Dark of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  But before he can, another scrapper emerges from the depths of the woods. Four scrappers in the same location? I raise my what the hell to a what the fuck? Because scrappers don’t nest. They don’t hang out together. They follow each other around and fight for every bit of food they can find. Being together means having to share, which isn’t something they’re willing to do.

  Then again, they don’t deflect energy balls.

  Binx snaps the scrapper’s neck and shadows protectively around me. The next scrapper coming at us is normal. Human-like but small in stature. Pale eyes and a flat face. I conjure another ball of blue light and throw it at the demon. This time, he explodes far enough away that his body parts don’t rain down on us.

  “Why do I get the feeling there are more?” I ask Binx, conjuring another energy ball so I can see.

  “Because there are.” He shifts back into a black cat, trotting along next to me as we pick our way up a ravine.

  “You should go get Freya and Pandora.”

  He growls, green eyes glowing red in protest. He’s not leaving me. I toss the energy ball into the air, illuminating the forest. Squinting, I look around, paying close attention to the direction the scrappers came from.

  “Look,” I tell Binx. “Is that a foot path?”

  He runs toward the indentation in the foliage, sniffing it. He turns back to me and nods. Biting my lip, I let out a breath and look down at myself. I’m covered in demon guts and blood drips down my legs from running through the thorns. The woods are full of thorns and are what inspired the name of the town.

  “Are you coming or not?” Binx’s question is pushed into my head and I respond by cocking an eyebrow before stepping forward.

  “Of course. It was my idea.” We follow the path, going up a ravine, around another thorn bush, and into a thicket of pine trees. The smell of rotting and decay is strong, and I pull my ponytail over my face, using it as a mask.

  “Is this a nest?” I whisper, looking at the pushed-down patches of weeds. It reminds me a bit of a deer bed but smells like the inside of a dumpster…just like the scrapper demons. “Scrappers don’t nest.” I shift my gaze to Binx, knowing he’s thinking the same.

  Suddenly, two more scrappers rush at us. Binx takes one, wrestling it to the ground.

  “See if you can find out what’s making them so strong!” I yell as I jump away from the big scrapper coming after me. There’s blood on its face, shining from the light of the energy ball above us.

  I telekinetically throw it back, but he doesn’t go flying. He stumbles and recovers fast.

  “Shit.”

  I don’t have any weapons or vanquishing potions. I’m going to have to blow this fucker up, and that means letting him get close. I dart away, moving under the bright energy ball. I steal a quick glance up and raise my hand, powering the ball until it’s so bright it’s almost blinding.

  I grind my jaw and suck in a breath, watching the scrapper charge in my direction. One…two…three… I pull my hand down, bringing the energy ball with it. The demon fights the magic, dropping to its knees and screaming in pain, but the energy grows brighter and brighter.

  Before it explodes, something grabs my ponytail and jerks me back. I call out for Binx as I fall, but another scrapper appears out of nowhere and goes right for my familiar. I flip over, reaching up and grabbing the hands that are in my hair. The demon pulls hard, knocking me off my feet again.

  Binx shadows forward, attacking the scrapper that’s got me. He shoves it to the ground, and I go down with it. I zap it with energy, stunning it enough to pull my hair out of its grasp. But as soon as I’m on my feet, another scrapper shoves me against a tree.

  I conjure an energy ball but don’t have a chance to throw it. Lucas appears behind the demon and punches his hand through its chest. He pulls out the demon’s heart, which is faintly glowing a pale green.

  “Is it supposed to do that?” he asks casually, looking from the demon heart to me.

  “I’m gonna go with no,” I pant.

  He shrugs and crushes it with his bare hand. The demon falls to the ground.

  “Thanks,” I tell him, pushing off the tree. He wipes his hand on his pants and grabs me with his clean arm, wrapping it around my waist.

  “You’re bleeding. I could smell your blood a mile away.”

  “I went through a thorn bush.”

  “Why’d you do that?”

  I raise my eyebrows. “I’m a masochist, I guess.”

  “Really?” He gives me a cocky grin, flashing his fangs. “You should have told me sooner. You know I like to bi—”

  “Demon!” I interrupt and bring my arm up to throw another energy ball. Lucas whirls around. The energy ball hits the demon in the chest, but like the others, it tries to fight through it.

  Lucas tips his head, watching with the same expression I had when I first saw the demon not die. Then he zooms forward and snaps the demon’s neck, twisting it around until it almost comes clean off.

  Binx tackles another scrapper, and I run over, hitting it with an energy ball. It deflects it, sending it right back at me. Gritting my teeth, I dive down, pressing my hands against the demon’s chest and sending pulses of magic right through it, not stopping until it’s nothing more than a pile of ash. It fights me the entire time, and if it weren’t for Binx holding it down, I know I wouldn’t have been able to kill it at all.

  “This is not what I had in mind when I said I was going for a run,” I sigh, conjuring another energy ball so I can see around me. Lucas takes my hand, helping me to my feet. His hands land on my shoulders as he looks me up and down, needing to see for himself that I’m okay.

  “What were those?”

  “Scrapper demons.”

  “Those do not look like the ugly ball sack motherfucker from the other day.”

