Queen of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  “You were mad when we realized we didn’t need you,” I add quietly. “Weren’t you?”

  “Yes,” he says with no hesitation. “Wouldn’t you be? I had thousands upon thousands of people who worshipped me. Loved me. Spoke to me.”

  “And now they don’t.”

  He gives me a curt nod. “Now they don’t.” No wonder he’s so lonely. “Would you like to go home?” He holds out his hand.

  “Is it safe for Callie to return to Thorne Hill?” Lucas asks.

  “Yes, I will throw the others off her trail and make it look like it was me who got all hormonal and cranky.”

  “I’m not hormonal or cranky,” I spit, feeling the energy in the air around me become electric. “Okay fine, maybe a little. I’m so fucking tired.”

  “Let’s go home,” Lucas says firmly and wraps his arm around me, preparing for Lucifer to fly us out of here. He takes Lucifer’s outstretched hand and the world spins around us, going faster and faster until everything is a blur. The next thing I know, we’re on my porch in Thorne Hill.

  Lucifer sets Scarlet down and holds out his hands, reading the energy. “You’re safe.”

  “For now,” I huff, and Lucifer laughs. “Thank you,” I tell him, feeling emotional. I’m blaming it on hormones, but I know it goes deeper. I get emotional anytime I’m around other angels. It’s the piece I didn’t even know I was missing, finally falling into place. Yet every encounter is brought on by danger. To deliver a warning. To quickly fly me into another state so my murderous aunts and uncles can’t find me.

  “You’re welcome.” His eyes meet mine and he smiles softly before shifting his gaze to Lucas. “Take care of her.”

  “I always do,” Lucas tells him. Lucifer nods and then disappears in a whoosh, wind from his wings blowing back my hair.

  “Tonight did not turn out like I thought it would,” I sigh and wave my hand over the door, opening it. “I thought Scott and scrapper demons were enough to make my night hell. And now weres are in Thorne Hill and I’m a ticking time bomb for signaling my demise and we sat at a strip club in Texas with the devil.”

  Lucas lets out a snort of laughter. “When you say it like that it sounds fucking insane.”

  “Right?”

  I bring my hand to my head, rubbing my temples. Scarlet runs into the house ahead of us, still all excited from seeing her old owner. “I’ll write Evander a note and send it through the fireplace in the morning. The coven needs to know there’s a pack in our town being dumb-fucking-assholes trying to tap into the Ley line. We’ve protected it for years and I’m not in the mood to be messed with.”

  “You need to sleep,” Lucas tells me, shutting the door behind us. I lazily seal it up with a simple spell, take off my boots, and collapse onto the couch.

  All that’s left of the fire are several glowing embers, reminding me of our romantic night we were about to have.

  “I’ll carry you upstairs,” Lucas says and goes to scoop me up. I’m hungry and still want a pickle.

  “Can I get something to eat first?”

  “You don’t have to ask,” he chuckles. “What do you want? I’ll bring it to you.”

  “Pickles. I’m like ninety percent sure I have some in the fridge. And can you put some mayonnaise in a bowl? I don’t know why but I really want to dip the pickle in mayo.”

  Lucas smiles. “Is this another weird craving?”

  “Yeah, I think so. But is it weird? People put both mayo and pickles on sandwiches so it’s not like I’m dipping it in soy sauce.”

  Lucas kisses me and goes into the kitchen. My familiars keep me company while Lucas finds the pickles and mayo, and I’m almost asleep when he brings me a bowl full of each. I eat my fill, finding it oddly satisfying and so fucking delicious, and then go upstairs. I run a damp washcloth over my face, doing a half-assed job to take my makeup off but too tired to do a more thorough job.

  Finally, I crash into bed with Lucas. “If it weren't for this baby,” I start, having a hard time keeping my eyes open. “I’d be too wired to sleep.”

  “I know,” Lucas agrees, kissing the back of my neck. “Talk about a long night.”

  “Yeah.” I snuggle a little closer and run my nails up and down Lucas’s back. I’m asleep in a matter of minutes.

