

"Right on top of the wound."

Paps's gaze rolled toward the ceiling. "Where'd you get bit?"

"Near his left shoulder." Cael laughed, enjoying this way too much.

Jake glared at him.

"Demon bites are nothing to take lightly." Paps poured whatever was in the little bottle onto a cotton ball. It was soon saturated a dark green.

"I know. That's why I washed it out."

Paps lifted his thin brows and held out the cotton ball. "Angelica oil. Don't be a child."

Jake wasn't going to look, but he swore he heard an impatient tapping of Pap's foot. "Fine." He took the offered cotton. Both Cael and Paps watched until Jake pulled the neck of his T-shirt down and dabbed the oil over the bite marks. The two were worse than mothering hens. Well, okay, this stuff didn't sting and was numbing the pain a bit. It stunk though. "You girls happy now?"

"Ecstatic," Paps droned, pushing a cork into the top of the vial and handed it to Jake. "Keep it."

"Uh, thanks." Jake slipped it inside one of his pack's outer pockets.

"So, I take it you didn't show up because you missed my handsome mug. Your mother summon you?"

"No." Cael's brows scrunched together. He looked to Jake. Since Celalundria had sent them to their father two years ago, she'd never summoned them back.

"Why would you think that?" Jake asked.

"Oh." Paps turned away, busying himself with moving jars of questionable substances around the closest work table. "No reason. Just asking."

"Paps." Cael came around the table while Jake closed in from the scientist's other side. "What's going on?"

The old guy glanced up at one brother, then the other.

"Paps. Please." Cael wielded sincerity like a weapon. His dark eyes widened. "If something's going on with our mom, we should know. She's okay, isn't she?"

"Celalundria?" Yep, Paps was a goner, poised to spill everything. Gotta hand it to the kid. "Kay, listen, your mother's fine. Don't worry about that, but something big is going on. Riffs and Hell-holes are opening up at an alarming rate, more and more demons are getting out. There was even a run at the postern bridge."

"What?" Cael stiffened. "Demons tried to get into _Karavel_?"

Paps nodded. "Got in, but that was the end of. All were slaughtered."

Jake didn't like the sound of that. Something felt off. Demons had been trying to get into _Karavel_ for centuries, but to just rush in when they knew they'd be killed instantly... Jake shrugged. He and Cael would plug up as many Hell-holes as they could, but there were more than enough Anointed to take care of an extra influx of demons that got past him and his brother. "So what's that got to do with Celalundria?"

"Oh, not much, hotshot, except that some powers-that-be are blaming _your mother_ for the upsurge in demon activity since she is the Administer of Defense and all."

Aw geez, politics. "So you thought she'd summon us to give us a good hand slapping over letting demons slip past us? We're only two people, ya know."

"I thought she might have summoned you to keep you safe." Paps's face reddened.

Jake felt Cael studying him. He stilled his features. "We weren't summoned. We came for more _omthrodite_."

That took the steam out of Paps's engine. He leaned back against the work table and scrubbed a hand across his head. "What you had before should've lasted a lot longer."

"Like you said, more demons are getting through." Hellhounds were bigger, making large holes, more wriggle room to get out. Maybe that's all there was to it. Mutts were eating their Wheaties, evolving into larger hounds. The Anointed were getting their starched panties in a twist over nothing.

"Jake."

The young tracker's entire body stiffened at the feminine voice. Muscles locked, Jake resisted the desire to turn toward the doorway and look at _her_.

Material rustled with her soft steps as she came to him instead. Intelligent blue eyes stared up at Jake from a face that was all smooth planes and sharp angles. She wore faded pink sweats and a Beatles T-shirt. Her light brown hair was tousled like she just woke up. Her feet were bare.

"Lisi saw you in the lobby." She folded her arms. "You weren't going to come see me?"

Jake swallowed.

She sighed, gaze skittering away until she found his brother. "Cael."

"Kiene." Cael nodded. Both he and Paps looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.

Kiene's gaze slid back to Jake, expectant.

He relaxed his body, though his heart was pounding. "So you're looking well. Fit."

Her chin raised a notch. "I am fit."

Jake stepped past her, muttering over his shoulder. "Glad to know all this Anointed training is working for you."

With a fluid speed that only Anointed's had, Kiene stepped around him, shoving him back. "You are such an ass."

Jake stared down into her upturned features, warmth flushing across his neck. "Never pretended differently."

She jerked away from him, eyes narrowed. Folding her arms again, she cocked a hip to the side. "You need to leave."

"But sweetheart, I just got here."

"Can you be serious for one moment? Gregor knows you're here."

Jake spared a quick glance toward Cael. His brother's lips firmed into a tight line. "I can handle Gregor." Even so, Jake flicked a look toward his backpack on the table and then back to Cael.

Cael nodded, scooping up the pack and steering Paps toward the weapons drawers. That was all they'd come for anyway. His gaze roamed over Kiene's slim form.

A delicate brow arched. "I know you can handle Gregor, but he's not coming alone." She glanced uneasily toward Cael's back. "He plans to finish what he started."

Jake's heart banged to life. "Cael. Let's roll."

Cael didn't have to be told twice. He ran over, pack on his back, bulging more than when they'd come in. Jake didn't ask, knowing the kid would have gathered the most necessary supplies.

Jake reached out to touch Kiene's arm. Stopped. "Uh..."

Her head angled toward the exit. "Just go."

He stared at her, then nodded once and pushed open the doors.

The hallway was quiet as was the stairwell. Jake turned the corner of the first landing and a shadow fell across him.

"Gillant. Where's that runt brother of yours?"

Three

Hand down by his side, Jake waved for Cael to stay out of sight around the corner. Better yet, run back to the weapons lab and barricade himself in.

"Oh he's around somewhere." Jake walked across the landing and draped an arm around the shorter guy's shoulders as though they were the best of friends. The two guys with Gregor exchanged wary glances.

"Hmm." Gregor puckered his lips. "Ya know I'd really like to see him, make sure his pretty little face didn't sustain any permanent damage. I feel really bad about what went down."

Jake patted Gregor's chest. "I'll be sure to pass on your apology when I see him."

"You do that." Gregor smiled. Tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes stood out lighter in his sun-weathered skin. "Come to think of it, maybe you can pass on something else to him as well."

Gregor's friends grabbed Jake from each side, but he stomped down on the instep of one of their feet. Tweedle-dee fell, but Tweedle-dum shoved Jake into the wall. He'd never last several rounds against the superior strength of one of the Anointed, never mind three, but his dad had taught him how to fight fast and dirty. His bent knuckle struck the tender hollow of Tweedle-dum's chin, wrenching his head back at the same time Gregor punched Jake in the stomach, folding him over with an " _oomph_ ". Squeezing his eyes shut, Jake let the Anointed hit him again, stalling. He just needed to give Cael time to get out of Dodge. Except...

"Let go of my brother."

Every head snapped up. Jake's heart sank to his toes. Cael's expression was stone cold fury.

Gregor kept a fist curled around Jake's shirt. "Well hey, shrimp, we were just talking about you."

Cael didn't say a word. He walked over, nudging himself partway between Jake and Gregor. Jake grinned at the way the darker haired Anointed had to tip his face upward. Kid had grown in the last couple of months. Gregor's hand dropped away.

"Come on." Cael steered Jake between the three Anointeds. "We're done here."

"We haven't gotten started," Gregor snarled, grabbing for the back of Cael's collar.

Cael spun so fast, Jake swore he felt the air move. He slammed Gregor back into the stairwell railing, fists knotted into the stockier teen's collar. "You really want to go at me?" He leaned closer in, his voice steely quiet. "Don't forget, I know what really happened."

Jake's eyes widened.

All the color leeched out of Gregor, but he quickly recovered. "Think anyone will believe a vengeful little half-blood?"

"My mom will."

Nostrils flaring, Gregor shoved Cael off him hard enough that the younger teen flew back into Jake.

All three Anointeds lunged at the brothers, going down into a heap of flying fists and gouging fingers. Jake rolled to his knees, trying to throw them off.

"Enough." The tired voice rang out with all the power of an echo traveling through a canyon.

Everyone stilled. Jake blinked up at the slender woman at the top of the stairs, Kiene and Lisi behind her. This night kept getting better and better.

"This behavior is unbecoming of warriors of the Anointed."

Jake wrenched his head sideways, pulling his hair out of somebody's loose grasp. Their three attackers scrambled off of them. Tweetle-dum's head bobbed. "Yes ma'am, er, Princess."

"Administer," Tweedle-dee hissed.

Gregor got up more slowly. "Administer Celalundria." He lowered his head in a deferential nod, arms rigid, brown hair hiding his eyes.

Cael grabbed Jake's arm, pulling him to his feet.

"You're excused." Long fingers clasped together in front of the Princess's prim powder blue pantsuit. "Retire to your quarters for the duration of the evening."

"Yes, ma'am." The Tweedle goons stammered, heading up the stairs, then apparently thought better of edging past the Princess and hurried down the other way.

Gregor stared up the stairway, and then pushed between Cael and Jake, turning so his back was to the women. "Your mommy won't always be around," he whispered.

"Is that a threat?" Jake growled.

Gregor pasted on a smile, lifting palms in innocence and spun around, climbing past the Administer. A look of betrayal flicked across his face when he glanced over at Kiene. And then he was gone, the sharp clicks of his boots moving across the tile above.

Jake shifted beneath Celalundria's impassive gaze, stepping back when her face suddenly softened and she held her arms out.

Cael went immediately to her. "Mom."

Her features softened. "You've grown so much."

Jake eased back against the railing, and crossed one leg over the other, watching his mother and sibling together. They embraced quickly and then her hands cradled Cael's face while she looked him over. The difference between them was striking. Her long fall of straight black hair and bright green eyes contrasted vividly with Cael's blond mop and brown eyes. His brother took so much after their father, exotically human, he'd become a target of Anointed bullies at the outset of beginning their training. But this hatred Gregor held for the teen... _that_ went well beyond simple bullying.

He felt Kiene's gaze on him. Dark brows pulled together. She must have hauled ass to intercept Celalundria and Lisi and lead them to the back stairway.

Celalundria held a hand out toward Jake as she and Cael turned to go. "Jacob."

He followed after her, but didn't take her hand. The two girls settled into step beside him. A few steps ahead, Cael casually draped an arm around their mother's waist as though she had never sent them away, light and dark heads together as they spoke in hushed tones.

Their little entourage got several stares as they made their way through the long foyer. It was still drizzling outside, making little wet dots bloom on their mom's light pantsuit, but she didn't seem to mind. A wisp of a smile crossed her lips at the sight of the mud-splattered Jeep TJ, or maybe Jake just imagined it. She turned to Jake. "I need you boys to stay out of _Karavel_ for a while. Don't return until you hear from me."

"Why?" Cael took her hand. "Is it the demons almost getting in? We can help with that."

"No," she said swiftly. "Stay away from the pass-throughs. Just keep doing what you're doing."

"But we can..."

"Caelen." Her tone clipped off his argument like scissors. "It's not that. The Anointed can handle a little demon influx. It's the political climate here. I'm hitting opposition on all fronts..."

Jake grunted low in his throat. Right, and part human children were an embarrassment she didn't need while working the political game. Celalundria stared at him as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. Crossing his arms over his chest, Jake stared right back.

She turned back to Cael as though she knew she wasted breath, trying for Jake's sympathies. "People who have been loyal to me for years are questioning my every decision. Even Lord Salah has turned his support elsewhere."

Gregor's father. Now that was a surprise. Though Gregor was an irritating nuisance, his dad had always struck Jake as a fair and honest type.

"With things so uncertain, I don't want either of you caught up in the political upheaval. If I can't nip it in the bud, it could get ugly." The princess caught Jake's eye again, conveying the seriousness of what she was saying.

Cael shook his head. "We should be here for you then, show a united front."

Celalundria smiled, and stroked a palm down the side of Cael's hair. "Not this time, darling. But soon. I promise."

Right. Jake stopped himself from rolling his eyes and pulled the door to his Jeep open, waiting for Cael. Kiene frowned at him like he was a little boy throwing a tantrum. Well, she could just keep her pretty little nose out of his family business.

Celalundria sighed and pulled a couple of _kremloc_ blades from her bag and handed them to Cael before placing a kiss to his cheek. "Take care of yourself."

Cael nodded. "You too."

Celalundria smiled. "Jacob."

He turned back toward her and waited.

"Stay well," she said simply.

He nodded respectfully—he wasn't a total nub—and slipped into the driver's seat, turning the ignition when Cael slid in beside him, and he pulled out of the parking space and onto the road, not looking back.

"I don't get you," Cael said after a few minutes.

"What's to get?"

"You defended Mom to that demon, but barely speak to her."

Jake shrugged. "She doesn't want us around, Cael. We're a hindrance to her position."

"That's not true. You know why she sent us to dad."

"Yeah." The answer was abrupt.

"I thought you loved tracking. You want to stay in _Karavel_?"

"Gods, no."

"Then what is your problem?"

"No problem." Jake pulled around a hover-car. The things were cool, but slower than spoiled milk.

"Really, because it looks like you have a pretty big problem."

"I don't have a problem with Mom, okay?"

Light raindrops splattered on the windshield just enough that Jake flipped the wipers on for a second.

"What I do have a problem with though is you, stepping between me and Gregor. What were you thinking coming around the corner like that?"

"I was thinking my brother was gonna take a beating in my place."

"Not in any dimension. I can handle them."

"And you think I can't?" Cael twisted sideways in his seat to face Jake. "What? I'm supposed to cut and run while you take on a bunch of Neanderthal punks?"

"Yes."

"Then you're stupid. Demons are a lot stronger than any Anointed and we take them on all the time."

Jake curled his fingers around the steering wheel. Cael had a point. Jake just didn't like it. There was just something about Gregor that made all his protective hard-wiring go crazy. "I know, man, it's just...Gregor...he has it out for you."

"So? He's an idiot."

An idiot who wasn't getting ten feet near his brother again. Jake let a beat pass before glancing sideways at Cael. "What was that all about anyways?"

Cael shrugged, turned back in his seat and looked out the passenger side window. "Same old."

"That's it." Jake slammed on the brakes and pulled roughly to the side of the roadway. Seeing Gregor tonight, then Kiene, then Mom, had wrung all his emotions out like a soapy towel. "Something more went down that night that you never bothered to tell me. And I think part of why Gregor is so hell-bent on terrorizing you is because he wants to keep you clammed up. So spill."

"Jake, you already know everything."

"I know I found my kid brother in the middle of the woods beaten so badly I couldn't recognize you." He took a breath, the horrible bloody memories clawing against the back of his eyelids. "Do you have any idea...?" He broke off. "You were incoherent, holding tightly to a dead kid, I couldn't tear him from your..."

Cael stared at his hands resting on his thighs. "Iason. He was only fourteen," he whispered.

Everything in Jake softened. "So were you."

"Jake?" Brown eyes lifted to his. "Can't we just drop it?"

"No. I'm sorry. Not this time." Not after he'd seen panic cross Gregor's face when Cael said he knew what happened. Jake didn't know how far the Anointed would go to keep Cael quiet, but he wasn't taking the risk.

Cael's gaze slipped away. "It was an initiation that got out of hand."

"So you've said before." Cael had stuck to the same story every time he told it. "I'm not buying it this time."

"What does it matter? It was two years ago."

"It matters. You were laid up for three months. Mom sent us to Dad so fast my head nearly swiveled off... Wait. Did Mom know what really happened?"

"No!"

One side of Jake's mouth curved. Cael pushed his head back against the headrest, realizing he just admitted he'd been lying all this time. Turning sideways in his own seat, Jake waited him out.

Cael sighed. "You really want to know?"

Jake nodded. "Been wanting for years. Years, Cael. It's time to open up."

Kid's lips tightened. "I followed Iason that night. He'd been excited about being invited to the older boys' initiation ritual. I knew I'd never be invited to one and I was curious." One shoulder lifted in a half-shrug. "I also had a sour pit in my stomach, like something wasn't right and I felt responsible for the guy. Turns out they set Iason up."

Jake listened without interrupting. So far it was the same story Cael had told him before. "Set up how?"

