Page 31 of Hell’s Half Acre

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.