Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Four weeks later
“So you’re the new flavor.”
Sorcha blinked at the woman who’d just entered her office without knocking.
Tall, skinny, and gorgeous, the woman held a poise seldom seen anywhere outside of vintage ads.
Her curvaceous body was wrapped in a tight red suit.
Sorcha had never used the word chignon before, but that was the only description for the elegantly styled black hair that looked like it should be on the cover of a bridal magazine.
But none of that excused the woman’s accusation.
“I beg your pardon?”
The woman crossed her arms over her ample chest. “Luke? Your partner. He has a…how do you say? Unnatural appetite for things. Especially women. I was wondering who had his eye this week. Or was it only for a couple of hours?”
Unsure if she should be offended or not, Sorcha had no idea how to respond to the bitch.
“She’s evil, Sorcha!”
“Run!”
“Don’t listen to her!”
“Call Luke!”
“I still have to pee!”
Well, whoever the woman was, she set off Luke’s Feral Closet Demons. Which meant she wasn’t human. The FCDs only went into hyperdrive around paranormal beings.
“Shaddix!” One of the males shouted. “Let me out again! I could be a good demon for you!”
“Shut it, Maraun! Are you trying to get skinned?”
“His name is Moron, not Maraun. Idiot! Someone rip his wings off. I can’t reach them.”
In a manner so similar to Luke’s that it betrayed this woman as Luke’s sister, she pounded on the wall. “Enough! Go to Hell where you belong.”
The closet demons immediately went silent.
So this was his sister Shaddix.
Sort of what Sorcha expected and not at all like she’d thought.
Huh.
The woman’s coldness reached out to her and made her feel sorry for Luke that this was what he’d been used to.
“What do you want?” she asked slowly, stretching the words out.
Shaddix shrugged. “Just curious, as I said. I always like to meet Luke’s girls. I never remember your names, but he certainly has a type.” She waved her hand toward Sorcha’s smart board. Dozens of pictures popped onto it.
All of them blonde.
Well, that hurts.
A lot more than it should. But she would never give Shaddix the satisfaction of knowing she’d hurt her. The devil could take his daughter and put her where the sun didn’t shine.
“Interesting group. I’ll have to introduce Luke to my friend, Nancy. She’s a gorgeous blonde. Thanks for letting me know.”
That seemed to confuse Shaddix.
Good. “So why are you here? Other than to give me an idea as to which of my friends I want to set up with Luke?”
Thunder sounded so loud that it rattled her windows.
Sorcha froze. Shaddix ducked toward the corner where Sorcha had her filing cabinets.
Two seconds later, Luke appeared in the room.
With a loud squeak, Shaddix vanished.
Luke growled like a feral bear. “Don’t come back here!” With a furious glower Sorcha was sure had made a number of demons wet themselves, he turned back toward her.
Sorcha swallowed hard. “I hope that’s not directed at me.”
That succeeded in smoothing out his brow as the fury was replaced by confusion. “What?”
“This”—she indicated him from head to toe with her finger—“is absolutely terrifying. Please don’t do that around small children or old people.”
He finally laughed. “Not you. My anger is for the bitch I know wasn’t here for any good reason. What did she say?”
The last thing Sorcha wanted was to add to that fury. “It was nothing.”
“I know better. All she ever wants to do is stir shit. What was she here for?”
Oh. “To stir shit. She told me I was your flavor of the week.”
The color faded from his face.
“Relax, big guy. I’m not stupid. You date less than I do. I realized what she was doing and told her thanks and that I’d set you up with a friend of mine.”
“What did she say to that?”
“Don’t know. God of thunder came storming in here before she could respond. Oh, and I think she banished the demons to Hell. Can they get back in?”
He rolled his shoulders. “Yeah. She doesn’t control that.”
That made her feel better.
Luke moved to sit in front of her desk. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am. Are you?”
“No. I’m pissed. How dare she come in here and bother you.”
“Really, she didn’t bother me. At least now I know what she looks like. U-g-l-y.”
Luke smiled. “Okay. What are you working on?”
She put her desktop up on the smart board so that Luke could see the report she’d been writing.
“Rory wants me to help him with this, given the fact he can’t say my partner unleashed a werewolf on his primary suspect.
And he can’t add Marcia and Allison to the headless case as they were mauled by a wild animal.
Thankfully, Kyle’s report says natural causes by way of animal attack as opposed to homicide.
But poor Rory has two more unsolved homicides on his record. ”
Luke actually hung his head. “I can’t even believe I’m going to do this for someone I loathe. My father is about to shit icicles.”
“What?”
He snapped his fingers and rewrote the report. “I’ll make sure Rory gets the evidence he needs to show the murders were done by Allison.”
That shocked her. “Really?”
“Least I can do. For someone who fights on the other team, he’s actually not a bad guy. I don’t want to see him lose his job, ’cause God only knows what they’d replace him with.”
He had a point. Better the devil you know.
“Well, growth looks good on you, big guy. I have to say that I’m impressed by the fact you no longer want to beat him into the ground.”
“I can’t help it if he’s kudzu.”
That confused her. “Kudzu?”
“Yeah, he grows on me and I can’t stop it.” Luke leaned his head back and indicated her screen with his hand. “So, are you done?”
“I am.”
“Pizza and a movie?”
He loved his pizza and she loved her movies. “Sure. Let me send this to Rory and close everything down. I’ll be up there in a few minutes.”
Luke sent in his order for their pizza, then grabbed the remote to start scrolling for a movie Sorcha hadn’t seen. An impossible task, but for some reason he always liked looking. If nothing else, they’d fall back on one of her comfort movies.
He’d just sat down on his couch when a light flashed in his room.
An instant later, Sorath stepped through the door.
So much for his wards… Damn them for being able to bypass them.
Luke’s vision dimmed. He was getting tired of Hell opening up in his space and coming to bother him. He’d been tossed out. Why did they keep hunting him down?
“What are you doing here, Sorath?”
“I have a message from your father.”
He held his hand up. “I already told Anubis, I have nothing to say to him.”
“Don’t you want to go home?”
Did he? He wasn’t so sure anymore, but he wasn’t about to give that ammunition to Sorath. Last thing he wanted was for any of them to deduce the reason he liked it here was Sorcha.
That weakness could get her killed.
“You know I do. So?”
Sorath crossed the floor slowly until he stood right in front of Luke. “Your father says that you’re free to return.”
Those words hung in the air between them.
But Luke knew better than to take them in stride. His father was never so simple a beast. “What does he want?”
“Sorcha O’Malley. Hand her over and Lucifer will forgive you everything and welcome you home.”
’Cause, fuck you, Ken.