Ashes

  Knox just sighed. He wasn’t sure what exactly humans expected the devil to look like, but Knox suspected that it wasn’t the version in front of him. Lou was wearing a baseball cap, scruffy jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt that featured a picture of Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride. Knox didn’t know why, and he wasn’t about to ask.

  Lou was also wearing a denim jacket that had pink sequins stitched onto it. Harper liked to personalize her clothes by sewing diamonds, lace, and other appliques on them. She would also vengefully do it to your clothes if you pissed her off. When Lou had asked her to “jazz up” his jacket, she’d hoped the pink sequins would annoy him. Nope. The crazy bastard liked them.

  Knox would bet that most humans would be surprised to find that Lucifer was not actually the ruler of hell. Lou moved there and brought order to it after having some sort of dispute with God. He wasn’t a one-dimensional malevolent being either. Harper had once described him as a psychopathic child with bi-polar and OCD. That about summed him up.

  Lou didn’t ask much of people, but he did have three laws. One, demons needed to conceal their existence from humans. Two, they must not be caught breaking human laws. Three, they must never cause harm to a child – human or demon.

  “You have a nice tan going on. I hope you spent your vacation trying to get our Harper pregnant.”

  Knox rubbed his forehead. “This again?”

  “Why wait? It’s a logical step to make in a committed relationship.” Lou narrowed his eyes. “You are committed to her, right?”

  “Of course I am. Now why are you here?” Hearing footsteps, Knox turned to watch as Harper walked into the room.

  Lou took one look at her round stomach and grinned like a loon. “Well, would you look at that.” He stood. “We’re gonna have a baby! Score!” He patted Knox’s back. “I knew you’d come through in the end.” Crossing to Harper, he bent down. “Well, hello there, baby Luc —”

  “Don’t say it,” she snapped.

  “You haven’t yet told me why you’re here,” said Knox.

  Lou looked affronted. “Do I need a reason to visit my friends?”

  Knox shot an impatient look at the most antisocial being he’d ever known. “You don’t consider us your friends. You don’t want friends.”

  “I told you, I’m branching out from cold and pure evil.” He turned back to Harper, smiling. “How far pregnant are you?”

  “Twenty-one weeks.”

  His excitement was quickly replaced by irritation. “You have nine weeks left and you’re only telling me this now?”

  She pursed her lips. “Well… yes. But you’re still one of the first to know.”

  And now, mercurial as ever, Lou was once again delighted. “How’ve you been? Cravings? Backache? Nausea? Mood swings? I’ve heard that eighty percent of pregnant women have seriously bad mood swings. Like scary bad.”

  “I am not having mood swings.”

  Knox folded his arms. “While you’re here, Lou, answer me a question. Why do you think Jonas wanted to meet with you?”

  “No idea,” said Lou, retaking his seat.

  “You’re not even curious?”

  “Nope.” Lou drank some of his smoothie. “Earth business does not interest me.”

  Yeah, Knox knew that, but still… “We need to know what Jonas wants from you. Talk to him. Find out.”

  “I can’t. See, I have this thing. I don’t do things that bore me.” Lou set down his glass. “Deals are boring. Jonas wants to offer me a deal. Ergo…”

  Knox ground his teeth. “Lou —”

  “I don’t concern myself with what goes on between the Primes. It’s all mind-numbingly dull. Now a baby who can singlehandedly lay waste to the universe, on the other hand, has me fascinated.”

  Harper’s mouth tightened. “He or she will not lay waste to anything – nor will you attempt to teach them to do so.”

  “We’re keeping the pregnancy quiet for now, Lou,” Knox told him. “We need you to do the same.”

  Lou lifted his hand, as if to pledge an oath. “You can be sure that I will do nothing to threaten the upcoming birth of our little Luc —”

  “We are not calling the baby Lucifer,” growled Harper, fists clenched.

  Lou leaned toward Knox and said quietly, “Notice the mood swing? The stats don’t lie.”

  Harper let out a long breath. “Why are you even here?”

  Lou lifted a brow. “Expecting someone else?”

  “Preferably someone who doesn’t come uninvited, rifle through our kitchen, and help themselves to stuff. It’s like having a stray dog turn up all the time.”

  Lou sniffed at her. “That’s unfair. I don’t shit on your floor.”

  “It’s important that we find out what Jonas wants from you,” Knox interrupted. “It could be related to the attack on Harper.”

  Straightening in his seat, Lou frowned. “What attack?”

  “Someone hired hunters to steal her wings.”

  His eyes widened. “Get out of town! Really? Someone out there is honestly that stupid?” He pouted as he looked at Harper’s stomach. “Poor baby must have been in such distress.”

  “I’m fine, in case you were wondering,” she said dryly.

  “I don’t need to wonder. I can see that you’re fine.” Lou turned to Knox. “What I don’t see is how the attack could have had anything to do with Jonas. It’s highly unlikely that he knows she has wings.”

