Still of Night (Thorne Hill 4)

Arranging the crystals in a little circle in front of me, I pick up the bowl of ground-up herbs, invoking their powers. Then I add them to the oil and use it to anoint the candle. I set it down inside the little circle of crystals and pick up the athame.

I press the tip of the blade into the skin on my forearm, grimacing as I make a tiny cut. I watch the blood pool on my skin, waiting until there’s enough to carefully scrape up with the blade.

“Blood to blood, flame to flame,” I start chanting and bring the blade over the candle, dripping my blood onto the flame. “What you have is mine to claim. I take it back, drop to drop, and your interest in me will now stop.”

The flame shoots up, growing several inches taller than before. I close my eyes and envision the tubes filled with my blood. I see it boiling, getting so hot the little glass containers burst open. Setting the athame on the ground, I run my finger over the cut, then smear that blood on the candle. As it melts down, the spell will continue to work destroying my blood until it’s unusable for further research.

I circle my hand around the candle, creating a magical barrier to keep the wind from blowing out the flame. Grabbing the athame, I get up and go into the house. I’m starving, and my familiars are still waiting for me to cook for them.

“I need to go to the grocery store,” I say as I’m walking back into the house. Right as I get onto the first step of the back porch, I hear someone whisper my name. I whirl around, though it’s strange how I can tell that voice didn’t come from anywhere, but was inside my head.

“Did you hear something?” I ask just to be sure. None of my familiars did. I know better than to shake something like this off. I hold up my hands and add an extra protection spell to the circles I’ve previously laid around the house. Letting out a breath, I go inside and go right for the fridge.

“You’re bleeding.”

Lucas suddenly appears next to me, moving silently through the house.

“Bells,” I mutter. “You need to wear bells.”

Lucas grabs my arm and looks at the little cut. “You’re bleeding,” he repeats.

“It was intentional. Do you, uh, want to lick it? Is that gross? Like eating leftovers?” I shake my head at myself. I never thought I’d be having conversations like this.

“Why did you cut yourself?” Lucas wets a towel and wipes up the smeared blood.

“You know when I was dying and Abby was trying to run blood work to figure out what was wrong with me?”

“Yes.”

“She sent a few vials of my blood to a friend in a private lab to look at, and that friend just got back to her and told her she found properties in the blood that weren’t human.”

Lucas’s dark blue eyes widen. “What lab?”

“I’ve already taken care of it.”

“How?”

“I’m a witch, remember?” I hold up my hand, conjuring a string of blue magic. “I cast a spell to basically cause my blood in the vials to boil, ruining it for further testing.”

“Good.”

“I’m glad Abby found out and let me know before it became a bigger deal.” I shut the fridge. “I need to deep clean the kitchen and then go grocery shopping. Actually, I’m going shopping first. I’m hungry and bacon sounds really good.”

He pulls me into an embrace, burying his face against my neck to smell the sunlight on my skin.

“How did things go last night?” I ask him, hooking my arms around his neck.

“Good. I’ll be purchasing both properties.”

“And the diner?”

“You’ll be happy to know it is profitable, and with a few changes implemented, it will be even more so. I’ll keep it.”

I smile. “Yes! Free coffee and bacon for me! Though we need to talk about the coffee. It’s terrible and you cannot change it. The terrible coffee at Suzy’s is infamous and is what helps Curlew Café stay in business. Actually, a black coffee from Curlew sounds really good right now. I’m probably going to have to stop in and get one on my way to the grocery store.”

“Are you leaving soon?”

“Yeah. I’m hungry.”

“Should you take one of your familiars with you?”

“I can,” I reply. “Just to be safe.”

“Hey, Callie!” Stevie looks up from behind the counter. I just stepped into Curlew Café and the wonderful smell of coffee fills the air. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, I was out of town.” It was the lie we told for me being in Chicago, which I suppose really isn’t a lie at all. I was out of town. But instead of a vacation, I was there to avoid suspicion with the Grand Coven.

“Well, you look great. Some rest does you good.”

