Reign of Night (Thorne Hill #7) - Emily Goodwin Page 0,47
I’m feeling overwhelmed again, where I know so much shit is wrong that I don’t even know where to start explaining. “Do you want to get something to eat? Or at least go somewhere with heat?”
Melinda looks at Easton, who’s just as stunned. “Uh, sure,” he says and then motions to the floor. “I’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll help,” Lucas says. “Go to the car,” her tells me. “Warm up and get off your feet.”
“Okay,” I say with no arguing, surprising Lucas a bit, but it’s been one hell of a night. He gives me the key fob for the Mercedes.
“Would you accompany her?” he asks Melinda, who immediately side-eyes Easton.
“And leave me alone with you?” Easton retorts. “No fucking thank you.”
“Oh please,” I huff. “Lucas won’t do anything to you.”
“Only because you don’t want me to,” Lucas grumbles, and I roll my eyes.
“I’m cold, a little freaked out, and have to pee, so hurry it up and get along.”
Melinda picks up a canister of salt and puts it in her backpack. “I’ll walk you. It’s kind of icy, and those heels look dangerous. I can’t wear heels.”
“You get used to them, though this was not a good choice of footwear for an exorcism.”
She smiles, tension filling the air. I just told her Lucifer busted his butt out of Hell. Now’s not the time to be talking about shoes. We walk in silence the rest of the way, and she sits in the Mercedes with me so we can both warm up while we wait for the boys to come down.
“You’re sure Lucifer isn’t in Hell?” she asks. “How…how does that even work? I thought he was cast down there with chains. How did he break free?”
“He was, and I’m not exactly sure how he got out, but I do know he’s done it before. The last time was about twenty-five years ago, and Julian told me he went back willingly.”
“What are the chances he’ll do that again, like tomorrow?”
“Right?” I turn the heat up, knowing the chill I’m feeling isn’t entirely from the cold. “That would solve the biggest issue we have at hand right now.”
“The whole concept is hard to fathom.” She pulls the hair tie from her ponytail and lets her light brown hair fall around her face. “Like…how does Hell work? I mean, I know Lucifer is in charge of the demons, so without him there, they’re just…just free to do whatever they want?”
“I think so.” I recall Julian’s words about the demons older than Lucifer, the ones he locked up so he wouldn’t have to deal with them. What if they’re let out? How the hell do you fight a demon the devil himself is afraid of? “It’s not easy for lower-level demons to come and go unless a Gate has been opened. Obviously, they can come here from Hell, as the one possessing poor Kenny Gray showed us.” I rest my hands on my stomach, waiting to feel that little fluttering again. “A lot of those demons have been on earth for centuries already, tucked away in a demonic realm or on a spirit plane, waiting for some unsuspecting human to have a seance and help them cross over. But the really bad guys, they should stay in Hell where they belong.”
“Yeah, I’d definitely prefer it that way. If you need angel blood to sit on the throne, why are the other demons trying to take over?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re going to reassign the hierarchies of Hell. I need to brush up on my demonology, but Hell has a court full of demons handpicked by Lucifer. He named them back when he was newly cast down there and pissed the fuck off, so you can be sure those demons are the baddest of the bad, and Julian told me demons were created from darkness and only know darkness.”
“Well…fuck.”
“Right?” I subconsciously rub my stomach.
“Now what should we do?”
“It’s simple. I’m going to find that new boss and kill him.”
I lean back in the kitchen chair, comforted by the familiar surroundings of Lucas’s Lincoln Park house. Ordering a pizza and coming here seemed like the best plan, where we could talk freely without anyone hearing us. And there are strong wardings placed on this house, which is a plus.
I just filled Easton in on what Melinda and I had talked about in the car but kept the part where I crowned myself Queen of Hell to myself. Everything is so complicated now, and I don’t