Binx shadows forward, and I make it a few feet before heavy footfalls come from behind me
“Hold it right there!”
I turn and put a hand on my hip, watching a security guard rushing toward us. Binx slinks between my legs, tail swishing, and lets his shield down just enough for his eyes to glow red. The guard comes to an abrupt stop, reacting as most nons do when they see something they can’t make sense of.
They’re instantly scared but also instantly want to dismiss it. A cat with glowing red eyes doesn’t make sense. They had to have imagined it, right?
And then Binx flashes his eyes again.
“Who are you?” The security guard reaches for the gun on his hip.
“The Sandman.” I hold out my hand and give him a wink. “Somnum.” He falls to the ground in a heavy thud.
Binx rubs against me, and I bend down, scooping him up.
“Good boy,” I say as I kiss the top of his sleek and furry head. This is the second time I’ve been in Scott’s office building, and I know exactly where to go this time. Someone gets off the elevator right as I’m about to get on, and I can’t really have them going into the lobby and seeing two people slumped over unconscious.
“Cute cat,” the woman says, eyeing Binx suspiciously. She’s holding a stack of papers that will go flying across the floor once she passes out, dammit.
“Thanks,” I say, stepping to the side. Binx looks up at me and closes his eyes in a slow blink, letting me know he heard my thoughts and is ready. He jumps out of my arms, shifting into shadow form, and moves behind the woman. “Somnum,” I whisper and reach out, taking the papers. Binx, in his shadow form, helps lower her to the ground, dragging her out of the elevator entrance and over to a potted plant in the hall. I set the papers down in a neat pile next to her, and then Binx and I get up, going up to the floor Scott’s office is on.
It’s nearing the end of the workday, but since it’s a Monday, I know the other offices will be full of people as well, and not everyone in this building is affiliated with Scott fucking Martin, but I’ll cast sleeping spells on the whole damn building if I have to.
Luckily, I don’t, and I make it down the short hall from the elevator to Scott’s office without being stopped. The door is closed, and I stand back, holding up my fist and making a knocking motion in the air. It reverberates off the door, and Binx sits in the doorway. A few seconds later, Ella, Scott’s fiancée, opens the door.
“Oh, how weird, it’s a cat.”
Binx lets out the smallest meow, making him sound so pathetic. He extends his paw as if he’s a dog begging to hold hands in exchange for a treat. Ella’s just about to reach down and pet him when Scott appears behind her.
“Get away from that thing! Don’t let it in!” He yanks Ella back and goes to kick Binx, but my familiar is way too fast. He shadows into the office, and Ella lets out a little shriek.
“You know abusing animals is a tale-tell sign of a serial killer, don’t you?” I step out of the shadows of the hall, and Scott tries to slam the door shut, but I hold it open with magic.
“I’m calling security!” Scott scrambles back to his desk, reaching for the phone.
“Not yet,” I tell him and flick my wrist, sending the phone on his desk clattering to the ground. “You and I need to have a little chat first.” I step inside and close the door behind me. I wave my hand over it, magically casting a soundproof barrier around the room. Go ahead and scream, asshole, no one will hear you.
I cross my arms over my chest and cock an eyebrow. “Long time no see, bro.” Binx shifts back into cat form and trots over to me, purring.
“What do you want?” Scott snarls. Ella is still on the ground from when he shoved her back, and she’s frozen, staying rooted to the spot.
“I just want to talk,” I tell him. “And by talk, I mean tell you what a fucking asshole you are to try and get people all riled up to support William’s bullshit proposed bill.” I shake my head, anger rising inside of me. “You’re mad at me, so take it out on me. You want to eventually be a governor to the people, then fucking be one for all the people.”
“Exactly,” Scott snarls, trying hard to keep his composure and not let me know how terrified he is. “People. Vampires aren’t people. They aren’t human and don’t deserve human rights. And those who associate with them don’t either. It’s unnatural.”
