“It’s been fun. We started at Navy Pier, and I had a beer. I haven’t had beer since college. Or been to Navy Pier without a kid in forever.”
I laugh. “Well, I’m glad you’re having fun and can wind down here before heading home.”
“The night is young!” Ricci exclaims. “I’m not ready to call it quits anytime soon!”
They won’t expect me to stay all night, I know. I was hoping to walk Abby home and cast an extra protection spell on her house just to be safe. I tear my pretzel apart so it will cool faster. Abby and her friends start talking, and I only half listen as I think.
Bael was able to astral project, and his projection had powers, even though he wasn’t at full strength. If Paimon is—hopefully—still trapped in Hell, he’d be able to project out of Hell too.
And I can astral project in.
Lucifer, if there’s any chance you can hear me, I really fucking need some help. That goes for you too, Dad, but I get why you can’t come.
“Right, Callie?” Ricci’s looking at me, overfilled lips curved into a half smile.
“I’m sorry, what?” I blink and notice the horrified look Melinda is giving her.
“That’s how you got pregnant,” Ricci says with a nod. “A vampire operation.”
“Oh, uh, yeah. They’re very rare and very expensive.” I pick up my mocktail and take a drink. “We’re lucky it worked.”
“Wow,” Min says. “I had no idea that was even a thing. Granted, there’s a lot I don’t know about vampires.”
“Your husband owns this place,” Ricci goes on. “Any chance we’ll see a vampire in here tonight?”
“There are already a few here,” Melinda says slowly.
“Really?” Ricci’s hand flies to her mouth, and she looks around excitedly. “Where?”
“The blonde who was sitting here before is a vampire,” Melinda tells her. “And the bartender.”
“And those two guys at the table by the window drinking bottled blood are vampires,” I add.
“I just got a chill.” Ricci brings her arms in. “Are you scared?”
Abby shakes her head. “There are more humans in this place, and statistically, we’re more likely to get shot by some white man than suffer any sort of vampire injury,” she says, and I’m proud of her. “I know Eliza. She wouldn’t hurt anyone in her bar.”
Melinda and I both have to stifle a laugh because it’s true. Eliza wouldn’t hurt anyone in the bar. But get them out in the back alley and she’ll have no problem with it. Both Min and Ricci start talking about how different things are now that vampires are out of the coffin, as mainstream media puts it. I dip a piece of my pretzel in cheese and suddenly feel like I’m being watched again.
I nudge Melinda’s foot under the table to get her attention and mouth, “Do you feel that?”
She looks around the bar and shakes her head. The feeling becomes almost oppressive and is making me all panicked, and a voice in the back of my head whispers that someone in this bar is possessed. I need to find them and kill them. Trying to shove the feeling aside, I eat another bite of pretzel. Abby and Min are swapping ER horror stories that involve people coming in with stuff stuck up their butts. I try to listen along and laugh, but the damn feeling doesn’t go away.
Melinda gently kicks me, and I turn my attention to her. She gives me a tiny nod, letting me know that now she does sense something. She looks in the direction of the bathroom and back at me.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I say.
“Me too,” Melinda says quickly, and everyone slides out so we can get out. “You okay? You look a little shaken up.”
“I’m pretty sure Paimon is astral projecting from Hell. Which is both good and bad.”
“How is any of that good?”
We walk around the crowd of people watching the live performer play the guitar.
“If he’s still in Hell, then the gates are closed and no more demons can get out. It’s bad because when Bael projected, he had powers.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, it was bad. But we did discover they have a weakness: archangel blood. Mine was strong enough to kill the monsters he created.” I curl my lips over my teeth and shake my head. “I don’t know what Paimon’s powers are. When we were in Hell, he got in my head and told me he knew answers to everything I wanted to know. And for some reason, I think I believe him.” I give Melinda a sideways glance. “You don’t have to say it. Demons lie and manipulate and will say anything to get what they want.”
“What do you think he wants?” she asks slowly.
“I’m gonna go with taking over Hell like his buddy Bael. Lucifer told me demons can’t sit on the throne, so they’ve been trying to find loopholes for, well, ever. I’m a loophole. I’m half-archangel so I can sit in the throne as well as enter both Heaven and Hell, and I’m half-human so I can be possessed and controlled if they find a way to suppress my angel side.”