Dark of Night (Thorne Hill 2)

“You’re not seriously going to trust this witch, are you?” the guy Lucas grabbed by the throat asks, coughing as he rubs at his neck. “And that vampire?” He doesn’t make any attempt to lower his voice. “Really, Easton? A witch and a vampire? Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“You don’t have much of a choice,” I snap. “I have bigger issues to handle, so you’re either coming with us now or not at all.”

“Bigger problems than a hulked-out wendigo?” Easton raises his eyebrows. “Never mind.” He looks at the other hunters. “We’re following them. Now.”

He races over to Melinda, who’s leaning against a tree, and helps her to her feet.

“What the hell is going on?” Lucas asks me, not taking his eyes off the hunters. “You know them?”

“Only Easton and Melinda. We met years ago when I was sixteen. They were ordered to kill a witch, and I was said witch.”

“They tried to kill you, and you want to help them?”

“Melinda never tried to kill me.” I shake my head, not wanting to get into it now. “It’s a long story, and it’s one I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need to get them to the house and inside the warding so we can go back out there and kill that wendigo, close the crack, and fix the Ley line.”

Lucas isn’t happy with any of this, but he nods. “Fine. But if they so much as look at you wrong, I’m ripping their throats out.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

The energy shifts again, but this time the shift is welcome. Binx, Freya, and Pandora, shadow around everyone, freaking out the hunters. Lucas gloats in their fear, and Binx zeroes in on Easton, who’s helping his injured sister walk through the overgrown forest.

“What the fuck are those?” one of the hunters asks, raising his gun.

“My familiars, you idiot,” I say, rolling my eyes at his raised gun. You can’t shoot a spirit.

“I don’t like them.”

“Funny, they don’t like you either.” Binx circles me, red eyes glowing bright in the dark. He darts behind me, shoving Easton to the ground, bringing Melinda down with him.

“I see he remembers me,” Easton says, getting to his feet and helping his sister up. “And still doesn’t like me.”

Binx shifts back into cat-form, looking so small and innocent on purpose as a way to tease Easton. Meowing, he runs forward and falls in step with me.

“He’d rip you to shreds if I let him,” I say.

“That makes two of us,” Lucas grumbles, and Binx meows in agreement. The same childlike voice calls out, sending a chill down my spine.

“We need to hurry,” I say, and Lucas and I pick up the pace. Freya and Pandora stay behind us, keeping us safe from the hunters should they try anything.

“Where are we going?” one of the hunters asks.

“My house,” I tell him, stealing a glance over my shoulder.

“Our house is closer,” Lucas says. “I don’t know if she can make it much longer.”

“Crap. You’re right. We can get them there and then come back with a car. The warding should hold.”

Leaves crunch several feet away, and everyone freezes. All the hunters raise their weapons, and it’s all I can do not to telekinetically shove them down before they hurt someone. My familiars surround me, and Lucas darts forward, able to smell the scrapper before any of us can even see him.

He plunges his hand through the demon’s chest, pulling out and crushing its heart.

“Thanks,” I tell him as he drops it to the ground. “Let’s not forget to add this one to our pile of scrappers to burn.”

The hunters look at Lucas with fear in their eyes, fingers itching to pull the trigger. Hunters are dangerous to people like Lucas and me, for obvious reasons. They know how to kill vampires and how to ward off witches. Luckily for us, Lucas is much stronger than the average vampire and I’m far from a typical witch.

We emerge from the woods and into the overgrown lawn of the big white house. I stop in front of the circle I cast and hold up my hands, creating a door for everyone to go through. Lucas stays by my side. Easton and Melinda go through first. She’s limping bad, with blood soaking through her jeans. Her face is pale and sweat drips down her forehead. She’s not in good shape at all.

“Like hell I’m going in there,” one of the hunters grumbles, grabbing the younger one who tried to shoot Lucas by the collar. “It’s a trap.”

“Suit yourself,” I say and start to lower my hands, closing the door. “I’m not staying out there with the beefed-up wendigo.”

“Get your ass in here,” Easton hisses, and the other hunters follow suit.

Once everyone is in, I close the door and recast the circle, just to be safe. Melinda is leaning against Easton, looking like she’s going to pass out. Lucas rushes up the steps to the front door, pulling the keys from his pocket. I put a house key on my key ring, and I’m impressed he didn’t lose the keys while we were running for our lives.

