Reign of Night (Thorne Hill 7)

Ruby raises an eyebrow. “You mean a list of people you don’t like?”

“Not this time. I guess I should call it my oh-shit list. So much shit is going on, it’s, um, more than a little overwhelming.” I fish my notebook out from under a large book about Ley lines that’s written entirely in Latin. “I didn’t get very far.”

Ruby looks down at my list. “I’d combine this one.” She taps the page. “And put demons as the main issue with bullet points underneath to everything they want to do with you.”

“Good idea.”

She opens up her laptop, pulling up a map. “I scanned the page from one of the books and plugged it into a program, making the map interactive. The red lines are the Ley lines, the red dots are hot spots, and the transparent blue dots are highly populated areas, not that it means anything yet. The bodies in Sedona were found here.” She zooms in. “The bodies were found just outside of the Coconino National Forest. It gets a lot of hikers, but I can’t say it’s populated. Demons typically want discretion.”

“Yeah, they do.”

“Has anything else been released about the victims?”

“Not much other than names and ages. Ricardo Martinez was a fifty-something-year-old teacher at a local middle school. Betsy Jones was a twenty-two-year-old cocktail waitress, very pretty and very popular on social media. And the last victim’s name was withheld for privacy since the family hadn’t all been notified or something yet, but I do know it was another female in her thirties. So, pretty random so far. I looked up Ricardo and Betsy online. There wasn’t much about Ricardo, only his profile on the school website. He’d only been at the school for three years and moved from Colorado. Betsy shares every aspect of her life on Instagram. I can tell you what she had for breakfast the morning she died.”

“I’m guessing there’s no obvious connection.”

“No, and depending on what ritual was performed, it might not have mattered. If whoever killed them needed blood, any blood will do.”

“I think it would be a good idea to have the High Priestess reach out to the covens in the area and make sure none of the victims were witches.”

“Good idea, I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Thanks. She filled me in on the demon you came across last week, and if they really are planning something big, we need to be ready.”

I shovel another loaded chip into my mouth, wanting to tell Ruby that I more than appreciate her help but don’t want to put her in danger, though I have a feeling she’ll say the same thing Easton said. If the world is in danger, it’s everyone’s problem.

My phone dings with a text. It’s too soon for it to be Lucas, and it’s not. It’s Abby.

Abby: Do you know why Scott is ranting about Lucas getting arrested yesterday evening?

Me: Because he did get arrested.

Abby: ??

Abby: I saw you that night.

Abby: I’m so confused. He’s saying you blew up his office now.

Me: I did.

Abby: Hang on. I’m calling you.

“I need to talk to my sister,” I tell Ruby and get up, grabbing one last chip, eating it as I walk into the front sitting room. “Hey, Abby,” I say, answering the phone after only one ring.

“What is going on?” she whispers. “Scott keeps saying Lucas is in jail.”

“That’s because he thinks he is.”

“You altered his memory?”

“The opposite, actually,” I tell her. “He and Ella were the only memories that didn’t get altered.”

I hear a door close, and something rustles through the phone. “Okay, I’m in my closet,” she says, speaking a little louder. “What happened?”

“I’m guessing you didn’t see the news where William and Scott are trying to get some new law passed that will punish anyone who’s in a relationship with or works for a vampire, did you?”

“What?”

“I take that as a no. They want to take away healthcare and insurance from anyone with any sort of relationship, whether it be personal or professional, with a vampire. My employees at the bookstore would be affected by this because I’m married to Lucas. If this law goes into effect, their insurance companies can legally drop them or charge them an insane amount.”

“That’s terrible!”

“I know. And the only reason they’re doing it is to lash out at me, because Nancy and William had dinner at the same restaurant Lucas and I did, and that creepy old white guy, Gregory Smith, I think is his name, and his wife were there, and they knew who I was and tried to roll with the Callie was off helping poor kids in Africa story. I didn’t play and said I had no idea who they were.”

“So they got embarrassed and are punishing millions of people to punish you. I’m so sorry, Callie.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything, and I have doubts these laws will go into effect, right? Like you said, millions will be hurt from it. I’m trying to be hopeful that there are more decent people in the country or the…the place where they vote for things.”