Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
The drive to Anthem took almost twenty-five minutes…
mostly because it felt as if every single person in Las Vegas had somehow sensed the change in atmosphere and had decided to get out and party…
and every mile of it gave Caleb time to take stock of the changes that had occurred in his body during his confrontation with Vinea.
The silver flames were gone, and the demonic energy that had threatened to consume him completely had settled into something more manageable, but it still felt as if a cell-deep shift had taken place.
The barriers between his human and demon natures had dissolved entirely, leaving him something new — neither fully human nor purely demonic, but a perfect synthesis of both.
This new normal should have been terrifying. Instead, he found it oddly liberating.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Delia observed from the driver’s seat of her Kona.
She’d insisted on playing chauffeur, claiming he looked like he was about to fall over, and Caleb hadn’t bothered to argue.
The adrenaline crash from their battle with Vinea was hitting him harder than he’d expected, making him glad that all he had to do for now was sit there and watch the lights of Las Vegas pass by outside the little SUV’s window.
“Just thinking,” he replied, and gave an experimental flex of his fingers.
Small sparks of silver fire danced between them before disappearing, although he noted the silvery hue was beginning to fade and turn warmer, more the color of the fire he was used to summoning.
That reassured him, made him think that, even if he might never return to what he’d once been, he’d still be able to figure out a way to live with this new normal. “How are you holding up?”
Delia sent him a quick glance, her expression thoughtful, before she returned her attention to the crowded streets around them.
“I feel like I should be a wreck. Instead, I feel almost stronger, which I know must sound weird.” She paused, then added with a rueful smile, “And I’m starving.
I guess saving the world works up quite an appetite. ”
The casual way she referred to what they’d just accomplished made Caleb’s chest tighten with an emotion he couldn’t quite identify. Pride, he thought. Or maybe love.
All right, definitely love, if he was going to be honest with himself.
“Good thing we’re heading to a reception, then,” he said as he settled back in his seat. “It sounded like your cousin was planning a pretty good party.”
The Anthem Country Club sat nestled in the foothills southeast of Las Vegas, its Mediterranean-style architecture and manicured grounds a stark contrast to the desert landscape that surrounded it.
As they pulled into the circular drive, Caleb caught a glimpse of a warm glow of lights from the private dining room where the wedding reception was being held.
Through the room’s floor-to-ceiling windows, he saw people talking and laughing, celebrating the beginning of Olivia and Alec’s new life together.
It looked so normal. Beautifully, blessedly normal.
And damn, he was ready for some normal.
No, scratch that. A whole hell of a lot of normal.
“Are you sure we should be crashing the party like this?” he asked as they approached the entrance. “I mean, we’re not exactly dressed for a country club reception.”
Delia glanced down at her wrinkled green sheath dress, which had somehow survived their interdimensional adventure without any major stains but still looked a little worse for wear, then over at his jeans and rumpled black shirt — luckily, he’d kept them on beneath the ceremonial robes, or he would have been wandering around in his underwear — before she gave a philosophical shrug.
“We look like we’ve been through hell and back.
Which, I suppose, we have. Anyway,” she added with a grin, “I’m family. They have to let me in, right?”
He sure hoped so.
The reception was in full swing when they entered the dining room.
Olivia and Alec were on the small dance floor that had been laid out in the middle of the space, swaying to a jazz standard that Caleb thought he recognized but couldn’t quite place.
The bride’s slim white dress had its train bustled up and out of the way, and her face was radiant with happiness as she gazed up at her new husband.
Around them, guests mingled with drinks in hand, sharing stories and laughter, completely unaware of how close they’d all come to disaster just a short while earlier.
“Delia!” Linda Dunne spotted them first, hurrying over and looking relieved.
Caleb didn’t know what story Delia had given her mother to explain her absence, but it had clearly been enough to make Linda worry that she wouldn’t show up for the reception at all.
