Still of Night, page 25
Everyone I love and care for most in the world will be here soon to celebrate with us. I’ve never been happier in my life.
Tabatha and Evander are already outside, waiting with the photographer for me. I consider everyone here family, and Evander is just as much my brother as Abby is.
“My darling girl,” Tabatha’s eyes fill with tears and seeing her standing there makes me so emotional as well. I’m technically still part of the coven. She’s risking everything to be here. “You look like an angel.”
“Fine choice of words,” a deep voice says, coming from behind. I whirl around and my lips part as a shocked breath leaves me.
Michael steps from the shadows, followed by Julian. Tabatha and Evander both gasp and the photographer looks equally confused and awestruck. Archangels seem to have that effect on people.
“You’re here.” My eyes brim with tears that fall down my cheeks no matter how hard I try not to let them spill. “I’ve been praying for you for days.” Michael strides forward and takes me in his arms. “I am sorry, my daughter. It wasn’t safe to come. Though after that stunt my brother pulled, letting a legion of demons loose in New York City, our siblings were quite preoccupied.” Michael smiles and lets me go, running his eyes up and down me. “You look so much like your mother. She would be so proud.”
The photographer watched the exchange, not sure if she should start taking pictures or not. Julian holds up his hand and she stands frozen, eyes glossed over.
“I have something of hers for you.” Michael reaches into the suit jacket that he’s wearing and pulls out a delicate silver bracelet. “She wanted you to have this, if this day ever came.” He takes my wrist and puts the bracelet on. “I gave this to your mother when we found out she was expecting you.”
I blink away more tears.
“Now, let me fix this.” He puts his hand over my cheek. Golden light spills from his hands and the cut heals in an instant. “Can I walk you down the aisle?”
“Please do,” I say, voice thin as I try not to cry. “I need to tell you something.”
“Okay?”
“There’s a hellhound in my dressing room.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Don’t kill her. She’s…she kind of saved my life.”
“Well, then I’ll take her back then.”
“To Hell?”
“Yes. Where she belongs. Don’t let my brother’s tricks fool you into thinking he’s kind. He cares about you, Callie, but not even I know his intentions.” He cups my face with his hands. “But don’t worry about that.” He closes his eyes and whispers something I can’t make out. A warmth fills me and the entire yard seems to glow for just a second.
“What was that?” I ask when he takes his hands off my face.
“A blessing.” He smiles and looks at Tabatha and Evander, who are standing there a little awestruck themselves. “I believe you need to have photos taken now.”
“Right.” Tabatha shakes herself and Julian waves his hand in front of the photographer’s face again. She blinks a few times and goes right back to where we left off.
Abby, Phil, and Penny come out next, and then I have several photos taken of me with Kristy, Nicole, and Naomi.
“I love you guys,” I tell my friends.
“We love you too,” Nicole gives me a big hug. “It’s almost time.” She smiles and I suck in a breath, excitement going through me. I go back inside, standing next to Michael.
Next to my father.
“Do you think I’m evil?” I rush out.
Michael turns to me and shakes his head. “No. You are many things, dear Callie, but not evil. I have no doubt in my mind. And your mother was sure as soon as she knew you were growing inside her, that you would do great things.”
I blink back tears again.
“Thank you.”
We wait a few minutes and then the music starts. I take in another breath. Michael hooks his arm through mine and walks me out of the little building. The night is perfect, being just warm enough to not need a jacket, but not overly warm. Stars dot the dark sky above us, and the sounds of the night meld in with the harp music perfectly.
Lucas is standing at the end of the aisle and he looks sinfully good in his black suit. His eyes get misty when he sees me, and everything else fades away.
The music.
The night.
The small crowd of people here to celebrate with us.
Michael gives my arm a little squeeze when we get to the end of the aisle.
“I am so proud of you,” he whispers and kisses my cheek before stepping back. My eyes are all watery as I look from him to Lucas.
