Luz pulled to a stop in front of a storefront at the edge of downtown with the sign Occult Books and Curiosities. From inside, the low light of a single bulb illuminated the space, and Naya noticed Manny leaning over the counter, his nose buried in a book. “We’re here,” she said to Ronan. He opened the door and she put a staying hand on his arm. “He’s human, Ronan. He knows a lot, but he doesn’t know everything. We need to go easy on him, okay?”
Ronan’s brow furrowed for a moment before he swept the worried expression away with a smile that showed off his fangs. Naya rolled her eyes. Not exactly what she’d been hoping for. “Don’t worry, love. I deal with humans on a regular basis. I know how to behave myself.”
Somehow, Naya had a feeling that her idea of Ronan behaving was way different from his.
“Hurry up, losers!” Luz called as she beelined it for the front door. “We’re burning darkness and we need to get this wrapped up before Prince Fanging goes down for the count.”
Ugh. Luz. Always so impatient.
CHAPTER
29
After trekking around the world with Chelle for decades, Ronan now had a tendency to stay away from the occult. He preferred to deal in what he could control. Keeping an A-list celebrity’s mistress’s damning pics off of Twitter or Instagram was a hell of a lot easier than dispelling a curse or transporting a charmed item. The blood codex he’d acquired from Siobhan had been the deepest Ronan had been willing to dig into vampire lore in a long time. He supposed if he was going to get back involved he might as well go all in. Start at the motherfucking origin of their very existence. And they were going to rely on a human to lead them to it.
Fucking nuts.
As they walked through the door, a man—presumably Manny—looked up from a leather-bound book. He was tall and wiry, clean-cut, with short hair and thick black-rimmed glasses. His eyes lit up when he saw Naya, and Ronan swallowed down a territorial growl as he remembered his promise to behave himself.
“So, Luz says you want to use me as bait.” His voice was mellow and even, full of confidence. “You gonna make it worth my while?”
He winked and Ronan’s body went taut. Luz reached up to pat him on the shoulder as she walked past, chuckling. “Heel, boy.”
Ronan wasn’t used to feeling so territorial, and so far his time spent with Naya had been mostly one-on-one. Now that they were in the presence of another male—one who obviously found himself charming—Ronan had a hard time suppressing his natural impulses.
“Manuel Esparza, you sexy thang,” Luz drawled as she approached the counter, “I’ll make it more than worth your while.”
Everyone enjoyed a laugh, except for Ronan. He stood stoic at the door, arms folded across his chest.
“Who’s your bodyguard?” Manny asked with a jerk of his head. Luz snickered, but Naya flashed Ronan a radiant smile that almost made him forget the tension that pulled like tightly wound string through every muscle in his body.
“Naya’s new boy toy,” Luz responded. “He’s broody.”
Luz spoke about him as though he should be carrying a pickaxe and keeping company with Sleepy, Grumpy, or Doc. “Ronan,” he said by way of introduction.
“Manny,” he replied with an amicable smile. “All right, what’s the game plan? Want me to stand outside with a sign around my neck? Free body. You possess.”
Luz’s peal of laughter cut through the relative silence of the little shop.
Ronan suspected that the younger female’s interest in the human went a little beyond simple friendship. He wasn’t that funny. “I’m curious as well.” He might as well jump in now, because he wasn’t going to be the broken wheel that slowed this hunt down. “We have a limited amount of time to see this through, and it’s counterproductive to wander the streets and beaches for the rest of the night.”
“Ronan’s a night owl,” Luz explained. “You’d think he was allergic to the sun or something.”
As Naya stepped up to the counter she shot her cousin a look. “I’m not interested in wandering around town all night, either. We’ll scry for the mapinguari and track it that way. It’s a little complicated, but much more efficient.”
“Woo-hoo!” Luz exclaimed. The volume of her voice seemed to crank up with every word spoken. “Blood magic. Bring. It. On!”
Blood magic. Ronan didn’t like the sound of that.
“With the two of you, it shouldn’t be difficult,” Manny said. “It’s a great idea, actually, and will save tons of time.”
“Why not just listen for it?” Ronan was in favor of saving time, but not at the expense of Naya engaging in anything that might be risky.