“Spawn?”I repeated, canting my head while I continued to study the man standing in front of my bed and breakfast, preening like he’d just won the mayoral election.“Is that…?”
“The devil?”Daruka said on an aggravated sigh.“Yes.”
My head whipped around, my stare shifting to her.“You’re the spawn of Satan?Literally?”
Daruka grimaced and made a half-ass wave toward the guy standing on the sidewalk.“Meet my dad.”
Satan wiggled his fingers.
“Hello, sir,” I said, bowing my head.What the hell else was I supposed to do?It was the freaking devil—I was part demon, so I technically was one of his minions.
And also, I’d just banged his daughter less than twenty-four hours ago, and I not only wanted to do it again, I wanted to do it on the regular for the rest of our lives.
Yikes.Would we be obligated to visit Hell for family gatherings?Would he expect to give her away at our mating ceremony?Pretty sure the elves would not appreciate me inviting Satan to the elfin woods.
“How did you figure out I was here?”Daruka demanded, glaring at the freaking devil.“Mom told me this was the one place you’d never find me.”
“And she would have been right.Except…” He plucked a phone with a heavy-duty bright red case out of an interior pocket and waved it.“Social media.”He tapped the screen, his gaze scanning it for a moment before adding, “Someone named WolfBoy posted about this cool new chick in town with blue hair who was a total badass and a mermaid to boot.Couldn’t imagine that could be anyone other than my dear daughter.”
“WolfBoy?”Daruka repeated, her gaze swinging Krishna’s way.
He lifted his hands, palms facing out.“I had no idea theactualdevil was following me,” he protested.“There are dozens of profiles with that name.”
“Mine says ‘the real deal’ though,” Satan pointed out.
Daruka smacked her forehead.
“It’s time to go, Daruka,” the devil called out, his tone suddenly serious.
Every creature within sight shifted their gaze to Daruka, standing in the doorway, hands curled into fists, knuckles white.She was probably drawing blood with her nails and didn’t even realize it.
“I thought you’d changed your mind,” she said, her voice wavering only a little.“The last minions you sent after me tried to kill me.”
“What?”Satan yelped, swinging around to face the cluster of demons at his back.“Anwir, Dagon, where are you?”
Two demons slowly raised their hands.
Satan pointed at them with the cane, and a moment later, two curls of smoke drifted on the wind and there were two scorch marks on the asphalt.And two fewer demons in the world.
“That wasn’t my intent,” he said calmly, turning back to us while brushing imaginary lint from his shirt.“I can assure you.”
“I’m not going,” Daruka said, far more clearly and concisely than I was pretty sure literally anyone else would.But I guess if you were the daughter of the devil, you probably had a lot more confidence than the rest of us when dealing with the most powerful demon in the world.
“It’s time to take on your responsibilities,” the devil said, eyeing the exterior of the old home I’d carefully restored and put my mark on.The business I’d chosen to cultivate over doing what my father expected of me.
“Responsibilities?”I repeated.“What responsibilities?”
“Running the family business, of course.”He chuckled and pressed his fingers to his chest.“Well, notrunning it, running it.That’s my job.She’ll be assigned a small faction at first, to get her feet wet.Or hot, as the case may be.”
“A small faction…” I continued to stare at Daruka.“Definitely some steep expectations,” I echoed her earlier comment.
I shook my head, struggling with this news.“You’re going to Hell?”Well, hell.Here I thought we could figure out a way to live happily ever after.But nobody lived happily ever after in Hell.
“Not if I can help it,” Daruka muttered and then abruptly turned on her heel and rushed through the house toward the back.Toward the kitchen entrance if I had to guess.She was planning to run.
Again.
Satan’s face contorted, his gaze tracking her until she disappeared from view.He lifted his arms, hands curled like claws, and started chanting.The building shook with even more vigor than before.
