A sexy half-demon neighbor, rampaging horny imps and a dead aunt who’s very much alive… Could life get any more chaotic?
When Elli Gavin inherits her aunt’s run-down house, the last thing she expects to find is a bunch of Lucifer’s imps running a raunchy, imp-humping nightclub and secret poker games in her house every night.
Tate Belor is no ordinary man. He’s part human, part shadow demon and the head of Lucifer’s security detail—and now, thanks to Lucifer, an imp hunter and babysitter. Then he gets his first look at ‘little Elli’. She’s a very grown-up woman with the ability to shatter his legendary control over his emotions.
Invisible humping imps, a believed-dead-but-very-much-alive aunt and a nasty human out to steal her house… Elli’s surrounded by mystery and more questions than answers.
What will she do when the truth is discovered? More importantly, can Elli and Tate survive the Hell-storm together?
But just remember… The house always wins.
General Release Date: 24th November 2020
“Do they have a death wish? I am Lucifer, supreme ruler of Hell, and someone has the audacity to take my imps?”
Tate Belor, head of Lucifer’s security detail, winced as the raucous tones of his employer knifed through his brain. For such a little woman, she sure had a big voice.
He cleared his throat before he spoke. “My Lord…um…are you sure they’ve been kidnapped?”
Lucifer stared at him as if she thought he’d lost his mind. Color flushed her face, the patches of red riding high on her cheekbones. She twisted her mouth into a mockery of a smile, the bright red lipstick she wore making the sight even more sinister.
“Do you think I’m senile just because I’m getting older?” she spat out. The words reverberated throughout the throne room, a physical assault on normal hearing.
Tate swallowed and shook his head, compressing his lips together so he wouldn’t be tempted to answer the question. He was intelligent enough not to get caught in his boss’ trap. His mama ‘didn’t raise no dummies’. Well, his mama hadn’t raised him anyway, but that was beside the point. He was one savvy shadow demon and he knew when it was smarter to back down and allow Lucifer to have her rant.
“My apologies, my Lord. May I see the note, my Lord?”
“Oh, stop ‘my Lording’ me, Tate. I do get sick of all this subservience at times.”
He raised his eyebrows, struggling to keep his features clear of expression. Lucifer would use his guts to tie up the tomatoes in her veggie patch if she thought he was laughing at her. She might be no more than five foot three at most, but she was a force to be reckoned with.
It amazed him that such a woman had so much power. She looked like everyone’s idea of the quintessential grandmother—on the short side and a little bit dumpy with it. No one would ever guess she was the head of the Underworld.
Today her snow-white hair was set in rigid waves with scarlet tips enhancing the ends of each section. Her face, exquisitely made up, reflected her anger, the red slash of her lipstick a perfect match for the streaks in her hair. She’d chosen a straight gray skirt teamed with a cherry-red twin set today, the multi-strand pearls about her neck completing the grandmotherly picture—except for the heels, of course.
Lucifer had a penchant for sexy heels, and today’s strappy scarlet sandals had to be three inches high at least. Her toenails and fingernails were painted the same shade, with myriad silver rings adorning both her hands and feet. Maybe not so grandmotherly after all.
Right now, those sexy high heels tapped out a furious staccato beat as Lucifer strode across to her desk, grabbed the piece of notepaper right on top and marched back to him. She waved the missive in front of his face then perched a pair of frameless glasses on the tip of her nose before reading the note aloud.
“My dear Lord Lucifer,
Your imps are quite safe. I needed them for a special job. Please do not look for them. They will be returned to you when the job is done.”
She removed her glasses and tucked them into the pocket of her skirt. “And whoever it was had the balls to sign it ‘your faithful servant’. I’ll give him ‘faithful servant’ if I ever get hold of him.”
She screwed the paper up and tossed it across the room then flicked her fingers in the air. A sonic boom like a burst of thunder rolled through the vast space. It grew in intensity until Tate thought his eardrums might burst. With a loud crack, bright white light filled the room and the ball of paper disappeared in a curl of black smoke. All sound faded away, except for the clack of Lucifer’s heels as she took her place on the carved throne situated on the raised dais at the end of the room.
“I want to know what’s going on, Tate. You will find the person who took my imps away and you will drag him here to me. And I don’t care what you have to do to achieve that. I will have answers.”
“Ah, Mistress, I’m on holiday, remember? You told me I could have three months off. Challon’s in charge of security for the moment. Do you want me to summon him for you?”
“If I’d wanted that, I would have made it happen.”
Tate winced again at Lucifer’s screech. The boss was not in a good mood, but damn it to hell, he was on holiday.
