I nodded. “No obvious wounds, no signs of struggle. But there was aSignum Fidelis burned into his palm.” I held up a hand to ward off his question. “Eric’s on it, but he hasn’t identified the specific demon yet.”
“Antonio called me.” His voice had gone hoarse. “Left a message that he’d been doing research and had something important to tell me. I called him back, but just got his voicemail.” He drew in a breath, hands fisted. “Dammit, I should have called again, but I was preoccupied with herding kids.”
“This isn’t your fault,” I said. “And we will find the demon who did this. I promise.”
He shook his head. “We both know you can’t make that promise. A demon can go to ground for a century.” He reached for my hand and squeezed it. “But thank you for saying it.”
“He was coming early to warn us,” I continued. “I’m certain of it. But someone made sure he never got the chance. Which means whatever he found was important enough to kill for.”
“If he was coming with a warning, he’d probably have notes. Did you find anything? We need to start digging.”
I nodded. That was the thing about Hunters—grief was a luxury we couldn’t afford. Not when there was work to do. “We didn’t find any documents,” I said, “but Eric found his USB drive. We’ll start there as soon as he hacks the password.”
Marcus nodded. “Right. Okay.” He sighed. “I just can’t believe this.”
“I know. For tonight, you should just rest. And keep this quiet, okay? I’ll tell the students eventually—the dangers of the job and all that. But let’s let them settle in first.”
I frown. “You didn’t do a call with him or meet up somewhere on the road, did you? I mean, are the students expecting him to be here?”
Marcus shook his head. “No reason to tell them ahead of time. They knew I’d be their trainer. I figured I’d introduce himat the first session.” He rubbed his temples. “Now I guess I’ll need another assistant.” He cocked his head. “You up for the job?”
I smirked. “I can stand in when you need me. But I’m going to use my massive powers as headmistress and assign Allie to you.”
He nodded. “For working with teens? Can’t argue with that.”
We’d been walking and talking, but now we stopped at the door. From somewhere inside, I heard Timmy’s laughter—high and bright—followed by Elena’s squeal and Fran’s mock-threatening “I’m gonna get you!” The sounds of a normal afternoon. The sounds of everything I was fighting to protect.
“I’m so sorry,” I said again.
“He was a good friend.” He reached for my hand. “But so are you.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m so glad you’re back for year two.”
“You’d be hard-pressed to get rid of me,” he said. “We’re family, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We really are.”
7
KATE
The entrance hall had been designed to intimidate, and it did its job beautifully.
This was the mansion’s heart—a cavernous space with gray marble floors and a polished mahogany staircase that swept up to the second level. Floor-to-ceiling windows lined one wall, letting in shafts of afternoon light that the crystal chandelier caught and scattered into dancing dots of color. Normally, this space served as our formal entryway, impressive enough to make visitors think twice about causing trouble.
Today, we’d transformed it into a makeshift assembly hall. Folding chairs had been arranged in neat rows facing a temporary podium we’d hauled out of storage. Behind the podium, Laura had hung the Forza West banner she’d designed last semester—the same stylized sword as our van logo, with our newly-adopted school motto stitched beneath—In Tenebris Lux. In darkness, light. Stuart had vetoed my first suggestion, which translated roughly to stab first, ask questions never.
The current students sat in the front row—Ren, Ana, Eliza, and Mindy. The new arrivals had been placed in the row behindthem, a deliberate choice to emphasize that they were joining an established community, not starting from scratch.
Sophie sat in the middle, twisting a strand of hair around her finger and looking like she wanted to sink through the floor. Zane flanked her on one side, occasionally leaning over to whisper something reassuring. On her other side, Trevor slouched with his arms crossed and his headphones back on, despite the fact that orientation was about to begin.
I made a pointed show of looking right at him. He made a pointed show of not noticing.
Fine. Maybe I’d address that later. Always nice to end the day reining in a potential troublemaker.
The staff lined the wall to my right—Eric, his arms crossed, ready to teach them both research and demonology. Marcus, still shattered, but holding it together. Cutter, solid and steady as always, with Laura beside him looking eager to dive back in to teaching how best to research all things demonic.
Stuart sat in a chair near the window, clearly tired but present—he’d insisted on attending despite my suggestion that he rest.
