Reign of Night (Thorne Hill 7)

“You are,” I say, and my eyes flash blue. I hold out my hands, summoning hellfire. “Because the new demon is not your king. I am your queen, and you will answer to me.” A crown of hellfire erupts around my head, burning so bright Easton and Melinda have to look away. The demon tenses, doing its best not to look frightened, and it reminds me of something Lucifer said. I have to use pain and fear to give them a reason to submit to me.

Not entirely sure if this will work—and being slightly terrified I’m going to be the girl who burned down Chicago’s tallest building—I bring my hand to my face and blow, sending sparks of hellfire raining down on the demon.

He screams in pain, and I send more sparks flying.

“Okay!” he finally relents. “I’ll tell you, but only because there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

“Yeah, I’ll be the judge of that.” I lower my hands, still holding onto the hellfire but letting the flames subside. “Whatever plan you have to destroy the world isn’t happening.”

“Oh, but it is.” He smiles, face twisting with glee. “And we don’t want to destroy the world. We want to turn it into our personal playground and have fun with the humans. And by fun, I mean maim and dismember one by one. When Tozaryn rules, demons will be free to come and go as they please.”

“That’s never going to happen,” I say.

“It already has.” He laughs. “Tell me, have you found the keys?”

“Keys?”

“There should be two of them, swaying in the breeze.”

What is he—oh shit. The bodies. They weren’t just blood sacrifices to summon a demon, and now I know where there was no blood found at the crime scene. It wasn’t removed but absorbed and breaking the seals that hold the Gates of Hell shut.Chapter 31“Tozaryn?” Lucas echoes.

“You are not worthy to speak his name!” the demon hisses.

“Tozaryn,” Melinda says, wrinkling her nose. “Sounds like an antibiotic or something.”

“Hah, it does,” I laugh. “Now, what do to with him.” I tap my finger on my lip.

“Kill him,” Lucas says casually, like he’s suggesting we get take-out on the way home. “He’s given us all the information he can.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” I hold up my hands and the hellfire burns brighter.

“Wait,” Easton says, stepping forward. “We should take him outside where it’s easier to clean up the mess.”

“Good point,” I say and clench my fists and extinguish the fire. “Though the guy’s body he’s possessing did just die. The family might want some closure.”

“Oh, right,” Melinda says with a nod, agreeing with me.

“Just kill him,” Lucas presses, not caring about the man or his family. I’m much more empathetic than Lucas ever will be when it comes to strangers. “Or use the spell Lucifer taught you.”

“It burns the body too,” I sigh. “We’ll have to go old-school exorcism here. You don’t happen to have a copy of the prayer from an exorcism do you?” I ask Easton and Melinda.

“Don’t you know how to do it?” Lucas asks me.

“Not off the top of my head.” I reach into my purse and pull out my phone. “Let me see what I can find.”

“You’re Googling how to do an exorcism?” Lucas asks skeptically.

“Yeah. There are specific words you can say.” I type in a search and click on the first result. “The prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel is the go-to for exorcisms,” I read “That one should be easy enough for me.” The website takes a few seconds to load. “That looks nothing like my dad,” I scoff when I see a cheesy drawing of Michael with long, flowing yellow hair. He’s holding a sword in one hand and justice scales in the other. “Here goes,” I say and move in front of the demon. “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and—”

I cut off, whirling around. “Julian!”

My cousin appears, dark wings folding behind him. “Hello, Callie. And Lucas. And Easton. And Melinda. But not you,” he tells the demon.

“He’s the angel,” Easton states, though I hear the question in his voice. Julian is just Julian to me, but to others he vibrates with divinity.

“Yeah, he’s my cousin in a sense,” I say, happy to see him, though he’s looking rough today, with dirty clothes, messy hair, and something that looks like blood smeared over his cheek. Freya shadows around the demon, keeping a close eye on him while I turn to talk to Julian. “What happened?”

“Some of the others were getting suspicious and I had to plant evidence in the demon prison where Bael was being held to make it look like Remiel had been there.”

“Did it work?” I ask.

“Time will tell. While I was there, I heard chatter from the underworld.” He looks at the demon. “What has he told you?”