Collateral Damage (Demon Squad Book 8) Read Online Free

held my peace to hear the rest.
    “ We have been tasked with ridding the world of your foul taint, and we’ve only just begun. We will come for you, demon, but you will not die alone, you can be certain of that. The line of your family is at an end, its blood soon to bathe the hands of the righteous, ” the voice went on, soaring in its arrogance. “ All who stand at your side will die, as well, without mercy. You will find no haven in this world or the next, and all you cherish and value will be brought low, so declareth the Lord, our Savior. Cower as your kind will, but we will find you. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. ”
    The last of his statement washed over me, its hypocrisy nearly drowning me. ‘ In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. ’ Murder in the name of a God who had long since abandoned them. How trite.
    I spit at the rune and put my fist through it and the wall behind, discharging the remnant energies with a sparkling flash. The shattered frame crashed to the ground when I pulled my hand loose of the wall, but I barely heard it hit as a voice called to me from the living room.
    “You can’t be in here, sir.”
    The young officer who’d seen me brush aside the cordon tape stood there with his hand on the butt of his pistol, the safety strap hanging aside loosely. I whirled about to face him, still reeling from the threat to my family and friends, the murder of Karra. The officer stiffened and inched his gun from its holster. His expression was one of uncertainty, eyes narrowed, but there was no missing the compassion that lingered there, as well. He hadn’t followed me to cause problems, but I’d forced him to fall back on his training. And as much as I wanted a scapegoat, someone to take my anger out on, he had done nothing to deserve it. I reluctantly raised my hands and nodded.
    “All right,” I said. “I’m leaving.” I went and did just that.
    Offering the officer nothing that could be misinterpreted as aggression, I made my way down the hall, hands out where he could see them. He backed away slowly, keeping his distance, but doing nothing to impede my passage.
    “Are you the homeowner?” he asked, but I ignored him and kept walking. There was nothing he could do for me. “Is there anyone else inside?”
    Outside, the barrage of lights stung my eyes after the gloom of the house. I blinked their brightness away and headed for the crowd that had grown since I was last outside. Still, for all their number, they knew a predator when they saw one. The onlookers parted without hesitation. Even the news teams shuffled aside, though they never stopped filming.
    “Sir,” the officer called out to my back, not so easily brushed aside. “I need to talk to you.” I could hear the voices of his companions coming to investigate, another officer ordering me to stop.
    My cheeks warmed as yet one more cop shouted for me to comply, the call becoming a mantra. The unmistakable clack of a round being chambered followed the command. I walked on, my breath cold in my lungs despite knowing none of the officers would be so foolish as to risk firing at me surrounded by lookie loos as I was. At least I hoped they wouldn’t be. We would both regret that move; them way more than me.
    “That’s the guy that lives here.” I heard someone in the crowd shout. Most likely one of our neighbors we’d not bothered to befriend for obvious reasons. Snitch. “That’s him.”
    “Sir, I need to insist.” A hand clamped down on my arm, and that was all it took for me to lose what little restraint I had left.
    I slapped my hand over the cop’s and twisted his wrist backward. Bones snapped. He cried out, but his complaints were silenced by the sudden gust of wind I’d summoned to clear my way. The crowd stumbled and toppled like bowling pins beneath the icy gale, arms and legs flailing, the officers shoved back with them. Only when I had a good twenty feet of open space around me did