Queen of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  “Who is your father?” Bael’s voice echoes like a thousand hoarse whispers in the night. Moonlight bathes his face, reflecting off the crown on his head.

  “Michael,” I say proudly. “The fierce warrior Michael is my father.”

  Bael tips his head. A centipede wriggles out of his nose, crawling out of his face and disappearing into his ear. “Are you sure about that?”

  His question throws me, and I open my mouth to talk, but before I can get a word out, Lucas shakes me awake.

  “Callie, wake up, my love. You’re having a nightmare.”

  I blink a few times, eyes adjusting to the bright light from the fire. “I’m not sure if that’s what it was.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I thought Bael was here.”

  “In the room?” Lucas sits up, eyes darting around our bedroom.

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t here here. I think he’s talking to me the same way Lucifer did.”

  “He shouldn’t be able to talk to you at all.” Lucas gets out of bed, needing to look in every nook and cranny of the room to make himself feel better, never mind the fact that my familiars and Scarlet are fast asleep. If a demon were in the house, they’d know.

  I let out a heavy sigh and put my head in my hands. “Maybe it was just a dream then.”

  “We can’t assume that.”

  “I know.” I rub my temples and flop back down on the pillow. “It feels like there’s something really obvious I’m missing, like it’s right in front of me in one of those I can’t see the forest through the trees kind of situations.”

  “I know what you mean.” Lucas gets back into bed, pulling the blanket over both of us. “It’s frustrating not knowing what he’s up to.”

  “Yeah.” I let my eyes fall shut. The latest victim was murdered states away. Who knows what the fuck Bael is up to, rounding up followers to take advantage of.

  “Telling you not to worry sounds silly,” Lucas whispers, taking me in his arms. “But for the rest of the night, don’t worry. Go to sleep, and we’ll come up with a plan in the morning.” He drapes his leg over me, and I feel ten times safer being wrapped in his embrace. “The only person entering you is me. I’m not going to let that fucking demon even think about possessing you.” He holds me tighter against his chest. “I love you, Callie, and swear on my afterlife I will keep you safe.”

  “I love you, too,” I whisper back, eyes falling shut. Lucas will do whatever it takes to keep me safe, but I fear it’s a little too late. Bael has not only thought about possessing me and taking over Hell, but has a plan, and I have a feeling it’s been set in motion long before we figured out what he’s doing.

  And I have no idea how to stop it.

  Chapter 38

  Wind presses against the house, whistling through the fireplace. I roll over, curling my legs up to my chest. The fire went out in the early hours of the morning and the room got cold fast. I snuggle up closer to Lucas, but his skin is cold from being uncovered most of the night. Pulling the blankets over both of us, I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep. It’s early in the morning, probably not past seven yet, and I’m still tired.

  I laid awake for hours last night, afraid if I went back to sleep Bael would visit me in my dreams again. Part of me wanted him to. I already told him who my father is, now he just needs to get his demonic ass here so I can beat it.

  How I’ll go about beating it is another story, but I’ll figure it out. I always do, right?

  Scarlet is asleep on her extra-large dog bed on the floor, and opens a sleepy eye, looking at me. I give her a nod, and she gets up, bounding onto the bed with one leap. She’s surprisingly graceful for her size, and settles down next to me. She’s like a personal space heater, and I cover her with the blankets to steal some of her warmth so I’ll stop shivering.

  Binx and Freya are both on my pillow, and Pandora is on the opposite side of the bed, lying between Lucas’s feet. The three familiars take up enough space on their own, and when you add Scarlet in her Irish Wolfhound form, this king-sized bed isn’t big enough for all of us.

  Reaching over Scarlet, I grab my phone and mindlessly scroll through social media. I’ve never been big on posting on my personal page, and I gave up my own Instagram account years ago to run Novel Grounds’ instead. I’ve been seriously slacking on it for months now, and really need to officially pass it onto Betty, who is much more devoted to it than I am.