  I wake up a little after nine-thirty, needing to use the bathroom. Lucas isn’t in bed, leading me to believe he’s downstairs making breakfast. I’m a little nauseous and need to take a few more drops of Tabatha’s miracle potion before I can even think about stomaching any food. But before that, I want to go back into bed and pass out for another few hours.

  I’m fucking exhausted.

  Lucas comes up the stairs as I’m washing my hands. “You’re up,” he says with a smile, stepping into the bathroom and wrapping his arms around my waist.

  “I’m going back to bed,” I yawn.

  “I’ll come with you.”

  I dry my hands and look at Lucas in the mirror. “You didn’t make anything for breakfast?”

  “Do you want me to?”

  “No,” I say quickly. “I thought that’s why you were downstairs.”

  “Your phone was ringing. I went to silence it so it wouldn’t wake you up.”

  “Who called?” I asked.

  “Ruby.”

  “Great,” I grumble. “There’s only one reason she’s calling this early.”

  “It’s nine-thirty. It’s not that early for some humans.”

  “Hah, for me, though, it is,” I yawn. “I should see what she wants.”

  “It can wait a few hours. Go back to sleep.”

  I make a face, knowing as soon as I lie down my mind will start racing with everything that could have gone wrong and made her call me. Someone died? Yeah, totally possible. Werewolves are outside the Covenstead door, keeping anyone from getting in or out? Even more possible.

  “I’ll just see what she wants and then I’ll go back to bed.” I stand on my toes to give Lucas a quick kiss and then slowly walk downstairs to get my phone. Ruby left a message, and I put it on speaker, listening to it as I walk up the stairs once again.

  “Callie, hey, it’s Ruby. We were doing a lesson on detecting negative energy in class this morning and, well, we detected some. Those scrapper demons weren’t here because of some supposed werewolf. I just snuck into my office to try and narrow down exactly what type of evil we’ve detected, and there’s a demon in the woods.”

  Chapter 23

  “You’re calling her back, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah,” I tell Lucas, letting out another heavy sigh. Mentally, I’m wide awake, Physically, I’m exhausted, and it’s still such a weird feeling for me. We go back into bed and I call Ruby back. The call goes to voicemail, which makes sense if she’s back at the Academy, teaching another class. I leave her a message saying to call me when she can, and set the phone on the nightstand.

  “Are you all right?” Lucas asks, large hand landing on my back.

  “Yeah. Demons show up in the woods all the time.”

  “True, but I meant are you all right considering everything that happened last night? We didn’t get a chance to talk about any of it.” He slips his arms around me and pulls me back down on the mattress.

  “Honestly,” I start, “I don’t know how to feel.”

  “That’s understandable. Do you trust him?” He doesn’t have to say Lucifer’s name for me to know who he’s talking about.

  “I want to, but everything I’ve been told my entire life tells me he’s the bad guy. The reason bad things happen.” I shake my head. “I don’t know. He’s here, though, and even before he was here on earth, he was there in my dreams or whatever weird reality it was. I’ve spoken to him more than I’ve spoken to my own father. And if he wanted to hurt me, he had a great opportunity to last night.”

  “Your warding,” Lucas starts. “You’ve cast them specifically to keep anyone who wishes you harm away. Does it work for archangels too?”

  “I have
no idea. If it did, then it would be a good way to know if Lucifer really had good intentions or not, right?”

  “Right.”

  “What do you think?” I tip my head up and look at my handsome husband, heart fluttering when I think about how ready Lucas was to defend me, to fight to his death against the fucking devil. “Do you trust him?”

  “I don’t trust anyone besides you and Eliza,” he says. “Though…I don’t feel like he was lying. I don’t know either.”

  “You’re supposed to know everything.” I roll over and hook my leg over his. “You’re the old wise one in this relationship. I expect you to have all the answers to all my questions.”

  Lucas laughs. “Then I’m sorry to disappoint. Can I do anything to make up for it?” He slips his hands down over my stomach. I close my eyes and wiggle closer.