I smile. “Thanks.”

“The usual?”

“Yeah, and…” I look down at my phone, needing to read the rest of the order to her. “A white chocolate mocha, a large cold brew, and one caramel macchiato I texted Kristy on my way into town asking what she and the others who are working today want. Part of me misses the old days when it was just me, Kristy, and Betty at the store.

I didn’t know who I really was then. It was simpler.

But I also didn’t know Lucas.

I put in the drink order and sit at a nearby table, pulling out my phone. I’m in charge of Novel Ground’s social media account and I’ve been slacking terribly lately.

Though hunting demons, almost dying, and finding out I’m a Nephilim seems like as legit of an excuse as I can get.

Once the coffees are ready, I stage them all on the table along with a paperback that I had in my purse and take a few photos. I quickly put on a filter, write out a shitty caption, and throw it up on the store’s Instagram page. I’ll bring one of my familiars in with me soon. Everyone loves the photos of them I post.

Curlew is within walking distance from Novel Grounds, like most things are in downtown Thorne Hill. There’s a strong sense of community here, which is what draws so many people to this town, and the historic buildings downtown have been well maintained over the years.

“Hey,” I say to Betty, who’s sitting behind the counter, as soon as I walk into the store.

“Callie, hey!” She gets up and takes two of the coffees from my hands before I dropped them. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. How was your vacation? Wait, you’re not supposed to be back yet.”

I laugh. “It was a nice break, but we came back to check on the progress of our house.” It’s the first thing that comes to my mind, and isn’t really a lie. Lucas and I did come into town to look at the house.

“We?” She sets the coffees on the counter. “You mean your boyfriend, Lucas?”

“Yeah,” I say with a nod, and try to think back. She knows he’s a vampire, right? Fuck, my memory is shot with everything that’s happened. “Though he’s not my boyfriend anymore.” I set the other coffees down and hold up my hand.

“Oh my god!” Betty brings her hand to her mouth. “Congrats!”

The store is busy, and a line of customers forms all at once at the register. Betty ducks back behind the counter and I go through the store to find Kristy. I expect to find her in the back, but when I go into the storage room, a young redhead looks up, startled, instead.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to spook you,” I say.

“Ca

n I help you?” she asks, getting up from the books she’s unpacking.

“Oh, right. We haven’t met yet. I’m Callie.” I offer a polite smile.

“Oh my goodness! I’m Danielle. It’s nice to finally meet you. Everyone talks about you, you know.”

“Good things?”

She holds her hand up and wiggles it in the air. “Eh, some good and some bad,” she jokes.

I laugh. “That sounds accurate at least.” I step into the back room, closing the door behind me. It bothers the shit out of me when customers come in here, looking for a book that’s not out on the shelf or something like that. “How are you liking it here?”

“It’s great! We’ve been really busy lately, which makes the time go by fast. And everyone is really nice.”

For the most part, everyone who comes in here is, thanks to the charms Kristy has tucked all around the store. “I’m glad to hear that. There’s coffee up front for you.”

“Thank you so much. Do you want me to pay you back?”

I wave my hand in the air, and my ring catches the light. I smile and hope that feeling never grows old when I see the big diamonds on my finger. “Nope. My treat. It was nice meeting you, officially.”

“You too.”

I duck out and find Kristy in the self-help section, looking for a certain book with a customer. I go back to the register and sip my own coffee while I wait for her.

“Have you started wedding planning yet?” Betty asks as she rings up Jackie Hills. She’s one of our regulars, coming in at least three times a month and always buys about a hundred dollars’ worth of books every time. We started our loyalty program because of her.

“Wedding planning?” Jackie digs her wallet out of her purse.

“Yes!” I beam and hold up my hand. “I got engaged last night.”

“Ohhh, congratulations, honey!”

“Thank you.” I’m still beaming.

“Who is it? Has it been that long since I’ve been in here? I don’t even remember you mentioning a boyfriend.”

“His name is Lucas, and we actually weren’t dating all that long before he asked.”