  Knox narrowed his eyes. “How do you know?”

  “I know lots of things.” Lou poked his temple. “I’m a well of information.”

  Knowing from past experience how tight-lipped the devil could be, Knox didn’t bother pushing for an answer. “Jonas is upset with Jolene right now. The person who sent the hunters after Harper also hired someone to kidnap Harper’s cousin.”

  Lou’s mouth fell open. “Risking Jolene’s wrath? Oh, well, then they really are stupid. Or suicidal. Both works. That woman is mean. Giving me packets of chips that open upside down and putting her T.V. volume on an uneven number just to see me cry. How can someone be that cruel?”

  Yeah, her grandmother really did love to poke at his OCD streak. Still, Harper frowned. “Do you really feel that you, the devil, are in a position to judge people? You know what, don’t answer that. Look, I get that ‘helping’ people isn’t really your thing. But if Jonas wants to make a deal with you, it can’t be good. Even if he has nothing to do with the attack on me or the attempt to kidnap my cousin, it’s still important to know what he wants. It could be something really bad. You could stop it from happening.”

  Head tilted, Lou looked at her curiously. “Are you… are you trying to appeal to my conscience?” He snorted. “That inner voice gave up on me a long time ago. Honestly, trying to make me feel bad is more pointless than the ‘ay’ in ‘okay’. If self-centeredness could bounce, I’d be in orbit. And wouldn’t that be fun?”

  Harper sighed. “At least you’re honest about it.”

  “My shrink says I shouldn’t hold things in or pretend to be what I’m not. He says I should just be myself.”

  “Yeah, that was bad advice.”

  “And yet, I have a fan club,” Lou said smugly. “Several.”

  “You mean you have Satanic cults that worship you.”

  “Yeah,” he muttered, seemingly unimpressed by them. “Most of the weirdos are like diapers – self-absorbed, full of shit, and need to be disposed of. But I do appreciate that they use symmetrical symbols. Not crazy about their obsession with six-six-six, though. The number six is founded on odd numbers. My favorite number is eight – perfectly symmetrical. They should try eight-eight-eight.”

  The guy truly was out of his mind. Harper simply said, “Well, if I meet any Satanic people, I’ll let them know.”

  “That’s sweet of you.” His head tilted and his gaze turned inward. “Hmm. I’m needed elsewhere. Must go. Harper, you take care of our little munchkin. Knox, no, before you ask again, I’m not meeting with Jonas.
Even if I tried to help, I’d somehow make it all worse. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  The thing was… Knox couldn’t.

  “Besides, you don’t need my help. You have this. You can manage just fine.” He saluted Knox. “Carpe diem!” And then, in a blink, he was gone.

  Harper exhaled heavily. “Was it just me or was he stoned?”

  “He was stoned.” Knox frowned at the candy wrappers and empty chip packets on the table. “I think he had a case of the munchies.” Knox crossed to her and softly stroked her stomach. “I was looking for you when I heard him down here.”

  “I was looking for you, too. I want your advice on something.” She led him up the stairs and into the bedroom next to theirs, which she’d decided would be the nursery. She gestured to the wall, where she’d brushed three different stripes of paint along the white wall. “Which shade do you prefer?” She’d ordered three samples online and had been delighted to get back from the island and find them waiting.

  Knox looked around the spacious room. “You cleared this room out all by yourself?”

  “Hell, no. I roped Tanner and Levi into helping me.”

  “I’m assuming you’re going to elect them to paint the walls, too.”

  “They agreed to help me with the painting.”

  The word “help” had him frowning. “I’m not sure if I like the idea of you —”

  “I’ll be painting walls, not knocking them down,” she said as patiently as possible, reminding herself just how hard it was for him while his protective instincts were riding him hard. “I promise you that if at any point I need to rest, I will stop – for the baby’s sake, if nothing else. Trust me.”

  “I do trust you,” he stated firmly, needing her to know that it was true. “You’re the only person that I trust.” His demon also trusted her, and that was a major thing.

  She smiled. “Good. Now which color do you prefer?”

  He pointed to the soft yellow strip of paint. “That one.”

  She smiled. “Me, too. Great minds think alike. Hey, Rodgers should be here in half an hour.”

  “I know. Why do you look so nervous? I thought you’d be excited to have another scan.”

  “I am. I’m just worried he’ll tell me that the baby’s still smaller than it should be.”

  He stroked her upper arms. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  A short while later, the doctor was setting up his portable ultrasound machine in their living room again. “Nice tan. I heard you went on vacation. Lucky you. Tell me, Harper, how have you been?”

  Sitting on the sofa, she replied, “Fine. I don’t feel drained anymore. I’m eating fine. Having a couple of cravings, but nothing weird.”

  “Any back pain yet?” he asked.

  She jiggled her head. “A little. It’s not so bad.”

  “Sadly, it will get worse. What about the baby?”

