by Dannika Dark
“This is bigger than I thought it would be.”
He breezed by me. “And I thought you were a lady.”
The lighting wasn’t so great. There were numerous rows to our immediate left that reached the far wall and ran to the back of the store. Some of the items within view were things I’d never seen in human pawnshops. Spears, tapestries, oil paintings, marble sculptures, chalices, daggers, horns, and even an ivory ship. They didn’t just represent a bygone era; it was as if a millennia of artifacts from all over the world had assembled in one place. Straight ahead on the right wall was a glass counter that went to the back of the store. It traveled left for about ten feet and then looped back around—that side only half the length of the first counter. That area appeared separate from the rest of the shop, and there was also more light, which set off the jewelry and showcased the paintings. In the back left of the room was an open area that looked like a place for larger items like furniture and statues. There were a few people in the store—two at the glass counters and a man haggling with an employee.
Blue began checking out the weapons mounted on the far right wall. She didn’t like to be noticed in public, so she often wore a thin hood, whether it was attached to a shirt, sweater, or the brown leather jacket she had on. I guess she had no interest in fighting off flirtatious men when there was a job to do.
As I stood there with my mouth agape, Wyatt reached for my arm and yanked me down an aisle. “Come on, buttercup. Let’s find something pretty for my gal.”
I snorted. Wyatt was two hundred and barely looked thirty. He didn’t have the carved cheekbones Christian did or the look of death like Shepherd, but Wyatt had his own thing going on with personality and a kind face. His eyes were an olive green and almost matched his jacket. When I glimpsed us in a security mirror, I realized how odd we looked together. I tried smiling a little so I didn’t look like someone who just set hell on fire.
When an old Victrola captivated Wyatt’s attention, I branched away from him and browsed a different aisle. A stuffed coyote looked ready to attack, and I reached out to touch one of his fangs.
My heart leapt in my chest when someone gripped my shoulder. I reached for my dagger, but a strong hand ensnared my wrist.
“It’s just me,” Niko said. “I recognized your energy.”
My shoulders sagged, and I turned on my heel. “I almost stabbed you.”
He smiled with his crystalline eyes. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Niko drew back his hood, his long black hair falling past his shoulders. He was a good five inches taller than I was, and while his physique appeared lean, that man was pure muscle. I’d seen him balance his entire body on one hand… parallel with the floor.
“Do you think that’s a Shifter?” I asked, pointing at the coyote.
Niko reached out and ran his slender fingers around the ears and head. “There’s no telling in a place like this, but it’s illegal to sell a Shifter’s animal remains in this form, so my guess is no.”
“I feel pretty useless in here,” I admitted.
He led me down the aisle and around a corner. “How do you think I feel?”
“What does Viktor expect you to do when you’re here?”
“I observe customers. Sometimes Viktor uses me to see if the owner is lying, but Claude can usually scent a lie. Between the two of us, we take turns acting as lookout. I offer protection in case something goes wrong. Usually they cooperate unless they’re hiding something big.”
“You might want to keep your voice down,” I whispered.
Niko smirked. “I already checked for Vampires.”
Though blind, Niko possessed an incredible gift. He detected energy in a way that no other Mage could. Vampires didn’t give off energy—at least, none that I could detect—but Niko could somehow see the energy of every living thing around him.
“Do you guys ever run into trouble?” I asked, admiring a piece of pottery. I didn’t want to admit to him that I was itching for some action. Viktor wanted me to learn how to be an integral member of a team and conduct investigations, but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Niko’s pace quickened. “Let’s find out. Someone’s temper is flaring up ahead.”
As we neared the glass counter, Niko drew his hood over his head and veered to the empty counter on the left, running his hand across the glass and pretending to admire something within. I mirrored him but kept my distance.
Behind us, Viktor quietly argued with one of the employees. I kept my back to them and watched through a mirror.
“I’m not going to ask you again,” Viktor growled. “Show me the inventory room.”
“I already told you I lost the key,” the man replied. He looked more like a guy who should be living on a beach somewhere and running his own surfboard shop. His sandy-blond hair had dark roots, leaving me to wonder if it came from a bottle. It looked like it hadn’t been washed in weeks—strands clumping together as if they were trying to form dreadlocks. “Get lost, or I’ll call the Regulators.”
Viktor placed his palms on the counter and leaned in. “I call your bluff, Cosmo. What are you waiting for? Be sure to tell them that Viktor Kazan gives his regards. Unfortunately, Regulators do not take kindly to being pulled away from important cases to handle frivolous complaints. They might search the premises. Would you rather they find what you’re hiding?”
Cosmo lifted his scruffy chin. “Fuck you, Viktor. You don’t intimidate me.”
Had his finger not twitched, I would have remained calm. But on the streets, men who hesitated were dead men, and Cosmo looked like a guy who carried a concealed weapon.