  “I know.” I let out a breath, heart still racing. “Something about them is…is different.”

  “Very different.”

  I nod. “They don’t possess powers like that, and they certainly can’t deflect energy balls.”

  “Can they evolve?”

  I shake my head. “Not in less than a week’s time.”

  “It’s almost as if something has supercharged them.”

  I swallow hard, because that’s exactly what it’s like. “Great. Something is supercharging the demons. Must be Tuesday.”

  Chapter 19

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Lucas flicks more scrapper goo off me.

  “I’ll feel better after I’ve showered. I’ve had more exploded body parts on me this month than I had all last year.”

  Lucas raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize exploding body parts were that common.”

  “When you throw energy balls, it happens.” I let out a breath and look around. Everything happened so fast. “So much for our boring night.”

  “You know I’m always up for a little killing in the woods.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  Lucas tips his head to the side and shrugs, looking both lethal and adorable at the same time. “I thought it would.”

  “It kind of does. I was really set on coming out here and finding nothing. I told you, you jinxed us.”

  “Yes, because supercharged demons is exactly the thing that results from a jinx.”

  “Stop being logical.” I bend down and wipe my hands on fallen leaves. “Pandora,” I call, closing my eyes. “Freya.” They’re close enough to feel me summon them, and they’ll be here in just a minute. “You guys check out the rest of the woods,” I say, turning to Binx. “And thanks for the help. You were awesome.”

  Binx jumps off the tree stump he was sitting on, shifting into shadow form. “I know,” he says, and his voice reverberates off every single tree in the forest. We’ve been together for fifteen years, and he feels like an extension of myself. He’ll never hurt me, because hurting me would be like hurting himself. It’s easy to look past his ancientness, to take the legions
of spirits he has under his command for granted and forget how incredibly terrifying he can be.

  “You said you were set on finding nothing,” Lucas starts, stepping closer. “I know you well enough to know you came out here worried you’d find something.”

  “Yeah.” I tighten my ponytail and conjure another energy ball so I can see. Ugh. I have more bodies—and body parts—to bury. “I think something is going on with the Ley line even though I have no proof or concrete reason to think so, other than it felt weird again and people were assholes all over town today.”

  “The Ley line can make people be assholes?”

  I nod and take a few steps forward, looking at the nest. I’m a little afraid of what I’ll find. Scrappers don’t usually kill, but these weren’t ordinary scrapper demons.

  “It affects their mood, but they don’t know it. It’s what drew people to this town. The Ley line emits energy, and it’s not like some magical cure that will rid the world of evil and darkness, but it keeps the aura of this town more or less balanced.”

  “And tipping the balance is a precarious thing.”

  “Exactly. The Ley line is raw energy at its finest. If you make it too positive, we’ll be living in a 1950s freak show town of manners and hospitality. Which sounds good, but trust me, too much of a good thing is not a good thing.”

  “And if the line is tainted with negative energy…” Lucas makes a face.

  “Right. It’ll be bad. That’s why our coven settled here. Not only can the Ley line make people crazy, but if someone taps into it…” I shake my head. “In the wrong hands, it’s a weapon.”

  “Does it feel weird now?”

  “No, and I know that doesn’t make sense, but this doesn’t make sense either.” I sweep my hand out at the demons.

  “Do you think they’re related?”

  “I don’t see how.”

  Lucas grabs one of the scrappers with a broken neck by the arm and drags it over, tossing the body on top of another. “You said the Ley line is energy. What happens if you touch it?”

  “You’d probably die.”

  “What about if a demon touched it? Could it do that?” He motions to the scrapper bodies.

  I bite my lip. “I don’t know. I mean, that’s one hell of a 1-Up Mushroom.”

  Freya and Pandora shadow through the trees. They circle around me, making sure I’m okay, and then take off with Binx to search the rest of the forest.

  “Let’s go back to your house,” Lucas piles another body on the stack. “Shower and regroup.”

  I nod, eager to get the blood and guts off me. We walk a few feet together in silence. I hold out a hand, trying to get a read on the energy, but all feels normal again. What the hell is going on?

  “I’ll let the bank know we have to reschedule,” Lucas says when we get closer to my house.

  “No, we’re going. We still have time, right?”

  “Yes, our appointment is in twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll take a fast shower, and then we’re going to our appointment.”

  Lucas steps in front of me, looking into my eyes. “There are demons in your backyard.”

  “Yeah, but they’re dead now.” I take Lucas’s hand, which is covered in dried blood. “I’m not letting scrapper demons stop us from getting our house together. I know normal is relative, but we’re doing this one normal thing together tonight.”

  “Your rich vampire boyfriend buying you a century-old abandoned house with a body in the attic is normal?” Lucas keeps a straight face.

  “Totally normal.”

  “Actually,” Lucas gives my hand a squeeze. “It’s one of the more normal things we’ve done together.”

  “See? We’re not resurrecting bodies or fighting zombies.” I arch my eyebrows. “Now let’s go buy that house. But first, can you tear out a heart from one of the scrappers?”

  “I thought we were doing normal things?”

