Heir of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“No, I’m not mad at you,” I tell him. “But you could have stopped them.”

“We all agreed it was for the best,” Eliza says.

“Even Lucas?”

“I’m sure he did when Tabatha told him,” she says after a moment of hesitation. “He’d already left when it was decided you should stay behind.”

“So he has no idea what’s going on?”

“Easy.” Eliza holds up a hand. “He’s been filled in on everything, knows you’re safe with three familiars, a hellhound, and me, and you can go to the Covenstead to wait out the day with him when it’s all over.” She points to an hourglass on the dresser. “Now that really is linked to…I don’t know…something. Magic is confusing.” She shrugs. “The sand will run out when the spell is complete.”

I watch golden sand slowly fall from the top of the hourglass to the bottom. There’s no surplus of sand at the top like normal, since it’s being supplied by magic. “Leaving me behind, though…that’s shitty. I could have sat in Evander’s office or something.”

“Really?” Eliza puts a hand on her hip and stares me down. “Sometimes you don’t know when to leave well enough alone, and you know that.”

“Fine, it’s true. It just hurts to be left behind like this.”

Eliza moves away from the door and sits by me on the bench. “It wasn’t that long ago you yourself were quite worried about going into premature labor. And really, it wasn’t like they set out with a secret plan to ditch you. It was decided right before you woke up this morning, actually.” The sunlight streaming in from the large windows hits Eliza’s face, making her subtle ivory eyeshadow sparkle. “You’d be the demon's number-one pick once it’s removed from Noah’s body.”

“I can’t be possessed,” I tell her, thinking back to the time when the demon I exorcised from Evander tried to take control of me. “Because I’m half-angel.”

“But Elena’s not.”

“Demons don’t possess babies in utero.”

“Do you know that for sure?” she asks, and when I don’t answer, she gives me a pointed look. “Kristy was the one who thought of it, and once she said it, we all agreed she had a point. If the demon tried to jump into your baby, we wouldn’t know, would we? And we don’t know what that would do to a baby.”

“Great, so add worry your newborn is going to get possessed to the list of other things I have to worry about.”

“I think they’re being a bit extreme if you ask me, but Callie,” she puts her hand on mine, “sit this one out.”

“If something happens, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Don’t you think we all feel the same?” she counters, raising her perfectly filled in eyebrows. “You’ve saved the world multiple times since I met you, and I haven’t known you that long. Besides, you have to agree it feels like this demon is baiting you.”

“Well, yeah. It’s a chaos demon.”

“It feels bigger than that.” She straightens her shoulders and looks out the window. “Bigger than wanting to create chaos in your little group. It feels…apocalyptic.”

“That’s because it is.” I run my hand over Binx’s smooth fur. “I never got a chance to tell you guys last night, but things are…are bad.”

“How bad?” Eliza’s brows push together.

“When the gates of Hell opened, demons got out.”

“Yeah, we already know that,” she interrupts.

“Including the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

She looks at me, unblinking. “You’re not fucking funny.”

“I’m not joking. I told Lucas, and that’s why I asked Tabatha to get Evander here yesterday.”

Eliza springs to her feet, pushing her long hair back. “Well, fuck.”

“I know.”

She paces from the window to the door. “I understand your carelessness with this exorcism now. You need to move on to bigger things.”

“I’m not careless,” I counter. “But yes, stopping the Four Horsemen of the fucking Apocalypse is the bigger problem.”

“Yeah, I’d say so. What’s your plan?”

“I don’t have one.”

“You always have a plan,” she snaps. “An annoyingly heroic plan that puts yourself in danger with no regard to how being in said danger makes those who care about you feel.”

“I’ll come up with something. Julian’s already trying to find out everything he can. In the meantime, we’ll, um, we’ll prepare and do what my dad is always telling me to do: live your life.” I make a face. “God, it’s weird when I give out the advice I won’t take.”

“Shouldn’t you be watching the news? I’d imagine the Horsemen will be easy to spot.”

“It’s not going to happen like that,” I say. “Four creepy dudes on horseback would definitely create a stir. And honestly, I don’t even know if they’re literal dudes on literal horses. War isn’t going to roll into town swinging a battle ax. He could start slow, making friends turn to enemies, and then work his way up to world leaders clashing.”