“And you’re going to let her?”
He nods. “I don’t want to sell it yet. The value
hasn’t gone up enough. And it’ll be nice to have a place near your sister for you to stay if you want to.”
I smile at his thoughtfulness. “Something tells me Eliza wouldn’t like me crashing at her house.”
“She’ll have no choice,” he says, and I know this is one of those instances where, as the vampire who made Eliza, Lucas can tell her what to do and she has to obey. “She cares about you in her own way. If anything, because she knows how much you mean to me. But you are exquisite, Callie. How anyone could look at you and not marvel in your talent, at your beauty and power, at how pure your heart is when the world has been so cold and cruel…” His dark blue eyes widen. “I’ll never know.”
“You are too good to me.” My heart swells in my chest and I lean over, resting my head on his shoulder. I yawn, and Lucas suggests I take a nap. Wanting to keep working on my tan, I give him a kiss and go back outside. It’s hot and humid and I probably won’t last a full hour, but it feels so good to lie on my lounge chair and feel the heat of the sun.
“Next summer, we’ll have a pool,” I tell my familiars. Binx moved into the shade, getting too warm from the sun already. “I can already see myself floating around all day with a drink in my hand.” I roll over onto my stomach and close my eyes. Reaching behind me, I move my hair off my back and undo the ties of my bikini.
I’m sweating, and the heat makes me even more tired. It doesn’t take long until I drift to sleep. I dream about weddings and white flowing dresses, and grand cakes and a signature cocktail. Everything is perfect in my dream, and Tabatha performs the wedding ceremony, altering the sacred Union Ceremony only, since I’m marrying a vampire and not a warlock.
Michael and Julian even show up for a brief moment, hugging and congratulating me. I’m the product of a forbidden relationship, and Michael gives us his blessing, which apparently means something in the dream. It makes sense, though, since he’s a freaking archangel after all.
But right as the dancing starts, I notice someone standing in the shadows. I break away from Lucas—who in the dream, likes the cake—and go to see who this mysterious wedding guest is.
The dream shifts to me standing in the woods, in the very spot were the demon Varrador tried to kill me. I’m still in my wedding dress, and moonlight pours down on me.
“Hello?” I call, and something rustles through the woods. Chills run down my arms and a man steps from the shadows. He’s tall, with dark eyes and dark hair. He’s so handsome it’s striking, and power drips off of him. Two hellhounds stand loyally at his side, and I know in an instant who he is.
“Hello, my niece.” His voice is deep and velvety, and I want him to keep talking, to keep telling me lies.
Because I want to believe them.
“I’ve waited years to finally meet you.” He steps forward, hellhounds moving in step with him. “I sent my demons in search of you, but they disobeyed. No harm was supposed to befall you.” His eyes glow blue, just like Michael’s—like his brother’s—and his lips curve into a smile. “You are family.”
My eyes fly open and I wake with such a start I almost fall off my lounge chair. I sit up and twist around, looking into the woods. It was just a dream. A dream my subconscious made up because deep down, I know I’m a morbid bitch.
But it felt so real.
“It can’t be,” I say out loud. “I haven’t had a wedding yet.” And Lucas certainly wouldn’t eat cake. I let my eyes fall shut but open them right away, feeling too paranoid that the Devil is watching me.
“Julian,” I call and put my hands together. He said to pray, but I’m not sure exactly what to do. There are a few witches and warlocks in our coven who regularly attend church, though it’s not like I can ask them how to pray in a way that gets the attention of my distant cousin who’s also an angel of the Lord.
Putting my head in my hands, I sigh. It was just a dream. A freaky dream. I’m no stranger to them, yet this one haunts me right along with something Julian said.
Even the Devil was once an angel.
“I’ve never once seen you read the paper.” Lucas centers the empty coffee mug on the saucer and leans back. We’re at Suzy’s Café, here to do “research” on Lucas’s business investment. Really, I’m using it as an excuse to order half the menu and eat my feelings.
“I do occasionally,” I tell him and flip the page, going right to the crime section and point to a small article on a missing person from the nearby town of Newport. “Sometimes things like this start to add up and can only mean one thing.”
“Demons,” he finishes, and I nod.
“Typically lower-level demons, which are easy to kill. It’s almost fun, actually,” I admit and look back down at the article. “It’s kind of sad this is all there is about her,” I muse. “She never made it into work, and all this says is if you’ve seen her, call the police and let them know.”
“Humans have a funny way of underestimating certain tragedy while making a much bigger deal of others than necessary. I’ve always found the way you worry about snowstorms to be amusing.”
