Chapter Twenty-seven

I freeze, too horrified to look around the room. I don’t want to see Lucas’s remains charred and oozing all over the floor.

“Callie,” It’s his voice. He’s not dead. But…but…how? I look in and see him standing by the window.

“Lucas?” I whisper. “What…what….”

He turns away from the window. “The smoke went away, but whatever you did…you made it so the sun doesn’t hurt me.” He turns back around, putting his hand on the glass. “I haven’t felt the sun in centuries.”

“Holy shit,” I breathe, still rooted to the spot. The door swings open and light from the hall spills in. Lucas winces, dodging out of the way. Shaking myself, I go into the room and shut the door. “You’re not dead?”

“Technically, I’ve been dead for a long time.”

Suddenly, tears fill my eyes. “When I saw the sunlight, I thought…I thought…” I can’t finish the sentence. I inhale and shake my head. Lucas rushes over, taking me in his arms.

“I’m fine. Better than fine.” Holding me against his chest, he turns back to the window. “You gave me the sun.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I admit.

He chuckles. “I didn’t think so. But you did. It’s beautiful. Everything is bright. And warm.”

“I enchanted the glass,” I say slowly. “I think. The way I worded the spell…I meant for it to just keep the light out, but that’s not how I said it.”

“You said it in a way that kept the light from harming me. And you did.”

“Holy shit,” I repeat.

“You are incredible.” He spins me around in his arms. “I want to make love to you in the sunlight.” A smile pulls up his lips. “And that’s something I’ve never done before.”

*

“Were you able to look at the files at all?” I run my finger along the ridges of muscle on Lucas’s abdomen. “Or were you too mesmerized by the sun?”

His hand is resting on my bare ass, and my heart is still racing since we just got done having sex. We started on the bed and finished in front of the window. Lucas wanted to see as much sunlight on me as possible.

The sex was mind-blowing, of course, but this time was more intimate than before. It was the way Lucas looked at me. He was seeing me, the real me, and even though he’s told me before that he thinks my powers are beautiful, I could see it in his eyes.

“I did.” He slides his hand down to the back of my thigh and pulls me onto him. “You were right about the witches seeming random.”

“So there’s no connection?”

“Oh, there is. Along with all being twenty-five, all had the same sign—Virgo. Even the girl who was found on the beach yesterday fit the bill.”

“I’m twenty-five and a Virgo.”

Lucas flips us over, moving on top of me. “Then you’re coming back to Chicago with me tonight. You could be next, Callie. It appeared in your town, only a few miles from your house.”

“Let the asshole come after me. I told you, I’m not running.” I’m working hard to stay calm, and to anyone else, I’d probably be pulling it off without a hitch. But Lucas can hear my heart beating, and he knows how precarious of a situation this is. I’m not stupid. This is no lower-level demon. This demon crawled right out of the pit of Hell. It’s strong. Smart. Cunning.

It came here for a reason, and that reason is to kill witches with exactly two similar qualities, and I happen to have both of them.

“And then what?” he asks seriously. “We have no idea what’s killing the witches. Believe me, Callie, I am the last person who will ever tell you to run from a fight, but until we know what we’re fighting, you need to be safe.”

“We?”

“You think I’m going to stand back and let you have all the fun?” He smiles, dark eyes shimmering in the sunlight. There are flecks of green amongst the dark blue, and I never noticed it until the sun reflected in his eyes. He’s such a gorgeous man it’s almost unfair.

Only it is, because he’s mine.

“Come to Chicago with me tonight. We’re not running. We’re regrouping.” He brushes my hair back and presses his lips to my forehead. “I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. There are few things in this world I cannot kill, and demons in their true form are one of them. I have confidence we will find a way to send the demon back to Hell, but until then, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

“I should tell the coven about this. Make sure any witches who are Virgos are somewhere safe,” I say.

Lucas nods in agreement and moves off me, going back to the window. He’s still confined to my room, unable to feel the fresh air blowing through the breeze. But he’s looking outside during the day. I can only imagine how that would feel after over a thousand years in the dark.

“I know Virgos can be stubborn dicks, but what does this demon have against us so bad he has to kill us?” I shake my head, grinding my back teeth together the way I do when I’m nervous. “The demon in the woods,” I start. “The one possessing that man…it said “they” were looking for something or someone, and he thought whoever they are were afraid of it.”

“They’re looking for a witch, a certain witch.” Lucas turns around, crossing his arms over his chest. “That’s why the demon is going from coven to coven. It’s picking out all the witches born within a certain time twenty-five years ago.”

A chill goes through me and goose bumps break out along my skin. I get under my covers, pulling them up to my chin. “But why?”

Lucas shakes his head. “I’m not sure. Maybe there was a prophecy? A certain witch would grow up to possess powers that could kill them?” He comes over, sitting on the bed next to me. “Callie, it’s only a matter of time before it tries to kill you.” His nostrils flare and his eyes cloud with worry. “I will die before I let anything hurt you.”

I cup his face with my hand. “I know. But it won’t come to that.”

He kisses my forehead and gets under the blankets with me, holding me tight against his chest. I don’t know how he knew I needed to be held right now, but I’m glad he did. Because my hands won’t stop shaking and my mind is racing a million miles an hour.

There was something else the demon said to me…something that didn’t make sense.

Until now.

They said it shouldn’t be.

If I’m the witch the demon is looking for, does that mean I shouldn’t have been born? It takes everything I have to ignore the nagging feeling deep within that says it’s true.

