Reign of Night (Thorne Hill 7)

The officer who fired his gun still has his weapon raised, shock in his eyes. He fired out of fear the second Lucas moved, even though he moved away from him.

“I’m okay,” I tell Lucas, entire body trembling. The wound on Lucas’s shoulder starts to heal already, and the wooden bullet is pushed out, falling with a soft thud onto the floor.

“And I will be okay,” he presses and kisses my forehead. “We need to keep your identity a secret,” he reminds me and gently sets me down. I’m too rattled to think rationally. Using magic exposes me on the body cams, and if footage is leaked, it’ll make it just that much easier for demons to find me…and angels. “I’m going to stand up now,” Lucas tells the officers, and my heart is in my throat, tears burning my eyes. Indignation builds inside of me. This shouldn’t be happening. I can telekinetically throw every single human in this room back. Lucas is stronger than them all combined.

And I’m the fucking Queen of Hell.

I shouldn’t be watching my husband be handcuffed. I shouldn’t be standing here helpless. Yet here we are, and it’s a terrifying reminder how everything we’ve built could be taken away from us because of an asshole like Scott, and he knows it.

There’s no going back now that vampires are out. We could go back to holding up the pretense that vampires are human, hiding their true nature, but no one should have to hide who they are.

“It’s going to be okay,” Lucas reminds me. The officer who shot him works with shaky fingers to put the blindfold on Lucas. “Tell Eliza to call my lawyer. It’s going to be okay, my love.”

The officers prompt Lucas up, and they’re all visibly scared of him, but the hatred in their eyes is almost terrifying. The special division of police officers dispatched to deal with vampire issues have a deep hatred for them already in their hearts.

They lead Lucas out, and Scott laughs. “This wasn’t how you thought things would go, was it, sister?” he spits and laughs again.

Elena does a series of flips, and one hand lands on my stomach. I whirl around, anger surging through me. Binx shifts back into shadow form, standing behind me and making both Scott and Ella quiver.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” I say through gritted teeth, and the lights glow so bright the glass starts to vibrate. Ella, who’s on her feet now, looks at my stomach, realizing that Lucas wasn’t making shit up by talking about his pregnant wife. She looks at Scott, a little bit of horror on her face, though I’m not sure if it’s from the way he fucked us over or if she’s disgusted Lucas and I are somehow having a child.

“I did what I should have done the second that bloodsucker attacked me at Penny’s party.” He smiles smugly, eyes shifting back to Binx, whose shadow starts to grow, red eyes glowing like hot coals. “And I’m going to use every connection I have to make sure your cold, dead husband stays in jail for a very long time.” He tips his head, looking at my stomach. “I don’t know who you spread your legs for to get knocked up, but I can guarantee that monster you’ve married will not be out of jail in time for your spawn to be born.”

Binx shadows forward, knocking Scott to the ground right as the anger ripples through me, unable to be controlled. Hellfire springs from my hands and my eyes flash blue before taking on a reddish hue, tainted from my anger. I look at the fire in my hands, wanting nothing more than to throw my hands out and burn this place to the ground.

Ella screams, and I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the flames grow bigger and brighter around me. Inhaling deep, I squeeze my fingers into my palms and throw my hands down to release the hellfire. It hits the ground with a bang, sending a shockwave of magic through the room as if a bomb went off. Ella and Scott get knocked back, slumping unconscious to the ground. The desk is overturned, and the glass on the windows is blown out. The flames leave my fingers and ignite the carpet, but instead of burning in a traditional sense, it forms a circle of three-foot-tall flames, burning before me.

Something dark rises from the center of the flames, and right as the shadow of a demon appears, I realize that I just summoned a demon from Hell. Slowly it rises, noncorporeal form shimmering like a blotch of ink in dark water.

I summoned this demon, called it forth from the pits of Hell. Can I command it, too? I suppose there’s only one way to find out.