Page 52 of I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell

As if the canyon-deep eye bags weren’t enough, my cheeks sport red splotches from where Badulf’s blood hit me. Though the water soothed it, my skin still smarts when I press the pad of my pointer finger against it. The placement makes it look like my tears left scars.

“That’ll fade,” Luke reassures me. “If it still hurts, the balm in the front pocket of my backpack where the med kit is should help.”

“It’s alright.” I close the mirror before I can analyze the rat’s nest that is my hair.

“How’d things go with Hazaar? Did you convince him to trade two hundred?”

“Actually, I got four hundred.”

His brows shoot up. “Really? How’d you manage that?”

There it is again. That impressed voice of his that should make me scoff but has warmth flooding through me.

“I drive a hard bargain.”

“That you do,” he says softly, almost to himself.

Silence envelops us and exhaustion slugs me. I pull out every trick to keep myself alert, biting my filthy nails and sipping Luke’s water since mine is empty. Despite it, my eyes droop. My nightmare will surely meet me at the crossroads of sleep if I let myself fall into it, but I have no tricks left.

“I owe you an apology.”

Luke’s voice breaks the stillness. I blink, my contacts all messed up from starting to doze.

“What for?”

“For what I said in the junkyard.” Luke glances at me, bringing me to full alertness. “I was frustrated we couldn’t find a decent vehicle option, but you didn’t deserve that.”

I’m not used to men apologizing to me, something my ex never did sincerely. I bite my tongue against my initial instinct, which is to spew the usual “No worries!” bullshit when I, in fact, thrive on worry. Instead, I let his words stretch thin between us like pulling candy.

“I appreciate that,” I say. “I could have picked a better time to interrogate you.”

“Like now?” The look on his face is daring, as if he almost wants me to prod.

“Depends.” I shrug. It’s my turn to play the evasive one. “Are you going to snap at me again?”

“Depends what you want to know.”

I contemplate what’s worth knowing. “Hazaar said he knew you. The hell hounds seem like they do, too. How? I can’t imagine even during your peak monster-hunting days you gallivanted around hell figuring out friends from foes.”

“You’re right. I don’t know my way around thanks to my career in monster hunting,” Luke says simply. “I know because I grew up here.”

Seventeen

“How?” I ask in horror. It’s bad enough being here as an adult. I can’t imagine being a child.

“Don’t look too upset. It was all I knew for the majority of my life,” Luke says. “And how I grew up here isn’t the important question. You should be asking why.”

“Okay, then why?”

He glances at me. “You’re going to want to buckle up for it. Literally.”

I didn’t realize I wasn’t wearing my seat belt. I click it into place, but the mere action catapults my mind back to that night. Telling my mom to buckle up had been on the tip of my tongue, but we were almost home. It seemed a silly thing to do.

“I’ve never met my father,” Luke starts, tugging me away from the edge of falling into the familiar flashback. “For the record, I’ve never wanted to. He got my mom pregnant with twins and left her on her own. During the second trimester, she got very sick. The doctors told her that, ultimately, it would be her or the babies. While crying over it on a bench near the hospital, a man came up to her. She didn’t know she was sitting at a crossroads. She didn’t know he was a demon.”

“I didn’t know you’re a twin,” I comment.

“I never said I was one of the babies.”