Everyone stares at me, waiting for me to go on.
“But he didn’t know if a demon actually got out, what kind of demon it might have been, or where it would have gone,” Lucas adds pointedly. “He’s obviously doing a great job keeping an eye on you.”
“Look,” I start. “I know I should have come running to you with this info, but I selfishly wanted to just enjoy being engaged because I know…I know…” I know there’s a really good chance I’m never going to get to marry Lucas.
I close my eyes, tears welling behind my eyelids. I’m not an emotional person, and seeing me getting upset unnerves my friends.
“Nothing happened,” Kristy tries. “So no harm done. If the world exploded or something, then I’d pissed.”
“What else did this Julian say?” Tabatha asks. She’s wearing a long black dress with a traditional ceremonial robe over top. It’s a dark, shimmery green with a moon-and-stars design embroidered into the hem. Her dark, braided hair is twisted up into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She looks the part of the High Priestess, and right now, I need her authority and wisdom.
Because I don’t know what to do.
“Michael is the archangel,” I say and Kristy gasps. “Julian said that me being part archangel makes me just as powerful as he is as a, uh, regular angel. We didn’t get much time to talk before he said he had to go, and I haven’t seen him since.”
I take my hand out of Lucas’s and bring them to my face, rubbing my temples. I don’t want to be normal in the sense that I lose my magical abilities—that would be so awful I’d deem it torture—but I’d love to be a regular witch for a day.
Not with asshole brothers who want to kill you.
Or one with archangels for fathers, putting you in the middle of a divine war if you’re discovered.
“And to top that all off,” I start again, lifting my head and looking at the twins, “the Order of the Mystic Realm sent an assassin after me. They didn’t kill me, obviously, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before they come at me again.” I let out a heavy sigh. “I just want to plan our wedding, but I know even that’s a long shot.”
“What about what your sister said?” Kristy leans forward. “The law forbids witches and vampires from being together but not Nephilim and vampires.”
All eyes fall on Tabatha as she considers it. “It could be worth arguing, though as a member of the coven you are to follow the coven rules. We don’t have many, but that—” Her eyes go to the large ring on my finger “—is most definitely against the rules.” She takes a sip of her wine. “And if angels are on the lookout for you, I wouldn’t let anyone outside of this room know who you really are. In fact…” Her eyes dart to all of us around the table. “I’d like to cast the Absconditum Charm on us all. Your life is at stake here, Callie, and if one demon was able to narrow down the birth of the Nephilim babe to a specific month out of your birth year, others will too.”
“What’s the charm for?” Lucas asks.
“It’s a secret-keeping spell. If any one of us breaks the spell, it will be known who told the secret by marking them with the letter T for traitor on their forehead.”
“Intense,” he says. “I like it.”
“It won’t work on you,” I tell him. “Though I know you won’t tell anyone.”
“Who else knows about you?” Tabatha asks.
“Just Abby and Eliza,” I say. “But I trust them both.”
“I have forbidden Eliza to bring it up to anyone but us,” Lucas assures Tabatha. I didn’t know he had done that, though it doesn’t surprise me. “She cannot disobey a command from her maker.”
“I don’t think she would anyway,” I muse. “She’s very loyal.”
Lucas smiles at the compliment. He gets annoyed with her but is overall very protective of his vampire daughter. “She is.”
“And you trust your sister?” Tabatha asks.
“I do,” I tell her. “And even if I didn’t, it’s not like anyone Abby would tell would believe her.”
“Very well. After dinner, I will conduct the spell. Do you have a decent supply of Calamus?”
“I might,” I tell her. “I don’t know how fresh it is.”
“I have some,” Kristy says. “If I need to go get it, I will.”
“Thank you,” I tell Kristy, whose cabinets are always fully stocked with every herb imaginable. She grows most herself, with the help of Olive.
“What do you think the Grand Coven would do if they found out I’m not a full witch?” I ask, almost afraid of the answer I’m going to get.
“I do not know,” Tabatha says honestly. “Power talks in the coven, and you, my darling, have always had a great deal of it. There is nothing in Witch Law about how to handle this, as a half-witch half-angel child is something most of us never thought possible.”
“There are very few accounts of Nephilim anywhere,” Evander goes on. “And I’ve spent the last few days scouring every text I can get my hands on.”
“Julian told me there are two other Nephilim alive right now, but have committed themselves to a peaceful life as Buddhist monks.” I pick up my fork and push my food around on my plate. “So I guess I could always join the nunnery.”
“Like they’d let you join,” Naomi shoots back, nudging my foot with hers under the table. “Not with everything you’ve done.” She eyes Lucas up and down.
“There is no need for that,” Tabatha says, reaching for her wine glass. This whole situation puts her in a weird spot too, I know. She’s already turning a blind eye to the fact that Lucas and I are together and now she’s going to have to cover up the fact that I’m not really a witch.
Well, not a full witch at least.
Should I not be allowed in the coven? I’ve been able to pass through the Covenstead door with no problems, and it’s specifically warded to keep anything but witches from passing through.
