Her eyes widened at the mention of her missing sister.
“What do you know about my sister?” she demanded, forgetting her fear.
Abby took a step toward the guy by the door, attempting to get a better look at his face.
“Peanut, you want me to make some popcorn? We can watch a movie,” her father called out as he entered the kitchen from the side door.
“Um, Dad,” she said hesitantly.
The man by the door moved toward her, forcing her to back up. She almost bumped into the other giant.
“Please don’t hurt him,” she begged the men.
“Peanut?” Her father paused as he entered the living room. “What are you doing in my home?” he demanded, using the military voice that made men quake.
“Brennan Murray,” the man who’d been by the door addressed her father. “We need your assistance.”
“This isn’t how to get it.”
“We mean you no harm. We bring a message from your daughter, Providence. She said you’d need some convincing. She wanted you to know that your angel found her way to the stars and is happy.”
Abby gasped. Not only did the men know her sister’s name, but they knew her nickname. Abby’s jaw dropped further when the men lowered their hoods.
They’re demons!
That was the only thing she could compare the enormous intruders to. Their skin was a deep blood red. The one who just spoke had shoulder-length silver hair, and dark stubble dusting his strong chin. His high cheek bones led to a deep-set pair of obsidian eyes, and arched brows.
“You must have fouled the message,” the black-haired demon with braids said.
She swiveled her gaze toward him, hearing the words along with the deep rumbling growl that erupted from his mouth. Her eyes widened seeing the pair of fangs gleaming in his mouth.
Fuck!
“No, I got it correct.”
She swung back to the taller silver-haired demon. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she examined him.
“This isn’t a very funny joke,” she snarled. “Who put you up to this?” She waved at the men.
“What do you know about my daughter?” Brennan demanded. He shifted to the side table, yanked out the drawer and grabbed his handgun.
“Ashtoret, I believe that’s a weapon.”
“I can see that. Brennan, Providence was taken from your world and found herself on ours. Now we need your help to prevent a vile race from finding your Earth,” the silver-haired guy spoke very slowly, the words emerging from a smartphone strapped to his wrist.
She couldn’t figure out how they knew what replies to pre-record while they were doing the weird growly thing. It was a very clever trick.
“Dad, take it easy. I think one of your sick friends is playing a joke on you.”
Her father had been grilling all his contacts about the unidentified flying object sighted the night Providence disappeared. Now someone was doing a twisted job of trying to force him to move on. Although, why they thought two guys made up to look like demons somehow resembled UFOs, she didn’t know. With Kennedy Space Center and Patrick AFB nearby, there had to be hundreds of better alien impersonators.
While the silver-haired demon was staring warily at her dad’s gun, she reached up and swiped her thumb across his cheek. She frowned when the red make-up didn’t smudge. The man grabbed her wrist, and she noticed his incredibly large hands were also red. His black eyes studied her comparatively tiny hand, then looked at her wild, curly red hair with a tilt of his head. It was weird how he looked at her like she was an enigma. But that wasn’t the only bizarre thing about his gaze. His black eyes weren’t quite right. The iris was a little too large, and she couldn’t see a pupil. It was always possible they were contacts. Except when added to his sheer size, those fangs which obviously weren’t plastic, and the red skin, she started questioning what was really going on with these freaks.
It just isn’t possible. He’s gotta be one of those body mod freaks. She shoved down her rising panic.
“Release my daughter,” her father roared and took a step forward, his gun trained on the silver-haired man.
“I mean no harm.” The guy instantly released her and backed up.