Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

Hiking up my dress, I hold onto my stomach with one hand and keep the dagger extended in the other and go downstairs. Lucas and Julian are to the side of the foyer, fighting the demons coming through the window. Holy fuck, there are so many. Two demons spot me and try to go around Lucas. He punches his hand through their chests, yanking out their hearts. The human bodies fall motionless to the ground, and the demons escape, black smoke billowing out the window.

A woman in the front yard screams, and my heart skips a beat. Is she innocent? The demons don’t need a trap to get me outside. They’re already in. She screams again, calling for help.

Binx and Freya take out demons that are carrying some sort of round white gemstones. The stones clatter to the ground, and one rolls over to Julian. He grabs a demon by the head and sends a blast of yellow light into its skull and then picks up the gemstone. I throw my enchanted dagger at a demon coming at him, hitting it right in the chest.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the human the demon had been possessing, holding out my hand to telekinetically bring the dagger back to me. Like the teenager and the kid, not all these people are dead yet. I hate that we can’t save them.

Julian drops the gemstone and stomps on it, cracking it into a dozen pieces. “I’ve seen this before. I know what they’re doing,” Julian says, slashing his dagger at a demon. The human body the demon is wearing is at a point of decay no one can come back from. The dagger plunges into the demon’s heart, and black smoke comes rushing out of the wound. It whooshes to the broken windows, going to find another body to possess.

Going on impulse, I throw a bright blue ball of hellfire at the twisting smoke. It crackles, and with a screech, the smoke blows up. Ashes fall to the ground.

“You need to run, Callie,” he tells me. “They’re going to extract your divinity. All of it. And since you’re half archangel, they can use it to blast open the gates of Hell so Paimon can come out and possess you.”

“If all my divinity is gone, I can’t be used to sit on the throne.”

“They’re just taking yours.”

Elena has more divinity in her than we thought, and it’s just enough for Paimon to use so he can sit on the throne.

Chapter 36

Dad, I really fucking need you right now. I throw the enchanted dagger, backing up against the stairs. The dagger hits a demon in the shoulder and then falls to the ground. The demon looks at the wound with curiosity, not pain, and then sees the broken gemstone on the floor. It leaves the body, smoke billowing out of its mouth, and the human drops.

“Binx!” I call, throwing my hands out in front of me and shoving another demon away with magic. The human, a middle-aged woman, tries to push herself up. Binx and Pandora shadow over, killing another demon on their way. “She’s alive,” I tell them, though it’s obvious. Heavier set, she’s too much for me to lift, but I grab her hand anyway and try to get her to her feet. “Listen to me,” I tell her, knowing she’s disoriented, scared, and possibly suffering horrible internal damage. “You need to hide, okay? Go into the bathroom down the hall, close the door, and don’t come out until someone comes and get you.”

Her face pales, and she looks like she might throw up. More demons come inside, and another horse whinnies. My heart lurches and my stomach twists. Did another Horseman show up?

“You have to get up,” I tell her. Glass shatters in the kitchen, and something clatters to the ground, rolling across the hardwood floor. “Now!”

Pandora shadows over, circling the woman, and lifts her to her feet. She guides her into the bathroom and shuts the door. Then she shadows to the back of the house to go after the demons.

“Lucas!” I shout, seeing him surrounded. I conjure a ball of bright blue light. “Get down!” He meets my eye, shaking a demon off that’s hanging onto his back, and drops to his knees. I thrust my hands forward, fueling the energy ball with blue hellfire. It erupts, and fiery bits of energy fall on the demons—and Lucas. He gets to his feet and rushes over to me.

“I heard what he said,” he tells me. “You have to get out of here, Callie. Take your familiars and run. Go out the back door. We’ll hold them off up here. Go, now.”

Another crash comes from the kitchen, and I don’t have to say it for Lucas to know I can’t escape through the back of the house. Nostrils flaring, he whirls around, snapping the neck of the closest demon. This time, the demon doesn’t leave the body. It forces it back up, head hanging unnaturally to the side, and sends a shockwave of dark energy at us. Lucas is strong enough to withstand it, but it knocks me back against the accent table by the wall near the stairs.