Reign of Night (The Thorne Hill Series Book 7)

by Emily Goodwin

  “We are not. The only way to kill any angel is with demon-forged daggers that—”

  “Bael had one,” I interrupt. “Julian brought it. Would it be believable that Bael killed Remiel?”

  Michael thinks about it for a few seconds. “Perhaps. Battle is—was—not one of his strengths. I believe that was the angle Lucifer was going to play.”

  “Let’s circle back to the demon thing,” I say, sliding the pie over and taking a seat next to Michael. My feet are starting to hurt from standing here, which is unusual for me. I didn’t take my boots off or anything either. “I’m always a demon-magnet, but it’s gonna be worse, right?”

  “Right.” Michael looks up and around the room. “The warding placed on the property will help for a while.”

  “Can you up it?” Lucas asks.

  “I will bless the space,” Michael tells us. “But it won’t be foolproof.”

  “What about the Covenstead?” Kristy asks. “Is she safe there?”

  “In theory.”

  “But if demons know I’m there…” I start, not needing to finish. When Varrador figured out which coven I belonged to, he sent lower-level demons to attack anyone trying to get through the door, so he could in turn force himself in and find and kill me. If demons are looking for me and they know I went through the door, I’d be putting everyone at risk.

  Again.

  “You said only someone with archangel blood can claim the throne,” Lucas starts, taking my food from the microwave and bringing it over to me. “Which means now there is no doubt amongst the demons that the rumors about Callie are true.”

  “Right.”

  I should be too nervous to eat, but I’m starving, and the leftover mashed potatoes and cornbread dressing are begging to be mixed together and devoured right now.

  “If the demons know, won’t the angels find out?” Lucas asks.

  “Demons aren’t the most trustworthy source of information. With Lucifer being gone, they are more desperate than usual to try and take the throne for themselves. The chatter may raise suspicions, and Julian and I will continue to evade them.”

  “Thank you,” I tell him as I put a spoonful of dressing on my potatoes.

  “It’s your divinity that will give you away. I would bind your angelic powers, but I fear you may need them.” I assume he meant I’d need them to fight off demons, but he looks at my stomach. I’m not really showing yet, but my usual flat stomach isn’t so flat anymore. Give me ten minutes to finish this plate and I’ll look even more pregnant. “You are only half human, and your daughter is part angel as well. No one has ever—”

  “Daughter?” Lucas interjects. “You’re sure about that?”

  Tears prick the corner of my eyes, overcome with emotion when I see the excitement on Lucas’s face. He told me he’d hoped for a son, going back to his old human ways where sons were preferred to daughters. I was a little worried he’d be disappointed when I told him I thought I was having a girl.

  “I am, though only that your child is biologically female. What she grows up to be is up to her, as it is to all of God’s children.”

  And now I’m blinking back tears even more, knowing Michael—a freaking archangel—is open to inclusion of everyone. I wish I could record him and tell the world that their bigoted hatred for anyone different is wrong and I have an angel to prove it.

  Lucas’s eyes meet mine, and a smile comes to his handsome face. “We’re going to have a daughter. I hope she’s just like you,” he says softly, and for a brief moment, I forget anyone else is in the room with us. Our love is the strongest thing I know, and we’ve overcome so many odds by getting married. And now we’re having an impossible child…I didn’t think I could love Lucas any more than I do, but every day I wake up and feel more strongly for him than I did the night before.

  “Elena King,” Lucas whispers. “Do you still like that name?”

  “I do.” I smile at him and then blink, looking back down at my food and remembering we’re not alone. “So, demons will be able to sense the divinity?” I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t feel all that divine.”

  “You were very divine last night.” Lucas wiggles his eyebrows. “You always are in the bedroom.”

  “Oh my god, Lucas! Don’t talk like that in front of my dad! That’s weird.”

  “Please. You’re pregnant. He’s an archangel. He knows how babies are made, and don’t forget he knocked up your mother.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t have to mention it.” I stick my fork in my food again, and Kristy laughs.

