There are clothes neatly folded on the foot of the bed, and I get dressed in an over-sized white t-shirt and loose-fitting pajama pants. Lucas holds up the black sweatpants brought up for him and sets them aside.
“It’s not your fault,” he whispers and turns down the bed. “Don’t blame yourself, Callie.”
“How can I not?” My teeth chatter together. I’m so cold, and I don’t know how I’ll ever be warm again. “Julian died because of me.”
“No,” Lucas says firmly. “He died because of Paimon. If you want to blame anyone, blame him. Or Lucifer.”
“Lucifer?”
“If he had stayed on the throne, who’s to say any of this would have happened? Paimon would have tried to use you, I have no doubt, but the Horsemen wouldn’t have escaped. And if War hadn’t—” He stops short again. “If I’d been able to get to you, I would have gotten you out of there. Both of you.”
“It’s not fair.”
“No,” he agrees. “It’s not, not at all.”
I move a pillow to my side, wrapping my arms around it. Lucas spoons his body against mine and covers us both up with the quilt. He holds me tight, and I cry myself to sleep.
Chapter 39
The door slowly creaks open, stirring me from my sleep. Everything comes crashing down on me.
Last night wasn’t just a nightmare.
It actually happened.
Julian is dead.
“How is she?” Evander asks in a hushed voice.
“As you can expect,” Lucas tells him.
Evander shuffles in the room and sets something on the dresser. The smell of bacon and maple syrup fills the room. My stomach grumbles. Physically, I’m starving. My body needs food, and I’m still recovering from blood loss and my injuries from last night. Mentally, I don’t have it in me to sit up and eat. They move into the hall so they can talk without disturbing me. I want to sink down into the covers and sleep until the pain is gone.
And I don’t mean the pain from my cuts and bruises.
Slowly sitting up, I listen and can hear Lucas and Evander still talking outside the door. As soon as my feet hit the floor, I’m more than aware of my physical needs, with the most pressing being the need to use the bathroom. I pee and quickly wash my hands and hurry to the hall in hopes that Evander is still there.
Both he and Lucas look a little startled when I open the door. The hallway is dark, with all the other doors to the empty guest rooms closed to keep Lucas protected from the sun.
“You’re awake,” Evander exclaims, not sure what else to say to me.
“I am.”
Lucas is dressed in his usual gray sweatpants and white t-shirt that I know Tabatha didn’t bring him. His eyes hold back a mixture of love and concern, and he reaches for me like it’s second nature. “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know. Hungry, but I have no appetite.” I rub my eyes, which are irritated and still swollen from crying. “Did you astral project to the house?” I ask Evander.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And the demons and Horsemen were gone. I had three professors search for demonic activity before we went there.”
“You went there?” I echo. “Who’s ‘we’?”
Evander flicks his gaze to Lucas, and I swat my vampire in the chest. That’s how he got his clothes. He brought them from home. “You went without me?”
“Callie, you were in no position to go last night. You didn’t need to see our home in that condition.”
“Julian?” I rush out, chest tightening.
“We cast a preservation spell on his body,” Evander says softly. “We can bury him once you’re ready.”
The weight of his death pushes down on me again, and I choke back tears. “Thank you.” I swallow hard. “What about the kid?”
“Caleb was still tucked in bed sound asleep from the sleep spell.”
“Good,” I say, and Lucas moves his hand to the small of my back, rubbing my stiff muscles. “And the others?”
“I changed memories of all I could,” Lucas starts. “And sent anyone needing medical attention to the hospital.”
“And we cast a glamour on the house. If anyone steps foot on the property, they’ll see it in pristine condition.”
“What about the bodies?” I don’t want to know, but I have to ask.
“I took care of it,” Lucas tells me, which means everything from burying them deep in the woods or setting it up to look like some sort of animal attack, though that’s not very believable in Thorne Hill.
“I’m, um, going to lie down.” I blink away tears and go back into the room. Lucas follows, shutting the door behind him. He turned on the bathroom light for me at some point last night, lighting the room so I wouldn’t wake in the pitch black.
“You need to eat.” Lucas picks up the tray and brings it to the bed.
“So do you.”