Page 27 of Luna

“Precisely.”

“You don’t think…?”

Thornfield meets my eyes. “I need you to go to the bookshop. Clean up. Retrieve the box and tell me what you sense while you’re there. You saw what I saw… you saw the shadows moving. If she has shadow magick…”

“That’s a bit of a stretch, Lucien. I know you’re convinced the Covenant is real but⁠—”

“It is real.” Thornfield bares his fangs. Once upon a time, that would have intimidated me. But not now.

I raise my palms and speak slowly. “Alright. I’ll go.”

I cross to the door. I need to clear my head. If she’s here, and she really can do shadow magick, she could be the reason the energy around the mansion has shifted. She could be the power I’m feeling. But if Thornfield knows that, I’m not sure whether he’ll want to protect her or own her.

As soon as I unlock the door to the bookshop, the unmistakable stench of rapidly rotting vampire corpses hits me smack bang in the face. My stomach turns, and I slam my hand over my nose and mouth, but I force myself to step inside.

Since the Queen died, and I somehow got hooked up with Lucien Thornfield — Cambridge Mafia Supremo — I’ve spent more time cleaning up after him than I have hunting demons. Which is supposed to be my job.

Thornfield argues that they are the same thing.

I’ve seen this stuff before, but this particular scene is even more grim than I anticipated.

Putrid flesh sloughs off the vampires’ bones, leaving slimy piles on the hardwood floor. Dark blood oozes and congeals into tacky pools. I’ve seen a lot of disturbing things since becoming a demon hunter, but this is next level disgusting.

I retrieve cleaning supplies from the back room, holding my breath against the overpowering reek of decay. As I mop and disinfect, nausea ripples through me.

Is that a fucking tongue on the floor?

I pick it up with my thumb and forefinger and drop it into the bucket.

I can’t believe Lucien is making me do this solo. He could have at least made Trent tag along.

But maybe he doesn’t want Trent to know about Luna.

Maybe, somehow, I have become Thornfield’s most trusted person.

As I clean, my mind wanders to Luna. Poor girl. I can’t imagine the trauma she’s endured — losing her boyfriend, only to have his dismembered corpse delivered to her work. And now she’s trapped in Lucien’s mansion, at the mercy of an obsessive vampire who claims he wants to protect her.

Right now, I think I believe him.

If it turns out he’s right and Luna has something to do with the Covenant... well, who the hell knows whether he’ll stay chivalrous.

I stop and look around for the box. It was on the countertop, but now all that remains is a stack of blood-stained papers. No box.

I check under the counter, all the dark corners of the room.

It is not here.

Which means Thornfield will be extra pissed.

I glance up in the direction of the hidden security camera in case he’s watching and offer an exaggerated shrug. Then I return to scooping up bits of dead vampire.

I’m scrubbing coagulated blood off the skirting boards when the hairs on my arms and neck start to prickle.

I whirl around, reaching for the blade I keep on my belt, but see nothing. There is a shift in energy, but it is not the energy I felt at the mansion.

Something evil was here... or still is.

Heart pounding, I extend my senses, trying to pinpoint the source of the malevolent aura. As I reach further into the ether, it becomes thick and cloying, seeping from the very walls.