Page 100 of The Rut in the Road

There was something bright—not… quite like a living thing, but not unlike one, either. Which probably meant Victor.

I gave it a tug, and Victor moved toward me, eyes fixed on my face.

I tugged him toward the bowl of peas.

Want?It was a question.

I tried just thinking at him.Yes.

He let out a squeak, then reached in, standing on his little rat toes, and scrabbled out a pea.

Content.

I moved him all over the kitchen table, had him run up one of my arms, across my shoulders, and down the other. Had him push a pea across the table. Had him try to pick up a spoon, then just drag it when it was clearly too unwieldy for him.

He got as many peas as he wanted.

Full. Content, he sent me after the last time I offered him another pea. Then,Scritch?

I rubbed at his head.

Happy.

“Okay, Victor,” I said softly, picking him up and carrying him back to his box. “You can go to bed.”

Happy.

My brain was buzzing, but I also felt exhaustion heavy on my shoulders and eyelids. It was almost three in the morning, and I’d just used a lot of magic.

Maybe I’d at least get some sleep.

17

He fucking lovedthe thrill of this. Loved that he could do God’s work in ridding the world of these freakish monsters. He could keep Chastity safe. Let her grow up in a world that didn’t have as many demons in it.

They’d pulled her out of school, because that damn teacher kept putting her in groups with that little fucking freak. Kept telling her, despite the evidence before her very eyes, that the demons were people, too.

The monster in front of him turned, his headlights glinting off its eyes.

He wouldn’t have his baby girl grow up thinking she was no better than some demon-spawned monster.

There were more of them now. Enough of them with kids that some of the wives had set up a little home-school. His wife was one of them. So Chastity would learn the truth of God’s word and wouldn’t risk being corrupted.

He pressed down harder on the gas pedal, the engine revving as he accelerated, his SUV an instrument of divine justice as the front bumper collided with the fleeing demon’s back.

Maybe it cried out.

He didn’t know.

The voice of God was speaking to him, drowning out whatever words the fiend might have said.

He backed up, smiling as the tires rolled up and over, once, then twice.

He was truly blessed by God.

“Enough!”Raj’s voice was harsh and rough, and I shuddered as I pulled myself out of the thoughts of the driver. The same driver who had killed Odell Jones. I was absolutely certain of that.

I dropped the cigarette butt back into the plastic evidence bag and swallowed back the bile that had risen in my throat. “He’s the same killer as the first hit-and-run,” I said, after managing to succeed.