"It wasn't an initiation. At least not for Iason. By the time I got there they had him staked out on the ground."

Jake's hand squeezed around the Jeep's automatic shifter between them. "Like bait?"

Still not looking at him, Cael nodded.

" _Sonsabi_ ..." Jake controlled his tone, knowing outbursts weren't going to help. He'd barely gotten Cael to talk as it was. "Bait for what? Except for a few boar, there's nothing in _Karavel_ to go after bait that large."

Cael glanced up at that. "They brought something in."

Jake stilled.

" _Juncoir_. They cut Iason."

Jake's mind raced ahead. Iron nail-like claws, spike-edged teeth, an appetite drawn to the smallest amount of blood. A young boy staked out and helpless. A bleeding cut would make the beast ravenous. And young eager Anointeds skulking in the shadows itching to prove themselves as the next great hunter in front of their peers.

"I tried..." Cael's fingers scrabbled at his jeans. "I tried to untie him, but they caught me."

"That when they beat you?"

Cael's Adam apple bobbed. "I wouldn't stay still, wouldn't be quiet. Didn't matter. The _juncoir_ found Iason and—" Cael gulped, staring at the glove compartment. "And—"

Jake brushed Cael's arm, pulling him back from what the kid was reliving. "It's okay. Skip that part."

Cael stopped and Jake let him alone until he was ready. "While the _juncoir_ was...you know...the initiates charged out of the bushes. It fled and they chased after it. Except Gregor. He said the other trackers would never be able to run it down, but he knew how to lure it to him. Now that Iason was—" Cael's chest started heaving. "Now that Iason was—"

A cold hard stake was pushing into Jake's gut, slogging out bile that rose up into his throat. Cael had so many wounds, Jake had dismissed the chafing on his arms as minor, nothing of real concern compared to broken ribs and shredded leg muscles, but he should have paid attention. They hadn't been just more abrasions. Rope burns. His worry had made him blind. He was going to be sick. "Gregor used you as bait."

Cael didn't move a muscle.

Fumbling for the door, Jake made it out of the 4x4 in the nick of time to vomit all over a blossoming bush on the side of the road. Gregor had tied Cael down. Gregor had used his little brother as _juncoir_ bait. He was going to rip Gregor's head off. _Oh Gods_ , what if that geeky little friend of Cael's and Iason's hadn't tipped him off to where they'd gone? What if Cael hadn't had his pocketknife and been able to cut himself free in the first place? Finding his brother beat to hell had been the worst night of Jake's life, but he'd had no idea exactly how much worse it could have been.

A water bottle slipped into Jake's line of vision where he crouched, shaking.

"I'm sorry, Jake." Cael stood beside him.

Jake took the offered water. "Why...why didn't you trust me with this?"

Cael sank down beside him. "It wasn't about trust."

"What then?"

"Look, if I'd told you, all you would have done is gone off to kick their asses. You're always trying to protect me."

"Of course I would."

Cael smiled. "And I appreciate that. I do. But you can't protect me from everything. You couldn't protect me from that. By the time I could move my jaw enough to speak again, we were already with Dad. What was the point?"

"The point? You could have died. Gregor almost got you killed."

"What was done was done. It was over and what good would running off after them and getting you laid up for three months do?"

"I could've taken him."

"Yeah. But I didn't want you to."

"What they did was illegal. Bringing a _juncoir_ into _Karavel_. That's grounds for dismissal from the Academy. But using that young boy as bait... That's murder. Don't you think Iason deserved justice for that instead of being written off as an initiation gone wrong?"

Cael stood and walked to the back of the Jeep, the rear lights casting a red glow over one side of his body.

Jake swallowed back a curse. He shouldn't have said that. Knowing Cael, the kid would have already beat himself up over that. Probably this whole time. Jake stood and went to Cael. "You tried, didn't you? To tell the truth."

Cael tilted his head back to look into the dark sky, uncaring of the little drops of rain sliding down his face "Like Gregor said, no one would believe a half-blood."

"Did Mom know?"

"I don't think so. It's hard to remember exactly, everything got murky and the healers said I'd dreamed the entire thing, that I was confused, my mind making things up. It was getting harder and harder to think."

Jake remembered. For a while it seemed that Cael wasn't recovering, but getting worse. They nearly lost him. That was when Celalundria had suddenly whisked the boys away, meeting their father on the mortal side of a bridge where their lives had abruptly changed. Dad had taken Cael to a military hospital where the delirium he'd been in steadily melted away and his overall health improved. A cold sweat broke out across Jake's forehead. It had been a cover-up. It could have been the healers, someone related to one of the initiates that had been involved, or an order from one of the Administers, or possibly even Gregor had slipped something into Cael's doses. That was certainly a possibility. Whether their mom knew about what was happening or not, she had at least suspected foul play and got Cael out of there before...

Jake choked on that last thought. No wonder Cael never told him any of this. Jake was ready to turn the Jeep around and tear out _Gregor's_ lungs through his throat.

"Come on. We're going back."

"What?" Cael spun around. "No, Jake. No. We can't."

"We can't let them get away with this."

"What exactly are you going to do about it? Storm in and tell them Gregor killed Iason. He wasn't the only one there. Half the senior Academy was in on it. And they'll all say that the _juncoir_ was never meant to get close to Iason."

Kid had put a lot of thought into this.

"But that's bull."

"Who are they going to believe?"

Jake opened his mouth to argue, but didn't have anything to back an argument up with.

"Let's just go." Cael looked like he'd already been ground beneath a millstone today.

Jake squeezed his eyes closed for a moment before yanking open the driver side door. "Fine, but this isn't finished. Gregor's dead meat. He just doesn't know it."

"Fine. But we got to do this smart. The right way or it could have repercussions on Mom."

Jake rolled his eyes. Like Mom's career took precedence over this. "I hate _Karavel_."

~~~

Ten minutes later they were at the closest pass-through near their father's home in Indiana, two states over from where they'd entered _Karavel_. Glancing at each other, they each took a breath and gathered their energy. Since the pass-through wanted to keep the Anointed in, getting out of the dimension was more a matter of using the energy of their blood to punch their way out.

As soon as they crossed the bridge back into the mortal world, both their phones started chirping. Their cell plan didn't exactly carry coverage into different dimensions.

Cael pulled his phone out. "It's Dad. Left several texts. On yours too?"

Jake's thumb scrolled down his messages. "Yep. Needs help tracking some sort of little critters in West Virginia."

Another job. After finally letting everything out about Iason, Cael felt emotionally drained. Focusing on an easy gig with their dad would be a welcome distraction before digging in and tracking down all those demons. They'd probably need the help of their Dad and his 666 Squad with that anyway since the demons would have scattered all over the place by now. He rubbed a hand over his chest as though a physical pain resided there. "We could be there in a few hours."

"Or cut back through _Karavel_ and get there in twenty minutes."

"Nah," the brothers said in unison. While Cael called their dad, Jake scrolled to the _Muse_ album on his iPod and sped down the open road.

Four

"Why can't we just go in and roast the things?"

Henry Gillant glanced at his oldest son, and placed his palm over the fidgeting hands, a warning to be quiet...and still. _You know why_ , he hoped his look conveyed. They got one shot at this. They had to wait until dark when all the diurnal gremlins returned to the cave. It'd taken him days to find the cavern, backtracking to it from a fresh set of prints. But he needed the boys. They had to get all the little beasties together, not just the few that were already in there, because once the little nasties's cave was compromised, any survivors would scatter and it'd be hell tracking them all again.

Henry smiled. He'd never have imagined that walking into that other cave twenty years ago with his platoon would lead him to the kind of life that would haunt most civilians, tracking the kinds of creatures even the military didn't know existed. The Rangers had gone in after terrorist weapon smugglers and found monsters of smoke and teeth and an exotic velvet-haired woman already combating them. His men won that battle. He won the girl. The mission report filed was a little short on details, but the tapes and picture evidence he'd shown to his commanding officers was not. Henry immediately found himself in command of a newly formed special operations force, affectionately referred to by those in the platoon as Squad 666. His men traveled all over the world, tracking monsters and things that go bump in the night. Mostly solo jobs, occasionally together.

Henry had gained more than a new command and a woman he was crazy over—still was when he was honest with himself—he gained two sons he was monumentally proud of. Though the circumstances hadn't been ideal, in fact damn well frightening for a father, the night Celalundria placed the boys in his care was a gift. Already trained by the Anointed, Henry and his pals armed the boys with a few tricks of their own—Special Forces style. Since they were hell-bent on tracking monsters, Henry Gillant gave his kids the skills to keep them alive.

He glanced at his oldest beside him. Jake could remain scarily motionless when he had his prey sighted, but waiting for the monsters to show up, especially hunkered down without benefit of music or conversation, would never be one of the kid's hunting strengths.

Unlike Cael who had the rare ability to remain still and silent for hours. Henry let his gaze slide past Jake's dark head to the rocks and trees his youngest wedged himself between a little higher up on the gentle slope. In the waning light, Cael looked like a statue. Henry hadn't seen his sixteen-year-old move for hours, though he knew that he had shifted, because the angle of his body was different from the last time he'd checked. A swell of pride rose up into Henry's chest. Even he couldn't reposition himself so smoothly that other trackers wouldn't notice. He'd been shifting clumsily himself, keeping circulation in stiff limbs that were eager for action. Of course knowing Cael, even though his body was completely relaxed, his brain was running a marathon, going over every tactic, each scenario, everything they knew about gremlins, listening to every sound.

Cael's head turned, a slow unhurried movement that alerted both Henry and Jake to something coming. Then his eyes shifted back to Henry's and Cael dipped his head to the side. _Over there._

Beside him in the dense scrub, Henry felt Jake coil, anticipation to finally get this hunt going vibrated off him in pulses. Henry followed Cael's line of direction to the trees a few yards beyond the boy. He waited, trusting Cael's instincts.

There.

A shape emerged from the brush, moving down the hill toward the cave. It had a huge elongated head, seemingly too large for the child-sized body. It skittered down the slope, moving on all fours like a hairless monkey, spindly arms longer than the stocky legs.

Another movement gained his eye. Cael lifted his hand near his head. Knowing he'd only make a large move like that to purposely gain their attention, Henry yanked his gaze back to the kid. Cael flicked his chin in their direction. Both Henry and Jake swiveled their focus behind them.

Close. Another gremlin moved just on the other side of the tree Henry had been resting against for the last couple of hours. A wide leathery hand, again disproportionally large for the small body, paused a mere three feet from the tip of Henry's rifle barrel he had stretched out to the side. His hand eased over the hilt of his knife.

Scratchy inhalations ruffled the static air as the creature sniffed. All three trackers went completely still, not so much as a breath. Henry had insisted the boys use his specialized soap and shampoo he'd brought from the base before heading out from the motel they met up at, the scent-eliminating kind wildlife hunters used because it lacked any perfumes. They'd also made a fire before they started out on the trail this morning and each stood in the smoke. So they should be good, their scents camouflaged. Except gremlins weren't most animals.

And though they'd eat just about anything, this particular colony of gremlins had grown especially good at sniffing out humans. It started as sheep, pigs, and cattle going missing from the rural farmsteads, but the gremlins had moved on to several daytime hikers, and were now being bold enough to snatch people right off the streets of the rustic town. Eighteen people had been reported missing in the last two months, leaving the local authorities baffled. As far as Henry Gillant was concerned, that was eighteen people too many and he'd be damned before there'd be a nineteenth.

The gremlin shuffled sideways, still sniffing the air, but in the opposite direction. Its large hand scraped around in the dry pine needles and Henry's eyes narrowed at the glimpse he got of the palm. He'd never seen anything like it, wet and rubber-like in ridged puckers. He made a mental note to document that in his report later. Could be important. Could be nothing.

Finally the little beastie moved on and the Gillants simultaneously breathed. For the next forty minutes, they watched as gremlin after gremlin loped past them and entered the sideways slash in the bottom of the opposite slope. If they hadn't followed the tracks up to it, they'd never had known it was an opening to a cave. A rough knot was forming in the pit of Henry's stomach. He estimated a group of at least five to ten gremlins, but as the count got up to twenty-one, knowing there had already been more inside before they'd even arrived, his worry intensified. He'd never heard of a colony this large.

Well after dark and long after they'd seen their last gremlin scamper past and disappear within the hole, Jake stood up out of hiding. "Can we please go kill them now?"

~~~

This was the best hunt ever! Okay, the waiting sucked, but as gremlin upon gremlin showed up, Jake's excitement grew. He imagined turning the valve on his propane torch and flaming every last one of them. Because even though they could be shot or knifed, their vital organs were too small and difficult to get to, plus they healed too fast for normal weapons to slow them down much, so the optimal way to put them down for good was fire.

"Change in plan." Henry pulled a couple of sticks of dynamite from the duffel bag.

Or that could work.

The explosion would be cool, but not nearly as fun as hand-frying the suckers. "We're just going to lob one of those in there?"

One of Henry's eyebrows quirked. Obviously Jake hadn't kept the displeasure out of his tone very well. After the confrontation with Gregor and then Cael's confession, Jake itched to torch something the good old-fashioned way.

"This is a last resort." Henry shook his head, frowning. The old man was worried. "There were more of the critters than I expected and we need to get every last one of them. You boys understand? Every last one."

Cael shuffled up beside Jake. "Yessir," they said together.

"We'll go inside the cave as originally planned..." Henry passed a small headlamp to Jake and strapped the other one to his own forehead. Cael frowned, disappointment evident that he didn't get one of the two headlamps. Jake shrugged, winking at the kid. Cael looked away in annoyance.

The boys followed their father down the slope like obedient pups made to heel. The entrance to the cave lay low and long at the bottom of the ravine and slope, a slash barely as high as their knees. It'd be a tight squeeze crawling in and Jake only hoped the interior opened up. Fighting gremlins while belly-crawling on his stomach just wasn't appealing.

They set the explosives at each end of the entrance, and then trailed the fuse lines several yards out.

Crouched down at the cave, Henry pulled the small propane torches from the duffel, passing one to each of his sons and keeping the third for himself. Cael let out a barely audible huff, staring at the much thinner propane bottle he had been assigned. Jake was completely attuned to his dad, ready to obey every order because this is when it mattered. His adrenaline was kicking in, tracker instincts adjusting into a calm focus.

Their dad zipped up the bag. "Jake, you follow me. Cael, you have the rear and charge of the supplies."

"Yessir," they answered again in unison just before Henry rolled onto his stomach and wriggled inside lengthwise much like he would scoot under a barely opened garage door.

They waited until they heard their dad's muffled "clear" and then Jake scrambled in after him. He did not like the closed in feeling of the rock around him, but fortunately the entrance was only a couple yards in when the ceiling sloped upward, high enough that while standing they had several feet of clearance above their heads.

The headlamp beams scissored across the walls as Jake and Henry looked around. The cavern was more like a tunnel, close walls that stretched out into a darkness ahead that their lights couldn't penetrate. There wasn't a gremlin in sight, but the air reeked of them, a putrid mix of rotting meat and wet animal. Rank, like pulling back the layers of a decaying swamp is rank.

At the scrape sounding behind them, Jake turned and dragged the duffel that Cael was pushing ahead of him from the low entrance. Squatting down, Jake watched the kid's hands emerge first, one fist tight around his slender propane bottle while he elbow-crawled his way through. Jake smiled, waiting for Cael's face to screw up as the odor assaulted him. Yep, there it was. Classic bleh-face, nose scrunched up. That never got old.

"You mind?" Cael squinted, lightly smacking Jake away to get the headlamp beam out of his eyes. Jake looked to the side, removing the direct light from his brother. He knew better than to limit someone's ability to adjust to a darker environment on a hunt. The headlamps were a new addition to Jake's personal gear and he'd have to get used to them.

"All right, boys," Henry spoke quietly. "Stay sharp. Jake, you torch anything on the left. I'll take the right. And Cael, you take anything that gets past us."

"Yeah," Jake teased. "Just don't aim your baby flame-thrower in our direction." Didn't matter because no gremlin was getting past him.

