Exorcist Servant: Demon Hunter

"We need to talk," Starkweather said, closing the apartment door behind him.

Then the development of this sentence, it is never a good thing.Caleb took a step toward the stairs. "I'm tired and paralyzed, can't I wait until tomorrow morning?"

"No, can't wait." Starkweather took off his overcoat and blazer and draped them over the back of the chair.Then he folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the chair. "Sit down."

He looked lazy, but his eyes were sharp.Caleb, worried, crossed the room and sat on the couch.

Starkweather still stood: "We did some more research. It seems that your sister-in-law and brother have something to do with the 'Fist of God'."

"What?" Caleb forced a weak smile. "Are you joking!"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

Monsters can't live - go fuck it! "Ben knows about me," he protested. "He's helping me hide my so-called abilities, you know? He's not going to join that punching punch."

"Actually, he thinks your existence is unreasonable."

Caleb couldn't breathe. "I... what?"

A certain piece of a certain fragment of memory played in his mind vaguely and distortedly like a fragment of an old movie: Ben was embracing him, but in the depths of Ben's heart, there was always an unspeakable grief. "He cares about you and wants to protect you. But he also believes you're going to hell. I've found that mortals have conflicting feelings."

"No. No, you're lying!"

"Why am I lying?"

"Caleb? Caleb!" Starkweather's hands pinched his shoulders.Caleb blinked, realizing that at some point he stood up.Tears stung his eyes; he broke free from Starkweather's grip and wiped his face angrily.No matter how well-intentioned Starkweather may be, he's not going to break down in front of a bureaucratic lackey.He will not!

Starkweather let go of him, but concern remained in his eyes. "are you OK?"

"No! No, I'm fucking bad! Would you be okay?" Caleb yelled. The "Fist of God" is involved with certain organizations that promote the establishment of various laws that are extremely harmful to the interests of superpowers.Ben has spent his life protecting Caleb from these laws.How is it possible for Ben to join "Fist of God" under the circumstances?Had Melanie egged him on?

No, she had no idea.Ben never told her Caleb's secret.Was it done out of love, out of shame, or both?

"I'm sorry," Starkweather said. "I understand this has hit you hard."

Caleb swallowed hard and looked away, unable not to notice the beating of his stupid heart.Whenever Starkweather got too close, his heart throbbed. "I guess I was skeptical when we and Melanie's 'friends' would join forces to track Ash. But I don't want to believe it's true. And I never thought that Ben would, would... ..."

"I'm really, really sorry," Starkweather said again - why were his blue eyes so charming, so tender and sad? "Based on everything that happened tonight, I have to ask you what you know - anything, even the seemingly trivial details. Maybe something you heard or saw at the time but didn't think about it, Will help us find the rest of the Fist of God branch," Starkweather said.

Caleb froze.Is this Starkweather's true purpose?Could it be that the concern he showed was just a ploy for further investigation? "Why?"

"Your brother was a member of the same branch as tonight's victim, and is now dead. We've searched as hard as we could, but your sister-in-law is still missing. So if you know something, anything, you Gotta tell me."

He should have told Starkweather that Melanie had been there.Should he say it?

"If you find Melanie," he said in a word, "what will you do to her?"

"It depends on what she's doing. Fist of God's many branches are involved in the murder of superhumans, as well as the public school bombing. They also killed some possessed people who could have been successfully rescued. .”

"There's no way these things could have been done, and neither could Melanie!" Fuck Starkweather—maybe Melanie's got some crazy beliefs, but she's the only family he has left alive. "She's just trying to keep a nasty demon out of Ben's body—"

"I'm not--"

"Shut up! Melanie is not a murderer! No matter what you say, you are a goddamn demon! I'm done, I don't want to go on, you hear me? I'm done."

"I don't want to hear you say that," Gray grumpily said, and Caleb lost all awareness of him for a moment, like an angry cat turning its back on him.

"Caleb," Stackway called him.He stretched out his hands, palms spread, "Calm down. I'm not accusing your sister-in-law of anything. However, if there are wolf-changers trying to find the branch right now, her life may be in danger."

"Who made this mess?" Caleb asked rhetorically, trying to give himself more time to think. "If you can do your business well and catch the devil after Ben is killed, how can there be so many troubles?"

Starkweather flinched uncomfortably.It was a small movement, but it made Caleb straighten everything out at once.

"My God," Caleb said.His stomach sank heavily, "Are you the one responsible for investigating Ben's death? That's why they called you to that abandoned house?"

"It's not just because of that," Starkweather said softly, avoiding Caleb's surprised gaze, "but... yes, I'm in charge of this case."

