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Chapter Ten
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Dark of Night Chapter Eleven
I come to a dead stop. “What do you mean, my brother?”“Scott Martin is your brother, right?”“Yeah, he is.”“He’s on the city council and pulled a favor or something and got a friend from the Health Department to come to the bar. Thank fucking God I was here late last night and was waiting out the sun in the back. It’s like a bloody raid, and we’ve been tagged with a shit ton of health code violations that don’t exist. They say we have rats. Rats! There aren’t even any rats in the fucking basement! I’d smell them if there were.”I close my eyes, heart racing as anger surges through me. “He’s going after Lucas to try and get to me.”“No shit, you witch-bitch.”“That’s not helping,” I snap. “Are they still there?”“Yes, in the kitchen throwing stuff around as they look for messes that aren’t fucking there,” she yells so the Health Department workers hear her. “And I’m starting to get real hungry.”“Don’t even draw your fangs,” I warn. “That’s what Scott wants. He’s not there, is he?”“
Dark of Night Chapter Twelve
“Hey,” I say, fully knowing the look of terror on my face is giving everything away. Ella stares at me, jaw still hanging open. Fuck. “So, I, ummm.” I look back at the cat—at my brother—and then back at Ella. I let out a nervous laugh. Should I try and grab Ella’s wrist, hoping to feel her heart beating before she can scream? I’m so shaken I don’t know if I’ll be able to get into her mind anyway.“And for my next act,” I start, and rush forward, grabbing Scott-Cat by the scruff. He yowls and tries to get out of my arms, scratching me in the process.“Keep that up and I’ll head straight to the vet for a neuter,” I say through gritted teeth. He goes limp in my arms but continues to growl. “Nice seeing you again,” I say to Ella and dash past her, down the hall and into the elevator. The doors close right as she screams.“See?” I say, looking down at Scott. “This is what happens when you cross me.” I’m trying to sound tough, but I know the shock in my eyes is anything but menacing. I have
Dark of Night Chapter Thirteen
I wave my hand over the door to magically unlock it. I’m balancing the box against my hip, regretting turning Scott into anything weighing over ten pounds. Before I even reach for the door knob, the front door opens.“Callie,” Lucas says, throwing the door back. Sunlight burns his skin, but he doesn’t so much as flinch. Binx darts in first, and I hurry along behind him, shutting the door with my foot. Part of Lucas’s face is charred, but that’s not the most jarring thing about him. His eyes are wide and full of worry. It’s the closest I’ve seen him to looking scared, but it’s not for himself. He’s terrified of losing me. “You should have called me right away.”I set Scott-cat down, and Lucas pulls me into an embrace.“I didn’t want to wake you,” I confess, looking up at him. His skin is healing already. “I knew you hadn’t gotten much sleep lately.”“That doesn’t matter.” He cups my face in his large hands, tipping my chin up to him. “You matter.”He called Eliza right as I was leaving
Dark of Night Chapter Fourteen
Lucas turns his head to mine, eyes wide. “The man who sold you like livestock and left you to be tortured? Let him come in.”“The ‘no murder’ plan needs to stand.”“Death will be welcome after I’m done with him.” Lucas’s fangs come down, and he reaches for the door.“Wait,” I say and grab Lucas’s wrist. He stops, moving away from the door and turning toward me. “He won’t be able to get through the warding. It protects the house against the unwanted, and he’s definitely unwanted.”“Will it burn him like it burned the vampires?” Lucas asks hopefully.“No, I set it up so it won’t harm humans, you know, in case little miss annoying Girl Scout and her mother comes skipping down the sidewalk.”“That’s probably for the best.”“Right?” My heart hammers faster and faster, and my stomach churns. Kristy puts her hand on my shoulder.“You okay?”I suck in a breath and nod. “Getting there.”“I’ll make him leave,” Lucas says and goes out the door before I have a chance to stop him.“And I’ll lock y
Dark of Night Chapter Fifteen
