Page 26 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

“Bingo,” I say, a smile coming to my face. The office door opens again, and I sneak up as close as I can get without being seen. If I am seen, my plan is to act like a ghost. One of these two are already freaked out.

“Do we need to lock down?” the boy who I saw run to the bathroom asks. He’s dressed in jeans, motorcycle boots, and a long-sleeved black t-shirt. He can’t be a day over fourteen. Poor kid.

“Nah,” the other boy tells him. He’s dressed similarly but appears to be a few years older. “We’ll be gone less than five minutes. Just arm the doors.”

“Okay.”

I risk blowing my cover as I move forward, getting close enough to see him punch in the numbers. As soon as he steps out of the door, I project back into my body.

“Seven-five-two-four-nine,” I say and sit up, holding onto Binx.

“What?” Easton’s eyes widen, leaning away from me.

“Seven-five-two-four-nine,” I repeat. “Remember that.”

“Did projecting scramble your brain or something?”

“No.” I get up, my butt feeling a little numb from laying on the uncomfortable bed liner. “It’s the code to get in. The two guys keeping watch left to grab a takeout order. We have like three minutes to get in and get out.”

“What are you waiting for?” Easton jumps down and holds out his hand for me to take. I jump down next to him, not needing any help. He drops the sage stick, steps on it to put out the flames and then gives me a curt nod.

Binx shadows up ahead as we silently run across the street, slowing only so we don’t attract attention. My heart is in my throat as we round the corner and come up to the warehouse.

“Can he block out that camera?” Easton whispers, using his eyes to point to a camera that I hadn’t noticed. It’s pointed right at the sidewalk leading to the front door.

“On it,” I say when Binx shadows over. Familiars aren’t corporeal in their spirit form, and shadowing in front of a camera like that will make the footage too dark and fuzzy to see anything clearly.

Easton and I sprint down the sidewalk to the door. It’s locked of course, and I use magic to undo the locks.

“I could have gotten that, you know,” Easton huff. “Picking locks is easy.”

“So is using magic. We don’t have time.”

“Right,” he grumbles and steps in, punching in the code. The alarm goes silent and we close the door behind us. “Holy shit.” Easton’s eyes widen as he looks around. “There has to be decades worth of stuff in here.”

Now that I’m in my body, I can feel the dark energy more. No wonder that kid got creeped out. “This is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“I will not argue with you on that.” Easton shakes his head. “You know where the thing is?”

“I do.” I wave my hand, signaling him to come with me. “Shit, wrong aisle,” I say, realizing I went one too far. We pass by that ugly ring with the green gemstone and then go down the right aisle. “I feel like I need to replace this with a bag of sand,” I say, stopping as I reach for the scarab stone.

“Okay, Indiana Jones,” Easton quips and picks up the stone. We both wait a beat, but when nothing happens, he hands it to me and I shove it in my purse. “Let’s get out of here.” We speed through the warehouse, Easton enters the code to re-lock the door and we emerge back into the night, shutting the door behind us.

“Holy fuck, you pulled it off,” Easton says, looking at me with a smile on his face. “I’ll be honest and say I didn’t think we’d—”

He cuts off when the metal gate squeaks open. “Hey!” one of the Order members shouts. “What are you doing here?”

ChapterThirteen

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Hey,” Easton says, holding out his hands. The older of the two boys is holding a gun, and it’s pointed right at us. “Thank god you’re here.” His face goes slack, and he widens his eyes, trying to look scared. “This is going to sound crazy, but we saw a shadow come out of the building and then heard screams.” His eyes go to Binx and suddenly I know exactly what he’s thinking.

I loop my arm through Easton’s and do my best to play damsel in distress. It’s not a role I’m used to playing, thankfully. “Is it going to come back?”

Binx slinks off into the overgrown flower bed and then shadows forward, moving right in front of us. I do my best to scream, but it comes out fake and strangled and definitely wouldn’t get me a role in a horror movie.

“Let’s get out of here,” Easton yells and pulls me forward. The two young Order members go on the defense, both raising weapons and whirling around, trying to find the supposed monster. Easton and I keep running until we’ve crossed the street and gone down a block.

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