Page 2 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“They were right about you.” I swallow the lump in my throat, splaying my fingers in front of me as blinding white light sizzles around them.

“Who?” Lucifer lowers his hands, face falling.

“Everyone,” I growl and bring my hands up and spin around to look at the spot where Lucas just stood. Famine’s body is on the ground, laying in a crumpled heap. It’s like a knife to the heart remembering the way Lucas shuddered as the darkness took over, working through every single part of him.

Tears pool in my eyes and anger surges through me. Tipping my head up, I scream and release the dark energy I’d been gathering. It ripples through my body, vibrating with the pain that’s tearing me apart. A single tear falls as I squeeze my eyes closed, feeling my heart break in two. I can feel the energy coming off me in waves, and I open my eyes when there’s a shift in the air.

Lucifer has been knocked back and is getting to his feet, staring at me with wide eyes. His lips part but his words fail him. But he doesn’t have to say it for me to know. I can feel them behind me, and I turn my head slightly, looking at jet black feathers.

“Callie,” Lucifer says again, and stops short. He doesn’t look mad but instead looks worried. He flicks his eyes to the dark sky above us for a moment. “Callie,” he repeats, not sure if I heard him.

I turn again, and this time the wings move with me. My wings. It’s the weirdest thing. I can feel them yet at the same time they weigh nothing. And this proves there’s a lot more archangel in me than we thought. Maybe I am immortal after all, and Lucas won’t have to go on after watching both his wife and his daughter age and die.

Only if I can get to him in time.

Tipping my chin up, something ripples through me again, tingling every nerve in my body. It’s another odd feeling, but this one feels right, almost like I took off a tight corset that I didn’t know I was wearing. Letting out a breath, I reach behind me and touch a slick black feather. The ends are dark purple, and the change in color can only be seen when the light from the porch lights hits it.

“The others.” Lucifer looks up again. “They sensed that.”

“I don’t fucking care.” I push my shoulders back, trying to get my wings to fold back and disappear from view. “Let them fucking come.”

ChapterTwo

The air around me feels electric, and I don’t know if it’s from my anger fueling my own magic or if it’s from archangels closing in on us.

“Think about it, Callie,” Lucifer starts, hands held out slightly to his sides as he takes a tentative step closer. “Your daughter is in the house.” He wipes a bit of blood from his nose, slowly shaking his head. “They’ll be able to sense the divinity in her.”

Holy shit. He’s right. And holy shit, his nose is bleeding and I think I did it.

“I’m sorry,” I say and feel my wings fold up and disappear. Needing to be sure, I look over both my shoulders. And then everything hits me all at once. “I’m sorry,” I repeat, voice breaking.

“It’s okay, kiddo.” Lucifer comes to me and pulls me into a one-armed hug. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Lucas.” It’s all I can say without crying. Lucas swung himself up onto the horse and became a Horseman. He went to the Underworld—for me.

“I know.” Lucifer steps back and looks me in the eye. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Stop saying that.” My hair whips around my face as I quickly shake my head back and forth. “Take me there! Take me to the Underworld.”

“It’s not a place we can just go, Callie.”

“Why not?” I throw my hands out and bits of magic spark around my fingers. “It’s not locked like your Hell.”

“It’s not mine.” Lucifer’s face tenses and then he lets out a deep sigh. “Not as much as it is yours, even though you can claim it by birthright. It’s different from the Hell you’ve been to. We can’t just fly down.”

“But wecango. I just need to figure out a way.” Blinking back tears and swallowing my pounding heart, I rush over to what’s left of the shriveled body on the ground. I pull back Famine’s hood and his skull starts to disintegrate before my eyes. “No,” I say, though I don’t know what I expected, let alone wanted to find. Dropping down to my knees, I madly feel the ground, hoping to find something—anything—that I can use to hitch a ride and meet Osiris in the Underworld.

“Callie,” Lucifer calls, rushing over, eyes on the sky. “We need to go.”

“Not without Lucas.”

“He’s gone, Callie.” His hand lands on my shoulder and I whirl around, getting to my feet.

“He’s not gone! He’s just…he’s just…not here.” My nostrils flare and I refuse to believe anything else. “I have to get him back.”

The magnetic feeling in the air increases, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“Callie,” Lucifer presses, more sympathetic this time. “They’re coming.”

---