“Brought her home yesterday,” I say. It’s true, really.
Officer Maxwell nods, eyes still on Scarlet, who’s sitting perfect still at my side. Lucas steps closer and I see Officer Maxwell tense, hand going to his gun.
“We don’t see Thorne Hill PD out here often,” Lucas goes on. “Are you anticipating danger?”
“We’ve been patrolling the area ever since the attack,” Officer Maxwell says, eyes going to me. “You remember that night, don’t you?”
“Of course,” I spit. “Kind of hard to forget hitting a poor, innocent deer and then finding some drunk kids in the woods claiming aliens and werewolves attacked.”
“Yes,” he agrees with a fake-ass laugh.
“How is that boy?”
“Made a full recovery. You didn’t go check on him?” His eyes narrow, and I can’t blame him for being suspicious. Things don’t add up.
“I don’t even know his name,” I say. “And we left for our honeymoon right after that.”
“Right.” Officer Maxwell nods. “You did mention you were getting married.” Muffled voices come over the radio and he turns the volume down so I can’t hear. Lucas, however, can just fine. “You’re just out walking?” He’s hoping to catch me in a lie, but joke's on you, buddy.
“We’re going to see our house.” Lucas raises his hand, pointing in the direction of the old estate. “We own both homesteads on this street and are restoring the old white mansion.”
Officer Maxwell just nods again. “Be careful out here.”
Lucas draws his fangs, making Officer Maxwell tense again. “We’ll be just fine.” He stares at Officer Maxwell for a few seconds before the cop rolls up his window and drives away.
“I wondered when he’d start to suspect me,” I sigh, taking Lucas’s hand again. “Good girl,” I tell Scarlet, patting her head. We all start forward again. “It’s not the first time I’ve had a rather unexplainable run-in with the law.”
“Comes with the territory of demon hunting.”
“Yep. I’m always saving people, though, so you’d think they’d be grateful.”
Lucas laughs. “If it gets out of hand, I will handle it.”
“And by handle you mean…?”
“Not murder,” he says ruefully. “But I’m not above bribes and altering memories.”
“Neither am I.” I tighten my hold on his hand. “Neither am I.”
We walk the rest of the way in silence, just enjoying the quiet of the night. I’m starting to get cold, and Lucas wraps his arm around me. His body offers no warmth, but he shields me from the wind at least.
The lights are still on at the estate, and several trucks are in the driveway. The old railing has been torn off the porch, and scaffolding is up around the house to clean and paint the exterior. The stairs leading to the porch have been torn out as well, and Lucas steps up with perfect grace, turning and offering a hand, which I take.
“Go check out the woods,” I tell Scarlet. “Don’t go too far.”
She lets out an excited yip and takes off, running full speed ahead into the woods behind the house. Lucas opens one of the tall, double doors that lead into the house.
“Oh, wow,” I say, smile pulling up my lips. The foyer has been restored to its original glory, with the exception of some of the hand-painted details on the grand staircase. It’s a painstaking process to get it all done, but it’s like night and day since the last time we were here. The hardwood floor has been polished, the drywall patched, wainscoting repaired, and the smell of fresh paint still hangs in the air. The replica chandelier I ordered came in while we were gone and is hanging above us.
And there’s actually electricity. I flick the switch and the room comes to life. The banister is still in the process of being re-stained, and the new runner for the stairs has been put into place.
“It looks amazing.”
“It does.” Lucas gives my hand a squeeze. The human crew is still here, wrapping up today’s work. We go through the foyer into the front sitting room, which has been completely restored as well. We want to keep as much original as possible, and the fireplace restoration turned out beautiful. This house has nearly ten thousand square feet of living space, and every single one of those square feet needed major work. Between the two crews working, things have gotten done much faster than normal, and the house looks great.
“Let’s go check out the library,” I say excitedly and pull Lucas through the house. This might be one of my favorite rooms in the whole