  I posted a photo of us all gathered around the dining room table last night, and it’s gotten a lot of likes. I’m positive Scott saw it and has to be fuming to see Abby’s happy face. I added several more photos and video clips to the Instagram stories, and there are over a dozen replies to a photo of Lucas sitting with Penny on his lap, mostly from women replying with a fire emoji or telling me straight out how hot it is to see a good-looking man like Lucas with a baby in his arms.

  I set my phone down when my eyes start to feel heavy and, thanks to Scarlet, am warmed up in no time. I fall back asleep, not waking for another few hours. This time when I sit up, I’m alone in bed and there’s another fire burning in the fireplace. Sitting up, I tap the screen of my phone to see what time it is.

  I have a text from Easton, and I pick up the phone and get out of bed, assuming he’s going to say something about last night, thanking me for inviting them or something like that. I’m not expecting to see call me when you can on my screen. The text was sent at eight AM, which is early for me and early for him as well, especially since they didn’t leave until after nine last night and had to drive all the way back to Chicago.

  I swing my feet over the side of the bed and pad my way into the bathroom. My morning sickness potion is in my medicine cabinet, along with the prenatal vitamins I started taking a few weeks ago. With me not being human, I have no idea if I’m even taking the right amount for my body, but it’s better than nothing, right?

  I use the toilet, add a few drops of the potion to a glass of water, and take it back into the bedroom, sitting on one of the chairs by the fireplace. I call Easton, and the call goes right to his voicemail.

  “Hey, I just saw your text. I’ll keep my phone by me, so call when you can. Hope you’re okay.”

  I end the call, get dressed in black leggings and an off-the-shoulder, oversized gray sweater, and go downstairs, passing by one of the guest rooms on the way. The door is closed, and Eliza is asleep. She keeps typical vampire hours, staying awake all night and going to sleep once the sun comes up.

  The rest of the house is quiet, and the floorboards creak under my feet as I go down the back staircase. The kitchen is spotless, and either Lucas, Eliza, or even Julian finished cleaning after I went to bed. I open the fridge and pull out leftovers from last night and heat up a plate of food.

  “Good morning,” Lucas says, coming into the kitchen. He’s wearing blue checkered pajama pants and nothing else, and his hair is still messy from bed. “I thought you’d sleep in longer. You were restless last night.”

  “I didn’t mean to keep you up.”

  “I ate last night,” he reminds me, speaking of the bagged blood Eliza brought. “I don’t need much sleep. You, on the other hand, do.”

  “I got a weird text message from Easton,” I tell him and open the microwave when the timer gets down to one second, stopping it right before it beeps. “All it said was to call him, and I did and got his voicemail.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” Lucas deadpans.

  “Yeah, I think so too. Melinda would have tried to call if something was really wrong.” I set my plate on the counter and go around to get a fork. “You know me, though. I start thinking about what could go wrong and then I can’t shut off my brain.”

  “Tell him not to contact you between the hours of nine PM and nine AM.”

  “I’m usually awake then anyway.”

  “True, so tell him not to contact you at all.”

  I look up at Lucas, raising an eyebrow. “You still don’t like him, do you?”
r />   “I tolerate him and stand by what I’ve said before: you are too forgiving, Callie.”

  “I might be.” I mix my stuffing in with my mashed potatoes. “Though I can still be very petty and impulsive, don’t worry.”

  Lucas grins. “You know I love your petty and impulsive side.”

  “Good, because it’s not going anywhere.”

  Lucas sits with me while I eat breakfast, and then gets a fire going in the living room while I feed my familiars and Scarlet. We snuggle up on the couch together, and now that it’s officially the day after Thanksgiving, I get Lucas to watch a Christmas movie with me. I fall asleep before it’s even halfway over, and wake up when my phone rings.

  “It’s Easton.” Lucas picks up my phone from the coffee table. “Want me to hang up on him?”

  “No,” I say, grumpy from being woken up. I take the phone and close my eyes once I answer. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Callie. Did I wake you up?”

  “I was awake and then fell back asleep. What’s going on?”