“You look beautiful,” Lucas says. Kristy takes my bouquet and I hold out my hands for Lucas. His skin is cool and smooth, instantly comforting me. “I want to kiss you now.”
“You’re going to have to wait,” I whisper and blink back tears.
The officiant starts the ceremony, but her words are a bit lost on me as I stare into Lucas’s eyes. After everything we’ve gone through…how many times I almost died in the short time we’ve been together…we’re here now.
Together.
Lucas takes the rings from Evander and hands me his. Then he takes my left hand and smiles, unable to look away from my eyes.
“I, Lucas, take you, Callie, wife, my friend, my partner, and my love. I vow to honor and respect you for all that you are and will become. I promise you this, to love you freely and unconditionally, for all the days of my life.” He puts the ring on my finger.
I take his left hand and say the same vows. I, Callie, take you, Lucas, husband, my friend, my partner, and my love. I vow to honor and respect you for all that you are and will become. I promise you this, to love you freely and unconditionally, for all the days of my life.”
The officiant steps forward. “By the power of love and the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss!”
Lucas grabs me, putting his lips to mine as our friends stand and cheer. We did it. We got married. We promised to love and honor each other for the rest of our lives.
And for us, the rest of our lives really does mean forever.
30
Two weeks later…
* * *
“It feels good to be home.” I set my carry-on down in the foyer and look around my small farmhouse. It feels even smaller now that all of Lucas’s stuff is crammed inside. Eliza brought it over for us while we were on our honeymoon, enjoying a glorious two weeks in Wine County, and she did a pretty good job organizing it all, considering the lack of space.
Though, I just walked through the door and have no idea what the spare room upstairs looks like. It took the brunt of being used as a temporary storage facility. Luckily, Lucas didn’t have any sentimental attachment to his furniture—you know, like a normal person.
We did swap out his king bed for mine, and I’m sure my room looks tiny with that huge bed inside.
“It does.” Lucas comes up behind me, wrapping me in his arms. The moment his lips touch mine, Scarlet comes tearing through the house, chasing Binx. She yips and barks and her feet skid out from underneath her. It’s a game they’ve been playing, and Binx wins every time. I roll my eyes.
At the end of the reception, Michael was being summoned back to Heaven and couldn’t take a hell hound with him. Holding true to his word not to kill Scarlet, he gave me the option of keeping her or letting Julian take her to try and push her through the gates of Hell. With there being no promise it would even work, that Julian wouldn’t get caught, and with there being a chance something could come out of Hell the moment the gates opened, keeping her seemed to make the most sense.
And I’ve grown a little attached to the thing, which I’ve only admitting to Lucas.
To my husband.
It still feels good to say that.
Yawning, I pull my shoes off and turn, shutting the door with magic as soon as Lucas get the last suitcase inside. It’s nearing four-AM and I’m ready to get some sleep in my—in our—bed.
As if he can read my mind, Lucas picks me up and whisks me up the stairs, laying me down in bed. I’m already wearing lounge wear, and we flew in a private jet, yet I still feel like I need to shower or at the very least change before I crawl under the covers.
Lucas turns on the shower, giving the water time to warm up, and then comes back for me. We shower quickly and then collapse into bed. My familiars jump up with us, and Scarlet sleeps on a folded blanket on the floor next to the bed.
I fall asleep as soon as I shut my eyes, and sleep soundly for a good hour before waking up, thoroughly chilled.
“Lucas?” The blankets have been kicked off, all gobbled off on Lucas’s side of the bed. “Lucas?” I repeat, watching him twitch in his sleep. Usually, he doesn’t move at all when he’s deep asleep.
Though it takes extreme temps to actually bother him, I’m cold so I assume he is too.
“Callie?” Lucas lazily opens his eyes. “Where are the blankets? Aren’t you cold?”
“Freezing.” I pull them back over us. “Were you having a bad dream?”
