Free The Demon Hunter by Kevin Emerson Page A

“Bane was at the zoo the other night. When I saw him, he was Occupying the jaguar.”
    Sebastian’s brow darkened. Phlox’s eyes started to glow. “Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?” she asked tersely.
    â€œWell, I didn’t really think Bane did it, I mean—”
    â€œIt’s all right,” said Sebastian. “We don’t know anything, and it’s probably not Charles.” He looked at Phlox. “I’ll have to report this to Half-Light.”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous,” Phlox snapped. “We can’t report this to Half-Light or Central Council. If they think it’s Charles, given the trouble he’s been in lately, they might—” Her eyes glowed more fiercely.
    â€œPhlox, this isn’t that serious.”
    â€œYet.” Phlox slapped her mug onto the counter and paced across the room. “We can’t even ask the other families to keep an eye out. With how they think of us, word will get right back to Half-Light.”
    â€œWell, then we’ll find him ourselves,” said Sebastian.
    Phlox nodded. “You should get to school, Ollie,” she said. “Thank you for telling us.”
    â€œCan’t I help you look for him?” If nothing else, it sounded better than a long night at school.
    â€œLet us handle it,” said Sebastian. “I’m sure he’ll turn up soon enough. These two things probably aren’t even related.”
    Nice try, Dad, Oliver thought. For an attorney, he didn’t sound very convincing.
    Oliver headed to school, lost in worried thought. He was glad he’d told his parents, but their reaction, especially Phlox’s, only made his sliver of worry about Bane grow. She’d referred to the trouble he’d been in lately—stealing the summoning charm, missing school … or was there more? If it turned out that he was the jaguar killer, would the punishment be more severe for him because of that?
    Oliver found himself hoping for the first time that his brother would turn up, but he didn’t that night, or the next.
    Saturday evening, Oliver leaped off the back of a city bus and walked up the steep hill to the front of Emalie’s house. He sat on the bottom front step and waited in the crisp darkness, his thoughts on his family. There hadn’t been another jaguar attack in the last two nights, but the animal was still missing, and even more troubling, so was Bane. Phlox and Sebastian had been out almost nonstop looking for him. Oliver still had a hard time imagining that Bane was really behind the jaguar killings, but then again, why else wouldn’t he be coming home?
    Oliver was pulled out of his thoughts by shuffling footsteps. “’Sup,” said Dean, sitting beside him. “How was the first week?”
    â€œWhatever,” said Oliver.
    â€œDid your brother show up yet?”
    â€œNope.” Oliver turned and studied Dean’s blotchy face, remembering now that there was a whole separate problem to deal with.
    â€œWhat?” Dean asked.
    â€œNothing, it’s just—I saw Lythia. Have you seen her?”
    Dean instinctively glanced around. “No, wait, you mean here, in town?”
    â€œI saw her at Harvey’s.” Oliver explained the encounter. Even as he did, he worried. What if Dean was under Lythia’s orders right now? There was no way to be sure.
    Something scraped above them. Oliver looked up to see Emalie leaning out her upstairs window and reaching to the eave of the roof, where a thick rope was coiled around a hook. They had affixed the rope so that Emalie could sneak out without having to creep through the rest of her house. The rope dropped to the ground. It had knots in it to help her climb. Emalie swung out and shimmied down, landing with a grunt.
    Oliver watched her blow a loose strand of hair from her eyes, thought it was cute, realized he was staring, panicked, and tried to look