Page 48 of The Devil You Know
“Or are you in a coma, and one of the lives is a dream?”
Jesse’s comment shook Seth.Is there truth in what he just said? Is that why my hand is shaking? Do I know something on some subconscious level and don’t realize it?
“Then it must be the other life I’ve dreamed because this is real. Solid.” He reached out and squeezed Jesse’s shoulder.
Jesse looked unpersuaded. “What if it’s not? What if you belong to the other life? I saw a movie about someone whose fate split off in two directions because of a car accident. In one version, he died, and in the other, he didn’t.”
Seth slung an arm around Jesse’s shoulders. He could see how rattled his brother was by the visit to the psychic. “We’ll figure things out.”
“Seth, you don’t understand. I spent the whole time you were in the Army scared shitless that you wouldn’t make it back,” Jesse confessed. “I prayed every night and lit candles—and I’m not religious. I followed the news, wondering which battles you were in and whether you’d come home alive.”
Seth felt a pang of guilt. He realized how impulsive he had been when he enlisted and how little thought he had given to the impact on his family. If there was any single thing in his life he would do differently, he wouldn’t have run away from a broken heart.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t want to lose you again. But your two lives are bleeding together. That means only one of them is going to last. And forgive me, but I want it to be this one—the one where we’re together, and you’re home and safe,” Jesse confessed.
“I want that too,” Seth assured him. But his mind went to the dark-haired stranger, and he wondered if he had to choose, what his heart would decide.
8
EVAN
“You didn’t have to come.”
“I wasn’t going to let you do this on your own,” Parker maintained stubbornly.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Evan replied without looking at his brother. They were just about to slip through a cut in the chain-link fence around the abandoned observatory, and he felt guilty for letting his younger brother tag along.
“And I don’t want you to get killed.” Parker raised his chin defiantly.
Evan knew that trying to force his brother to stay at the RV would just result in more danger, since Parker would follow him anyway.
“I want my partner back.” Evan saw the stress of the past few days in his face every time he looked in the mirror. His decision not to shave was partly to save time and also because he didn’t like looking at the haunted-eyed stranger in his reflection.
He and Seth were coming up on their one-year anniversary—a year that had taken Evan’s world and shaken it like a snow globe. He’d accepted that the supernatural was real—and learned to do some magic of his own. He’d fought off creatures he used to think belonged only in horror movies and discovered a secret network of people with special abilities who risked everything to keep the world safe from threats most people couldn’t imagine in their wildest nightmares.
Evan had also found out what it was like to fall head-over-heels in love, to be an outlaw, and to live on the run. He’d learned how to do emergency stitches and blood transfusions, exorcisms, and wardings.
Because of Seth.
After losing his home and family and then surviving an abusive ex-boyfriend, Evan had begun to doubt that he would ever find his “forever person.” Then Seth had saved his life, swept him off his feet, and brought him into a life of secrets and danger.
Now, Evan had to balance saving the next sacrifice victim and rescuing his partner. Despite his training and on-the-job experience, Evan had to fight feeling that the quest was too much.
Seth is out there. And I’m going to find him and bring him home.
He dared not linger on the truth that the longer Seth remained missing, the less likely they would be to find him alive.
* * *
This time,Evan parked several blocks away from the abandoned observatory. “Last chance to change your mind,” he told Parker.
“Not happening,” Parker replied, tipping his head as if he was daring Evan to lock him in the truck.
Evan swore under his breath. “Okay—but stay close, and if anything goes wrong—run.”
He shouldered into a backpack that held everything he needed to work the spell for opening the anchor’s hiding place. Evan also had salt, holy water, and a shotgun with rock salt rounds. He hoped none of those would be needed, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
