Page 3 of Unholy

He’d always liked the library. A cavernous room with a domed ceiling that was painted with scenes from the Bible, Luke had always considered it the most holy room on the grounds. Even the church didn’t hold the same sense of reverence. In this room was a record of all their work as a guild, their history, their creed, their beliefs. He loved thesmell, leather and paper and binding glue. There was a balcony that lined the room with a second level of books, the carved wooden staircase tucked in the corner. Soft rugs covered the pale marble floor. Long tables around the room held desktop computers for guild use. A handful of people were scattered around the room, the quiet click of computer keys and the shuffle of pages barely audible. Peaceful. Luke loved it.

Behind the U-shaped desk in the center of the room was a familiar face. Judah was seventeen, with curly hair, warm brown skin, and hazel-green eyes. Young paladins-in-training were regularly assigned desk duties there and throughout the rest of HQ. ‘Character building,’ their instructors called it. Luke always thought it was just a way to palm off the boring jobs.

“Hey, kiddo. How’s it going?”

Judah cast him an amiable smile, sitting back in his rolling desk chair. “Going great, Paladin Morgan. Library duty’s not so bad.”

“Please, call me Luke. Listen, I was wondering if you could look something up for me.”

“Sure. I understand technology is difficult for you older types.”

Luke narrowed his eyes in mock indignation. “I’m not old.” It fell flat, though, because he was literally twice Judah’s age, and they both knew it.

Judah laughed, dragging his keyboard closer. “Well, I hear it all goes downhill after thirty, that’s all I’m saying.”

Luke snorted.

“All right, what am I looking up?”

“Look up children’s deaths.”

That sobered him. “Okay. Can you give me anythingmore specific? Am I looking up local news articles? A certain type of death?”

“A child-killing demon.”

Judah wrinkled his nose. “Probably a lot of those. It won’t take long to run a search in the archives, hang on.” His fingers flew over the keyboard. He scanned the screen for a moment, typed again, and then shook his head. After a moment, he blew out a breath of dismay. “There are alotof child killers out there. That’s disgusting. I’m going to have nightmares, Luke, thanks a lot. Do you have anything else that could narrow it down, or do you want the whole list?”

Luke braced his hands on the smooth wood of the desk, thinking back on everything the nurse had told him. “The missing girl this time is six years old. Maybe her age is significant.”

Judah typed the new information in, and then… “Uh.”

“What?”

“I might’ve found something. But they don’t take just one kid. They take six.”

“What?”

He turned the screen so Luke could see. There was a demon, something called a sagdrannon, that stole children from their beds to eat them. Six children, six years old. It only happened every sixty-six years, so very few ever made the connection that the same thing could be causing the disappearances.

“That’s… That could definitely be it. I only heard about one child, though.” That likely meant the missing girl was already dead, but if the thing that took her was a sagdrannon, there would be five more children to share her fate if they didn’t stop it.

Judah’s eyes widened. “Then this one hasn’t finished itscycle. When was the girl taken? It says here they take a child every six weeks until the cycle is complete. Wow, these demons really like the number six.” His mouth twisted with distaste.

“I’ve got to…” He pulled his phone out and went to his pictures.

Luke counted forward from the date on the poster, and the blood drained from his face. “Tonight. It’s going to happen again tonight.”

Judah gaped and then flailed at him. “Go! Go tell Sloan! Get a squad out there and save that kid, man!”

“Yes. Thanks, Judah!” He rapped his knuckles on the desk and turned to go.

“Oh, Luke! Luke!”

Luke paused. “What?”

“Put in a good word for me, would you?”

He huffed out a laugh. “Will do! Thanks for your help, whiz kid!”

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