“Scott?” Miranda echoes. “He…he’s your brother, right?”
“Depends on who you ask.” I let out another sigh. “Thanks again, guys. I’ll…I’ll…I don’t know, eat my feelings tonight and then figure out how to deal with this.”
Easton opens his mouth only to snap it closed again. “I’ll do some digging and will let you know if I find anything.”
“Okay. Call me, though. Don’t show up in Thorne Hill again,” I warn. “And tell the rest of your hunter buddies to stay away too.”
“I will…when we’re on speaking terms again,” he mumbles.
“Why wouldn’t you be on—never mind. I don’t care.” I take another drink of wine. “Fine, I do. I’m nosey.”
“Not killing you and the vampire—”
“His name is Lucas,” I interject.
“Not killing you and Lucas,” he repeats, saying Lucas’s name with distain. “It didn’t look good for me.”
“Because I’m a witch?”
“Because he’s a vampire.”
Miranda leans against the counter and I realize I should have pulled out a barstool for her. It wasn’t that long ago that her leg was mauled by demons. It has to still be painful to walk on. “You killed a demon that was responsible for a lot of hunters’ deaths. Witch or not, we know we’re in your debt, so to speak.”
“Lucas helped too,” I say. “I wouldn’t have been able to defeat that demon if it weren’t for him.”
“I brought that point up, but well…” Miranda shakes her head. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Did you ever find out what kind of demon that was?”
I shift my gaze to Lucas for half a second. We did, and know that the demon rose straight from Hell, trying to find someone worthy to bring forth his old pal Pestilence and get a kickstart on the apocalypse.
“I never got a name.” I shake my head. “But it’s dead now, so what does it matter, right?”
“Right.” Miranda puts the light back in her bag and picks up her crutches. “This house is incredible,” she says, much to Easton’s chagrin. He knows it’s Lucas’s and he’d be damned before he admitted that Lucas had anything worth envying.
“It is,” Lucas agrees. “But I won’t miss it when Callie and I move in together in Thorne Hill. We’re restoring a century-old mansion. It’s Callie’s dream house.”
I do roll my eyes this time. “You’ve been in it,” I tell Miranda.
“That big white house in the woods by your place?” she asks, and I nod. “Oh wow. It seemed like it needed a lot of work.”
“It does, trust me, but it’s worth saving. I love old houses.”
“You seem to like old things in general,” Easton spits, meaning for it to be an insult, but all it does is make me laugh.
“Thank you again,” I tell them both. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly forgive Easton for what he did to me, but I do know coming here—to a vampire’s house—puts them at risk for being excommunicated from their group of hunters.
“You’re welcome, Callie,” Miranda says. “Really, it’s the least we can do after you helped us on more than one occasion.”
I walk them both to the door and watch to make sure they get into Easton’s truck safely before closing the door. I lean against it, head flopping back.
It’s late, I’m tired, and I want to sleep in my bed, surrounded by my familiars. I like being here in Lucas’s fancy house, but I miss Thorne Hill.
“You should get some sleep,” Lucas tells me.
“I know.” I inhale deeply and force my eyes open wide, as if that’ll keep me awake. “I won’t be able to sleep, though.” I had a lot on my mind hours ago, now I have more shit to pile on. I push off the door, planning on going into the kitchen, downing the rest of my wine, and crashing in Lucas’s bed.
But if we stay the night, we’ll have to stay the day, and I just want to be home.
“If we leave now, we’ll make it to Thorne Hill before sunrise.” It’s as if he can read my mind, and I’m so fucking thankful for Lucas. “Unless you want to stay.”
I shake my head. “I want to go home.”
He puts his lips to mine. “Me too.”
Lucas packed up a suitcase full of clothes, and has another full of things from his office. I quickly cleared out the fridge and took the trash outside for pickup later in the week. We don’t plan on coming back to Chicago for quite some time.
So much hangs above me as we get into Lucas’s Range Rover.
My dead mother.
My angelic father I’m desperate to see again.
Julian—my mysterious cousin who’s been watching me the last few months yet isn’t here when I need him.
The Vampire Council wanting Lucas to join them and represent vampires in a political sense.
The Grand Coven and their stupid rules.
Angels.
Demons.
And now witch hunters for hire.
“My dress will take about two months to come in,” I say, getting my phone out and opening up my Pinterest wedding board. “So I think a wedding the weekend after Samhain will be perfect. It’s on a Tuesday, so that whole week leading to the wedding will be full of festivities.”
“What do you do for Samhain?” he asks.
“We celebrate,” I start. “We start the night before with a feast. Then at midnight, right as it officially begins, something is sacrificed.”
“Something?”
“It’s usually a goat or a…a lamb.” I blink and remember the lamb from my dream, being led to the hellhound for slaughter. “It’s traditional, but I’ve always refused to watch it. Though I will eat the meat after it’s been butchered and cooked.” I shrug. “Then we eat, drink, and dance, mostly. Samhain is the day when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, so we leave offerings to spirits, and young witches who haven’t gotten a familiar yet can partake in the Maelfica ritual in hopes of calling a spirit to them.”
“Interesting.”
I nod. “It’s easier to communicate with the spirit world then, but it’s also easier for malicious entities to come into our world too, so we’re encouraged to stay at the Covenstead. There’s always a masquerade ball Samhain night. I love dressing up in gothic Victorian ball gowns.” I smile, feeling a bit of disappointment when I remember Lucas can’t come with me to the Covenstead.
“And Halloween is actually a big deal to the town of Thorne Hill too. Probably because the town was founded by witches.”
“With the nons?”
“Yes. We have trick-or-treating downtown the Friday before Halloween. Kristy and I always make a really cool creepy scene in front of the store and pass out candy. And then that next day the town hosts a beer fest. It started years ago to try and keep the nons all together in one protected space. The Ley line can get a little wonky on Samhain, and if big bads are coming and going from the gates of Hell like Julian said, then things might get dicey this year.”
“You put a protection spell on the town?”
“Oh, there are tons.” I twist in my seat. “It’s hard to keep a spell like that going for more than a few minutes at a time, though, but on Samhain, the entire coven puts a collective circle of protection on the grassy area the beer and wine booths are set up on.”
Lucas puts his hand on my thigh. “Then I think the week after Samhain is perfect. Which puts our wedding date on the fourth.”
Hearing him say it out loud should fill me with joy. November fourth. It’s not all that far away. I’ll be marrying the man of my dreams, even though he stopped being a man years ago.
My eyes fill with tears that spill down my cheeks. We’re speeding along the highway and Lucas turns, blue eyes meeting mine.
“Why are you crying?” he gives my leg a squeeze.
“What are we doing?” I ask, voice a hollow whisper.
“Driving home,” he says slowly, knowing that’s not the answer I was looking for but not knowing what else to say.
“I mean, who are we kidding?”
“What are you talking about, my love?”