  “The FBI took over the murders,” he rushes out. “We have a friend on the inside who let me know last night…and then this morning he called to say another body was found in Ohio. Another twenty-something-year-old woman, heart cut out and a sigil carved into her back.”

  “Do you know whose sigil it is?”

  “Michael, the archangel.”

  My eyes fall shut and guilt pushes me under murky water. This is my fault, isn’t it? I was the one who told Bael Michael was my father, and only hours later a woman turns up dead. He would have gone through the list of archangels, I know, but I can’t help but feel responsible.

  He’s killing them to get to me.

  “I’ll send you photos of the police report. It’s pretty graphic,” he warns. “More so than the others.”

  “Thank you,” I say. “I, um, I don’t think you should look into this anymore. We know the demon responsible and he’s dangerous.”

  “I actually agree with you.”

  “Fuck,” I huff. “Be careful.”

  “You too.”

  I end the call and look at Lucas, knowing he heard everything. My phone buzzes with a text message, and I hold the phone up so we both can see. Easton was right about the photos being graphic. The victim, Carla Stoner, was tied up like the others and had her heart cut out while she was still alive. But unlike the others, her face was scorched, and the ME’s report stated that her eyes burned from the inside out.

  To further torture myself, I look up Carla on Facebook. She’s a mother of four, and just had a newborn six weeks ago.

  “Stop,” Lucas tells me, taking the phone from my hands. Bottom lip quivering, I nod and turn my face in, burying it against Lucas’s chest. He holds me as I suck in a sob, trying to stop myself from thinking about Carla’s poor children…and how easily that could be me.

  What the hell were we thinking, bringing a child into this world? I know it wasn’t planned, but for us to think we should actually go through with it?

  “Dad?” I pray, sitting up straight. I fold my hands together and close my eyes, fat tears rolling down my cheeks. “I could really use some help right now.” I hold my breath, waiting for something—anything, but I get nothing. “Julian?” I try next, not expecting to hear from him either. He left right before I went to bed last night, saying he was summoned by Alona, who needed him to round up another legion of demons Lucifer set loose on a college campus in Arizona. The demons were living it up again, getting students to drink, smoke pot, and party.

  Illegal, yes.

  Evil, hell fucking no.

  “Whatever,” I sigh and drop my hands to my sides. I lay back against Lucas, and he holds me, knowing I’m not in the right mindset to talk or even be reminded that it’s not my fault Bael is murdering innocent people.

  I know it’s not, yet I can’t help but shake the feeling that, again, I don’t belong here on earth, that maybe the angels were right all along to say it’s dangerous to allow a Nephilim to live.

  “Lucas is right.” Kristy sets the bowl of stuffing on the counter. “You cannot blame yourself, Cal. Bael is a bad, bad guy and he’s the one killing innocent people.”

  “To get to me.” I run my fingers though my hair. “I’m not trying to be a dramatic martyr or anything, but think of everyone who’s been caught in the crossfire. Ever since the rumors started surfacing in the spring about me being alive, demons have sought me out, killing anyone in their way. Varrador killed how many witches before he finally found me?”

  “And again, that’s not your fault. Did you ask to be born?”

  “No one asks to be born.”

  “Exactly.” She opens the fridge and takes out a Tupperware full of turkey. After a busy Black Friday at the store, she came over for leftovers.

  “Do you want any wine?” I ask her.

  “Can we get it from the wine cellar? I want to go down there. With a sleeping bag and my pillow. And move in.”

  I laugh. “You know I’d love you here, and this house is big enough we could easily not even run into each other for like a day or two.”

  “I don’t think Lucas would be too happy about that, though,” Kristy laughs and puts a few pieces of turkey on a plate and puts it in the microwave.

  “We’ve had kind of a full house lately,” I say. “Though not a full house that’s this big. My old house could fit inside the foyer.”

  Kristy laughs. “Good thing Eliza just left then, right?”

