Queen of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  “Yes, besides a few ghosts that needed a little redirecting, it was the calmest Halloween I’ve had in years.”

  “Do you have a bump yet? I couldn’t tell in any of your photos if you’d just eaten too much or were actually starting to show.”

  “Thanks,” I say sarcastically. “And no. I’m just now nine weeks. The baby is only an inch long.”

  “Hmm. You must have eaten too much.”

  Frowning, I look down at my stomach. “My clothes still fit, and do you know how much walking you do at a theme park? A lot.”

  “I’m teasing you, Callie.”

  “It’s hard to differentiate between that and your blunt honesty sometimes.”

  Eliza’s perfectly lined lips pull into a smile. “I get that a lot.”

  “Other than the unexpected growth spurt, was Scarlet well-behaved?” I run my hand over her fur. Instead of being soft and fluffy, her fur is gray and wiry. This is so fucking weird.

  “I kept her busy. We went on lots of walks and she ate lots of treats.”

  “You want a dog now, don’t you?” I get up off the floor, yawning. The private jet ride from Orlando to Chicago went by fast, thanks to the on-flight entertainment Lucas graciously provided me with. Needless to say, it’s late and I’m tired.

  “Where’s Julian?” Eliza looks at the door. “I thought he was with you and I was hoping to corrupt him tonight.”

  “He got called back to angel HQ or wherever it is he goes. And you’re not having sex with Julian.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do, Mom,” she sasses. “Or him, and if he wants this, he’ll get this.”

  “Gross.”

  She giggles. “This is just the beginning of payback for making me listen to you and Lucas going at it.”

  The front door opens again, and Lucas brings all our luggage in at once since it’s not heavy for him.

  “You didn’t leave with that many bags,” Eliza notices.

  “No, I had to buy an extra suitcase for everything I bought in Disney. Most of it is for Penny, and we both had fun buying baby stuff.”

  Lucas closes the door and comes over, standing behind me so my back is to his front. He places both hands on my stomach and kisses my neck. Eliza rolls her eyes and gags.

  “You still think it’s a girl?” she asks. I thought I heard my father tell me to do it for her when I was tied up by Ruth, and at the time I took it to mean the her was the baby.

  “We’re not sure, but we got mostly gender-neutral stuff,” I tell her. “Though there were a few really cute newborn princess dresses I had to get. Just in case.”

  “Because you couldn’t go back in a month or so when you find out.”

  “Oh, we will,” Lucas says with a smile and kisses me again.

  “Didn’t you get enough of each other on vacation?”

  “This was the second leg of our honeymoon,” Lucas reminds her. “It reminded me why I married Callie all over again.”

  “Yuck. Go upstairs and do that.”

  I yawn again, spinning around in Lucas’s arms. “I’m good with that.”

  “Ready for round two?” He squeezes my butt. “Technically round three.”

  “If round three is you rubbing my back until I fall asleep, then yes. Though if you want to stay up and hang out with Eliza, I’m fine with that too.”

  “When was the last time you ate?” Eliza asks Lucas, knowing he’s not getting much from me right now. “I was just about to go out and find someone.”

  “Go with her,” I tell Lucas. “We’ve had an exceptionally normal vacation. We’re due to be attacked any day now so you need your strength.”

  Lucas frowns but knows it’s true. “I won’t be gone long.”

  “I’ll be fine here,” I tell him. “Scarlet will actually intimidate people on her own in this form.”

  “She will.” Lucas pulls me in for a hug. “Do you need anything before I go out?”

  I shake my head. “I’m good. I ate on the way back from the airport, and I just want to sleep now, so go.”

  Lucas kisses me again and leaves with Eliza, arming the security system on his way out. I open one of my suitcases, grabbing underwear and one of Lucas’s t-shirts. I go upstairs, take a quick shower, and settle into bed. Scarlet joins me, taking up half the mattress.

  “Lucifer?” I whisper in the dark and close my eyes. “Dad?”