"Afraid your fart gases will ignite and flame up your—"

"Cael!" It amazed Jake how his dad's whisper could still sound like a shout. Cael shut up, but looked far from repentant. Jake pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. He had to admit that was a good one. Cael looked over and must have noticed Jake's mouth curling because his own tugged up in a pleased grin.

Cael hefted the duffel over his shoulder and they started out. Another light clicked on. Jake looked back to see Cael had brought out his flashlight.

It looked like the tunnel split up ahead, which was bad luck all around because if they took the wrong fork and the majority of the gremlins were in the other one, they could get behind them and box them in, but as they got closer they found it wasn't two tunnels, but a section of wall that had caved in, leaving a thick stalactite-looking pillar standing in the middle of the tunnel.

"Looks like tonsils in someone's throat," Jake quipped.

"I think you mean uvula," Cael said. "And it doesn't look like that at all."

"Because it looks like a tonsil."

"How would you even know what—eeew." Jake's and Henry's beams of light snapped toward the direction of Cael's exclamation. Since he had the only flashlight, he'd kept his beam more on the floor while theirs had been directed higher. His light played over bones, a long thick skull, cracked femur bones that had teeth marks gnawed into them. They'd known gremlins would eat just about anything, and apparently that included each other.

"That's just gross." Jake moved closer to examine the funky looking skeleton while Cael's flashlight beam moved away.

"Dad, stop!" Cael shouted. The warning tone had Jake swiveling around to see his father frozen mid-step, Cael's flashlight revealing the drop below Henry's raised boot.

Carefully Henry moved back from the edge he'd almost tumbled over. Jake and Cael raced to his side, all three lights angled downward. It wasn't exactly a sheer drop since the walls were bumpy with small ledges and protrusions, but their combined lights didn't reach bottom either. Jake toed one of the little rocks that littered the sandy floor over the edge. They stood silent, waiting for the echo that never came.

"Damn. That's ah...deep," Jake stated the obvious. Looking down into the dark hole, a sick feeling washed over him.

Henry reached across Jake to squeeze Cael's shoulder. When the kid looked at him, Henry nodded his approval. It was as close to a thank you as their dad ever got.

Jake angled his light across the chasm. It was pretty far to the other side with only a slight protruding lip against the bottom of one side of the wall. While he thought he could balance it no problem, he wasn't sure he was up to watching his dad and brother try to do the same. He also wondered how the fat-footed gremlins had managed it. They did have fairly muscled legs.

"Dad, how far do you think these golem-things can jump?"

Hands on his hips, studying the hole, Henry shook his head. "I'd say at least that far 'cause there's no other way they could have gone. Okay, we're going to need to—" Henry was cut off as one of the beasties dropped on him, taking him to the ground.

"Dad!" Reflexively, Jake looked up. His light played over several gremlins crawling along the ceiling. _Holy crap_ , the things could move across the rock like lizards!

A blast of fire sprayed over the ceiling—Cael's torch—a moment before Jake's joined his. Squealing, one, two, four creatures burst into little fireballs and fell to the ground. Another streaked by, falling into the hole like a meteor. Man! These suckers didn't just burn, they full on erupted. "Dad!"

"I'm okay."

Jake twisted to see his dad on the ground at the exact moment he kicked the creature off him and Cael's flame arced toward the beastie. Except the flame sputtered and died as Cael's propane ran out and the gremlin launched itself at the kid.

"Cael!" Two jets of flame converged as both Jake and Henry eliminated the threat to their youngest family member.

Until another dropped onto him. Jake called out to his brother at the same time Cael screamed a warning to him and something smacked against Jake's back. He felt the burn of teeth clamp into his shoulder, heard both his dad and brother shouting for him.

Suddenly Cael was behind him, slamming the butt of his propane bottle over and over into the ugly that seemed stuck to Jake's back, while Jake twisted, turned, fingers scrabbling to get the thing off him. All at once, it came loose, pulling Jake off balance and fighting to stay on his feet, as his dad's horrified scream reverberated around the walls. "Caaaaaaaaaaaeeel!"

Jake spun, expecting to come face to face with Cael who was behind him. Except he wasn't. He met only empty air. Jake looked down and his world dropped away.

He stood mere inches from the hole.

Five

Face crumbled in a devastation Jake had never witnessed, Henry poured flame across the ceiling and walls. "Cael!" Burning gremlins fell around them until any remaining had skittered away. The air was heavy with smoke and charred flesh.

Jake dropped to his stomach and peered over the edge, his light flickering over the bumpy walls. "Dad! Dad! He's okay, he's right there!" _Please be okay, please be okay_. Cael lay on a thin ledge, sideways, one arm dangling downward. He was so still, obviously unconscious. He was only about ten feet down. "Cael!"

"Jake, stop. Don't wake him." Henry had come up beside him, was breathing hard. "God." He ran a shaky hand over his chin. "If he wakes and starts flailing...he'll fall. Okay, okay. One of us has to get down there right now, before..." Henry was up and running across the cave, stepping over burnt and still glowing gremlins, to get the duffel.

Jake was up and ready, grabbing at the rope. "I'll do it."

Henry's brows lowered, the same way Cael's did when he didn't like something.

"There's no way I'll be able to pull both you and Cael up," Jake reasoned. Of course he wasn't sure his dad could pull him and his brother up either, but they'd worry about that later. Right now he had to get down there and keep Cael from shifting in his sleep and...Jake swallowed, desperately wanting visual confirmation that that hadn't happened while they were getting the rope.

Not wasting another moment, Henry shoved part of the rope into Jake's hands and then began tying one end around his own waist. "He's not that far down so tie yourself in the middle of the rope. Leave enough length to secure around Cael once you get down there. Around each leg and looped around your waist—like a climber's chair—you remember how to do that?"

"Yeah Dad." He made a loop around one leg, then knotted it so it wouldn't slip tight and cut off his circulation.

"Once you get down there, use the remainder of the rope and tie it around your brother the same way," he explained again, a telling sign of his father's worry. "Okay? You got this?"

"I got it. Don't worry. I won't let him fall."

Henry gripped Jake's arm. "I know you won't."

They each hurried to get their parts of the rope tied properly. When they were ready, Henry ran over to Jake's "tonsil" wall that split the tunnel in two. He went through one side and emerged out the other side, trailing the rope around the rock and came back to Jake. "Ready?"

Jake nodded, knowing that as his dad walked slowly back toward the tonsil stone, the rope would wind back around, making him lower. Normally he'd hesitate before stepping off a ledge, but Cael was down there. Cael could fall. Without a second thought, Jake stepped backwards, planting the soles of his boots against the wall. And watched his dad take a step at the same time he took a step downward. Soon he was past the lip and staring at the wall of the tunnel.

His shoulder throbbed where the damn beastie had bitten him, but he moved through it anyway. He could worry about that later.

He walked down along the side of where Cael lay as his dad let the rope out, until he was even with his brother. Too afraid to call out to his dad to stop in case his yell inadvertently woke Cael, he kicked off the wall, making the rope slap at the top of the hole, hoping his dad got the message.

As the rope swung out, Jake took advantage and jerked it sideways so when he came back against the wall he was right in front of Cael.

His descent immediately stopped. Message received.

"Kay, buddy," he whispered, relief flooding through his veins that he was there. First things first. Jake didn't dare brush his fingers over Cael's skin to check him. The kid was still in a pretty precarious position. Even with Jake blocking the way, he was on a rope. A rope that could swing away from the wall if Cael shifted and Cael could still roll off between him and the ledge.

So resisting the urge to do a quick assessment, find out how his brother was hurt, why he was unconscious, instead Jake brought the rest of the rope dangling beneath him up and snaked it under one of Cael's legs to begin the first loop and knot. He was on the second leg when Cael started rousing.

And rolling forward.

"Cael. Stop." Heart racing, Jake pressed back on Cael to keep him put, but it only made Jake swing out, scooting Cael's hip across the ledge since his legs were looped in the rope. If Cael came off the ledge now, he'd fall back and his legs would just slip out. He had to get the rope secured around Cael's waist and get him tied upright against him. "Cael. Don't move. Wake up, wake up now." Jake threw as much authority in his voice as he knew how, even though the tremor bled through. "Cael, you be still, you hear me. You be still."

As if the order penetrated through the clouds of sleep, Cael's muscles relaxed and he settled.

"Jake?" Henry's voice filtered from above, worry straining the timbre.

"We're okay," Jake called up, a little high-pitched. "Almost ready."

"Jake?" The slight murmur brought his gaze back down. Cael's eyelids were lifting drowsily.

Jake didn't have time to ease him into anything. "Cael, stay very still. You trust me, right?"

That made the sixteen-year-old's eyes flash open.

"Don't look down." Jake softened his tone. "And don't move except how I tell you."

"Wha—?"

"You fell. But I'm gonna get this rope around you and we're getting out of here. Don't look down," he cautioned again, seeing Cael's gaze dip low. The kid's eyes snapped back up at the order.

"You have to do everything I tell you. Okay?"

Cael nodded. Warmth settled in Jake's chest, knowing in normal situations his sibling would balk at a suggestion like that, but when it counted, he trusted without exception.

"Okay. I need you to sit up. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah." Cael's voice rasped—like his morning voice, still groggy with slumber.

"Just take it slow. There's not much room to maneuver."

Jake anchored his hands on the wall while Cael pushed himself up, scooting carefully until he was sitting on the lip of the ledge. Once he was up, Jake could make out the raw skin on the side of Cael's face he had been laying on. It looked like road rash where he'd probably scraped across the wall going down. He imagined there was probably a hefty goose-egg that went along with it just under his hair somewhere. He tamped down the worry over that and immediately set to getting the rope around the kid's back and then to the front where he started tying it to the part of the rope around his own chest with a slip knot that could be pulled tighter once Cael was off the ledge.

He had it nearly secured when a soft scratch made the hair on his arms stand on end. He turned his head, sweeping the headlamp's beam with him and found himself staring into the small beady eyes of a gremlin climbing up the wall next to them. Jake swallowed past a sudden lump and looked down. Several more were climbing up from the darkness below. _Sonofa..._

Jake looked back to the monster next to them. Things were even uglier up close. The gremlin's rubbery lips pulled back from curving teeth in a snarl as Jake pulled the slipknot tight and shouted, "Dad! Now!"

The rope immediately jerked. Cael and Jake's chests bumped together and Jake just held on, bracing his feet on every little protuberance, trying to help his dad with their weight as much as he could.

They were moving slow, but steadily upward in jerks and stops. Jake could only imagine his dad up above, straining against their combined weight, using the tonsil rock as leverage for his feet. Cael's arms wrapped around his back, clinging to the ropes.

The gremlin moved with them, stopping when they stopped, until it finally scampered the rest of the way over the top.

"Dad, look out!" Jake screamed at the same time Henry shouted and the beast shrieked and suddenly they were falling, the walls of the hole rushing past them, crashing into several gremlins that peeled away. They slammed into the rock and Cael's body went limp, his head and arms falling back as the rope wrenched to a stop.

"Cael! Jake!" The call came from far overhead. Jake was breathing so hard he couldn't speak. "Boys! Answer me dammit!"

"We're good," Jake squeaked, and then tried again. "Good, Dad." Except they weren't. Cael had smacked into the wall, hard. "Just get us out of here!" He pulled Cael's head to his shoulder, felt wetness in the matted hair and rough broken skin at the back of his head.

The rope moved upward again, slower than before. His dad's muscles had to be burning, but Jake knew his father wouldn't give up. The intervals between stopping and inching upward became longer. He looked around to pinpoint the gremlins. Apparently their little tumble, knocking several of them off the wall, had them spooked because they were keeping a wary distance. A few skittered up to the ceiling, moving out of sight.

"Dad, there's gremlins above you!"

"I know." Jake was shocked his dad's voice was so close. His gaze shot up, his line of sight barely an inch higher than the rim. His dad was flat on his back, head and shoulders over the hole. He pulled on the rope that ran back toward the tonsil rock and around it, trailing along the ground to them. Most alarming was the gremlin clamped around his leg, teeth embedded in Henry's thigh and his dad not doing a damn thing about it because pulling on that rope, getting his boys out of that hole was Henry Gillant's highest priority.

Henry shifted back some more, farther out over the hole, and Jake realized that his father was ready to go over the edge, taking the gremlin's weight with him to give his sons that last little pull that would carry them up out of there.

"Dad?"

"Get Cael out of here. That's an order."

"I'm tying off as soon as we're up."

Henry nodded. The rope was around his waist. He could climb back up. Their dad could do anything. He could climb up. Jake could pull him up. They would do this. Get Cael out. Pull dad up. Doable. All doable. Jake's heart was beating a mile a minute.

Henry shifted again. The rope inched higher. Jake braced a hand on the ledge, the other still cradling Cael's head.

And a gremlin ran across the ground, grabbed Cael by the shoulders and heaved up like he weighed nothing. Since Jake was tied to him he was lifted too and then they were being dragged across the ground, Cael's body bouncing roughly beneath Jake's.

They came to an abrupt stop when the rope twisted around the tonsil pillar, grainy hemp digging into their flesh. Jake felt Cael's body lift as the beast tugged the kid's arm and bit into it. Jake screamed, shoving, slapping at the monster, but with the way he was tied to Cael on his stomach, he couldn't get any leverage.

But their dad had somehow gotten up, gotten the other gremlin off his leg and was there, stabbing his knife into the leathery back over and over until the grotesque head lifted, hissing and Henry kicked it away. Again, again, stomping on the short neck while bones crunched beneath his boot and the little beastie went still.

Pivoting, Henry slashed the blade through one of the ropes between the boys, giving Jake room to work, and dropped the knife before racing away. As his fingers curled over the hilt, Jake heard the whoosh of a propane torch and the squeal of monsters being burned.

Jake made quick work of the rope, getting himself separated from Cael just as their dad ran back and thrust both propane torches in Jake's hands then bending, scooped Cael over his shoulder and ran.

There was no need for spoken orders. Jake was on gremlin burning duty. Seeing the remaining Hobbit wannabes were still fleeing the other way from Henry's last eruptions of flames, Jake raced after his family.

Henry was just up ahead, running with a tight limp. Cael's arms swayed against their father's back with each pounding step. They raced to the cave exit. Skidding to one knee, Henry pulled Cael gently from his shoulder, laying him on the ground by the opening. "Jake, you first, and pull your brother out. Go Jake, now!"

The gremlins were getting closer. He could hear them pattering across the rock. A lot of them by the sound of it. Jake dropped the torches near his dad and scrambled beneath the low opening, twisting around on his belly to reach back and grab the leg of Cael's jeans and the bunched material of the kid's jacket just beneath his armpit. Scooting backwards, he dragged his young sibling across the sand and out into the night. Loud screeches and the flash of fire flickered from inside.

Trusting his dad to do his job and knowing his dad was trusting him to get Cael out of there, Jake wrapped his arms beneath his brother's shoulders and started dragging him backwards across the ravine to the other slope, the wounds on his own shoulder in agony, his gaze steady on the flashing firelight coming from inside the cave.

All at once his dad was out, running fast, a dark silhouette rimmed by flames spouting far behind him as Henry twisted, still running, the torch on its highest setting, arcing a jet of flames yards and yards behind him, flames that poured over short little monsters that spilled out of the cave after him. Monsters that erupted into fireballs that spun off across the ground, spun over fuse lines laid down for dynamite.

The explosion kicked across the air, rolling through the ground, rocking Jake off his feet and tearing Cael out of his arms.

Six

Henry came to, coughing so hard he thought he might break a rib. Miraculously his headlamp was still on. Sooty dust and leaves and other debris clouded the air in the beam's light. _Gremlins. Explosion. Shit_. A moan rumbled inside his chest though he couldn't hear it over the shrill ring vibrating in his head. He must not have been out long if the air was still settling.

He'd been running full out, knowing the gremlins and the fire and the dynamite...and his sons...Henry shot up to a sitting position and the world immediately took a slow revolution around him. He waited for it to pass, fear steeping incrementally. Had the boys gotten far enough away before the cave was blown to hell?

Shaking, he took a quick inventory for injuries. Except for his thigh that burned where the gremlin's teeth clamped down, he'd come out of this rather unscathed. He got to his feet slowly and shouted, "Boys!" _That_ he heard. It sounded far away and buried in mud, but he could hear his voice, which meant once the ringing subsided he'd be fine.

