“I’m, uh, sorry.”
“Don’t be. He turned me and countless others because he was paid by humans to do so. Once he was gone…I was free.”
Gently, I slip my hand into Lucas’s again. He has so many layers. Though just when he starts to peel one back and expose his heart, he closes himself off again.
“Do you hear that?” he asks, coming to a stop.
I bob my head up and down. “Nothing. We’re close.”
I conjure up an energy ball, helping me see, and walk another few yards, not stopping until we’re in the center of the circle of dead trees. It smells worse than it did this morning, like grass that’s been under muddy water for too long.
Lucas steps away from me, carefully inspecting the trees. Then he crouches down and plunges his hand into the earth. Bringing up a handful of dirt, he smells it.
“We need to go,” he says, suddenly back at my side. He wipes his hand on his pants and pulls me close to his body in a protective stance.
“Why?”
“I’ve seen this before.”
“The dead plants?”
“Yes.”
I tip my head up, seeing his brow furrow with worry. “Do you know what it means?”
He meets my eyes. “I do. It means something demonic has come to earth. We need to go, Callie. Now.”
“Lucas, wait,” I protest and try to push him away. “We haven’t even—”
“Callie,” he grows, taking my wrist. “Something demonic has come to earth,” he repeats. “Straight from Hell.”
CHAPTER 23
“What?” I ask, even though I heard him clearly. My breath leaves me as the words sink in. “If something came from Hell that means…that means the Gates of Hell have been opened.”
“The Gatekeeper,” we say at the same time.
“You were right,” I gasp. “The Gatekeeper is literally keeping the Gates of Hell. They either open or close them and it seems like they opened them.”
“Yes. Now, let’s go.”
This time, he doesn’t have to tell me twice. Keeping my hand in his, Lucas rushes through the forest, not stopping or slowing down until we’re on the back porch. Binx and Pandora stay in the yard, protectively watching the house.
“How do you know?” I ask, trying to catch my breath. Though I’m winded from shock, not from running. “How do you know it’s a demon from Hell or whatever?”
Lucas looks over his shoulder at the woods, not trusting that we weren’t followed. I squeeze my eyes shut, find my grounding, and go to the steps of the porch. I hold up my hands and whisper an incantation.
The invisible lines of magic I’ve laid around the house glow a bright and brilliant blue for only a second before fading from view.
“It kept that thing out before,” I tell him, though at this moment I can’t recall if I explained the vision to him yet or not. “Tell me: where did you see this before?”
“Ireland,” he starts. “Around six hundred AD. I was there with a few other vampires. We went to the shadows for the day and when we awoke that night, the entire town was dead. Humans and animals, ripped apart like they had been killed by wolves. We thought it may have been werewolves, so we spent the night looking for them. We came to a spot in the woods just like the one out there.” He motions to the woods behind my house. “Dead and rotting vegetation. Soil smelling like sulfur. It wasn’t a pack of weres that killed that village. It was a Hellhound. Just one.”
“But how do you know that?” I press.
“We saw it. Right before the sun rose, it came from a field, finishing off the last of the villagers who tried to escape. It looked right at us but kept going. We weren’t its mark. It didn’t want anything from us.” He casts his eyes down. “I thought then, as I still do now, it didn’t kill us because we are just as demonic, just as evil, and as much of a killer as it was.” There’s pain in his words, and I can tell he’s struggling with his past. It’s almost strange to think about him as a human, and after hearing that his maker was paid to turn people into vampires, I’m sure he was ripped from his life against his will.
“You’re sure it was a Hellhound?”
“Positive. If you see one…you just know. And several days later, when we sought out new feeding grounds, we heard rumors from the townsfolk that the people of that village had made a deal with the Devil for prosperous crops. But deals run out eventually.”
“And he came to collect.”
“Yes.”
I bring my hand to my forehead, rubbing the spot between my eyes. “So, someone made a deal?”
“I’m not sure.” He steps forward, taking me in his arms. “But if there is a Hellhound—or anything else from Hell—on the loose, you shouldn’t be here. Come back to Chicago with me. You’ll be safe in my house and I can order vampires to stand guard and keep you safe.”
“I’m not running with my tail tucked between my legs.” I slip my hands under his shirt, needing to feel his cool skin against my hands. “This is my town and I’m going to protect it. If there is something demonic here and it gets to the Ley line…I can’t let that happen. It’ll destroy Thorne Hill.”
His lips curve into a smile. “I had a feeling you’d say something like that. Though I still insist you come to Chicago with me during the day at least. I’ll be here with you at night. Demons in their true form are dangerous.”
“I know.” I inch forward, wrapping my arms around him. He pulls me into an embrace, one hand going to my hair. “And I know you’re used to being the big man on top—and I like you on top, trust me—but I can hold my own.” I tip my head up and look into his dark blue eyes.
He doesn’t say anything but instead kisses me. A growl comes from deep within, and he picks me up, still kissing me, and carries me in through the back door. We step into the kitchen and he sets me on the island counter.