I spun on my heel and leapt over the counter before the two men could blink. I gripped Cosmo by the waistband of his pants and laid my push dagger against his lower back, letting him feel the tip. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Raven Black. Do you always talk to your customers that way? On second thought, don’t answer that. You look like a man who cares about his reputation, and I’m sure the last thing you want is a violent outburst in your shop. People might not feel safe here anymore and will quit coming around. The more you resist, the more we’ll think you’re hiding something. Cooperate and answer a few simple questions, and we might go easy on you if we stumble upon anything incriminating. So what’s it going to be, Cosmo?”
When a large man rushed toward us, Niko appeared and drew his swords—one angled just below the man’s oversized belly and the other against the lower half of his spine. Niko sandwiched him in, and the security guard didn’t look like he wanted a slice of trouble as he slowly raised his hands.
Cosmo glared down at me. “Big Dog, get me the key to the inventory room.”
“But boss—”
“Do as I say.”
The man hesitated and looked at Niko, who seemed to be appraising Big Dog’s light. After a few beats, Niko withdrew his swords and placed them back in the scabbards hidden beneath his long coat.
I glanced down and saw a switchblade handle poking out of Cosmo’s back pocket.
The customers within proximity appeared oblivious as to what was going on. Either that, or they just didn’t care.
Viktor stroked his beard. “Better do as she asks.”
Cosmo heaved a sigh and touched his puka-shell necklace. “This way.”
Viktor passed by Niko and whispered, “Stay here. Make sure no one follows behind us.” Then he crooked his finger at me. “Come.”
I returned my dagger to its sheath, which was disguised as a belt buckle. The blade was exceptionally small, but he hadn’t known that when he’d felt the sharp press of it against his back. Cosmo stopped at the end of the counter and lifted a wooden divider so Viktor could join us. Big Dog handed Viktor a key, and we traveled through an open doorway to a hallway in the back.
Cosmo stopped in front of a door that read CLEANING SUPPLIES and stepped aside for Viktor to unlock it. With his back to the wall and arms folded, his eyes drilled into mine. “You lost
a contact lens.”
I narrowed my mismatched eyes at him. “Maybe you can get down on your hands and knees and look for it.” Then I lowered my voice. “Tell Big Dog to wait outside on a leash. I don’t like him looking over my shoulder.”
Cosmo nodded at Big Dog, and the guard headed back into the store. When Viktor unlocked the door, we stepped inside a tremendous room that resembled a warehouse—only the ceilings weren’t quite as high. Our shoes knocked against the dark concrete floor, echoing in the open space. Cosmo took a seat in a wooden chair next to the door, crossed one foot over his knee, and began playing a game on his phone.
“What are we looking for?” I whispered to Viktor as we walked around a grandiose statue of a woman dying in a man’s arms.
Viktor waited until there was enough distance between us and the store owner. “Stunners are perfectly legal weapons, but it’s prohibited to sell them on the open market, especially in a place that allows humans. They’re usually sold or traded among friends or business associates. Look for any metal object with a point. In ancient times, many were fashioned into creative weapons easily concealed or masked as something else.”
“Is that all?”
“That is all you can help with. I will look through everything else.”
My lips pressed into a mulish line, but I did as Viktor instructed and carefully scanned each item on the shelves, also noticing which items caught his interest. He told me to pay attention when we were on the job, and I was a girl who got straight As.
Viktor carried an old brown duffel bag and put a couple of items in it that weren’t weapons. I skipped the objects I knew nothing about—like art, jewelry, and old books written in unfamiliar languages. I found a few spearheads that were stunners, but all the daggers checked out clean.
Man, just look at all of it. What happened to all these people? You could kill an immortal, but usually it was a gruesome death. Maybe this stuff once belonged to criminals who were executed, or perhaps they were the personal effects of semi-immortals who bit the dust and didn’t have any family. A shiver ran up my spine when I thought about the men I’d killed. Maybe some of these trinkets had once belonged to them.
Perish the thought.
After two hours, I hadn’t found anything prohibited except for a pair of platform shoes that should have been illegal and a few Vampire stakes I was tempted to leave on the shelf. Good riddance if someone wanted to use them.
As I rounded a corner, a small box caught my eye. It was about the size of a Rubik’s Cube but made of metal. I lifted it off the shelf and studied the etchings on all sides, my fingers tracing the grooves and recessed squares that were scattered in various places. One of the sides had symbols that looked like they might mean something. It was a beautiful find and had a lot of mystique compared to some of the jewelry boxes and crystal vases.
I strode over to Viktor.
“What is that?” he asked, looking down at my hand.
“Pretty neat, isn’t it? I could use a few more decorations in my room.”
He set down a perfume bottle and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I have to pay for everything I confiscate; it’s the only way I can build trust with these business owners.”
I’d already spent my cash at the store, and it didn’t seem right to make Viktor pay. “Don’t sweat it. Cosmo’s breaking the law, so I’ll work something out with him. Are we all done here? I’ve checked every shelf.”
“Da, I’ve seen all I need to see,” he said, pulling his collar away from his neck. The room had no ventilation, and despite the cold temperature outside, the overhead lights felt like a heat lamp.
“Here, add this to your collection.” I dropped some impalement wood into his bag. “That’s all I came up with.”
“Very good. We’ll see if the rest of the team has discovered anything in the store. Try not to get distracted while on the job. This is not a shopping trip.”