  “Having the heart of my enemy in the vanquishing potion makes it pretty powerful. Just a few drops will be enough to kill any other scrappers.”

  Lucas smiles and rushes forward, punching his hand through the chest of a scrapper and pulling out a bloody heart. “This is a kind of normal I can get used to.”

  I hold the keys up and smile. Lucas and I just left the title company and are walking hand in hand to his car. The house is officially ours.

  “Do you want to start checking off rooms from our list?” Lucas opens the car door for me.

  “As excited as I am to christen every square inch of that house,” I start and get into his Mercedes. “I think cleaning out the black mold before I get naked in there is a must.”

  Lucas chuckles and moves at vamp speed, going around the car and getting in. “It shouldn’t take too long before it’s safe for you to go in.”

  “Really?” I pull the seat belt over my lap. “I thought that stuff took time.”

  “When humans do the work, it does.”

  “Vampires are faster.”

  He smiles again and leans in to kiss me, brushing my hair back. “It’s good seeing you smile, my love.”

  I put my hand over his. “You make me smile.” We kiss again before Lucas starts the car. For the hour or so it took to sign all the papers, my thoughts stayed mostly on the house and how soon Lucas and I will be living together and not on why the fuck lower-level demons aren’t so low anymore.

  “I’ll grab my stuff and be right out,” I tell Lucas when we pull into my driveway.

  “You want to go to dinner tonight?” he asks, killing the ignition.

  “We have a fancy dinner reservation to get to.” I smile, but the bad feeling is rising in the pit of my stomach again. I get out of the car and start making my way up to the front porch.

  “If you want to go to dinner, I’ll gladly take you. But do you want to leave town, Callie?” He knows me well.

  I hesitate. “I do, but I don’t know if I should go.”

  “Why not?”

  “Someone needs to keep an eye on the Ley line. And if more demons come—especially strong ones—someone needs to fight them.”

  “Bu why does that have to be you?”

  “Because I can fight them.”

  We stop by the porch steps. “That doesn’t mean you have to fight them. This isn’t solely your battle. You told me a while ago that demons are attracted to the Ley line, and your entire coven is here to protect it.”

  “That’s true,” I start. “But not everyone has powers like I do.” I hold up my hand, conjuring a string of blue magic.

  “You’re humanity’s unsung hero, fighting their fights and getting no recognition.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t want recognition.”

  “Everyone does.”

  “Not me. I mean, a thank you every now and then might be nice, but the world doesn’t need to know about me. This is what I was born to do.”

  Lucas studies me for a minute, not even attempting to hide his eyes that wander all over my body. He shifts his gaze to mine again, and having his eyes meet mine is more intimate than knowing what he was thinking about as he looked at breasts. “Is it, though?”

  I shrug and shake my head at the same time in an awkward attempt to look like I know what I’m talking about. “I think so.”

  “Do the other witches in your coven feel the same way?”

  “Not all of them.

  “I suppose this is where you and I differ, Callie. You see your powers as a servitude to others, saving them from the things they can’t fight. And I still see them as making you better than everyone around you. I hold to it that you should be worshipped.”

  “You worship me.”

  He takes me around the waist and pulls me against his body. “And I’ll never stop worshiping you, Callie. Every day. Every night. For the rest of my afterlife. I will always worship you.”

  A shiver runs down my back, and I close my eyes, leaning in against Lucas. I hook my arms around his neck and look up, standing on my toes
so I can kiss him.

  “I love you,” I whisper.

  “And I love you.”

  His lips go to my neck, fangs scraping against my skin. “We’ve never made love on your front lawn,” Lucas whispers, deep voice awakening something inside me. He could suggest stripping me down and having his way with me on the street right now and I’d have a hard time saying no.

  “We haven’t. I’ve actually never had sex under the stars like that before.”

  He cups my face with a devilish glint in his eyes. “I need to change that.”

  “You do. Right away.” I let my hands fall down his back. I should get inside and make vanquishing potions, warn the coven, and call Kristy, telling her to stay away from the woods. But dammit, Lucas is making it really difficult to think of anything other than his body on top of mine. “There’s a blanket on the couch we can—”

  I cut off when his phone rings. With a huff, Lucas reaches into his pocket to get it. It’s Eliza, and he always answers when she calls. He puts the call on speaker and sets the phone on the steps. He grabs me, picking me up and sitting down on the porch. I’m straddling him, thinking about how good it will feel to have the soft grass beneath the blanket, cushioning us as he drives that big cock in and out of me.

  “We have a problem,” Eliza says right away.

  “Again?” Lucas asks with a sigh and rests his forehead against mine. “What now?”

  “One of our venders just called and said he can’t do business with us anymore.”

  “Which one?” Lucas asks, reaching for the phone.

  “Black Feather. We’re supposed to put in an order and—”

  “Calm down,” Lucas tells her, “We have whiskey, right?”

  “Yes, but not enough to get us through tomorrow. It’s that organic shit these hipster losers want.”

  “Just focus on tonight,” he says. “Did they give you a reason for discontinuing business? We’ve been using them since they opened.”

  “No, but the human on the phone seemed pretty fucking freaked out.”

  “If it’s a human, I can find out the exact reason why,” Lucas assures her.