Maybe vampires don’t have a concept of PDA?
He tears his eyes away from me and looks at my friends. “You came back to fight a Third Hierarchy demon with daggers and Mason jars full of water?”
“Just a few drops of this potion will end you, bloodsucker,” Naomi warns. She looks at me and smiles. “And what can I say? I guess we’re just as crazy as she is.”
I smile, feeling all emotional again. And then I start coughing. Lucas takes me in his arms, looking a bit panicked.
“I’m…I’m okay,” I choke out, wincing. My throat feels like sandpaper.
“You sound sick.”
“I’m not sick,” I assure him, realizing that a bad sounding cough like this could mean death back in his human days. Was that the last time he dealt with human illness? “I need to cough up all the, uh, shit I inhaled.”
“You should get yourself checked out,” Naomi insists. “Kristy is right. Inhaling smoke is hard on your system, and who knows what hellfire does to a mortal.”
“I’m taking you home,” Lucas tells me. “You can deal with the coven in the morning.”
I don’t have the strength to argue with anyone, and Binx is starting to sense how shitty I feel. He’ll force me into my bed and tuck me in if he has to.
“Yes,” Kristy agrees. “Go home. We’ll talk to the coven.”
“What will you tell them?” I ask.
“No one else knows the identity of the demon,” Naomi says softly. “Maybe it’s best we keep it that way. Fighting Third Hierarchy demons and turning hellfire blue…that’s not something a witch can do.” Her eyes land on mine. “This demon was after you for a reason, and I think we should be the ones to figure it out before we go blabbing to others how things really went down.”
“That makes sense.” Kristy’s head moves up and down. “Don’t worry about it, Callie. The four of us have talked our way out of compromising situations plenty of times.”
“So, you’re a trouble magnet,” Lucas starts and then looks at my friends. “And they are too.”
“What can I say?” Naomi grins. “Everyone wanted to join our badass girl gang back in our Academy days.” She strides over, taking my hand. “Now go home and rest. We didn’t risk everything coming back here to save your ass just to have you get sick and die.”
I roll my eyes, smiling back at her. “I’m going. Trust me, I want nothing more than a hot shower and crawling into my bed next to this guy.”
“Spare me the details.” Naomi winks. “Actually, don’t. If vampire sex is half as good as they say…”
“It’s even better,” I loudly whisper and then start coughing again. Lucas rubs my back, looking more and more concerned.
“I’m taking you home, now.” He goes to pick me up, but I hold up a hand.
“There are like a dozen bodies of the possessed scattered throughout the woods. They didn’t look like they’ve been dead all that long. They might have family looking for them.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Kristy assures me. “Go home and get in bed. You sound awful.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind trying to ID and/or dispose of bodies for me?”
Kristy’s hand lands on my shoulder. “What are friends for?”
CHAPTER 34
I wake up coughing, having rolled over in my sleep and am facing the window. The sun is creeping up, casting a muted glow throughout my room. Lucas’s hand lands on my back, startling me. I roll over, eyes locking with his. “You’re still here.”
“I didn’t want to leave you.”
“But it’s almost dawn.”
“I know.”
“The spell from the other day might not work.” I snuggle closer to him and he pulls the blanket up over my shoulder.
“That’s okay.” He slides his hand under the blanket and runs his fingertips up and down my arm.
“You’ll burn.”
“I’ll leave before that happens. Your basement is dark. It’s not the worst place I’ve waited out the sun.” He kisses my forehead. “Go back to sleep. You need to rest.”
“I need a drink first.” I slowly sit up, coughing again, and reach for the glass of water on my nightstand.
“Do you feel any better?” Lucas pushes himself up, looking at me with concern. We’re both naked, having gone right into bed after taking a shower. Lucas brushed the tangles out of my hair and then rubbed my back until I fell asleep, which was pretty much instantly. Commanding the hellfire took a lot out of me.
All three of my familiars are in bed with us, acting like typical cats and hogging most of the bed.
“Yeah,” I tell him, setting the now-empty glass on my nightstand. “I’m still tired, though I’ve never been a morning person.”
Lucas smiles, but the concern is still obvious on his face. “I don’t like hearing you cough like that.”
“I’m human. I’m going to get sick every now and then. I don’t get sick very often at least. Actually, I don’t remember the last time I was sick.” Yawning, I lay back down, hoping I’ll fall asleep again with him still with me. “There are blankets downstairs. And extra pillows. So you can make yourself comfortable.”
“I will. And I plan to borrow a book or two from your interesting collection.” His eyes are on the bookshelf in my room, which is full of romance novels. “T.L. Smith seems to be one of your favorite authors.”
“She is. Her books are dark, sexy, and a little fucked-up. Kind of like you,” I tease, lazily rolling over in his arms.
“I am so fucking glad you are mine,” he whispers, holding me tight. “I love you, Callie.”
“I love you too.” I open my eyes again, looking at his handsome face. “I didn’t want to fall in love with you, you know. I tried hard not to.”
“I’m a bad influence.”
“The worst.”
“Go back to sleep.” His hand lands on the back of my head and he brings his head down, kissing my forehead. “You need to rest so I can fuck you tonight.”