"Jake! Cael!" He started walking upslope, feeling the rise of ground through the strain on his legs, because he certainly couldn't see anything in the dark smoke-filled night.

"Dad."

Henry paused, uncertain of the direction the call came from. Had to be a shout, though beneath the ringing it was barely a whisper.

A hand clasped around his arm and Henry startled, unaccustomed to not being able to hear another's approach. Jake, covered with dirt and ash, his headlamp gone, and Henry realized Jake must have found him by following the light of his beam.

Jake's eyes were wide, his mouth moving. Kid was freaking out. Henry leaned forward trying to catch words. "Can't find...gone...ripped away...don't..."

"Cael?" Cael was gone. Jake couldn't find him. Henry grasped Jake's forearms. "Son, I can't hear you. Too close to the denotation. Show me where you were."

Jake's distressed eyes tracked around in confusion. Everything was dark, hazy. The pitch of night layered with smoke and swirling debris. Several of the smaller trees were now splintered, downed. Henry's heart dropped. If Cael was beneath one of those..."That's okay, we'll find him. Your best guess, Jake. In relation to the cave, where were you?"

They both looked back to where the cave entrance once was, still easy to locate with shells of monsters glowing like embers.

Jake tugged him forward, shuffling. Henry stopped, knowing instantly that something was wrong. He looked down, the light showing Jake was barely putting any weight on his right foot. "Ankle?"

"Doesn't matter." Jake shook his head. Henry heard that more clearly, the ringing lessening.

"Sit down. I'll look for Cael."

"No Sir." _That_ Henry heard distinctly. Jake hobbled forward again. "Not until we know Cael's okay."

Henry wasn't going to argue, knowing Jake would crawl around the entire slope if it came to it. "All right. You take it slow. Search a tight area and I'll range wide." Jake nodded agreement to that. "Where do you think you were?"

His son looked back at the cave, lips smacking repeatedly together the way they did when he was nervous, yet trying to stay focused. Resolved, his dirty face hardened, lips stopped moving. "This way. I'm pretty sure we were just over here." He limped a few yards up the slope and then turned to face the cave. "I was pulling him." He cupped his arms out as though he still dragged his brother. His breathing was increasing, chest rising and falling in hard pants. "Then the explosion...and Cael..." Jake shook his head, eyes wide. "...Cael was torn away. Dad, I don't know which way...he was just all of a sudden gone...I don't know which way."

"It's all right." Henry forced his voice to be steady. Seeing his usually unruffled son breaking scared him. "He couldn't have been thrown far." _But he was thrown_. They all were. "We'll find him." Henry pulled the headlamp off his own head and handed it to Jake. He wanted to keep him within his sight as well as give Jake the added benefit of seeing where he placed his injured foot. "I'm going to look right. You search a small grid around here." He patted Jake's shoulder. "We'll find him."

Jake nodded rapidly and angled the small square lamp in his hand to illuminate the ground. Henry turned to go in the opposite direction. He could barely see a thing and all the torn leaves and soot that had settled from the thick air, that were still settling, left a lumpy carpet of bits and fragments that all looked the same.

He walked slowly, feeling carefully for twigs and rocks beneath his foot before shifting his weight on each step. He couldn't afford to twist his ankle, not when both his sons were counting on him. His thigh was killing him. He was twenty steps out. In combat he'd seen men ride a blast-wave pretty far, but no farther than twenty steps, unless they rolled when they hit. Which in this situation meant downhill. Henry sidestepped to move down the slope a little and the side of his boot slid in the dirt, coming to rest against something soft, pliable.

He froze. His pulse banged in his ears as loudly as the ringing had earlier.

He crouched down, afraid to hope that they'd get this lucky. He couldn't see a damn thing. He felt around with his hands, meeting fabric, grainy with dirt. Bunching it between his fingers, he found goose-pebbled skin beneath, the dip between hips and back, the knobby bones of Cael's spine. And small movements with each inhalation on the boy's side. Henry squeezed his eyes closed, letting the shakiness of the sudden relief work through him. He needed that light.

"Jake! Over here!"

He watched as the receding light suddenly changed direction, coming right at him. As Jake picked his way over, Henry checked for a pulse—slow, but there. He ran his hands over Cael's back, over his legs, finding nothing of immediate concern. One of the kid's arms was bent awkwardly beneath him. Henry didn't dare move it—or him—until he could see what he was doing. The back of Cael's head had a nasty gash that was wet and filthy, but not bleeding profusely, probably more to the dirt packed in it than anything else.

When the light played over them, Henry realized exactly how lucky they'd been. Cael was covered in the same debris that blanketed the ground, hair, clothes, skin, even his boots, blending in completely. Had it been daylight, they still wouldn't have been able to see him. Although he and Jake were likewise covered, it hadn't occurred to Henry what they could have been up against.

"Dad?" Jake was staring, his voice child-like. "Is he...?"

"He's alive, Jake. He's going to be fine."

Jake's legs seemed to go out from under him and he sank wobbly to his knees. Henry glanced at him briefly, noting the glassiness to his gaze. "Hold the light. I need to turn him."

Jake nodded, steadied the headlamp in his grip.

Reaching over Cael and under to hold his arm steady, Henry lifted Cael by the chest, rolling him by the shoulder back toward him while gently guiding his arm. He got him on his back, checking his arm first. "Wrist's broken." He pressed Cael's stomach. "Soft." Felt each rib. Cael's face was streaked with dirt, long eyelashes coated and making them look even thicker. Henry slid his fingers gently around each contour, noting the scrapes on his cheek and a goose-egg beneath the hairline above his temple. Two head injuries within minutes of each other. He'd been unconscious for a long time. Not good.

Jake watched silently. And earlier Henry had thought the kid could never be still. Worry streamed between them, a heavy twisting thing. "He's in good shape, Jake. His wrist is the only thing broken."

"And his head," Jake whispered.

_And his head_. Henry swallowed.

Jake lowered his palm slowly to rest on Cael's forehead as though he'd been afraid to touch him until now. "Dad, Cael didn't flinch when that gremlin bit into his arm. How far out of it do you have to be to not feel a gremlin biting you?"

Henry's fingers shook, curling into the material of Cael's dirty jacket. He remembered the shooting pain of the creature's teeth piercing his thigh. He wanted to reassure Jake, didn't know how. "We..." He cleared his tightening throat. "We need to get to the top of the slope, get out of this smoke, get a fire going and get your brother warm."

"We're staying the night?" Jake sounded all of five.

"You can't walk out on that ankle in the dark."

"But you could go, get Cael out..."

"Jake, I'm not sure I can do any better on this leg. One misstep for either of us, especially carrying Cael. Son, his head can't take any more abuse. Besides, we need to stick together."

"Yeah, okay."

"Think you can make it up the hill? I don't want any of us breathing this in all night."

"I'll make it."

"Didn't even need to ask, did I?"

"No, sir." _That's my boy._

Not wanting Cael's wrist to dangle, Henry carried him in his arms this time. It was slow going. He couldn't see where he stepped, had to rely on Jake splashing the way ahead with light and feeling each step. Even with Cael's slender build, teenagers were heavy and unwieldy, long legs and his uninjured arm dangling. Except that arm was injured too. Henry had forgotten. The gremlin bit him and hadn't that been a sight to jolt a father's adrenaline into full gear?

As they neared the top, the air cleared, the smoke and debris settling into the ravine. Henry spotted a good sized boulder with a nice area between several trees to get a fire going. He headed over there.

"Jake, push a bunch of that leaf-litter in front of the rock before I lay him down." His arms were aching, leg throbbing, but Henry held his son a while longer while Jake was on the ground, hurriedly pushing most of the fallen leaves into a pile, leaving the dirt beneath bare as he smoothed it out into a long bed.

Grateful, Henry laid his son down. The headlamp flickered, batteries nearing their end. They'd have only the glow from the three-quarter moon left to see by. Henry exhaled, staring at his youngest's still features, concern over how long he'd been out gnawing at him.

Henry stood, waited for the sudden flare of pain in his leg to subside. It didn't. He sighed. He was tired. "Jake."

"Yeah Dad?"

"You still have your lighter?"

Jake nodded. Henry smiled. "Clear an area for a fire. I'll be right back."

"Here." Jake reached up to hand Henry the waning headlamp. He didn't have to go more than a few steps. There was plenty of broken branches and tree limbs. Henry picked the driest pieces, stacking them next to Jake who already had the beginnings of a fire going with teepee'ed twigs over dry pine needles. Henry took a couple more trips to make sure they had enough wood throughout the night. Selecting a few strips of bark he could work into splints for both boys, Henry settled once more by Cael's side.

Kid still hadn't moved and the snaking fear over that slithered up Henry's spine. "Cael? Son, can you hear me? I need you to wake up now." He continued to murmur to him as he worked Cael's filthy jacket off, careful of the broken wrist and then again of the bites on his other arm. The arms of Cael's T-shirt and skin of his forearms were clean, a stark contrast to the rest of him. It almost looked like the kid wore gloves.

Pulling the flask of holy water from the inside pocket of his jacket, Henry poured it over the bite marks. He waited, hoping that might have made Cael at least stir, but there was no reaction. The worry slinked farther up his spine.

Jake crawled up beside him. "What can I do?"

"Start unlacing his boots." Cael was the only one of them without an injury to his leg, but also the one who probably wouldn't be walking out of here on his own power. "Use the bark and laces to splint his wrist." Henry shrugged out of his own jacket, started unbuttoning his shirt to get to his T-shirt beneath. He wished they still had the duffel that had been left behind in the cave. Some supplies would be nice about now. But when it came to a choice between their equipment and one of his sons, his child would win out every time.

Jake had one lace out and moved to Cael's other side to work on the other boot.

"Do you still have your flask?"

Jake looked up, stopped what he was doing to check his inside pocket where Henry insisted they both keep consecrated water on them. Henry pulled his T-shirt over his head and poured water over one corner of it.

Jake pulled his flask out. "Got it. Need more?"

Henry carefully turned Cael's head and gingerly began cleaning out the gash. "I think I have enough. Not much I can do with this at any rate without making it bleed more. I should have enough to tend to your shoulder so we can drink whatever is left in yours. I think I felt the flask in Cael's jacket as well, so we should be good. Jake?"

Henry glanced up at his oldest's uncharacteristic silence. Normally there would have been a _I can pour water on my own damn shoulder_ outburst. Jake stared at the laces and bark in his hands like he didn't know what to do with them. Henry leaned closer, staring at Jake over Cael's body. Firelight reflected in Jake's eyes. His pupils were huge. _Dammit. He should have known._ All the signs were there. His slower mannerisms, the way his voice sounded like a much younger child... _Shock._

"Jake, I need you to lie down. Right now."

His gaze filtered sluggishly upward. "Wha...? But Cael." Forehead creased. "I need to...something...for Cael."

Stubborn mule, even when he was shaken and didn't know exactly what was going on anymore. "That's right. You need to take care of Cael. Cael's cold. You need to lie down next to him right now and keep him warm."

Henry quickly moved around Cael to get to Jake. He spread more of the leaf-litter out to give Jake a place next to his brother where the cold ground wouldn't seep up into his bones.

"Cael's cold?" Jake looked up at Henry, his eyes liquid and pleading to know what to do and Henry wanted to weep.

"Lay down right here. Stay on your back." He lifted Cael's injured hand so it wouldn't be jostled while wriggled on. Once Jake was settled, Henry laid his jacket over them both, keeping Cael's hand out so he could splint it.

Henry sank back on his heels, breathing a moment, before he set back to work. He splinted a wrist. Splinted an ankle. Washed Jake's shoulder and then tackled the bites on his own leg. All the while Jake murmured, fidgeting in sleep, the signs of shock lessening...and Cael remained deathly still.

By the time he'd done everything he could do for them, Henry was exhausted. He added more wood to the fire, put his long-sleeved shirt back on and sat on the other side of Cael, keeping him between himself and Jake. He leaned back against the boulder and found it surprisingly comfortable.

His eyes felt grainy, his body tired beyond belief, his leg throbbing. He'd like nothing better than to close his heavy eyelids, give in to exhaustion, but he was his children's vigil.

Soft movement tugged at his aching leg. Instantly alert, Henry glanced down at the long fingers grabbing at a wrinkled fold in his jeans.

"Cael?" he whispered. _Thank God, thank God._

The sooty head tilted upward, large eyes glimmering in the fire's glow within the ash-caked face.

"Wha...happen—?" Cael moaned, the muscles in his face tightening in pain, cracking lines in the dried dirt coating his features.

"Hey, easy. C'mere." Henry shifted Cael up higher, pulling him against his side, tucked beneath his protective arm, head on his chest. At the movement, Jake stirred, readjusting his position closer against Cael's leg.

Cael moved his head just enough to see what was moving against him. "Is Jake okay?"

Henry smiled. "Hurt his ankle. He'll be fine."

"And you're okay?" But before Henry could answer, Cael whimpered, his hand curling tight onto Henry's shirt. His bright, capable, too-reckless-for-his-own-good teenager was whimpering.

"Is it your head?"

Cael's nod was infinitesimal and tight. That's it. Along with his lighter and consecrated water, he was also carrying pain meds on his person for now on too.

Placing his large palm on Cael's head, he started massaging, careful to not go directly over the wounds. "Does that help?"

"A little." Cael's voice was small, hurting. Henry continued the slow rhythm, hoping to lull the pain away. He needed a distraction.

"Jake mentioned you'd been to _Karavel_."

"Just before we met up with you." A huff. "Ran out of _omthrodite_."

Henry frowned. "You been plugging a lot of Hell-holes I should know about?"

Cael snuggled in closer. "Just one. It was big."

O'Reilly had reported in the other day about a larger than average Hell-hole too. If that was going to be the new norm, he'd have to get more of the crystals from Celalundria to supply the squad with. Being able to go to _Karavel_ themselves, Henry hadn't told his sons that their mother smuggled the crystals and other weapons out to him monthly. He owed Cela that much, knowing Jake would never step foot into his mother's dimension if he didn't have to make a supply run.

"Dad?"

The pads of Henry's fingers kept steady pressure on Cael's head. It seemed to be working, Cael was sinking closer into him. "

"When Jake and I came to live with you, did Mom tell you what happened?"

Henry frowned. He wished he could see more than just the top of the kid's head. Cael's face was always so expressive, he could generally tell exactly what he was thinking. "Just that some of the initiates had gotten rough." Rough. They'd broken three ribs, nearly punctured a lung. And the kid's face... Henry had gotten Cael to the military hospital—the special part of the hospital that knew what his squad did and didn't bat eyes at unusual wounds and infections. Or different Anointed blood cells and anatomy.

Cael tilted his head upward to look at him and something tugged in Henry's chest at the trusting eyes.

"Why?" Cael had hardly spoken about it. Henry wondered what had happened in _Karavel_ for Cael to bring it up now. His fingers stopped moving for a moment. "Something you want to tell me, son?"

"No."

Which was pretty much always Cael's answer when nudged about it. Truth was, Henry suspected it had been more than an initiation mishap. He'd been in the military long enough to know the difference between accidental wounds and purposely inflicted ones. He'd just been so worried at first, and then so damn glad that he had the boys with him now, out of the Anointed dormitories where _accidents_ couldn't touch them anymore. He hadn't pressed Cael for answers. But something obviously had recently rattled the boy, pulling out old memories that it was past time to address.

"How's your head?"

"Better?" Which meant it still hurt like a mother. "Can you keep rubbing?"

"All night, kiddo."

"Mmmmm." Cael nuzzled against him the way he used to when he was small and everything inside of Henry went soft. The teen would be mortified if he wasn't hurting so bad. Henry continued rubbing Cael's head, slow firm strokes and he soon felt the heaviness of sleep overtake Cael's body.

He kept up the little massage for another thirty minutes until his hands grew tired and Cael no longer whimpered when he paused. Tucking him closer into his side, Henry rested his cheek along the top of Cael's head to wait out the rest of the night.

