Call of Night: The Thorne Hill Series Book Three Read online

  What feels like a lie is saying I have a biological brother. Scott told me we weren’t related. That he’s not really my brother.

  “You’d never put him at risk.” She wraps another hex around my wrist.

  “Of course not.”

  She goes back to the desk and closes the black box. “I thought so.”

  “What are you getting at?” I ask, narrowing my eyes. “You’re not telling me something.”

  Ruby swallows hard and chews on her bottom lip. I’ve never seen her rattled like this. She’s always full of herself. Irritatingly confident. A stuck-up know-it-all.

  The office door flies open and Ruth steps in. She flicks her wrist once she’s in and the door closes behind her.

  “I’ll take it from here,” she says, and Ruby gives her a curt nod. She looks at me once more, eyes still full of fear, and then hurries out of the office.

  Ruth perches on the edge of the desk and crosses her arms, pushing the sleeves of her dress robes up over her forearms.

  “I reviewed your file,” she starts, and I slowly shake my head. What is she doing? Shouldn’t she be in with Tabatha, helping to get the demon out of Evander?

  “Okay?”

  “You graduated top of your class.”

  I blink. “I, uh, had great teachers.”

  “Tell me.” Her eyes narrow and she leans in. “How does a girl from a non-magical home, who didn’t start here until she was ten years old, end up with such high marks?”

  “This isn’t important right now.”

  “Isn’t it?” Ruth cocks an eyebrow. “Because I find it just as curious as a common witch being able to fight off a third-hierarchy demon.”

  “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” If Lucas were here, he’d be able to hear my heart rate increasing. He’d be able to smell my fear and panic.

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Ms. Martin.”

  “I’m not. I swear, I don’t know how I—”

  “Cut the bullshit.” She stands up, blue eyes flashing. “You are in no place to lie to me.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Let me remind you that your charges are dire. You seem to care for that vampire you’ve been spending so much time with,” she says, recoiling from her own words, as the thought of sleeping with a vampire repulses her. “It would be a shame if anything were to happen to him. After all, who will be there to remove a curse after you’ve been burned at the stake?”

  My eyes widen and all the air leaves my lungs. She’s threatening Lucas? He’s old. The oldest vampire I know. It would take a very powerful witch to curse him…and Ruth is a powerful witch.

  She holds my gaze. “I’m willing to throw this all out, under one condition.”

  My mind is racing, and I have no fucking clue what she’s talking about. All I know is Lucas could be in danger and Evander is in danger. We need to get the demon out of him like yesterday.

  “What?” I reply, desperate to appease her and deal with the consequences later. “What do you want?”

  “I told you. In.”

  “In? In where?”

  “Not where, but who.” Her eyes narrow and it hits me: the Grand Coven suspected me of Satanism but didn’t have enough proof to move past suspicion.

  Holy shit.

  Ruth wants me to get her a deal with the Devil.

  Chapter 2

  “I swear to you,” I start, hands shaking. “I’m not working with the Devil.”

  “Please.” Ruth pushes off the desk and goes to the fireplace. She waves her hands over the logs, conjuring a small fire. She purses her lips, looking at the small flames in annoyance, and waves her hand over the logs again, doubling the fire. “There’s only one reason you’d find brimstone, and we both know what it is.”

  “Fine,” I say, eyes going to the large grandfather clock in the corner by the wall. Evander is running out of time before he’s at real risk for damage. “There was a third-hierarchy demon. And I fought it off, but I don’t know how I did it.”

  “Don’t lie to me!” Ruth hisses. “There is no way you could have fought one off. You’re working together.”

  “No! I would never work with a demon.”

  “Lies!”

  I lean back in the chair, eyes flicking down to the hagstone hexes tied around my wrists. I’m not bound to the chair, but the hexes are magically bound to me until someone takes them off. My lips part and I squeeze my eyes closed, trying hard not to freak out right now.

