Queen of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  Once I’ve cleaned up what I can from the floor, I gather all the paper towels and go into the kitchen, telekinetically pulling a grocery bag out of the open cabinet under the sink. I shove the paper towels inside and then take the neatly folded towel hanging on the dishwasher. I run it under water, wring it out, and then go back to the foyer to clean up Abby’s skin the best I can. I go back into the kitchen, passing the bathroom, to rinse the towel. The bathroom is closer, but I want to keep the contamination as minimal as possible.

  Easton helps sit her up so I can clean up the blood from her back and on the floor beneath her. Then I wipe down the few pieces of the broken ginger jar that were splattered with her blood.

  “What are you going to tell her?” Easton asks when we get things as put together as possible.

  “She was on the way to answer the door, thinking it was her neighbor,” I start. “She slipped, grabbed the entryway table, and took out the ginger jar in the process. And you were at the door. You had some demon news and that’s why you stopped by.”

  “I think that’ll work. But, uh, what about the blood?”

  “I’ll have her go take a shower. We actually just got back from the spa, and she did mention that she has to shower after a massage because the oil makes her feel too greasy. When she’s in there, I’ll take her clothes. The glamour will keep her from noticing the blood washing off her too.”

  Easton nods. “Yeah, that’ll work. She’ll shower when you’re still here?”

  “Eh, I can be very influential. And you’re going to ask to talk to me in private about demon business. I’m going to come back in after we’ve talked so I can keep hanging out with Abby until her husband and daughter get back so I can say hi to them.”

  “I can’t find anything wrong with that, assuming your Jedi mind tricks work.”

  “They will.” I hold my hands over Abby, ready to wake her up. Fuck, here goes nothing.

  Chapter 2

  “I can’t believe that worked.”

  I watch Abby go up the stairs and then I turn, giving Easton an annoyed look. “You should know better than to doubt my powers.”

  “I wouldn’t say I doubt them, but I am surprised that went a lot smoother than I expected.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I look back at the floor where Abby’s body laid only minutes ago. There’s a streak of blood that we couldn’t get while she was lying down, and I need to quickly clean that up. Easton gets the broom and starts sweeping up the small pieces of the broken jar, and I feverishly clean up the rest of the visible blood. Then I sneak upstairs and tiptoe into Abby’s room. The shower is on, and while I haven’t been in Abby’s bathroom before, I’m sure the shower has a glass door and I can’t sneak by unnoticed.

  Dammit. I could really go for Ruth’s invisibility spell right now. The next best thing I can do is a cloaking spell, which won’t prevent Abby from seeing me if she was staring right at me, but it will keep her from looking.

  Using magic to unlock the bathroom door, I peer in. Thank the fucking stars. I was right about the bathroom being super fancy, and there are his and her closets right inside the entrance to the bathroom. Abby’s laundry basket is inside her closet, and her clothes are on top. I grab them and dash out of the bathroom, silently shutting the door behind me.

  I’m back downstairs in a flash, and Easton is holding another grocery bag, ready for me to put the bloody clothes in.

  “Thank you again,” I tell him as he adds that bag to another. He’s taking everything blood-covered from the house to dispose of elsewhere.

  “You’re welcome. I figured I still owe you from that time I kind of tried to kill you.”

  “You never actually followed through,” I say with a half-smile. “And I think this makes us even.”

  I rub my temples as exhaustion crashes down on me. So much for a relaxing day. The universe has it out for me, I swear.

  “You have some explaining to do,” he tells me. “Where is Roger’s body and how the hell did you heal your sister?”

  “I don’t really know where Roger is, but I’m guessing he’s in Hell.”

  “Assuming Heaven and Hell are real, then yeah, I’d guess he’d go to Hell too.”

  “They are real, and I don’t just mean his soul. I think his body is there too.” My mind is racing, and I don’t see a good way to get out of this without telling Easton the truth. Part of it, at least. He just helped me clean up a crime scene, after all.

