Page 3 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“I said, let them! Let them find me so I can tell them what pieces of shit aunts and uncles they’ve been and—”

Lucifer reaches out, touching my forehead. “Sorry, Niece.”

“You motherfucker,” I grumble as I succumb to the darkness, falling into his arms as the world fades around me.

I wake with a start,sitting straight up. Unlike a sleeping spell, whatever Lucifer did has no lingering side effects, and I get to my feet just as angry and ready to kill as I did when I was in my yard. Only this time, I’m in Tabatha’s office and she, Evander, and Ruby are in here with me.

What the fuck?

“Juliet,” I rush out the single word, my heart suddenly dropping.

“Eliza has her,” Tabatha replies calmly. “She’s walking her up and down the hall.”

“And Lucifer?” The anger surging through me is making it hard to sense if there’s any divinity around.

Tabatha shakes her head. “He brought you all here and left, saying he was going to distract the others, whatever he means by that.” She’s trying hard to stay calm for my sake, but I can see the fear and worry in her eyes. “What happened, my darling girl?”

“Lucas, he—” I start and cut off, closing my eyes. Fat tears roll down my cheeks and I sniffle, knowing crying isn’t going to fix a damn thing. “It turns out Julian made a deal before was murdered.” Dammit, more tears burn in my eyes, and I get a flash of Julian’s body going limp as it fell to the ground. “With Osiris.”

I open my eyes and look at everyone’s stunned face. “He took the Horsemen to the Underworld.”

“That…that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Ruby asks, turning and eyeing Tabatha and Evander.

“It would appear so,” Evander replies slowly. “Though things are rarely as they seem. Where…where is Lucas?”

My throat tightens and I blink back more tears before inhaling, holding onto my rage. The lights flicker and I want nothing more than to summon hellfire in one hand and pure white light in the other. I want to feel their power and then use it to kill every single demonic horse and get my husband back.

“The deal,” I start. “Was for four Horsemen. Famine came first and I…I…knocked him off his horse and then Lucas killed him.” It plays out before me in my mind, and everything starts to feel numb. Am I going into shock? I don’t know. I don’t care. “But Osiris would only take four since the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse doesn’t have the same ring to it, I guess.” I turn my hands over, summoning a small flame. It burns blue and the sight of it reminds me of the flames that took Lucas. “That’s when Lucifer came. To…to finish the deal or whatever but he did jack shit and Lucas got on the horse and became Famine.” I close my fist, putting out the flame and summoning white light instead as a collective silence falls over the room.

“Lucas became Famine?” Tabatha echoes.

“The power comes from the horse. When he got on, he…he…” I can’t bring myself to say it.He changed.

And I won’t say it because he didn’t change. He’s still Lucas. Still my husband. The one person in the world who believes me in more than anyone else. And he’s waiting for me to figure all this out so we can get back to being a family again.

“So, I need to get down to the Underworld and get Lucas back.” I push my hair behind my shoulders and take a deep breath. I’m still wearing the black dress I had on from before and a wardrobe change is necessary. I should load up on weapons too and nurse my daughter before leaving just in case I’m gone for a long time. “Anyone up for a field trip?” I ask.

“Where are we going?” Evander asks, shooting his mother a concerned look.

“The Underworld. I’m getting Lucas back.”

“Callie, darling.” Tabatha shakes her head. “You can’t just go to the Underworld.”

“I can, and I will.”

“We don’t know where it is,” Ruby tries, taking a logical approach that’s lost on me right now. I’m not thinking straight, and I won’t until the love of my life is back at my side.

“Yeah, I do. It’s in the Underworld. I’ve been to Hell and back. I can go, I just…I just need to figure out how.” Swallowing hard, I close my eyes and fling my hands out at my sides, trying to get the wings to appear at my back so I can fly myself out of here. Not that I know how to do that, but I’m willing to risk it.

Nothing happens. Inhaling, I feel the fire inside me start to rise. I roll my shoulders and jerk forward but, again, nothing.

“What…what are you doing?” Evander asks.

“Nothing,” I sigh. “Nothing but wasting time.”

“Callie,” Tabatha says a little sternly this time. “Lucifer made it quite clear it’s not safe for you to leave the Covenstead. You need to remain hidden while he deals with others. If there are more demons—”

“He’s not dealing with demons,” I interrupt. “He’s dealing with our murderous asshole relatives.”

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