Lucas is coming back into the house when we get downstairs, and the sight of him, covered in mud and blood but this time bathed in sunlight, almost does me in. It’s probably wrong to find him so damn hot right now, but I do. Scarlet trots in behind Lucas and Abby screams, tripping over her own feet in her attempt to take Penny and run.

“It’s Scarlet,” I rush out, remembering I left her collar in the living room. “Scarlet, sit. Stay.” My hellhound listens obediently and I move a hand to the back of Juliet’s head, holding her still as I hurry through the kitchen and into the family room, getting the magical collar that works as a glamour, making Scarlet appear as an Irish Wolfhound.

“That’s what she really looks like?”

“When she’s in Hell, she has fire-fur,” I add and watch the horror on Abby’s face grow. I click the collar into place and Scarlet shifts back to a regular dog.

“Like I said, entirely different lives.”

Lucas closes the door behind him and takes off his muddy shoes. He comes over to me and tips my chin up, kissing me. My eyes flutter shut and I don’t care that he’s filthy or that my sister is standing just feet from me, terrified of my hellhound.

Lucas is here with me and that’s all that matters.

“Too bad you already showered,” he says softly, lips brushing against mine. “I’m sure I can make you dirty again.”

“You will.”

He rests his forehead against mine and my heart lurches in my chest. “I love you,” he tells me and then slowly moves his hand off my face, fingertips running down my neck. I get a glimpse of his wrist and the black mark is getting smaller. That must be how it works, and when the line is gone, he’ll have to go back. There’s no way I can just draw a line with Sharpie when he’s sleeping, is there?

“You two are so good together,” Abby tells me. “Especially after just having a baby. I wanted to punch Phil in the throat any time Penny woke up in the middle of the night and he slept through it.”

“Benefit of having a vampire husband.” I force a smile, not wanting to tell her our extra affection is because we both know Lucas is a ticking time bomb, so to speak.

Deciding to just go with something easy, as well as something Penny will eat, Abby fills a pot with water to make Mac ’n Cheese. I go into the library while the water boils, looking over my books. The best thing to do would be to draw the sigil on a piece of paper and send it to Evander. There’s a good chance he or someone else would be able to find the demon it belongs to a lot faster than me, but we left things on an awkward note last time I saw my friends.

And speaking of friends, I should probably plug my phone in, see if anyone contacted me, and then fill them in on what’s going on. I don’t want to, and I know it’s me being stubborn. Things work better when we all communicate, and while I can definitely be a little cocky when it comes to my ability to hunt demons, but I’m not stupid. There are times I need help, and Paimon is more powerful than anything we’ve come up across so far.

My phone is in the kitchen where I left it, and I plug it in the charging drawer. That clever drawer was something I’d had on my Pinterest “dream house” board for years.

“Can I be super petty?” Abby asks, turning the burner down on the stove.

“I’m always going to say yes when it comes to being petty. Unless it’s against me. Then I’d advise against it.

Abby laughs. “I want to take another picture of us and post it.”

“Yes, please do it.” I reach up to smooth out my hair and then remember it’s in a wet messy bun because only a few minutes ago, I was covered in blood. Oh well. Abby gets her phone and takes several photos, trying to get one with Penny smiling.

“What’s the big deal about posting a photo of me?” I ask. “I get Scott doesn’t want people asking, but why care now. You posted photos from Thanksgiving and Christmas too.”

“Because several people asked Mom—sorry, Nancy. It’s weird.”

“It’s okay and yeah, it is weird,” I agree. Until last year, I thought Nancy was my mother too.

“People asked her about the new grand baby and wondered why she didn’t have any photos with her. It not only makes her look bad to have an estranged daughter, but no one can sell theCallie’s doing mission work in Africathing when you’re standing next to me in your living room holding a baby.”

“Now I want to post a bunch of photos of us. Other than my Novel Grounds accounts, I don’t really do social media,” I add. “But now I want to start a sister TikTok account or something.”

“That might be kinda fun.”

“It would. And a few days after Juliet was born, I noticed Ella watches the store’s Instagram stories. So, I’m guessing it’s Scott using her account to spy on me.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s becoming more and more unpleasant,” Abby says, and I can tell she feels a little guilty talking about him in a bad light. The two of them got along decently throughout our childhood, and even more so as adults.

Abby goes to the fridge, opening it to get milk and butter for the Mac n’ Cheese. “Why do you have so many bags of cut up veggies?”

“They’re for Eliza’s guinea pigs. She has like a dozen of them.”

“Really?” She puts the milk on the counter. “I wouldn’t have guessed that. Wait, they’re all here?”