Page 88 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

His eyes meet mine and a moment of understanding passes between us. “The demon is after your daughter.”

“Yes,” I say, hearing the question in his voice. “They want to use her.”

“We can’t let that happen.”

All I can do is nod and run forward, watching as Lucas swings the sword over and over at the black smoke that’s blocking us from entering the house. Ravens caw above us, swooping down and cutting us with their razor-sharp claws. Lucas and Eamon’s wounds heal right away, but mine don’t. Every movement hurts, but it doesn’t matter.

“Scarlet!” I yell, calling my hellhound forward. I hold out my hands, summoning hellfire. It burns purple as the red fires from Hell mix with the blue fires from the Underworld. Flames rise from the ground, burning right through the smoke. The dark magic fueling the smoke is strong, and I clench my jaw, fighting against it.

More ravens circle us, and one the size of an eagle flies out of the house, breaking through a window. Lucas runs and jumps up, launching himself off the ground. He brandishes the sword, slicing it through the air. The sharp blade cuts the raven’s head off, and it drops to the ground only inches from me.

“Ignis,” I say, and magical fire erupts from the ground, and it’s enough to cause the smoke to part. Both Lucas and Eamon rush up the porch steps, and the sound of someone inside the house screaming causes my heart to skip a beat. I lose my hold on the smoke, and push harder, trying to keep the smoke parted.

But then something grabs my hair and pulls me back. With a yell, I fall back, and the air gets knocked out of my chest as I hit the ground.

“Callie!” Lucas yells and I try to suck in a breath. He’s overtop of me, helping me to my feet. “We need to—” He cuts off when something grabs him, wrapping tight around his waist. He’s yanked down and only a second later something grabs me as well, wrapping around my leg, going all the way up to my thigh. It pulls me to the ground, dragging me away from the house towards the woods.

“Lucas!” I scream, fighting like mad to roll over so I’m on my back. I get a mouthful of dirt and my chin gets whacked on a tree root, but I manage to flip over. Anger and fear build inside of me, energy gathering like a bomb. Digging both heels into the ground, I throw my hands out and scream, sending a shockwave of energy into the night.

It reverberates off the trees, silencing the forest for at least a mile around me. The black smoke releases me and I scramble back, panting.

“Lucas!”

Sucking back a sob, I get to my feet and hear something rushing through the forest at me. I sense Scarlet at the last minute, and grab onto her, unable to see what’s around me. “Lucas!” Scarlet nudges me and I keep one hand on her, letting her lead me through the dark woods. My body is humming with energy, and I hold one hand up, summoning a small ball of light just so I can see where I’m going.

We’re following a trail of decay left behind by the black smoke. The undergrowth is dead and the bark on the surrounding trees is rotting, and I know it wasn’t that way before.

Something crackles and I recognize the sound as bones snapping back into place.

“Callie.”

I come to a stop. “Lucas?”

Silently, he comes to me, wrapping me in his arms. “Are you all right?”

“I’m good enough. They went after Juliet.”

“I know.” He brushes my hair back and takes my hand. Scarlet leads the way, taking us back to the house. Light from the porch illuminates our yard and my stomach twists when I see all the bodies on the ground. Most are in pieces, and a few zombies still crawl forward, grunting and groaning as they try to drag their broken bodies over the grass and weeds.

A few crows sit on our roof, and the window over the upstairs landing is broken. Only a few tendrils of smoke remain, and they hiss and shrink back into the ground when I hit them with an energy ball. Lucas slips his arm around me, helping me up the steps. It’s only then I realize I’m limping, adrenaline masking my pain.

“Kristy!” I shout and push the front door open. It’s unlatched, and I hope to God I’m going to step into the house and hear Juliet crying. She’ll be okay, of course, but is scared from all the noise and needs the comfort of her parents.

But the house is silent, except for Eamon’s voice.

“Don’t move,” he tells Eliza, who’s lying at the bottom of the stairs. Her pale-yellow dress is stained with blood, and Eamon is crouched down next to her, picking broken shards of glass from her chest. Lucas and I both rush to her and she grunts, tears running down the sides of her face.

“They dragged me down here,” she says and I see several splinters of wood embedded in her chest as well. Oh fuck.

“It’s okay,” Lucas tells her, dropping to his knees and stroking her hair back. If one of the splinters moves just an inch, it could lodge into her heart and kill her. She could lay perfectly still and her body will heal and push the foreign objects out, but it will take time.

“Stay with her,” I tell Lucas and grab onto Scarlet, needing to use her for support. Every step hurts, yet the pain doesn’t really register. “Kristy?” I call again, straining for some sort of answer. Tears burn my eyes and I stumble, fingers trembling as I clutch the railing. My entire body is shaking as I run through the hall once I’m finally up the stairs, going to the door to the attic.

“Kristy? Freya?” I call again but the silence already tells me what I need to know. I just don’t want to believe it. I trip twice going up the stairs and suck back a sob when I make it to the top, stopping and looking around the empty attic. The window looking out at the backyard is broken, and there are black feathers scattered around the ground, letting me know Freya put up one hell of a fight.

Then I see her, and I scream and run over, dropping to the floor next to Kristy. She’s unconscious but breathing, and the rose quartz ring is crushed on the ground next to her.

And Juliet is gone.

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