I ducked and ran, slipping down a nearby alley as a burst of magical force ripped apart the street where I’d just been standing. My balls cradled in the well of my ass, I ran until I crossed the north-south line and then kept on, not stopping until I was sure I’d put some healthy distance between me and Bugs’ boys. They didn’t bother to follow.

Deep in the heart of Capone’s territory, I finally slowed, taking a second to catch my breath before I headed home. While I’d done the job I’d been sent to do, I just knew Uncle Lou wasn’t gonna be happy.

“Are you certain?” Lucifer asked, his voice a quiet rumble like a distant storm.

“The guy was a demon, I’m tellin’ ya.”

My uncle leaned back in his seat, his hand at his chin. While nothing of his thoughts showed on the surface, I knew he was furious. There was a slight tremor in the earth that vibrated my chair. I fought the urge to go fetal and waited for him to decide what he wanted to do, knowing better than to rush him.

Though he didn’t look like much, Lucifer didn’t earn his reputation by appearing mean…he simply was. A few inches shorter than six feet and slim, but with a bit of a paunch, my uncle looked more grandfatherly than dastardly. He had gray hair that was cut fairly short, wisps of it sticking out like wings. There weren’t any horns or hooves, or even red skin. He was kinda pasty actually, and could probably use a little sun. Wrinkled and covered in age spots, there wasn’t anything about Lou that set him apart from the rest of humanity, until you looked him in his eyes.

It was like peering into an abyss of wickedness. The whole of the world’s cruelty, its anger, its depravity, stared back at you when you locked gazes with my uncle. Every dark and sinister secret hidden from the light, every horror ever perpetrated on man, angel, or demon, was there to be seen, to be experienced in all its terrible grandeur. The first of the evil in the world, Lucifer was the epitome of it all, the entirety of it buried in his eyes. I looked away as the darkness churned in their depths.