“Are you all right, my love?” Lucas pulls his shirt over his head, muscles flexing.“It’s been a long day.”“That’s an understatement.” Lucas tosses his shirt on a chair by my closet. He starts undoing his belt next, and I watch, transfixed, as he strips himself bare. No one should be that pretty, though I’m sure his body used to be bruised and scarred in his human life.“I still can’t get over the fact you were a gladiator,” I blurt.“With everything that happened today, that’s what you’re thinking of?” Chuckling, he gets into bed next to me. I’ve stripped down to a t-shirt and panties, yet suddenly I’m feeling very overdressed now that I’m next to Lucas’s glorious naked body.“It’s just…a gladiator.” I shake my head. “Is it weird to say that turns me on?”“When it comes to what turns you on, there are very few things I’m going to say are weird.”“And you said vampires aren’t all about sex.” I raise my eyebrows and laugh.“We’re not all about sex. We both know I’m good in bed and rar
Dark of Night Chapter Sixteen
My breath leaves me, and suddenly I realize the forest is quiet. No leaves are gently swaying in the breeze. No crickets are chirping. There is nothing.“Who are you?” I ask, holding up my hand. Blue energy swirls around my fingers, but it’s so bright it blinds me. I bring my hand down, blinking as if someone just took a flash photo right in front of my face.The blue-eyed man is gone, but an orange-and-red glow comes from deep within the forest. Suddenly, the breeze is back, and it brings with it the scent of a bonfire. Only, no one is out in the woods sitting around a fire for fun.The faint smell of brimstone doesn't hit me right away, but I can feel it deep in my bones. What I’m smelling is hellfire, and for some reason, I know I’m the one about to get burned. I close my eyes again.“Wake up, Callie,” I say to myself.I’m still in the forest.“Wake up!”Dammit, I’m still here.“Now. Get up before you burn!”The wind picks up and embers blow into the air. “Not again,” I whisper to
Dark of Night Chapter Seventeen
“We are going to have a boring, uneventful afternoon followed by a riveting time signing papers with the bank, and then finally a hot date back in Chicago.” I look up at Lucas, smiling. “Or I’ll be damned.”“You might be damned.”“Don’t jinx us.”He laughs. “Wouldn’t agreeing with you be jinxing it?”“I guess if you’re following the same logic to why people say ‘break a leg’ instead of ‘good luck’ to performers, right?”“I suppose. Though I don’t believe in jinxes. Curses, obviously. But hoping for something good to happen to you isn’t going to make the universe bend its will.”“If only I was as optimistic as you.”We’re lying on the couch together and for the last half hour or so, Lucas has been fascinated by the way my hair glistens in the sunlight.“You’re much more optimistic than I am. I’m the realist in this relationship.” Smiling, he kisses me. “You need me.”“In more ways than one.” I wiggle my eyebrows and scoot closer to him. “I should get started on my boring afternoon, tho
Dark of Night Chapter Eighteen
Chapter EighteenI’m back in the woods.All light is gone, save for the glowing blue flames in front of me. The hellfire retreats, surrounding the demon. I stand in the flames, watching myself command the fire. The blue-eyed man is next to me, watching everything play out along with me.“Why are you showing me this again?” I ask, but my voice is lost to the flames. Suddenly, the flames go out, and I hear Lucas calling my name.My eyes flutter open, and I blink away the last remnants of the dream. I fell asleep after having sex, and Lucas’s body is spooned around mine. It’s getting later in the afternoon, and he’s used to being asleep right now. I’d love to go back to sleep too, but I’m all jittery from that dream.Maybe Lucas was right and it’s a nightmare. It was pretty traumatic, after all. I wouldn’t be surprised to keep dreaming about it. But I know it’s not just a dream.The blue-eyed man is trying to tell me something…but I have no idea what. I’ve lived through that moment three
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Dark of Night Chapter Thirty-two
