Call of Night (Thorne Hill 3)

“Not lately. Why, you have someone you want to be catified?”

“Catified?”

“Or any other animal. I can’t promise it’ll work, though.”

She lets out a snort of laughter and tips her head, watching me. I’ve been in Chicago for three days, and the lack of communication from my coven is starting to really bother me, which is why Lucas suggested I get out of the house and go out tonight. He should be done with whatever he’s doing soon.

“What about a vampire?” Eliza asks. “Do you think you could transfigure a vampire?”

“I’m not sure,” I answer honestly. “Maybe? Though transfiguring them back would be much harder. You do have someone you want cursed, don’t you?”

Her shoulders fall up and down in a shrug. “Not currently, but it’s always good to have options.”

Two guys come over to the table, sipping whiskey out of Mason jars. “We couldn’t help but notice you were drinking alone,” the one with a beard says.

“I know she’s easy to overlook, but I’m not alone,” Eliza retorts and draws her fangs. “And I don’t drink.”

“I told you she was one,” the other guy says to beard-guy. “That’s so hot.”

Eliza rolls her eyes. “It is, I know.”

“Can I buy you a bottle of blood then?” non-beard guy asks. “Or offer you something a little fresher?”

“No thanks, I already ate.” Eliza forces another smile. She’s acting annoyed, but I know she’s eating the attention up.

“What about your friend?” beard-guy asks, looking at me. “Does she want a drink?”

“She’s not my friend, she already has a drink, and trust me when I say she’s crazy.”

“I like crazy,” beard-guy laughs and takes another sip of whiskey.

“Not this kind of crazy.” Eliza tips her head and sniffs the air. “Speaking of crazy,” she huffs, and I follow her gaze to the front of the bar. The lighting is dim already, and the energy shifts, making almost everyone stop and stare at the two redheaded bombshells that just walked in.

“Naomi and Nicole!” I exclaim, getting up so fast I almost trip over beard-guy. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to see you, dummy,” Naomi says dryly. “And it’s our half-birthday. We’re going out tonight and taking you with.”

“You celebrate your half-birthday?” Eliza looks Naomi up and down and then checks out Nicole. They’re twins but aren’t identical.

“Why not?” Naomi sinks into a chair across from Eliza and grins. “I’ll take any excuse to celebrate how awesome I am.”

Eliza holds her gaze for a second and then smiles back. “I like the way you think. Drinks on the house tonight. What do you want?”

“Surprise me.” Naomi leans forward, raising her eyebrows. Eliza’s smile grows and she gets up, moving with vampire speed to the bar. Kristy comes in the bar a minute later, throwing her arms around me as soon as she gets to the table.

“It’s only been like a week and I miss you.” She takes a seat next to me. “You two could have waited for me. Finding parking is a bitch around here, you know.”

Naomi laughs. “We like to make an entrance.”

“You like to make an entrance,” Nicole counters. “And I agree with Kristy. I’ve missed you too, Callie. It’s total bullshit you were suspended.”

“Tabatha had to do something drastic. She’s been accused of favoring me before.”

“Because she does,” everyone says at the same time and we all laugh.

“Have you heard anything?” I run my finger down the water glass, wiping away a few more beads of condensation.

“Nothing good,” Naomi says quickly. “But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to look hot, get drunk, and live our best lives tonight.”

“I can get behind that,” I say.

“Good. Because that’s what we’re doing.” Naomi looks over at the bar. “Who’s the hot blonde again? I was a little distracted trying not to be eaten by zombies the last time we met.”

“That’s Eliza. She’s Lucas’s vampire daughter or whatever you’d consider her.”

“Does she like to party?”

“I don’t think she likes to have fun. At all.” I watch Eliza come back over to the table, carrying a tray of drinks with perfect grace, impressive for how fast she’s moving.

“Now I just don’t believe that.” Naomi picks up her drink and licks sugar off the rim before taking a drink. “This is good. I say we pregame here and then find something a little more lively.”

“Pregame?” Eliza sets the rest of the drinks down on the table.

“It means drink before you go out drinking and is something college-aged people do, not us old people,” Kristy laughs.

“I know what pregaming means,” Eliza snaps.

“Told you she likes to have fun.” Naomi leans back and smiles. “It’s just too bad you can’t get drunk.”

“Oh, I can.” Eliza puts her hands on the table, smiling in a way that shows off her fangs. She’s used to being able to scare humans this way, but won’t get the same reaction from me or my friends. “If the person I’m feeding from is drunk enough.”

“Then come out with us. I’d love to see that.”

“Really?” Nicole looks at her twin incredulously.

“What?” Naomi innocently shrugs. “Tonight is about having fun and forgetting about the bullshit going on within our own coven. Though if I drink enough tonight you might be able to convince me to start our own.”

“Ugh, witches and drama.” Eliza rolls her eyes again, which I’m realizing is a signature move for her. “But you know what, I’m bored. Watching you four get drunk and act like idiots is better than reality TV.”

“Perfect,” Naomi says, picking up her drink. “Let’s get this party started.”

“I love this song!” Kristy loops her arm though mine. We’re two bars into bar hopping our way around Chicago, and if we keep drinking at the rate we are, we aren’t going to make it to very many more bars after this.

Which is fine with me.

I’m having fun with my friends, and the most shocking thing of all is that I think Eliza might be having fun too. She spent the first hour making snide comments, but she either stopped or maybe I’m just drunk enough now not to notice.

“Dance with me!” I suck down the rest of my drink, not wanting to leave it unattended, and get off the leather couch I was sitting on. We’re at some swanky bar that is bordering on a nightclub downtown. This place is hard to get into, and we might have used magic to put our names on the guest list. The DJ here today is someone famous, but their name rang no bell for me.

“That guy over there is totally eye-fucking you, Callie.” Nicole, who’s just as drunk as I am, wraps her arms around me and laughs. “Or maybe he’s eye-fucking me. Because I’m standing here now.”

“Where?” I lean back, obviously looking in his direction.

“No, don’t look now!” Nicole giggles.

“Ohhh, he’s cute!”

“You think so?”

Kristy spins in a circle, looking around for the guy. “I do! If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”

“Go talk to him,” I say, not sure which friend I’m encouraging to go hit on the hot guy by the bar. “I need to pee.” I slip out of Nicole’s arms and weave my way through the crowd to find the bathroom. I’m happily drunk, aware that I’m just about at my limit of having too much if I keep drinking.

I use the bathroom and then stop at the mirror to put on more lipstick.

“I love your hair,” a very drunk girl tells me, wobbling her way out of the bathroom stall and over to the sink.

“Thank you. Yours is really pretty too.”

“Aww, you think so?” She looks at herself in the mirror. “I can’t get it to hold a curl like yours, though. How’d you do it?”

“Magic.”

“I wish I could do magic!”

“It is very handy.”