  “I have to tell you something about me, something that even after all you’ve seen, will still be hard to believe.”

  “Okay,” he says slowly.

  “Let’s sit down,” I say because I’m feeling a little sick again and need the room to stop spinning. We go into the kitchen and sit at the island. I grab a saltine cracker and take a small bite. “Do you remember the man who walked me down the aisle at my wedding?” I ask, not sure if Michael allowed anyone to keep the memory of him.

  “Yeah,” Easton answers, tipping his head as he thinks. “I can’t recall what he looks like, though, which is weird.”

  “Not really, he probably did that on purpose.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Because of who he is.” I take another bite of the cracker. “He’s my father. My real father. I’m not a Martin, and I’m not…I’m not fully human.”

  Easton leans back in the barstool and looks at me, waiting for me to go on. I like being the center of attention from time to time, but this is awkward. Might as well spit it out and get it over with. “I’m a Nephilim, and that man walking me down the aisle was an angel. So was the other guy who was with him.”

  “You’re not joking, are you?”

  “No. I didn’t know until recently.”

  Easton plows his hand through his hair and looks me up and down. “Fuck.”

  “I know.” I shake my head. “One of my family members healed Abby and took care of Roger’s body. You can’t tell anyone, okay? I don’t want to magically bind you into keeping the secret, so promise me.”

  Easton’s head slowly bobs up and down. “I promise.”

  I break another cracker in half and take a small bite, looking out at the little courtyard behind Abby’s house. There’s a turtle sandbox, a little swing hanging from the only tree, and what I think is a water table. Kids require so much stuff, and the smaller they are, the bigger their toys seem to be, for some reason.

  “Who else knows?” Easton asks.

  “Just the people at the wedding,” I tell him. “The important ones.”

  “So, I’m important now?” He playfully nudges my arm.

  “Eh, you’ve proven yourself useful.”

  We both laugh and Abby comes into the kitchen. She’s wearing sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, and her hair is in a wet, messy bun on the top of her head. It’s the first time I’ve seen her not all put together like she usually is, and it’s oddly refreshing.

  “Oh, you’re still here,” she says when she sees Easton. “Is everything okay?” Her eyes shift back and forth from Easton to me.

  “Yeah,” I tell her. “Easton needed some help identifying a demon.” I can see him trying not to pout out of the corner of my eye. “He thought he saw a kappa in the Chicago River, but those haven’t been spotted in this part of the world in centuries. It’s way too cold up here.”

  “I’m not going even ask what a kappa is.” Her eyes widen and she shakes her head, coming over to the counter to pick up her phone. It’s right where she left it and she opens a text message.

  “Penny fell asleep in the stroller so Phil’s going to walk her around and enjoy the sunshine,” she tells me, knowing I was hoping to see my little niece. “They probably won’t be back for another hour or so.”

  “That’s okay.” I plant my hands on the counter and slowly push up. “I’ll stop by later tonight before we go back to Thorne Hill to say hi and bye to her, if that’s okay.”

  “I’m on call tonight so I might not be here,” she sa
ys with a frown. “But Phil will, so feel free to stop by.”

  “I should go now then so you can take a nap before going into work.”

  She nods. “I plan on it. I had fun today, Callie. We should do this again.”

  “Yeah,” I say, feeling like I’m lying right through my teeth. “We should.” Do the spa day again but leave the whole getting shot thing out.

  “It was nice to see you again,” Abby says to Easton, putting on a polite smile. I’m still too frazzled right now to remember if she knows the whole story about Easton. She remembers him from ten years or so, I’m sure. I was sixteen and came back to Chicago for the first time in years after Tabatha took me in.

  I wanted to spend a few weeks with my sister. She was the only one out of the whole Martin bunch who treated me well, who loved me, and who protested against William Martin sending me off to that laboratory. But as soon as our so-called father saw me walking through the gates of the family estate, he set up a fancy internship for Abby that probably broke hospital protocol, now that I’m thinking about it. I suppose that didn’t matter. Money talks, after all.