Lucas comes into the bedroom and pulls his shirt over his head. After dropping Evander off through the door, Lucas and I went back to the house to release the hunters. They’re on their way to the hospital to check on Melinda.“How do you know those hunters?” Lucas asks as he undoes the button on his jeans.“We met like ten years ago. I was home for the summer at my parents’ and was looking to be a little rebellious in a normal way. Easton and his sister were passing through town and invited me to a party. I went, my teenage heart thought he was the cutest boy in the entire world, and we started hanging out.”“You didn’t know he was a hunter?”I shake my head and unhook my bra. We’re stripping down to shower. “And he didn’t know I was a witch. The group of hunters they run with were in that part of Chicago looking for a witch to kill. When Easton and Melinda realized it was me, Melinda refused to do it.”“But the hunter tried?”“Kind of. I stopped him before he could try.”“Would he ha
Dark of Night Chapter Thirty-one
The energy ball hits the ground, shattering into a million little balls of bright blue light. They sink down into the earth, filling the crack. The white light pushes the negative energy away, sending it back down to the pit of Hell.I stand transfixed, too scared to breathe. If this doesn’t work, then I don’t know what will. And if it doesn’t work…then maybe I really am evil.“No!” the demon shouts, using Evander’s voice. I jerk my head around, holding my hands steady over the crack, needing to power the energy. The demon lunges for me, but Lucas is faster. He wrestles him to the ground.“Don’t hurt him!” I yell, suddenly feeling drained. Another string of magic sizzles around my fingers, and I push it down into the ground. The air starts to vibrate, but it’s not suffocating this time.The little stream of energy that was trickling off the Ley line retracts, breaking contact with the crack. Right away, the feel of the forest is back to normal…but it doesn’t solve the demon problem. G
Dark of Night Chapter Thirty
“Evander?” I repeat. “Hey…talk to me.”He jerks his head up, and his chocolate brown eyes are jet black.“Evander?” I shake my head. “No, no, no…” His hand is still on the ground. I didn’t notice it before but now I feel it. The pulsing of the Ley line, traveling through the ground. I jump back, staring at the ground. I can’t see the energy, but it’s there…and it infected Evander.The banshee screams again, but Evander doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t react at all. Slowly, he gets to his feet.“Can you hear me?” I ask, heart racing. Binx snaps the neck of the scrapper he’s fighting and comes over, getting a read on Evander’s energy. Evander looks Binx up and charges at me. Binx knocks him to the ground and Evander jumps up, holding out his hands to cast a curse on me.“Stop!” I yell at Evander. “You’re still in there! You don’t want to do this!”Binx shadows around Evander, and I take a few steps back, looking behind me as the banshee’s screams ring out again. Two more scrappers drop, and F
Dark of Night Chapter Twenty-nine
Lucas dusts off a creaky old chair and turns it around. He sits down, joining Evander and I at a breakfast table left here from the previous owners.“Our best bet is to leave the hunters here and go back to my house,” I say. “We need supplies to kill the banshee and to set some sort of trap for the wendigo that’ll hold it still long enough for Lucas to cut out its heart.”“And then figure out how to close the rift in the earth,” Evander adds ruefully.I nod. “Once we’re back at the house, one of us should astral project to the Academy and alert the coven. Someone there might know something, or at the very least we can cast a collective circle around the area and that will hopefully keep anything else from coming out.”“You do realize what that means?” Evander leans forward. “Only a few of us know how powerful that demon was, Callie. By telling the whole coven there is a crack from Hell leading to the Ley line, they’re going to know the gates of Hell were opened.”“And they’ll know you
Dark of Night Chapter Twenty-eight
“The wendigo,” Lucas starts. “It came out of Hell.”“It makes sense. You said it yourself, they’re thought to be extinct, and even if they aren’t, none were ever spotted around here.” My chest tightens even more, and I have to tell myself to pull it together. It’s not just demons flocking to the energy leaking out of the Ley line. Demons long since vanquished and banished are coming back, crawling their way out of the depths of Hell. Like moths to a flame, all sorts of supernaturals are attracted to the Ley line.Becoming assholes is the least of the people of Thorne Hill’s worries. They’re about to become the feast of a demonic army.“How do we close it?” I ask Evander, but the only response I get is a blank stare.“I haven’t the slightest clue,” he finally says. The banshee circles again, screaming so loud it echoes inside our heads, rattling the glass windows of the house.“Get inside,” Lucas shouts over the screech of the banshee. He’s wincing in pain but is fighting through it. H
