“Babu.” He nodded once and moved to pop the trunk of the car. Hudson placed mine and his carry-ons in there, leaving Sebastian to do his own. I slid into the back seat, the worn leather creaking under me, and Hudson followed, closing the door behind him. Sebastian huffed and climbed into the passenger seat just as Babu spun the steering wheel and peeled out into traffic like the hounds of Hell were on his tail.
“We headed to the new museum?” I checked the location my aunt had given me.
“No, the old museum,” Babu answered.
Hudson leaned forward between the seats. “I thought it was destroyed?”
“Damaged during the riots, but not destroyed. What you need isn’t in the main building anyway.”
“Don’t say basement,” Sebastian groaned. “Nothing good ever came out of sneaking around in a basement for a book of evil.”
“I can call it the underground,” Babu said with a smirk. “Didn’t take the vampire crown prince of North America to be a pussy.”
Sebastian jabbed his thumb over his shoulder as Hudson sat back. “He’s the pussy. I just have a high regard for life and know not to meddle in things I don’t understand.”
“Right, self-preservation,” Hudson drawled. “That’s the story we shall tell when we explain why you sat in the car and left us to face the danger alone.”
“No can do. The seal needs the bloodlines of all four factions.”
“Four?” Hudson asked.
“Elemental, shifter, vampire, and demon.”
“Who’s the demon?” Babu’s face shifted into a cracked black mass with red eyes. “Got it.”
What the hell had Aunt Sophia got us embroiled in?
“Don’t worry, I’m friendly,” Babu said as he tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel to the tune coming from the radio. “Plus, we have very specific orders from the big boss to help you.” He caught my eyes in the rear view mirror.
Wonderful, my uncle was lending me a hand. I guess it was one less species to be battling, for now at least.
In no time, Babu pulled the car to the side of the road, earning him a chorus of beeps from the traffic he’d cut off.
We spilled out of the car and Babu jerked his head toward an area cordoned off by yellow tape. The construction guys must be taking a break, because no one was working as we ducked under the tape and sped through some rubble. Instead of going inside of the building, we trotted down a set of dusty steps, and found relief from the blistering sun in the shadows. Babu pushed open a bright blue door, it creaked as he gave it a final shove.
He looked at me over his shoulder. “The vault is just down here.”
Sebastian closed the door behind us. “So far, so good,” I muttered as I cast a look around the room filled with hundreds of shelves packed with artifacts. Hudson paused and picked up a hand sized statue.
“Do you know what this is?” he whispered.
My hand closed over his and I guided it back to the shelf. “We can do your alien show-and-tell another time. You know, when the world isn’t in danger.”
Sebastian snickered. “Let me know when you predict that so I can block out the date in my diary.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, the world isn’t always in danger.”
“Hurry up,” Babu said. “We only have an hour before the staff return from lunch.”
“An hour will be plenty of time,” I muttered. I wasn’t planning on hanging around with a priceless powerful book. We hurried to join Babu at the end of the room. He withdrew a dagger from a sheath on his belt. Hudson growled and elbowed in front of me. I groaned and rolled my eyes up to the heavens.
“The ritual needs blood,” Babu said carefully. “Didn’t Sophia go through this with you?”
I side-stepped my overgrown cat and nodded. “She did, he’s just a little protective.”
Babu nodded and scored his palm. I stepped back and watched as the blood sunk into the dusty floor.
“We have to go down?” Hudson asked.
