Page 2 of Hell’s Half Acre

She scoffed at his words. “Why do I doubt that?”

Tsking, Lucifer moved to stand in front of them. “Ever defiant and always suspicious.”

“You’ve tutored me well on those subjects.” His mother gave his father a pointed glare as she continued to stroke Luke’s cheek.

Lucifer gestured toward the demon. “And sometimes a gift is just a gift. Take it, boy.”

His mother let out a soft, “humph.”

Lucifer kicked the demon toward Luke. “Go on, you two, and get acquainted. I have business to discuss with Senka.”

The demon squeaked in pain.

This time, his mother’s gold eyes flashed red. “Watch him, demon. Let no one cause him harm, and that includes you.”

The little demon bowed, eyes down. “Yes, domina. I will take care of your child.”

Luke didn’t want to leave. Bad things happened whenever his mother wasn’t around. Hell was an awful place. Every shadow and corner could be lethal.

And no one could die to escape their torture. It was all eternal and excruciating.

Even though he was a child, he was tired of fighting for every scrap. Every piece of sanity and safety.

The demon tugged at his arm with a rough-textured claw. Anger flashed in his three red eyes.

Luke cringed out of habit.

Instead of striking him, as was typical, the demon teleported him from Lucifer’s room to the mansion where he and his mother lived.

Luke stumbled away from the demon as he fought against the tears he wanted to cry. In Hell, those signs of weakness evaporated. But if anyone ever saw them gathering in his eyes, they would worsen whatever cruelty caused them.

Never let anyone know what hurts you. First rule of Hell—one he’d learned the hard way.

The demon turned to face him in the black marble foyer, his eyes narrowed. The stench of brimstone clung to his purple skin. “What do you fear?” he snarled, his hot, nasty breath stinging Luke’s eyes. “Snakes? Betrayers? Killers? The darkness that keeps them all concealed?”

Luke might be young, but he knew better than to answer that question. Gathering his courage and straightening his spine as his birthright taught him, he spat, “I fear nothing.”

The demon laughed in his face. The sound was grating. His breath reeked of death. “I don’t believe you. Since the dawn of time, Hell has created and conjured all manner of terror. Some real. Some fantasies that only live in the minds of the most creative.”

“And?” Luke had no idea what point this creature was trying to make by stating what they all knew.

“Haven’t you ever wondered what terrifies the scary things in this realm?”

Luke had been practicing his indifferent tone with his imp, Helly. He used it now. “Not really.”

“No?” the demon asked in disbelief. “Never?”

“My father is what terrifies the scary things.”

“And Luke’s imp.” Helly stepped out of the shadows to confront the demon, stepping between them and baring her fangs. Not much taller than Luke was at his young age, Helly was the only creature in this realm Luke trusted besides his mother.

Yet unlike his mother, Helly had never once hurt him. Not even his feelings.

For that alone, he adored her. In many ways, she was more a mother to him than the hellhound who’d birthed him.

The demon raked his stare from the top of Helly’s dark brown hair and horns to the bottom of her tiny, booted feet. “You’re an imp. Do you think I fear you?”

Helly sneered. “You’re a low-ranking stink demon. Have you any idea what I could do to you?”