Page 96 of Hell’s Half Acre

And he did.

“Oh, whatever.” Get thee behind me, Satan. He didn’t want to think about his father. He had too many other things that took precedence.

Turning on the lights and waking his PC with his powers, Luke headed to his large black wooden desk and sat down.

It was eerily quiet without the cacophony of his Feral Demon Choir in the closet. Only half of them had returned.

Dohlar was still on the loose and smart enough not to be causing havoc that would give away his position.

Irritated, Luke winced at the photos that came up on his monitor.

Siobhan. They hit him like a gut punch. Her open, glazed eyes haunted him. Not because she was dead. He was used to looking at dead bodies. Nothing about those surprised him. Nothing grossed him out.

It was the fact that they were identical to Sorcha’s, and he was used to the lively way they challenged him and sparkled with laughter.

And anger.

He never wanted to see her look like this.

Using his powers, he wiped the photos from his screen and pulled up the photos of the dead werewolves.

That was what he needed to focus on right now.

Well, aside from the Necos after Sorcha.

Focus.

His thoughts were all over the place tonight. Why couldn’t he do what he normally did?

It was too quiet without his demons. He turned on his speakers and switched to White Horse by Skillet.

The memory of Sorcha’s face when she realized he listened to Christian rock made him smile. Yeah, it was weird, but he’d never been normal. Never played by the rules.

And he had no intention of starting now.

The air behind him stirred. Luke caught the scent of his mother.

Without a word, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “You went to see Ecanus.”

“I did.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

He turned around in his chair to meet her fierce gaze. “Didn’t think you knew anything about a Xolotl priest. Or a Chthonian.”

“Xolotl wasn’t just my friend. He was also good friends with your father.”

That surprised him. Although why, he had no idea. His father knew a lot of different gods. “Really?”

She nodded.

No matter how much you thought you knew your parents, there was always something new to learn. “Why have I never heard about this?”

“Xolotl’s been gone a long time. Didn’t think it important. As you know, I don’t like talking about the past.”

That was true. To her it was useless. “This isn’t the past, Mom. The Chthonian spoke about a prophecy. Do you know anything about it?”

“The return of the twins?”