“And I can see both good and bad in informing them of who you really are,” Tabatha goes on. “You obviously have more power than the average witch, and the Grand Coven will want you in their corner. They can offer protection as well, against both the angels and the demons.”
“So what do I do?” I ask. “Tell them I just took a DNA test and it turns out I’m one hundred percent not that witch?”
“No,” she says firmly. “I still fear there are those on the Council who are not to be trusted. Ruth was ready to kill you just from thinking you had been given power by Satan. If she were to find out you two are related—”
“Callie is related to the Devil?” Nicole blurts.
“Her father is an archangel,” Naomi sighs. “Keep up. Lucifer Morningstar started out as an archangel and fell from grace. Has it been that long since you’ve opened a history book, sister? The archangels are all brothers in some sense, so Callie’s father, Michael, is the Devil’s older brother, which makes the Devil himself Callie’s uncle.”
“Damn,” Nicole breathes. “Talk about a complicated family tree.”
“Right?” I agree and think back to the man from my dreams. Which were just dreams. Freaky dreams. “It’s crazy to think about.” I look at Tabatha. “And I agree. I think the less who know the better. Though I was kind of hoping they’d find out I wasn’t a full witch and would waive the rule about not being allowed to be with a vampire.” Lucas rests his hand on my thigh, and I lean into him. “It’s just so fucking stupid.”
“It is,” Tabatha agrees. “I think it’s high time we stop judging single people—or vampires—by actions done by their ancestors.” Tabatha takes another drink of wine and then brings her hand to her chin, tapping it as she thinks.
“I may have another idea.”
“On what?” Evander asks her.
“On how Callie and Lucas can get married.”
I lean forward. “You do?”
“If you two were to get married without the Grand Coven knowing, without me knowing,” she adds with a wink. “There might not be much they can do about it. Marriage is a sacred union, and the joining of two people as one is taken seriously within the coven. The basis of what we believe in is built on rituals, ceremonies, and verbal arrangements. The spoken word is held in high regard, since what we speak has consequences,” she explains quickly so Lucas understands.
“So we get married in secret and then what? They just have to let things go on as normal?”
“Quite the opposite. You’ll most likely be excommunicated from the coven, but there won’t be a mark for your head.” She takes a deep breath. “Though with the Order of the Mystic Realm after you, having a vampire ally could prove useful once again. Remind the coven that our enemies have shifted from vampires to humans.”
“Right.”
“Excommunication isn’t always a life sentence. I’ve seen witches kicked out of their covens for a few months. Others years. By then they’ve usually moved onto another coven.”
“That’s not much of a consolation,” Naomi quips.
“Showing a vampire the door to the coven is a great offense,” Tabatha goes on. “But the circumstances caused the ruling to be in Callie’s favor. If Lucas hadn’t been at the door at that exact moment, we all know what would have happened to the witches trying to ward off the demons.”
“You’re saying if I take out the Order,” Lucas starts, “the Grand Coven might let Callie back in.”
“Might,” Tabatha presses. “The reason for forbidding vampires and witches to be together is that it’s dangerous. All of us here know you are no threat to witch-kind. We just have to prove it to the Grand Coven.”
I smile, feeling like this is actually going to work out. “I guess I should thank Scott for hiring someone to take me out.”
“You really think it was Scott?” Kristy asks, not wanting to believe that someone I lived with for ten years could be so cruel. People are more evil than demons sometimes.
“Yes,” I tell her. “It’s just too much of a coincidence that I run into Nancy and then someone tries to kill me later that night.”
“Right. And now her super conservative friends know you’re marrying a vampire,” Kristy goes on. “As far as they know, there are no issues between you and the Martins.”
“I cannot wait until I’m not a Martin anymore,” I mutter. I considered changing my name before but refused to out of principle. I’m proud of who I am, and every bad thing that happened made me who I am today. “And right. When I saw Scott at Penny’s party a few months ago, he was still telling the story that his baby sister was off in a third world country helping Ebola patients or something for all I know.”
“So finding out that you’re marrying a vampire goes against everything your fath—Senator Martin has built his platform on,” Kristy finishes.
“Exactly.”
“You still need to be careful,” Tabatha warns. “And I am alerting the Grand Coven. They need to know the Order is in Chicago so they can warn the other covens in the area.”
“Will they kill other witches?” Nicole asks. “If they haven’t been hired to do so?”
“If they come across one, yes.” Tabatha lets out a deep breath. “Like other hunters, they don’t consider witches human or worthy of life.”
I shudder. And the Grand Coven thinks vampires are our enemies.
“And as for the Gates of Hell opening…” Evander looks around the table. “Am I the only one who remembered that part of the conversation?”
Tabatha gives him a pointed look. “We all need to be extra careful, though I think we all know if a demon did come from the pits of Hell, it’s here for you, Callie.”
I nod, mind whirling. If a demon did come here nearly a week ago, why haven’t we found any carnage? There are no dead bodies, no blood trails.
Which makes me think a demon didn’t come out of Hell, but Lucifer did, and he’s here for me.