Page 5 of Hell’s Half Acre

Helly laughed in the backseat. No longer horned, she manifested a blanket for the ride. “You want to tell the story, boss?”

Luke glanced at her in the rearview mirror with an amused expression. “Not really.”

Sorcha raised a curious eyebrow. “What story?”

“We did try to chip them…once,” Luke said with a smirk. “I almost succeeded.”

“Only because he cheated.” Helly leaned forward over their seat. “He put a chip in peanut butter and fed it to Dohlar.”

“I forgot about demonic digestion.” Luke passed a charming grin to Sorcha. “Worked for a quarter heartbeat, then it exploded.”

Sorcha scowled. “The demon or the chip?” With demons, there was no telling what powers they’d hold. She could easily see one exploding because it was chipped.

Or because it ate peanut butter.

“The chip exploded,” Luke said drily.

“The chip actually screamed.”

Luke scoffed at Helly’s words. “It didn’t scream.”

“I heard it,” Helly insisted. “It made a high-pitched cry for help. Then, pwuh…” She made the sound of an explosion as she simulated a blast with her hands.

Luke turned that adorable smirk toward Sorcha. “It malfunctioned and made a discordant sound.”

Helly shook her head. “A scream…then a big boom.”

He rolled his eyes as Sorcha hid her smile at Helly’s insistence. It was hard to believe she’d known the two of them for only a few months. It seemed like they’d been in her life forever.

Which meant something, given the fact that Luke and Helly had lived for centuries. Neither would tell her exactly how many, which made her wonder if they celebrated birthdays in Hell.

Not that it mattered. Even though she was the oldest, Helly looked around the age of twenty. Luke about thirty. Unbelievably tall, with wavy dark hair that held streaks of blond, and amber eyes that seemed to glow, he was exceptionally handsome. The kind of masculine beauty that turned heads wherever he went.

The worst part? He was well aware of it, but somehow his arrogance was charming. Devilishly so. It made for a devastating charisma that sucked everyone in—including Sorcha.

If the devil held half the beauty or charm of his son, it was no wonder people were willing to sell their souls to him. Not that Luke ever had anything good to say about his father.

Since they’d met, she’d learned all kinds of things about Satan and Hell that she wished she didn’t know.

The biggest one being that no one was safe. Real, true evil existed and the world was far more terrifying now than it’d ever been before. Because she now knew the truth that lived under the guise of human and “normality.”

Yet for all that terror, it didn’t seem quite as scary with Luke as her partner. He kept her grounded and made her feel safe, no matter the threat.

Then again, being around him was like holding the leash of a feral dragon. One that could incinerate her in an instant and move on with his life without a second thought. She was never quite sure what his thoughts were, and he often surprised her. Especially with his random acts of kindness.

And acts of pure lethality.

Luke was the most unpredictable creature imaginable.

Suddenly, both their phones rang.

Sorcha silently cringed. The only time this happened was when there was a crime that needed their attention.

“O’Malley,” she said at the same time he answered his with a stern, “Teivel.”

“Hey, hon,” Bernadette said in her ear. “You with Detective Sexy?”

Sorcha glanced over to Luke. “Of course.”