Seven

Jake cracked his eyes open and was met by a dirty boot missing its laces next to his nose. _Laces? Cael's wrist._ He lifted his head, followed ash-encrusted jeans up to see something that made him blink the sleep out of his eyes. Cael was sleeping nestled tightly to their father's side. Their dad had his arms loosely wrapped around the kid, his features relaxed. The embers of the fire were a dull glow in the pre-dawn light.

"Dad?"

Henry's eyes tracked over to him.

"Is Cael going to be all right?"

"He's gonna be fine. He woke up a few hours ago, was alert and talking."

_Atta boy._ It felt like Jake's muscles had been tense for hours and finally loosened.

"Keep an eye on him for a while." Henry started shifting out from under the teen, settling him back against the boulder.

"Where you going?" Jake eyed his father as he stood, stretching strained limbs. He grimaced as he worked a hand over his thigh.

"Down the slope. I just want to make sure the detonation took care of the cave and there isn't a way for any gremlins to get out." Jake's nose crinkled at that, imagining the surviving beasties stuck inside with nothing to eat but each other. Talk about survival of the fittest.

As Henry shuffled out of view, Jake scooted up to sit next to his brother. His shoulder wasn't as bad as it was yesterday and with his ankle splinted, it hardly hurt at all. Course he hadn't put any weight on it yet. Walking out of here was going to suck big time. "Hey, Cael," he nudged his sibling, wanting to see for himself that he was okay.

Cael's face immediately crinkled. "What?"

"You okay?"

"I was." Kid's eyes slipped open, bright in the streaked face. "Now my head hurts."

"Sorry." Cael was awake. He was being bitchy and he was okay. He'd been so still last night. "Is it bad?"

"Just a headache. I've had worse."

"Sure you have." Jake grinned.

"Where's Dad?" Cael's gaze flickered around, worried.

"He just went to make sure all the stupid gremtards are dead."

"Are they?"

"Yeah." Jake bumped his shoulder into Cael's. "You know Dad, has to be sure."

"Yeah, okay." Cael started messing with the bark securing his wrist. "Hey, Jake?"

Jake turned to look directly at Cael and was surprised by the slight smile. Even with a pounding headache and after everything they'd just been through, Cael looked oddly happy...like he'd just figured out the algorithm of some geeky mathematics formula.

"Do you think next time Dad could just call in an air strike?"

~~~

Every step pierced Cael's head like a sledgehammer striking against his temples. His brother and father were getting farther ahead of him even though they both limped, Jake with a twisted ankle and Dad with a wound in his thigh where one of the Gremlins bit him. They'd still insisted on practically carrying Cael out of the forest sandwiched between them until they draped his arms over their shoulders and the pain in his broken wrist and burning from the gremlin bite on his other arm flared so hard he couldn't stop the grimace.

They'd had no choice, except to let him walk out on his own power. Now he wondered if that had been a good idea because his head throbbed every time he put his foot down, no matter how gingerly. His skull pulsated with bruising pain that hammered behind his eyes, making everything turn a sort of grayish color.

He stared down at his boots, the tongues flopping outward without any laces to hold them tight, and willed himself to take another shuffling step, knowing the explosion it would cause inside his head. His dad and Jake limped farther ahead, so focused on keeping themselves upright, they didn't yet notice Cael had fallen behind.

_Gotta suck it up_. The SUV couldn't be that much farther, right? Cael hobbled his weight forward—and all two-hundred tons of a runaway freight train crashed through the cavity of his brain. His legs buckled and his sight faded at the same moment a hairless creature scurried across his view, between him and his family. Pitching sideways, he blindly threw out his arms to stop his fall, crying out as he found a tree and the jolt on his broken wrist vibrated up his entire arm.

"Hey, hey." His dad was suddenly near, large warm palms pressing on his shoulders. "Stay down. Easy."

He was down? Cael's sight returned, making slow orbits around the ground mere inches from Cael's face as he knelt, curled over his arms. His skull rattled like the aftershocks of someone gone crazy with a giant gong.

"It's your head, right? How bad?" Jake's voice, getting right to the source of the matter.

"Just..." Cael winced. How the hell did just talking hurt this much? "Need a moment."

"Long as you need," Henry said, his hands steady on his shoulders. "Truck's not that far." Cael could tell his dad wasn't talking to him. "I'm going to go ahead, get the kit. Wish these trees weren't so thick, I'd drive right back to you."

"Dad, I can go," Jake said.

"Don't want you having to make the trip three times on that ankle. My leg's better off walking the stiffness out anyway. Stay here with your brother."

"Kay."

"Cael." Dad's hands squeezed his shoulders. "Hang in there. I'll be back soon with something for your head." The palms slipped away and Cael heard footfalls moving away across soil.

"Hey, Cael?" Jake's hand replaced Dad's, sliding across the back of Cael's neck. "You wanna try and sit up or does keeping your head low help?"

He wasn't sure. "It just hurts when..." He sucked in a breath.

"Whenever you move. Been there, bro. Head wounds are bitches. That position doesn't look too comfortable. Let me know if you want to move and I can help."

"Wanna sit up."

"Okay. We'll take it slow."

Jake's palm slipped beneath Cael's forehead, pressing warm and firm. He nearly wept at the slight ease of pressure it provided as though Jake somehow knew exactly where to hold his head. Jake's other arm slid across Cael's chest and together, very slowly, Jake letting him take the lead on how fast he wanted to move, they got him up into a sitting position, leaning back against Jake's chest.

Jake kept his palm firmly against Cael's forehead, an anchor against the angry mallet battering a nail between his eyes.

"Jake?"

"I know it hurts. Don't speak if you don't have to."

Jake was right about that. Just swallowing hurt. But as he was falling, he thought he saw one of the little beasties. "Gremlin's are..."

"All gone. Don't worry about those anymore. Dad checked the cave-in."

"But what if one got out...?"

"Before the blast?" Jake paused. With his back pressed against Jake's chest, Cael felt the slight hitch in his brother's breathing. "I'm pretty sure nothing survived that detonation."

Kay, yeah, yeah. If Jake said they got them all, they got them all.

Cael stayed very still against Jake, listening to the chirps of the little gray birds that flew from branch to branch above them. The jackhammer pulsed beneath the steady pressure of Jake's palm on his head, taking the edge off and he found that if he remained very still, the pounding died down to a bearable throb.

He let his eyes slip closed, must have fallen asleep, because he didn't hear any footsteps signaling his father's return, just an abrupt voice. "How is he?"

Cael jerked awake, wishing he hadn't at the sudden spike of pain and dizziness. Crouching in front of him, his father seemed to tilt sideways—or maybe it was him.

"Easy, son." Dad finally settled, no longer tilting, the lines of worry deepened beneath the ash and dirt streaking the strong features. "You okay?" Two sets of hands steadied him.

"His head's still hurting," Jake answered for him, which was just as well since Cael didn't think he could so much as move his lips without making his head implode, let alone form a coherent answer.

A calloused hand pushed his bangs back. "Son, I found some leftover hydrocodone. Just gonna slip them into your mouth. There that's good."

Cael felt like a friggin two-year-old, needing his dad to put the pills in his mouth and hold the water bottle to his lips. He'd be completely humiliated if his head didn't hurt so horribly with the slightest movement. He'd worry about being embarrassed later because right now he was just so grateful his dad and brother were here to take care of him. The only thing he could concentrate on was staying impossibly still to minimize the pain.

"That's it. Good. Just take it easy and rest for a while until these kick in." His dad's long fingers started rubbing his head like he had last night. Having something else to focus on, Cael let his eyes close, sinking back against Jake, feeling more love for these two men than a sixteen-year-old knew what to do with. "We don't have anywhere special we need to be. Just let the medicine do its work." Their strong badass drill sergeant of a father was practically cooing and it made all sorts of things swirl around inside Cael's chest.

"Here, Jake, I want you to take one as well." Dad's voice was back to normal.

"I'm good. Save them for Cael," Jake answered.

"We have enough."

"But what if..." The conversation soared above him as Cael sank into sleep, warmed by his father's capable fingers massaging away the pain.

~~~

"Hey, there you are, drooley."

Cael woke with the side of his face on Jake's damp knee. His hair was wet, dripping into his eyes. Must have been what woke him up. "Wha...?" His voice rasped. Great.

"Just cleaned out your wounds while you were out."

"Wounds?"

"Head, dumbtard. Ring any bells? Gremlins kicked your ass, batted your head around cave walls. Not once, but twice."

He didn't remember that at all. He remembered the gremlins though and Iason's sightless eyes staring up at him. "Didn't kick my ass." He hissed when Jake pressed something over his temple. Felt like gauze.

"Hold still, will ya?" Jake pushed Cael's hand away. "Gotta tape this down." The first-aid kit was right in front of Jake's crossed legs, open, with bloody wet gauze tossed to the side. Empty water bottles were also strewn about. They must have used them up just cleaning his wounds out.

"Any headaches?" Dad's voice came from the right, startling him. Tilting his face upward, he blinked at him, startled again by Henry's appearance, by the deep worry lines grooved within the contours of his ash-streaked face.

"Not really." Which wasn't the complete truth, but at least the jackhammer striking his brain had dulled down to the level of girly slaps.

A light brow arched.

"It's not as bad," Cael admitted.

"Good," Jake said. "Then maybe we can finally get out of here. I am so dirty, it's starting to itch."

Cael immediately came up with a good insult for that, but he just didn't have the energy to sling it out, which was too bad he thought, because it would have helped Jake to not worry so much, because that's exactly what Jake was doing with his voice all serious again. "Gonna get you sitting up first, nice and slow. Let me know if it makes your head hurt."

"I'm not six, Jake." Felt like it though as both Jake and Dad pulled him gently up, careful of his broken wrist. He felt his face flaming, embarrassed at being the weakest link in the Gillant chain.

"Okay? Ready to stand?" Henry asked, all concern and Cael felt his forehead pull tight. Things must have gone really bad last night.

He nodded, not exactly knowing how to act around a worried dad. "Yeah. I'm good."

Once again, he felt himself hauled up by strong hands supporting his torso and set on his feet where the trees suddenly floated around him and he stilled, locking his muscles tight around the sudden need to push everything up from his empty stomach.

"Lookin a little green around the gills, bro."

"I'm fine. Let's just go." Cael took a step, knowing the older Gillants hovered around him, ready for him to fall, which only made him more determined not to. He shifted forward, satisfied that he could do this since his head only pounded a little with each step. How pathetic he'd be if he couldn't even make it back to the car when both his Dad and Jake were limping.

Just one foot in front of the other, he told himself. Just get to the truck. He felt like crap, nauseous and sweaty. He concentrated so hard on just staying upright, he didn't notice when he nearly walked into the Explorer's front fender.

"Whoa there." Henry steered him around the car. The squeak of the back side door sounded so welcoming, Cael thought he might cry. Jake had the door on the other side opened and a rolled blanket waiting to be used as a pillow before Cael slid onto the back seat.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem. Need anything else?"

"No. Just wanna get to the hotel."

"Yeah, actually..." Henry wavered.

Cael knew what he was gonna say and stiffened. "No, Dad. I don't need to. I'm okay. Really."

"Head wounds aren't something to mess around with. Cael, your melon took a beating."

"But I'm fine now. And how we gonna explain how dirty we are?"

"Cael." Henry's tone changed to the one that never gave an inch. "You were unconscious for hours. I...." His jaw clenched. "You're still not steady on your feet. Your wrist needs a cast anyway. We're going."

"Fine." Cael knew it was a lost argument. He hated hospitals, had spent far too much time there. The thought of going made his stomach roil. "But you're both getting checked out too."

"Fine." Henry and Jake both shut the back doors at the same time. This was going to be a fun drive.

As they climbed into the front and Henry turned the ignition and stepped on the gas, Cael glanced out the back window where a gremlin scurried across the glass and up.

"Dad! There's a gremlin on the roof!"

Henry slammed the breaks so hard, Cael rocked back against the seat and pain exploded in his head. Curling over, he pushed the heels of his hands against his eyes, hearing doors open and Jake and Henry talking over the hood of the SUV.

"Anything?"

"Could've gone up into the branches. Not that far of a jump," Jake reasoned.

"If there was a gremlin. I don't see how. Did you hear anything on the roof?"

"No."

"Cael?" His dad's voice was closer. He probably was leaning into the truck over the seat. "Oh, hey, head again?"

He didn't dare nod, could barely take a breath without the pounding increasing.

"Dad?" Jake's voice was real quiet, like he didn't want Cael to hear. "Do you think he's seeing things?"

"I don't know, son." Dad spoke quietly too. "Let's get him the care he needs. Want to sit in the back?"

"Yes sir."

Doors opened and closed again. Cael was jostled a bit as Jake slipped in beside him, easing an arm around his shoulder and let him roll his hand-covered face against Jake's chest. Cael stayed there the entire ride, palms against his eyes, letting the extra pressure of Jake's body help take the barest brink of the pounding away. He felt like such a child. And as Jake and Henry spoke in hushed murmurs, he didn't try to make out what they said. All he could think about was that gremlin. He had seen it, hadn't he? It seemed so real.

Eight

Henry Gillant could face down ghouls, werewolves, banshees, countless things from the most imaginative nightmares without a blink of his eye, but seeing his bright inquisitive son so still and out of it scared him more than the worse things he had hunted. He glanced at his boys through the rearview mirror. "He asleep?"

"No," Jake answered tightly.

Henry's fingers squeaked around the steering wheel. Hospital was in the next town over and Henry was already driving as carefully and slowly as possible, avoiding every damn pothole on this bumpy country road.

Last night had been horrifying. Henry's stomach turned queasy. He couldn't get the image of Cael disappearing in that hole out of his mind. He thought he'd lost him, right then and there. Henry peeked in the mirror again, grounding himself that Cael was here, safe with them, not gone, not lost and unreachable a thousand feet down. He wished he could see Cael's face, but his son had it pressed hard into Jake's side. The square of gauze on the back of his head was already coming loose, impossible to tape down to that soft tangle of hair, but it didn't appear as though any more blood had seeped through.

That was something, though...Henry breathed out a steadying stream of breath. Something wasn't right. Cael needed more help than he could give him.

"Dad. Look." Jake brought him out of his worried thoughts. "A Vet."

Sure enough, up ahead there was a sign for Blue Ridge Veterinary Clinic with a broad arrow, pointing to a turn-off where a sliver of a dirt road wound its way to what looked more like a ranch spread than a clinic out by itself on a lonely country road.

Henry immediately took the car onto the turn-off. He was well acquainted with smaller clinics, preferring less people, and on occasion less paperwork to deal with—cash under the table so to speak when he couldn't get to the base hospital.

Henry pulled up close to the door, noting there weren't any other cars out front even though it was late afternoon, just an old green pick-up parked out by the barn. Was the clinic closed? Open sign said otherwise.

"Wait here while I check it out."

Inside, the cheery little clinic appeared empty. No customers in the plastic chairs of the waiting room, even though the doors were unlocked and the place was clearly open for business. Henry pushed past the saloon-style swinging shutter doors and into the procedure room, startling a raccoon inside one of the small cages lining the wall. It hissed, slipping a cast-enclosed leg through the thin bars. It was the only animal in the place. Henry also noted the array of medicines stacked on shelves and behind the glass insert doors of wooden cabinets, unattended and easy for the taking. Except Henry wasn't here for supplies.

"Hello?" he called out. "Anyone about?"

Huh. Fists on hips, Henry waited for someone to come out of one of the doors on either side of the procedure room. This was certainly no way to run a business. Frustration mounting, Henry took the door to his right and walked into a kitchen of all things with the back door wide open, letting a warm breeze come in through the screen.

Okay, barn then. Henry marched across the dirt yard toward the large building out back. If he didn't find anyone in there to help him, he was going to come back, scoop as much medicine and supplies as he could carry and get his boys to the hospital the next county over.

"Anyone here? Oh." Stepping into the barn, Henry winced. Now that was a sight you didn't come across every day. A wiry geezer stood a few feet away with his left arm elbow deep in the rectum of a cow.

"Like I thought. Pregnant," the guy announced. "Hand me that towel, will you?"

"Oh. Um, sure." Henry grabbed one of the linens folded neatly on top of a stainless steel table and held it out to the vet who smoothly removed his arm and pulled the nastily long sterile glove from his hand. Studiously, Henry set his gaze on the cow who except for a little widening of the round eye seemed to have taken the invasion in stride.