“Oh, please.” I roll my eyes. “We both know what happened here. Mommy and Daddy got embarrassed in front of their friends at dinner and came home crying, so you took to Twitter to spread more hate. That, honestly, I expect from you. But what William is trying to do…it’s low. Even for scumbag politicians like you two.”
“Too bad there are plenty of other scumbag politicians who feel the same, and you should see the signatures we got on our last petition. Millions of Americans agree. Vampires are not humans. They do not deserve the same rights as the good people of America deserve. And anyone who associates with them…they need to take a good look in the mirror and see the corrupt path they’ve chosen, straying from the most important thing in this country.”
“And what is that?” I ask with a sigh.
“God.”
I look at Scott, eyebrows raised. “You’re serious? You do know there’s supposed to be a separation of church and state, right? Or did they not include that in the School House Rock videos you watched as your form of education?”
Scott’s lips pull back in a snarl. “Speaking of things that aren’t human…don’t get me started on you, daughter of Satan.”
“Daughter? No. Niece? Yeah.”
“You witches…you…you don’t deserve rights, either.”
“Good luck taking rights away from us.” I roll my eyes. “You have no idea who has magic and who doesn’t.”
“Exactly.” He pushes his shoulders back, eyes flashing in anger. “And we were wondering why you keep to the shadows. Why hide who you are unless you’re hiding something, something you don’t want the public to find out about?”
“That’s the exact reason why we’re hiding who we are,” I say slowly so Scott can follow along, though the way he worded his question throws me. Why you keep to the shadows. It’s not how Scott usually talks, and who is “we”? Him and Ella? William?
The door behind me bursts open, and Lucas appears, fangs already drawn. Ella screams again, and Scott tenses before madly scrambling to get something from a drawer in his desk.
“Hello, my love,” he tells me, and our eyes meet for half a second before he turns back to Scott, who's holding a knife. Lucas could move with vampire speed and take it away from him in two seconds flat, but he stands there with a smirk on his face, patronizing Scott further. Lucas holds his hands out to the side and steps in front of me.
“Go on, tough guy. Stab me.”
Scott’s eyes are wide in fear, and he throws the knife, cutting the palm of his hand in the process. The butt of it thuds against Lucas’s arm and falls to the ground.
“You missed, but even if you hadn’t, this wouldn’t have killed me.” Lucas picks up the knife and presses the tip of it into his finger then slowly drags it down, slicing open the skin from his fingertip down and through his palm. It makes me cringe, and I know he’s going to heal in just a second.
“That won’t, but these will.”
Lucas and I both jerk around and see three police officers in the threshold of the office, with guns trained on Lucas. Right, they have wooden bullets now. Fuck! I magically soundproofed the room so no one would hear me questioning Scott. But it also meant we wouldn’t hear anyone outside of the office. If I hadn’t cast the spell, Lucas would have heard them coming.
Binx growls, and magic sizzles around my fingers. And then I notice the body cams.
“Callie, no,” Lucas warns. “Don’t expose yourself.”
“He cut me!” Scott holds up his hand, showing off the little slice on the base of his palm. “He cut me!”
“Seriously?” I turn toward him, and the p
olice swarm in.
“Freeze,” they tell both of us. “Put your hands up,” they demand, and one of the officers flicks on a little light attached to his gun. At first I think it’s a laser, like the one snipers use to ensure they hit a target. Lucas slowly raises his hands and I realize the light is a UV light, and it’s burning him.
“Stop!” I cry. “He’s not doing anything. He didn’t do anything.”
“Stay back, ma’am,” another office tells me.
“He didn’t do anything!” I repeat, and the lights flicker above us.
“Callie, my love,” Lucas says calmly, eyes meeting mine again, silently telling me to stop and stay calm, though there’s no fucking way that’s happening. My breath leaves my chest and my nerves prickle. The lights flicker again.
“They came in here uninvited,” Scott goes on. “And attacked us, completely unprovoked.”
“That’s not true and you know it!” I look at Ella, hoping to find a shred of humanity in her. She’s staring at the floor, refusing to meet my eyes.
