Chapter 9 #2
I thought about Father Corletti. He knew the situation. Knew that Allie’s human-demon blood had the power to lock those gates to Hell. He knew, and he still loved her, still wanted her to be part of Forza. For that matter, he thought that she might even be the most important part.
But he was just one man. Father Corletti knew, but the Church as a whole didn’t. For that matter, neither did the other priests in Forza. Only Father Corletti. Not even Father Donnelly, who was set to take over after Father Corletti passes.
And once Father Donnelly was running Forza.
What would that mean? Especially since he had been among the renegades who’d worked with Eric’s parents to put a demon inside him in the first place, all with the goal of making the ultimate demon hunter.
A noble goal, maybe, but they’d been playing with powers that they had no right to meddle with.
“Kate?”
Eric’s voice pulled me away from my thoughts.
“Talk to me,” he said. “We’re in this together.”
“We are,” I squeezed his hand. “Always.” Because no matter what, we were tied together by Allie.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m not. It’s inconvenient as hell, but I do love you, Eric. And that makes it good to have you around, and terrible too. And all of that is notwithstanding this whole demon blood thing.”
He chuckled and for a second the moment felt lighter. “I appreciate that. But I meant Allie. I’m sorry this is happening to her. I’m sorry about my role in it. I’m sorry even though I know that there wasn’t a thing I could do to change it.”
I made a show of staring him down. “Except maybe not killing the demon who might have given us answers?”
To his credit, he nodded. “Yeah, except that. We’ll find Esther. Hopefully she’ll tell us. Maybe Henry didn’t even know anything.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I doubt he knew anything at all.”
We both know that wasn’t true. And that one single word, consort, seemed to linger in the cave between us.
“You should head on back,” he said. “I’m going to sit here for a little bit and get my head on straight, then I’ll walk home.”
“Eric, no. Let me drive you.”
“It’ll do me good.”
I glanced at his cane. “You’re going to walk all that way?”
“I’ll be fine. The break healed nicely, and I don’t even need the cane all the time any more. Fortunately, David was never going to be permanently injured. Except for the part where he died in that wreck. Besides, it’s only five miles. The walk will do me good. Really. I want to think anyway.”
I considered arguing, but knew I’d get nowhere. Instead, I simply nodded. I got up and gave him a hug.
Then I left him alone in the cave as I slowly walked back to my car.
Since the horrible grinding of our garage door going up and down was loud enough to wake the dead—though not literally, I hoped—I parked on the street and headed up the sidewalk to the front door.
It was already well past eleven, and I turned the lock slowly, then pushed open the door with equal care, hoping the hinges wouldn’t creak.
Miraculously enough, they didn’t. I shut the door behind me, the used stealth tactics to lock the place up again. Then I took off my shoes and padded in socks toward the living room.
The only illumination came from the light in the kitchen. A dim light that I assumed originated from the single bulb above the kitchen sink. I saw no sign of Laura or Eddie, and I hoped that meant that Eddie was in bed and Laura was back at her house with Allie and Eliza and Mindy.
I headed down the short hallway to the living room, and as I did the lamp on the table beside the couch clicked on and I saw my husband sitting there, his eyes on me.
“Patrolling, Kate?”
I shrugged in either acknowledgement or apology.
With a sigh, he pushed himself off the couch and came to me. I was still in the entrance hall, and he stood at the place where the tile met the carpet, essentially blocking my path. “I thought we were over the secrets, Kate.”
“I’m sorry. There were demons. I needed to go.”
“There are always demons. Like I said, I thought we were done with the secrets.”
“It wasn’t a secret,” I said. “But it also wasn’t something I wanted to get into over the phone, and you weren’t coming home, remember? Mansion, then office.” I pushed past him and went into the living room, then fell exhausted onto the sofa.
“So this is my fault?”
“Fault? Why are we even talking about fault?”
He seemed to mimic me, sagging down onto the sofa as well, then shifting his body so that we we’re looking at each other. I expected him to say something, but of course he just sat there. Lawyer tactics. And entirely unfair as far as I was concerned.