“You dare to question me?”
A sizzling spark of electricity burst from Lucifer’s left index finger and slammed into Tate’s chest. Pain grabbed the breath from his body as the electric current ran through his veins, heating his blood. Sweat broke out on his brow and he gasped, filling his lungs with life-giving air tinged with the scent of ozone and brimstone.
His shirt still sizzled where she’d hit him, and he knew that if he checked it out, he’d find a blackened area of skin. Thank all the demons of Hell that his kind regenerated so quickly. Within minutes, there’d be nothing to show for Lucifer’s retribution.
Patting the smoldering shirt to squelch the last of the fire, he bowed from his waist. “Once again, my apologies, my Lord. I’ll get on it right away.”
Lucifer pushed herself up from her throne and clacked her way across to him. When she was close enough, she ran her hand across the patch on his shirt, her touch immediately soothing the burn. She let out a deep sigh. “No, I should be apologizing to you. That was pure bad temper and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m a foolish old lady sometimes.”
You reckon? Yeah right, like I’d believe that. “Ah, do we know anything at all about this kidnap game? When did it start?”
“I noticed there seemed to be a lot less imps around the halls over the last few weeks.” She frowned. “Come to think of it, it’s mainly on Friday and Saturday nights. The ones I can’t find on the weekends suddenly turn up again bright and early on Monday morning.”
“Hmm, did you question them as to where they’d been?”
“Funny, that,” she spluttered. “They always seem to be busy with something else when I summon them.”
He raised his eyebrows.
Lucifer sighed. “Yes, I could have transported them to me, but I figured I’d get more out of them if I was sickly sweet and nice.”
Tate shook his head. He wanted to burst out laughing but resisted it. Lucifer? Nice? Oh yeah, that he wanted to see.
He schooled his features and gave the problem his deepest regard. “I don’t know… It doesn’t sound like a kidnapping to me. Something else is going on here. Where’s Brel-ez? He’s captain of your heralds. If anybody knows what’s going on, it’s Brel-ez.”
“You’d think.” Lucifer snorted in a most unladylike manner. “When I can find him—yes, he keeps disappearing and reappearing, too—he gives me some bull-crap about sending the others on a special project. And when I demand to know what the project is, he suddenly remembers something important he has to do. Poof! Gone again.”
She raised her hands in the air, frustration evident in her gesture. “I’m supposed to know everything that goes on in this world as well as on Earth, and I can’t even pin my chief herald down and get a simple answer. All I can tell you is that one of the portals to the human world has been used almost constantly for the past two weeks.”
“Okay, that gives me a starting point. Which one?”
She tipped him a steely look. “Yours.”
“Mine? What the hell…? But I’m the only one who knows about that doorway.”
Now Tate definitely wanted answers—not just for his boss but for himself as well. The portal hidden in the overgrown gardens that straddled the boundary between his place and his neighbor’s was for his own personal use. It was his conduit between the human and demon worlds.
He stood straighter and faced his employer. “So now I know where to concentrate my efforts. Don’t worry, my Lord, I’ll find out what’s going on for you.” And myself.
As he turned to leave, the door behind the throne opened and a woman poked her head in.
“Hey, Luce— Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had company.” The woman disappeared and the door slammed shut.
Tate’s mouth dropped open. He snapped it shut. “Ah, I thought I saw…” His voice trailed off. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “But I thought… I’m sure I just saw—”
Lucifer cut him off. “You saw nothing, Tate. And you will not mention to anyone what you thought you saw. No one! If you do, the punishment will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. Understand?”
He nodded. What the hell else could he do? Lucifer had him by the balls. What in the name of all that’s unholy is my boss up to now? Do I even want to know?
“I’ll send you back now. Probably better not to use the portal as a means of travel until we know what’s happening.”
Oh, hell, no. Lucifer’s method of travel was a pain in the ass. He hated it. It made him feel like he’d been reassembled the wrong way around.
Before he could say anything, Lucifer waved her hands in the air and the room filled with smoke. The smell of brimstone caught in his throat and made him gag. Sound erupted, the rush of cyclonic winds and the crash of thunder and lightning.
Everything around Tate dimmed. The molecules of his body vibrated then started to break into the tiniest of atoms. Before he disappeared on a stream of particles, Lucifer left a final comment. Oh yeah, she always had to have the last word.
“Don’t forget your promise to my dear friend Billie. You need to help her niece get settled and assist her in doing the right thing.”
As his body disintegrated, Tate had one last thought.
Babysitting a selfish city girl. Ah, crap.
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