“Hey, Callie,” Melinda says through gritted teeth. “It’s been a while. You look good.”

“It has been a while, and thanks. You look, well, terrible.”

She laughs, wincing in pain. “I know.” Her eyes go from me to Lucas. “So, what the fuck is worse than that wendigo? Is the apocalypse starting or something?”

Lucas unlocks the front door and opens it wide. “Or something.”

“You’re serious?” Melinda huffs as Easton helps her forward. Two hunters go in, flashlights on and guns raised.

“It’s safe,” I say dryly. “We already killed the zombie in the attic.” I toss an energy ball up to light up the foyer, well aware the hunters are looking at me like I’m the Wicked Witch of the West. Easton sits Melinda down on the stairs and Lucas closes the door.

“How bad is it?” I ask, looking down at Melinda’s leg.

“Bad,” Lucas answers for her. “Her blood pressure is dropping, and her heart rate is slow.”

“She needs to go to the hospital,” Easton says and pulls his phone from his back pocket. “Dammit! I have no service!” He’s a hunter by birth, just like Melinda. They didn’t ask for this life, and it’s the only thing that granted them any forgiveness from me, Evander, and Tabatha after Easton was ordered by his father to execute me.

“I can cauterize the wound,” I offer, going over to Melinda. “It’ll hurt, but at least will stop the bleeding.”

“Do it,” Melinda says through gritted teeth.

“What? No!” Easton protests.

“Then enjoy watching her bleed to death,” I quip. “Unless…” I look at Lucas. “Unless you can go to the house and get my car. It’s not like we can call an ambulance to drive into the woods. We can meet them at the crossroad that leads to the highway.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone with them.” Lucas shows his fangs when he talks. All of the hunters tense, knowing Lucas could gut them all in under a minute.

But I could do much worse if I wanted to.

“I’ll be fine. Binx won’t let anyone near me, and you’re the fastest and strongest out of all of us.”

Easton’s jaw tenses, not liking that he’s not the Top Dog in the room. It was one of the problems we had in our relationship even before I found out he was trying to kill me.

“We need to get her out of here so we can kill the wendigo, fix the you-know-what before it infects the entire town, and make sure Kristy is okay.”

Lucas zeroes his gaze in on me, able to sense the anxiety coming off me in waves. “Fine,” he finally says. “There’s one thing I have to do before I

leave.” He zooms over to the other hunters, who raise their weapons at him. In seconds, Lucas has them all disarmed and is holding them spellbound. “If you so much as look at Callie wrong, you will be overcome with crippling pain, dropping to your knees, making you unable to move.”

Easton starts to get up to try and stop Lucas, but Melinda stops him. She’s scared of Lucas and it’s written all over her face. She was scared of me too when we first met.

Lucas breaks the hold he has on the hunters, wanting them to be well aware of what he’s saying when he threatens to pull their spines out if they harm a hair on my head. I walk with him to the front door and throw my arms around him before he steps outside.

“Be careful,” I say, pushing up onto my toes so I can kiss him. “Wendigos are smart, making them dangerous even without the added strength.”

“I will be. And you too. I don’t trust them.”

“You only trust two people, and one of them is right here.”

His lips curve into a slight smile. “True. It’s done me well so far.” He leans down, kisses me hard, and then disappears into the dark of night.

Chapter 27

My heart aches, and my stomach twists with worry. Lucas is strong. He’s fast. He’ll be able to get to the house before the wendigo can catch him…and honestly, I don’t even know if a wendigo would go after a vampire.

They eat the living. Vampires are dead.

I close the door and turn around, coming face to face with all the hunters. My familiars stand in front of me, sitting tall and swishing their tails, letting everyone in the room know they will shift into shadow form and fuck shit up if they have to.

“What’s going on out there?” Melinda asks, gritting her teeth and pushing up against the stairs. “You said it was…was something.”

“It is something.” I go to the window, wiping away dust, and look out. The Ley line is pulsing again, and I hope each burst of energy doesn’t further fuel the demons. “What are you doing here? Coming into Thorne Hill is suicide.” I whirl around, cocking an eyebrow. “The Grand Coven was just here. Consider yourself lucky I’m the one who ran into you.”