Page 22 of Sins of the Fathers

ARCHIE WAS BACK IN the hunters’ archives. No one was telling him anything, so this might be the only way for him to find something, but unfortunately, old reports that even hinted at the sanctuary had been redacted to hell and back. He already knew all the info he’d found in them, but it wasn’t enough.

He needed the names of the people who’d been there. He didn’t care if it was hunters or monsters. He needed people who’d seen what happened and who would talk to him. Of course, no hunter ever would, but maybe some of the survivors would be willing to, even though it would bring up bad memories.

There were no names. The hunters had been careful. They didn’t want whatever had happened that night to come out. They had a reputation for not stopping for anything when they were working a case, and sometimes, it was to their own detriment. A lot of humans supported them, but others didn’t. Usually, it was people who lived with monsters and who saw their neighbors and friends hurt by hunters for doing nothing more than living their lives.

It wasn’t enough to fully stop the hunters, but in past years, they’d learned to be more careful. They weren’t quite as open with their hatred of monsters. They were careful when they went on jobs that might make their involvement public. Maybe they’d learned something from the sanctuary, but unfortunately for Archie, it was to his detriment.

He leaned back in his desk chair and stared at the computer screen. The symbol was displayed there, taunting him. No matter how many times he thought about it, he wouldn’t get any more answers than he already had, but he was pretty sure he knew what was going on.

The killer was obviously linking the people he killed to the sanctuary by using the symbol. That meant that he wanted someone to know why he was killing the ex-hunters and hunters. He wanted them to notice that maybe, it would be their turn next, and when it was, they’d be aware of the reason they were dying. That smelled of grief and anger to him, not of something calculated. Well, it had no doubt been planned, possibly for months or years, but no matter how well it had been planned, the emotions behind it made it feel otherwise. He had no doubt that the killer would eventually make a mistake, and when they did, they would reveal their identity. That was when Archie would have to decide what to do about it.

He couldn’t tell the hunters. They would execute the killer because of who they’d been targeting. The alternative was letting them go, but was that something Archie was comfortable with?

The killer was going after hunters. Some of them had been ex-hunters, but they’d still been there when the sanctuary had been destroyed. They’d participated. They might have felt guilty afterward, enough to leave the hunters and to make a new life, but was it enough to atone for what they’d done? Archie could understand why it wasn’t enough for the killer. They wanted revenge, and they were getting it the only way they could.

He leaned forward and scrolled down the report. There was nothing new there, so he exited the file and opened another one at random. This wasn’t doing much, but it was better than doing anything.

His attention was drawn to the name Leroy on the page. He leaned closer, not surprised to see that name there but eager to find out why Leroy was mentioned. It was probably nothing odd since he’d been high up in the organization since Jasper was a child, but he was involved with the sanctuary. They still didn’t know how much or how, but he’d been there.

Archie frowned as he continued reading. The report hadn’t been signed by Leroy, but rather, it was about him. He was curious as to why this report was in this file since it was about finding a child, but he didn’t have to wonder long. Leroy had been trying to hide who Jasper really was since he’d gotten him. He wouldn’t want hunters to ask questions. Frankly, Archie was surprised there was a report at all.

Leroy had reported that he’d found an abandoned child. He didn’t say where, just that the child was human and that Leroy had reached out to the authorities to let them know about him. He also mentioned that he and his wife had been wanting a child and that they were willing to keep him.

It couldn’t be that easy, could it? There was no way that Leroy would’ve wanted to adopt a monster, no matter how much he and his wife had wanted kids.

But Archie didn’t know much about them, just that Leroy was a hunter and an asshole. He knew even less about Jasper’s mother, Leroy’s wife. Maybe she’d insisted on keeping Jasper. Maybe they’d been trying for years, and this had been their only chance.

Could it really be that simple? Or was there more to it, like maybe that Leroy had decided to attack the sanctuary to get Jasper? That seemed to be what Kester was insinuating, but Archie didn’t trust him. The monster lied as easily as he breathed.

Either way, the end result was that Leroy had decided to keep Jasper because he and his wife had wanted a child. Whether or not there was more to it, the only one who could probably answer was Leroy, and he wouldn’t. If Leroy had his way, Jasper would never know what happened. It was infuriating, but not surprising.

Since he’d found one report about it, Archie looked for more. There was nothing there. From what he could see, there were no other mentions of Jasper at all until he started training with the hunters. Archie’s heart hurt because Jasper had only been eleven. Leroy might have wanted a child, but he hadn’t been a good father. No child should have had to train with the hunters, especially not at eleven.

Archie wasn’t sure what Jasper would make of this once he found out, but he’d been wanting to talk to Leroy for a while. He hadn’t yet because he knew that his father wouldn’t make it easy. This might just be the thing that pushed him. Jasper deserved answers.

That didn’t mean he would get them.

Chapter Eight

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IT WAS ALWAYS DIFFICULT to talk to Jasper about his past, mostly because of his parents. Archie didn’t know what it was like to have a father like Leroy. His father loved him. Archie wasn’t sure that Leroy had ever loved Jasper, though. That was why it had been so confusing to realize that he’d willingly adopted Jasper, who wasn’t even human. Finding that report hadn’t helped make sense of any of it, but Archie couldn’t keep it a secret. He had to tell Jasper, who would do whatever he wanted with the information.

Unfortunately, Archie suspected he knew what Jasper would do. He wasn’t happy about it, but he wouldn’t try to stop him. It was time that Jasper got answers, and while talking to Leroy probably wouldn’t help with that, it wouldn’t stop him from trying.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” Jasper said as he squared his shoulders.

They were in Archie’s apartment again. They spent a lot of time here because Archie lived alone, while Jasper shared his place with Corey and Kerry. Archie had hinted at Jasper moving in with him, but so far, Jasper hadn’t said anything about it. That was fine with Archie. They were making things work like this, and he knew that sometimes, Jasper needed time with his best friends. He needed to be reassured that even though he wasn’t the man everyone had thought he was, they wouldn’t change their mind about loving him. Besides, it was good for them to spend some time apart.

But tonight, Jasper was here. Archie had cooked, and he’d been planning on keeping his mouth shut until they were done eating the pasta he’d put together after work. It looked like Jasper had a different idea in mind, though.

Archie sighed and put down his fork. “Maybe I should wait until after dinner.”

“Or maybe you shouldn’t. You look like you were about to explode with anticipation. Hell, if you don’t, I will. I can tell this has something to do with me. If it didn’t, you would’ve told me already.”

Archie took a sip of water from his glass to waste a few more seconds. “It does have to do with you. I was poking around the hunters’ archives again today when I found a report I hadn’t noticed earlier.”

Jasper put down his fork, too, and cleaned his mouth with his napkin. “Now I know I really won’t like this. Tell me, Archie. Just rip it off like a band-aid. That’ll be better than waiting for you to say it.”