“Such a romantic.” Smiling and cuddled up in Lucas’s arms, I close my eyes and drift back to sleep, not waking for several more hours.
“What?” I groan, pulling the blankets up over my head. Binx is meowing at me, standing on my pillow.
“I think he wants you to know someone is here,” Lucas says, and I open my eyes. It’s daylight, and my room is annoyingly bright right now.
“You’re here.” I blink a few times and look at the window. “The window is still enchanted?”
“Yes,” he chuckles. “The spell held.”
“Who’s here?” I push up, running my hands through my messy hair. Binx tells me it’s Tabatha, and she’s walking up to the front door now. “Let her in and tell her I’ll be right down,” I tell my familiar and then collapse back into Lucas’s arms.
“You seemed to have slept soundly.” His hand goes right to my thigh, fingers inching in toward my core.
“I did. I dreamed I bought that white house a few miles away. You were helping me renovate it and we found a hidden closet full of haunted items.”
“Is that a good dream?”
“The best. This house was haunted when I first moved in, you know. I find ghosts to be tragically compelling.”
“You are so fucking weird, and I can’t get enough of it,” Lucas flips us over, pinning me between his body and the mattress. “Never in all of my years did I think I’d find someone like you.”
“You must have been looking in the wrong places.” I bend my knees up, trying to be sexy, and then have to turn my head and cough.
Lucas slowly shakes his head back and forth. “I used to think fate was a fucking joke made up by people who couldn’t take control of their own lives. But maybe…maybe I walked alone for centuries because I was supposed to wait for you.”
“Dammit, Lucas,” I say when tears spring to my eyes. He kisses me hard, tongue pushing into my mouth. I moan as he grinds himself against me, forgetting everything else around us.
“G
o,” he says, suddenly breaking away. “Talk to your High Priestess. And then come back and get naked again.”
Laughing, I get out of bed, quickly get dressed in sleeper shorts and an oversized t-shirt. I use the bathroom and then go downstairs, finding Tabatha in the living room. She wraps me in a hug as soon as I enter the room.
She smells like sage and lavender, and the smell is instantly comforting. She releases me from her embrace and holds me at arm’s length, looking me up and down. I smeared Kristy’s healing balm on my cheek before passing out, and the cut is almost healed by now. But I’m sure I still look ragged, because I feel ragged.
“My darling girl,” Tabatha starts, eyes full of emotion. She holds my gaze for a moment and then swallows what she’s feeling, getting down to business. “You have a vampire upstairs.”
“Yes, he’s, uh, my boyfriend.”
Pursing her lips, she cocks one eyebrow. “You know I don’t like to be accused of playing favorites,” she starts. “But, if what I’ve been told is true, that vampire risked his afterlife for you last night. And for that, I will pretend as if I do not know about this arrangement. You know how the Grand Coven feels about witch-vampire relationships.”
“I do,” I tell her. “But Lucas isn’t like other vampires.”
She holds up her hand. “The less I know, the better. Because I do not know about your new boyfriend at all.”
I nod in understanding. “Is everyone in the coven okay? There was a couple here last night, with a little boy and girl. They seemed pretty freaked out.”
“As they should be.” Tabatha closes her eyes, looking away for a moment. She quickly flicks away a tear and then turns back to me. “What happened, my child?”
I take a deep breath and sit on the couch. Binx jumps up next to me, and I run my hand over his sleek fur. Tabatha takes a seat on the love seat next to me and I tell her everything, from the creepy visions, to being called a half-breed, and to somehow knowing a spell that turned the hellfire against the demon.
“Is there something wrong with me?” I ask, voice breaking. Tabatha’s gaze wavers, but she recovers fast.
“Of course not, Callie. You are one of the most extraordinary witches I’ve ever met.”
“Why would he call me a half-breed?”
She looks out the window, and I hate that I get the feeling she’s withholding a truth from me. “Demons lie, as you know. This particular one had a vendetta against us. Saying anything he could to get under your skin, to make you vulnerable, worked in his favor.”
“You don’t think I’m a half-breed?”
“You are a witch,” she says with certainty. “One I practically raised myself. If you were anything but, I’d know.” She pulls a potion vial from her robe pocket. “That cough hasn’t gotten any better, has it?”
“Kristy said something, didn’t she?”
“Of course. That’s one loyal friend you have there.”
“I know.” I smile, heart feeling all warm and fuzzy when I think about her. Tabatha hands me the vial. “What is this?”
“A health elixir I drafted myself. Take it and go back to sleep. You’ll wake feeling refreshed.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course, my dear girl.” She stands and takes my hand. “I must get back to the coven. I’m meeting with the High Priest from the Circle of the Crescent Moon. I’m ordering you, as your High Priestess, to take that elixir and sleep for another four hours at least.”
“I can handle that.” I give her hand a squeeze. Now that she’s High Priestess, Tabatha is busy attending to our coven. She was busy before as Headmistress of the Academy, but back in my younger years, I was able to go into her office at night. It was strange, how homesick I became for those long nights I spent sitting on that green settee in her office, waiting to hear my punishment for breaking a school rule, once I returned to my non-magical family.
