Demon Trackers: The Anointed

part ten

Cal stared at his hands resting on his thighs. "Iason. He was only fourteen," he whispered.

Everything in Jake softened. "So were you."

"Jake?" Brown eyes lifted to his. "Can't we just drop it?"

"No. I'm sorry. Not this time." Not after he'd seen panic cross Gregor's face when Cal said he knew what happened. Jake didn't know how far the Anointed would go to keep Cal quiet, but he wasn't taking the risk.

Cal's gaze slipped away. "It was an initiation that got out of hand."

"So you've said before." Cal had stuck to the same story every time he told it. "I'm not buying it this time."

"What does it matter? It was two years ago."

"It matters. You were laid up for three months. Mom sent us to Dad so fast my head nearly swiveled off… Wait. Did Mom know what really happened?"

"No!"

One side of Jake's mouth curved. Cal pushed his head back against the headrest, realizing he just admitted he'd been lying all this time. Turning sideways in his own seat, Jake waited him out.

Cal sighed. "I followed Iason that night. He'd been excited about being invited to the older boys' initiation ritual. I knew I'd never be invited to one and I was curious." One shoulder lifted in a half-shrug. "I also had a sour pit in my stomach, like something wasn't right and I felt responsible for the guy. Turns out they set Iason up."

Jake listened without interrupting. So far it was the same story Cal had told him before. "Set up how?"

"It wasn't an initiation. At least not for Iason. By the time I got there they had him staked out on the ground."

Jake's hand squeezed around the Jeep's automatic shifter between them. "Like bait?"

Still not looking at him, Cal nodded.

"Sonsabi…" Jake controlled his tone, knowing outbursts weren't going to help. He'd barely gotten Cal to talk as it was. "Bait for what? Except for a few boar, there's nothing in Karavel to go after bait that large."

Cal glanced up at that. "They brought something in."

Jake stilled.

"Juncoir. They cut Iason."

Jake's mind raced ahead. Iron nail-like claws, spike-edged teeth, an appetite drawn to the smallest amount of blood. A young boy staked out and helpless. A bleeding cut would make the beast ravenous. And young eager Anointeds skulking in the shadows itching to prove themselves as the next great hunter in front of their peers.

"I tried…" Cal's fingers scrabbled at his jeans. "I tried to untie him, but they caught me."

"That when they beat you?"

Cal's Adam apple bobbed. "I wouldn't stay still, wouldn't be quiet. Didn't matter. The juncoir found Iason and—" Cal gulped, staring at the glove compartment. "And—"

Jake brushed Cal's arm, pulling him back from what the kid was reliving. "It's okay. Skip that part."

Cal stopped and Jake let him alone until he was ready. "While the juncoir was…you know…the Anointed charged out of the bushes. It fled and they chased after it. Except Gregor. He said the other trackers would never be able to run it down, but he knew how to lure it to him. Now that Iason was—" Cal's chest started heaving. "Now that Iason was—"

A cold hard stake was pushing into Jake's gut, slogging out bile that rose up into his throat. Cal had so many wounds, Jake had dismissed the chafing on his arms as minor, nothing of real concern compared to broken ribs and shredded leg muscles, but he should have paid attention. They hadn't been just more abrasions. Rope burns. His worry had made him blind. He was going to be sick. "Gregor used you as bait."

Cal didn't move a muscle.

Fumbling for the door, Jake made it out of the 4x4 in the nick of time to vomit all over a blossoming bush on the side of the road. Gregor had tied Cal down. Gregor had used his little brother as juncoir bait. He was going to rip Gregor's head off. Oh Gods, what if that geeky little friend of Cal's and Iason's hadn't tipped him off to where they'd gone? What if Cal hadn't had his pocketknife and been able to cut himself free in the first place? Finding his brother beat to hell had been the worst night of Jake's life, but he'd had no idea exactly how much worse it could have been.

A water bottle slipped into Jake's line of vision where he crouched, shaking.

"I'm sorry, Jake." Cal stood beside him.

Jake took the offered water. "Why…why didn't you trust me with this?"

Cal sank down beside him. "It's not about trust."

"What then?"

"Look, if I'd told you, all you would have done is gone off to kick their asses. You're always trying to protect me."

"Damn straight."