Chapter 2 #2
Given his parentage, she would have thought he reveled in harming others.
That tone said she couldn’t be more wrong.
“Noted. I’ll never bring it up again.”
Helly leaned over the seat to give Sorcha a huge smile. “He’s being really standoffish because he doesn’t know you yet. I promise he’s a lot of fun once he gets used to you.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Clearing his throat and glaring at the demon imp, he changed the subject. “So where are you from, Detective O’Malley?”
Sorcha almost didn’t answer, but what difference would it make?
Not like he couldn’t look it up in her files, and given that he was a detective who knew her name, she would assume he’d already investigated her.
“Moved around a lot. I was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Spent most of my youth between there and Richmond whenever I stayed with my grandparents. Norfolk, Birmingham, New Orleans. Now Savannah.”
“Nice list of cities. Personally, I’ve spent a lot of the past century in Sin City.”
That surprised her. “Vegas?”
He nodded.
“Never been there, but I’d love to see it.”
“I’m sure you’ll get your chance. We get sent there quite a bit. My father owns several casinos and hotels. Makes for a lot of chaos, and our kind of crime.”
Sorcha widened her eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah. I’m sure you can imagine the deals certain people are willing to cut in order to have their dreams come true. It’s why my father’s agents own prime real estate there and in Hollywood.”
That was a terrifying thought. “So there really are deals with the devil?”
“Oh yeah. Sometimes for great wealth. Some trade for things as simple as a bag of rice. Funny the value people place on their immortal souls.”
Yes, it was. Worst part of her job was seeing how little some people thought of themselves and others. How little they valued anyone’s life. It only made sense they’d value their immortal soul even less. “Is there anything you’d trade your soul for?”
“Peace.”
By the look on his face, she could tell that had popped out of his mouth before he could stop it.
And the answer surprised her greatly. “As in world peace?”
Clearing his throat, he turned the radio up again, letting her know he’d had enough conversation.
Fine. She pulled her phone out and started reading. Helly leaned back in the seat and sang along with the Skillet songs. For a tiny imp, she had an incredibly powerful voice.
It wasn’t until they pulled into Peachtree City that she realized it hadn’t taken them four hours… It’d barely taken two.
“How did we get here so fast?” she asked as he stopped at the police station.
Getting out of the car, he winked, refused to answer, and headed for the entrance.
Helly climbed out of the car without using the door.
It was only then that Sorcha realized exactly how tiny the imp was.
Probably four-nine or so. She definitely didn’t come close to five feet.
“Those are the powers he doesn’t talk about.
He has a lot of them.” She opened the door for Sorcha. “C’mon. This is always fun.”
Was it?
More like scary, given the company she was with.
Sorcha got out of the car and followed Helly into the gray building to find Luke waiting in the tiny lobby for them. It might not really have been small. Just the overwhelming size of him filled it.
“The detective’s coming,” Luke said.
Helly grinned. “Which one?”
“David.”
Jumping with glee, she clapped her hands together. “He’s my favorite!”
Sorcha wasn’t sure what to make of the imp’s enthusiasm. Helly was oddly fun and extremely exuberant over very little. How Sorcha wished she could be that way, too. And it seemed strange behavior for a Hell imp.
Then again, what would she know about how such creatures behaved? Unlike Luke, she hadn’t been assigned an imp at birth. Which really seemed unusual given that Helly appeared younger than he did.
Or maybe that was the size difference between them. Because Helly was so small, it was easy to think of her as a kid. Except the imp had exceptionally large breasts. Something Sorcha didn’t want to focus on, as she’d always been self-conscious about how small hers were in comparison to others.
That thought was still in her mind a few seconds later when a well-muscled bald man came through the door on her left. He cracked a huge smile as soon as he saw Luke and Helly. “Good to see you two. What have you been up to?”
Luke didn’t hesitate with his answer. “Trouble. Always.”
“Of course, you have.” David glanced to Sorcha before he spoke again to Luke. “Another new partner?”
Luke nodded. “Yeah. I ate the last one. He got on my nerves so much that it became a moral imperative. This one seems a little more tolerable. And if not, I hope she’s tastier.”
Sorcha felt her eyes go wide as David laughed. I really hope that’s a joke. With Luke, she couldn’t quite tell.
Without another comment, David handed a folder over to Luke.
