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“You have been feeling fine during the day.”
“Some lucky women have a rebound of morning sickness in the third trimester,” I remind him. “And I’m getting close to it.”
“Let’s go then,” he tells me.
“Everyone can finish their food. I’ll box my salad up and eat it in the morning.”
Lucas flags down the waitress, pays, and gets boxes for everyone in a not-so-subtle way to tell them we’re leaving—now. My familiars, who were prowling around the city while we ate, sit on my lap in the car and keep me warm as we drive back to the Taproom to drop Melinda and Easton off.
“I’m going to go deep into demon-research mode,” I tell them. “And I’ll text you if I get anything.”
“Same here.” Easton opens his door and hesitates. “Be careful.” His eyes go to my stomach and something flashes across his face. Sadness? Disappointment? I’m not sure.
“I’ll do my best, and you guys too. The closer we get to the new moon, the more desperate the demons are going to become.”
“Right. Take care.”
I say bye to Melinda and turn the heat down, too hot and feeling even more sick now. I do my best to keep a straight face, not wanting to worry Lucas, and add an extra drop of the morning sickness potion to a glass of water as soon as we’re back at Eliza’s.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to go crib shopping,” Lucas tells me when we get into bed together. Scarlet jumps up, trying to weasel her way in between us. This bed is only a full-sized, and Lucas’s large frame takes up half the mattress.
“Take the couch tonight,” I tell her, and she moves up, careful not to step on my stomach, and noses my face. “Good girl.” The hellhound leaps off the bed and clomps all the way downstairs.
“Your heart is beating fast,” Lucas notes, clicking on his side of the electric blanket. I like to crank mine up on high when we get in bed, and then turn it down once the blankets are all nice and toasty, but I can’t overheat myself while carrying a baby.
I keep my side on one and it’s just barely warm enough to make a difference.
“There’s a lot going on,” I confess, though it’s no secret. “And I decided to officially un-invite myself to Penny’s birthday party. Abby doesn’t need to deal with that drama, and Scott obviously has some screws loose.”
“That’s putting it nicely.”
“Oh, it is. I want to be there for Penny, but Abby, Phil, and Penny are the literal only three people I’d like to see. Abby’s ritzy friend Ricci saw me getting out of the car too. She asked if you had a vampire-operation and that’s how I was able to get pregnant. I told her yes. Was that today? Ugh, it’s been such a long night.”
“A vampire-operation?” Lucas snorts. “That’s not bad, actually.”
“I’ll roll with it if anyone else asks.” I let out a deep sigh, feeling better from taking the morning sickness potion. I arrange pillows around myself and Lucas rubs my arm, helping me fall asleep. There are few things that have terrified me—truly terrified me—but this is one of them.
If the spell doesn’t work, the gates of Hell will open and demons will be free to roam the earth. It’s bad no matter what, and I almost look forward to a little one-on-one with lower-level demons. But who am I kidding? I’m almost six months pregnant. I can’t fight hordes of demons.
And if I can’t…who will?Chapter 32“And that is a big fat nothing as well.” Evander closes a large leather-bound book with a thud, and the sound reverberates off the two-story walls of Grim Gate Academy’s library. “I’m starting to think the demon is pulling the wool over our eyes. There is no Tozaryn and he’s sending us on a wild goose chase just to waste our time.”
“It would be fitting for a demon to do that,” Naomi agrees, looking up from another dusty tome. “And if we kill Tozaryn, don’t think other demons won't continue to follow through with what he started.”
“Most definitely,” Tabatha says. “Which is why we need to do everything we can to find out how to stop him. The protection spell on the Ley line should act as our last defense.”
“Yeah,” I say and bend my legs up.
“You all right there, sister?” Evander asks. “You’ve been rather twitchy.”
“I can’t get comfortable,” I tell him. “These chairs are not made for pregnant ladies.”
“Or anyone sitting here for more than five minutes,” Nicole grumbles. “Aren’t these the same wooden chairs that were here when we went to the Academy?”
“They are the same wooden chairs that were here when I went to the Academy.” Tabatha gets up and motions for me to stand. It’s been three days since we questioned the demon in Chicago, and I swear Elena doubled in size since then. Okay, not really, but when I felt huge last week, I wasn’t prepared for this.
