Buckle Up

Living in hiding, life hadn’t gone the way I planned, but we hadn’t been spotted by my devil of a father. The nightmares of my former life in Hell festered endlessly, leaking into my lack of sleep that I blamed on insomnia. Not many knew what my brother and I escaped with our cousin in tow, and they never would from the birthmark on our ribs marking us for death.

In the chaos of working three jobs, I was a barista by day and bartender at night. That third one was a special kind of job the humans didn’t know about. I bountied demons as a side hustle for our local police force. Staying busy helped keep the demons inside my own mind from lashing out.

All of that would be taking a hiatus, and I blamed a certain Enforcer who blew into town. He was literally made to kill my kind, hunting us as his prey, so I kept my head down whenever he got too close.

Sadly, a slew of murders goaded our paths to merge. The only way to save them was to get behind the wheel of a fast car in order to find out who was behind it all. Demon racing wasn’t the same as what people on the street watched. On these courses, they called it pair racing, and humans were used in the most sickening ways.

As a former champion, I thought the world of racing was left behind me, but it looked like that world hadn’t finished what it started. My old partner was out, so I needed someone who could keep up, and his miserable name weighted the tip of my tongue. Needing his help, I didn’t know if I had lost my last marble or screw, but I knew my loved ones were in danger.

I’d do anything to protect my family, even if that meant my father finding me again.