  I haven’t heard from either of them, and it if wasn’t for Julian popping in and out throughout our vacation, I’d have had no connection to my angel side for the past three weeks. Lucifer is still on the run, and Heaven is still busy looking for him. The attention has been shifted from me, which is nice.

  But the demons haven’t forgotten, and without Lucifer on the throne in Hell, Julian is worried they’ll grow even more restless and basically see this as an opportunity to somehow get me down there, laying claim to the throne.

  “Anyone there?” I ask once more and then roll over, snuggling with Scarlet. Being in Florida for three weeks was a nice break from reality. I was almost able to forget everything going on. Almost. But no matter how magical the vacation was, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being in the calm before the storm.

  Because I know it’s coming.

  “Abby’s here.”

  Eliza’s voice cuts through the room. The metal blinds are drawn, blocking out all light.

  “Already?” I ask groggily, sitting up. Lucas is naked in bed next to me, and I don’t even remember him coming in last night. I passed the fuck out, exhausted from traveling. “Tell her I’ll be right down.”

  “Fine.” Eliza leaves the door open and zooms out of the room. Lazily, I get up and use the bathroom. Lucas brought my suitcase upstairs, and I haphazardly pull out a sundress and get it halfway on before remembering it’s November in Chicago and a strappy dress isn’t going to cut it. I dig through my suitcase, finding leggings and a sweater.

  “Lucas,” I whisper quietly, waking him up. “I’m gonna head out for breakfast with Abby.”

  “Okay,” he says sleepily, sitting up to kiss me. Using magic, I curl my hair on my way down the stairs. Abby is in the foyer, apprehensively petting Scarlet.

  “Hey, sis,” I say. “Sorry, I overslept.”

  “It’s fine. The first trimester sucks all the energy out of you.”

  “It really does.” I yawn, raking my fingers through my curls. “At least I have light at the end of my tunnel. I’ll pop this thing out and never have this much humanity inside of me again.”

  “I feel like there’s almost a dirty joke in there somewhere,” Abby laughs. “But Lucas is a vampire, not a human.”

  “Talk about a missed opportunity.”

  “Did you guys have fun? I liked watching your stories on Instagram.”

  “It was amazing! I got Penny a few things.”

  “A few?” Abby raises an eyebrow. She’s a bit minimalistic and is probably going to hate the bags of presents I’m about to give her.

  “It’s fun to shop for kids. I never really thought about it before.”

  “Did you buy baby stuff?”

  “Of course. Lucas went even more overboard than me.”

  “I can see that,” Abby laughs. “Eliza got a dog?”

  “Oh, right, you don’t know. This is Scarlet.”

  Abby looks at the big dog. “How?”

  “Lucifer.” Guilt rushes through me. The last time Lucifer was here, Abby almost died. She has no idea and I need to keep it that way. “We kind of hung out right before I left for vacation.”

  Abby looks at me, horrified. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “I didn’t tell anyone,” I admit. “Only Julian.”

  “Is that why he came with you? To protect you against Lucifer?”

  I fish my shoes out of another suitcase in the foyer as I talk. “Not necessarily. To make a long story short, Lucifer kind of saved me.” And you. But not just kind of. He literally pulled a bullet from your body and healed you as you lay dying in
front of me in your very own house. “The other archangels almost found me, and he distracted them and led them away. Then he took us to a strip club in Texas and drank almost an entire bottle of whiskey. It was an interesting night.”

  Abby stares at me, unblinking. “And I thought the guy who came into the ER last night with a toy car up his butt was a story that couldn’t be beat.” She meets my eyes and then bursts into laughter. “I don’t know why I’m laughing. The devil is here on earth and he…he…helped you.”

  “Don’t think about it too much,” I tell her. “It’ll give you a headache.”

  “So, he’s good?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t know.” The world feels like it's closing in on me, and I start to feel sick. I squeeze my eyes closed and the chandelier above us starts to shake. It was stupid to go on vacation and pretend that everything is okay, because it’s not.