  “I am not working with the Devil,” I say slowly. “I can’t get you an in with him even if I tried because I’m not in communication with him.”

  Ruth holds up her hand and pressure surrounds my neck as if she’s choking me. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

  “You probably don’t want me to answer that,” I choke out.

  She slowly starts to make a fist with her fingers and the pressure around my neck intensifies. I gasp for air.

  “Let me make this clear,” she snarls. “There is no way a witch born from nonmagical heritage could possess the abilities you do unless you’ve been given extra power. And there’s only one way you can get that extra power. So, you can either summon the Devil and tell him I’m worthy, or you will be tied up and burned. If you’re lucky, you’ll die of smoke inhalation before your flesh starts to melt off your bones. And then I’ll have fun going after that vampire.”

  She releases her hand and I suck in air, coughing hard.

  I don’t have time for this. She’s hellbent on getting more power, and power-hungry psychos can’t be reasoned with. Evander needs to be saved, and I have to go warn Lucas before he gets too worried about me and hangs around the door, awaiting my return.

  “Fine,” I gasp, neck aching. I swallow hard and feel my throat burn. “I’ll…I’ll take you to the woods and I’ll summon him. But only after an exorcism has been done and Evander is okay.”

  Ruth considers my offer for a moment. “Okay. If you don’t deliver, I will proceed with your charges.”

  “All you want is for me to summon him and tell him you’re worthy?” I ask, desperately trying to come up with a plan. “There’s not much else I can do from there. Only he can decide who he’ll let in.”

  Ruth’s eyes narrow. “The Dark Lord won’t reject me.”

  “But if he does,” I plead, “I’ll still have done my part, I’ll be free from the charges. You haven’t filed them yet, correct?”

  “Correct,” she says, and it hits me even harder that blackmailing me was her plan all along. Assuming I’m working with the Devil makes sense, as much as I hate to admit it. Because like she just said, a witch shouldn’t be able to fight off a powerful demon.

  Or do magic while warded.

  Or heal themselves.

  Or have glowing eyes…like Evander said he thought he saw in the woods right before he got possessed.

  My stomach gurgles with fear that I’m evil. That demon blood runs in my veins and that’s why demons are after me and why they’re calling me a half-breed. Why they’re saying I shouldn’t be.

  But I have another question, one I can’t figure out. How does she know the extent of my relationship with Lucas? Did we make it that obvious we’re a couple when the other witches showed up at my house the night we escaped from the demon? I suppose it doesn’t matter, though I can’t help but feel violated, like someone had been spying on me and reporting back.

  Just like how the vampires know about us and want me dead for it.

  I suck in a breath and look at Ruth. I’ve been backed into a corner and my only option is to agree with her, though I won’t be able to give her what she wants. I’m not working with the Devil and agreeing won’t summon him. But…I have no other choice.

  “I’ll summon him,” I say, and all my breath leaves me. I close my eyes in a long blink, trying hard to focus on anything other than the crippling anxiety that’s pulsing through me. “And then it will be up to him.”

  Ruth smiles, eyes gleaming. “He’ll
be pleased with what I have to offer.”

  A chill runs through me and I work to keep my face neutral. “I hope so.” I swallow my pounding heart. “Evander?”

  Ruth rolls her eyes. “I’ll go assist now.”

  “Let me help. I…I think I can.”

  “You are not getting out of those hex bracelets until I get what I want.”

  I nod, not sure if having the hex bracelets on would hinder me from summoning my old pal Lucy or not. I don’t have the slightest inkling of how to fake a Satanic ritual…but I might be able to get ahold of someone who can.

  “I’ll need proof,” I say as Ruth heads toward the office door. “Proof Evander is okay.”

  “Fine. I’ll give you two minutes with him. Then it’ll be time to hold up your end of the bargain.”

  She uses magic to open and close the office doors. I let my eyes fall closed and suck in air. I’m on the verge of hyperventilating, and the hexes are starting to feel oppressive, holding back my natural powers that want to be released right now. The hexes ward off witchcraft, but I have such a strong feeling I’m not really just a witch.