“People do freak out, especially the first time we get a significant amount of snow. We live in the Midwest. It snows here every winter.”
“Don’t get me started on people driving.”
I laugh. “That’s why I got my Jeep, actually. That thing is a beast and handles well in the snow.” I snap a photo of the article and fold the paper back up. The last time I tracked a string of missing people, it turned out demons were yanking them off the trail of a nearby national park.
“Would you like more coffee?” The waitress comes back to our table, smiling nervously. She knows Lucas is in the process of buying the building and taking over the business…and that he’s a vampire. She’s a non—short for non-magical—and it wasn’t until I realized that she knows who I am did it occur to me that it’s risky being out and about Thorne Hill with Lucas.
Jerry, one of the cooks at Suzy’s, is a warlock in our coven. Thank goodness he’s not working tonight or he might feel like he has to report me to the coven. Half the town are magical, and a handful of them have regular jobs, living seemingly normal lives.
Like me.
I co-own a bookstore with my best friend. I live in a cute little century-old farmhouse on the edge of town with my cats.
And Lucifer is my uncle.
“I’m good, thanks,” I say. “If I have a third cup I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
She laughs, high-pitched and nervous, and flicks her eyes to Lucas. Suzy’s doesn’t serve bottled blood, as the only other vampires in Thorne Hill don’t come in here. Not that Lucas would ever drink animal blood that came out of a bottle or can. He’s actually used his power as a maker to forbid Eliza from drinking it, saying it goes against everything vampires stand for.
“Your food will be right out.”
“Thanks,” I tell her and wait a beat before putting my hands on the table and looking at Lucas.
“Assuming it makes sense business-wise, you should extend the hours of this place to at least midnight. Witches and warlocks alone would flock here before coven gatherings.”
“But would they?” Lucas pushes the empty coffee mug to the side. “This is a vampire-owned establishment now.”
“Dammit,” I mutter. “I hate that we don’t get along.”
Lucas takes his hand in mine, skin smooth and cool. “I don’t want to create problems for you within the coven, Callie,” he presses. “We’re not supposed to be seen together, and while you know I don’t give a fuck what anyone says, maybe I shouldn’t buy this place.”
I clench my jaw. “But what about the free food?”
Lucas gives my hand a squeeze. “I can buy any other café in any other town and it won’t make any trouble for you. And I can pay an advanced tab for you here. Then it’ll be like getting free food,” he tries.
“I think I can live with that,” I say as my phone vibrates with a text. If I think about how unfair this all is, it’ll just piss me off.
There’s no reason to keep Lucas and I apart. He’s not a danger to witch kind, no more than I am. Especially now that I know most of Heaven thinks I’m going to snap and go all Jean Gray on the world.
“It’s Abby,” I tell Lucas. “She said she worked too much overtime already and has to take tomorrow off, and wants to know if I can come up to Chicago to go dress shopping with her.”
“Would you like to?”
“Yes.” I can’t keep the smile off my face, and I look back down at my ring. “I would like that very, very much.”
I pick my phone back up and shoot Kristy a text. She has to come with too.
“Kristy can come too.” I set my phone down and take Lucas’s hands in mine again. “Once I know when I can expect my dress—sometimes it takes a while to come in if it’s handmade or something like that—then we are setting the date. I’m going to marry you, Lucas, and no one can tell us otherwise.”
“So now that you’re not actively dying, we haven’t just been attacked by hellhounds, and no angels are going to show up, I can appreciate this house a bit more.” Kristy sets her purse down in the foyer and looks around. “It’s huge and so fancy.”
“The kitchen is my favorite part,” I tell her, waving her in. “I didn’t even know things like warming drawers and double ovens with French doors existed outside castles in Hallmark Christmas movies,” I laugh.
We sit at the island counter, eating pinwheels and buffalo chicken dip. Filling up on junk probably isn’t a good idea right before I’m going to be fitted for a dress, but I can’t resist. About ten minutes later, Abby rings the doorbell.
I stick a chip in the dip once more and get up, eating as I walk through the house.
“Hey, sis!” I say and hope I didn’t overdo it. Finding out we’re not really related crushed Abby, and I want her to know I still love her and think of her as my older sister.
“Hey, Cal.” She willingly steps into the house and gives me a hug. She’s still scared of vampires in general, but I think she’s warming up to Lucas. “Sorry I’m a little late. Phil got stuck at work and I had to ask a friend to come over and watch Penny.”