“Find everything you need?” Cosmo swaggered toward us with his arms folded.
“Did you buy all this stuff?” I asked out of curiosity.
He shrugged and looked around. “Some of it I buy or trade. The rest is new arrivals I haven’t had time to look through. I catalog everything and sort it by shelf number. Then I have to decide what I can move into the shop that’ll sell.”
“There’s not much furniture.”
Cosmo shook a few nappy locks of hair out of his eyes. “I don’t have the space to move that kind of inventory unless it’s a collector’s item. Most of that they have to haul to the dump.”
I held up my silver box. “This is real pretty.”
He gave it a cursory glance. “That came in with the new stuff this morning.”
“It’s so generous of you to offer me a token of your appreciation for taking those stunners off your hands. I’m sure you wouldn’t have wanted the law to get the wrong idea about what kind of business you operate.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are we about done, Mr. Kazan?”
Viktor slapped his hand on Cosmo’s chest as he passed by him. “Nyet. Let’s do a little trading, and I’ll be on my way. I’ll pay you a fair price for some of these items.”
Cosmo turned. “Why do I have a feeling what’s in that bag is worth much more than what you’ll offer me?”
Viktor chuckled. “Perhaps they are. Just not in terms of money.”
Chapter 3
On the way home from Pawn of the Dead, Shepherd and Blue rode with Wyatt since the van was overcrowded with blankets, sheets, pillows, and a rug. Christian followed behind us on his bike, and occasionally I’d hear him throttling his engine at a light. Claude drove, with Viktor riding up front, which left me in the back with Niko and Gem.
I brushed my finger over the steel box. I loved the mystery about it, and it reminded me of a time when I used to fantasize about magic and secret worlds. Now here I was living in one.
Little had I known.
“What’s that?” Gem asked, scooching up to my right.
“Something to decorate my room.”
She tilted her head. “Can I see it?”
I handed her the box, and Gem angled it toward the front of the van, where there was more light.
“Pretty rare find,” she said. “I can’t tell how old the box is, but see that symbol? That’s a Chitah variant of the Khitan language.”
That made me chuckle. “A Chitah variant?”
Gem’s eyes brightened. “In some parts of the world, Breeds lived in isolated communities. There are languages completely unique to certain tribes, while others are a spin-off of human languages in the region during the time. Back then, Chitahs stood out because of their hair and features, so they often secluded themselves when settling near indigenous people who didn’t share the same traits.”
One would never guess that Gem was a walking encyclopedia. “How did you learn all this?”
“Because she’s gifted,” Niko interrupted from the bench across from us. His eyes remained closed, as if he were napping. “Gem is also modest, so I will boast for her.”
I turned to Gem. “What’s it say?”
“The devil lies within.” She handed it back to me.
“The boss man didn’t seem too keen on my shopping for myself.”
Gem snickered. “He’s trying to train you right from the beginning. Viktor doesn’t mind if we buy something ourselves when we’re relic hunting, as long as we do our job first and shop second. We get first dibs on the goodies in the back. I once bought a whole box of rhinestones for almost nothing. What made you pick that?”
Niko tilted his head to the side. “Perhaps the box chose Raven. Some people believe that when you purchase a used gift for yourself, the fates have a hand in it.”
Gem reapplied her gold lipstick. “I bet if Wyatt were here, he’d say their ghosts are trying to speak to you from the great beyond—that the signs are everywhere.”
I snapped my fingers. “Damn. I knew I should have bought him that mummified head.”
I tucked it into my sack. “This one was on the house.”
Niko sat back. “Very unwise, Raven.”
“Why’s that?”
He gripped the handle of one of his swords. “You should throw it out. It’s bad luck to take something without a fair trade, and something tells me that wasn’t a gift.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe in superstition.”
Niko’s brows drew down in a slant. “Unless Cosmo gifted it to you of his own volition, it’s the same as stealing.”
The van idled, and my thoughts drifted back to some of the men I’d hunted. I missed the rush of finding hard-core criminals and bringing them a little street justice. I’d thought joining Keystone would be nonstop excitement, so I wasn’t prepared for the lull between jobs.
I shivered when a thought occurred to me. What if I just missed the killing part?
Gem handed me a silver band. “Look what I bought.”
I held it in the palm of my hand so I wouldn’t drop it by accident. “Your fingers look kind of small for this.”
She dropped the ring back into a black drawstring pouch. “It’s not for me; it’s part of the hunt. We confiscate weapons to get them out of the shops, but that’s not usually our primary goal. The inscriptions on the ring are a dead language, but to someone who knows how to read it, they’re an instruction manual on how to use the ring’s power.”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean by power?”
She crossed her legs. “Some of the ancients used to bind magic to jewelry. Not the magic you see in the movies, but Mage energy. Different energy can do different things, and some can infuse power into metals to use them as weapons. It’s rarely done anymore because it requires someone with skill. Sometimes the energy is a onetime deal, but every so often, we stumble across one that’s rechargeable. They’re dangerous in the wrong hands. This ring might have killed more people than any of the stunners you found.”