I tried to wait him out, but failed. “I assume that everyone’s here and asleep?” I asked, when I couldn’t take the silence any longer.
“Eddie was here when I got home. He went to bed, I gave Timmy a bath, and put him to bed.”
“He’d already had a bath today.”
“Trust me,” Stuart said. “He needed another one. Apparently he likes jam sandwiches, and Eddie is more than happy to serve them to him.”
I bit back a smile but kept my face down so Stuart wouldn’t see it. “I’m sorry. I should have told you about tonight. Like I said, I didn’t want to get into it.”
“Do you think it’s a secret that you hunt demons? This isn’t exactly a new revelation.”
I looked up at him, and he tilted his head to the side, watching me. “Or is there something else you that you didn’t want to tell me? Like who you were patrolling with?”
“Stuart, not now….” I knew he was upset.
“I know you wanted it to just be family, but you have to understand. Eric’s family, too.
Whether you like it or not, he’s Allie’s father.
It’s a big messy family, and we have to deal with it.
And just because you got all pissy and stormed off doesn’t mean that I don’t need to go out and do my job. ”
“Kate, all I wanted—”
“No.” I held up a hand, giving him the same look I fire at the kids when they backtalk.
“All you wanted was to punish me. To get rid of Eric so I couldn’t talk about the situation with Allie.
” I could hear my voice rising with my pent up frustration, but couldn’t seem to dial it back.
“And then you played power games and headed off to the mansion so you could work with Bernie and have the little wife at home. You want to play alpha male with Eric, do it without me at the center of it.”
“Kate—”
“Dammit Stuart, you left.” The force of my words propelled me off the couch, so that I ended up standing in front of him. “Remember? You walked off and left me when Eric moved to Los Angeles. You both left me alone and you took my son with you.”
I was breathing hard and tears pricked my eyes.
“Our son,” he corrected gently. “And I came back. I came back because I love you.” He reached for my hand, but I didn’t take it. He drew in a breath, then let it out slowly. “I came back because I want to make this marriage work. This family work.”
I turned, looking away from him, trying to organize my thoughts. It wasn’t easy. I knew he meant it. But still…
“We came so far in Rome,” I said, my back to him.
“We really did.” I turned to face him through tears.
“I thought we were really back on track, you know? But now we’re here and demons are popping up all over San Diablo, I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with this testosterone-laden bullshit.
I mean, seriously Stuart, it’s too much.
Especially when there are things to figure out, and I need Eric around to do that.
There are things I have to find out about him, because those things will make a difference to Allie. ”
I shook my head, then barrelled on. “No,” I correct. “It’s not just because of Allie. I need to know because of Eric, too. Because I do love him, Stuart. And you’re just going to have to find a way to deal with that.”
The words seemed to fly out at me out of me, and I feared that they were battering Stuart. Not that I could tell since he was wearing his courtroom expression. In other words, he had no expression. He was taking it all in and not showing a single reaction.
“Is that what you want?”
I blinked, truly surprised by the question. “What?”
“Do you want me to figure out a way to deal with it? Or do you just want me gone?”
“Oh, Stuart.” I sank onto the sofa, then took his hands. “Of course that’s what I want. You here with me and not at Eric’s throat. But you have to understand it hurt when you left, and being home again just brought back all those emotions. But I’m not mad about it anymore. I’m really not.”
I watched his face, giving him space to talk, but he said nothing. Just held my hand.
I swallowed, then continued. “You say you want us to be a family, but if that’s the case, then you have to understand that Eric is part of it.
I love you, Stuart. I do. But Eric is part of our life as well, and he’s not going anywhere.
He’s Allie’s father. And,” I add, as hot tears snaked down my cheeks, “the brutal truth is that I love him too. I’m sorry, but I do. ”
“He’s moving back, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t like that.” The words were flat, as if he was reporting the weather.
“I know you don’t. But honestly, Stuart, I do. I need help. I’m afraid things are going to get bad. And I’m afraid that all the badness is going to center around Allie. And I had to go out today because I need answers and we tried—”