There are three officers, and Lucas alone could have them on the floor in the blink of an eye. He saw the body cams, too, and I know we’re fucked. Lucas attacking officers and getting away is exactly what Scott would want and the last thing we need. He would move fast enough he’d only be a blur, but I know the footage is being streamed back to the station where it can be slowed down.
And me? I could blow this place to bits…and it would all be caught on film.
Our hands are tied, dammit.
“On your knees,” an officer tells Lucas, pointing the laser at his chest. It burns through his clothes but gets no reaction from Lucas. “Eyes on the ground. One move, fanger, and I’ll pull the trigger.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Lucas tells me, knowing how easily we could get out of this…only to run into more problems in the end.
“Please,” I beg. “He didn’t do anything wrong!” The lights above us start to hum with electricity.
“It’s her!” Scott yells. “Arrest her!”
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down,” an officer tells Scott as another pulls what looks like a blindfold cast in silver chains from his utility belt. Covering up a vampire’s eyes is protocol to keep them from being able to hold anyone spellbound.
My heart jumps into my throat, and anger surges through me. How Lucas is able to stay so calm is beyond me, especially when we have the ability to just run out of here…only to be tracked down later. Scott will have a field day with the headlines, too, blasting Lucas for resisting arrest and attacking humans, blaming him for the three humans I cast sleep spells on. They’ll wake up remembering it was me, but that wouldn’t matter to Scott.
“I am calm!” Scott retorts. I can’t help the blue magic that sparks around the fingers of my right hand. Scott darts forward and grabs my hand, twisting my arm up. I jerk my hand back, and Scott kicks the back of my legs. Lucas springs up, moving away from the officers and catching me before I fall.
Everything happens in slow motion, and a single shot rings out, echoing through the room. Lucas’s hold on me tightens, and I feel his cool blood seeping out against my skin.
Chapter 20
“No!” I scream, twisting in Lucas’s arms, terrified the bullet hit his heart and he’s going to collapse into a pile of bone and blood before my very eyes.
He growls, more annoyed than anything else, and looks at his shoulder. “You could have shot her.” His deep voice rattles through the room, and he turns, fangs bared. “You could have shot my pregnant wife.”
The officer who fired his gun still has his weapon raised, shock in his eyes. He fired out of fear the second Lucas moved, even though he moved away from him.
“I’m okay,” I tell Lucas, entire body trembling. The wound on Lucas’s shoulder starts to heal already, and the wooden bullet is pushed out, falling with a soft thud onto the floor.
“And I will be okay,” he presses and kisses my forehead. “We need to keep your identity a secret,” he reminds me and gently sets me down. I’m too rattled to think rationally. Using magic exposes me on the body cams, and if footage is leaked, it’ll make it just that much easier for demons to find me…and angels. “I’m going to stand up now,” Lucas tells the officers, and my heart is in my throat, tears burning my eyes. Indignation builds inside of me. This shouldn’t be happening. I can telekinetically throw every single human in this room back. Lucas is stronger than them all combined.
And I’m the fucking Queen of Hell.
I shouldn’t be watching my husband be handcuffed. I shouldn’t be standing here helpless. Yet here we are, and it’s a terrifying reminder how everything we’ve built could be taken away from us because of an asshole like Scott, and he knows it.
There’s no going back now that vampires are out. We could go back to holding up the pretense that vampires are human, hiding their true nature, but no one should have to hide who they are.
“It’s going to be okay,” Lucas reminds me. The officer who shot him works with shaky fingers to put the blindfold on Lucas. “Tell Eliza to call my lawyer. It’s going to be okay, my love.”
The officers prompt Lucas up, and they’re all visibly scared of him, but the hatred in their eyes is almost terrifying. The special division of police officers dispatched to deal with vampire issues have a deep hatred for them already in their hearts.
They lead Lucas out, and Scott laughs. “This wasn’t how you thought things would go, was it, sister?” he spits and laughs again.
Elena does a series of flips, and one hand lands on my stomach. I whirl around, anger surging through me. Binx shifts back into shadow form, standing behind me and making both Scott and Ella quiver.