When the guy grabbed the towel, Henry instinctively stepped back, even though he was far more filthy coated in ash and dirt than the vet, but Henry hadn't stuck his arm up any of the gremlins' asses either. "I need your help."

"What I'm here for." The old guy wiped his hands unhurriedly, looking Henry up and down. "Not from around here. You don't look like a rancher. Farmer neither. You a fair-weather hunter?"

Henry jolted.

"You shot one of my neighbors stock, right? Now you want me to fix it?"

Pushing a hand back through his hair, Henry relaxed, realizing he was talking about a different kind of hunting. "No, it's not an animal. My son—"

"Your son's been shot?" That got the man moving through the door. "Why'd you bring him here? Needs a hospital."

Henry hustled after him across the yard. "Not shot. He's banged his head pretty bad. Look. I just panicked, saw your sign..."

The vet threw him a look over his shoulder, measuring as though he didn't for one minute take Henry as the panicking type. "I can at least take a look. Bring him into the clinic while I clean up."

"Thank you," Henry said, running around to the front of the clinic as the vet dashed inside the back door.

"Jake." Henry pulled the Explorer's rear door open as quietly as the old metal would allow, having enough head wounds to know every little squeak was magnified. Two sets of eyes lifted toward him.

"You were gone a long time." Cael's creased features expressed his worry.

The block of ice that'd wedged inside Henry's chest since the moment he saw the kid fall, thawed a little bit. "I know. Took a while to find someone on the property. You look better." At least he wasn't pressed as hard as he could get against Jake anymore. Color wasn't any better though. "Headache ease up?"

Cael's eyes slid to the left, sure sign he didn't want to answer, which was answer enough. "A little," Cael whispered.

Henry's frown matched Jake's. "Come on, let's get you inside."

"But, Dad . . ."

"Cael," Jake took over. "We already talked about this. It's here or a civilian hospital."

Cael's hair lifted as he blew out a huffy breath and Henry smothered a grin.

"Alright, then." That settled, Henry helped him scoot across the seat toward him, where from both sides, he and Jake got him on his feet where his son's features suddenly tensed.

"You good?" Jake's facial expression seemed just as strained.

Cael nodded crisply, though it was more than apparent just standing had made his headache flare again. This couldn't go on. Henry wouldn't let it.

"It's not that far. We're going to carry you."

"Dad, I don't—"

"Wasn't a suggestion."

Henry nodded to Jake and they both slipped an arm beneath Cael's knees and carried him between them like a chair. Henry didn't like the whimper Cael tried to muffle at the slight jostle when they had to pause to get the door open. In moments, they had him laid out on the short stainless steel examining table, looking up at the wiry veterinarian with tufty white hair leaning over him while the raccoon hissed and spit up a racket.

"So what do we have?" Without waiting for an answer, the doctor pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket and slipped them on before turning Cael's head to the side to examine the raised cut on the boy's temple.

"Jake." Henry inclined his head toward the noisy animal and Jake immediately picked up the cage and carried the raccoon into the other room, depositing it and closing the door. They could still hear the ruckus, though muted.

"Now's the time you explain what happened." The guy looked at Henry over the rim of his glasses. His fingers felt along the wound at the back of Cael's head. Cael's lips were clenched, but he kept still for the examination.

Henry nodded. "We were hunting. My son...fell."

"Did he ever lose consciousness?"

Jake's head snapped toward him.

"Yes," Henry supplied. _For too long_. "He was out several hours."

"Hours?" The doc stiffened though he quickly recovered.

"But he woke up last night, was coherent and talking." Henry rambled, wanting so badly for the doctor to reassure him that meant something good. He'd thought the worst was over, but this morning, Cael had been hurting something fierce and out of it.

"He's had a constant headache." Jake supplied and Cael frowned up at him, most likely piecing together for himself just how bad off he'd been and what a scare he'd given his family.

The vet looked from one Gillant to another and sighed. "Head traumas are funny things. Severe and lingering headaches aren't necessarily an indication that something terrible is wrong. Boy's bell was rung hard and headaches are sometimes the body's best defense, a way of righting itself, simple as that. I'm going to run some X-rays to make sure."

"You're equipped for that?"

The doctor gave Jake a bland look. "Animals break bones too, son. I've got to warn you though, if the X-ray shows swelling or skull fractures, I can't help you here. You're going to need a hospital. Deal?"

Henry's worry amped up. Now that the doc had taken charge, he was feeling helpless and the adrenaline he'd been running on was leveling off. "Deal."

"Roll that cart over here, would you." The veterinarian indicated a portable state-of-the-art X-ray machine. "Finished with Cael's head, the guy tapped the bark and shoe laces tied around his wrist. We'll X-ray this too. What's under here?" He began pulling the tape and gauze from Cael's other arm, scraggly brows lifting at the deep bite marks beneath. His gaze lifted accusingly to Henry.

Rolling the X-ray machine's cart next to Cael, Henry quickly covered. "Wolf got at him."

"After he fell." The vet straightened to his full height. "See those diplomas decorating my wall? Those kinda state that I've been at this long enough to know a wolf bite when I see it. This was made by one of those hairless critters been after our livestock."

"You know about those?" Jake's brows collided over perplexed green eyes. "They haven't just taken cattle and sheep. They've gone after people. Why didn't you warn anybody?"

"Who says I didn't? I went to the town council, got laughed out on my ass for my trouble. Even killed one of the things, but the little beast wouldn't go down with rifle-shot alone, took burning it and when I dragged its corpse into town for proof, wasn't enough left and folks believe what they want to believe. I became the laughing stock of the county and you see what that did to my business." He ran an agitated hand through his hair, making the tufts stand up more. "Dammit, if you tangled with one of these things, you've brought them right back to my place."

"We didn't bring any here."

Doc was racing through the kitchen to lock the back door. "Once they have your scent, they'll stick to you like glue."

"Relax." Henry watched the guy hurry to shut the front door. "We got them all."

The vet slid to a stop. "There is no getting them all. I don't know where they came from or how long they've been here, but beginning of last month there was an explosion of the beasts. Hundreds by my estimation and what I've seen done to all the farms' stock around here."

"I'm telling you we got them."

The guy's gaze swept over the Gillants' dirty appearances. All three of them were coated in ash. "Want to explain to me how three guys managed that?"

"Tracked them to their cave. Set explosives. Done deal." Jake folded his arms across his chest. "It's what we do."

Doc seemed to mull that over. "If that's true, then this county owes you some immense gratitude. You're sure you got them all?"

"Absolutely," Jake said.

"Relatively." Henry's answer was a little more practical. "Planning on staying a few days to be sure."

The vet nodded, walked back over to Cael who had his fingers pressed tight to his forehead, pushing the skin above his nose into wrinkles. _Aw, Cael_. It hurt to see his youngest in this level of pain. Cael's chest was rising and falling in quick staccato pants. Henry slipped his palm over Cael's fingers.

"Can you give him anything?" Jake asked, voice quiet.

"That's what I'm trying to determine." The doctor glanced at Jake and his features softened. "Look. We'll take the X-rays, get a look at what we're dealing with. Then I'll know what's safe." He pushed the cord into the outlet and the machine started purring while the doctor punched several buttons and positioned the long arm over Cael's face. "Name's Ellis Walker. Most folks call me Doc Wal."

Henry nodded. "Henry Gillant. My sons, Jake and Cael."

"Hey," Jake mumbled, gaze fixed on the small computer screen built into the X-ray machine that was showing black and white images. Instant images. Nice.

"Cael," Doc Wal's tone was the gentlest Henry had heard him. "I'm going to just turn your head, yeah, that's good. Now hold it right here while I take a look. I know it hurts, but you're doing good."

Henry stared at the screen for another twenty minutes while the vet repositioned him to make sure he got every angle. Henry couldn't make heads or tails out of what he was looking at, just waited silently, tension rising, so the doc could do his job. When he swung the camera's arm out of the way, both he and Jake leaned forward, practically in the man's face.

Nine

Doc Wall eased a step back. "Good news: Your son should be fine. No factures in the skull, no extra fluid or swelling. The headaches should taper off in a few days."

Every muscle in Henry's body seemed to go slack, the relief came so powerfully. He quickly locked his knees to stay standing.

"If the headaches persist," Doc was still talking. "Get him to a hospital or clinic—for people." Martin's brows rose. "And have him checked again. I did find one hairline fracture, but coming at it from a different angle shows signs of calcium growth indicating an old break." Yeah, kid had plenty of those.

Henry suddenly grabbed Walker's hand, grasped in both of his own and began shaking it in earnest. "Thank you, Doc. I can't tell you."

Somewhat taken aback, the vet nodded. "Yeah. My pleasure, especially if what you say about getting rid of those critters is true." He patted Henry's arms and turned away to get something from the cabinet. He came back with a generic bottle of pills. "This will help the headaches, probably put him out for a short time as well."

"But that's for animals," Jake argued.

"Son." Doc looked at him over his bifocals. "This here ain't the big city. We don't have need of fancy wrapped and labeled medication. Folks out here learned a long time ago that the medications used for their livestock had the same ingredients as people medications, but at half the cost." He tapped his head. "Just got to make sure you get the dose right. Don't want to give the same amount to young'un here as I'd give to McDonald's cow out back."

"You have Old McDonald's cow?"

Henry suppressed a grin and lightly cuffed the back of Jake's head instead. Even in the grisliest of situations Jake managed to maintain a lightness and frivolity. He had no idea how much Henry relied on that to keep .his own natural intensity over the bleak realities of the job from throwing him over the edge.

After Cael took his pills, they helped him move to a couch in the living quarters. Doc handed Henry a coarse bar of soap. "I want you and your older boy to shower up and use this."

Henry looked at the soap.

"Made it myself. Those beasts can't stand the stuff."

"Gremlins." Jake pulled a blanket up to Cael's streaked face. Kid's eyes had closed the moment his head hit the cushions.

Doc's brows rose. "Gremlins? Really?"

Jake nodded, not looking away from Cael.

Doc put his glasses back into his pocket. "Well, gremlins then. Fact is, this soap keeps the gremlins away."

"This will cover our scent?" Henry sniffed the bar and got a whiff of lemon and something he couldn't place. Didn't smell pretty. He'd get the ingredients before they left.

"Doesn't cover. Critters can still track you, but they won't eat you. Been keeping the farmers and ranchers on the outskirts supplied with it. Even made a powder to dip their livestock in."

"Your neighbors believed you about the gremlins?"

"Knew it weren't no foxes in the hen house. Only they were smart enough to keep their traps shut about it. One of 'em's a school teacher and I got her to sneak the powder into the school's soap dispensers. At least keep the kids in town safe."

"Dad," Jake said. "That's why the gremlins started snatching people from town. Their food supply on the farms got ruined."

Henry had been thinking the same thing. "Jake, get our packs from the trunk and then I want you in the shower first."

"But, Cael..."

"Is sleeping. Once the medicine has kicked in and he's not hurting so bad, we'll clean him up."

"Once he's clean, I'll see about getting that wrist casted." The doc's gaze moved down Jake's leg. "And your ankle."

"Only a sprain," Jake insisted.

"Well, I'll have a look at it after you've showered."

"But..."

"Jake." Henry cut off any further argument and Jake clicked his mouth shut, leaving to grab their clean clothes. Watching him go, Henry shook his head. That was his oldest, always putting Cael first.

"I need to secure the barn," Doctor Walker said. "There's coffee in the kitchen and the fixings for sandwiches. Industrial size washer and dryer in the laundry room. Welcome to make use of it."

