My heart skips a beat. “The others will notice if he’s always visiting a human.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m sorry, kid,” he says, and for some reason, I know he genuinely means it. “I know what it’s like to be the black sheep of the family. I’m looking forward to the day that piece of shit who sold you like cattle comes to pay me a visit. I’ll send my best demons to torture him.”
My jaw tenses, and I don’t know how to react to that. I used to hate William Martin with every fiber of my being, but hating someone gets tiring. I haven’t forgiven him, and I never will. Yet I’ve moved on from focusing everything on how much I hate him to living my life. I don’t need him, and I don’t want him to have any sort of hold over me anymore.
“Can you heal Lucas?” I ask Lucifer, fully aware how dangerous it is to ask the devil for a favor.
“No. Angels cannot heal the dead.”
“He’s—” I whirl around, looking at Lucas.
“He’s been dead, kid,” Lucifer says, and his words click into place. Vampires are dead. They can’t be healed like humans can by angelic grace. Maybe that’s why Julian or Dad didn’t answer. They can’t help, anyway. But then something else clicks into place, and I sit up straighter.
Necromancers use black magic.
Black magic is illegal because it’s dangerous.
It’s said to be directly tied to the devil.
And he’s standing before me.
“The necromancers,” I start. “Did they summon you?”
“They tried,” he scoffs. “One in particular has been trying for years.” He throws his head back dramatically. “They’re not worthy of being lent any power, and it’s a bit hard to lend said power with these damn chains.” He holds up his hands, and heavy chains start to shimmer into view. They’re shackled around his wrists and ankles.
Right. He’s been banished to the pits of Hell.
He shakes his hands, and the chains fade from view again. “But I’m working on that as well.”
“You’re—”
I’m suddenly shaken awake and blink, seeing Eliza standing over me with several bags of blood in her hands.
“Do you have a blood type?” she asks quietly.
“No. I guess part of me does, but not enough to show up in the tests.”
“That’s what I thought. Before you, Lucas liked O-positive. I grabbed bags of each type.”
“Thank you.”
“Here,” she says and hands me a bag. “Let it warm up to your body temperature. He’ll like that.” She rolls her eyes as she talks. I slip the bag of blood under the towel so it’ll warm up to my temp.
“How is he?” Eliza sits on the foot of the bed.
“He’s been sleeping.” I run my hand over my face, trying to stay calm. Did Uncle Lucy just tell me that he’s trying to break out of Hell—again?
Dammit, Dad, I really need to talk to you.
“If he’s not up in a few hours, I’ll wake him,” I tell Eliza. “I don’t want to cut it close to sunrise.”
“Good idea. And I’m coming with you.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t even—wait, you agreed?”
“Yes,” I tell her. “I think you should come. We both love him and will do anything to protect him.”
Eliza’s pink lips turn up in a smile. “You’re right. I’m going to pack my things.”
“And feed your guinea pigs?” I just can’t help myself.
“You didn’t let them out, did you?” she asks, almost panicked.
“No, I didn’t know they were in there,” I tell her. “I thought it was a guest room still. But Lucas remembered Miss Piggy.”
She smiles again. “He got her for me seven years ago.”
No wonder he was surprised it was still alive. “She’s cute.”
“Thanks.” Eliza turns and moves with vampire speed out of the room. I lie back down, awkwardly hugging the bag of blood against my chest. And now I can add cuddling with bagged blood to the list of things I never thought I’d do.
“I love you,” I whisper to Lucas and pull the wet towel out from under me. I snuggle closer to his body and can’t tell if he’s actually warm or if it’s just from the heated blanket.
I bring one hand to Lucas’s chest, trying to feel his heart beating. It’s too slow and weak to pick up unless I press down a little, and I don’t want to risk waking him. I close my eyes again, trying hard not to think of anything.
I’ve never been good at meditating. It’s something I’ve meant to improve on, and I know now more than ever it’s important for me to be able to clear my mind and ground myself.
I can almost get myself there, but right as I’m feeling the calm settle into me, a thought rushes into my head, usually something that happened forever ago that still embarrasses me to this day if I think about it too much. Or how I should have said something else to that one stranger who gave me a dirty look at the grocery store six years ago.