"Why...you?" God, none of this is real. "Then why don't you do something about it?"

"I did," Starkweather's Adam's apple moved up and down with the swallowing motion, "we searched the crime scene, compared the evidence we found with evidence from other cases, we did everything we could. But it's impossible for police dogs to track non-human spirits. We don't have any physical evidence. I'm at a dead end."

Thinking about Ben hurts Caleb, and he closes his eyes to pull himself together.Then he forced himself to open it again.He's thinking now: he'd really thought that Starkweather was kind, that he wasn't such a bad guy, and that maybe...

Nothing maybe. "What were you doing when the body disappeared, were you busy with other things? Why didn't you do anything fucking at that time?"

Stackway raised his hand and wiped his face and said, "It's because the relevant reports on this matter have never reached me."

"What the hell are you talking about? The report just disappeared in one of your cumbersome handovers? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Damn it, Caleb, listen to me!" The agent's mouth was drawn tight, his eyes were bright as stars, and his black eyebrows were already drawn into a frown. "I shouldn't have said the following to you. It could get me into big trouble, but you do have a right to know. The report of the disappearance of this body did come to me...but no one knows The feeling is gone. Kania thinks someone is up to something. That's why you are not in the detention center now. Because Kania wants to find out who and why stole the report. She also I think that by blocking the matter about Ash, we can have more time to investigate this."

For some reason, Caleb felt as if he was standing in an elevator plummeting down to the basement, his stomach turned over.He shouldn't feel lost.After all, Starkweather is nothing more than a lackey of the government.He is just obeying and carrying out orders.

"I see." Caleb stood up, just stood there stiffly.He didn't look at Starkweather, not even a glance.Because he wasn't sure he could stand the look on Starkweather's face.

"I'm sorry," Starkweather said softly, "I'm sorry I failed and didn't catch the werewolf in time. I'm sorry for what happened to you. But now, if we Together, we still have a chance to save your sister-in-law."

yes.Starkweather had failed, but he was also counting on Caleb to tell him about Melanie and sell her out.She was already terrified of Caleb, and if he betrayed her to SPECTR again, she would never talk to him again.She is his last kin.And now this bastard agent wants him to hand her over so easily, as if doing so is a trivial matter, not worth mentioning.

Starkweather was once backed by his biological parents.How can he know what the meaning of family existence is like?What does loyalty mean to him?

"Or you should fucking do your job and find yourself," Caleb said, ignoring the pressure in his throat. "I don't know anything. I'm going to bed."

He turned, deliberately choosing to walk towards the stairs, half expecting Starkweather to follow.However, the agent remained where he was standing behind him.So Caleb went back to his cold room alone.

***

The next morning, John sat across from Caleb at a table with oatmeal and coffee for breakfast.After a few hours of sleep and stumbling down the stairs, Caleb hadn't spoken much all morning.He stares straight at his oatmeal, doesn't eat it, keeps swiping the spoon in the bowl.After last night, he didn't dare to look John in the eye.

Was it because he was still keeping the secret from John, or because he hated John now?

Of course Caleb knew that John was blaming himself for not catching Ben's killer.God damn it, John just wanted to help Caleb.But Caleb didn't want to kill anyone anymore, not even the fundamentalist lunatics who joined the Fist of God.

John drank the last of his coffee, trying to wash away the bitterness in his heart.At the same time, he was also thinking about the current situation: Caleb was seen at the crime scene last night, which meant that Kania couldn't keep her secrets about Caleb for long.I don't know how Caleb will be dealt with next, especially if the director feels that Caleb has concealed something?

The most likely scenario is that Caleb was locked up and interrogated from time to time.And based on what John knew about Caleb, doing so would only make Caleb even more uncooperative.

Caleb doesn't trust SPECTR, if he feels threatened, will he give control of his body to Ash for a chance to escape?If Hui went berserk in the headquarters, many people would die.

And Caleb was doomed.

"I'm going to work," John said, taking care to sound calm and non-blaming. "Unless you tell me anything about your sister-in-law."

Caleb looked up, finally meeting John's eyes.His lips parted slightly.For a split second John thought he was going to say something.

But Caleb returned his gaze to the oatmeal. "I told you all I could tell you last night."

It's "all I can tell you," not "all I know."

In other words, Caleb didn't believe him.That meant he shouldn't trust Caleb, even if his instincts were against it.

"Okay," Starkweather said.Then he stood up, put on his coat, and picked up his bag.He turned to look at Caleb.

"I'll seal the door," he said. "If you run this time, there won't be a third time."

Caleb looked up at him, then looked down at the oatmeal. "Okay, got it."

John closed the door between him and Caleb.