The pain was too much to bear, and for the first three years I spent at the Academy, I enjoyed my summer holiday at the Greystones, hanging out with Evander and learning everything I could about magic.
“You know I love you like my own daughter.” Tabatha gently smooths out my hair.
“I do. And I love you too.”
“Be careful, darling. If one demon went through all that to find you, I fear others might follow suit.”
I know her words to be true, and I knew it before she even said it. Still, hearing it out loud sends a shock through me.
“If another comes after me again, I’ll be ready.”
“We all will be.” She kisses my cheek and I see her out, watching her disappear through the yard. I go into the kitchen, groaning at my lack of groceries, and settle for a Pop-Tart and a glass of water. My milk is expired and there’s no point in making coffee if I’m going to go back to sleep. After eating, I go upstairs, brush my teeth, and refill my water glass.
“What’s that?” Lucas asks, seeing the potion vial in my hand.
“A health elixir. It should help with my cough, but it will probably make me pass out again.”
“If it makes you better, then take it,” he encourages. “I’ll be here with you until you wake. I’ll keep you safe.”
I pop the cork out of the vial. “I know you will.”
“Do you have to go back to Chicago?”
“Not tonight.” Lucas pulls the blanket up over my shoulder, keeping the slight breeze from chilling my skin. Insisting we check off another area of the house from my never-had-sex-there list, Lucas and I just made love on the back porch.
“Good,” I say, not caring if I’m being selfish. I don’t want him to leave even though I know he has his own troubles to deal with. I snuggle closer, heart fluttering. “I sleep better when you’re next to me.”
“Are you tired again, my love?”
“A little. But I don’t want to move.” The forest is alive with the sounds of night and even though we’re laying on top of a sleeping bag and covered only with a sheet, I’m comfortable. It has everything to do with laying here with Lucas, I know.
“Come to the city with me tomorrow.” He inches his fingers down between my thighs. I’m still wet, still revved up and sensitive from having sex not that long ago. “I’ll attend to my business during the day and will take you out again at night.”
“During the day?”
“You didn’t notice, did you?”
“Notice what?” I ask.
“The bar has few windows, and they have similar blinds as my house. It’s light-tight during the day. We have ways to travel during the day now, you know.”
“Right. I almost forgot Uber came out with a vampire service last year.” I rest my hand on the slight curve of his waist. “And going out for another date night sounds really nice.”
“Anything to show you off,” he says with a smile. “Though it’s almost a shame the world has no idea just how incredible you are.”
“You know. That’s enough for me.”
Lucas moves over the top of me, and I widen my legs, feeling his cock brush against my clit. Letting out a moan, I drag my nails down his back.
“Now that the demon is gone, what are you going to do?” Lucas asks, lips going to my neck.
“Go back to work and get ready for the next monster to attack.” I bring a hand up, raking my fingers through his hair.
“Do you like working?”
“Yeah, overall. I mean, I’d rather get paid to do nothing, but I love to read, and being my own boss is nice.”
“You don’t have to work. I have a lot of money. You’re mine, and that means I take care of you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. You’ve proven time and time again how you can.”
“I do like the idea of having an undead sugar daddy,” I laugh. “Though I think I’ll get bored not working.”
Lucas lifts his head, looking at me incredulously. “Really?”
“Fine, probably not. I’m a bit of a trouble magnet.”
/> “You are, which, if I’m being honest, is part of what makes me love you.”
“Well, good, because you’re in for a lot more trouble just by being around me.”
He kisses me, deep and passionate, and then takes me in his arms. We stay tangled together for a while longer before getting up and going into the house. Lucas drank from me during sex, and the loss of blood is making me feel a little lightheaded and a lot hungry.
“I’m in desperate need to go grocery shopping,” I say, holding the sheet around my body as I look through the fridge.
“Let’s go out.”
“Burgers and fries do sound good.” I close the fridge and go upstairs to get dressed. I smile at my reflection, heart feeling full. I still have a shitstorm of family drama to deal with, and a million unanswered questions about why I was singled out by a high-powered demon and who the blue-eyed man was…if he was even real at all.
But I’m so fucking happy and in love.
I run a brush through my messy hair and throw on a black dress, heels, and red lipstick. Lucas and I walk out to his car together, and I magically seal up my house after promising my familiars that I’ll bring them back something to eat.
We have to stop and get gas before making it to the restaurant. None of the pumps are accepting credit cards at the moment, so I go in with Lucas to pay the cashier, wanting to grab a bottle of water. Having Lucas drink my blood makes me constantly thirsty. We get up to the register to pay, and the doors open behind us. The cashier, who’s facing the door, looks up and screams.
Lucas and I whirl around, seeing two men in ski masks come in, guns raised. Lucas tips his head my way, raising one eyebrow in question. I give him a little nod and wiggle my fingers, conjuring a string of magic.
“Put your hands up!” one of the masked men shouts and points his gun at Lucas. The cashier screams again and drops to the floor.
“Ready to have some fun, babe?” Lucas asks, drawing his fangs.