Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“It’s Callie,” Katie whispers to the girl holding Freya.

“I was right!” The girl nuzzles her head against Freya, and my tabby cat eats it all up. “This is one of her familiars!”

“Oh!” Daksha exclaims. “I felt a kick!”

The girl holding Freya moves in, putting her hand on my stomach as well. I’m at my limit of having my personal space invaded, and I don’t really get the appeal of feeling some random person’s baby moving around.

“Please tell me you’re informing our seniors on the importance of safe sex and how they most definitely don’t want a baby for a few more years.” Ruby comes up next to me and raises her eyebrows, hands going to her hips.

“Oh, totally. Safe sex is hot. Wait, no. Abstinence is hotter.”

“Stop while you’re ahead.” Ruby laughs, and I pull her in for a hug.

“Thank you,” I whisper before letting her go.

“Professor Darrows is friends with you?” Katie asks, and I have to stifle a laugh from her shock. Ruby was a stickler for rules when we were students and is even more so now that she’s a professor. I’m not exactly who you’d guess Ruby would hang out with.

“We go way back,” I tell them. “We graduated from this very school together.”

“As much as I know Callie would love to answer all your burning questions, you three need to get to class.” She looks at her watch. “Which starts in five minutes.”

The girl holding Freya sets her down, and all three girls spend a full minute saying goodbye, telling me how cute I look with a pregnant stomach. I hear Daksha tell Katie she hopes she looks like that when she has a baby.

“If they all get vampire boyfriends over the summer, it’s your fault.” Ruby elbows me.

“At least you wouldn’t have to worry about them becoming teen moms.”

Ruby snorts a laugh. “That’s an interesting silver lining.” She motions with her head for me to follow her. “I’m assuming you’re here for your vampire.”

“I am, and to yell at you all for making me miss the action.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” she says, holding up her hands. “I was under the impression you were coming, though—and don’t hate me—I worry about you too. How you haven’t had a total meltdown is beyond me, and this is the only baby you—” She closes her eyes. “Shit. Sorry. I’m running on like no sleep and meant to say that in my head.”

“You’re right.” I see no point in disagreeing or living in denial. “It’s the only baby Lucas and I will ever have that’s biologically ours. I’m getting into the final stretch of pregnancy and need her to stay put as long as possible.”

“It’s not just that,” Ruby continues. “I can’t stand it when people act like a pregnant woman is suddenly made of glass, but we’d be lying to ourselves if we didn’t acknowledge how important it is to be more careful now that you’re pregnant. I meant that I’m worried about you. Really, how you’re able to hold it together, I’m both impressed and concerned.”

“I just deal,” I say with a shrug.

“Do you?” Ruby’s brows push together. “Look, I don’t want to overstep, especially since it wasn’t that long ago that we, uh, weren’t friends. And I don’t want any of my friends going through a breakdown. Been there, done that, and I know they’re not fun.”

“Shit, Ruby, I’m sorry.”

“I’m good now. My point is, Callie, you have more power than anyone. I’m worried what could happen.”

“That’s fair.” Both Binx and Freya wind around my legs as we walk, and my mind goes back to Lucifer’s words yet again. I’m holding back, afraid to use my power. And I am. I’m terrified of using what’s inside of me and alerting all the cosmos of where I am. My dad and Julian can only throw the others off my trail for so long before I’m caught.

And just like Tabatha said, it won’t solely be me who’s punished.

“Lucas has suggested we go to one of his other properties somewhere far from Thorne Hill for a week or two. I’m still in the okay-to-travel window for another month or so. Maybe I should take him up on that offer.”

“He owns houses all over the world, right?”

“Right.”

“Then get your ass somewhere tropical. Even six months pregnant you’ll still look good in a bikini.”

“Moon-bathing on a warm beach with Lucas does sound really fucking nice.”

“Do it,” she encourages. “You deserve some time off.”

“Yeah,” I say with a forced smile. “Where is everyone else? I got the notes that things went okay, but did it really?”

“The, uh, process wasn’t easy, but it was successful.” Another professor walks by in a hurry, saying a rushed hello to us. “And Noah should recover. He’s in the infirmary with Sister Celeste now. We’re actually lucky the demon sought out a werewolf in an attempt to get to you. A human wouldn’t have survived with minimal damage, and chances are the demon would have jumped before we had a chance to contain it.”