Demon King Series Books II & III

Chapter 17

Vincent sat in front of his laptop, his heavy breathing the only sound in the room. His fingers tapped along the edge of the desk as he thought about how he should handle his current problem. Clearly someone wanted to play a game with him...but who?

Was it Christopher?

He was dead but after Special Agent Sally Roux had paid him a visit, he couldn't think of anyone else that would know exactly how to...disturb him.

Beatrice.

His daughter was probably the only child of his that he had been close to. She was a precocious young girl that loved the outdoors. Finding her body the way he did was still upsetting for Vincent and he blamed Tom for her death. He believed Tom had killed Beatrice during one of his blackouts and he never forgave him for it. Beatrice's death also cost him his writing career. Nowadays, going to rehab and having affairs was normal so his book Raising the Demon was acceptable. In the past, if word got out that his daughter's death was caused by a sibling, the scandal would've been too great at the time due to his already questionable personality. To prevent any gossip, he put his career on hold. Again, he blamed Tom.

After years of waiting, the hunger to write and be read again was too much for Vincent. When the time came for Vincent to write a new book, he had planned it all out very carefully. He was going to make a comeback but this time the problems of his children would elevate him back into the spotlight and onto the bestseller lists. Through manipulation and coercion, he was able to coordinate the Demon King murders and no one had been the wiser. Well...that wasn't true. Agent Roux was always a step behind him, trying to find a broken law. Vincent had orchestrated an elaborate ruse to frame Tom and David for his crimes and it had worked.

Now someone wanted to play a game with him. His mind drifted back to the question of who it could be. Was it really Beatrice? Was it all some kind of ruse years ago to make him think she was gone? Vincent chuckled at his desperate thoughts. Beatrice was dead. He knew that. Was he imagining her? He thought of Lupita, the woman he loved and lost. He wondered if she was looking after his daughter. Vincent smirked at the thought. Lupita had hated him. He hadn't even avenged her death yet. He thought of Wanda and frowned. Where was she?

Placing his fingers over his keyboard, Vincent began to type in one of private forums for the deadly disciples.

Time to go hunting!

A quick response was typed out, "What are we hunting for?"

Vincent waited a moment before answering, "Ghosts."

Meanwhile

"542 Hanover Lane," Sally repeated the address as she drove up to the small home that used to belong to Chad Harris. Now it belonged to his sister but she never touched it. She just kept it in Chad's memory. Sally pulled up to the brick home and watched the outline of people moving inside.

"Well someone's home," she whispered.

The sun was setting and she wanted to check out the house before it got too dark. Donald Ferguson, her partner, sat in the passenger seat, "Tell me again why are we here?"

"I killed someone that wasn't the Demon King and I want to know who it was. We just need something with prints."

"Are you sure the system didn't have his prints on file? Rich kids like Harris always have some kind of record."

Sally rolled her eyes, "No, for the hundredth time, he actually had a fairly clean record despite the gambling rumors."

"That's strange, isn't it?" Donald asked.

"What is?"

"Usually guys with gambling debts get into trouble. They do whatever they need to in order to gamble again but Chad Harris is as clean as a newborn baby."