Free Darker Days by Jus Accardo

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