Free Jack's Back ((Ascension: Book 2)) by Adam Moon

less than an hour. He called up one of his followers, a handyman by trade, and asked him what it would cost to have a brand new front door put on his house ASAP. The guy told him to keep his money and said he'd be over in twenty minutes to take measurements. Lucifer hung up and called another follower. He said, "There's some kind of white ashy residue on the floor in the church. Would you mind stopping in later to clean it up?"
    Of course the guy didn't mind. He was elated to have received a personal call from his pastor.
    Lucifer smiled to himself. There had been no irreparable damage done from the attacks and he'd gotten a chance to flex out his powers.
    This had been a good day.

Joy Ride
     
    Jack's hoof kept slipping off of the accelerator and it was pissing him off. At one point the hyena started to laugh at him so he reached into the back seat and clobbered it on the head. The pig snorted its amusement.
    Shelly just stared out the window, wondering when some unfortunate angel would pick up her scent and give chase. She hated the idea that she was live bait, but she hated the idea of being raped more, so que sera sera.
    She looked at Jack as he drove. He had an intensity to him she couldn't quite wrap her mind around. He was a man on a mission.
    His horn wounds seemed to be healing up, no doubt from all the webbing Dick-eyes was covering them with, and she'd swear his ruddy skin tone was beginning to lighten, the mottled black blotches clearing up too. He still wore the ridiculous outfit and the cowboy hat, but that just endeared him to her.
    Finally Jack pulled over onto the gravel and said to her, "You fucking drive. I can't take this anymore"
    She knew he was just mad about his hooves so she didn't take offense at his outburst.
    They got out and switched places.
    They'd been driving around for hours already and hadn't come across a single angel. It was quickly becoming apparent to her that this was to be a marathon rather than a sprint. But she didn't think Jack had the patience to deal with the pace of it. He was getting restless.
    To try and alleviate his anxiety she started to ask him questions.
    " Hey Devil boy, how old are you?"
    "Concentrate on the damn road."
    "Come on, I'm going to guess you're in your early thirties. Is that close?"
    "Shut up girl."
    "What's your favorite color?"
    He looked out his window defiantly.
    "Favorite food then?"
    He reached into the backseat and grabbed the cat, Prozac. For just a second she was afraid he was going to toss it out the window to shut her up, but instead he dropped it in her lap.
    She felt that serene calm wash over her again.
    She had thought Jack was the one tightly wound, but it turned out he was fine. She was the one who needed to relax and the cat gave her what she needed.
    "Sorry Jack."
    "No problem."
    "So what's the plan? Are we just going to keep driving around Wisconsin, hoping beyond reason that we get lucky?"
    "You're right. This is like watching paint dry. Let's change tack. I have something a little outside the scope of our plans I'd like to do since we're so close by."
    "What's that?"
    I 'd love to go and kill this guy in Illinois. Want to help me?"
    "Not really. What did the guy do to you?"
    "He murdered an old high school girlfriend of mine. Last year Lucifer told me about him. He said he's a local realtor and he golf's on the weekends, and my stay here is limited so why not make the most of it, right? Plus, if Lucifer knew of him, then maybe he knows something about Lucifer and his whereabouts."
    She knew he'd added the last part to convince himself he wasn't just a blood thirsty demon, but a man with a reasonable agenda that could pay off.
    She shook her head . She didn't want someone's death on her hands, but then the cat nuzzled against her neck so she said, "Sounds good to me."
    Jack said into the rearview mirror, "Dick-eyes, see if you can find out where the bastard's hiding."
    Dick-eyes did not look pleased about it, probably because it deviated