Caleb glanced at him, over his shoulder. “Bubba isn’t quite as crazy as we thought, Nick. Well, he is, but you know, zombie hunting notwithstanding.… Reason why he does some of what he does, and why the things that chase you also chase him? He’s a natural-born Hell-Hunter. But like you, and unlike his father here, his blood is dormant, which is why I haven’t cut his throat—something I assure you, I would have done had I known he was one of them.”
Well, that wasn’t even a little bit useful to him. Cay was still hogging all the information and Nick was as lost as a three-year-old in a snowstorm.
Caleb lowered the sword and held his hand out to help Dr. Burdette to his feet. “Which line are you part of?”
“Michaelson.”
Caleb let out a scoffing laugh. “Should have known. That explains so much about Bubba.”
Nick scratched at his ear. “Glad someone knows what’s going on ’cause I’m all kinds of clueless over here.”
Ignoring him, Caleb held the sword out to Dr. Burdette, hilt first. “Keep that in your pants. We’re on the same side. Nick’s girlfriend is an Arel.”
His jaw went slack. “How’s that possible?”
“I ask myself that every morning when I get up and she hasn’t killed him. Not so much for being a demon as for being an idiot, but that’s another discussion.”
Nick sputtered indignantly. “Thanks, Cay. Way to bolster my teen ego.”
“Yeah, right. There’s nothing wrong with the ego of anyone who’d dare wear that shirt in public and not die instantly of mortification. Or bad-taste poisoning.” Rubbing a hand over his face, Caleb let out a tired breath and turned back toward the doctor. “So, you’re the real reason Bubba’s wife and son were murdered?”
Dr. Burdette winced as he straightened some of the items they’d knocked over. “Yeah. It was an old enemy after me. I’d just left town and thought I’d covered my tracks, so that none of them could follow me. Somehow, the demon tracked my scent to Michael’s and found her there alone, with Little Hank.”
Tears welled in his eyes as they filled with utter misery and guilt. The kind that left a mark on the soul, forever. “She was completely unprepared for what I unknowingly led to her door. And you’ve no idea how much I hate myself for what I did to my child and grandchild. What I did to Melissa. I should have told Michael long ago what we were. But I never thought the blood would taint him.”
“He doesn’t know?” Caleb asked.
“No. How could I tell him after that? He’d hate me forever for not warning him, and I can’t blame him for it. I hate myself enough for both of us.”
Nick saw the same pain play through Caleb’s dark eyes. No doubt, he was thinking about his own wife and what had happened to her when he’d left her to fight in a war he’d wanted no part of. An ageless war he was still having to fight, that had cost him everything and left him with nothing, except physical scars, and memories so painful he couldn’t stand to think of them.
Not that Nick didn’t understand himself. It was the same fate that would eventually claim his beloved mother at the hands of his own enemies if he didn’t find some way to derail a future that left him screaming in his dreams as much as Caleb’s nightmares from his past.
Caleb stepped closer to Nick, as if to protect him. “How long were you a Hellchaser?”
“Ten years.”
Nick frowned. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah, I’m agreeing with Nick. How’s that possible? No one gets a term that short.”
“You do when you sell your soul for someone else’s benefit and not your own personal gain.”
Nick cleared his throat meaningfully. “All right, back the train up, conductors. I need some explaining. I know when we freed Zavid, there was a Hellchaser after him who wanted to drag him back to his prison realm … But that’s the extent of my knowledge on this subject matter—y’all are making me feel like I’m in Chem class again with them weird doodads on the board. I take it there are different kinds of Hellchasers?”
“Sort of,” Caleb finally explained. “Hellchasers are damned souls that Thorn, for whatever reason, believes can be redeemed. He makes a pact with the Mavromino to salvage those souls, if he can. And if everyone agrees to the terms, those souls are allowed to work off their debt to Thorn. If they keep their noses clean and behave, at the end of their term, they’re set free to live out normal, happy lives.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
Dr. Burdette let out a bitter laugh. “You’ve no idea the things the other side sends after us to reclaim us. They know every thought, every fear. Every desire. And they use it all against you. It’s the worst hell you can conceive. They’re completely unrelenting and highly imaginative.”
Caleb nodded. “Yeah. They are bad. I’m on a first-name basis with a large number of them.” He rubbed at his temple. “So how did you end up in Thorn’s clutches?”
“I bargained my soul for my son’s life.”