Page 35 of The Devil You Know
Evan climbed into the truck and let out a long breath.Am I bad for being disappointed that Osborn didn’t take Nelson instead of Seth?
In the past, Evan sympathized with the witch disciple’s intended victims. After all, he’d been one of them. Everyone else they had saved allied with them, even if they were initially skeptical. Nelson was the first to be manipulated by the disciple into opposing them.
That’s going to make saving him a lot harder.
Evan drove, alert for anyone following him. He didn’t spot a tail, so after a few more turns and switchbacks, he headed for the campground and tried to ignore his restlessness.
Today felt like a complete failure. While he had gained information and allies, he still lacked a plan to rescue Seth. Despite everyone believing it was unlikely for Osborn to sacrifice Seth before the full moon, Evan didn’t like risking his lover’s life on a bet.
Evan hadn’t been hungry since Seth was taken, but he knew he needed to eat to keep up his strength for the fight, even if everything tasted like ash. Once he was back at the RV, he put a frozen pizza in the oven.
While dinner baked, Evan set up his laptop on the kitchen table. Two emails topped his list. One from Travis Dominick—and the other from Parker.
Evan picked Travis’s first.
Evan—Brent made an interesting discovery. Over the last year, twelve members of the extended families of the deputies’ descendants in both Cleveland and St. Louis have gone missing. No bodies have been found, and authorities haven’t declared foul play, although the families are pushing for better investigations.
This is unlikely to be a coincidence. My theory is that the warlock is addicted to getting the ‘hit’ from Gremory’s energy, and he might even be skimming from the power that keeps Gremory trapped. If he gets a big level up from killing a direct descendant, then he may have found a way to leech energy from less direct family members without killing them quickly. The good news is that he’d have a reason to keep them alive longer.
Be extra careful. If Osborn has done his homework—and Brent and I suspect he has—then he knows you’re a descendant as well. You’re at risk.
The email ended with a promise to help however possible and an invitation to call any time.
Evan put his elbows on the table and held his head in his hands.Seth and I were supposed to be fighting the witch disciple together. How did it get this crazy?
He took the pizza out of the oven and waited for it to cool. In the meantime, he checked Parker’s email.
Let’s not fight about Dad. I’d like to see you. I’m in Columbus, Ohio. I’ll drive to wherever you are.
It would be good for me to get out of town for a little while.I’ve had the feeling I was being followed, and there’s a strange guy I’ve spotted in several places—I think he’s tailing me. Don’t know why, but it creeps me out. I’d feel safer closer to you.
Shit,Evan thought.Parker isn’t the eldest, so he wasn’t the disciple’s target, but he’s still a descendant. What if Osborn found him?
Evan took the warning to his marrow. He resolved to discuss the situation with Joe tomorrow.
Evan considered his words carefully and began to type.I’m in East Cleveland temporarily, not far from Forest Hill Park,he wrote.If you come to town, we can get together. Just be careful—there have been some carjackings lately.The hold-ups were a fiction to justify the warning, but since Travis had suggested that the disciple could make use of the other descendants, Evan wasn’t taking any chances.We need to talk—and I’ll do my best to listen. Please come.
Evan thought he might have to wait until morning for a reply. But apparently Parker was online because only minutes passed before he received an answer.
Thank you. I’ll find a motel in Cleveland and let you know where I am. I’m looking forward to seeing you.I’ll be there tomorrow.
* * *
Evan knewsleep wouldn’t come easy, so he made another pot of coffee and spread out his papers on the table, with his laptop in the corner. He pulled up a map of downtown in a program meant to set up walking tour destinations and started to plug in the addresses of Osborn’s properties, past and present. He added the library where Seth had gone missing, the observatory, and the entrance to the abandoned subway station Seth had been about to text to him.
When Evan was done, he made the map as big as possible and stared at the location markers, looking for a clue about where to search for Seth.
The Osborn-owned building closest to the library was the headquarters for the pharmaceutical company.I doubt they carried an unconscious man in through the lobby, and it’s not a factory, so there’s no loading dock.
Some of the old addresses were now vacant lots. Evan removed those markers on the map after checking to ensure there were no underground tunnels beneath the land. The manufacturing operation was in a light industry section of the city, and Evan didn’t see an advantage for Osborn to have Seth stashed there.
Many of the other buildings were old warehouses. One listing caught his eye—the same one Seth had flagged in his library notes. The physical rehabilitation facility once belonged to the local Catholic hospital system. Five years ago, the rehab facility was de-licensed and shuttered. Osborn bought the property, but as far as Evan could tell, never did anything with it. And the property was right next to the defunct subway station.
The hospital would be a perfect place to stash prisoners—Seth and the other descendants’ family members who’ve gone missing. The subway tunnel would work for his rituals.He drew a circle around that site, intending to have a closer look.
Evan walked back to the kitchen and poured himself some whiskey. The RV seemed too empty and quiet without Seth. He went into the bedroom and pulled one of Seth’s flannel shirts out of the dirty laundry, taking in the smell of sweat, soap, and shampoo before slipping it on and pulling it close around him.
For the rest of the evening, Evan dove deep on the internet looking for satellite photos of the area around Osborn’s buildings and floor plans of the old rehab center. Information on the old subway tunnels was harder to find than he expected.