“I’ve never,” he moans between kisses. “Had someone.” More kisses. He moves his lips to my neck. “Turn me on.” He draws his fangs and scrapes them over my skin. “This much.”
“I didn’t even do anything,” I pant, wrapping my legs around him. I’m sitting up, breasts pressed against him. I have one hand in his hair, and the other is holding onto his shoulder.
“You don’t even realize it.” He takes a small step back, undoing his pants, and then closes the distance between us, pinning me against him once more. His cock presses against me, and even though we just had sex, seeing him so wound up, so turned on for me, gets me going again too.
He retracts his fangs and kisses my neck, sending a shiver through me. Arching my back, I press my core against him before lying back, narrowly avoiding the decorative vase of flowers I have on the center of the counter. Lucas strips me of my leggings and underwear in one swift movement.
Then he drops down, burying his head between my legs. I prop myself up on my elbows, watching him work. The cold counter beneath me is uncomfortable, but I don’t care. Lucas grips my thighs and scoots me toward the edge of the counter, moving my legs over his shoulders.
His tongue lashes out against my clit with fury. My eyes fall shut and all I can think about it how good it feels, how close he’s getting me…how much I need this release. My heart beats a little faster, and I feel the orgasm start to build. Letting out a moan, I feel the muscles in my thighs tense.
“Don’t stop,” I pant. I need to come now. Everything came on so suddenly and if he stops now, I am using magic to push him away so I can finish myself. Because I’m so damn wound up right now.
Lucas growls in response and puts his mouth over me, licking and sucking and doing something else with his tongue that feels so fucking good. Only a few seconds later, I’m coming against his face, writhing with pleasure. He holds me in place, not stopping as the orgasm rolls through me. My pussy is spasming, pleasure flooding my veins. It takes over my whole body, tingling my toes and causing my ears to ring.
But he doesn’t stop there.
He keeps going, slipping a finger inside me
and pressing against my G-spot. This time, he just holds it there, and the added pressure during this orgasm is enough to send me over the edge. His tongue lashes out against my clit again, and the world spins around me. I feel myself tighten around his finger, pussy contracting like mad, and then another, more intense orgasm hits me so hard wetness spills from me, drenching his face. If I wasn’t floating on pleasure, I’d be embarrassed.
Though it seems to turn Lucas on. Moaning, he pulls his hand away, sliding it up my stomach, under my shirt, and over my breast. Then he straightens up and pulls me toward him, trying to get me to sit up so he can fuck me. But I’m still floating, still drowning in ecstasy. I attempt to sit up and falter. He slips one hand under my back and helps me up.
Hooking my arms around his neck, I widen my legs, welcoming him in. He thrusts inside, and my mouth falls open. I hold onto him as he rocks his hips against mine, driving that big cock in and out until he brings his head down, burying it against my neck as he comes.
With his cock still pulsing inside me, he steps away from the counter, holding me steady, and goes into the living room. He sinks on to the couch, with me still in his lap.
“That,” I start, voice all breathy. “That was unexpected.”
He smiles and brushes my hair back. “We’re good together.”
“Yeah,” I agree, resting my head against him. I take a deep breath, still not sure I can get up yet. Taking another minute to recover, I run my hand through his hair as he runs his fingertips up and down my back, hand under my shirt. “Want to take a shower?” I ask. “And this time I do mean together.”
“As much as I like having sex,” I start, flipping my head over to twist a towel around my hair. Steam billows out of the open bathroom door. “I need to come up with some sort of plan on how to, uh, do something about this Hell creature.”
“Spare me the specifics,” Lucas says sarcastically.
“I know,” I agree, straightening up and tucking the towel into place. I’m naked, as is Lucas, and I pad out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, going to my dresser to get a bra and underwear. “If this creature from Hell killed the other witches, then there should be dead patches of earth near where they were killed, right?”
Nodding, Lucas strides into the room and sits on my bed, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He leans back against the pillows, and I don’t think he has any intention of getting dressed anytime soon.
My laptop is on the nightstand next to him, and he grabs it and opens it up. “What’s your password?”
“Binx.”
“Clever.”
“It’s not the most creative, but it works.” I hook my bra and go over by him, looking at the computer. He enters something in a Google search, and the page takes a few seconds to load. The internet here can be slow here.
“Was the first witch killed in Michigan?” he asks, clicking on an article.
“Yeah, she was.” I sink down onto the bed, heart racing just from the headline of the article. Lucas scrolls down, and we only need to read the first paragraph to know the mysterious death of flowers in a botanical garden was caused by something demonic, not a rare strand of fungus.
“He’s in Thorne Hill to kill.”
“He is.” Lucas closes the computer and takes my hand. “Why would a demon from Hell kill witches? I thought you guys went way back with your old Master Satan.”
“Not so much anymore.” I make a face. “The belief that all witches get their powers from the Devil might have been true at one point, but we’ve realized over the centuries that’s not true. We don’t need him or any sort of darkness to power our magic. We’re born with it. Witches aren’t inherently evil.”
“I’d imagine then that this realization pissed the Devil off.”