“Are you going to astral project again?” Lucas asks, pulling me out of the darkness my thoughts had taken me to.

“No, I’m going to send a letter.”

“I’m assuming you’ll be using magic to do so.”

“Of course. I need to get a message to the High Priestess. I’m sure the coven already noted the connections, but they’re still looking for a human witch hunter, not a demon who’s seeking out witches based on their birthdays.”

I get out of bed and put my clothes back on. Forgetting for a moment that Lucas can’t follow me downstairs, I open the door only to shut it again.

“Sorry,” I say, seeing him dart away from the light.

“It’s okay. It’s not enough sunlight to do much damage.”

“Oh, well, good. Maybe when I’m not on a demonic serial killer’s hit list, I’ll see if I can enchant all the windows in the house.”

“I’d like that.”

I smile. “Me too.” Hurrying out of the room, I shut the door quickly behind me and go downstairs and into the kitchen. I pull a notebook out of my junk drawer, flip through it for a blank page, and write a letter to Tabatha, explaining everything that’s going on. Folding it up, I go to the fireplace and place the letter inside.

Holding up my hands, I whisper the incantation three times. The letter goes up in flames, disappearing with a puff of smoke. My two-way line of communication actually goes to Evander’s office, but Tabatha will still get the note.

“All right, guys,” I say, sitting on the couch. Binx and Pandora jump up next to me, both purring. “It seems this demon douchebag is after twenty-five-year-old Virgos.” Binx growls. “I know,” I agree. “It’s only a matter of time before it comes for me. And when it does, we have to be ready.”

*

“I’m taking you off the schedule.” Kristy gets up, jaw tense and shoulders hunched forward. Lucas and I are at the bookstore, and I just told Kristy what we discovered about the witches. “You need to go to the Academy and stay there.”

“I’m going to Chicago tonight,” I tell her, knowing there’s no reasoning with Kristy when she gets in a mood like this. She’s freaked out, and rightly so. “I’ll stay with Lucas until I can find a way to—”

“Don’t even think about it,” Kristy interrupts. “This is a demon in its true form,” she whispers. “One touch can kill you.”

“True, but from what I read in the Book of the Beast today, the longer the demon is on earth, the weaker it becomes.”

“And some demons walk the earth for hundreds of years and can still kill you without breaking a sweat,” she counters.

“Do demons sweat?”

“Callie,” she scolds. “This is serious.”

“I know.” I let out a shaky breath. “Trust me, I know. And I’m just as freaked out as you.” I look up, looking into her eyes. Her bottom lip quivers and she throws her arms around me. “I’ll be fine, though, I promise. I have a magical arsenal in the car and I’m going to lay all the protection spells I know on Lucas’s place as soon as I get there. Getting away from the coven will throw this thing off my trail.”

“Call me when you get there and then maybe again tonight or every hour on the hour, so I know you haven’t had your throat slit, okay?”

“I can do that.”

She lets me go and straightens up. “What does this demon have against Virgos?”

“I asked the same thing,” I say with a laugh. The bell above the door chimes as a small wave of customers comes in. We close in five minutes. I don’t know why it always annoys me to have people come in this close to closing, but it does. “Stop stressing. It’s going to be fine.”

Kristy forces a smile. “Promise me.”

I smile back. “I promise.”

Fuck. I hate lying to my best friend.

The bell chimes again, but this time it’s Daniel. His brother Damon is with him, and Damon smiles and waves at me as soon as our eyes meet. I wave back, letting out a breath and trying to steady my nerves.

“Hey, Callie,” he says and strides over. “Haven’t seen you in a while. You look good.”

Lucas, who was looking around the stores, comes back over to the counter, standing close to me. Vampires can be stupid possessive, though Lucas doesn’t strike me as the type.

“Thanks, and yeah…it’s been a while.”

“You look like you haven’t aged a day since the last time I saw you,” Damon goes on.

I laugh. “Well, I feel like I have.”

Lucas slips his arm around my waist. “This is my boyfriend, Lucas,” I introduce.

Damon flicks his eyes over Lucas’s large frame, able to sense he’s a vampire right away. “Oh, uh, nice to meet you.” He extends his hand for Lucas to shake. Lucas raises one eyebrow and I elbow him in the ribs. Making a face, he reaches out and shakes Damon’s hand.

“Crazy what’s been going on, isn’t it?” Damon says.

“Yeah, it is. Are you guys headed home after this?” I motion to Kristy and Daniel.

“We’re going to get something to eat before. Want to join us?” He looks at Lucas, and I know he’s thinking about the fact that Lucas doesn’t eat food. When he looks back at me, his eyes go to the bite marks on my neck. Thanks to Kristy’s healing balm, they’ve almost healed. By tomorrow they’ll be gone, but right now it’s still obvious Lucas sank his fangs into my skin and sucked the blood out of my body.

“Maybe another time,” I tell him. “We have plans already. Be careful, okay? You all know how much Kristy means to me.”

Daniel laughs. “We’ll keep her safe.”

“I know. Freya is going to stay with her again…just in case.” Lucas stiffens a bit, not liking that I’m keeping one of my familiars away when we know I’m the demon’s target audience. But having Freya stay with Kristy gives me peace of mind. “Well, I should start getting things ready to close.” I take Lucas’s hand in mine. “It was nice seeing you again.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Lucas helps me re-shelve books as we wait for the last of the customers to leave. Usually, Kristy and I make sure the store is in perfect shape before anyone leaves, but tonight we just want to get out of here.

She’s freaked out.

And I know I should be too.