All Chapters of Dead of Night: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

My house has never been cleaner. Funny, how hard it is to get back to your normal routine after almost sleeping with a sixteen-hundred-year-old vampire and there’s a chance a Gatekeeper of the underworld is walking around the Midwest.Yesterday, after visiting Betty at her parents’ house, I deep cleaned my kitchen. And I mean deep. I took expired food out of my pantry and reorganized my herb cabinet. I even vacuumed under the stove. Then I moved onto my bedroom. Dusted everything, changed the sheets, and changed out all my protective crystals for freshly charged ones. I tackled the bathroom next and then crashed on the couch with a bottle of sweet red wine while watching 80s movies.And today is the day for errands. The sun is out in full force, a drastic change from yesterday and the air is warm and humid. I’m wearing a sleeveless black dress, heeled black boots, and a black floppy hat. My nails are painted bright red, and my lipstick matches.“Coming with?” I ask Binx as I grab my r

“He can hear you,” I hiss to Kristy as we walk through my yard.“I know vampires have excellent hearing,” she whispers back. “Are you sure having him here is a good idea?”“You would have been digging up a body with me if he wasn’t.”She scrunches up her nose. “Okay, I’ll give him that. You know how I feel about rotting bodies.”I laugh and loop my arm through hers. The twins are ahead of us, and Lucas is following behind, keeping a respectful distance. “And really, it’ll be nice to have someone keeping watch for anything while we dive into this. Our attention is going to be tunneled on one thing, and one thing alone.”“You trust him?” she asks.“Yes. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do.”Kristy nods. “If you do, then I do.” She squeezes my hand and gives me a we’ll talk about this later look. The smell of the rotting body hits us well before we get to the clearing.Nicole waves her hand in front of her face. “Oh, my God. That is awful. Can I spray Febreze on him? I’m going to throw up from t

Lucas takes the machete from my hands and wipes the blade on the grass, getting rid of most of the solid parts and some of the blood. He comes back, setting it down on the wooden railing.“You’re not injured, are you?” he asks as he sits next to me.“I don’t think so.” I look down at myself, realizing just how disgusting I am. “Sick.” I find a clean spot on my leggings and wipe my hands. “These were my comfiest pair of leggings.”Lucas brushes my hair back and picks a chunk of rotting flesh from my braid, tossing it to the ground. I let out another deep breath, feeling my heart start to beat at a normal rate again. There are bodies littering my yard. The smell alone is enough to alert the authorities, and if anyone were to drive by and see…I don’t even want to finish that thought.Binx comes back to the house, red eyes flashing for a brief moment before he takes on the appearance of a cat again.“Good boy,” I tell him, wiping my hands clean again before reaching out to scratch him und

“It’s so pretty out here.” I sip my cocktail, looking at the water. We’re on the top deck, enjoying the night.“My view isn’t so bad either.” Lucas is leaning against the railing and hasn’t taken his eyes off me all evening. Dinner was amazing. The food was great, and I ate most of the shared appetizer by myself, since, well, Lucas isn’t going to eat spinach-artichoke dip. Or anything, for that matter.Talking to Lucas is easy and having him know and approve of my life as a witch is a game changer. But it’s more than just the convenience of going on a date with a guy I don’t have to lie to. There’s more to Lucas than he lets on. He’s a complicated man but I know one thing for certain: he might not care for many people, but he’s fierce when it comes to those he loves.I finish my drink and set the empty glass down on a table and go back to the railing, looking out at the cityscape. Lucas steps in behind me, pressing my ass against his pelvis and resting his hands on my stomach. I’m rig

I wake with a start, sitting up and gasping for air. My heart lurches in my chest and my eyes struggle to focus. But everything is dark.Completely dark.I can’t see a thing.“Callie.”Lucas’s voice rings out, echoing next to me. He sits up and snakes his arms around me, pulling me back to the mattress. Back to him.“What’s that noise?” I rasp.“Automatic blinds,” he explains. “They go down at four AM every morning. They’re light-tight and made out of metal. It’s a little loud.”Even though it’s dark, even though I can’t see a thing in front of me, I squeeze my eyes shut and exhale.“Oh. Makes sense.”His hands run over my body. We’re both still naked, having fallen asleep after making love…and after Lucas drank my blood.Or at least, I fell asleep.“It’s four already?”Lucas chuckles. “The sun will be up soon enough. Do you need anything?”“Um,” I start, running my hand over the mounds of muscle on his chest. “Something to drink.”“What would you like?”“Water. Just water. And maybe