“You have no idea what you’ve done,” I say through gritted teeth, and the lights glow so bright the glass starts to vibrate. Ella, who’s on her feet now, looks at my stomach, realizing that Lucas wasn’t making shit up by talking about his pregnant wife. She looks at Scott, a little bit of horror on her face, though I’m not sure if it’s from the way he fucked us over or if she’s disgusted Lucas and I are somehow having a child.
“I did what I should have done the second that bloodsucker attacked me at Penny’s party.” He smiles smugly, eyes shifting back to Binx, whose shadow starts to grow, red eyes glowing like hot coals. “And I’m going to use every connection I have to make sure your cold, dead husband stays in jail for a very long time.” He tips his head, looking at my stomach. “I don’t know who you spread your legs for to get knocked up, but I can guarantee that monster you’ve married will not be out of jail in time for your spawn to be born.”
Binx shadows forward, knocking Scott to the ground right as the anger ripples through me, unable to be controlled. Hellfire springs from my hands and my eyes flash blue before taking on a reddish hue, tainted from my anger. I look at the fire in my hands, wanting nothing more than to throw my hands out and burn this place to the ground.
Ella screams, and I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the flames grow bigger and brighter around me. Inhaling deep, I squeeze my fingers into my palms and throw my hands down to release the hellfire. It hits the ground with a bang, sending a shockwave of magic through the room as if a bomb went off. Ella and Scott get knocked back, slumping unconscious to the ground. The desk is overturned, and the glass on the windows is blown out. The flames leave my fingers and ignite the carpet, but instead of burning in a traditional sense, it forms a circle of three-foot-tall flames, burning before me.
Something dark rises from the center of the flames, and right as the shadow of a demon appears, I realize that I just summoned a demon from Hell. Slowly it rises, noncorporeal form shimmering like a blotch of ink in dark water.
I summoned this demon, called it forth from the pits of Hell. Can I command it, too? I suppose there’s only one way to find out.
“Give the other demons a warning: there will be no new ruler of Hell. Any demon who tries to sit on the throne will have me to answer to.�
� My eyes flash blue. “Now go forth and obey your Queen.” The demon shimmers away, dissipating through an air vent in the room.
“I told you royalty suits you.”
I whirl around and see my uncle standing in the doorway. “Lucifer! Thank God!” A big smile splits my face.
“You might want to rephrase that,” he says with a wink and comes into the office.
I go over and throw my arms around him, so relieved to see him I’m feeling emotional. “What are you doing here?”
“Cleaning up your mess—again.” He pats my back. “Calling demons from Hell like that is something only I should be able to do.” Letting go, his eyes meet mine. “And now you.”
“That was probably a pretty dumb thing to do, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean to. I was so angry.” I blink away tears and look at Ella and Scott on the floor. “Are they dead?”
Lucifer follows my gaze. “No, want me to kill them?” He holds out his hand, ready to snap his fingers and send them down to Hell.
“No,” I say quickly.
“You were angry enough to do this kind of damage but want them to live?” He looks around the room. “And mad enough to accidentally summon a demon.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time I did something, uh, drastic out of anger, though summoning the demon was the first. Where did it go?”
Lucifer shrugs. “Wherever it wanted. Maybe it’ll deliver your warning, maybe it won’t. You’ll look good on the throne, but you do have a lot to learn. You need to add a little pain to your demands.”
“I…I don’t…” I shake my head. “The others will be able to find me?”
“If I don’t distract them, maybe. They’d have to detect that a demon was pulled straight from Hell first, which isn’t easy to do. I’m familiar with it, so I felt it right away and knew it was my favorite half-human. Now,” he says and claps his hands together. “How should we punish them? This one is going to be fun to play with when his soul goes to Hell. You’re sure you don’t want me to send him now?”
“I want you to,” I admit. “But don’t. It’s…it’s wrong.” I feel like I’m forcing myself to say it, but it is wrong. “I’m kind of surprised he has a soul. I thought maybe he sold it to you in exchange for political power or something.”
Reign of Night (The Thorne Hill Series Book 7) Page 17