Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

Then everything stops, and my world is nothing but blackness.

Chapter 37

Pain radiates through me, burning and slicing my insides, so intense it jars me from whatever sleep spell Paimon put me under. My body feels like it’s being ripped in half, and I cry out, trying to move but finding my arms bound behind my back and my ankles tied together. I’ve felt this before when Ruth cast the spell to banish angels. Julian’s been sent away. He can’t fly me out of here, even if we get past the barrier.

“Callie,” Lucas calls, voice weak. “Callie, you…you have to fight.”

Gritting my teeth and fighting through the pain, I blink open my eyes.

“Callie,” Lucas rasps again and then grunts in pain. Eyes adjusting to the dark, I take in my surroundings. I’m in my yard, not far from the house. Light from the broken kitchen windows illuminates the ground. There are several bodies scattered, belonging to demons Lucas or Julian must have killed.

“Lucas?” I can’t see him, and not knowing where he is scares me even more. Pressing my feet to the ground, I try to move. A rock cuts into my hip, and I can’t roll over because of my pregnant stomach. “Where are you?”

“I’m…I’m here…my love,” he grunts. I’m too disoriented to tell where his voice is coming from, and the demons standing around me in a circle are chanting. Whatever they’re saying causes a ringing in my head, much like when War clanged his sword against the warding.

Lucas’s voice gives me strength. Ignoring the rock slicing into my skin, I move my feet in front of me and scramble to sit up. Something drips down my forehead, splattering on my chest. I’m bleeding, and my dress is dirty from being dragged.

And I can’t feel Elena moving.

Binx? I mentally call out, but I can hardly sense him. It’s like he’s there, just far away. Oh fuck, they’ve been trapped in a pocket dimension. It’s something my familiars can get out of, but it will take time to tear through whatever door was used to close it.

The demons step in, still chanting, voices low as their words tumble quickly out of their mouths. A bead of blood catches on my eyelashes, and I shake my head, trying to blink it away. I turn, almost falling over, and look for Lucas, squinting to see between the demons.

I scream when I see his body on the ground. War is next to him, mounted on his horse, with his sword plunged through Lucas’s stomach, pinning him to the ground. Lucas feebly reaches up, trying to push the sword away. The second his fingers touch the blade, they burn. Yet he doesn’t stop, and War leans over, twisting the sword.

“Lucas!” I scream and start to summon an energy ball. With the angel-banishing spell having been cast, I can’t conjure as strong of an energy ball as usual, but it’s enough to burn through the bindings on my arms. Ripping my wrists apart, I fall forward, throwing my right hand out to send a blast of telekinetic energy at War. It knocks over two demons but doesn’t even make War look my way.

A demon scurries over, inky eyes reflecting the light from my house, and grabs my wrists. Physical strength has never been my strong suit, but I’m not giving up without a fight. I jerk away, still off balance since my feet are bound. The demon hefts me up and drags me to the middle of the circle. I magically shove him back, and he loses his grip on me. We both fall, and my right wrist painfully twists. Fuck. The angel-banishing spell is making me even more human and susceptible to injury.

Heart racing, I reach forward, stomach pressing into my legs. I can’t breathe, but it doesn’t matter. I pull at the rope around my feet, summoning another energy ball to burn through it. I pull my ankles apart and get to my feet, wrist aching so much I can hardly move my fingers. My left hand goes to my stomach, fear making me feel sick, and I grunt when I push my hand out, telekinetically shoving more demons back so I can get to Lucas.

I only make it a few feet before the black smoke rises from the ground, wrapping around my legs. I stop, not wanting to fall—again. I don’t know how much more Elena can take.

“Pity to be wasting all that power right before I take it from you.” Paimon’s projection shimmers before me, black mist swirling around him. His hair is in his face, and he smirks at me before looking up at the sky. “Do you feel that, brethren? It is almost time.”

I shift my gaze up at the dark sky. I hadn’t paid much attention to the moon phases lately. It’s total darkness above us, and whatever ritual Paimon has in store for me must coincide with the moon or an alignment of stars. If the spell involves a precise placement, diverting it for even a second could throw the whole thing off.