Dark of Night Chapter Twenty-seven
My heart aches, and my stomach twists with worry. Lucas is strong. He’s fast. He’ll be able to get to the house before the wendigo can catch him…and honestly, I don’t even know if a wendigo would go after a vampire.They eat the living. Vampires are dead.I close the door and turn around, coming face to face with all the hunters. My familiars stand in front of me, sitting tall and swishing their tails, letting everyone in the room know they will shift into shadow form and fuck shit up if they have to.“What’s going on out there?” Melinda asks, gritting her teeth and pushing up against the stairs. “You said it was…was something.”“It is something.” I go to the window, wiping away dust, and look out. The Ley line is pulsing again, and I hope each burst of energy doesn’t further fuel the demons. “What are you doing here? Coming into Thorne Hill is suicide.” I whirl around, cocking an eyebrow. “The Grand Coven was just here. Consider yourself lucky I’m the one who ran into you.”“Why? So
Dark of Night Chapter Twenty-six
“Run!” I tell Lucas, and he picks me up, moving at vampire speed through the woods. He’s faster than the wendigo, but with it being hopped up on demonic energy, there’s no telling if we can outrun it or not. I tuck my head against him and mentally call for my familiars, warning them against the wendigo.Lucas slows to a stop, and I look up. We’re at the house—our house—and there’s no warding here. Lucas jumps onto the front porch. I push out of his arms and go down the steps, holding out my hands.“Elementals vocationem ore exíbit gládis acútus: hanc domun praesidio! Custodrie moneia malo!” I spread my hands apart, setting a line of magic around the house. The wendigo barrels out of the woods, sprinting right at us. Lucas leaps in front of me, putting himself in the line of fire.The wendigo runs into the warding and bounces off, roaring in frustration. It leans in, coming as close as it can to the warding without getting zapped.“I thought wendigos were extinct.” Lucas takes a step b
Dark of Night Chapter Twenty-five
“What are you going to do with that?” Lucas asks, taking his eyes off the road for a second and looking at the hagstone in my hand. The sun just set, and we’re heading back to Thorne Hill.“Keep it. These are hard to come by.” I flip the stone, feeling the etchings with my thumb. “Binding spells are effective but take time and concentration. You just slip this baby around someone’s neck and bye-bye powers.”“Is it dangerous to keep in your house? Someone could use it against you.”“No more dangerous than a human owning a gun. And I’ll keep it safe, don’t worry. I’m good at concealment charms.” Yawning, I wrap the leather cord around the stone and put it in my purse.“Close your eyes,” Lucas tells me, reaching over and placing his hand on my thigh. “Get some rest before we get to your house.”“I have a hard time sleeping in cars,” I tell him, though I do feel like I could lean my seat back a bit and take a nap. “But closing my eyes sounds nice.”“Do you want to get food before we get t
Dark of Night Chapter Twenty-four
“Oh my God.” I squeeze my eyes shut and spin around, stepping back through the door. I’m never going to unsee Eliza bent over the desk while a dark-haired vampire plows into her. I’m so stunned I just stand there in the hall, not able to concentrate enough to pull myself back into my body.The office door flies open, and Eliza stands in the threshold, zipping up her dress and glaring at me.“What the fuck are you doing?”“Funny you should ask,” I say with a nervous laugh. “I came to check on you. But you seem to be doing just fine.”“She really is a witch.” The other vampire, who I assume to be Dominic, pulls up his pants. “I didn’t think Monica knew what she was talking about.” He steps forward and waves his hand through me.“Hey.” I jerk back. “Don’t do that. That’s…weird.”Dominic tips his head, staring at me. “I’ll be damned. I’ve never seen this before.”“What do you mean you came to check on me?” Eliza puts her hands on her hips and flashes her fangs.“Lucas called and you didn’
