Page 11 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“I had hoped to speak to my old pal, but he isn’t here, is he?” Eamon turns his face toward the door and inhales. “No, he’s not. Yet his scent…it lingers but smells of…of fresh blood.”

Juliet. He’s smelling Juliet. Which means he didn’t know I was pregnant the last time he saw me and instead was talking about sensing my divinity. It’s all been unlocked now, and I’ll happily let my angelic powers vibrate around me. It was enough to knock Lucifer on his ass, granted he wasn’t trying to attack me.

“Not at the moment,” I reply, refusing to let emotion get the better of me.

“When do you expect him back?”

“Not before sunrise, so you better get going.”

Eamon smiles again, making a deal to show his fangs. They look a little longer than Lucas’s, making me wonder if their fangs grow in a sense once they cross the two-thousand-year mark. “I won’t be far. I believe we have a mutual friend who’s renting the quaintest little brick house down the road.”

Oh, shit. Not Betty.

“You touch her, and I will burn you from the inside out,” I sneer, eyes flashing bright blue.

Eamon’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t back away.

“I’ve never come across something like you.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

“It’s odd.” He leans in, inhaling deep. “You smell of Lucas yet…not. And there’s something about you.” He reaches forward to touch my hair and I smack his hand away. Eliza comes onto the porch, putting herself between Eamon and me.

“Listen, asshat, in all my time with my maker, he never mentioned you,” she starts. “So, you need to stop being so obsessed with him and move on like Lucas did.”

Without warning, Eamon speeds forward, grabbing Eliza by the throat. He slams her against the side of the house. Eliza is no match for a vampire his age and is powerless against him. Opening his mouth, light from my porch lamps illuminate his fangs as he goes to bite Eliza’s neck. I throw my hand out, trying to telekinetically stop him, but he jerks his head around, strong enough to fight back against my magical hold.

Fuck, I wasn’t expecting that. He goes to bite Eliza, but right as his fangs puncture her flesh, Juliet cries. I can hardly hear it all the way here on the porch, but vampires have much better hearing than humans. Eamon freezes, listening to my daughter cry. Then he pulls his face back, wipes blood from his mouth, and looks inside.

I use his distraction to shove him back and grab Eliza. The wounds on her neck are already healing and she gives me a look that says exactly what I’m thinking. Eamon knows about the baby.

“How is that possible?” he mumbles, more to himself than to either of us. He inhales again. “It makes sense now, but how?”

“None of your fucking business,” I say through gritted teeth, realizing how much more danger Juliet is in. We were so worried about angels or demons finding out about her, we didn’t stop and think about how other vampires would react. Building family through sire lines is important to vampires. But being able to continue family through actual blood…vampires would kill to be able to do that. And I mean that quite literally.

“A biological child,” Eamon goes on, looking me up and down like the answers are somewhere on my body. “You produced him a biological child.”

“I’m not some baby factory,” I retort, unable to help myself.

Eamon gathers his composure, working through the shock. “A child born, half vampire, half witch. Humans will not like that.”

“You are not using my daughter for your fucking cause,” I growl, feeling heat gathering around my fingers.

“We’ll see about that.” Eamon smirks and something inside me pops. I throw my hands out, hitting him in the chest with bright white light. It burns right through his clothes and knocks him down the porch steps.

“Messing with my family is a surefire way to get yourself killed.” I hold out my hand, summoning a blue ball of energy. Light glows above me and that feeling of belonging, of wanting to have power coursing through veins, making others fear me, starts to take over. It’s making me want to claim my birthright, to sit on the throne and watch demons cower before me.

“Who are you?” Eamon scrambles to his feet, patting his chest to make sure the fire is out.

“I’m the Queen of fucking Hell and if you don’t get off my property, I will send you there.” The energy ball in my hand glows purple, fueled by my rage, and Eamon snarls and then takes off, speeding into the night.

“Holy shit,” Eliza says a moment later, tentatively coming over. “You almost went fullCarrieagain.”

“Maybe I should have.” I let out a breath and close my fists. The energy ball shrinks until it’s gone. But fire still glows above me, and I look up. There’s no energy ball floating above my head. Instead, I realize I’m wearing the fire crown.

“I didn’t think I could summon hellfire,” I say, reaching up. It’s the strangest feeling, as I can sense the fire, but it doesn’t hurt me or even feel hot.

“It’s not the, uh, normal hellfire crown I’ve seen.” Eliza’s eyes are wide as she slowly reaches forward, touching the crown of flames that’s burning around my head. It chars her flesh and she brings her hand back, watching it heal before our eyes.

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