Page 52 of Stalk the Dark
This disregard for protocol, this lack of duty of care, this whole fucking thing made my teeth hurt. “First thing’s first, we call up haulage and get a pickup booked for two days’ time. I want this place clear of their shit. Then…then we start cataloging these cases. We’re going to have some busy nights ahead.”
With the Exciatio two nights away, I had a feeling that getting the Order offices up and running would be a most welcome distraction.
Chapter 18
The next two days passed in a blur of activity. Cleaning and sorting the offices was draining, and we returned to Old Town exhausted each night, eager for supper and bed. The hunters made flying visits, busy with freelance work that took them outside of Dracul territory, but they were always a phone call or Raven away.
According to Merry, Pollux, our mansion Raven, had added them to his carrier list and so would be able to find them easily. I still wasn’t sure how the heck that worked, but whatever. Still, there was no denying that I missed their presence…well, namely Ordell’s easy smile and the way he made me feel. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t allowed my mind to conjure images of Hemlock half naked and on his knees, moon-kissed profile on display. Yeah, it was probably a good idea that they were absent a lot.
But the one person I would have liked to have time away from invaded my dreams nightly. Ezekiel was forever hovering in my subconscious thoughts as evidenced by the last two nights, when I’d tumbled into dreams, trapped in the corridors of his spooky-ass castle while he stalked me through the halls in a twisted game of cat and mouse.
He caught me both times, much to my annoyance, then touched me, much to my disgust…Okay, so maybe not disgust. Dream me had liked it. Dream me was a twisted, depraved bitch, and the Order needed to figure out a way to let us be blessed and not have to give up sex because this pent-up frustration was going to get me in trouble.
But two visits to the chapel, sitting beneath the wings with a candle burning bright, had helped me to realize that maybe this wasn’t about sexual frustration. I was threatened by Ezekiel. Not just by the monster that lived beneath his skin, but by this ability to elicit…feelings. My subconscious mind was helping me out by repeatedly putting me in enticing situations to get me to purge those emotions and desensitize me so that I could resist him during waking hours, like when I next saw him, like today.
“Orina?” Merry held up a box. “You want to go through this one?”
Late afternoon sun poked fingers through the blinds covering the front windows and lit up the dustmotes dancing in the air just above the checked floor. Clean now that I’d given it a good mopping.
Merry blew her bangs out of her eyes and sniffed the air. “It smells so clean in here now.”
“Right?” Lemon zest, my favorite cleaning scent.
“We’ll need to give the filing room a blitz once we’ve sorted all the files. I saw spiders, and they didn’t scuttle off to hide.” She shuddered. “So bold.”
We’d been going through files steadily for the last three hours, and I was beginning to suspect that the filing room was an endless pit that magically produced more and more boxes.
I took the box with a sigh. “How many more?”
She shrugged. “Too many. But at least all the crap is gone.”
True. The haulage had arrived that morning and worked fast, loading up three vans. The building was now clear and much more spacious than we’d first assumed. I’d hired a cleaner to come in tomorrow to give it a proper once-over.
It would be time for us to head back to Old Town soon because although the Order wasn’t bound by curfew, we were preferred to be home by supper. The Sangualex were most active at night, and there was little need for us. Besides, I wanted to touch base with Ordell and Hemlock before the Exciatio and go over a game plan should Ezekiel try anything funny.
I carried the box into our shared office and began to unpack it. Files, whoop-de-do. But wait…what was that wrapped in a plastic bag? I drew it out, bulky and hard as tin. A teapot? It was covered in grime, the pattern beneath undecipherable. What was it doing in a box of files? Was it related to a case? Wait…was that blood residue on it?
“Orina?” Padma appeared in the doorway. Her forehead was streaked with dirt, and her usually neatly pinned bun had let loose several curly tendrils that framed her face, softening her stern features. “Don’t you need to pick up your dress?”
“Edwin sent a Raven this morning…” I turned the teapot over in my hands, smoothing out the plastic covering to get a better look. “Got one back before we left…” Was that an inscription on the base? “Agatha said she’d drop it off at the chapter house before sundown…” I set the teapot down. “I need a testing kit.”
“What?”
“I think this is blood.” I tapped the teapot. “I want to take samples of it and the grime on it too.”
She wandered over, tucking the errant strands of hair behind her ears, and held out her hand for the teapot.
I gripped it tighter, pulling it toward my chest instinctively, and her eyebrow shot up. “It’s delicate. I got it.”
“O-kay. I can order in some kits. Should be here in a couple of days.”
“Great.” I rummaged among the files. “One of these should relate to the item.”
Padma’s head came up, her nostrils flaring slightly. “Sun’s set.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall, the only indication of time in this room as there were no windows.
“How can you know that?”