  It’s so fucking far from okay and I’ve only been delaying the inevitable. I’ve been texting back and forth with my friends, but I know they would withhold the truth to ensure I had a good vacation, and mostly, so I could get away from the stress for a bit. It’s no secret being stressed is bad for pregnancy, and I only have one shot at this. That alone is enough to cause me to have a panic attack if I stop and let myself think about it too hard. I’m a ball of nerves, one pinprick away from exploding. Abby, bless her, is able to tell and rests her hand on my arm.

  “Let’s just get breakfast. And if you have vacation photos, I want to see them.”

  I smile, trying to shift my focus back to the topic of vacation and being carefree and happy. “I have tons.”

  “Great. It’s going to make me want to plan a family trip.”

  “You should go!” I lead us out the door. “Are we walking or driving?”

  “Driving because it’s cold,” Abby says. “Though we’ll probably end up walking because there’s no way I’ll find a spot near the restaurant.”

  “We will. I’m feeling lucky about it.”

  “I hope you’re right. The air is damp and gives you that instant chill.” We get into Abby’s SUV, talking about family vacations like everything is normal. Halfway down the block, Abby’s phone rings.

  “It’s my mother-in-law,” she says and goes to decline the call but accidentally hits the green icon on the screen instead. “Shit, I mean, hi, Rosalin!” She looks at me and makes a face. I quietly laugh.

  “Oh, hello, Abby dear. You’re not working, are you?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Good. I tried to get ahold of Phillip, but he didn’t answer.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Oh, it’s fine, dear. Better than fine, actually. You’ll never guess what I just won on the radio!”

  Abby slows to a stop. “What did you win?”

  “An Alaskan cruise! Two tickets for Paul and me!”

  “Awesome!” Abby tells her mother-in-law. I don’t know the nature of her relationship with her in-laws, but I hope it’s a good one. Penny needs at least one set of decent grandparents, and lord knows she’s not going to get that from the Martins. “You’ve been talking about going for years and now you are!”

  “Yes, we’re so excited, though the timing isn’t ideal.”

  “When is it?”

  “The week of Thanksgiving.” Rosalin sighs. “I suppose we could take the cash instead. It’s not equal to the value of the cruise, but it is an option. I know how much you and Phillip were looking forward to coming for dinner.”

  “No, no, no,” Abby rushes out. “You guys go. We can have Thanksgiving when you get back.”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t want to leave you with nowhere to go.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Abby assures her. “I’ll go to my parents.”

  “As long as you’re sure they’ll have a place for you. I know how fickle they can be.”

  I stifle a laugh, taking that to mean Phil’s parents are more than aware the Martins are the scum of the earth.

  “It’ll be fine,” Abby repeats, and beeping comes through the phone.

  “Phillip is calling me back. I’ll talk to you soon, dear.”

  Abby hangs up and looks at me. “I like them but was not looking forward to the four-hour drive.”

  “You guys are welcome to come to our house for Thanksgiving. It’s my turn to host this year, and we should be in the estate by then.”

  Abby smiles. “I’d really like that. Do witches celebrate Thanksgiving? I mean, I know it’s not a religious holiday or anything, but I, um, sound really dumb right now.”

  “You don’t,” I laugh. “And it’s not something we celebrate with the coven, unlike Halloween or a Solstice. It’s up to the individual, and for the last few years, Kristy, Evander, Tabatha and I alternate hosting. Every other year, Kristy goes home to her parents’ condo in Scottsdale, so I go to Tabatha’s house. When Kristy is here, we cook at my place and have them over. I’ll probably invite Easton and Melinda this year too, since they’re on the outs with their demon-hunting group and have nowhere else to go.”

  “Will Julian be there too?”

  “Hopefully.”

  “Witches, vampires, demon hunters, and an angel. At least if this dinner gets interrupted, you’ll have an advantage, right?”

  I let out a snort of laughter. “You jinx us, and I’m sending you out there with my enchanted dagger.”

  Abby laughs, taking her eye off the road for a moment to look at me. “Let me know what I can do to help, and we’ll be there.”

  “It’s good to be home.” I sink onto the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table. It’s just now noon, and we were able to drive home in the daylight thanks to my handy-dandy harmful light-blocking spell.

