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“We hunted a volkodlak three years ago,” one of the others said.

I turned to Auris. “What’s that?”

“A werewolf, possibly.” He picked his pen back up and wrote it down. “What else?”

They all remained silent.

“How long have you been on this particular mission?” Auris went on.

They all confirmed that supporting the Gladius Brotherhood at the ossuary hadn’t been a long-term assignment for them, at least not compared to what they considered long. Five years at most, often less. Ivan told us only the Gladius Brotherhood knew all the details of the operation, and I took that to mean that these priests were simply the support team. Or the cleanup crew. Foolishly, I’d thought they were the worst that was out there.

All through this interview, Christian seethed. His withering glances were directed at me most of the time. He had clearly decided I was the weak link, and maybe he had that right. After all, he couldn’t faze Auris.

Auris had moved on to the logistics end of the operation, asking the priests how they had gotten here, where they had stayed, who their contacts were. Christian kept on staring me down, and it was starting to hit a nerve.

Auris was about to ask another question when I interrupted him. “Just out of curiosity, Christian, say I’d done what you told me to and left Prague, what would’ve happened? Would your friendly brotherhood have picked me up to make sure I got home okay like Auris did for you?”

Auris glanced at me, then he narrowed his eyes at Christian. “He asked you a question. Answer it.”

The entrancement that had held Christian back and kept him silent rushed out of him, and the first thing out of his mouth was a spittle-infused “You fucking demon fucker!”

My jaw dropped. Christian strained against the tape binding his hands, and I wondered whether he knew any tricks to get that off. I hoped he did. He wasn’t as fast as Auris, and a part of me wanted to see him try to outrun a vampire. With his spit-slick chin, he looked pretty pathetic already, and that brought me some satisfaction. I laughed at him, made myself laugh to take away even more of the power he thought he still had.

I straightened my back once I was done. “Better a demon fucker than whatever you think you are. Hell, I’m proud to be a demon fucker. You look like a monk. Jealous much?”

Christian bared his teeth, and even more spit ran out of his mouth to drip on the table. “People are going to come for me. They know where you are, and they know where you live. We will exterminate you, burn you like poison to clean a wound.”

Auris tapped his stolen notepad. “I’ve never heard of your Gladius Brotherhood before, and yet I have met those who wish to harm me already. I survived them. I wonder, Brother Christian, are you perhaps new to the demon hunting business?”

Christian chuckled. “We’re as old as justice itself, and our justice will find you. My brothers will avenge me.” A dark sneer curled his lips. “If you give up, demon, vampire, whatever you want to call yourself, we’ll let your little chew toy go. If you really have any shred of humanity left, any shred of decency and humility in the face of god’s grace, you will do that much in penance.”

I snorted. “Fuck penance, and fuck your twisted idea of decency. It’s you who has lost his humanity.”

I got up and headed toward the counter to make myself something to drink. I got lucky and found a bottle of rum, two-thirds full, and if anything, that was a divine sign right there.

Auris had clearly entranced Brother Christian again, at least as much as that was doable. Christian looked red-faced and pissed off. I wondered when he’d get scared. For now, I enjoyed that he was shutting up.

“Hey, I’ll, uh, go for a walk.” I pointed to the café’s exit.

“You and your bottle of rum?”

The situation wasn’t funny, but I chuckled as I held the bottle close. “For your information, this can’t be how our next date night ends.” I tapped the neck of the rum bottle. “You have to prove to me that you can outperform a stiff drink. Like, this one isn’t even full. The bar is really low here.”

Auris nodded. “Then I shall give it my all. My sweet, don’t wander too far.”

“Can I get Eva a few things from the gift shop?”

He smiled. “I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”

I walked past Auris, just close enough to put my hand on his shoulder. Our eyes met. There was no fear in his, and I hoped he saw none in mine either.

20

I didn’t drink all that much of the rum. I’d done shots with a girlfriend after a photoshoot once. It had been one of my early gigs, a wedding where I’d been allowed to bring her and to make use of the open bar after. The good thing was, I hadn’t done anything rude or embarrassing, the bad thing was I’d ended up sleeping wrapped in a towel in front of the toilet. Not something I wanted to repeat, and I never had. In addition, the museum rum wasn’t all that great. I was done after a few swigs and carried the bottle with me like an accessory.

The gift shop was, of course, very touristy. I found a paper bag by the register and browsed the shelves for things to fill it with. There was a thrill to this illicit adventure, but knowing this night had been supposed to end in an ambush put a damper on that.

There was an upholstered bench in the café, close to the dino skeleton, and when I returned with my gift shop haul, I flopped down on the bench to rest my eyes.