  Forcing myself to calm the fuck down, I take a few minutes focusing on my breathing. Once my heart isn’t racing and the taste of vomit has receded from my mouth, I close my eyes and think of Binx, trying to mentally call for him. It’s hard to do from inside the Covenstead, and an ordinary witch probably couldn’t do this.

  But like Ruth said, I’m no ordinary witch.

  “Come on, come on,” I mutter. “Binx, can you hear me?”

  I get a big fat nothing.

  My thoughts shift to Lucas, to his handsome face. Eyes as blue as the ocean at night. His devilish smile.

  “Get it together,” I tell myself and shift my thoughts back to my black cat. Just thinking about my familiar brings me a sense of peace. I can feel him rubbing his head against me. Hear his purring. I see him clearly in my mind, sitting on the dark back porch, staring into the night.

  Suddenly, his tail twitches.

  Callie

  Yes! We’ve made a connection. He can hear me.

  Things are bad, I tell him.

  I’m coming, he responds, voice just a harrowing echo inside my own head.

  Don’t be seen.

  I open my eyes and feel a little dizzy. Letting out a breath, I look at the hagstone hexes on my wrists. I can’t touch the hexes with my fingers, but I wonder…no, it wouldn’t work. My powers of telekinesis come from being a witch. And the charms specifically block out witchcraft.

  I lean back and stare out the window, feeling like eternity is crawling by. Everything is so quiet, though I don’t know what I expect to hear. A group of witches shouting the power of Christ compels you at Evander as his head turns all the way around and he spits out pea soup at everyone?

  “Please, please let him be okay,” I pray to no one in particular. The image of the blue-eyed man flashes before me. “Just let Evander be okay. I’ll take whatever sentences comes my way, just keep Evander safe.”

  I let my eyes fall shut and squeeze my fingers into the palm of my hand. Everything is going to be okay. It has to be. Evander will make a full recovery, and if he’s lucky, will have no memory of the demon forcing itself inside his body.

  My eyes open and the anxiety I was trying to shake off comes back tenfold. That demon specifically sought out a body that I knew. It wanted me to team up with it and seemed pretty damn convinced that if we worked together, we’d be unstoppable. I squeeze my eyes closed again.

  “I’m not evil. I’m not evil,” I whisper to myself.

  “Of course you’re not,” a familiar voice echoes throughout the room.

  “Binx!”

  His shadow turns into cat-form and he jumps onto my lap, purring.

  “I’m so fucking glad you’re here,” I tell him. “Ruth thinks I’m working with the Devil and wants me to arrange a meet-and-greet. Obviously I can’t do that but I agreed anyway so she’d go assist on the exorcism. Evander will be saved at least, but then I…I…I don’t know.”

  Binx rubs his head against me and jumps off my lap, turning back into his true form. Red eyes glow before me, and an idea takes shape. To anyone else, Binx would be terrifying. He’s old and ancient and has legions of spirits under his command.

  “We could trick her,” I start.

  “She’s never met the Devil,” Binx finishes.

  “If we can get Pandora and Freya in on this…”

  “It will work,” we say at the same time.

  I let out a sigh of relief, though we’re far from the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s a start, at least. There’s no promise the Devil will work with any witch, which is only one of the reasons the Grand Coven has outlawed Satanism.

  “We’re going to need Lucas,” I tell Binx, hating what I’m saying. But I don’t know any other way around this. “We need proof that Ruth wants to make a deal with the Devil. If he can record her doing—I don’t know—anything incriminating, we can present it to the Grand Coven and get her stripped of her title and powers, which would stop her from sentencing me.”

  Binx nods, agreeing with me. “I will go inform the others of our plan.” He shifts back into a cat and moves onto my lap again. He bites the hexes around my wrist, freeing me from the hagstone.

