Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

Chapter 1

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?” I echo, though Julian was perfectly clear.

“Yes,” my cousin replies.

“The creepy dudes who ride horses and bring certain doom along with them?” I go on, eyes wide as I look from Julian to Lucifer and back again. Renniken, the demon who’s on all fours and acting as my footstool, tenses. If this is bad news for a demon, then it’s even worse news for earth.

Subconsciously, I move my hand up and down my belly, feeling my baby move around. The pain hasn’t come back, but a weird, warm feeling is coming from inside my womb. It’s okay, baby. We’re gonna be okay. We’ll get out of here…somehow.

At this moment, I don’t know what terrifies me more: being trapped in Hell, the fucking Four Horsemen busting out, or the very real fact that I could go into early labor while all that is going on.

“The Horsemen,” I start, looking at Lucifer. “I don’t have to ask to know this isn’t good. They’re going to start the apocalypse, aren’t they? I mean, the name kinda gives it away.”

“I’m afraid so,” he replies seriously, the usual cocky humor gone from his tone. “The more carnage they bring to earth, the more powerful they’ll become, until ultimately, they will rule.”

“That’s not going to happen, right?” Shifting my gaze from Lucifer to Julian, I quickly shake my head, making the flower crown slip. Right. I’m supposed to be at my baby shower, wearing this ridiculously girly dress with matching flowers in my hair. We were just about to open gifts, and while it’s awkward and uncomfortable to be the center of attention like that, things felt normal, like Elena was going to spend the next three months comfortably staying put, growing until she’s a full-term, healthy baby.

Lucas is supposed to time contractions and keep me calm when I go into labor. We’re going to wait until sunset and get to the hospital just in the nick of time for me to get an epidural, and then only a few hours later, our baby will make her debut.

Calmly.

Peacefully.

Safely.

Not like this. I put both hands on my stomach and close my eyes. I’m scared, but more than anything, I’m fucking pissed.

“Easy now,” Lucifer says, and I open my eyes to see the circle of red hellfire that surrounds the throne is sparking with strings of blue magic, bathing the entire room in purple light. “You don’t want to burn down Hell now, do you?”

“You cannot burn down Hell,” Julian says matter-of-factly, and Lucifer gives me a wink, causing some of the tension to leave. “And right, Callie. We won’t let it come to that. The Horsemen were trapped before. They can be trapped again.”

“Yes,” Lucifer agrees. “But first we need to send them back to Hell, and my heir to the darkness over here did a grand job at shutting the gates.”

“I feel like you want me to be sorry, but I’m not,” I say and force myself to take another breath. The blue strings of energy fade away, and the hellfire burns red-hot once again. “I stopped even more demons from escaping and making earth their personal playground. I live there, remember? My friends and family are there too.”

“Not all your family is there,” Lucifer counters, turning his gaze to mine. I can see the worry in his eyes, and it solidifies my faith in him even more.

“That’s true,” I agree. “Some are here with me. Thank you, Lucifer. If you hadn’t shown up, it would have taken us like twice as long to close the gates.”

He shoots me a look. “I would have been cleaning up your blood off the floor.”

“In theory, as long as my blood touched the pentagram, the gates still would have shut, right?”

Lucifer shakes his head. “Another fail-safe is the archangel closing the gates has to be alive.”

“Oh, well, damn. But really…thank you. You came back for me.”

“You are my family. And family sticks together. Though you should know I’m not staying down here,” he says, almost looking pained as the words spill from his lips. Before I have a chance to say anything else, he turns, walks right through the circle of hellfire, and waves his hand over another part in the wall, revealing a hidden shelf full of crystal decanters of alcohol.

Lucifer needs to stay in Hell so no one will use me to try to stake a claim on the throne. He can keep his demons in line when he’s ruling, and while some may still challenge him, they won’t use me to try to get to him.

Though we do need him to help us track the Horsemen down, and I’m guessing Lucifer is the only one who knows how to lock them up since he’s done it before. After that, I know he needs to return. It’s what’s best for not just me but the whole damn world. We just barely stopped Apocalypse Number One, and now the second one seems more menacing. But only by a bit.