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I turned away. Maybe one more little murder wouldn’t hurt? The torn Wilson’s Guide page burned in my pocket, like a smoking gun. I had to get rid of it. Get rid of Gideon. Get rid of everyone. It was too much, what had I been thinking?

“Adam?”

Reynard appeared in front of me. His typically perfect shirt hung askew and his hair was all tousled on one side, as though someone had grabbed at it and given him a shake. This did not bode well. “We have a problem.”

“Of course we do.” I sighed.

Reynard’s arm hooked around my shoulders and guided me off to the side of the room, next to the potted plant I’d earlier poured the detective’s drink into. It’s leaves definitely appeared to be a little more droopy than before the party had begun.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I had it,” Reynard said. “The trap worked perfectly. Better than perfect, actually, your blood is quite the potent draw. Had I known, I might have used more of it . . . Anyway, I was able to upset it, somewhat.”

“Upset it . . . somewhat?” What had he done, taken its toys away? “I thought you were going to torture it to tell us where Zee is?”

“I was doing exactly that, but then it slipped the noose and—” He cleared his throat. “I lost it.”

“You lost it?” He’d lost the huge, murderous shadowbeast, in my hotel.

“Yes.”

“Lost it where?”

“Adam, you do understand the definition of losing something? It’s lost. Therefore, I do not know where it is.”

“Are you saying it’s somewhere in the hotel?”

“That seems likely. It traverses shadows, so it could be anywhere where the shadows are at their thickest.”

There were shadows everywhere, due to our terrible, outdated lighting. “Oh.” And the bar was packed with a hundred people. More in the lobby, more in the gardens and on the porch, and some likely in their rooms. Plus our staff. The press were here, so was Detective Somers. I could not have anything unfortunate happen with so many judgmental eyes on us.

My gaze snagged on Gideon at the bar, chatting with Tom Collins who had just served him a drink that was, if we were lucky, about to kill him. I winced. “Oh deary.”

“Oh dear doesn’t really cover it, since I made the beast quite angry.”

“You made it angry, and then it escaped . . . in my hotel.” The same beast that was strong enough to almost crush me and throw Reynard through a window. “You’re the vampire that let it loose.” I prodded his firm chest. “You need to find it again. Can’t you sense it?”

“Well yes, except, the wards are muffling my senses, since I intend to harm it.”

“I can’t lower the wards.”

“It would only need to be for minute. In that minute, I’ll locate it, yank it from the shadows, and trap it again. Then I’ll extract the information of Zodiac’s whereabouts from it.”

That was extremely risky, especially since we were bursting at the seams with people. I leaned in close and whispered, “If I drop the wards, nobody will have any protection.”

“Nobody will know.”

Drop the wards to find the shadowbeast, and find Zee? Wherever Zee was, he was trapped, hurting, possibly dying. He didn’t have long. This was our one shot at finding him. It was just a single minute. I’d already spent three minutes worrying about it. “Alright, let’s find Madame Matase.”

Madame Matase was in her usual place at the reception desk, and was not at all impressed with our idea to drop the wards, considering how busy the hotel was. She tutted at Reynard, who appeared suitably chastised, and then all three of us entered the conference room.

“Where’s the darkest room?” I asked, thinking aloud. The basement probably, which would mean sending Reynard down there.

“Here,” Reynard said. “No windows. The basement and attic have windows, and it’s a clear night. They’ll be letting in moonlight. But this conference room? No natural light at all.”

“Hit the lightswitch,” Madame Matase ordered.

I flicked off the light, and darkness rushed in. Music still thumped from the bar, and the chatter from countless people filtered under the door, but otherwise the room was quiet—my heart the loudest thing. I sensed Madame Matase’s hands moving, unpicking her intricate wards.