Page 4 of Fallen

Grumbling to himself, William went quiet.

“Paladin Hawk?” Nathan asked firmly. That wasn’t a tone to be ignored.

Alex raised his head and looked over.

Nathan’s handsome face was stern, but his eyes were kind. Waiting.

“I’ll be fine,” Alex said. “I just hope Commander Sloan gives us orders to hunt this thing down. I don’t want to see any more families suffer.”

Nathan clapped him on the arm. “I’m sure he will.”

When they reachedthe sprawling acreage of the guild’s headquarters, the wrought-iron gate opened when they approached, and Nathan guided the SUV past the parking lot on the left and down the long road to the circular drive in front of the administrative building.

Alex’s wandering gaze fell across the children’s dormitory. He’d bounced around foster homes for three years before he was adopted by the guild at age nine. Some were adopted into the guild as young as infancy. He used to envy them, because at least they didn’t remember the horror of losing their families. He’d thrown himself into his schooling, eager to learn about demons and how to kill them. The guild had promised him they could teach him to avenge his family, to never be a victim again. His sword training began when he was ten. He was training in rites and exorcisms by the time he was thirteen. He’d graduated at the top of his class at eighteen and been placed immediately in Nathan’s squad as a field agent. He’d hoped that one day the demon that killed his family might resurface. Now that it had, maybe he could finally put their memory to rest.

“Come on, boys,” Nathan said, unclipping his seatbelt, “Let’s log our return and head home. I’ll write up the report in the morning and text you when I’m ready for your signatures.”

Alex dragged himself from the SUV. The admin building, like all the others, was a warm, red brick, looking violet now in the moonlight. The recreational center was visible to the right, soft yellow light glowing from a handful of the windows. It wasn’t unusual for guild members to keep to strange hours or have trouble sleeping. The training yard beside it was empty and quiet, just a fenced ring of sand. The apartment complex to the left also glowed from within, and distant voices filtered out through a few open windows, too far to make sense of. It was primarily for the orphanage and boarding school staff, as well as some of the older students who qualified to move out of the dormitories. The school building and church were hidden by the breadth of the admin building.

Inside, the foyer was warm and comfortingly familiar. The walls were wood-paneled, the polished wood floors covered in soft rugs. There were Christian artworks on the walls and decorative plants on every surface. Carved, wooden crosses hung over every doorway. A chandelier glittered overhead, and the whole place was as quiet as a confession booth. Most everyone was already gone at this hour, but during the day, this building saw the most foot traffic. The prophets’ quarter was in this building, as well as the medical wing, the supervisory offices, and even the cafeteria, where Alex ate most of his meals.

The squad was silent as they trudged after Nathan up one of the curving staircases to the second floor landing and down the central hallway. A very tired teen was manning the log desk. Her cheek was smushed against her fist, her eyelids heavy. She jerked upright when she noticed them, handing Nathan the clipboard with a murmured, “Sorry, sir.”

Nathan chuckled. “You wouldn’t be the first to fall asleep on third-shift desk duty.” He cast a knowing glance back at Alex.

“I can’t help that it’s boring here at nighttime,” Alex said unrepentantly, though he couldn’t muster his usual level of enthusiasm, and the girl nodded in commiseration.

Nathan rolled his eyes, signing his name and handing him the pen. Alex signed without a word and drifted toward the door, but halfway down the hall, Nathan called out his name, jogging to catch up with him.

“What’s up?” Alex asked wearily as Nathan fell into step with him.

Nathan studied his profile. “How are you, really?”

Alex shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. It wasn’t easy to see… that. I just want to stop this from happening again. I want to kill that thing. When do you think Sloan will give us the go-ahead to work the case?”

“I’ll talk to him about it in the morning and let you know as soon as I can. Do you want to talk about it?”

Alex shook his head. “There’s nothing to talk about, really.” He’d had a few sessions with Father Hawley, the guild’s priest, about what happened to his family when he first arrived, in lieu of a psychiatrist. He’d heard it all before. God worked in mysterious ways, they were in a better place, it happened for a reason. As a child, he thought maybe it happened because he was meant to become a paladin. Now, he knew the truth. Evil was just chaotic. Therewasno reason.

Nathan studied his profile with a worried expression. “Are you sure? I’m not sure you should be alone right now.”

They were near the foyer now. At the top of the stairs, Alex patted Nathan’s shoulder. “I’ll be fine, Nate. I’m going home and going to sleep. The sooner we can kill that demon, the better I’ll feel.”

Heneededto kill the demon who’d done this. He needed to be the one to drive a blade through its heart and watch it wither away to nothing.

Looking as though he’d rather not leave things like that, Nathan nodded and bid him goodnight. Alex escaped hastily out to his car, but even once he was locked inside the guild-issued sedan, he couldn’t relax. He drove on autopilot, his mind still locked in a bloody living room with a pile of bodies, flies buzzing in his ear.

His apartment building was wide and squat, dwarfed by the other, nicer buildings around it, but the rent was cheap and the space was adequate. Because he’d been old enough to remember his family before the guild, it had never quite felt like home to him. He liked keeping his home and his work separate. The paycheck he received from the guild easily covered all of his bills. The living room and kitchen shared a space, with his bedroom and bathroom connected on the right. It didn’t have much in the way of personalization, because all he did was work.

Inside, he walked straight to the shower and turned the water to scalding. He stood under the spray until the water ran cold, but he could still feel the sticky blood on his knees. He got out, dressed mechanically in his pajamas, brushed his teeth on autopilot, and laid down with the bedside lamp still on, staring up at the twirling ceiling fan. The empty side of the bed beside him felt cavernous and frigid. He tugged the spare pillow against his chest and curled around it.

Everything would be better if he could kill the demon, he told himself. That was all he needed. Revenge would make everything better.

Chapter 2

Alex

But the ordersdidn’t come.

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