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Andy’s mouth quirked. “I told you, I’m wearing my vest.� He met my eyes. “Bullets are the last thing you’re worried about, huh?� I scowled. “He’s an anomaly.� I wanted to add that if Arianne’s wards hadn’t been up, his vest wouldn’t have saved him from what Flint could have done.

Fire and smoke, the top of my garage burning. A bomb. A. Bomb. Someone tried to blow me up. “Two. Both dead within twenty-four hours of taking the case.� This could be a good thing. This could mean I'm on the right track. But you're not on a track. Not one track. You're on three tracks. You can’t travel on three tracks and expect to get anywhere.

Anton gritted his teeth. “Listen to me, Mother Renard. This is not just a missing book. This is a turning point. Fail this, and I promise you, people will die.�

He went by the name Anton Winters, majority shareholder of the Winters Group, a company that made the Forbes 500 list look like a gathering of struggling start-ups. There were whispers he had criminal connections, that he was former KGB. I knew the truth. And it was scarier. Anton Winters had once been known by a different name. Prince Kirill of Dacia. A vampire.

“He summoned a toyol to steal her money?� “Yes.� I rubbed my arms to get rid of the sudden chill. Toyol were disturbing spirits, created by using a special embalming process on an aborted fetus. Their nature hovered somewhere between a child and an animal, and when one was summoned to be used as an Otherworldly thief, it had…needs.

I opened my eyes to see Peasblossom’s face pinched with worry. I forced a smile even as the shivers turned violent, making the world around me jerk up and down. “I-I’m ok-k-kay. T-t-told you I needed to p-p-practice without the w-words and m-m-m-m-materials.