It hit him that this was probably some member of the Walker clan. Which probably also accounted for that nagging sense of familiarity.
He turned the doorknob and pulled open the door.
The girl’s lower lip pushed out in a display of youthful petulance. “It’s about fucking time.”
“Sorry. I was just-”
He stopped talking because two teenagers with guns were suddenly filling the open doorway. The boys must have been crouching out of view while the girl knocked. Their guns were aimed away from Jake, but that gave him little comfort. The crazy thing was he wasn’t afraid. Not yet anyway. He was too angry to be afraid. This was ridiculous. How many more insane things could happen in one fucking day?
He glowered at the juvenile home invaders. “Do me a favor, assholes, and save it for another day. I’ve got enough shit on my table for now.”
One of the boys piped up. “We’re not here to rob you. We just need to talk to you. You’re Jake McAllister, right?”
“Yeah. What do you want with me?”
His hand tightened on the doorknob. He weighed the advisability of simply throwing the door shut in their faces. Shutting and locking the door would take hardly more than a second. And even if they were here for some nefarious purpose, he doubted they’d shoot their way in. This was the middle of the day in a nice neighborhood. Gunfire would bring the cops running in minutes. So, yeah, a quick door slam seemed the wisest course of action.
“What’s going on here?”
Kristen’s voice, behind him.
Jake groaned. “It’s nothing. Stay back, okay?”
“Stay back?” He could hear her getting closer, curiosity apparently overriding the urgency in his voice. “Is it Uncle Don? I’m expecting-”
She pushed his hand off the doorknob and opened the door wider. She gasped. “Oh my God.” She flashed Jake a terror-stricken expression. “Jake, is it…them?”
“Them?”
She put a hand to her chest and stumbled back a step. “It’s them. The bastards who killed my brother. Oh my God.”
One of the teenagers said, “Dude, what is she talking about?”
Jake glowered at him. “Her brother was murdered last night. Tortured and murdered. And now here you are waving guns around. Connect the fucking dots.”
Both boys looked aghast at the implication. The taller of the two said, “Oh. Shit. Look, I’m sorry. I know this looks bad, but you’ve got to believe me when I say it just can’t be helped. We did not torture and murder anybody last night.”
“Or ever,” said the other one.
“Right. Or ever,” the tall one continued. “We sure as shit shot a bunch of motherfuckers yesterday, though. But that’s only because they were trying really fucking hard to kill us.”
“Which we sort of took issue with.”
The tall one nodded. “Right. We’ve been through a lot, Mr. McAllister. And it’s not over. A lot of people are in danger. It is extremely important that we talk to you.”
Jake was aware of Kristen trembling next to him. He grabbed one of her hands and held on tight. “I sympathize, guys. I really do. But we’ve got major problems of our own to deal with, and this sounds like a matter for the police anyway.”
The shorter kid gave his head an emphatic shake. “Uh-uh. Fuck the police.”
Something stirred in the back of Jake’s mind. He peered more closely at the boys. There was something familiar about them, too. Then he had it. He couldn’t breathe for a moment. He’d seen their faces on the late news last night. They were Trey’s friends. That surely had something to do with why they’d come to see him. But Jake wanted no part of them. They were wanted for several murders. Maybe they were telling the truth and maybe not. It didn’t matter. They were fugitives and he wanted them gone, pronto. Let them sort their shit out elsewhere. It wasn’t his problem.
“Look, guys-”
“Oh my God.”
Jake glanced at Kristen. She seemed a little less on the verge of falling to pieces. She was staring intently at the girl on the porch. “Kristen? What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, her features set in wonderment. “She looks so much like you. Can’t you see it?”
Jake looked at the girl. It wasn’t something he would have noticed on his own, but a closer study of the girl’s face did reveal some similarity. They had the same strong cheekbones and full lips. He and the girl also had the same shade of dark brown hair. And the eyes…
Fuck.
The similarity was too strong. He didn’t know the girl and had never seen her before. But given the hyperpromiscuity of the McAllister clan, that meant nothing. Factor in an absurdly high level of infidelity and the strong possibility of a familial connection became a probability. She was almost certainly the product of some sordid one-night stand or back-door rendezvous involving a McAllister male and some poor woman. But he couldn’t dwell on it or allow himself to get sidetracked.
He put himself between Kristen and the fugitives and began to close the door. “Sorry, but I can’t help you. Now get off this property before I call the cops.”
The boys traded a single quick glance, then surged through the narrowing space between doorjamb and door. Jake cursed and pushed back against them. His feet slid on the hardwood floor. He was older and stronger than either of them, but it was two against one and a losing battle. He threw all the strength of his upper body into the effort, but his feet continued to slide backward. Then the girl who looked so much like him joined them and the battle was lost. Jake let go of the door and staggered backward as the three intruders came stumbling into the house. The girl threw the door shut and turned the lock.
Jake struggled to catch his breath. He looked at Kristen. “Go…out the…back. Run to the nearest…neighbor. Call the cops.”
But Kristen just stood there. Her eyes pleaded with him. Rescue me, they said. Please make this go away. He’d been angry before, but now he was shaking with barely checked fury. He burned with the need to beat the shit out of these little snots for putting her through this so soon after the trauma of losing her brother.
The taller boy recognized the promise of violence in his eyes and held up his hands. “Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Just listen to me for one goddamn minute, okay? If you still want us to leave after I’ve had my say, we’ll get out of here and figure something else out.” The boy had been panting, too. He paused to catch his breath before continuing. “That fair enough?”
Jake held his breath and counted to ten. He unclenched his fists. “No. I’d rather take those popguns and shove ’em up your fucking asses. But I just want you gone, so I’ll take you at your word. Have your say and get the fuck out.”
The tall one tucked his gun in the waistband of his pants. He looked Jake in the eye and said, “This has to do with your brother, our friend Trey, and his demon girlfriend.”
The other boy said, “He means that, by the way. Literally.”
“Excuse me?”
The tall one said, “Trey’s girlfriend is a demon. A for-real demon. She feeds on the souls of young people, and later this afternoon she’ll pig out on the students of Rockville High.”
“The Harvest of Souls.” The girl stepped closer. The eyes that so resembled his own shone with a startling intensity. “I only learned about it last night. They’re telling the truth. I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but last night some things happened. Incredible, horrible things. And now I know. Demons are real. I’m half demon myself, you see.”
Jake blinked slowly before his eyes went wide.
He felt as if he’d been slapped.
He surprised himself with a laugh. “Is this a joke?”
The girl and the boys exchanged glances. They fidgeted a little. Jake tried to find some meaning in the silent communications passing between them. Some instinct told him they were far too earnest to be lying. They knew their story would sound absurd to other ears, but they believed what they were saying. Maybe they were on drugs. No. Jake knew drugs, was very familiar with the effects of all major narcotics and hallucinogens. Dope wasn’t the culprit here. A simple solution occurred to him and it made him groan inwardly. These were just kids, after all. And perhaps very gullible or suggestible ones.