War can make loved ones turn on each other.
This demon isn’t here to take me to Hell and use me to rule. It isn’t here to threaten my daughter. It’s here to create chaos between us, to distract us with fighting amongst each other so we won’t try to stop what’s already in motion.
“Nice try,” I tell the demon, and the energy balls in my hand start to glow brighter and brighter. “But your efforts have failed—again.”
“Have they?” The demon laughs, and Lucas lets go of Noah, stepping back and turning to me. His fangs are still drawn and there’s something dark in his eyes. “Because I think your vampire is feeling rather hungry at the moment.” It holds up its hands and whispers an incantation. Lucas shudders, fighting against whatever the demon is doing to him.
Energy gathers around my fingers, and anger burns inside of me. Lucas isn’t who he used to be. He knows it and I know it. I accepted everything about him, fully knowing how he embraced his vampirism and how he still would if he thought it would benefit him.
But he doesn’t, because I’m more important to him, and using dark magic to force him to do something he can’t take back is a good way to piss me the fuck off. Glowering at me, the demon steps forward, going back into the broken circle of salt.
“Enough!” I yell and throw my hands out. Hellfire erupts around me, following the circle of salt and surrounding the demon. “I know exactly what you are doing.” Slowly, I raise my hands, making the flames of the hellfire grow taller. “And I know who you are.”
The smirk on the demon’s face fades. He stares at me through the flames, and Lucas, shaking himself of whatever hold the demon had on him, comes over.
“Callie, Noah is still in there,” he reminds me, wanting me to hold onto my own humanity. Blinking, I let my hands fall, and the fire dies down until it’s just a few inches tall. The anger almost consumed me, almost made me kill an innocent kid.
It’s another thing the demon wanted. I thought I’d outsmarted the demon, but I was wrong.
“Ad somnum daemonium.” Tabatha stands next to me, hand held high. Noah slumps to the ground, one hand hitting the hellfire. It burns him, and I gasp, clenching my fists to put out the remaining flames.
“Is…is everyone all right?” Kristy appears in the doorway, holding a first-aid kit. Alex is behind her, eyes full of anger and terror.
“Alive, but not all right,” Evander chides. He’s on the floor next to Brock, trying to stop the bleeding. Kristy hurries over, and I get dizzy as I look around the room.
“Callie.” Lucas’s hand lands on my lower back. His eyes meet mine, and though he doesn't—and won’t—say anything, I can see the worry in them. I still love him just as much now as I did before. “Your heart is racing.”
“Yeah. I can feel it.”
“Sit,” he tells me, and I know he’s worried about our daughter. “You fell.”
“I’m okay,” I say automatically. Both Freya and Pandora give me a look and urge me to one of the armchairs. Binx sits on top of Noah’s chest, telling me he’s not moving this time.
“Are you okay?” Eliza zooms into the room. She might not have been in here, but she heard everything that just happened. “Put your feet up and someone bring her water.”
“Seriously?” Alex spits, throwing his arms out. His family is in disarray on the floor.
“Yes, seriously,” Eliza snaps, fangs flashing. “She could have turned you away and yet she welcomed you into her home and has gotten hurt because of it, which means my sister could have gotten hurt.”
“Just get Callie water,” Lucas commands, and Eliza is forced to obey. Grumbling, she zooms out of the room. “Sit and stay,” he tells me. If I wasn’t so shaken up, I’d make a lame joke about being treated like a dog. He speeds over to Alyssa, picking her up as if she weighs nothing, and lays her on the couch. Tabatha and Evander cast another circle around Noah, magically binding his arms and legs to keep the demon from using his powers. Kristy starts cleaning Brock’s arm, working silently, no doubt scared shitless by what’s going on.
I sip the water Eliza brought me, feeling like I’m floating above myself as I watch my friends and family clean up yet another demonic mess.
“So, now what?” Brock asks, going over to his mother. She’s starting to wake up and is going to have one hell of a headache.
“We stick with our original plan,” Tabatha says, dusting herself off. “And I understand tensions are high right now, which is exactly what this demon wants.”
“A chaos demon.” Evander holds his hands over Noah’s body, reading the energy. “I’ve never seen one this powerful.”