  “Right, though Lucas does like having her around, and I do too. I need someone to keep me humble with not-so-sarcastic insults.” I take two wine glasses from the cabinet and fill mine with water. Yawning, I get the rest of the food out of the fridge.

  “Tired?” Kristy asks.

  “I’ve been tired pretty much since conception. But it’s normal, don’t worry.

  “Yeah, for someone who’s human,” Kristy says with a frown and takes the lid off another Tupperware of food. Once everything is heated and served, we dash downstairs to the wine cellar so Kristy can pick out a bottle of wine.

  Lucas joins us, sitting next to me at the breakfast table, as we eat. Our conversation is stilted, and it’s obvious Lucas is trying to distract and take my mind off how Bael is slaughtering innocent people to try and get to me.

  “Do you want to talk a walk?” Kristy asks, watching me push my mashed potatoes around on my plate. “Scarlet could use the exercise, right?”

  “Yeah, she could,” I say, so thankful for my best friend right now. Next to Lucas, Kristy knows me better than anyone, and right now she knows that I need some space. We can talk and plan for Christmas until I’m blue in the face, but it doesn’t change how I feel, and right now I’m feeling more than a little shitty that the common denominator in so many murders has been me.

  Lucas says he’ll clean up the kitchen and sends me off with a kiss. Instead of my go-to combat boots, I put on a pair of knee-high leather boots instead, helping to keep me warm on this chilly evening.

  “You alright?” Kristy asks when we get a few feet from the house, frosted grass crunching under our feet.

  “Yeah,” I say right away.

  “You don’t have to put on a brave face,” she reminds me.

  “I know,” I sigh. “I wish there was a way to stop all of this, and honestly, I don’t even know what’s right anymore. We have to keep my heritage a secret or I risk having Heaven’s top-notch SWAT team sent after me. But on the other hand, demons are mowing through lists of people who could potentially be me, ultimately killing them in their search.

  “I can’t even imagine how you feel.” Kristy loops her arm through mine and rests her head on my shoulder. “Just know we love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Scarlet runs ahead, going around the house and into the clearing of the old horse pasture.

  “I need to make a path,” I start, motioning to a natural parting for the trees. “To get to the Covenstead, I mean. One was worn in th
e dirt from all the years spent walking back and forth from my old house to the door.”

  “You’ll make a new path,” she assures me, and gives my arm a gentle squeeze. All of a sudden, something feels wrong and I stop dead in my tracks. The air becomes thick and heavy around us, and the smell of sulfur is so strong it burns my nose.

  “Run,” I tell Kristy, feeling my skin prickle. “Get back to the house as fast as you can.”

  But it’s too late. Bael emerges from the forest, and this time there’s no mistaking it. It’s not his astral projection. It’s him, here in physical form.

  Chapter 39

  My heart hammers in my chest and fear prickles down along my spine. Scarlet barks, and I grab Kristy’s hand.

  “Get behind me,” I whisper, lips parting as fear threatens to take over. Bael is here, in front of us, and the energy he’s putting off is heavy and oppressive, making me sick. I fight against it and step forward, putting myself in front of Kristy. I hold out my hands, magic sizzling along my fingers.

  Bael’s eyes flash yellow, and he looks at the energy buzzing around me hungrily. He’s holding a jar of what has to be Carla’s heart, ready to use it against me and bind my angelic powers.

  He knows who I am and is ready to use me to take over Hell.

  Scarlet bounds forward, gnashing her fangs in the air. Everything happens so fast yet so slow at the same time. Bael flashes out of the way, moving just before Scarlet collides with him. She lands hard on the ground, hitting the dirt and crashing against a tree. She lets out a yelp and I raise my hands, gathering all the energy I can and send it after Bael.

  He stumbles back, throwing out his hand as he falls. The sound of a whip cracking echoes through the quiet night, and pain radiates across my cheek, stinging from the invisible lashing. I counter with no hesitation, sending a blast of bright blue energy into Bael’s chest. He cradles the jar against him, more afraid of dropping it than he is of getting hurt.