“As you can see, Redwine Road is where the sightings first started, then they moved to Peachtree City proper, and it has decided this is where it likes to play. It’s a giant white wolf that usually comes out around midnight and terrorizes the villagers.
It seems like every night someone calls, and we’ve had two officers catch sight of it over by the Avenue around ten.
I’m hoping it just wants Starbucks and not one of the workers leaving to go home. ”
With a noncommittal humph, Luke opened the folder and thumbed through reports. When he came across a photo, he paused. “Ring camera?”
“Yeah. That was over on Sweetwater Oaks. One of the houses on the lake. Came right up to their porch. I think it even smiled at the camera.”
Snorting, Luke handed the printout to Sorcha.
Her jaw went slack as she saw the neolithic-sized wolf that was maybe four or five feet from the front door of a white brick house. The beast’s shoulders were far more developed than other wolves she’d seen pictures of. But that made her curious. “Are there wolves in Peachtree City?”
David shook his head. “There aren’t many in Georgia.
Period. At least not in any significant number.
The handful we have are gray and red wolves, and they’re either hiding up in the mountains or down in the Okefenokee.
Not that I knew that a week ago. I checked with park services and they said that even in those known areas, they rarely if ever have someone report a wolf sighting.
We’ve had twelve of them in the last month.
” He pointed to the picture she held. “All of them describe that.”
Luke nodded. “All right. We’ll get started and I’ll let you know what we find. Hopefully, this will be a regular wolf and not something we have to move on.”
He inclined his head to Luke. “Thanks.”
They headed out of the building, back to Luke’s vintage car.
Sorcha waited until they were all in before she turned toward her new partner. “Does David know who you are?”
He shook his head. “Only Infernal Affairs needs to know. Others aren’t so receptive and I don’t need the peasants revolting.”
“Excuse me?”
“Humans are terrified by the truth. Easier to deny it than believe it. If they know I’m Lucifer’s son, it means Hell is real and they have accountability for their actions.
Which in turn means religion isn’t some myth they can sneer at and dismiss.
Once they realize that, they panic. Panicky people are extremely dangerous, especially in large numbers, and they do very stupid things.
Not to me, because they can’t do anything to harm me.
I’m currently Teflon. But to the rest of you… it just gets unnecessarily messy.”
“Meaning?”
“Heaven won’t have me and I’m banished from Hell.
Purgatory is Earth. So here I am, trapped, until my dad calms down and welcomes me home.
It’s shitty to be me and I don’t want others to try and put me in a lab or cell somewhere.
I’m not here to hurt anyone. I just want to find my way home and avoid killing the natives. ” He put on his sunglasses.
Those words made her curious. “How do you know Heaven won’t have you?”
He pulled his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose to give her an are-you-serious stare over the top of them.
“Okay. Okay. Stupid question, maybe. But are you sure?”
“Yes. To get in, I’d have to repent and I regret nothing…other than this conversation and the one time I tried a knock-off brand of Coke.” He pushed the glasses back into place, then picked up his phone, dialed a number and put it on speaker.
After several seconds, a woman answered in what had to be the thickest Southern drawl in history.
“Hey, Laura. How you doing, hon?” Luke asked.
“Everything’s just peachy, peachy, tall, dark and mysterious. But I know you didn’t call to check in on little ole me, Mr. Luke. What is it you need?”
“Oh,” he feigned being hurt. “You wound me with your suspicion.”
“Not suspicion, sug, when it’s true. You never call unless someone’s seen a wolf, and no, it wasn’t me. I wasn’t there.”
“How do you know it wasn’t you? I haven’t even told you where.”
“Don’t matter where ’cause I know I haven’t been flaunting myself lately.
Ain’t no one seen my birthday suit unless they’ve been peeking in my windows—and if they have, then that’s a whole other crime.
So I know I wasn’t there and didn’t do it.
Whoever they seen was probably just having a bad day or someone saw a neighbor’s dog and panicked. ”
Sorcha bit back a laugh. The picture David gave them was definitely not a dog.
“You have any friends or family in Peachtree City?” Luke asked.
“None that I know of and I’m sure they’d tell me if they came that close to my town. Be rude if they didn’t.”
Luke stroked his chin. “Anyone turn anyone?”
“No. Definitely not. This is my territory. I’d have the throat of anyone who trespassed and did such a thing. Not to mention, it’d be just plain rude.”
Luke passed a grimace to Sorcha. “Then we might have a problem.”
“How so?” Laura asked.