Page 46 of King of Night
Lucas makes me grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, and Eamon stands in the kitchen, fascinated with both the process of cooking and the fact that Lucas cooks human food for me.It’s probably more entertaining than it should be to know I am continually blowing this two-thousand year old vampire’s mind on a pretty much daily basis now.But hey, I have to take my entertainment that I can, right?
I sit at the island counter, dipping my sandwich in the soup as I flip through a book about portals.I went down this rabbit hole not that long ago and didn’t get very far.The whole concept of creating a portal is confusing to me and not something you want to mess up.I have looked through this exact book multiple times, though I never looked through it specifically for information on portals made out of demonic energy.It must not be a common occurrence at all because there’s absolutely zero mention of it in this book.
When the sun starts to set, I get up and met Lucas in his office.He’s trying to catch up on the work he missed when he was stuck in the underworld as a horseman.
“Kristy and Betty are at the store tonight,” I tell him.“Maybe we could go into town and say hello.”
“Perhaps,” he says, glancing over his computer and smiling when he sees me.“If that’s what you would like to do, then that is fine with me.”I smile right back, forever grateful to have such a wonderful, caring husband.More times than not, I don’t feel like I deserve him, and the best part about us is that we both feel like we are the lucky one in this relationship.Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would actually have a love that my romance novels write about.I had always wanted a love like this ever since I was a child, dreaming about Prince Charming coming and saving me.
It ended up being Binx and Tabatha saving me from the laboratory, and then it was up to me in the end to find my own self-worth and not leave my happiness up to someone else… Especially a man.
Scarlet barks, startling both Juliet and me.Lucas jerks his attention to the window behind him, able to sense some things before I can.
“The warding,” I whisper, able to feel some thing encroaching on it, and mentally send Binx outside to check.“Something just crossed the first line.”Lucas gets to his seat looking out the window.
“It’s Drea,” he tells me and then looks me in the eye.“Did you summon her?”
“No,” I tell him.“I wasn’t planning on it until tomorrow,” I admit, selfishly wanting one more day without having to deal with demon drama or danger.
“Well, she’s here.”
Taking a shaky breath, I wonder if she figured out a way to get past the warding without setting it off.I still haven’t let myself fully trust her, because it seems just too easy to unite over a common enemy.
“Eliza,” Lucas calls, and she zooms into the room.
“There’s someone outside,” she says before giving us a chance to explain.
:It’s Drea,” I tell her.
“Take Juliet and go upstairs,” Lucas says, though neither of us feel very confident in that plan anymore.We know how things went down last time Eliza and Juliet hid in our supernatural safe house.
“I’ll go with,” Eamon offers, which actually makes me feel a little relieved.He has no magic to fight back with but he’s old and very strong.
I hurry through the house, making a detour to the library so I can retrieve Julian‘s angel dagger.I’ve kept it hidden inside the fireplace and use magic to retrieve it.I shove my feet in a pair of black boots I left by the back door.Nine times out of ten, I’m wearing a black dress or black leggings, and these low-heeled boots go with everything.Then, taking Lucas his hand, we step outside.Drea has made it past the first warning, and is standing a foot back from the second line.She holds out her hand, testing the lines of magic.She shouldn’t be able to cross this one easily, regardless of her intentions.But making it past the first should be reassurance enough, showing that she really didn’t come here to hurt me.
“Miss me already?”I ask, holding the angel dagger down at my side.
“How can I not?”Drea replies.She’s inside the body of a young woman.She has short blonde hair pulled half back in a clip.She’s wearing tight jeans and a crop top with a dirty denim jacket over top.
“It’s another ethically, sourced body,” she says, and pulls one side of the jacket up, showing a stab wound to the side of her rib cage.She rolls up one sleeve and she has track marks all along the inside of the woman’s arm.“My friend here wasn’t making the best choices,” she says, and pulls her sleeves back down.“If I wasn’t in her right now, she would be bleeding out.I’m actually doing her a favor by slowing down her body chemistry or she would’ve bled out within minutes if I hadn’t jumped inside.”
“What a hero you are,” I say dryly.“Why are you here?I didn’t summon you yet.”
She makes a face and then winces.“I know, and I might have enjoyed my demonic freedom, a little too much, and caught the attention of a certain hate group.”
“You’ve got to be a fucking kidding me,” Lucas grumbles under his breath.We both know exactly who she’s talking about: the Order of the Mystic Realm.
ChapterTwenty-Four
“Did anyone follow you?”Lucas rushes out.
“No,” Drea assures him.“This ain’t my first rodeo, kid.”
“Kid?”Lucas scoffs.
“We’re probably not that far off in age,” Drea says with a shrug.This body suits her personality better, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s a way to heal the damage before she stops possessing this poor girl.Being possessed slowly kills the victim from the inside out, but she was right in saying that due to the demonic rotting, the blood flow has slowed.Not enough to give her a fighting chance on her own, though.
“What I’m hearing,” Lucas goes on.“Is that you were reckless and you need our help.”