  It was the breaking point for me, and at the time, I saw it as Abby choosing the Martins over me. From then on, I didn’t talk to Abby again, not until she showed up at my bookstore months ago with an invitation to Penny’s party.

  I was stuck with the Martins for several weeks. Tabatha and Evander took a holiday to visit family, and I couldn’t go home until they returned. And then I met Easton, the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He was the definition of trouble and that was part of my attraction to him.

  If it pissed William Martin off—sign me up! I fell hard the way teenage girls with emotional scars do, and it didn’t take long to become friends with Easton’s sister, Melinda. Flash forward several weeks and our relationship came to a screeching halt when I found out Easton knew all along I was a witch, and he only pretended to care about me to get close and come in for the kill.

  “You too,” Easton tells her. “I’ll walk out with you, Callie.”

  I give Abby a hug, take one last look around the house to make sure nothing it out of place, and then grab my purse, step back into my shoes, and leave through the front door.

  “Where’s your car?” Easton asks me once we’re on the sidewalk.

  “I walked from Lucas’s place. It’s only one street over, and yes, it’s just a coincidence. It’s funny, actually, because Abby and Phil moved here so they wouldn’t live by vampires anymore.”

  Easton nods. “How did Roger know you were here?”

  “I wondered that too. The first time he attacked, it was here. The vampire who hired him would be the one to send him here, I’d think. I don’t know how hiring a hit man works. I usually do the killing myself and it’s not always thought out ahead of time.”

  “Whoever hired him knew you were a witch, so they were watching you beforehand.”

  “I am so tired of being spied on,” I huff and turn back, looking at Abby’s house. Even though we’ve become closer than ever before, I don’t go over and hang out at her house. It’s not a regular spot to wait for me, and if Roger was going to stake out a house in Lincoln Park, Lucas’s place on North Orchard would be the one.

  But Lucas would also be inside.

  We already know that Roger wasn’t the best hunter and was hired on purpose, knowing he’d miss. His best chance of getting me was to catch me off guard, as he did, and I wasn’t fast enough to chase him down…but Lucas is.

  “It was all set up on purpose,” I say, pace slowing. “He was told to go after me here instead of Lucas’s house. Lucas doesn’t really go over to Abby’s house, and without him around, I’m an easier target.”

  “Yeah, that would make sense.” I can feel Easton’s eyes on me as we stop at the street corner. “You’re not really a Martin,” he states, but I can hear the question in his voice.

  “Right.”

  “But the world still thinks you are. It’s common knowledge you and Abby are related. You two have recently reconnected. If you’re being watched, your friends and family probably are too.”

  “Well, fuck,” I huff. “I don’t have time for some elaborate blackmail. This vampire needs to stop pulling a Charles Manson and having people do his dirty work for him. Just attack me already so I can kill him and get it over with.”

  “I’m sure that’s part of why he’s not attacking you himself. You’re, uh, pretty badass, Callie. And now you’re married to one of the oldest vampires in the Midwest area.”

  I let out a breath and shake my head. “Do you think if we ignore him, he’ll go away?”

  “No.”

  “Darn.”

  We cross the street and turn on North Orchard, heading toward Lucas’s house. My heart swells in my chest when I see the gate, and knowing I’m going to be in my lover’s arms in just a matter of seconds makes me feel so much better.

  But then again…I have to tell him what happened. That I accepted help from Lucifer and now he knows I’m pregnant and wants our baby. Suddenly, I don’t want to walk through the large double doors anymore.

  “This is it,” I say, slowing at the gate.

  “Damn.” Easton eyes the house for a few seconds. “He still owns this place even though you’re married and living together in Thorne Hill?”

  “Yes,” I say with a sigh, knowing where Easton is going with this. “Eliza stays here now, and he owns property and houses all over the place. We spent two weeks at his vineyard in California after the wedding, and whenever things finally calm down, we’re going to his place in France.”

  “Must be nice,” Easton grumbles, and I just roll my eyes.

