Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Sorcha couldn’t breathe as the chill of absolute terror crept over her entire body.
At least seven feet tall, the creature was exceptionally muscled with the head of a jackal.
A pleated, blue-and-gold striped linen nemes covered the back of its head.
Two long lappets hung down just past its shoulders to frame its canine features.
Dressed in ancient Egyptian attire, it was like a horror movie come true.
Never in her life had she seen anything more terrifying.
Luke put himself between her and the creature. Sorcha clung to Luke’s arm, feeling foolish, but needing to be grounded by something.
Growling low in his throat, Luke passed a lethal grimace to the jackal. “Nubi…stop scaring my partner before she wets my floor. Did you really have to don the whole—” He held his hands up to illustrate the totality of the creature’s attire.
The giant shrugged. “Sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve set foot here. Now I know why. Have you been outside lately?”
“Yeah. This world makes Hell seem mild.”
Nubi… Sorcha shook her head as she put it all together in her mind.
“Anubis?” she whispered to Luke, releasing his arm and straightening as if she hadn’t been terrified.
“Of course.” He gestured at the ancient Egyptian god. “Anubis, meet Sorcha. Now, why are you here?”
Anubis scowled. “Nice greeting. Least you could do is offer me mead.” He jerked his head toward the kitchen counter.
“Fresh out.” Luke’s tone was cool and calculated. Unruffled, even.
Anubis crossed his arms over his chest. “I see you’re still an asshole.”
“I’m not the one avoiding questions.” He raised a brow at the jackal.
Sorcha didn’t comment, as Luke normally was the one who avoided anything remotely personal.
A tic started in Anubis’s jaw. “I’ve been sent by your father. He wants a word with you.”
The muscles in Luke’s back drew taut. “Why not send my mother?”
Anubis gave him a harsh stare. “I didn’t ask.”
Sorcha had so, so many questions about this.
Luke, however, appeared more pissed off than anything else. “Why didn’t he come himself?”
“Again, didn’t ask. I was sent to fetch.”
“And I’m not ready to heel. Tell the old man I’ll think about it.”
Anubis gaped. “You’re kidding.”
She was as stunned by Luke’s reaction as Anubis was. All Luke had talked about since she’d met him was wanting to go home. How much he hated the mortal realm.
Now, he refused?
Something was going on here.
“I was kicked out of my home with no warning. For no reason. Banned from it. Call me provincial, but I’m not in a forgiving mood. Especially not to an ass I know will never apologize.” There was a hard edge to his voice that would’ve made a lesser…being…cower.
“Luke—” Anubis cajoled.
“Anubis. I’m not stupid. He sent you and not Sorath or my mother. This stinks worse than the lowest pit, which I don’t want to end up in.” Luke mirrored the jackal’s posture, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling.
“He wouldn’t do that to you.”
Fire darkened Luke’s gaze. “Lucifer’s the devil. Only an absolute moron would ever trust him. And I don’t. Tell him if he wants to see me, he knows where I am.”
The tic in Anubis’s jaw moved faster. “Are you ready to go to war with your father?”
Luke stepped forward, his words spoken between clenched teeth. “I’m not the one who started this shit. I’m just here, surviving.” He spread his arms wide to indicate the “here.”
“Your funeral.” Anubis vanished instantly.
Sorcha let out a low whistle. “Two gods in less than fifteen minutes. Should I be impressed or terrified?”
Luke turned to face her. “Acheron would never hurt you.”
“Anubis?”
“No telling. He’s not quite as treacherous as others of his ilk, but I wouldn’t turn my back on him.”
“Noted. And why is he in Hell?”
Luke let out an evil laugh. “You’d be amazed how many of the old gods took up with my dad after their pantheons fell.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. For some of them, their power comes from being worshiped. While they have a few believers, it’s not enough to keep their powers fully charged.
Others are just bored and wanted something to do.
Nubi likes weighing hearts and deciding how bad the dead will be tortured. Remember, a dog returns to its vomit.”
“Does that include hellhounds?” She regretted the question as soon as it left her lips. Please don’t think I was insulting you. She hadn’t meant it that way. It really had been a curious question. Nothing more.
Thankfully, Luke didn’t take offense. “We’re not dogs, but like I told him, I have no intention of returning home until I know what I did and why Lucifer overreacted.
My father is a bastard and only the biggest idiot would ever expect mercy from him.
He wants something, which means I’m in control of this for the moment.
If he wants a favor, I want him to be on my turf. ”
That made sense to her.
