“I don’t think we can come to any conclusions at this point,” Ethan says. “Two hunters in a row seems too coincidental to me, that’s for sure. And if this thing is going after hunters, then I’ll figure out a way to make it come after me next.”
“You’re going to use yourself as bait?” I retort.
“What, like you’ve never suggested yourself as bait?” he shoots right back. “Now you know how I feel.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” I raise my eyebrows looking at Ethan.
“Our roles have reversed.” His lips curve into a smirk, holding my gaze for a moment before closing the laptop. “All right. Finish eating then get ready for bed and then meet in the living room.”
“For demon-planning?” Sam asks, looking down at her plate.
“For a movie night,” Ethan replies. “And it’s my turn to pick the movie.”
“Seriously?” Sam asks, corners of her lips twitching into a smile. “Movie night?”
“Yeah. It’s something we started doing regularly,” he tells her, getting up to microwave his plate since the food cooled while we were talking. “It’s nice.”
“It is,” I agree, so thankful for him. He’s right: we need to find a way to calm down and then go to bed. The adrenaline is wearing off and I’m realizing just how tired I am. Sam and I go upstairs to shower and change—I let her borrow pajamas—and then I clean Romeo’s cage and spend some time playing with him before going back downstairs.
It’s cozy in the living room, and I snuggle up under a heavy blanket on the couch next to Ethan. He picks an old comedy from his childhood to watch, and halfway through the movie, I’m starting to drift off.
Hunter jumps up, startling me, and two seconds later, the doorbell rings. We all freeze. It’s after ten PM. No one shows up this late with good news.
Chapter
Twenty-One
“Stay here,” Ethan says, rising to his feet. He pulls a knife from a hiding spot under the coffee table and goes toward the door. Hunter is faster and sits in front of it with his tail wagging.
“No way,” I whisper, getting up and letting the blanket fall to my feet. “Why would they be here?” Hunter isn’t wrong, though, and I’m left standing in disbelief in the foyer once Ethan throws open the door.
“Surprise!” Harrison and Laney say in unison.
Ethan steps back, as shocked as I am to see my brother and my best friend standing on the porch this late at night.
“Harry! Laney!” I exclaim, still shocked but thrilled to see them both. “What are you doing here?”
“We wanted to surprise you,” Harry starts. “And we were supposed to be here a few hours ago but our plane got delayed.”
“So you just made up all that stuff about coming here for work?”
Ethan steps aside, letting them in. “Not entirely,” Harrison starts. “I do have a meeting on Monday and there’s a pretty good chance I’m getting the promotion. But we thought it would be fun to come a few days early as a surprise.”
“I happened to get my PTO signed off when I didn’t think I would,” Laney tells me and I throw my arms around her once she’s inside. “It was so hard not saying anything.”
“I bet! I can’t believe you’re here!” I let her go and she looks around.
“Wow. This place is amazing. Pictures don’t do it justice.”
“Thanks. You know my dream home was always a creepy old Victorian, though it probably was because I grew up loving being here,” I say as it dawns on me. Of course my dream house would be the house I spent time in, learning magic and apparently being trained to fight demons. “Come in and let me introduce you to—well, you remember Sam, right?”
“Um, yeah.” Laney lets her bag fall from her shoulder, setting it on the floor. Hunter comes over after greeting Harrison, nosing Laney. The last time she saw my familiar, he helped me kill the demons that were holding her hostage.
“Good, then you just have to meet Nik.”
Laney straightens up. “Oh, Harrison told me about him,” she whispers.
“He did?”
“Yeah, a while ago, actually. I’ve been dying to meet him and come here.”
“I didn’t know you and Harry talked.”
She gives Hunter another pat on the butt. “We started getting together a few times a month after the whole thing happened in the fall. I didn’t have anyone else to talk to about it.”
“Oh,” I say, though it makes sense. So why does it bother me a little bit? It’s because neither of them mentioned it, that’s all. “I’m still so sorry about that.”
“Hey, it’s water under the bridge now,” she says and follows me into the living room. Nik gets up, coming over and giving her a bow.
“Nik, this is my best friend, Laney. And Laney, this is Nik. He’s a faery.”