  “It is,” Lucas agrees, coming over and joining me.

  “Though now I’m bored. I’ve grown used to being entertained nonstop.”

  Lucas laughs and wraps an arm around me. “We could have sex again. We’ve yet to try anal.”

  “Saying it casually isn’t going to make me agree to it.”

  Laughing again, Lucas pulls me onto his chest. His skin is smooth and cool to the touch. It was odd at first; now I find it comforting. “I’ll make it quite enjoyable for you.”

  “If you didn’t have such a big dick, maybe.” I lift my head, looking into his eyes. “You’re taking that as a compliment and will happily rub my back instead, right?”

  “Then casually slip it in your ass?” He brings his hands to my butt and gives my cheeks a squeeze. I laugh and jerk away. Lucas playfully flips us over, pinning me under his body. I bend my knees and curl my legs around his waist. He rests his head on my breasts, and I rake my fingers through his hair.

  “You’re not allowed to cut your hair anytime soon,” I tell him. “I like how it’s starting to curl.”

  “Maybe the baby will have curly hair.”

  “If it ends up being a boy, I imagine he’ll look like you.” We talked more about the future while on vacation. Knowing Lucifer doesn’t have plans to kidnap our baby definitely takes away a huge stressor, but the weight it lifted left behind another one.

  Lucifer warned me the demons will try to blackmail me into accepting the role of queen of Hell. What better bargaining chip than my child?

  “If he’s lucky,” Lucas says with a grin. Scarlet plods through the living room and tries to jump up on the couch with us, only she doesn’t fit now that she’s freaking huge. “I’m going to have to get her a bigger dog bed. And a bigger house. We do not have the room for a hundred-pound dog here.”

  “Once the sun sets, let’s go see the house,” Lucas says. “I’m sure we’ll both be surprised with the progress.”

  “And we can start moving in soon.” I make a face. “I have so much to pack.”

  “And get rid of,” Lucas adds.

  “It’ll look like I got rid of stuff in the new basement. It’s like three times the size of the basement I have now.” I scoot closet to Lucas, trying to make room for Scarlet. “O
of,” I huff when she puts her big paws in my lap. Lucas and I lounge around on the couch together for a bit, and then Lucas gets up to unpack his suitcase already. Mine is going to stay zipped up in the hallway right outside my bedroom door for at least a full forty-eight hours before I can even think about putting my clothes away.

  Having purposely gotten rid of most of the food in the fridge before leaving for Florida for three weeks, I need to go grocery shopping and buy fifty pounds of dog food that may or may not last Scarlet a week. Lucas is in the office answering emails when I leave, and Binx comes with me to the store.

  “I’m sorry,” I tell my Jeep, seeing the cracked headlight. “I’ll get you fixed soon enough.” I decide to stop at Novel Grounds before going to the grocery store, wanting to pop in and check on everything. Months ago, Lucas suggested I give up the notion I’ll return to work with the ability to keep a normal schedule.

  Turns out he was right.

  I’m still a co-owner of the bookstore, but now that I’m married to an undead billionaire, I don’t have to work. I could give Kristy full ownership and still come in when I can to help out, because I really do love this place. Or I could keep doing what I’ve been doing for months, having taken myself off the schedule but haven’t done anything more official than that, which is classic Callie-style of avoidance for you.

  “Hey!” I call to Danielle and Vanessa. Binx prances in ahead of me, ready for everyone to gush all over him like they always do. The store is busy, which is always a good sight to see.

  “Hey, Callie,” Vanessa says, looking up from the register. “How was your trip? We all kind of lived vicariously through your Instagram stories.”

  “It was really fun. I’m glad to be back, though. How are you?”

  “Good. Busy as usual.” Binx jumps on the counter, patiently waiting for Vanessa to finish ringing up a customer so she can love on him.

  “Have we been busy like this a lot lately?”

  Vanessa picks up Binx, and he starts purring right away. “It’s picked up a lot in the last week. We’re all starting to feel comfortable going out again.”

  Obviously, I’m missing something. “Why wouldn’t you feel comfortable?”