Jack Templar and the Lord of the Demons (The Jack Templar Chronicles Book 5) Read Free Page A

Stone.”
    “We’re not ready to go after that,” I said. “Honestly, I don’t even know where to start looking for it. Besides, we’re too weak.”
    “But we’re just getting weaker the longer we wait,” Will argued.
    I was used to arguing with Will. We’d been friends since pre-school, and he’d been hardheaded from day one. We loved each other like brothers, but we fought like brothers too. I welcomed it. This was the first time I’d ever led a crusade against the gathering forces of darkness and evil about to attack humanity and destroy the world … so I wasn’t dumb enough to think I know everything.
    “What do you think, T-Rex?” I asked.
    T-Rex shrugged. He didn’t like confrontation and usually waited out our arguments on the sideline until the storm blew over, but he was ready with his thoughts on this one.
    “The last time we found Aquinas, we left stronger than when we got there,” he said carefully. “And sure Eva isn’t herself, but compared to how she was when we first took her …” He stopped, fighting back emotion and blinking away tears. “Don’t forget how bad it was. How we almost lost her again.”
    The words hit hard. I could tell each of us spring-boarded off the word again to remember the night we first lost Eva, the night she died in my arms, stabbed through the chest by the vile creature Pahvi. As terrible as it was to see her in her vampire form, it was better than seeing her lying in a grave.
    “It’ll take some effort to get there,” T-Rex continued. “Especially using farm roads to keep from being seen, but I think it’s worth it.”
    “Xavier?” I asked.
    “I agree,” he said. “We need food. Provisions. And Daniel needs Aquinas.”
    I looked back to Will. Since T-Rex had spoken up, his face had softened and he’d turned his shoulders to one side instead of squared toward me.
    He shrugged. “I just want to finish this, you know? Before we run out of time.”
    I threw an arm over his shoulder. “We all do. We have two of the five Jerusalem Stones now. We’re making progress.”
    “That’s about two more stones than I thought we’d be able to get,” Will said with a grin. “All right. Let’s get this big oaf to Aquinas. Faster we get there, faster we get back on the trail for the rest of these Stones.”
    He set off to grab the litter we’d made earlier in the day, a simple stretcher made from tree branches tied together with rope and wire. I crouched down next to Daniel and put a hand on his arm. Being closer, I saw that he wasn’t in a deep, peaceful sleep at all. His face twitched with emotion. A short grimace. A squint of his eyes. A grinding of teeth. He was dreaming, and whatever he dreamed of wasn’t something he was enjoying.
    “Don’t worry, Daniel,” I said softly. “We’ll get you to the farmhouse where Aquinas can help. Once we get there, everything will be fine. You’ll see.”
    I felt comfortable making that promise, but it turned out that only one of those things was true.

3
    T he farmhouse where we’d last seen Master Aquinas and the remaining young hunters was burnt to the ground. Every building. Every barn. The fencing. Even the gardens and the crops in the field were all torched so the entire hillside was black and lifeless.
    I used my sword to poke through the charred remains of the main farmhouse, but all I found were scorched tiles from the caved-in roof, shards of pottery from what must have been the kitchen, and piles of ash from the destroyed walls. As much as I hated seeing the debris, I was grateful we’d found no bones in the wreckage – so far.
    The others were spread out to the burned out husks where outbuildings once stood on the property. As I watched them explore, looking for clues about what had happened here, I tried to remember how many young hunters had been gathered here with Aquinas the last time we’d visited. Three dozen? Four? More than enough so that if they’d been overrun and killed, we were