Except for one thing. “I thought you were willing to do anything to go home.”
“My home is the mansion I share with my mother. Not the filthy pits where the damned are tortured for eternity. If he’s still angry at me, this could be a setup. And the last thing I want to see is my mother destroyed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If I’m put in a pit, she will lead her pack against my father. While I know just how powerful she is, I would never risk her life for me. I’m not worth it.”
And that was what she appreciated most about him. He cared for others. He wasn’t the same demonic beast his father was.
Thank goodness for his mother. Senka hadn’t just given him life.
She’d given him a heart and soul. And while Senka was ruthless, she was a decent creature who loved her son more than anything in the universe.
Sorcha could respect that.
“10-31…”
Her ears pricked up as the code for a crime in progress went over his radio.
And the next words from the dispatcher really caught her attention. “Ice cream parlor break-in.”
Sorcha’s jaw went slack at the first call that sounded like it might be demonic. “You don’t think…”
“Yeah, I do.”
One second, he was standing in front of her, and in the next, he was gone.
Luke materialized in the shadows of the small ice cream shop that had been thoroughly trashed.
Someone had blown open the back door. Steel fragments littered the floor as if a bomb had detonated.
Something that would be a vicious overkill had a human done it.
Not to mention, a bomb of that magnitude would have damaged a lot more than just the door.
The doorframe was completely pristine. No windows were broken.
This smacked of a hungry, impatient demon tantrum.
So far, no police had shown up. Nor did he hear a siren of any kind. Not even the burglar alarm.
The only sound came from the freezer. Someone was rustling about inside it as if they were hunting something.
Narrowing his gaze, he made his way toward the intruder. It was almost pitch black in the store, but his hellhound sight didn’t require light in order to see clearly.
What he did need to worry about was the cameras over his head. No one should know that he was in here. Using his powers, he erased the entire feed. Not just for his sake, but in case the camera had captured a demon. No human should see it.
And just in case that was a human inside the freezer, he put his hand on his gun, prepared to pull it if he needed to.
First thing he’d learned when he’d been banished to the human realm, humans were stupid.
Because of his looks, most refused to take him seriously. Women, and a number of men, wanted to hump him. Some idiots saw his towering stature as an invitation to challenge him and prove they could kick his ass.
They couldn’t.
And if he just told them to stop, they attacked.
While he didn’t mind using his powers to school them, his IA captain frowned on his demonic tendencies.
Many humans don’t believe in you or your father, Luke. You’re in our world. You need to blend.
As Sorcha often pointed out, that was impossible for him.
But he owed Reyes for taking him in and giving him a place in this realm. Those early days had been a lot harder than he’d ever imagined. So he would try to act human as much as he could.
He moved closer to the freezer.
The rustling grew louder.
Luke carefully toed open the door until it was wide enough for him to see inside.
Oh dear Lord.
Empty ice cream buckets were strewn about as if Simi had come to visit and made herself at home. The only things missing were empty barbecue sauce bottles.
With a heavy sigh, he moved his hand from his gun and cleared his throat. “Envee…seriously?”
The demon jumped at the sound of his voice. Eyes wide, she dropped the tub she was holding and looked up at him. Her tiny green horns peeked out from beneath her blonde curls, and a ring of chocolate surrounded her mouth. “Dominus?”
Luke was grateful she was all right, except for one thing. “You know you’re going to have a stomachache later, right?”
“Worth it!” She wrinkled her nose, exposing her fangs. “There’s still some left if you want to join me.”
The sound of sirens finally filled the air.
“We can’t stay.”
“Why not?” Envee asked.
He gestured toward the door. “Humans are about to come in and arrest you.”
She scoffed at his warning. “Well, that wouldn’t go well for them, would it?” She actually looked excited at the prospect.
“I can’t let you hurt humans, Envee. This is their realm, not ours.”
She blew him a raspberry. “Who makes the rules?”
“Big guy upstairs, and I don’t want to risk one of His assholes coming for you, either. Grab a tub and let’s head home.”
The joy on her beautiful face disintegrated. “I don’t want to be in the closet anymore, dominus! It’s cramped in there. And Zagun and Valefor fart all the time.”
Luke bound her powers before she could use them to teleport away from him. “It’s okay, Envee. I won’t do that to you.”
“Promise?”
“I do.”
He saw the reluctance in her pale eyes before she grabbed a bucket of Rocky Road and nodded glumly. She had every right to be skeptical. Where they came from, promises were made only to make the betrayal hurt more.