Darker Days

here and there is hard, but manageable. But earlier, in that place, I was surrounded by so much of it. It senses the nearness of the very thing it feeds on and struggles for control.”

“It?”

“Wrath.”

“How—how painful is it?”

He stared at me, and I found the whole roller coaster starting all over again. Butterflies in the stomach, heated cheeks, heart jumping like a thrasher in a mosh pit…

I’d been boyfriendless for a reason. I didn’t want to get involved with anyone. I’d seen what it did to people—falling in love—and I wanted no part of it. Yet here I was, getting all hot under the collar for some guy. And not just any guy. One of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Irony, thy name is Jessie.

Mom would probably say it was hormones and walk away beaming with pride. She’d been pushing me to take an interest in something—someone—other than the agency. Somehow, though, I was pretty sure this wasn’t what she meant.

“It’s like being ripped apart—over and over again. Like being set on fire, dipped in ice, and then lit up again.”

“Jesus.” That cooled the mood quick. I was almost sorry I’d asked.

“The harder I fight, the worse it hurts when I finally lose control—which will happen more and more as time goes on. From the moment we’re released, the box is calling us back. It’s faint at first. A whisper in the crowd. But as our time runs out, the call becomes stronger and more painful, making the Sin more frantic to feed.”

“I’ll make sure Mom keeps her deal with you.” The passion in my voice surprised me. Mom was the good guy. The selfless one. I wasn’t the bad one, per se, but I didn’t inherit her patience with humanity. Nine times out of ten, if a person had an issue, it was my opinion that they brought it on themselves. Human and Otherworlder. Lukas was different, though. It wasn’t pity that I was feeling —I didn’t believe in that. It wasn’t even that he was incredibly hot—though that might have helped…a little.

I got the feeling he’d been royally screwed for no good reason, and that pissed me off. “We’ll help you become human again.” I took his hand and squeezed. To my surprise, he didn’t pull away. “We’ll fix this.”

He’d never expected us to honor our part of the deal—I could tell by the look on his face. A mix of shock and relief. “And who will we transfer the sin to? What innocent person do we punish for my misfortune?”

“Like Mom agreed. We’ll go with the original plan from 1959. We’ll find the bastard who opened the box and give him a taste of hell.”

Lukas looked down at my hand on his and opened his mouth, but the buzzing of the office phone interrupted him.

I stretched across the couch and grabbed the cordless, almost taking out the lamp in the process. “Darker Agency.”

“Jessie, I’m on my way home,” Mom’s voice crackled on the other end. Stupid cell reception sucked in this area. The town had been fighting against getting an additional tower installed. Some crap about it being an eyesore.

“Perfect. Pick up a pizza or—”

“Jessie, listen to me carefully. I found the person the Sins are looking for. The one who opened the box.” On the other end, I heard Mom talking to someone. “Take the phone,” she said.

There was some shuffling and a slight pause. The person on the other end sucked in a deep breath. “Hello, Jessie.”

Two words. That’s all it took to tear my world down. And not so much the words as the voice behind them.

“…Dad?”

Chapter Nine

Ten minutes later, they breezed through the door casual as could be. Mom first, followed by a face I hadn’t seen in almost five years.

Still impossibly tall with dark, wavy hair, he stopped in the doorway and stared. New additions to his look included a closely clipped goatee, a silver earring, and a new tattoo snaking down his arm and around his right wrist. He hadn’t aged a day since I’d seen him last. It might have been due to the fact that I’d built him up in my memory. Constantly looking at old pictures to keep his face fresh in my mind.

Or it might have been the demon blood running through his veins.

I’d heard the story a thousand times. How my very human mom fell in love with my deadly demonic dad. They met when Mom was just sixteen. She was working with Grandpa at the agency, and the way she tells it, Dad sauntered in looking for help retrieving a powerful amulet. According to Mom, the sparks were instant. There was more to it than that, but I’d blocked it out. Mom and Dad smoochies were not a thought I cared to entertain.

Grandpa, of course, didn’t approve, but who could blame him? What father would want his daughter to hook up with one of the very things he’d spent his life battling? In the end, it hadn’t mattered. Mom was like me. Stubborn to the core. She loved my dad—demon or not—and refused to give him up.

I crossed the room and threw myself into his arms. He smelled the same way I remembered. Slightly spicy with the tiniest hint of sulfur.

“I’m sorry, Jessie.”

“It’s true? You’re the one who opened the box?”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, pushing me away. His eyes found Lukas, and the tone of his voice changed instantly. It was deeper and darker. Demonic. “Wrath.”

Lukas’ eyes widened, and he took an unsteady step back. “Please—for everyone’s sake, don’t come any closer. It’s very hard for me to control my anger and you—”

“Make it harder?”

“Yes.”

Dad advanced a few steps wearing a wicked smile. “I’m a demon. We do that.”

Shadow demons, like my dad, had strength and speed, but their big claim to fame was shadowing. It was their trademark move and made them excellent employees for higher ranking demons, put to work as assassins and thieves. They had the ability to blend in—to become one with the shadows—and travel between them. Virtually undetectable, my dad could take you out before you even knew he was there. I’d slept with my lights on for an entire year when I was six because of a story Dad told me detailing a job he’d done once. That had been the last time Mom let him pop in to put me to sleep.

“Stop.” I grabbed Dad’s arm and pulled back. It was like trying to move a mountain, well, up a mountain.

“There is a Sin in the room with my family.” His voice was calm, but I knew better. I hadn’t spent much time with my dad, but I knew that tone. I’d heard it a thousand times from a thousand different demons. Threatening. Dangerous. It was the last sound you heard just before your world went splat.

“There’s a Sin in the room because you opened the box,” I said calmly. Hah. Take that, logic.

He turned to me, expression softening. “I didn’t open the box on purpose.”

“So what happened exactly?”

“We got word it was stolen and about to change hands. Valefar, my boss, sent me to stop the trade. There was a woman—I didn’t see her face. I chased her for the box, easily overpowering her. Too easily.”

“Too easily?” Mom came up beside him and rested a hand against his shoulder.

Dad nodded. “She all but surrendered the box—and then she tripped me.”

“She tripped you? As far as attack methods go, that one is a little middle school if you ask me.”

Understanding creased Mom’s features. “She wanted you to open the box.”

Again, Dad nodded. “I believe so. I tried to stop it from opening, but it was too late.”