Still of Night (Thorne Hill 4)

Then I rush back in, shower, brush my teeth, and use magic to braid my hair, flying out the door. I’ll just make it to my appointment in time. I paint my own nails, but rarely get them done. It’s a little pointless to try and maintain a manicure when you’re always breaking nails fighting demons.

I’m excited to look all polished for my wedding day.

I go through town, and my heart plummets to the bottom of my chest when I see two police cars parked outside Novel Grounds. Forgetting about my appointment, I pull over and run inside.

Betty is standing at the counter, pale-faced and shaken up, as she talks to two police officers.

“What’s going on?” I ask, purse slipping off my shoulder. I rush over to Betty.

“Danielle was supposed to open today, but when I got here, the store was still closed. Her car was here, though, and I found her phone on the ground.” Betty blinks back tears. “We can’t find her anywhere.”

Oh, shit. The demon is here, and it got Danielle.

27

The moment the cops leave, I spread a map over the counter. If I act fast, I might be able to save her.

“In the office,” I start, looking up at Betty. “Second drawer on the right, there’s a black box. Can you bring it to me?”

She nods, looking confused, but rushes off to grab it.

“And can you get me Danielle’s nametag?” I ask as I open the box, pulling out a quartz crystal that’s attached to a chain. I suck at divination of any kind, but if I can tap into my angel side, maybe I can find Danielle.

“What are you doing?” Betty asks, hands trembling as she pulls Danielle’s nametag from a drawer under the register.

“I’m going to try and find her.” I don’t care if Betty finally finds out the truth about me. She’s had to suspect it for years, and I’m pretty sure she knows I was the one who magically forced her attackers to confess to the police.

I hold Danielle’s nametag in my hand and rest the crystal on the center of the map. It’s a map of Thorne Hill, and I hope with all I have that Danielle is still in town. If not…it’ll be too late for sure.

Trying to clear my mind, I think of Danielle’s face. Dammit. I don’t know her well. Come on, you can do this…

A vision of Michael flashes before me, of his blue eyes glowing and his great wings spread out behind him. The crystal starts to rattle. I lift it up, giving the chain some slack.

Come on…come on…

It moves quickly, pinning itself to a spot on the map. I drop the nametag and pick up a pen, making a mark on the map around the crystal. It’s on the opposite side of town than my house is on, and is mostly farmland.

And away from the Ley line, thank the fucking stars.

“Oh my god,” Betty gasps. “You’re…you’re a witch, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“I knew it,” she whispers. “And the cats?”

“They’re not really cats.” I pull out my phone and take a picture of the location. “Don’t bother opening the store today,” I tell Betty. “And I’ll explain everything later, though I’m sure what you’ve long suspected is true.”

She stares at me with wide eyes and just nods. “I need you to call Kristy and tell her everything that happened. Tell her I’m going to go after Danielle.”

“Kristy…she’s a witch too?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit, that’s so cool.” Betty gapes at me for another few seconds and then shakes herself. “Kristy said she was going to some sort of school out of town that didn’t have good cell service. I wasn’t going to see her until tomorrow night.”

Shit. She’s at the Academy which means Tabatha and Evander are too.

“Leave her a message. There’s a chance she’ll check it.”

I grab my keys and rush outside, looking at the photo before I fire up the engine of my Jeep. I speed through town, going right past the nail salon. I’m not too familiar with this section of town.

I know there’s a hog farm, and the smell alone is enough to keep people from driving by. It’s surrounded by cornfields, and it’s been long debated that we should have a corn maze in those fields for Thorne Hill’s Fall Fest, but the stink of the hogs has kept that from ever happening.

Thorne Hill is a small town in sense of population, but since it’s made up of so much farmland, it can take a while to get from one side of town to the other.

I pass the hog farm and slow down, gravel crunching under my tires. I don’t know if I’m going to find Danielle’s body on the side of the road, cut open and missing all her organs, or if I’ll find her tied up and alive.

Fingers crossed for the latter.

I almost don’t see the old barn through the thick of trees. I slam on the brakes and skid to a stop. There’s a ditch on the side of the road, preventing me from driving closer to it. I put the Jeep in park, kill the engine, and then get out. I hide my keys under the passenger seat, grab my phone, and run to the barn.

The energy is off here. Way off. Pausing outside the barn, I try to call Lucas. It’s daylight, and he won’t be able to help me, but I want someone to know where I am and what’s going on.

The call can’t go through, so I try to send a text instead and hope that it somehow gets delivered. I’m wearing a black dress—surprise, surprise, I know—and don’t have pockets. I try to shove my phone into my boot, but it doesn’t fit. I stick it in my bra instead.

“Binx,” I whisper out loud, closing my eyes and thinking of my familiar. It’s bright and sunny, and Lucas won’t be able to leave the house. “I need you.”

I hold out my hands, reading the energy. It’s dark and is pushing down on me.

There is definitely a demon in this barn.

I rub my thumb over my fingers, conjuring strings of magic. The large, sliding door to the barn is open just enough for me to slip through, and once I’m in, I blink rapidly to adjust my eyes. The barn, which must have been used for horses at one point, is pretty much empty. There’s a root cellar on the opposite side, and dim light glows from the open doors.

“Of fucking course,” I whisper and rush toward it. The energy grows darker and darker. It causes a bad feeling to rise in the pit of my chest, which is a natural human response to this kind of energy. It makes you want to run away, preventing you from being attacked by a demon.

But I’m not

fully human.

I peer down the root cellar, looking and listening for a beat before going down the stairs. The brick walls are crumbling, and a crude tunnel has been dug through one of them. I’ll take a lucky guess to where this demon is…

Suddenly the root cellar doors snap shut. I whirl around, summoning energy balls. But nothing jumps out at me. Nothing attacks me. A low hiss surrounds me, and some sort of fog fills the room.

I cough but know it’s too late. My vision starts to dot with stars and I’m getting dizzy fast.

“Shit,” I say right before I pass out.

“Callie.”

Someone pokes my feet.

“Callie.”

My eyes flutter open and I sit up. I’m on the floor of the root cellar…I think. Everything is foggy, and a soft red light glows above me. Lucifer stands underneath it, looking down at me.

“Good girl. Wake up.”

“Where am I?” I sit up, feeling like I’m fighting against a current.

“Looks like a basement of some sort.” He walks around, and the glowing light follows him. “You need to get yourself out of here.”

“Trust me,” I start, rubbing my forehead. “I’m trying.”

“Did you get my present? Isn’t she gorgeous?”

“Scarlet?”

He claps his hands together. “She’s one of my most loyal hounds. She’ll be loyal to you. She knows we’re family.”

“Stop saying that,” I press and try to get up, but I can’t. All I want to do is lie back down.

“Why? We are.” Lucifer moves over closer and extends his hand to me. I don’t take it. “You can’t change that, Callie.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to be like you.”

“You don’t have to be like anything.” He thrusts his hand forward again. I still don’t take it. “I want you to trust me, kid.”

“I know better than to do that. You’ll…you’ll want something from me.”

“All I want is to be friends. Catch a baseball game together. Curse unsuspecting humans, remind them that we are better…that sort of thing.”

“I don’t want to curse anyone.”