Then he did the most shocking thing of all. He actually quoted the Bible. “Vengeance is Mine saith the Lord. I shall repay.”
But she supposed it made sense. He’d probably read the Bible more than she had, and given her Baptist grandfather and upbringing…
Impressive.
“How many souls have you damned?”
He flinched as if he honestly felt guilty about it. “We don’t talk about that. Ever. The past is the past and we don’t revisit bad territory.” There was a deep undercurrent to those words. One that sent a shiver down her spine.
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.
