Chapter Thirty-three

Lucas holds me tight against him and goes in for a kiss. I turn my head at the last second, coughing.

“Sorry,” I say between coughs.

“Don’t be. Are you…are you all right?” Lucas takes my hands in his and carefully pulls me to my feet. “You don’t sound very good.”

“I inhaled a lot of smoke.” I sway on my feet, grasping Lucas’s hands for support. He steps in and scoops me up. I don’t like to be coddled, but I’m not about to protest. Mostly because I’m not sure I can keep from falling to the ground.

I’m lightheaded and dizzy, both from inhaling so much smoke and because whatever the hell spell I just performed was the most draining magical act I’ve ever done.

Lucas makes sure I’m steady on my feet before moving away, going over the pile of ash. He nudges it with his foot, moving the remains of the demon’s robe.

“There’s hardly anything left. How did you put out the fire?”

Pressing my hand to my chest, I cough again before I can answer. “I don’t know. It was hellfire…maybe it just goes away once it burns up, uh, someone.”

“Maybe.” Lucas turns back to me, wrapping both of his strong arms around my waist. I hook my arms around his neck and rest my head against him. I’m completely depleted of energy and want nothing more than to let my eyes close and pass out.

“The demons.” I pick up my head and look around the forest. “There were other demons…people possessed.”

“I killed them on the way back to you.” He pushes my hair back and wipes ash off my face. “Why didn’t you go through the door?”

“I couldn’t leave you.” I take in a shaky breath.

“You almost died.”

“And I thought you were going to. That blade paired with the demon powers…” I trail off and shake my head. “Losing you would break my heart too.” My eyes fill with tears again. “There was no way I was leaving you.” I can’t bring myself to say it, because if I do, I’ll start crying for sure. After living for so long on the edge of the void, feeling the tug of the emptiness, I wasn’t sure if my heart was full enough to break.

Broken hearts can’t break again, can they?

But Lucas…he has no idea how much he means to me. How the way he looks at me—all of me—healed what I didn’t know was broken.

“Luckily I’m rather hard to kill.” He smiles and gently wipes ash off my face.

“I’m proving to be rather resilient myself.”

“Let’s not test that theory.”

“I’m with you there,” I say and smile too.

He cups both hands around my face, tipping my chin up and looking into my eyes.

“How anyone can look at you and not see how fucking incredible you are is beyond me.”

I lose my battle with not crying. My eyes fall shut and tears roll down my cheeks. A few spills over the cut on my cheek, burning my tender flesh.

“Let me take you home,” Lucas whispers. “Let me take care of you.”

I nod, eyes flitting to the space where the door had been. There’s no way to contact anyone inside, not until a reversal spell is done to unseal the door.

“I’d like that,” I exhale. Lucas picks me up again, and we make it only a few feet away before bright blue light comes from behind us. Lucas whirls around, fangs bared.

“The door,” I wheeze, trying not to cough again. “It’s opening.”

Lucas sets me down, slipping his arm around my waist for support. Three dark shadows emerge from the door before it’s all the way open. My familiars circle around me, automatically going on the defense.

Kristy, Naomi, and Nicole come out next, holding daggers in one hand and potion vials in the other.

“Callie!” Kristy exclaims when she sees me. Her eyes are wide and she’s breathing hard. “Where’s the demon?”

I suddenly can’t talk, realizing that my friends came back to fight along with me.

“He’s dead,” Lucas tells them. “Callie killed it.”

“Are you sure?” Naomi looks around, lips parted.

“That’s all that’s left of him.” Lucas points to the remains of the demon.

Nicole lowers her dagger and exhales heavily. “You’re safe.” Her statement is more of a question as if she can’t believe it. I’m still having a hard time believing it myself.

“You guy…you guys came back for me?” I finally find my voice.

“Of course.” Kristy slides her dagger back into its sheath. “You’re my best friend, Cal. Evander caused a distraction and is holding the door open.”

“And I wasn’t about to let you have all the fun.” Naomi raises one eyebrow and smiles. “Though it seems you stole the show as usual.”

“I’d have gladly let you in on the action.” I cough, turning away from Lucas.

“How did you survive?” Nicole blurts. She’s shaking, and I commend her even more for coming back to fight knowing how scared she is.

“I’m not really sure.” My eyes flutter and if it weren’t for Lucas’s arm around me, I think I would have fallen to the ground. Everything spins around me and I’m feeling a little nauseous.

“Are you okay?” Kristy rushes forward, hands going to my shoulders. “You smell like smoke.”

“She was almost burned to death,” Lucas informs my friends.

“I didn’t,” I state the obvious and flick my eyes to the door. “We should let them know the demon is gone.”

“I’ll go,” Nicole offers and gives me a hug before stepping back through the door.

Kristy pockets the potion she’s holding and shakes her head, pulling her arms in close to her body. “It’s really gone?”

“I think so.” I shift my weight, almost forgetting that Lucas can hold me one-handed and not be strained. Thank goodness for superhuman strength right now.

“She burned him with hellfire. He’s gone.” Lucas turns his head down to me, looking proud as he pushes my hair over my shoulder.

“Hellfire?” both Kristy and Naomi exclaim at the same time.