  “It’s hyper. Never seems to sleep. We feel its mind sometimes.”

  His brows lifted. “Really?” he asked, seeming impressed.

  “It reaches out by itself,” said Knox. “It first happened three weeks ago.”

  “Interesting,” Rodgers drawled. “Lie back. Let’s take a look at the baby.”

  Like last time, Harper lay back as he moved a handheld probe around her gel-covered, lower abdomen. The baby didn’t seem to like it any more than she did, because it kept kicking at the probe.

  Rodgers chuckled. “It doesn’t like me poking and prodding, does it?”

  Knox watched the screen, fascinated as the baby wriggled around. It was bigger, and its features were more distinct. It now looked like an actual baby as opposed to a peanut with a head. “Well?” Knox asked the doctor. “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything seems absolutely fine,” replied Rodgers. “The baby is still a little small, but it’s clearly not behind in its development. Babies don’t usually psychically reach out until the twenty-third week.”

  Knox stroked a hand over Harper’s hair. “Why do you think it’s still smaller than it should be?”

  The doctor pursed his lips. “It could be due to any number of things. The baby isn’t small enough for me to be worried; its size is just something we need to monitor. Now, I’d like to do a few tests.” He held out a little tub to Harper and smiled. “Pee for me.”

  Harper reached out to grab the tub, but then she froze as Knox’s face hardened. She could feel the echo of a telepathic conversation, knew he was speaking with someone. When he finally met her eyes and she saw the anger there, she said, I’m not going to like this, am I?

  It’s Pamela and Rupert.

  Talia’s parents?

  He nodded. They’re dead.

  Knox blinked. “Stabbed to death?”

  “Several times,” said Keenan. He gestured at the uniformed officers that were urging the growing crowd to step away from the crime scene tape as he added, “The cops might have thought that it was Talia’s dealer, looking for her parents to pay whatever she died owing him. But he has an airtight alibi – he’s dead, too.”

  “When did that happen?” asked Knox.

  “Last week. It was a gang territorial dispute that went too far.” Keenan paused. “I know you probably suspect the kid has something to do with the attack on Pamela and Rupert, but it was pretty vicious, Knox. It would have taken someone with more strength to have made the knife penetrate so deeply. I don’t think it’s something a kid could have done.”

  “It can’t be a coincidence that Talia’s parents were killed.” Knox glanced at the house, where a continuing flow of people were passing in and out – some were clearly forensic analysts while others were likely police officers. “How many times were they stabbed?”

  “Both were stabbed in the chest six times.”

  “And McCauley’s six years old.” Knox could imagine what Harper would make of that. He’d left her at the mansion, where the doctor could finish running his tests. As they hadn’t yet announced the pregnancy, she’d needed to stay home. The last place he’d want her to be was a crime scene anyway.

  “I agree that it seems like the kid is somehow connected to this, but I truly don’t think that he has the strength it would have taken to subdue them and cause such injuries.”

  “Who else would have a motive to do this?”

  Keenan shrugged. “The cops have finishing speaking with their son. He’s over there, if you’d like to talk to him. Maybe he knows something.”

  Knox hadn’t realized that Daniel was in Vegas. The demon had long ago moved away, though he remained part of their lair. “All right. Let’s see what he has to say.” Knox walked through the throngs of uniforms and ducked under the tape. No one tried to stop him; not even the humans. Knox had found that if you appeared to know exactly where you were going, people were very unlikely to bother you. Knox crossed to the tall demon staring at his parents’ home and greeted simply, “Daniel.”

  The male slowly turned, eyes tormented. “Mr. Thorne. It’s been a while.” He exchanged a nod with Keenan.

  “I know it seems like an almost mechanical statement, given how often it’s used in these circumstances,” began Knox, “but I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Daniel nodded. “Thanks.”

  “How long have you been in Vegas?”

  Pain flashed in his eyes. “I came here for Talia’s funeral and decided to stay a while.”

  Knox inwardly winced. The guy hadn’t just lost his parents, he’d lost his sister – and all in the space of a few months. “Where were you when this attack occurred?”

  Daniel adjusted his glasses. “My hotel.”

  “You haven’t been staying with your parents?”

  “I love – loved – them, but living under the same roof as them never worked for me. My mom and I argued a lot. You might as well know that we argued the last time we talked. The neighbors heard it, so they’ll tell you anyway. And I know how that looks, but I didn’t kill them.”
r />   Knox doubted that he had, but he kept his expression blank. “What were you arguing about?”

  “They wanted to take Talia’s kid and adopt him. I didn’t think they should.”

  That sure surprised Knox. “Why not?”

  Daniel seemed to choose his words carefully. “They weren’t good at parenting. They weren’t abusive or anything,” he hurried to add. “They loved us, but they didn’t discipline us or support us – they let us go our own way.”

  A little like Lucian had done with Harper, Knox mused.