"Sure thing, Doc." But Henry didn't move away from his sleeping son. Coffee could wait until Jake was out of the shower.

~~~

The coarse soap rubbed Henry's skin raw. It felt good to be clean again though, even with the soap's fragrance of something pulled from a musty closest. Putting his handgun in the back of his jeans, he came out of the steamy bathroom to find Jake had pulled a chair up next to Cael. Apparently Jake didn't want to go even as far as the kitchen to leave him alone either.

Warmth pooled in his chest. _God_ , he loved these boys. "Kitchen's supplied with caffeine and sandwich trimmings."

Jake stared at Cael for a while longer, but his stomach must have ruled him out, because he stood up. "Do you want one?"

"That'd be great, son."

Cael's eyes slid open. "Do you think...you could make me one too?"

Jake's entire countenance lit up. "Sure. You feelin okay now, buddy?"

Cael nodded and Henry noticed the kid's movements were no longer stifled from pain.

"You sure?" Jake placed his hand on Cael's head.

Grinning, Cael rolled his eyes. "How come no one ever believes me when I say I'm fine?" He yawned.

Henry took Jake's seat and ruffled Cael's hair. "You're really okay?"

"Mmm-hmm." Cael yawned again. "Headache's barely there. I'm just tired."

"That's the pills working. We'll get you fed, then how does a nice shower sound?"

One eye drooped into a squint. "Gonna let me take one on my own?"

Henry chuckled. "Relatively. Keep the door ajar."

Cael huffed out an annoyed breath and sank down farther on the couch before closing his eyes.

Henry stared at him, grateful beyond reason that it looked like he was going to be okay. They'd dodged a bullet on this one, what should have been a simple job escalating from bad to worse.

Henry cocked his head, studying his boy, putting this quiet moment to memory.

"You know, you favor my uncle," Henry said. He wasn't sure why. It just came out. "My father's younger brother." Henry idolized him, followed him everywhere.

Cael's eyes stole open, looking at Henry beneath heavy lids.

"Name was Mike. Had your coloring, jaw. Your scrawny build."

Cael smiled.

"He was real tall."

"Taller than you?"

"Taller than everyone around him."

Cael's face smoothed, thinking that over. "How come we never got to meet him?"

"He passed on when I was around your age." Mike enlisted as a young skinny kid and came back filled out, packing muscle, almost unrecognizable. Funny how life turned out. Mike left the jungles and swamps of Cambodia in one piece only to step in front of a bullet not twenty minutes from his home. Convenience store robbery gone wrong. He'd saved a young mother. Guess it was the Gillant way, risking their lives to spare others. "Would've made one fine tracker."

"Sorry, Dad."

Henry's brows rose.

"That I never..." Cael's third yawn was so huge it surprised Henry that he didn't hear bones cracking. "...never got to meet Uncle Mike." Dark lashes swallowed brown eyes.

Henry squeezed Cael's arm. "Yeah, I'm sorry too. Rest easy. I'll give Jake a hand with those sandwiches." Grab a coffee too. Forgoing sleep last night was catching up to him.

Henry entered the kitchen and his stomach growled at the sight. "Planning on keepin those to yourself?"

"Was thinking about it." Jake had a spread of the largest sandwiches Henry had ever seen. Rural living had its benefits. Doc Wal's neighbors must have traded produce for soap because the thick homemade bread slices housed thick slabs of roast, meaty tomatoes and crispy lettuce. God love a farming community.

Jake grabbed a plate to take into Cael when the crack of a rifle-shot disturbed the quiet country air. Henry and Jake both drew their handguns and rushed outside as another shot rang out. Doc Wal stood near the barn, shooting up at its roof where at least fifteen gremlins scurried across the slats. "Thought you said you got 'em all."

Henry thought so too. "Must have found another way out of that cave!" Dammit. A gremlin flung himself to the ground, limbs outspread like a flying freakin squirrel. He shot it point-blank, but the nasty just tucked and rolled and scurried into the barn.

Walker ran after it, shouting, "Cover me! Gotta get the horses out!"

Jake kept firing at the beasts climbing down the roof. More were coming from around the side of the barn. Must have made their way through the large pasture, stretching for miles behind the large structure. Henry rushed to the door, trying to cover both Jake and the Doc from the threshold. Walker swung the large eight-foot wide door open and then went about pulling the two frightened and balking horses toward it.

"What about the cow?" Henry yelled.

"Leave the cow!" Doc slapped one of the hinds and the horse bucked and lurched out the door, spurring the second horse to follow, galloping away across the pasture. Several beasties sped off after them. "Cow's been dipped! Gremlins won't touch her."

A brutal realization swamped Henry to his core.

"Dad!" Jake screamed out, his voice almost lost between the shriek of bullets. Henry ran out. Kid had his second handgun out. He was surrounded by gremlins—at least thirty now—hissing and spitting, but not approaching Jake even as he shot into their nearly impenetrable hides. Soap was working, they weren't going after Jake, except...hairless rubbery heads lifted in the air, nostrils widening as they licked the scents upon the breeze, and as one, the beasts squealed and surged toward the clinic. "Dad!" Jake screamed again, features brimmed with a horror Henry never wanted to see on either of his sons again. "Cael never used the soap!"

Ten

Henry raced into the clinic after Jake, following the swarm of gremlins that had honed in on Cael's scent. _Cael was asleep. Cael was unarmed. Cael was vulnerable_. The nasty little beasties would rip his son to pieces in minutes.

Gun fire blazed ahead. Shouts and thudding. Little monster shrieks. Henry skidded into Doc Wal's personal quarters, his own gun instantly firing. Gremlins were everywhere, Jake shooting point-blank into them, but having little effect. There were beasts shredding the couch. No Cael. Gremlins on the dressers and TV cabinet. Gremlins climbed up the ceiling, pouring into a square hole—attic access—coffee table below. Cael must have pulled himself up inside there. _Good boy_. Henry nearly bent in two with the relief, except his boy was in the attic now with however many of the monsters got up in there. Bangs and crashes thudded above them.

"I'm out!" Jake's gun clicked. He pulled his _kremloc_ dagger out and flung it at one of the creatures. It shrieked, its skin instantly bubbling as it flung itself around the room. Jake disappeared through one of the doors.

Henry kept firing, knowing his clip didn't have much more either. He leaped onto the coffee table, concentrating on the gremlins closest to getting into the attic, and shot a hairless monkey right in the eye. It thumped to the floor. Hard to kill his ass. There was more than one way of getting past an impenetrable skull.

The gremlins went crazy. Soap or no soap, they rushed Henry, bearing him down and dragging him across the room. For such little guys, these beasts were strong. Suddenly Jake was back, flinging a bucket of white powder over them all.

Little nasties howled, jerking away and jumping around like they'd been burned, shaking and slapping at their heads. Jake flung out more powder and the gremlins scattered, yowling and crashing through every door, through windows, a few into the attic to get away from the soap.

Jake reached down, assisted Henry up. "You bit?"

"No." Henry rubbed soap powder from his eyelashes. "Good thinking." The thuds overhead had moved to another part of the clinic. Henry rushed outside, backing up enough to see the roof. Doc Wal ran up to him from the barn, a couple of rifles in his grip. "Is there a rooftop access to your attic?"

The Doc's scraggly brows rose. "They're in my attic?"

Several of the creatures that had scattered outside were now climbing up the side of the clinic. "Jake! Get that soap out here!" Henry grabbed one of Doc's rifles and began shooting, moving closer, trying for more eyeball shots, while he wondered why Jake hadn't shown yet.

Doc ran toward the other end of the building. "Attic window on this side!"

Henry swiveled and sure enough, there was Cael, pulling himself onto the peak of the roof from the window Henry couldn't see on the other side. He watched, heart lodged in his throat, as Cael ran across the roof, a slew of gremlins galloping after him, more coming from the other end. _Come on, Son_. If Cael could make it down to the edge, it wasn't that far of a drop. Henry cringed as Cael slipped, his socks providing no traction, and quickly recovered his balance. "Cael!" _Come on, come on_. Henry just wanted his son down off that roof, where he'd shove him behind him and douse him in that soap powder.

Sighting a beast several paces behind Cael, Henry pulled the trigger. He didn't dare shoot any closer to his kid. Beast paused, hissed, and leaped ahead. Realizing he was caught behind two groups of nasties, Cael started angling downward, socks slipping on the tiles.

"I'm right here, Cael. I'll cover you!" Henry ran toward the middle of the building to meet him. _He was going to make it. Cael was going to make it. Just get to the edge and jump._ Gremlins launched at the teen, pulling his legs out from under him. He went down hard, sliding headfirst down the roof on his back.

_Shit!_ Henry dropped his gun and raced forward as though he'd be able to catch him, at least break his fall. Cael fell headfirst over the edge and jerked to a stop, dangling upside down. Several gremlins had hold of his legs.

"Dad!" Cael's tone sounded very young and striped with fear. Long arms stretched out for Henry like they had when Cael was small and wanted to be picked up.

"Got you!" In easy reach, Henry latched onto Cael, hand's looping beneath his armpits. "I got you," Henry gritted out, heaving against the strength of the gremlins, feeling his son being pulled upward. Where the hell was Jake?

Doc Wal joined in the tug-of-war, grabbing onto Cael, but their combined effort wasn't a match for the supersized strength of one gremlin, let alone several. Henry roared. He was not giving up.

Cael screamed. Henry's gaze wrenched up to the roof where a gremlin lifted its head from Cael's ankle, razor teeth dripping red. Growling with rage, Henry pulled harder.

"Dad..." Cael clung to him, fingers digging into Henry's forearms, his voice vibrating with fear. "Don't let go of me."

"Not letting go. Never letting go."

But Doc Wal did.

Gnarled fingers flew to Cael's belt, scrabbling to get it loose, popped open the button beneath and grabbed onto the kid again. With one giant heave, they pulled him right out of his jeans and thumped to the ground in a snarl of arms and legs.

Henry didn't have time to make sure he was okay because the gremlins dropped around them even as Henry dove on top of his son, shielding him with his own body as the beasts clawed at his back, trying to peel him off.

"Stay down!" Jake's growl. Henry covered Cael's face as a spout of flame roared above them, then moved away in another direction. A cacophony of shrieks rattled the air. "Go! Go!" Jake shouted.

Henry looked up, seeing gremlins turn into fire balls as Jake poured bursts of fire into them with little more than spraying some kind of aerosol can flamed by his lighter. He had several more cans balanced beneath his armpit for extra ammo. Doc jumped up, scooping up the rifle and firing.

Jake yelled over his shoulder. "Get him out of here!"

Henry hauled Cael off the ground. Soap. Kid needed that soap. The way to the clinic was blocked by angry, swarming gremlins and spinning fiery husks, leaving smatterings of fire all over the ground. The gremlins that got past Jake and the doctor were edging toward him and Cael.

Henry nudged Cael toward the barn, threw his arm around his waist when the kid nearly went down on the first step, and drew him close, helping him hobble across the gravel and into the barn.

"Dad."

"I see them. Keep going." Gremlins scurried upside down across the top of the ceiling, stilling and sniffing the air. He had to get Cael out of here. Henry prodded him forward, moving quietly with him toward the other end of the barn toward the large open door leading out.

The pregnant cow watched them go past, round eyes wary. They made it to the opposite door without any of the gremlins dropping down. Outside, Henry surveyed their options. A dry grassy field beyond, stretching for miles. And another older, much smaller barn, most likely the original by looks of the weathered wood.

"This way." They could barricade themselves in there until Jake could get the soap to them. Henry pulled Cael with him and was hit from behind, shoved to his hands and knees, dragging Cael down with him. Damn stupid ape-monster stomped across his back and grabbed up Cael, pulling the kid away from him.

~~~

Jake raced through the large barn just in time to see his dad knocked flat and the same gremlin drag Cael into the grass when two or three more of the little beasts latched onto him. They yanked on his brother, fighting over him like dogs over scrap meat. They were going to tear Cael apart and Jake was still too far away to pour flame over them.

"No!" He raced across the ground, the long-legged vet close on his heels, his own lighter and aerosol in hand.

But Henry was faster. Jake had never seen his dad fight like that. Their father flung gremlins off Cael like he possessed the same superhuman strength they had. Henry was all fists and elbows and kicking boots, though he couldn't keep the gremlins off long, or keep them from leaping back at Cael. Henry finally dug enough of an opening and hauled Cael up, where they ran, half-stumbling into another small barn, slamming the old door behind them.

By that time, Jake was in range and poured aerosol-born gouts across the gremlins. Doc's stream of fire joined his. The monsters shrieked and burned, exploding into flame, skidding and spinning across the field. Jake briefly wondered if they might cause a wilderness fire, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. He sprayed fire over the beasts, unrelenting, herding them away from that barn...until spazing out, overlong arms flapping, one of the creatures broke away and ran spinning into the barn door, bursting through, trailing fire that caught instantly on the old wood.

No problem. They could put that out. Jake was about to shout a warning to his dad when a loud concussion of air ripped through him, smacking him to the ground. A large eruption of fire plumed up, breaking through the roof and tearing the walls apart like a land mine going off. A wave of smoke rolled outward in a giant gray ring and all went quiet.

Jake stared from the ground, frozen, his heart seizing painfully as the smoke rolled over him. The barn was destroyed, completely gone, just demolished heaps of blackened smoldering and burning boards.

Jake couldn't move, he couldn't move. His family, his entire world was in there.

Eleven

Jake couldn't move. His entire body seemed to have shut down. Dad and Cael were gone. They couldn't have survived that blast.

The last of the gremlins were hightailing it across the field, frightened off by the explosion.

"On your feet! Help me!" Doc Wal pulled on Jake's arm, hauling him up. The young man went with him compliantly, staggering across the ground. He didn't want to go, was so afraid to see the charred remains, but he had to, had to see for himself and he didn't have any fight left in him to even resist an old country veterinarian anyway.

At the smoldering ruin that moments ago was a barn, Doc Wal lifted a blackened smoking board off a pile of boards and broken walls, but flinched back. "Ow, ow!" Pulling his sleeves down like gloves, the doc tackled the board again and threw it aside. "Gonna help me?"

Something snapped in Jake, primal and possessive. Damn stupid gremlins weren't taking away his family. Jake attacked the wreckage with a vengeance, tossing boards aside. If there was any chance...Jake held onto that hope, strangled it into a chokehold and braced it steady. He had to believe, had to keep digging even as his brain hammered that it wasn't possible. No one could live through that and all he'd find were their corpses.

"What...?" Jake wrestled a sheared beam out, making the entire pile groan and shift. "How did this happen?"

Doc Wal rolled another large beam away from a taller pile of boards. It thumped to the ground, kicking up a cloud of ash. "Kept fertilizer back here." He shook a piece of burning wood off his sleeve, patting it out. "Ammonium nitrate?"

Same kind of fertilizer wannabe unibombers packed homemade explosives with. Grossly unstable. Just one little spark...What was left of Jake's shredded heart dropped straight to his toes.

The next beam Doc rolled off clanked against metal. "Kid. Here."

Jake raced over, pulse pounding. "What? What do you got?"

"Water trough."

Jake's gaze flew to the pile the vet had been uncovering. Just as he said, underneath the boards was a large upside-down iron tub—the kind farmers used to fill water for their livestock. It came as high as Jake's waist and was plenty enough wide to fit two men. Jake quickly shoved off the remaining boards and banged on the metal.

They both paused, waiting for an answering tap that never came. Enough waiting, Jake pushed on the trough, ignoring the heat burning through the fabric of his sleeves. Doc pushed beside him, but they couldn't budge it. The solid metal was too heavy.

Jake's hopes sank. "How could my dad lift that?"

"Didn't have to." Doc kicked through the wreckage, looking for something. "Trough was already upside down and I had one side propped up by a concrete block to keep it aired out. All Henry would've had to do was roll under and kick the block out. It's what I would have done. Here. Help me wrangle this in there."

Doc brought one of the beams over and together, inch by inch, they managed to get the flat end beneath the lip of the trough. Pushing down on the other end, they slowly began to lever one side of the heavy tub off the ground.

"I got this," Jake groaned, muscles bunching. "Wedge something under it."

He felt the beam push back up when the vet let go, but Jake bore down, holding it steady, hearing the doc move things around.

"All right. Got it."

Cautiously, loosening his grip, Jake breathed easy when the pressure on the beam eased and the trough didn't fall. He dropped to his knees, not caring about the hot cinders catching on his jeans. Two other smoldering beams propped the tub up. Doc Wal's head nearly touched the ground as he bent over knobby knees, trying to see inside.

Jake got his head right up next to the vet's and sucked in a breath. Dad's boots and Cael's filthy socks. He could see them. They were both whole, not blown to bits. He reached in, grabbed Cael's bare calf, needing something real to ground him. Relief speared through his core, so sudden and powerful Jake felt himself slipping, nearly swayed against the tub. He curled his fingers around Cael's leg and steeled himself. Had to hold it together. Had to get them out.

"Cael! Dad!" He shook Cael's leg. No response.

"Dammit." Jake wriggled underneath, shifting Cael's knees up to make room in the cramped space. It was stifling inside, like a sauna. There was barely enough light to see, but what Jake could make out froze the blood in his veins. His brother and father were both on their sides, Henry spooning Cael with his arms across the kid, holding Cael's hands to his chest as though his dad had pulled Cael's hands in to keep them from getting crushed under the falling edge of the trough. Droplets of sweat pebbled their skin, soaked their shirts. They looked peaceful, like they were merely sleeping, the close resemblance startling—smooth light brows, black lashes, blond hair stuck to their foreheads, hard defiant jaws relaxed and still.

Horrifyingly still.

Jake placed his palms over both their chests, waiting for the lift he knew wasn't coming. "They're not breathing!"

"Pass them out to me." Doc's hands reached inside.

Cael was closest so Jake dragged the kid's upper body to the tub's edge, helping the vet scoot Cael beneath the lip until his sibling's boxers, then legs and feet disappeared. Without waiting for Doc Wal to come back, Jake began rolling and wrangling his dad out the same way. By the time he had him out the doctor was back and they carried him out of the wreckage together, laying him down in the flattened grass next to Cael.

"They're not breathing!" Jake cried, kneeling next to Cael. _Oh Gods_ , how long had they gone without air? How long had it taken them to find them?

"I'd expect as much." Doc was checking Henry's wrist for a pulse. "Explosion like that burns hot, but flashes out quick. Would have sucked up all the oxygen."

He was saying they suffocated. Jake started shaking, his shoulders slumping over Cael. Doc Wal grabbed his arms, shook him as hard as a slap. "CPR now!"

He didn't even ask if Jake knew how, just assumed he did. And thank whatever gods that was something their dad had taught them both. Without questioning, Jake positioned Cael and pressed his mouth over the kid's, knowing the vet was doing the same for his dad.

They worked in tandem, neither speaking between breaths, neither giving up. All the while Jake's brain screamed an increasing litany: _breathe breathe breathe BREATHE!_

Cael's arm suddenly flopped. Jake jerked back. Cael's chest rose. Stilled. Jake waited. Cael's chest rose again. Stunned, Jake stared, not grasping the significance, still steeped in the urge to breathe for his brother.

He leaned close, whispered, "Cael?"

Dark lashes swept up, revealing pearly glazed eyes. Now Jake couldn't breathe.

Cael's lips twitched. He hiccupped a small cough.

Jake froze. That was it? No hacking or gagging? "C-C-Cael?" He didn't mean to stutter, also didn't mean for tears to start running down his face, but he'd thought he was dead, that he'd never see his eyes open again, and now he was okay, coughing out the prissiest little hiccup Jake had ever heard after suffocating. His brother had freakin suffocated! _He was okay he was okay oh Gods_. Without realizing he was doing it, Jake scooped Cael up into a crushing hug, burying his face in the kid's gritty hair, losing all his composure when he felt long fingers curl into the fabric of the back of his T-shirt, then still.

"Jake?" Cael's muffled voice carried up from beneath Jake's chin. "Where's Dad?" And Jake's world crashed around him again. He felt Cael's head turn away from his chest, felt the kid flinch as he saw their father stretched out, the veterinarian performing rescue breathing.

"Dad?" Cael leaned forward, but Jake held him back.

"Let him work."

Cael's breathing that Jake had worked so hard to just get going was now ramping up, pulling shallowly. Jake's was right there with his.

Doc Wal lifted his head, sorrow-filled eyes latching onto the Gillants. "I'm sorry, boys."

"What?" Cael lurched forward. "What? No! Dad!"

Jake sank back, shaking his head _. No, no. Nononono_. This wasn't happening. Not to their dad. Their dad was invincible.