  “Some demons, yes,” Michael answers. “And more will seek it out since they know the rumors about you are true.”

  “So things really won’t be much different than they were before.” I eat another bite of mashed potatoes with my dressing mixed in. “Only more demons than usual will try to kill me.” I let out a sigh. “Can you get me the cranberry juice?” I ask Lucas, who’s closer to the fridge than I am.

  “Cranberry,” Michael says softly. “Your mother liked that as well.”

  “She did?” I smile. “What else did she like?”

  Lucas gets the juice from the fridge and pours me a glass. He kisses my forehead. “I’m going to start a fire in the living room.”

  “I’ll help,” Kristy says, and I know they’re leaving to give me some alone time with Michael while he talks about my mom.

  “Cheese.” Michael smiles back at me. “She put cheese on everything. When she was pregnant with you, she craved sour candy. I don’t quite get the human appeal to it,” he says, smile widening.

  “I wish I could have known her.”

  “I do, too,” he says gently, smile fading. “She would be very proud of the witch you’ve become.”

  I blink away tears, mind racing with a million more questions to ask about her. “I’ve messed up a lot.”

  “All humans do. And even angels from time to time.” He gets up and goes to the large window that looks out into the backyard.

  “True, but declaring myself Queen of Hell was a pretty big thing to mess up.”

  “You did what you had to do, and do not worry, my daughter.” He closes his eyes and holds up a hand, trying to sense for something. “And Lucifer will go back down and reclaim the throne. It will be over…as soon as I can find him.”

  “What do you mean, find him? I thought you could just pop over to wherever he is.”

  “Usually, but he’s cloaked himself from me.” Michael lets his hand fall, and I realize that’s what he was doing, trying to get a feel for where Lucifer is. “He does it anytime he comes to earth.”

  “He’s done this before?”

  “Yes,” Michael says, resting a hand on the window. “If there’s one thing my brother is good at, it’s deception. It could take us quite a while—again—to find where he’s hiding.”

  My heart speeds up, and I remember something Julian told me. “But he went back to Hell…and he went willingly, right?”

  “He did.”

  “How can we get him to do that again?”

  Michael slowly turns back around, gaze meeting mine. He holds it for a moment before continuing, and as those few seconds pass, I realize it’s the first time I’ve been able to simply look at my dad in person like this. I look like my mother, yet I see some similarities between Michael and myself, too.

  “We can’t,” he finally says. “You…perhaps. You’re the closest to…” He trails off, getting a distant look in his eyes.

  “To what?” I ask, almost afraid of the answer, and my nerves start to prickle with fear.

  “Callie,” Michael starts, taking in a slow breath. “There’s something I need to tell you about your mother.”

  Chapter 4

  “Tell me everything about her,” I say, heart jumping into my throat. “I have so many questions. Where was she from? What was her last name? Did she belong to a coven? Probably, so which one? Do I have family on her side? Did they know about me? Can I meet them?” I shake my head. “
Sorry.”

  “It’s all right. I knew you’d have questions if you ever found out the truth.”

  “If I ever? You never planned on telling me who I was?”

  “It was safer keeping your identity concealed from everyone, including you.” He comes back over to the island. “You asked how your mother and I met.”

  I nod eagerly, feeling like I’m going to get a missing piece of myself back.

  “I was sent to earth twenty-eight years ago,” he starts, but suddenly stops and tips his head as if he’s listening to something. “I need to go.”

  “Why?” I hurry off the stool. “Please stay.”

  “I wish I could.” Michael’s brows push together ever so slightly, and he inhales deeply. I have no idea when I’ll see him again…or when I’ll find out more about my mother. “I love you, Callie,” he whispers. “And I know your mother does, too.”

  Without another word, he flies away, leaving me standing alone in the kitchen.

  Letting out a sigh, I shake my head and stare at the spot where Michael was just standing, disappointed more than anything. I want so badly to know more about my mother and get some family history, my real family. I don’t think I’ll get much from my dad’s side, and even if I do, I’m not sure I’ll be able to comprehend it.

