Page 18 of Wayward Daughter

“If you need a nap, do you want my report in the morning?”

“Sit down, you shit. It’s going to keep me up not to know.”

I filled him in on everything. Pan could talk to more than one person telepathically, so he interjected when needed. Pan had a little more information that I did because he scouted before we got there. He heard them mention the Yellow King before the witch came out and said anything. Pan had amazing hearing, but there were difficulties if someone was deep inside a house.

Rainer was glaring at me when I mentioned bringing those kinds of priests into his safe house.

“You invited them to the safe house after they fucked a job that sideways?”

“I want to get my hands on that diary. How did a nun who spoke Old English write about a character in some short stories thousands of years later? And how does no one know about them outside the collection of short stories except the people who were at my house that night and the witch today?”

“I asked Delilah about the Yellow King. She said he wasn’t real. Delilah said he’s a boogeyman in certain parts of Hell. Basically an Eldritch horror. No one knows anything about him or can describe him. No one has actually seen him, they just know he’s horrific and scary. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t actually have anything good.”

“We could be dealing with an urban legend that grew legs and became a cult. Scary evil beings tend to do scary evil things and make themselves known. You can’t kill an idea like you would a monster and we need to find out why they are so interested in you. I don’t agree with their methods, but their books might have information ours don’t. I’m coming with.”

“Great! We can be hostile to them together.”

“You’re hostile to everyone, Logan. You’re hostile to a coffee table you bumped your toe against, even if it was your fault. I’m not saying don’t be a dick if they’ve got it coming, but it sounds like they are trying. We’re all basically freelancers and don’t have to answer to anyone. From what you said, these guys don’t just answer to their god. Some bishop is their boss.”

“Since when are you not a curmudgeonly bastard who is mean to people with me? Are you a shapeshifter?”

“Since a blood magic addled witch mentioned the same name you heard the night my sister went missing and said they were after you. These men are willing to help and they have books I don’t. Let them.”

Ugh. He was right. They completely fucked up that job and the cops were probably going to be calling me soon about the whole arson thing. The owner of the Airbnb was going to want my name to sue me. The cops in the know would hopefully keep that secret and they probably had insurance.

But they did change tactics after they realized things went totally ass up because they listened to their boss. Caleb was asking a lot of questions about witches and I answered them because he seemed like he was trying to learn and get all the information, not use it to hunt witches.

Solomon never spoke to me before, but he seemed smart and open-minded. He said no one had translated that diary before because they thought the nun was just insane. He could have just gone with that, but he tried anyway and now I had a lead.

Saul was Saul. I considered myself a free spirit and opened minded and Saul might have me beat. I wasn’t worried about him using our lore books for evil and technically, I’d already forgiven him for not listening to me. He had no way of knowing Pan wasn’t a thirty-pound mutt. Now that my adrenaline wasn’t pumping, it was actually sexy he was going to take on three werewolves to save my dog.

Caleb said we could meet around noon. He should know more about what his boss was doing and who he was sending. That gave Rainer and I time to get some books together for them and figure out how we wanted to play this. They had a lot of questions for me, but I had a lot of assumptions on their organization too since we butted heads a lot.

They were wrong about a lot of things, but I probably was too.

Ifinally beat Rainer up and was able to cook that man some grits and eggs. I texted Sasha and offered to buy her dinner. I’d been trying to get her and my chronically single uncle together forever. He always tried to go to bed early, but he slept like shit and was too stubborn to get a sleep study.

Saul hadn’t texted me any updates. Probably because he thought I was still mad at him. He was funny, very secure in his masculinity, and Pan liked him, but I wasn’t going to chase him or flirt. He was a priest and off limits.

Rainer and I got to the safe house early. We had to stop by the grocery store first. We might be monster hunters, but we were still Southern. It was rude to have guests and no food. We needed finger sandwiches, dip, and beer. If Saul smoked pot, he probably drank beer. If he didn’t, more for me and Rainer.

We were just getting everything set out when there was a knock on the door. They weren’t dressed in the monkey suits with their collars this time. They were in their civilian clothes. Would have been nice if they had been wearing that on the last job because I was guessing someone looked out the window, saw three priests standing out there, and sent the werewolves to eat them.

“This is my Uncle Rainer. Rainer, this is Father Caleb, Father Solomon, and Father Saul. Come in.”

“Thank you. Has your dog been outside today?”

“Pan? He goes outside all the time.”

“I meant is he going to urinate on us again.”

“Pan is a very good boy, but he doesn’t piss in the house. And he only pees on people he doesn’t like, so you might want to marinate on how to win him over.”

“He likes me!” Saul chirped.

“I’m pretty sure everyone likes you.”

I snagged Saul when everyone else was inside and couldn’t overhear.