“Yeah,” he says and snakes his arms around me. “We were in the woods and stumbled upon a group of witches preforming some sort of dark ritual. That’s all I remember.”
“Stupid creepy dream.”
“It’s better than taking to Lucifer in your dreams.”
“Hey, that hasn’t happened in a while.” Since Michael blessed me at the wedding two months ago, things have been blissfully calm and quiet with only one run in with lower-level demons at the vineyard.
“I’m gonna go back to sleep,” I tell Lucas. The sun will be up soon, and I need to go grocery shopping, stop in at Novel Grounds, and take Scarlet for a quick run before driving to Chicago to meet Abby at the Museum of Science and Industry this afternoon.
Lucas and I snuggle back up together, and under the heat of the electric blanket, I drift to sleep quickly, not waking until my alarm goes off in the morning.
Lucas is still fast asleep when I get up, laying perfectly still and not breathing. If he wasn’t so beautiful, he’d look legitimately dead. I pull the electric blanket up to his waist, making sure he’s warm, and then grab my clothes. All of my familiars and Scarlet are still asleep.
I dash into the bathroom to get dressed and put on just enough makeup to look put together. Then I head downstairs and make coffee and eat a Pop-Tart for breakfast. I cleared out the fridge before we left for our two-week stay in Napa, and even though I have stuff stuff in the pantry, there’s nothing appetizing.
Knowing Kristy is working this morning, I’ll pick up donuts on the way in. I go outside with my coffee, but have to head back in and get a blanket. It’s mid-September, and fall will be here before we know it. We’ll get a few random warm days in October, and even the first week or so of November can be nice.
Though it can also be sub-zero.
The Midwest is rather unpredictable like that, but having lived in the region my entire life, I’m used to it. I quickly finish my coffee, needing to get to the grocery store right as it opens at nine if I want to have time to do everything this morning.
The house is quiet, beside Scarlet, who’s chewing on a bully-stick on the couch. My familiars head out to hunt, and to avoid the annoyingly cute and attention-demanding hellhound in a puppy suit.
I tiptoe upstairs to say goodbye to Lucas. He’ll meet me in Chicago later, once it’s dark enough for him to travel.
“You still asleep?” I whisper, slipping back into the room. Though the windows are treated with magic, preventing the harmful rays of the sun from burning Lucas, he prefers to sleep in the dark, like he’s been used to for over a thousand years.
Lucas doesn’t answer, so assuming he’s asleep, I tiptoe in to give him a kiss. I rest my hand on Lucas’s chest. The blankets aren’t covering him here, yet this skin almost feels warm.
Weird.
It has to be from the heated blanket, right? I kiss him goodbye and then get in the Jeep, only to remember I forgot my reusable shopping bags and have to go back in to get them. I arrive at the grocery store five minutes before they open, and feel like a loser as I wait in the parking lot with a handful of old ladies who were probably up at dawn and here over half an hour ago.
But, getting here early helps me get in and out fast, and only half an hour late, I’m heading towards home again. The house is still quiet a I unload the groceries. Sleeping all day isn’t uncommon for vampires. Unless they stay inside and out of the light, there isn’t much they can do.
“Hey, Scarlet,” I call, patting my leg. She’s been “helping” me put stuff away by pulling anything she can from the shopping bags. “Want to go for a ride?”
She gets all excited and runs to the door, sitting patiently and waiting for her leash. As a hell hound, she has similar intelligence to my familiars. Similar. She’s not quiet on their level, and she can’t talk to me, yet she understands what I’m saying for the most part. Probably because I don’t speak to her in English.
But when she’s in her puppy-form, she takes on the mentality of one. When I astral project myself back to Hell in my dreams, I’ll ask Uncle Lucy if he can adjust the collar or something.
I put a towel over my leather seat and tie her leash around the headrest in the Jeep to keep her from jumping around while we drive to the bookstore. Kristy should have just arrived to open up for the day.
We’ve seen each other almost every day since we were ten. It’s weird to go two weeks without seeing her face, though it has to be even weirder for Eliza and Lucas.