  I never really thought about angels before. With the existence of demons, it made sense to have angels, too. And while I don’t consider myself a pessimist by any means, I had a hard time believing in cosmic creatures who were good. It’s strange, I suppose that Hell, Lucifer, and demons were my reality, but putting faith in Heaven and angels was too far-fetched for me.

  “Callie?” Lucas appears in the entrance to the kitchen, no doubt having heard everything that was just said. “Are you all right?”

  Letting my eyes fall shut, I take in another slow breath. When I open my eyes, Lucas is right in front of me, and his arms slip around my waist.

  “I will be,” I say and put my hands on his biceps. “You know, you’re really lucky you were in such good shape when you were turned. If you turned me now, I would be pissed. I’ve eaten my weight in carbs yesterday and today.”

  “And there’s the little issue of you being pregnant.”

  “What happens to the baby if you turn a pregnant woman into a vampire?”

  “The baby would die,” he answers. “Vampires self-heal, and having what is basically a parasite inside you would be removed, either expelled or absorbed.”

  The floorboards creak, and Kristy comes into the kitchen carrying an empty wineglass. “Please don’t tell me you’re talking from experience.”

  “Eliza is the only vampire I’ve made,” Lucas tells her. “And I have no intention of making another. It’s a long commitment to make.”

  “It could be forever,” Kristy muses and goes to the counter to pour more wine in her glass. “I can’t keep a relationship for more than a year, let alone find someone to be bonded with like that.” She takes a sip of her wine. “I do have a date next weekend.”

  “Shut up,” I say, twisting around in Lucas’s arms. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “I’m not that excited about it, and compared to everything else going on, it doesn’t seem that important.”

  “It’s super important,” I counter. “This is the first date you’ve been on since you and Daniel sizzled out back in—what—April?”

  “Ugh, don’t remind me. It sounds so pathetic when you say it out loud.”

  I laugh. “Before Lucas, I hadn’t dated anyone in…years.”

  Lucas pulls me back to him, so my butt is pressed against his hips. “Because no one else was as good as me.”

  “Oh, that is true, but also because I’m not an easy person to date.” I smile. “Who are you going out with?” I ask Kristy. “Where are you going? And yes, you can borrow a sexy dress from my closet.”

  “Matt Puckett, we’re going to Newport to watch a movie and get dinner, and I was already planning on just taking one of your designer dresses,” she replies.

  “Matt…he works at Curlew Café, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s him. He’s been asking me to go out for a while, and I ran out of excuses not to go on a date.”

  “You need an excuse to not go on a date you don’t want to go on?” Lucas asks. “Say no.”

  “I kinda do want to go out,” Kristy says. “I’d like to get back into the dating game, and Matt is a really nice guy.”

  “And he’s cute,” I add, and Lucas tightens his hold on me with a grunt. Vampires are possessive by nature, and Lucas really isn’t that bad, though his jealous side comes out pretty easily, and I secretly like it. “He’s been asking you out for a while? How long is a while?”

  “About a month,” she says, and I work hard to keep my face neutral. I know my friends have been busy without me, and I don’t blame them for that at all. They need to go on with their lives, get out and do the things they normally do. And I get why Kristy didn’t bring it up since my life is a hot mess nine times out of ten, but it makes me fear I could drift away from my friends.

  As much as that would hurt me, it might be for the best, so they don’t get hurt.

  “Want to go raid my closet?” I ask her.

  “Are you sure you’re up for that?”

  “Yeah,” I say with a smile that’s a little too broad. I’m trying here, okay? “Michael isn’t coming back anytime soon. He said to go on with my life and be careful, so that’s what I’m going to do. But I am bringing my food.” I finally take my boots off, hold my hand over my plate to reheat my leftovers, and pick it up to take upstairs.

  “You sure you’re all right?” Kristy asks, looking over her shoulder as we go up the narrow back stairway. It was originally built for the servants to go up and down, out of sight from the family.

  “I should be asking you that. You almost died.” I’m suddenly choked up with emotion, realizing yet again how close I came to losing someone I love, and it wasn’t just Kristy, but Lucas and even Scarlet.