  “Thank you again, Easton. Really.”

  “I’m just glad you didn’t die.”

  “Hah. Me too.”

  “I’m going to call later and check in with you.”

  “Text instead,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “I hate talking on the phone.”

  “I remember,” he says and gets a distant look in his eyes, as if he’s thinking back to those few weeks we spent together in our teenage years. “I’ll text you later.”

  “Okay. Be careful.”

  “I’ll be as careful as you are.” He pats my shoulder and then turns around, going back down the street to get to his truck. I take in a steadying breath and push open the gate. My heart speeds up and the small reprieve I got from being terrified of losing the one thing I never thought would happen crashes down on me again.

  My fingers are shaking when I open the door and step into the foyer. Scarlet comes running, her little puppy bark echoing through the house. Lucas, who was in his office working, speeds through the house and takes me in his arms.

  “You’re covered in blood,” he says, brows pushing together.

  “It’s not mine,” I rush out, though he knows right away from the smell.

  “No, it’s…” He inhales. “Abby’s. Fuck, Callie, what happened?” He draws his fangs and protectively cradles me against his chest. My eyes fill with tears, and the emotions I was suppressing break through the gate.

  I open my mouth to tell Lucas everything but only a strangled sob comes out. Lucas holds me tight, stroking my hair, and then picks me up and carries me into the living room. “Callie,” he says after a few seconds have passed. His blue eyes are full of concern and anger. Not at me, but at whatever caused me pain.

  “Roger showed up, shot me, but the bullet hit Abby,” I say when I can finally find my voice. “I called for my dad and Julian to come help, but…but…” I don’t want to say it. Saying it out loud makes it real, even though I know it’s real. “Lucifer showed up instead.”

  “What?” he asks. “He can’t. He’s bound in Hell.”

  I shake my head. “He came and he healed Abby. He…he…saved her life. She’s okay.”

  “Then why are you so upset?” Eliza quips, appearing in the living room. She’s leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, looking bored as usual.

  Tea
rs run down my cheeks when I close my eyes in a long blink. Lucas brushes them away with his thumb and kisses the top of my head.

  “Because he doesn’t do things for free. He’s going to want to be paid back, and I think…I think he wants our baby.”

  Chapter 3

  “What?” Eliza speeds forward. “Why—how—the fuck?”

  ”Exactly,” I reply, sitting up and wiping my eyes. “He looked at me and it was like he knew.” I turn my gaze down to my stomach. “Everything happened so fast.” I close my eyes and see Abby lying on the floor, blood pouring from her stomach. “Abby was dying.”

  “So you made a deal with the devil.” Lucas gets up, fangs bared, and paces across the living room. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “What?” I ask, heart skipping a beat when I see Lucas stare at me angrily.

  “You made a deal with the devil,” he repeats slowly. “And used our child as collateral.”

  “Lucas,” Eliza snips, and he holds out his hand, silencing her.

  “I didn’t put our child up for anything,” I snap. In the back of my mind, I know Lucas is freaking the fuck out and wants someone to blame. But right now, I’m scared and need him on my side, not against me. “My sister was dying before my eyes. What did you expect me to do?”

  “Not take a fucking deal with the devil,” he growls and balls his fist and hits it against the wall. His hand goes right through the drywall, and two pictures come crashing down, glass shattering as soon as they hit the floor. I wince and my eyes fill with tears, but anger courses through me and the lights above us start to flicker, lighting up the dim room.

  “Stop!” Eliza shouts. “Stop before you wreck the fucking house!”

  “What did you expect me to do?” I repeat. “I called for help and Lucifer was the only one who answered. He broke out of Hell and he…he still came to help me. Should I have told him to go away and let Abby die?” I ball my fists and the anger slips away and more tears roll down my face. “He healed her and…and…” And for a second, I thought I was wrong about him. Maybe he wasn’t really bad after all. Maybe he really did care about me, and being related actually meant something to him like he kept telling me it did.