Age of Demons

Chapter 21 - Jace

Detroit Safe House

Jace didn't meet with Zamara like he thought.

Instead, a guy with black hair was in front of him. They sat at a table across from each other in a tiny, claustrophobic room. An interrogation room, Jace suspected.

A computer was placed in front of the guy. Wires extended out from it into a black box-shaped object next to it. The man had informed him it was a lie detector.

Jace had not expected that.

The guy encircled a chain across Jace's torso. He strapped a tight band around his upper arm and pinched a small clasp over his index finger.

"My name is Amon, and I will be administering your test. Have you seen Leyla? She was supposed to be here for hers too."

Jace shook his head. "No, I think they put her with Ashlyn. She's probably just in the room... she... someone close to her just died," he awkwardly explained.

Amon nodded. "We'll get that sorted out later then. First, I'm going to ask you a couple of base questions to configure the test." He clicked something on the computer. "First, what is your name?"

"Jace Vega."

A couple seconds elapsed, Amon's eyes glued to the screen, before he asked the next question.

"What is your birth date?"

"I don't remember."

Amon regarded him briefly, but then returned his attention to the computer. Jace badly wanted to peer around the back of the machine and see what it was revealing to Amon.

"Is Leyla possessed?"

"No." He almost stuttered he was so caught off-guard by the question.

"Are you possessed?"

"Yes."

"What safe house did you come from?"

"Deliverance."

"Do you have any surviving family?"

"No."

"Do you believe in the Deliverance Faction's beliefs?"

It was asked so quickly and so nonchalantly, Jace was entirely thrown off. He readjusted in the seat.

"Uh...no," he stammered.

Amon's eyes darted up to him. "Make sure you're as still as possible so there are no errors to the test." Then he asked the next question. "Have you ever had any thoughts of violence?"

Jace squinted. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Amon waved his pen around as he explained. "Have you ever thought of directing unnecessary violence onto a single person?"

"Unnecessary? No."

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

Jace really had to get used to these questions Amon was throwing—each one kept catching him off guard.

"Uh, no—I mean, yes, yes I have."

"Was it of your own doing or the demon's?"

"Mine—I had to do it. He was going to murder everyone," Jace explained.

"We already know what happened. These are just questions we're mandated to ask."