BURDEN OF AN ANCIENT OATH by Joshua Brown (early reader books TXT) 📕

the pattern of a Phoenix running along the back. The ivory handle was nothing special but pure white.

At the sight of him standing full, the young girl beside me burst out into a terrible screech. A shrill, ear-piercing sound leaving shivers running down my spine.

“Put down the weapon,” Aaron shouted, but the man was lost to his own words.

“Look unto me and know thy time has come,” he rose both hands into the air. “Look unto me in despair, for your time of reckoning is nigh. The Witchfinder General will bring you to your knees. He will make you cower for mercy.”

Aaron approached the lunatic cautiously, extending a hand out to him. “Drop the weapon. You are under arrest.”

“And you, Detective Jack Mercer, will fall from on high,” he pressed the edge of the knife against his throat. “With my blood, I cleanse this home of evil. And by the hand of the Witchfinder, so too will you be vanquished.”

Aaron lunged forward, intending to grab the man, but he drew the blade across his throat. Launching out of my chair, I rushed to his side. His blood spilled across the white carpet floor beneath the table as he struggled on.

At that moment, I saw his fear. How this decision played out differently in his mind to the reality of his situation. He sacrificed himself for nothing, and now, only in dying did he realize this to be true.

Jane grabbed her son, averting his eyes, while Lance did the same with their daughter. They screamed and cried, with the image of what just happened burning into their minds. I looked at them and then the body on the floor.

Without warning, I puked uncontrollably.

What the hell was going on here?

Chapter 23

Gwen

I arrived at Jane Dench’s home, a little after 20 minutes from Jack’s call, but what I walked into could only be described as a nightmare. The sound of the children screaming, Jane whimpering, and Aaron trying to console Jack shot terror through my core.

Did something happen to him? The thought ran through my mind. It was always a possibility in this line of work. But no matter how dangerous a situation got, I always saw Jack Mercer coming out on top. So, standing in the foyer beside the staircase, my mind spiraled to all the darkest depths.

“Jack?” I shouted out, into the house.

Following the screaming children, I managed to track them through the house and into the dining room. Both parents clutched their children, turning them away from some horrific scene.

I saw the blood before I saw Jack. The white stained carpet, the body beside him, and my heartbeat at a thousand miles a second.

“Jack, are you okay? Are you hurt?” I rushed over, holstering my weapon. Aaron was hunched at the side of him, which only made things worse.

“He’s okay,” Aaron said, facing me. “It’s just been one hell of a night.”

I wrapped my arms around Jack, who was near weeping at the sight of the man before him. Though no tears ran down his face, I could see it in his eyes how desperately he was hurting from whatever happened here. As soon as Jack saw me, he got up from where he was kneeling over.

“I think I failed,” he said, looking over to the family. “I don’t think I can beat this one.”

Jack started walking off into the living room. I followed behind him.

“It’s not over yet,” I replied.

“But what more is there?” Jack stumbled, falling against a wall as he made his way to the front door. “What good of a detective am I if I can’t help these people? But how can I help them if I don’t have anything to go on?”

He continued on with a long list of questions about his failures.

“Jack,” I said, rushing up behind him and stopping him by wrapping my arms around his waist. “You haven’t failed these people. You’re fighting tooth and nail to protect them. And that’s just the way, isn’t it? The hardest fights always end in the sweetest victories.”

He turned to me but didn’t speak.

“Let me take you home,” I said, sliding my hand into his.

“Aaron needs a lift back to his place,” Jack said, a cough accompanying. His thousand-yard stare never breaking. “I think I need to be alone.”

Jack left the Dench home, getting in his car and driving off. I watched for a while as the Dodge Charger drove down the street before making the preparations to remove the body from the house.

The Dench family took their children away from the scene. It pained me to know that those children would forever bear the burden of what they saw there that night. Aaron filled me in with the details of what happened, and to some degree, I understood Jack’s suffering.

They were so close to achieving their goal, and we had no way of stopping them.

But I always saw the brighter side to things, even when they seemed the darkest. And in that vision of purity, I knew Jack Mercer would save the day. He always had a way of clicking when it got right down to it. These moments of self-pity and self-loathing came often.

It was easy to feel defeated and broken, but this wasn’t over yet. As long as Jane and Spencer still drew breath, Jack wouldn’t give up on them. Only, that night, he did. For a brief while, he’d feel like a failure, only to rise from the ashes to conquer his battles. I believed in him, even if he didn’t believe in himself—and so did the rest of his crew.

Chapter 24

Jack

I drank until my face went fuzzy and my vision went blurry. That night, there was no stopping the liquor from pouring down my throat. I’d faced troubles in the past,