Cael scrambled on his knees to get near the top of Henry's head, his fingers searching for a pulse, moving their father's head back and forth. "Come on, Dad, wake up. Wake up!" Tears dripped down his young face, shattering Jake's heart.

And Henry gasped, his body arching upward, muscles coiled just before he sagged and started hacking. Doc rolled him on his side toward Jake where Jake grasped his shoulder, tried to steady him while the veins in Henry's neck bulged with the effort. As soon as he sucked in enough air, Henry let it out in a strangled scream. "Cael!"

"It's okay, Dad. Just breathe. Relax. Okay?"

Henry's eyes flicked up to Jake, filled with instant relief. "Jake. You're okay?"

"Yeah, Dad."

His gaze started tracking around. "Where's Cael? Your brother...oh God, Jake..."

Jake squeezed Henry's shoulder. "He's right here. He's okay."

"Dad?" Cael's voice was soft, scared.

Henry's head wrenched up. "Cael?" With uncharacteristic emotion, Henry shot up and hauled both his kids against him. "Thank God."

Crushed against Henry's shoulder, his side quashed into Cael's and not in any hurry to wriggle away, Jake met Doc Wal's gaze. The vet tipped his head in an understanding nod. They still had work to do.

~~~

Two days later, the Gillants stood side by side at the spine of the slope above where they'd first tracked the gremlins to the cave. They'd found another entrance where the colony escaped from after the blast. All they had to do was wait for the nasties to come out to _forage_.

The Gillants stood ready to finish the job.

But this time they didn't stand alone.

Doc Wal put the word out and every farmer and rancher that lived on the outskirts of town came.

Jake held the crossbow, giddy to start the show and shoot flaming arrows into the little suckers. He'd teach them never to mess with his family. 'Course they wouldn't be alive to actually learn the lesson, but that was a moot point, he decided.

He glanced at Cael. He and Henry both tried to talk the teen into staying out of this one because it was going to be loud, but Cael had been adamant in seeing this through. Stubborn ass. Even though Cael's headaches had already lessened, Jake still spied his sibling grimacing now and again. He'd made certain he had the doc's pills in his dad's SUV for when this was through. Jake smiled, enjoying giving Cael crap about taking animal medicine at every opportunity.

"First one's out of the cave," Henry whispered, holding up a hand to signal the ranchers to wait, let more gremlins come out before Doc Wal detonated the cave mouth. There were at least twenty good ol boys watching for Henry to give them the okay to start firing. A second gremlin skittered from the entrance, sniffing the breeze.

"Aim your stream high so it will arc into them." This time Cael's propane torch was equipped with a larger tank. He was actually their best shot with the crossbow, but couldn't work it right now with his wrist in a cast.

"I know, Jake." Exasperation oozed throughout his quiet tone.

Jake grinned, grateful beyond measure that he still had Cael to tease. _Cael nearly died. Dad nearly died._

Lost in his thoughts, his palm tightened around the stock of the crossbow and he missed his father's signal. Fire erupted around him, flames arcing into the gulley, streaming into dozens of gremlins. Bullets whined through the air. An abrupt explosion punched through the ground, blowing the cave entrance, swallowing it flat as the hill above crumpled on top of the cave, cutting off any of the nastie's retreat back inside.

It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Only taking the time to light them up, Jake shot burning arrow after arrow, wholly satisfied every time he hit the mark and a gremlin exploded. He felt like a kid at an arcade, screaming joyously beneath the noise, "Die you suckers, die! Burn, babies, burn!" His only regret was that it all went down too quickly.

When all was still and smoky, burning husks of gremlins were strewn across the little gulley.

Jake found Cael sitting on a rock, forehead wrinkled tight. "How's your head?"

Cael attempted to smooth out his features, but it didn't work. "It's fine." Which was Cael code for _hurts like a mother_. But the kid was grinning like a loon, pleased at finally chalking this up to a successful job so Jake let him be.

Henry and Doc Wal walked over, trailed by another guy. Had to be a farmer because no rancher would wear that funky straw hat.

Henry pulled some pills out of his pocket and handed Cael a water bottle. "You okay?"

"Fine," Cael huffed, all teenage petulance, but took the pills anyway.

Henry extended his hand to Doc Wal, clasping it tightly. "I can't thank you enough." He glanced at Cael. "For everything."

"My pleasure. If you folks hadn't come along, we'd still have a nasty infestation on our hands." Doc patted Jake's arm. "If you ever need anything... _anything—_ " He cocked his head meaningfully. "You know where to find me."

Jake nodded. It was always handy to have a medical professional willing to help without raising eyebrows.

Henry handed a slip of paper to the farmer next. "My number. If it turns out this isn't the last of the creatures, call. I'll come right away."

The farmer took the paper, nodding, and patted his shotgun. "Appreciate it, but I think we'll be able to handle ourselves."

Henry grinned. "That I don't doubt. This county's in good hands."

The farmer pulled his own slip of paper out and handed it to Henry. "Can't speak for the folks in town, but if you and yours are ever in need, come round to any of our outlying farmsteads. Gillant is a name we won't soon forget."

Henry thanked him and handed the slip of paper to Jake. "So, a bunch of demons got past you?"

"Yeah. Too many. Think the guys will help track them?"

"They live for it." Henry smiled.

Jake grinned back and looked at the name written on the paper. "You are freakin kidding me. McDonald?" He chuckled. "Well then, E-I-E-I-O."

Epilogue

He clawed his way upward, inch by burning inch. Jarlaith was many things, but he wasn't a quitter. The Hell-hole was slim. Tight. Barely room to expand fiery lungs against compacting earth. The hellhound he followed was small and young and many times throughout this journey Jarlaith feared the pup would give up and turn back to fall once again to Hell, but the little mutt's instinctual drive to follow the lurid scent of fresh prey up top equaled his own.

This time Jarlaith played it smart. Instead of following one of the larger hounds to the surface like the others, certain to meet Anointed ice daggers when they emerged, Jarlaith trailed a pup, hoping to pop out of the earth's surface like a daisy in a field of weeds. Unnoticed and unhindered.

He pulled through the muck, the nub ending at his wrist painfully stabbing into the dirt. Noxious fumes wafted down in the wake of the dog ahead of him. Climbing was grueling, but a rite of sorts for only the strong and most cunning demons survived long upstairs. Too fast, too greedy, too destructive in one place too long and the Anointed would be on his six, their _kremloc_ blades hacking him into so many pieces it'd take a thousand years to regenerate. That little failure earlier with Celalundria's bastards fueled his determination to get out.

Cold air poured over him as he pulled up into a clear night sky. He was in a desert of some sort, a large sequoia towering over him. He sucked in several gasps of sweet topside air, letting the exotic crispness sizzle and snap through his scorching lungs like a drug, an intoxicating and forbidden rush.

Bracing his arms on the ground, Jarlaith shimmied from the tight hole like a woman sheds a skirt.

"Only one little demon?" a voice gated behind him, snapping Jarlaith's spine to attention. "I had hoped for more."

Jarlaith twisted around and swore. One of the cursed Anointeds sat casually on the body of the young hellhound, the tip of his opal blade drawing patterns in the desert sand. Jarlaith glanced around. The Anointed was young and alone. The flicker of his Anointed energy haloed his body in rippling light, though the energy of this one was dull, not anywhere near the vibrancy of the energy of the two brothers. Odd. Since as half-breeds, theirs should have been far more subdued. Jarlaith cocked his head. Whatever the energy level, he'd be more cautious this time, not taunting the Anointed to heightened emotion like he'd made the mistake of doing with the young halflings.

The stocky Anointed stood, stepping away from the hellhound before it melted beneath him. He was shorter than the demon had assumed. Moonlight glinted off the dagger as the young tracker lifted it.

Jarlaith stepped back.

"Oh." The young man lifted the dagger in front of his face. Light eyes glowed in the blade's white reflection. "This? I won't use it. Would you believe if I told you I didn't track this Hell-hole to kill whatever came out." He looked down. "With exception of the hound of course. Can't exactly negotiate with an animal, can I?"

"A demon slayer negotiate?" Jarlaith edged sideways, looking for an advantage. He could pin the young one against the sequoia, rip his spine out before he could scream. He'd taste his blood. He was so very hungry. "What could you possibly have that would interest me?" Besides the cool ambrosia liquid running through your veins, the sweet snap of your cartilage, the savory texture of your meat. Jarlaith's empty stomach rumbled.

"Unopposed entrance into _Karavel_."

Jarlaith froze.

"You would betray your people?" He smiled at the boy's ruse.

"I would save my people!" the Anointed shouted with too much passion to be a lie. Jarlaith blinked, a chill in the air passing deliciously over the heat of his naked body.

The demon twisted his lips. "Explain."

The child-boy's eyes blazed. "The old ways are over. We spill our blood daily to protect mortals who aren't fit to lap the spittle that falls on our shoes. The real threat is not demons or monsters, but our own passivity when we should be leaders, masters over mankind, not servants to them."

Jarlaith's mouth watered. The young one's meat must be so tender. "You want to rile your brethren to action, get them enraged, send my brothers through the gates to wake up the Anointed to their potential. Perhaps kill the leadership who do not share your same views?"

The boy glared, but didn't refute the accusations.

Testing the kid's commitment, Jarlaith stepped closer. "And what if I gathered a demon army, entered the pass-through you left opened for us? What if we didn't stop with the leadership, but overpowered all of _Karavel_ , took it for our own, slaughtered every last man, woman, and child?" Who would be the protectors of mankind then?

The Anointed didn't blink an eye. "You could try. Once the pass-through is opened and the Administrators targeted are gone, our bargain ends. What's left of the Anointed, under my leadership of course, will then drive you out."

"A contest then."

The child was arrogant and grossly naïveté. Jarlaith could prey on that, lead the youngling down the path he would have him go. After all, that was the power of demonhood: seduction and manipulation. To some of Jarlaith's brethren, corrupting a stainless soul was more intoxicating than the blood that pulsed through them. Jarlaith much preferred the indulgence of a quick meal above the slow corruption, yet the idea of leading one of the Anointed to damnation while the misguided fool opened the portals of _Karavel_ to a horde of demonkind...Jarlaith was damn near slobbering with anticipation.

He dug the sharp nail of his pinky across the palm of the same hand, since he only had the one hand. Hot crimson bubbled up from the slice. He extended his arm out to the kid. "Seal it with blood."

The boy swallowed, but drew his opal blade across his own hand and slapped his bleeding palm to Jarlaith's, an indomitable resolution stamped hard into the swarthy wind-beaten features.

Still clasping hands, Jarlaith impulsively made another demand. "I want the pot sweetened."

"With what?"

"Two brothers. Halflings of your kind. Celalundria's get."

Jarlaith expected the warrior to bulk at such an intimate betrayal, yet a cruel smile stretched his lips. "Done. Anything else?"

"No." This would be an intoxicating challenge, pitting deception against a certain level of trust, and when it was over, and the young Anointed's reckless soul in bondage to Hell, Jarlaith could still eat him.

###

The Adventure continues...

Excerpt from Jake and Cael's continuing adventures

Book Two of The Anointed series

Banshee's Cry

"I don't know, Jake." Cael stepped over the broken glass. Every window in the run-down plantation house had been shattered. "Something's off. It just doesn't seem like a demon."

Jake wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell of decay overtaking the dusty parlor. Moonlight stole inside, illuminating white sheets thrown over chairs and tables. "All the signs point to it. Even the thermal images we nicked off the satellite cameras showed a straight line of heat from a demon passing, and then there's reports of locals suddenly going insane—six to date—all bat shit crazy enough to hara-kiri themselves. Come on, sounds like a demon getting his jollies off around here to me. Six, Cael. Tell me how six people in one little town all kill themselves in the space of two weeks if a demon hasn't been hanging around influencing them?"

"Yeah, okay. You're right." Cael pumped his splitter, the specialized shotgun that housed ice bullets in its chamber, best defense against demons in any dimension.

Kid didn't look convinced.

"Tell you what." Jake tapped the end of his own splitter. He loved the feel of Gertrude in his hands. Similar to a short barreled shotgun, the weapons master to the Anointed, Paps, designed the splitters with a smoother palm action trigger rather than a finger pull, and Gert had one of the cleanest pulls of any splitter Jake had used. "I'll keep my dagger unsheathed in case it's something besides a demon. Which it isn't."

"Guess we'll know soon enough," Cael said. "Up or down?"

"I'll take the cellar. You search the second floor, then meet back here and we'll sweep the main floor together." Jake glanced at Cael's back as the young tracker headed toward the stairway. "Call out if you find anything."

Without looking back, Cael flicked out an exaggerated salute. Jake grinned. Bossing the kid around never got old.

He tried several doors off the kitchen before he found the cellar. Why a demon would want to hang out here was beyond him, but they'd pieced together that at least four of the suicide victims had come here sometime during the month—one as a realtor, two as potential buyers, and another stopped by to give an estimate for refurbishing. So far it was the only thing any of the vics had in common.

Slipping out his penlight, Jake flicked it on. The little beam barely penetrated the darkness down into the slender stairwell. His first step down squeaked across the old noisy wood and footsteps rustled below. Yep, something was definitely down there.

Jake pumped Gerty and descended the stairs that squeaked and squealed beneath each step, which didn't matter since the demon or whatever was in the cellar already heard him. His light bounced around spiderwebs and shelves holding dust-coated jars of preserves or something before shooting across a face.

Jolting, Jake dragged the light back to the figure and the identical splitter pointed at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Tracking a demon." Kiene tipped her head, making her long ponytail fall to the side."Nasty one by the looks of it."

"Well, leave. We got here first."

"I don't think so."

Jake lowered his gun. "You don't think you're gonna leave or don't think we got here ahead of you?"

"Neither." The girl's shotgun lowered.

A frown pulled at Jake's mouth. She looked good. Long legs snug in black pants. Tight blue T-shirt beneath a short-cropped leather jacket. She could give catwoman a run for the money any day. "Who let you out of _Karavel_ anyway?"

Blue eyes narrowed. "How else am I supposed to gain any experience? I'm tracking demons. Same as you."

"On your own?"

No, I brought my baby sitter along. Geez."

Jake did not like her tracking alone. Not one little bit. Sure he knew she'd graduate from the Academy one day and join the ranks of demon trackers, but...hell, he just didn't like it. That's all.

"You're not ready. You need to go home."

"Says who? You?" One hip cocked out, almost in defiance and Jake couldn't help staring at the curve of it.

"Someone has to say it."

"Pluuh...eease. You and Cal track on your own and you're not even—" Her features wilted. At least she had the decency to look mortified at what she'd almost blurted.

Of course Jake being Jake, he didn't let it go. "Not what, Kiene? Full-blooded?" Coming from her, it felt like a punch to the stomach. "I didn't expect that from you."

"You know I don't care about that." Her tone was quiet.

"What then? If I can track without superhuman abilities, it must be a piece of cake? It isn't. It's still hard, it's still dangerous, even for you all powerful Anointeds."

"Stop it. You know that's not what I meant." Her temper was back, which was fine with him. Much more comfortable to deal with anyway. She headed toward a darker part of the cellar. "You can be such a jerk, you know that?"

Whatever." Jake followed after her. "Cael and I are tracking this demon so you need to back off."

"I am not backing off."

"Yes. You are."

"Look." Kiene spun around. "I put a lot of effort into tracking all the signs. It's my first solo and I'm not returning without even trying."

"Meaning you don't want to be humiliated in front of your friends."

"Fine. Yes. Whatever." She tossed her head back. "Call me shallow. Call me a suck-up. I don't care, but I _am_ tracking this demon."

Jake swung the shotgun up to rest over his shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was cause Kiene any embarrassment among the other Anointeds, though he wasn't sure why he even cared about that. "Fine, you can stay. But, sweetheart, we're doing this together." Where he could keep an eye on her. "I'm in charge. You do everything I say." Oh her eyes flared wide at that. Maybe this could be fun after all. "Deal?"

She glared at him. He could practically see the cogs of her mind weighing options. Finally her gaze met his. "Deal."

Places to find Clover Autrey and more about the Anointed Demon Trackers:

http://www.cloverautrey.org

Table of Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Epilogue
