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.”
