Page 25 of Sins of the Fathers

Archie might not know the number, but he recognized the voice. “Crow.” He was one of Archie’s informants. If he was calling, something was happening, and right now, Crow was working on Daniel’s case. Specifically, he was keeping an eye on the sanctuary, or what was left of it. It wasn’t a hard job for him, but the fact that he was calling meant that something was happening.

“So that place you asked me to keep an eye on?” Crow asked.

“Is there someone there?”

“Yeah. Not a hunter, though. A monster.”

Archie was almost afraid to ask. “Did you get a good look at them?”

“I just saw that his arms are freakishly long. I didn’t go anywhere near him.”

“You were right not to. He’s dangerous.” Because even though the description wasn’t detailed, there was only one monster it could be. For some reason, Kester was at the sanctuary, and maybe Archie could find out that reason. Kester wouldn’t tell him, but he might not need to.

“You want me to stay here?” Crow asked.

“No. Go home, and make sure he doesn’t see you. He won’t hesitate to kill you if he does.”

Crow snorted. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“You should be.”

There was nothing Archie could do to convince Crow not to be an idiot. He didn’t think he needed to, anyway. If there was one thing Crow was good at, it was survival. He wouldn’t do anything stupid that would get him killed because he didn’t want to die.

They hung up, and Archie quickly grabbed his things. Luckily, he didn’t have a lot, and he’d leave everything in his car once he got to the sanctuary.

He’d never been there. He’d read about the place, had seen pictures, but he’d never had a reason to go there. From what he knew, there was nothing left, just an empty field. That was why he was so confused about Kester’s insistence on going. What did the monster think he was going to find there? What did he want to find? Hopefully, Archie would get answers tonight.

Hopefully, he would also make it out alive. He couldn’t know if this was a trap. It wouldn’t make much sense since Kester had had the opportunity to kill him and Jasper recently and hadn’t done it, but Archie couldn’t begin to know how Kester’s thought process worked. Maybe he hadn’t been in the mood to kill either of them but would be in the mood tonight. There was no way for Archie to know, but it wouldn’t stop him from checking out what was going on. It might be the only way for him and Jasper to get answers, and Archie wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

He knew how to deal with Kester. He knew to be careful.

The drive wasn’t long. The sanctuary had been at the edge of two neighborhoods, one human, one monster. The field was empty, just like Archie had expected, and he parked his car a few blocks away and quickly went back on foot. The world around him was quiet, everyone asleep in their homes.

The empty lot was surrounded by a chain-link fence. It didn’t hide anything, including the figure that was moving on the other side of the lot. Archie sucked in a breath and stopped moving. He hadn’t expected to find Kester so easily. Then again, there was no place for the monster to hide. Kester was especially tall, and just like Crow had mentioned, his arms were too long for his body. It created an odd proportion that made him impossible not to recognize. He really was here, digging into something, or at least, that was what Archie thought. He couldn’t see much. The moon wasn’t full, and the lamps on the street didn’t make enough light to reach the spot where Kester was. Archie could see him moving, but he couldn’t see any details, and he wouldn’t be able to. This outing might be for nothing, but it wouldn’t be enough for him to leave.

He tried to make himself as small as possible in case Kester turned toward him. The last thing he wanted was for the monster to see him, but Kester seemed focused on whatever he was doing. He was clearly digging, or at least, that was what it looked like from a distance. Archie was ready to bet that when he went there to check, he’d find that was what Kester had been doing.

But it didn’t continue for long. Eventually, Kester stopped moving. Archie squinted, trying to see more, sucking in a breath when Kester suddenly disappeared. Archie desperately wanted to rush forward, but he knew that Kester hadn’t vanished into thin air. If he wasn’t there anymore, that meant that he was in the hole he’d been digging, or something similar. Archie didn’t know how long Kester had been there, but he doubted the monster had managed to dig a hole big enough for his entire body. That meant there was something else there, and Archie wouldn’t find out what that something was if he got himself killed.

So, he waited. He didn’t dare check his phone in case Kester reappeared at that exact moment. He wasn’t sure how long Kester was gone from sight, but it wasn’t that long, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. When he reappeared, the first thing Archie saw was his arms. They pulled Kester out of the ground easily, and Kester’s entire body reappeared. Clearly, he’d found what he’d been looking for because he walked away without hesitating. He didn’t try to hide the hole he’d disappeared into or the fact that someone had been digging. He didn’t seem to care.

Archie did care. It meant that it would be easier for him to find the exact spot, which was a relief. He wanted to go right away, but he couldn’t until he was sure Kester was gone. This time, he waited longer than fifteen minutes. If he had to guess, it was close to half an hour before he took the risk of moving. He took out his phone and checked the time, holding his breath as he waited for Kester to appear. Maybe if he was still here, he wouldn’t kill Archie. Maybe he would just tease him. Knowing Kester, it was a possibility.

But no one appeared to taunt him about anything. No one tried to kill Archie. The night was cool and quiet, and Archie was pretty sure he was the only one awake in the area. Kester was long gone, which was how Archie wanted things.

There was still the possibility that Kester was watching him, but Archie couldn’t stand there for the rest of the night. Eventually, people would start waking up, and the sun would rise, and he’d miss his opportunity. He had no doubt that the place was watched by the hunters, so he was surprised that they hadn’t stepped in, but considering that it had been twenty years since anything had happened here, maybe it was understandable. They were probably bored as hell watching an empty lot.

Still, he moved as quickly as he could, hurrying toward the area where Kester had been. He almost tripped on the spade Kester had been using to dig but managed to catch himself and not fall on his face. Since he had his phone in his hand, he used the light of the screen to illuminate the ground.

Kester hadn’t been digging a hole. He had been digging, but it was to reveal a set of stairs. From the little Archie could see, something had fallen on the stairs, possibly in the fire that had destroyed the place. A piece of plywood had been there until Kester had moved it to use the stairs to go wherever they led.

Archie should probably call either Jasper or Braith, but there was no time, and he didn’t think he’d find anything dangerous down there. The sanctuary had been a place where monsters had felt safe. It had been a place for monsters like him, who loved humans.

He cautiously went down the steps. To his surprise, the air still smelled faintly of fire, but also of mold and dampness. This was clearly a basement, and he wasn’t sure what it had been used for until he found a stack of canned foods and what might have been potatoes once, before they’d rotted. He sneezed at the smell, then, since he was underground, turned on the flashlight on his phone to get a better look. He didn’t think anyone would see anything from above.

Just like he’d expected, the light revealed a basement stacked with rotten food and more canned goods. There were also a few mattresses in the back, going from white to black, several chairs and a table, and other things that clearly hadn’t been used by the people who’d lived at the sanctuary. It was a basement like one would find in many places, and he didn’t understand what Kester had been doing here.

Not until he noticed the open box on the table.