Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Good, because I don’t like clutter, let alone fifty jars of something that’ll probably expire before I get a chance to eat it.”
“It was nice seeing you,” Lucas tells Abby. Juliet is quieting down, whimpering more than crying. “We should plan another double date. Perhaps Callie and I can meet you downtown sometime soon. Without kids this time.”
“I would love that. It’s been a while since I’ve had a date night without my parents or Penny.”
“Then we must arrange a night.”
“For sure.” Abby gathers up her stuff, uses the bathroom, and then carries Penny to her Porsche. Penny started throwing a tantrum as soon as Abby told her it was time to leave and is still going strong. I don’t envy her drive home. Not at all.
Once they’re down the street, I close the front door and find Lucas in the conservatory. “What the hell?”
“What the hell what?” he replies.
“Making dinner plans.”
“Do you not want to go to dinner with Abby and Phil?”
“I do, but you’re acting like things are fine and normal and they’re not.”
Lucas frowns, looking at my forgotten potted plants. “There is one thing that humans have had for centuries, one thing I never quite grasped until I met you.”
“What is it?”
“Hope.” His eyes meet mine. “I have seen humanity go through horrible things. Things that should break a person. Things that should make nations give up or live in fear. Yet the hope that something will give and things will get better keeps people going.”
“I’m having a hard time having hope right now,” I admit. “Hope wasn’t enough to save Julian. It’s not enough to keep you with me.” Frustration starts to build inside me. “I want you back so you can be with your family. Your daughter needs her father and I need you. We can’t do this forever.” I angrily wipe tears away. “You’ll have to go back at some point and then what? You get back on the horse, keep the demonic energy from shifting or something and once it’s contained you come back? Osiris takes his role seriously, but he won’t do that.”
“We can’t think like that.”
“How am I supposed to think?”
“I don’t know,” Lucas is exasperated, and I see the strain on his face. Neither of us want to fight. It does no good anyway. “Sit on the porch swing with me?” he asks after a moment of silence passes.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
We go through the house and out front, sitting close together on the swing. Juliet fell asleep in Lucas’s arms, and he keeps one hand over her face, making sure to shield her eyes from the sun.
“I can see why you like to sit out here and read,” he tells me. “It’s peaceful.”
“It is. I could take some serious naps on this swing too.” I tuck my legs up under me and loop my arm through Lucas’s. “And I never realized how fun a porch swing could be.”
“You know I can make anything fun.” He flashes a smirk that instantly gives me the feeling of butterflies.
“Oh, you can.” I rest my head against him and we sit there for a while, not talking but enjoying each other’s company.
“Without thinking about me leaving,” he starts. “We need to come up with some sort of plan if demons are indeed opening the Gates.”
“It’s a new demon,” I chide. “That’s why it was sent with a locator spell.” I hold up a hand. “Found me!”
“Perhaps bringing the demon to us will work in our favor. We were caught off guard last time, as much as it pains me to admit. Off guard and overpowered.” I know it bothers him even more to say the latter out loud. Lucas is used to being the strongest being around. While he hasn’t said it out loud, I know he’s harboring a lot of guilt over not being able to have done more when the Horsemen came that night Julian died.
“The first thing we need to do is figure out who the demon is. The sigil is somewhat similar to Paimon’s, which might help identify it. I’ll send a picture to Ruby and see if she—Alona.”
“Alona?” Lucas questions. “She was an angel-friend of Julian’s.”
“And now mine.”
“In what sense?”
“In the sense that she came here wanting to meet me because she thinks I’m a miracle and that’s why Julian was sworn to protect me.” I can feel Lucas’s eyes on me and I shake my head. “Eliza already gave me enough shit about it for the both of you. I’m no miracle.”
“You are just as much as our own daughter is. You are the first of your kind, my love.”
“Thankfully. Look at the shit that’s happened because I can be used.”
Lucas doesn’t reply right away. Instead, he pushes off the porch, moving the swing back and forth. “Will Alona be able to identify the sigil?”