Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Eliza and Eamon stayed in Chicago last night to feed, and came back just before sunrise this morning. They’re in the family room with Lucas and Juliet. Lucas and Eliza are watching one of the international dramas that they enjoy, and Eamon has my book of shadows laid out in front of him.
It instantly annoys me that he is going through my personal book. But it annoys me even more that Lucas hasn’t stopped him. As soon as this Paimon drama is over, I need to get to the bottom of the strange relationship those two share.
We go about the rest of the day as normal as possible. A weird energy hangs in the air, with all of us knowing something big is about to happen, and that no matter how hard we try there’s no putting this off. It’s only a matter of days before it comes to head. If we’re lucky, we might get a full week of calm before the storm.
Kristy and Ruby both call to check in, and are relieved to know that nothing major has happened—yet. I text Melinda, remembering Easton‘s warning that they’ve seen an increase in demonic activity in the Midwest area, and set my phone down, not looking forward to her response because I know that it’s not gonna be good news.
Lucas makes me grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, and Eamon stands in the kitchen, fascinated with both the process of cooking and the fact that Lucas cooks human food for me. It’s probably more entertaining than it should be to know I am continually blowing this two-thousand year old vampire’s mind on a pretty much daily basis now. But hey, I have to take my entertainment that I can, right?
I sit at the island counter, dipping my sandwich in the soup as I flip through a book about portals. I went down this rabbit hole not that long ago and didn’t get very far. The whole concept of creating a portal is confusing to me and not something you want to mess up. I have looked through this exact book multiple times, though I never looked through it specifically for information on portals made out of demonic energy. It must not be a common occurrence at all because there’s absolutely zero mention of it in this book.
When the sun starts to set, I get up and met Lucas in his office. He’s trying to catch up on the work he missed when he was stuck in the underworld as a horseman.
“Kristy and Betty are at the store tonight,” I tell him. “Maybe we could go into town and say hello.”
“Perhaps,” he says, glancing over his computer and smiling when he sees me. “If that’s what you would like to do, then that is fine with me.” I smile right back, forever grateful to have such a wonderful, caring husband. More times than not, I don’t feel like I deserve him, and the best part about us is that we both feel like we are the lucky one in this relationship. Never in my wildest dreams would I think I would actually have a love that my romance novels write about. I had always wanted a love like this ever since I was a child, dreaming about Prince Charming coming and saving me.
It ended up being Binx and Tabatha saving me from the laboratory, and then it was up to me in the end to find my own self-worth and not leave my happiness up to someone else… Especially a man.
Scarlet barks, startling both Juliet and me. Lucas jerks his attention to the window behind him, able to sense some things before I can.
“The warding,” I whisper, able to feel some thing encroaching on it, and mentally send Binx outside to check. “Something just crossed the first line.” Lucas gets to his seat looking out the window.
“It’s Drea,” he tells me and then looks me in the eye. “Did you summon her?”
“No,” I tell him. “I wasn’t planning on it until tomorrow,” I admit, selfishly wanting one more day without having to deal with demon drama or danger.
“Well, she’s here.”
Taking a shaky breath, I wonder if she figured out a way to get past the warding without setting it off. I still haven’t let myself fully trust her, because it seems just too easy to unite over a common enemy.
“Eliza,” Lucas calls, and she zooms into the room.
“There’s someone outside,” she says before giving us a chance to explain.
:It’s Drea,” I tell her.
“Take Juliet and go upstairs,” Lucas says, though neither of us feel very confident in that plan anymore. We know how things went down last time Eliza and Juliet hid in our supernatural safe house.
“I’ll go with,” Eamon offers, which actually makes me feel a little relieved. He has no magic to fight back with but he’s old and very strong.