  “Wouldn’t be the first time. Though it might be only the third or fourth time, which is peanuts compared to you.”

  “Hah, unfortunately that’s true.” Each step creaks under our feet. This stairwell has no windows and was pretty well protected from the elements, unlike the rest of the house. Since it was structurally sound, we left it pretty much untouched and I’m so glad we did. It’s like walking back in time anytime I use this staircase.

  “And I’m fine,” Kristy assures me. “I’m going to have a hard time sleeping tonight, and maybe tomorrow, but I’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m so sorry. That shouldn’t have happened to you. Bael was after me, not you. I hate how much you guys get caught in the crossfire because of me.”

  Kristy stops on the landing and turns around. “Do not be a martyr, Callie. We all know this isn’t your fault, and if I didn’t want to occasionally deal with demons, I would have stopped being your friend a long time ago.”

  “Dammit,” I mutter as I’m unable to stop my eyes from filling with tears. “Stupid hormones.”

  “I like this side of you,” Kristy laughs. She’s one of the few people I’ve openly cried in front of. Crying doesn’t solve anything, and for so long I thought my lack of expression of sadness made me tough. Really, though, it was the exact opposite. Not dealing with my feelings was the coward’s way out, I know that now.

  Scarlet loudly runs up the stairs after us, nearly knocking me over. She’s not at all graceful like my familiars, and being the size of a small pony, it’s a wonder she hasn’t wrecked the house yet.

  “Lucas said the same thing.” I pause before going into my bedroom, looking into the room across the hall. “This will be her room,” I tell Kristy.

  “Are you going to start decorating the nursery now that you know you’re having a girl?” Her blue eyes are wide with excitement. “I’ll help!”

  “Thanks, and I…I don’t know. I think I should wait so I don’t jinx anything.”
I go into my room and telekinetically flip on the lights. “I know a lot of women wait until they hit the second trimester to even announce their pregnancy. I’m only half human, and this baby is, uh, three-fourths human? I think? She’s all human from Lucas—I assume—and then half human from me, and half-half angel? Fuck, it’s confusing. She’s more human than I am, and what if my body rejects her because babies really are parasites?”

  “Michael didn’t seem concerned, and he knows things.”

  “True. Thanks, Kristy,” I say, not reminding her Michael is just as clueless about his granddaughter as I am. I sit on the bench at the foot of our bed and eat as Kristy looks through my closet. It’s late, and I’m physically exhausted. I know once I lay down, my mind will start racing, making it difficult to fall asleep. And when I finally do fall asleep, I’ll wake up with a pounding heart and anxiety plaguing my body.

  “What do you think of this one?” Kristy asks, coming out of the closet with a dark purple dress Lucas bought me months ago. “Too fancy?”

  “For a movie in Newport? Probably, but it will look killer on you, and if you like it, wear it.”

  She holds it up to herself and looks down and then shakes her head. “I’ll get self-conscious to have this on and then go to Red Robin for dinner. I’ll look like a try-hard.” She goes back into the closet, and I finish my mashed potatoes.

  “Okay, I’ve narrowed it down to this.” She has a simple black dress with a scoop neckline and an off-the-shoulder black sweater.

  “The dress, definitely the dress. And with a pushup bra, your boobs will look great.”

  “I don’t need a pushup bra,” she mutters and looks at her breasts with a frown. “I’m tempted again to get a reduction.”

  “I’ve been jealous of your boobs since we were thirteen.”

  “And that’s exactly why I want a reduction. I’ve had these monsters since I was a child, Callie. A child.”

  “Oh please, I’d trade you in a heartbeat.”

  “I would happily trade,” Kristy laughs. “It’s not like you’re flat. You have nice perky boobs.”

  “They have served me well.” I put my plate on the bench and unzip my jacket. “Lucas swears they’ve gotten bigger already.” I pull my shirt tight against myself and turn. “I don’t see it.” I cup my breasts with my hands. “Or feel it.”