Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
A slow, playful smile spread across Luke’s face before he turned toward her closet and spoke in a loud tone. “Which one of you turds do I kill first?”
Shrieks and chaos ensued from the closet.
“I didn’t say anything!”
“Wasn’t me, boss.”
“Kill Dohlar! He needs to go.”
“Shut up, Envee. Take her. She’s useless.”
Luke pounded on the wall with his fist. “Knock it off, evil spawn.”
They went instantly silent.
She was right, they were afraid of Luke. “So, how many of them are in there?”
He screwed his face up as he considered it. “Not sure, really. At least a dozen. Maybe two…or more.”
“And they live in your office closet?”
“Well, yeah,” he said defensively. “They’d drive me insane if I trapped them in my apartment.”
“But why are they trapped in the closet…period?”
Luke shrugged. “Why not? You want me to let them out?”
“Depends. Are they dangerous?”
“Depends,” he repeated. “They’re demons. Low-level, granted, but demons, nonetheless. They tend to run amok when released. There’s no telling what they might get into. Ever seen the original Ghostbusters? It would probably look a lot like that. Probably worse.”
Absolutely terrifying. And it still didn’t answer her main question. “Why are they here?”
“We’re his pets.”
“I love you, master!”
“He adores us. Don’t hurt us!”
“I want a cookie!” That sounded like the demon who had to pee earlier.
He gave her a peeved stare. “Humans have cats and dogs. We have demons. Whenever my dad wanted on my good side, he’d send over a new one. And like Helly, they followed me out of Hell because they’re fiercely loyal.”
“Arf, arf!”
“Meow!”
“Baa, baa.”
“That’s a sheep, idiot.”
“People have sheep.”
“No, they don’t.”
“Yes, they do. They count them to sleep.”
“Cu-caw! Cu-caw!”
Like Luke, she ignored the demons. “And what do you feed them?” Other than the cookies they were begging for.
His eyes filled with absolute fear. There was a new expression she never thought she’d see on Luke’s face. “Never, ever feed them. Just keep them corralled in the closet and never release them.”
“But we’re bored, master!”
“Good. Stay that way.” He looked back at Sorcha. “When they’re not bored, they’re destroying things. Like a pack of puppies set loose in a shoe store. They’re worse than piranhas with raw meat.”
“I’m your favorite, dominus. Can’t I come out for a few minutes? I promise to behave.”
“And they lie,” Luke said.
Sorcha was still confused by all this. “So they just hang out in your closet all the time?”
“Not really. It’s a portal. The Feral Bunch can return to Hell, but for some reason they prefer to hang out in there and make me crazy.”
Suddenly, the demons began to sing a cappella in unison.
It took a second for her to catch on to the tune. “Is that Hallelujah?”
“Their favorite song. You will come to loathe it. I think they do it mostly to piss off Delilah. For that reason alone, I don’t banish them.”
She had to admit that they made a beautiful choir.
Luke knocked on the wall again. “Okay, sycophants. Knock it off.”
There was one last voice that sang a final hallelujah.
Luke rolled his eyes. “That’s Envee. She always pushes her luck and she’s Helly’s best friend. Never, ever let the two of them loose in this world together. It would be a catastrophe.”
“Good to know. Any other surprises I need to be aware of?”
“I hope not, but with the way this day’s been going… Might as well place a bet.”
“Can I have a cookie, too?” one of the demons begged.
“Snickerdoodle!”
“Choco chip is the best!”
Luke gave her wall a dry stare before he spoke. “It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.”
Stunned beyond belief, Sorcha couldn’t move for a minute. “Did you just quote Silence of the Lambs?”
“They love horror movies. And they need to be quiet now so that I can work.”
“Jingle bells—” the words ended in a short umph, followed by a tussle.
“Don’t make him mad or we won’t get TV time. Shh!”
Luke let out a long, exasperated breath. “It’s like herding caffeinated toddlers after an ice cream and cake bender.”
Maybe, but she was dying to know what they looked like. All kinds of images were going through her mind.
“Do you have a picture of them?”
“Why would I want a picture of those hyenas?”
“They’re your pets. People usually love to share pet photos.”
“Hmm. Never thought of that. But if you’re curious…” He opened the door to her closet, snapped his finger and the wall turned clear.
The two demons closest to the wall shrieked, then covered themselves with their hands.
“I’m naked!” The female demon really wasn’t. She wore a tight red sweater and matching skirt. She was actually beautiful with her curly blonde hair that matched her short horns.
“That’s Envee,” Luke said with a sigh.
Three more pushed her aside so that they could press themselves against the wall like children or zombies on a window. A cute male with red eyes and horns even placed his mouth on the wall and blew his cheeks out.
“Hey, boss! Can you share those cookies?” That was an adorable teenage girl with black hair and a pair of red horns and eyes.
“Xesbeth,” Luke said to Sorcha. “They look so cute, don’t they?”
“They do.”
He snapped his fingers and they turned into shadow beasts.
Sorcha gasped. “Is that what they really look like?”
“Yes. And they smell.”
“No, we don’t!”
“You smell.” It sounded like one demon shoved another.
“You smell worse!”
Now, there was definitely a scuffle in the closet that caused the ones she could see to turn around and start yelling at the combatants.
“Enough!” Luke hit the wall twice with his fist and the wall turned opaque again. “Go bother Sorath.”
“Okay.”
Then there was silence.
Sorcha let out a long, relieved breath. “They are a handful.”
“I know. Makes me wish my father kept count and that my pets came with an expiration date, like normal creatures.”
“Meaning?”
“They never die. Believe me, I have tried.”
Her eyebrows shot north at something she didn’t expect to hear. She wasn’t sure what part of that disturbed her most. The fact that the demons were immortal or that Luke had tried to kill them. “I thought you said everything, except God, could die?”
“I did. Doesn’t mean it’s easy to accomplish. Demons can be killed. I just haven’t found the means for the ones in my closet. Yet.”
Unsure of what to say to that, she nodded slowly. “I’m just going to do my work now.”
“Sounds good.” Luke pulled his coat tighter around him before he sat down in what she thought was going to be thin air.
But right as he sat, his black throne-like office chair appeared beneath him.
“Nice. Wish I could do that. It would have saved my dignity a few times.”
He wrinkled his nose playfully. “I won’t let you fall, Sorcha. I’ll always make sure there’s a chair to catch you.”
Those words meant more to her than they should, and she quickly turned her mind away from how incredibly sexy he looked, and to their case. “The fairy star on the wall…what are you thinking?”
“My first thought was a leannán sídhe.”
“Bless you.”
Sighing at her joke, he rubbed at his eyebrow, then explained. “They’re fey in origin, similar to a Greek muse. They find an artist and inspire them.”
Made sense given that both students were art students. “Do they normally tear someone apart?”
“Yeah, they do. It’s kind of their thing. They suck what they need out of their target and kill them violently. They’re also shapeshifters.”
“Let me guess. They like taking the form of a fox?”
He nodded. “Sometimes.”
“Do they take souls?”
“They can.” But there was a note in his voice that said he wasn’t buying it.
“And?”
“New information makes me think it might be a message from the Brotherhood of Shadows…an elite group of the sídhe aristocracy.”
“Why would they want to kill college students?” she asked.
“Normally, they wouldn’t care. But something about this bothers me.”
She snorted. “There’s a lot about this that bothers me.”
Using his hand instead of the remote she needed, he swiped through the files on her screen. When he got to the one of the bloodstain, he made it larger so that she could see it better.
Her jaw went slack as she saw writing in the center of it. Impossible to see unless it was blown up. “What is that?”
“Xynzara.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It’s my birth name.”