He told me it was the longest they’ve been apart since he made her over three hundred years ago. Two weeks is nothing in “vampire time” but when you’re used to seeing someone that much…they have to miss each other.
I get coffee from Curlew’s, and bring Scarlet in with me. Everyone gushes all over her, and I can’t help but laugh. If only they knew the truth…
Kristy is click on the open sign when I cross the street. She sees me, calls to someone over her shoulder, and comes running out. She hugs me so tight I almost drop the coffee.
“Callie!”
“I missed you too,” I laugh as Scarlet jumps up like crazy.
“She hasn’t gotten any bigger, not that I expected her to, but in two weeks, puppies grow. Do you think she’ll always be a puppy?”
“I think so. The collar is a glamour. I have no idea how old she actually is, but since Lucifer told me she was one of his favorite hounds, I’m guessing she’s at least a century.”
“Shit, this is so weird.” Kristy takes both coffees and goes back into the store. Betty is in there, and beams when she sees me. The last time I had a chance to talk to her, besides briefly at my reception, I told her Kristy and I were witches, and because of that, I was able to scry for Danielle.
“Hey, Callie! How as your honeymoon?”
“Wonderful,” I say with a smile. “It was so nice to get away, drink wine all day, and have no responsibilities.”
“That sounds so nice!” Her eyes go to Scarlet. “And you got a puppy? She’s so cute!”
“Thanks. This is Scarlet. Lucas surprised me with her.” The lie rolls off my tongue way too easily, though what the hell else am I supposed to say? I drop the leash and my killer, murderous hell hound hops over to Betty, rolling over for a belly rub.
Kristy was right: this is so fucking weird.
“So, everything was fine?” Kristy asks, and I know it’s a loaded question.
“Yes,” I press. “The vineyard had a slight infestation issues, but between Scarlet, my cats, and I, we handled those vermin just fine.” I let out a sigh. “But now I’m back to reality and back to figuring out my other rodent issues…” You know, the one where someone has put a hit out on my head and the fact that the Grand Coven now knows I’ve petitioned to leave the coven.
“Well, you know I’m here to help you. We all are.”
“Thank you.”
I spent about twenty minutes at the store, catching up and sharing vacation photos. Then I take Scarlet an hurry home. Lucas is just getting up when I get back, and tries to get me up into bed with him.
As if we didn’t have enough sex on our honeymoon. I’m officially running late, so we settle for a quickie on the living room floor.
Then I speed the whole way to Chicago, well, until I get stuck in traffic. But I make it there only twenty minutes after I’d hoped.
Abby hugs me as soon as she sees me. “You’re so tan!”
“I spent a lot of my days laying out drinking.” I put my hand on my side. “I think my poor liver is still tired.”
Abby laughs. “I’d lay out and drink all day at my vineyard too.”
“It’s beautiful there. I think later this winter, when we’re all sick of the cold here, we should take a girls’ trip for a weekend.”
“Ohhh, I’d love that.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“Deal.”
I take Penny from her arms, hugging the cutest little flower girl in the world.
“Want to see the dollhouse first?” I ask.
“That was always my favorite thing when I was a kid,” Abby says as we make a beeline for it. “I still want a giant dollhouse like this.”
I laugh. “If you had a doll house like this, I’d come over and play.”
“That give me ideas,” Abby says and looks at Penny. “We just have to get her to be really into dolls.”
We shuffle along the display, pointing out which room would be ours if it were real. Penny starts to get a little bored, so we move onto the kiddie section.
“What are you guys doing tonight?” Abby asks as we watch Penny run around. “Lucas is meeting you here later, right?”
“Yeah. We don’t really have plans. Just hang out with Eliza for a while and then they are going to do something together. I’ll go back to the house on North Orchard, which Eliza has taken over now. I just started a new romance series and I’m excited to keep reading. So that’s my wild night.”