“Oh, of course. And there are still some covens that practice in such a way, but like that town you saw destroyed…dark power like that always comes with a price. It’s not something I’ll ever mess around with.” I grab my hairbrush off my nightstand, pull off the towel off my head, and start brushing through my wet locks. “I can’t really explain it, but I just have a feeling the demon is the killer we’re looking for. Not a hunter. Not a vampire.” My voice drops off at my last word and I cast my eyes down, feeling almost guilty for thinking Lucas could be the killer.
Even though he still could be.
“Did you look for similarities between the victims?” he asks.
“Not yet.” I set the brush down. “Hang on.” I dash downstairs, grab my phone, and come back up. I quickly bring up Evander’s contact info and call him. He answers on the first ring, surprising me. Cell phones don’t work inside the Academy. Why isn’t he there?
“Callie, am I glad to hear from you,” he breathes, voice low.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Another body has been found.”
“Where?” I sit on the edge of my bed.
“A state park near the lake. The human police are involved.”
“Was it a witch?” I ask.
“We’re not sure, but it doesn’t seem like she belonged to a coven, though you and I both know that doesn’t mean she wasn’t a witch.”
“Shit,” I swear. “Where are you?”
“I’m at the crime scene, well, in proximity to it. There are too many police and news reporters involved to get closer, even with magic. And don’t worry, I’m not alone. Gregory is with me, as well as two council members. And we laid every protective charm we know on the door before leaving,” he adds.
“Are you going back to the Academy tonight?”
“Yes. I need to check on my students. You could come too. It’s safer here.”
“I’ll be fine here. I’m not alone either.” I lean over the bed and grab the remote, turning on the TV and flipping through the news channels until I find a live broadcast at the scene of the murder. “When you get back, can you send me all the info you have on the witches who’ve died?” I ask. “I have a hunch on something.”
“I will, but only if you promise me you won’t do something stupid.”
“When have I ever done something stupid?”
Evander laughs. “Do you really need me to remind you? Because I can.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Remember that time you got drunk and summoned a demon?”
“That happened once. And we killed it.”
“Fine. What about the time you married a poltergeist?”
“That was all part of my plan to get rid of him. And it worked, didn’t it?”
“Yes,” Evander agrees, chuckling. “This time, sister, it’s serious. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“I’ll send what I have once we get back. Is that why you called? To ask for information about the witches?”
“Partly. The other part is to tell you that I’m pretty sure the Gates of Hell have been opened.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I say, and goosebumps break out along my arm. “There’s a patch in the woods of dead trees and plants. And there’s sulfur in the dirt. And a quick internet search tells me that a similar situation happened in the same area the first witch died.”
“I’ll have the Council alerted. Stay safe, Callie. Keep your familiars close.”
“You too.”
I end the call and turn the volume up on the TV.
“You married a poltergeist?” Lucas asks, raising an eyebrow. Right. Vampires have good hearing. He could hear our entire conversation.
“Not legally. I had him think we were getting married, so he’d release the women he kidnapped and locked in a basement.”
“Just when I think you can’t surprise me anymore.” He shakes his head and reaches for me, snagging my wrist with his long fingers. He tugs me back toward him, and I rest my head on his chest as we watch the news unfold.
A young woman whose name isn’t being released yet was found dead along the trails of the state park. The reporter describes the scene as
“gruesome and bloody,” and that police initially thought her death might have been due to an animal attack, but after seeing defensive wounds on the girl’s hands and arms, the homicide team was brought in.
The attack must have just happened. There’s no way Lucas could have done it. I shouldn’t feel relief when a young, innocent woman was just killed.
But I do.
Lucas is far from innocent, but he’s not the witch hunter.
“It seems the killer was interrupted by the hikers before he was able to burn the body,” Lucas states, seemingly unfazed by the news. “Though I’m curious as to why he didn’t kill them too.”
“Maybe there were too many?”
“Perhaps.”
“I should text Kristy. Make sure she knows. And the twins.” Sighing, I open up the group text message we had going after the resurrection spell and tell them all to be extra careful. I set my phone done. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Just relax for now.” Lucas turns the TV off.
“Are you hungry?”
“You don’t have to keep asking me that, Callie.” He brushes my wet hair back.
“I don’t know the etiquette on it.” I snuggle up a little closer. “Or how often you need to eat. Like, do you still eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Do you eat when you’re bored? Emotional? Well, as emotional as you get, I suppose.”
“Vampires don’t eat on a fixed schedule like humans do. When I’m hungry, I’ll feed. When I’m not, I won’t.”
“You can’t gain weight, right?”
“No.”
“That’s almost not fair. Though all you eat is blood. Do you miss food at all?”
“Not at all. At first, just the smell of food makes your stomach churn. It doesn’t bother me anymore, but I don’t find it appetizing in the least.”
“So, you were in this good of shape before you were turned?” I run my fingers along the grooves of his abs.
“I was.” He leaves it at that, not going into more detail about what he did or who he was sixteen hundred years ago. And I know better than to ask. Instead, I close my eyes and hook a leg over Lucas’s. My head is on his chest, yet there’s no heartbeat to listen to. It’s odd and a little unsettling.