“I’m so glad you could finally make it. How did everything go with your client? ”
“It worked out fine,” Delia replied smoothly as she gave her mother a quick hug. “Sorry I had to duck out like that. But you remember Caleb, right?”
“Of course,” Linda said, then turned to him and offered him a friendly smile. “It’s wonderful that you could join us.”
His answering smile felt rusty when he slapped it on, as if his face wasn’t sure what to do with such an expression. However, Linda didn’t seem to notice anything odd as he replied, “I’m glad to be here. It’s beautiful.”
And it was. The private dining room overlooked the golf course, and the city lights of Las Vegas twinkled in the distance.
With the white linens on the round tables scattered around the room, crystal stemware, and arrangements of white hydrangea and peonies everywhere, everything looked elegant and understated…
and a good deal more elaborate than the simple dinner for friends and family that Delia had first mentioned to him.
Well, like a lot of other things, weddings often got kind of out of control.
“Have you eaten?” Linda asked, now looking a little concerned. “The kitchen here did an amazing job with dinner, but there’s still plenty left.”
He supposed that was one thing most mothers had in common. No one would have ever nominated Blair Lockwood for a Mother of the Year award, but even she’d always wanted to make sure her son had plenty to eat.
“We’re starving,” Delia admitted, and her mother immediately began steering them toward a buffet that had been set up along one wall.
As they made their way across the room, Caleb could sense the subtle shift in the supernatural landscape around him.
The ley line energy that had been building toward critical mass all day now flowed in natural patterns again, no longer twisted into the hellish network Vinea had created.
But he could also sense something else — other psychically sensitive individuals scattered throughout the reception, their abilities awakened by the night’s events but now settling into a new equilibrium.
“You feel it, too,” Delia murmured beside him, and he realized she must have been sensing the energy flows as well.
“Yes,” he replied quietly, grateful that Vinea’s meddling didn’t appear to have wreaked any permanent damage. “It’s like the whole city just took a deep breath and relaxed.”
And that meant he and Delia could, too.
They filled their plates with prime rib and salmon, roasted vegetables, and the most succulent potatoes au gratin he’d ever eaten.
The food was excellent, but Caleb found himself more interested in watching Delia interact with her extended family.
She moved through the room with easy grace, accepting congratulations on her cousin’s behalf, sharing stories about the wedding preparations that made it sound as if the change of venue had been an amusing lark rather than a desperate attempt to keep everyone from getting sucked into a hellmouth, and waving off her rumpled dress with a kind of natural ease that made him more in love with her than ever.
He knew this was what he’d been fighting to protect.
Not just Delia herself, but everything she represented — everything this family gathering represented.
Watching her laugh at something her uncle said, seeing the way her face lit up when Olivia came over to thank her for all her help, Caleb understood on a visceral level why the demons’ plan had been so fundamentally terrible.
It wasn’t just about the potential body count of such a demonic takeover, although that would have been horrific enough. No, even worse would have been the destruction of everything that made life worth living in the first place.
That made being mortal so wonderfully fragile and perfect.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Delia said as she slid up beside him where he stood near the windows overlooking the golf course.
“Just thinking about how differently this night could have gone,” he replied as he accepted the glass of champagne she offered him. “If we hadn’t stopped Vinea….”
“But we did stop him,” she broke in, her voice firm. “And Olivia and Alec got to have their perfect wedding reception, Pru’s definitely leveled up in terms of leveraging her connections, and Ty gets to go back to…well, whatever mysterious angel business he’s usually involved in.”
The casual way she mentioned Ty’s angelic nature made Caleb raise an eyebrow. “Still processing that last display from him?”
“I’m processing a lot of things,” Delia said with a smile, then sipped some champagne.
“Like the fact that I can apparently tap into a citywide network of psychic energy without any training whatsoever. Or that you can channel enough demonic power to go toe-to-toe with a lord of Hell and come out the other side still essentially yourself.”
Something in her tone made him look at her more closely. Her expression was serene enough, but he thought he saw a certain shadow in her eyes. “Is that what’s bothering you? The changes?”