Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

Again, his motivation speech misses the mark. “You’re right. No more talk about angels or demons. Instead, tell me your thoughts on using a love potion to give two people who are madly in love but don’t know it yet a little nudge.”

“How can you be madly in love and not know it? The movie also said how you just know when you find your one true love.”

I purse my lips. “Fine. They’re not madly in love yet, but I happen to know for a fact they’d be great together.”

“You’re not talking hypothetically, are you?”

“Nope. I want Kristy and Evander to get together. My best friend and my unofficial brother? It would be so much fun. I don’t see Evander as much as I like anymore, so having him date Kristy would be a good way to get him out of the Academy and into my life.”

“Or it would take Kristy out of your life.”

“In my head, everything is perfect.” We cross another street and go into a cute cafe that borders on hipster, reminding me of The Taproom bar. We got here right in the perfect lull before lunch and get seated right away. There’s a reading corner in the back of the cafe, with a bookshelf packed full of worn books. The sight of it makes me smile.

“I never thought I’d say I miss working, but I do,” I tell Julian, looking over the menu. “I guess I should say, I miss working when I don’t have a schedule. Though some days I miss getting up early and complaining about it to Kristy for the first half of the day. I didn’t fully wake up until after lunch.”

“I don’t quite grasp the concept of work.” He unfolds his menu. “I understand you have to have money to pay for even basic necessities, but so many humans spend more time at work than doing anything else. Especially here in this country.”

“Oh, I agree. There’s a whole work to live versus live to work thing, and somehow over the last few years people got this mentality that if you’re not hustling all the time, you’re not working hard enough.” A waitress comes over for our drink orders, and I sadly don’t order the espresso that smells so good. “I knew I’d never get rich owning the bookstore. I made what I needed to survive and lived comfortably.” I close my menu, having decided on the veggie pot pie. “Do you know what you want? If not, the portabella mushroom sandwich with sweet potato tots sounds really good, and if you feel like sharing, I’d be down.”

A couple is seated a few tables from us, and something about the pretty redheaded woman is familiar, but I can’t place it. We make eye contact for a split second, and she looks away, face flushing. The man she came in with—her boyfriend, maybe?—takes off his jacket and hangs it on the back of his chair. His arms are covered in tattoos, and I think I see the bottom half of an Order of the Mystic Realm tattoo peeking out from the sleeve of his t-shirt. Robert was in the Order, and I get mad just thinking about that batshit-crazy organization.

“What’s wrong?” Julian asks, and I snap my attention back to him.

“I thought—never mind. No demon talk. We’re all good.” I lean back and put a hand on my stomach, doing my best not to wince. I don’t know what Elena is doing in there, but it fucking hurts. “I have to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back. If the waitress gets here before I do, I want the veggie pot pie. You can order for me.”

“Okay.”

I make it back to the table right before our drinks are brought out to us. It’s a good thing because Julian isn’t too sure how to order. I text Lucas again since I know he’s worrying. I can feel my familiars nearby, hiding in the shadows as they explore downtown Paradise Valley.

“Lucas bought a building on the next block over,” I tell Julian. “We rent it out, and I’m not sure if I should be ashamed to admit that I have no idea what it is. I feel like a stereotypical trophy wife sometimes, but I’m not complaining. I’m busy saving the world, one demon at a time. Having a vampire sugar daddy enables me to focus on being the hero.”

Julian gives me a blank stare, and I laugh. “A sugar daddy is usually an old man with a lot of money and young women date him solely to use said money.”

“And Lucas is much older than you.” It takes a second for everything to sink in, and then Julian laughs. “Holding a traditional job would get in the way of fighting demons.”

“I used to do both.” I pull the wrapper off and stick the straw in my lemonade. “Granted, I’d find low-level demons to go after. Things really blew up once Varrador spilled the beans on my whereabouts. I had just started dating Lucas then too. We were worried he could have been the one killing witches.”