Free Keeper Chronicles: Awakening by Katherine Wynter

around the bed. After a second, he found what he was searching for: faint scratches, five of them, each a different length. The demon hadn’t completely attained human form yet, but it was close. The size and shape of the hands were forming correctly, meaning it’d killed at least once more before this girl. A shot of dread fired down his spine.
    What if this was the same demon that killed Rebekah’s father?
    Gabe had slain the thing eating Lorek’s body up in the watch room and disposed of it with the rest of the demon corpses. He’d assumed the old man was losing his touch, so he never investigated the scene in more depth. If a first-order demon had killed Lorek and eaten his heart instead of the mindless thing Gabe had slain, it would have his memories and knowledge. It’d know about the Keepers. Their tactics and weaknesses.
    It’d know that while one demon remained in this world, that gateway remained open for others to follow.
    Rebekah, with the Meceta Head Light swirling above her home, now lived at the center of a bull’s-eye.
    Gabe slammed the door and ran out into the hall. His father stood down the hall on his phone. “I’m talking the car. And I accept the Meceta Head post.”
    “What’s gotten into you, son? Slow down.”
    “The demon that killed that little girl is first-order; it showed restraint, planning, and cunning in this kill. Worst of all, it’s almost achieved human form. I’m going to Meceta Head to make sure Beks is safe. If this thing killed Lorek, that bed-n-breakfast is in danger. Report the foothold to the Council and have the watch on alert. We need Hunters.”
    ****
    Gabe sped back up the 101, sirens wailing and lights flashing, both hands on the wheel. He had to get there in time. She had to be safe. How could he have been so wrapped up in himself to miss this? No fifth-order demon could kill a Keeper, not even an old piece of leather like Lorek. Gabe had been so relieved not to have to tell Moore’s family she was dead, that he’d missed the obvious.
    It wasn’t the first time. Six months ago, he’d come back to Killamook to find his fiancé dead. Juliet had been beautiful, with curls as golden as sunlight spilling through the clouds and a smile that could make even the darkest moment seem blessed. They’d made love that morning, shared a small breakfast of bananas and oatmeal. Just a day like any other.
    Like an idiot, he’d had a dozen roses in his hand as he opened the door, grinning to think she might be happy to see him. Instead, her severed head was the first thing he saw. Eyes wide with terror, she stared accusingly at him. The demon who’d killed her had been gone already. For two months, Gabe had hunted it inland, abandoning his post and turning his back on his home. Although he’d finally killed the monster, it wasn’t before the demon ate Juliette’s heart. Not before it’d eaten the child he hadn’t known she’d been carrying.
    Gabe punched the wheel again. He turned down the road that led to the b-n-b, his heart stuck in his throat. The paved road gave way to gravel after the visitors’ lot, jolting and shaking the car like an amusement park ride. He didn’t care. She had to be alive.
    He left his sirens wailing and jumped out of the car. Until he saw her, until he knew she was safe, he couldn’t stop. Jumping the steps of the porch two at a time, he didn’t bother knocking and just threw open the door to the house.
    “Beks!” he shouted, looking around. “Beks! Where are you?”
    She wasn’t in the parlor or the small living room.
Shit.
Hurrying past a confused-looking couple, he ran back down the hallway toward the guest kitchen. She used to go in there sometimes when she needed something quick and didn’t want to use the full kitchen in the back.
    “Beks? You in here?” A young boy with red hair and his mother looked up from where they’d been making sandwiches. Gabe took a breath and forced himself to slow down and not scare them. “Have