  “Thank you,” I tell him, feeling a load better from not having my powers bound. Binx rubs his head against me once more, reminding me that I’m not alone. I hug him, taking solace in his soft, sleek fur. I give him a kiss and release him, letting him jump back into shadow form to relay our message to the others.

  I take the hexes and lay them out on Evander’s desk. Pacing back and forth, I attempt to quiet my thoughts and fail. This plan better work. Because if it doesn’t…I have no fucking clue what I’ll do.

  “Does she actually have evidence?” I mutter to myself, pausing by the large window. I look out at the dark, empty courtyard. There aren’t many students at Grim Gate Academy in the summer to begin with. I spent most of my summers here, with the exception of the one time I went home to see my sister.

  I missed her. As nice as it was to get away from my fucking awful father and brother, I missed Abby. At first it was too risky to return home. I knew magic but wasn’t strong enough to fight off my father. But the next year…that year I could have. Yet Tabatha didn’t want me returning home. She accompanied me back to Chicago in late July so I could see Abby on her birthday.

  I’ll never forget the terrified looks on my father and Scott’s faces as we all sat in the formal living room of my parents’ overly ostentatious house. The thought, actually, still brings a smile to my face. It was the first time I sat in my father’s company and felt like I was the one on top.

  I had the advantage.

  He’d called me a freak. Said I was nature’s mistake.

  But coming back with Tabatha…I was a witch. A witch with powers that could destroy them. My father and Scott already feared me. And Tabatha…Tabatha fucking terrified them more than any nightmare ever could.

  I didn’t return home on my own until I was sixteen and more than powerful enough to hold my ground. Tabatha and Evander were spending a few weeks in Europe, meeting with other Academy professors and visiting family. I was certain I could hold my own…and then I met Easton.

  The charming, off-limits, bad boy my parents would have hated for me to be seen with. It was a big deal to the press that I was back home in Chicago. My father had already woven the tale that I was off in some third-world country volunteering, giving my all to the less fortunate. Being seen with someone like Easton Parker was the last thing dear old dad would have wanted for me.

  I came back for the summer to spend it with my sister. I missed Abby so fucking much and our parents made it almost impossible to communicate while I was at the Academy. The day after I arrived, my father arranged an internship at a hospital. Abby wanted to be a doctor back then, and shadowing a world-renowned trauma specialist was a dream come true.

&
nbsp; My father did it on purpose, I know that now. I came back to see Abby and he sent her away. That’s how my father is. Pretending to benefit one person only to hurt another. So I was left there, alone in that big house, for weeks until I could return to Thorne Hill.

  Easton was everything I wanted and everything I didn’t need. The bad boy who could piss off my parents. The rebel who could sneak me out of my bedroom window and show me how fun life without magic could be. The handsome boy who’d seen so much, who made me feel more than I could ever imagine.

  And the witch hunter who was ordered to kill me.

  I tear my eyes away from the courtyard, not wanting to get stuck in another memory. Though if it’s about Grim Gate, there’s a good chance it will be a good one. Nothing will ever replace the feeling of walking through the door for the very first time.

  I felt like I was finally home, amongst other people just like me.

  Only, that feeling wore off before the first year was through. Because, as Ruth said, I had talents that far surpassed the ordinary witches of Grim Gate Academy.

  “Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. How the hell am I supposed to fake summoning the Devil? With my powers being a little unpredictable, I have no idea what would actually happen if I did a fake summoning. I don’t want to actually summon anything…let alone the Devil.

  I sink down onto a velvet settee in front of the window and run my fingers over the dark purple velvet. There have only been firsthand accounts recorded about what happens when the Devil is summoned, and no one knows exactly how accurate those accounts are.

  No one knows for sure what he looks like. Some reports describe him the way pop culture does. Tall, horned, with the face of a goat and the body of a lamb. Others describe him as a handsome man in a suit. We went over it briefly in my advanced-level defensive magic class, and it’s one of those subjects the professors here don’t like to talk about in fear it could encourage an impressionable young witch or wizard to seek out more power.