Free The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation) by Pembroke Sinclair

similar situations. I’ve been around demons for a long time, Katie.”
    His words rang through Katie and instantly made her mad. If he knew so much about demons, why hadn’t he done something to protect her and Wes? Why did he let them get hurt? He could have at least warned them. He could have saved them!
    She snarled. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
    A questioning look wrinkled his forehead. “What?”
    “Why didn’t you stop him before he took me and lured Wes into a trap? If you know demons so well, why didn’t you save us?”
    Randy’s eyes flicked to the ground for a moment. When they came back up and met her gaze, tears glazed his eyes. “Fair enough question. You might not like the answer, though. I stayed out of it because Wes said he had it handled. He told me he could take care of it. Plus, I was busy with my own situation.” He gestured toward his face and body. “But that’s no excuse. It’s blatantly obvious I should have been there. Wes’s feelings clouded his judgment. Caused him to make stupid decisions.”
    So was it stupid for Wes to want to make sure Katie was safe? What exactly was Randy inferring? Was it stupid to get her involved? Or was the way he handled it stupid? Randy kind of left his words open to interpretation. Katie was already sensitive, so she took his statement as a personal attack. Katie opened her mouth to tell him what an awful father he was for putting Wes into such horrible situations, but the words never came out of her mouth. A door opened and closed, and her mom entered through the garage. She stared from Katie to Randy, then stepped in and gave Katie a kiss on the forehead.
    “You doing all right?”
    Katie nodded curtly.
    Her mom turned to Randy. “Thanks for coming by. I appreciate you worrying about my daughter. How’s Wes doing?”
    He smiled. “Much better. He should be getting out tomorrow.”
    “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Mom responded. “And you’re looking stronger today. Is there anything we can do to help out?”
    Randy pushed himself up from the table with effort. He grimaced as his straightened up. “If you wouldn’t mind, I could use Katie’s help later tonight moving some stuff into Wes’s room. I got some presents for his welcome home.”
    Katie’s mom smiled and glanced at her daughter. “She’d be glad to help. I’ll have her over there at seven.”
    Katie wanted to protest, to say she had other plans, but she knew it would fall on deaf ears. Even if she had plans, Mom would make her change them. It was best not to argue. She shuddered at the thought of being alone with Randy in his house. God only knew what she’d find in there.
    Mom stepped forward to help Randy, but he waved her off. She followed him to the door and showed him out. Katie watched them from the kitchen, her eyes narrowed to slits. She attempted to project her thoughts into the air, to get Randy to change his mind and tell her she didn’t have to help, but it didn’t work. He waved from the door before stepping out. Her mom told him goodbye, then turned back into the house and headed upstairs to change out of her work clothes. Katie followed her.
    “You know, Mom, I have a lot of homework to do tonight. Maybe I should help Mr. Akers another time.”
    Mom turned, a smirk on her face. “I’m sure you can spend an hour to help Randy get Wes’s room ready. If you start your homework now, then you’ll have plenty of time.” She raised her eyebrows.
    Nuts! Katie thought. It was just as she suspected. Mom would have a rebuttal for any argument she threw at her.
    “What happened to him? How did he get hurt?”
    Mom changed into a pair of sweats. “Car accident. Pretty nasty one from what I hear. He’s lucky to be alive.”
    Katie raised an eyebrow. “And you believe that?”
    Mom stared at her, confusion covering her face. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
    Katie shrugged and sat down on the bed. “I don’t know.”
    “It was in the paper. Third page. The