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)
“Your restraint has always impressed me,” Eamon says, appearing out of the darkness. “And disappointed. I remember back in the day when you’d suck a human dry for trying to tell you what to do.” He steps in between the cruiser and the Range Rover, illuminated in yellow light from the headlights of the cop car. “Though she’s not quite human, is she?”
Officer Maxwell whimpers and tries to reach up for his radio.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Lucas tells him, looking into his eyes. “In fact, the last ten minutes didn’t happen. You never drove down this road. Never pulled anyone over. This street is the safest in all of Thorne Hill. It’s a waste of the police force’s time to have anyone patrol it.”
“Right,” Maxwell agrees, eyes fixed on Lucas’s as he is held spellbound.
Lucas straightens up, looking on Maxwell’s jacket for a body cam. Technically, I think Indiana requires body cams, but small towns like Thorne Hill are a little behind on funding, which is a good thing for us. With our low crime rate, Thorne Hill appears to be a safe place to live.
Until you look at the year-end body counts.
But “death by demonic forces” isn’t something you can write on a death certificate, so most of these mysterious deaths have been blamed on wild animals. Which makes total sense knowing the most dangerous wild animal around here are coyotes. Nons have a special way of ignoring the obvious if it makes them feel safe. While I’ll never understand it, I can at least be thankful for their whole ignorance is bliss mindset.
“You’re going to delete the dash cam footage,” Lucas tells him.
“I will.”
“And you’re never going to come down this street again.”
“Never…again.”
Gravel crunches under my shoes as I edge over, flicking my eyes to Betty’s house. If something was wrong, Eamon wouldn’t be here, right? My baby is okay. She has to be. “Well, maybe if he’s called,” I suggest, thinking there could be good reason for Betty to someday call the cops.
“Fine,” Lucas grumbles. “You are never to come down this street again unless you are directly called. Now, get in your car, drive into town, and do what I told you to do.” He lets Officer Maxwell go and steps back, reaching down and picking up the body as if it weighs nothing.
“Juliet,” I rush out, eyes darting from the unconscious man hanging limply over Lucas’s shoulder to Eamon, who’s supposed to be with my daughter.
“She’s fine,” Eamon tells me. “It appears you told Betty not to let a very good looking, fair-skinned vampire with an Irish accent with the skills of a sex-god into her house.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said,” I say dryly. I did warn Betty about Eamon not that long ago. I’m so fucking glad she took it to heart. The door to the police cruiser slams shut and Lucas steps back, moving only inches out of the way as Officer Maxwell drives away.
“What the fuck?” I ask and hold out my hands. “No, it can wait. Juliet.”
“I’ll get her,” Kristy says from inside the car. “You should…um…handle that.” Her eyes are on the body. “Is that Jacob from the bank?”
“It is,” Lucas answers without missing a beat. “He was possessed.”
“Was?” Kristy asks skeptically. We used to think there were only two ways to stop being possessed: one is to have an exorcism performed and the other is if the demon leaves the body it’s possessing. We’ve since learned that divinity can burn up a demon, but I’m certain my dad or Lucifer didn’t pop back into Thorne Hill and un-demon this guy.
Sensing Kristy’s apprehension growing, I move forward and hold out my hand. “He’s still alive.”
“He is,” Lucas goes on. “He’s knocked out. Binx tackled him and it was like the demon got knocked out as he hit the ground. The dark energy went into the earth.”
“Fuck. The Ley line,” I mumble under my breath. “Okay, so a demon possesses Mr. Rogers over here, sends the angels packing, and then just disappears? What’s the end goal here?”
“Getting rid of your father and uncle gets rid of two powerful beings.” Lucas’s dark blue eyes meet mine. “We need to get home.”
I nod, both of us feeling the urgency to get to our daughter. Lucas speeds forward and slumps the body into Eamon’s arms.
“Take him back to our house and do not kill him yet.”
“Or at all,” I add.
“Not until after we question him,” Lucas continues.
“He doesn’t need to be killed,” I chide. “Remember the whole no murder thing we agreed upon?”
“I’m hungry and my god, you’re boring,” Eamon huffs.
“I wish we were,” I say and feel the anxiety start to set in again. “Juliet.”
“I will take you,” Lucas says, able to move through the woods faster than Kristy can drive down the road. She closes the car door as Lucas picks me up, moving us both at vampire speed, not stopping until we’re on the porch. We can hear Juliet crying from inside the house, and I want nothing more than to bring her to me, letting her nurse herself back to sleep.