Reign of Night (Thorne Hill #7) - Emily Goodwin Page 0,44
got his GED or not, but I do know he made sure Melinda was able to not only graduate, but finish her senior year at the same school because she’d made friends.
“My Latin ain’t what it used to be, either.”
Lucas comes around the desk, buttoning his suit jacket once he stands. “Do you need anything?”
“I think I have everything I need.” I hold up my hand, and bright blue magic crackles. “Besides, I do remember two Latin words.”
“The hand trick Lucifer taught you.”
“I really shouldn’t have phrased it that way.”
He smiles and puts one hand on the small of my back and the other on my stomach. “You are my badass, fearless, and quite dangerous witch, but please, my love, leave the impulsiveness to me tonight.”
“I will. I promise. This demon is already caught and tied up. I’m just going to question it.”
“Do you have an address?”
“Yeah, Easton sent me his location.” I get my phone from my purse and show Lucas the address. “I’m not familiar with this part of Wicker Park.”
“I think I know the general area. If I’m right, it’s in one of the busier parts of town. Wicker Park had a decent nightlife.” He picks up my coat and holds it for me to put on. “Ready?”
“Let me pee first. Meet me by the bar? Eliza will want to say bye to you, I’m sure.”
“She will, and I’ll be there.”
I give him my coat and purse, not wanting to take it with me, and hurry to the bathroom, thankful there’s no line today. Lucas is leaning against the bar when I get back, either unaware or totally unfazed by the attention he’s getting. If people come here knowing Eliza is a vampire, then someone had to have recognized Lucas. Though even if you didn’t know he was undead, him in a suit is like sex on a stick.
“Good luck,” Eliza says, eyes narrowing. “Is that the right thing to say? Maybe I should say don’t die instead?”
“That’s always the base of my plan,” I tell her, sticking my arms through my coat sleeves. “Don’t die and kill the bad guys in the process.”
“Let me know what this asshole has to say, not that I care,” she quickly adds. “It’s a slow night and I’m bored. Spilling the demonic tea will be slightly entertaining.”
It’s far from a slow night, but I don’t push it. Eliza’s refusal to let people see how much cares probably has some deep psychological scar, probably from when Lucas left her in the ground, trying not to care himself.
“I’ll text you,” I tell her. Lucas gives her a hug and kisses her forehead, saying something to her in French. I really need to pick up Rosetta Stone and learn the language. I hike my purse up over my shoulder and take Lucas’s hand, walking out into the cold night.
“We’re not too far,” I say, knowing a ten-minute drive could easily take half an hour if we hit any sort of traffic. It’s late on a Friday, so we’re past rush hour at least.
“Oh wow,” I say when we pull onto the street of the abandoned building. “You weren’t kidding about it being busy.”
“I considered opening the bar here,” he tells me.
“Why didn’t you?”
“There were too many other similar bars in the area.”
“That’s a good reason.” We drive another few minutes and then pull over, finding a parking spot a ways down from the building. “I assumed abandoned meant old and isolated,” I say when we dodge around the back of a former yoga studio. I pull my gloves off and send Easton a text, letting him know we’re here. “Though a heated building would have been nice.”
Melinda opens the door for us, and we slip in hopefully unnoticed.
“Hey, guys,” she says, clicking on a flashlight. The room is still dimly lit, so I conjure an energy ball to hold out in front of us.
“Any updates?” I ask, looking at the posters on the wall depicting different yoga poses.
“Nope. He’s just mumbling the same thing over and over, but he’s talking so low and fast I can’t make anything out to translate. He did seem surprised when we recognized your name. I got the feeling he wasn’t supposed to let anyone know about it or something. It was the only time he quieted down for a while.”
“How did you find the demon?”
“He popped up on our radar when we heard reports of Kenny Gray, who died of a heart attack this morning, walking out