“The demon,” I start. “He summoned up hellfire to burn me.”

“Why you?” Naomi asks.

“I don’t know.” I shake my head and cough again, still feeling like I’m breathing in smoke. “I tried asking nicely, but he still wouldn’t tell me.”

Kristy laughs before her face breaks and she lets out a sob. “I was so scared.” She throws her arms around me. “And I felt like the most selfish person in the world going through the door before I made sure you were coming with.”

“I was going to go through,” I remind her. “But then…” I look at Lucas. “Then there was too much at stake here. I had to fight.”

“Back to the hellfire.” Naomi crosses her arms and leans against a tree near the door. “How did you get out alive? Not that I’m not grateful—I am—but hellfire…”

“I know,” I agree what she didn’t say. “It should have burned me until there was nothing left. And I really don’t know.” I close my eyes, feeling dizzier by the second. “I heard a voice and thought I saw this man with blue eyes standing in the fire. Obviously, I was hallucinating from smoke inhalation or something.”

“You said a spell,” Lucas says slowly, brows furrowing. “And it turned the hellfire blue.”

“There are no spells that work on hellfire.” Kristy looks at Naomi in question. “None that I know of at least.”

I shrug off their concern. “I just said things that came to me. Mostly out of desperation and anger.”

“What language were you speaking?” Lucas asks.

“English.” I cock an eyebrow. “Unlike you, I don’t know a bunch of fancy languages. This is the only one I can read or speak.”

“You weren’t speaking English. Trust me, I heard you, and whatever language you spoke was one I’ve never heard before.”

“I…I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Kristy forces a smile. “You’re alive and the demon is dead.” She lets out a heavy sigh. “Come back to the coven and let the High Priestess make you a healing draft.”

“I think I’m going to stay here.” Lucas can’t go through the door, and I want to be with him.

Kristy knows my reasoning and nods. “Right. I’ll make you something then. If that cough doesn’t go away by the morning, you need to be seen. Smoke inhalation is dangerous, Callie.”

“I’ll make sure she’s taken care of,” Lucas promises.

“Why is your shirt torn and bloody?” Naomi asks.

“The demon stabbed him,” I reply.

“It takes more than a sword through the heart to stop me fighting for you,” Lucas says to me, aware my friends can hear but doesn’t seem to care. He slides one hand down my arm, landing on my waist. The way he looks at me makes it obvious what’s on his mind, and it involves us both getting naked.

Maybe vampires don’t have a concept of PDA?

He tears his eyes away from me and looks at my friends. “You came back to fight a Third Hierarchy demon with daggers and Mason jars full of water?”

“Just a few drops of this potion will end you, bloodsucker,” Naomi warns. She looks at me and smiles. “And what can I say? I guess we’re just as crazy as she is.”

I smile, feeling all emotional again. And then I start coughing. Lucas takes me in his arms, looking a bit panicked.

“I’m…I’m okay,” I choke out, wincing. My throat feels like sandpaper.

“You sound sick.”

“I’m not sick,” I assure him, realizing that a bad sounding cough like this could mean death back in his human days. Was that the last time he dealt with human illness? “I need to cough up all the, uh, shit I inhaled.”

“You should get yourself checked out,” Naomi insists. “Kristy is right. Inhaling smoke is hard on your system, and who knows what hellfire does to a mortal.”

“I’m taking you home,” Lucas tells me. “You can deal with the coven in the morning.”

I don’t have the strength to argue with anyone, and Binx is starting to sense how shitty I feel. He’ll force me into my bed and tuck me in if he has to.

“Yes,” Kristy agrees. “Go home. We’ll talk to the coven.”

“What will you tell them?” I ask.

“No one else knows the identity of the demon,” Naomi says softly. “Maybe it’s best we keep it that way. Fighting Third Hierarchy demons and turning hellfire blue…that’s not something a witch can do.” Her eyes land on mine. “This demon was after you for a reason, and I think we should be the ones to figure it out before we go blabbing to others how things really went down.”

“That makes sense.” Kristy’s head moves up and down. “Don’t worry about it, Callie. The four of us have talked our way out of compromising situations plenty of times.”

“So, you’re a trouble magnet,” Lucas starts and then looks at my friends. “And they are too.”

“What can I say?” Naomi grins. “Everyone wanted to join our badass girl gang back in our Academy days.” She strides over, taking my hand. “Now go home and rest. We didn’t risk everything coming back here to save your ass just to have you get sick and die.”

I roll my eyes, smiling back at her. “I’m going. Trust me, I want nothing more than a hot shower and crawling into my bed next to this guy.”

“Spare me the details.” Naomi winks. “Actually, don’t. If vampire sex is half as good as they say…”

“It’s even better,” I loudly whisper and then start coughing again. Lucas rubs my back, looking more and more concerned.

“I’m taking you home, now.” He goes to pick me up, but I hold up a hand.

“There are like a dozen bodies of the possessed scattered throughout the woods. They didn’t look like they’ve been dead all that long. They might have family looking for them.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Kristy assures me. “Go home and get in bed. You sound awful.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind trying to ID and/or dispose of bodies for me?”

Kristy’s hand lands on my shoulder. “What are friends for?”