  “Hmmm…I’m not sure, but you can try.” Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I tip my head up to his. In a swift movement, he brings me on top of him, hands going to my breasts. I’m wearing one of his t-shirts and underwear, and that’s it. I rock my hips against him, feeling his cock harden beneath me. Desire quickly sweeps through me, and I push myself back, pulling his sweatpants down as I move toward the foot of the bed.

  Lucas groans as I take his big cock in my hands, and I flick my gaze up, looking him right in the eye before bringing my lips to his cock, slowly sucking at the tip. His hand lands on the back of my head, keeping my mouth against him as I continue to suck him off. Lucas pulls on my hair, and the slight pain turns me on even more. He’s close to coming so I slow down, flicking my tongue over the tip of his cock. His grip on my hair tightens even more, and he bucks his hips, desperate for me to keep going. Fuck, teasing him like this is fun.

  I take him all the way in my mouth again, sucking hard only to pull back and torture him with gentle movements, driving him crazy. He brings his other hand to my head, pushing me against him. Before Lucas, I had never been with anyone remotely dominate. We don’t have a dom and sub relationship, but Lucas knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go for it.

  And being bossed around in the bedroom is a turn-on for me. Because Lucas has been a world of firsts for me, and not just in the bedroom. He was the first man I could be myself around who wasn’t afraid of my powers. The first who not only wasn’t intimated by what I could do but was turned on by it. Lucas knows I could incinerate him with just one spell, and he loves me for it.

  Cupping his balls in one hand, I speed up my movements, not stopping until he comes. Unlike a human male, who biologically needs a moment to recover before coming again, vampires are ready to go right away. I sit up, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, and Lucas flips me over, pulling my underwear off and moving between my legs to return the favor.

  And—fuck—he does.

  I come twice before he moves up, pushing that big cock into me. Curling my legs around his waist, he rocks me into oblivion, and we come at the same time only a moment later. I rake my fingers down his back, eyes fluttering shut. Lucas slowly pulls out and lies next to me, covering us with the sheet. I’m hot and sweaty and ready to pass out—and then my phone rings.

  It’s Evander this time, and Lucas answers for me.

  “Hello?” he says into the phone.

  “Oh, Lucas,” Evander’s voice comes through the speaker. “Is Callie around?”

  “She’s naked in bed next to me, worn out from making love.”

  I swat my hand at Lucas. “Seriously?” I say. “Give me the phone.”

  Lucas laughs and hands me the phone, lying back down next to me and kissing my neck. “Hey, Evander. What’s going on?”

  “Apparently not as much as what’s going on at your place.”

  “Hah. But true. I am in bed with Lucas.”

  “Gross, Callie. I don’t need that visual.”

  “Oh please, we both know you like the thought of Lucas naked,” I tease. “But I licked him so he’s mine.”

  “Are you trying to make me throw up my coffee?”

  “How close am I?”

  “Close enough to me coming over and drinking the rest of your morning sickness potion.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!” I say, trying not to laugh.

  “Keep up with the unnecessary details and I’ll be there.”

  “So, you don’t want me to send you pictures?”

  “Of Lucas naked in your bed? Please do,” Evander says seriously, and then we both laugh. “Not to change the subject, but I did call for a reason.”

  “Right. The demon in the woods. I got Ruby’s message.”

  “She alerted me right away, and I was able to get away for bit to look into it myself. The energy is reading as a lower-level demon, which would explain why you ran into scrappers in the woods last night. But given that boy’s description of the demon looking like a wolf, I’m a bit baffled. Demons who can shift aren’t lower-level, and it doesn’t explain another energy shift we sensed last night. I thought something might be wrong with the Ley line, but rest assured, all is fine. Though it still doesn’t explain why those nons described the demon as wolf-like.”

  I look at Lucas, wrinkling my nose. Right. I have a buttload of information to tell Evander, starting with the wolves. “That’s probably because the demon isn’t a wolf and the wolf is actually a wolf. A werewolf, to be exact. Lucas and I kind of ran into one last night.”

  “Seven devils, please tell me you’re joking.”

  “I wish I were.” I bring my hand to my forehead, rubbing my temples. Everything from last night comes rushing back. “It set off our motion detectors, and Lucas was able to catch him before he ran off.”

  “Don’t tell me you have him strung up in your basement.”

  “No,” I say sharply. “Werewolves are human.” I get a flash to one of the first interactions I had with Easton after realizing who he really was. The group of hunters he’d been running with had tracked and slaughtered an entire pack of werewolves. I don’t know how much Easton actually took part, and I don’t want to know. The pack wasn’t violent, hadn’t harmed a human in their entire existence, and owned and ran a vegan bakery, for fuck’s sake.

  And they were killed simply for being werewolves. Judged solely on what they were instead of who they were as human fucking beings.

  “But this one…” I let out a sigh. “Lucas held him spellbound and he confessed everything to me.”

  “Confessed?” Evander echoes.

  “Yep. Basically, they want power from the Ley line and think it’s their turn to have it. They’re ready to fight us, blah, blah, blah. I sent him back to his pack with a warning to leave us the hell alone.” My heart skips a beat, thinking of what happened next. My anger surged through me, sending a blast of angelic energy so strong even Evander was able to sense it back at the Covenstead.

  And then Lucifer showed up.

  “I’ll let the council know. We’re on good terms with the Eastwood pack.”

  “Oh right, we are. Hopefully they can talk some sense into them so it doesn’t come to a war the wolves will all too easily lose.”

  “Yes, let’s hope.”

  I take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. “So, this demon,” I start. “What else do you know?”

  “Not much, as of yet. Ruby didn’t want to scare her students, and I’ve only got another few minutes before I have to go back to teaching. I have a class of seniors next, and after a test I can work some scry-work into our lesson.”

  “You’re making them take a test already? It’s so early.”

  Evander laughs. “The academic day starts at eight AM.”

  “Ugh, I remember. That’s way too early.” I yawn and snuggle closer to Lucas. “I’ll send my familiars out into the woods. I’ll text you later if they find anything.”

  “Sounds good, sister. Now go take a shower.”

  I laugh. “I do need one.”

  “Gross,” he laughs. “Take care.”

  “I will. Love you, Evander,” I say before hang
ing up. My friends know how much they mean to me, but I don’t say it out loud enough. I put the phone on my nightstand and slowly push up, going into the bathroom to pee and clean myself up.

  “What would you like for breakfast?” Lucas asks when I get into bed again. “More pickles and mayonnaise?”

  “Hah, not for breakfast. But donuts sound good, and I don’t have any.”

  “I’ll get you some.” He kisses my forehead and pulls the blankets up over us both. He can’t physically go out and get donuts, but I have no doubt he’ll figure out a way to have them brought to me. “Are there types of donuts?”

  “Yes,” I laugh, finding it so fucking adorable how he’s clueless about food, yet tries so hard to make me happy. “Strawberry frosted with sprinkles is my favorite, though I don’t actually eat donuts all that often.”

  Lucas rests his hand on my stomach. “This is another craving then.” He smiles. “I didn’t like when you were feeling ill, but the cravings are endearing for some reason.”

  “Don’t indulge me too much,” I tell him. “I really don’t want to gain a hundred pounds.”

  He laughs. “I don’t think you will. And from what I’ve read, many people mistake the eating for two thing.”

  “Ugh, on top of werewolves, demons, and angels, I still have to read pregnancy books.”

  “You don’t have to,” he says gently. “Don’t feel pressured to read all the books and articles because society makes you feel that’s what you should do. You’re doing a lot of things the majority of society could never dream of along with growing our baby.”

  “When you put it that way, I sound pretty awesome.” I smile at him.

  “You are.”

  “And that blowjob was pretty awesome too.”

  “It was.” He spoons his body around mine. “Though I’m sure you could outdo yourself. And if you wanted to try now, I wouldn’t object.”

  I laugh. “Taking one for the team, huh.”

  He kisses my neck. “I love you, Callie.”

  “I love you too.”

  He runs his fingers up and down my arm, lulling me back to sleep. He's still with me when I wake two hours later, and is flipping through the Infernal Dictionary.