Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Luna crouched on top of a rooftop at night, watching the street where Crowley and his gang always entered their pub. Eventually, he had to come and drink. The man couldn’t survive without alcohol in the same way a fish couldn’t survive out of water. All she had to do was be patient.

And not let her thoughts get the better of her. She didn’t have to give him the diamond if this all went south. She thought. Maybe. She’d already given the necklaces to Martin and knew the man wasn’t sentimental enough to hold on to them in case she changed her mind about this whole deal. He’d sell them the first chance he got and put the money into the castle immediately.

As he should. That was the whole point of her robbing Luther in the first place.

But she still felt bad about it. Not that she didn’t feel bad about stealing from everyone she stole from. The entire job was a cesspit for hating herself.

There. In the shadows. A man pulled himself out of the darkness like he had a spell on him. Crowley straightened his collar and jacket, then walked into the pub ahead of his goons, who were quick to follow him.

The pub was a safety net of sorts. No one walked in there without knowing that Crowley and his men could kill them at a moment’s notice. No one entered without approval. No one left without permission. It was just how it all worked.

Crowley was a controlling bastard, but she had to respect the way he held the entire city in an iron grasp.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered as she dropped onto a balcony below herself. This would either clear her name for good, or she was making the stupidest decision of her life. Unfortunately, there was no way to know how this would end other than going through it herself.

Luna leapt onto the street and steadied herself on the slick cobblestone. Her booted feet hardly made any noise as she walked down the narrow alley with laundry hanging overhead. The leather leggings and corset that covered her body were sure to capture attention anywhere other than here. Those who frequented Spirit Quay knew exactly why she’d wear an outfit like this. They knew what it meant to linger in the shadows and fear for their lives. Dark, tight clothing helped hide a lot.

She stopped right in front of the door and squared her shoulders. She couldn’t look even an ounce weak or they would tear her limb from limb. Strength radiating through her shoulders and spine, she wrapped her knuckles on the door and waited for the small slot to open.

Brown eyes peered out, though they narrowed almost immediately. “Luna. Didn’t think I’d see the likes of you daring to come back here.”

“Where else would I go?” She held up the bag in her hands. “Need to see Crowley.”

“He’s not here right now. You’ll have to wait for him.”

Of course. They always wanted to give Crowley an out, just in case he didn’t want to deal with the person who waited at the door. Had this idiot forgotten she’d been here countless times? She knew how this worked.

“You’ll tell him that I’ve got what he wanted, and if he doesn’t come outside in the next ten minutes, then I’ll sell it to the other high bidder.” She shrugged. “I don’t think he wants to miss out on this one, but if you’re willing to take the risk that he won’t care what I’ve stolen, you can let him drink. Otherwise, maybe go tell your boss who’s outside.”

The man’s eyes got wider with every single one of her words until he finally slammed the slot closed again. He’d tell Crowley. She knew not a single one of those lackeys would ever take the risk that they’d let one of Crowley’s greatest treasures out of his sight.

Hell, Crowley had killed men for a lot less than that. She’d seen him put a bullet through a man’s skull because he’d brought Crowley a whiskey, not an ale.

Meandering from the door, she sat on the lid of a barrel ten paces away. There were a few of them, and she could duck beneath one if Crowley came out shooting. If he didn’t, then she could always throw one into the group of his men and hope it slowed them down while she ran.

It didn’t take long for the door to slam open and Crowley to enter the alley, with his cronies not far behind. This time, he’d come out with five men larger than she was, and even taller than Luther. All of them had a rather dumbfounded expression on their faces, though. It didn’t make her think they were all that terrifying, that’s for sure.

Crowley, though, was dressed to perfection. The suit he wore likely cost more than one of the necklaces she’d given Martin. And the red tie at his throat was so crimson, it appeared to be dipped in blood. His hair was slicked back from his face, a little too greasy for her liking, but he held a hat in his hand. As if he would ever put that on hair so perfectly laid.

She tapped her fingers on the barrel in a subtle pattern. “Crowley, why did you feel the need to bring that many people out here? You were the one who hired me, remember?”

“I don’t remember hiring you at all,” He growled, snapping his fingers so the men stepped even closer to him. “You are the one who had to steal for me, otherwise I’d pull all your fingernails out. Somehow, you always seem to turn things in your favor.”

Of course she did. When that favor meant she kept all her fingernails and her head attached to her body, she was bound to want to turn them around. The foolish man thought she wouldn’t at least try.

The diamond burned a hole against her back. It didn’t sing when Crowley was near it, however. Instead, it shivered.

Why? Why didn’t the diamond want Crowley to see it?

The gang leader held out his hand and impatiently twitched his fingers. “All right, come on. Give it over then if you really managed it.”

“Oh, I managed,” she muttered. But Luna hesitated. The diamond was always happy to see people, that was part of what it wanted. To be seen. To be worn. Handed from person to person so they could all fall in love with its gorgeous facets. But that wasn’t the case right now. If it could have moved, she thought it might have dug deeper into her pockets just so he wouldn’t know it existed.

Crowley watched her every move with eyes that saw too much. She knew he’d already noticed that her fingers hadn’t stopped tapping on the barrel. He definitely saw that she licked her lips and looked to his right, as if someone were standing in the shadows waiting for her to tell them to attack. All of these little movements were a ruse so she could buy herself more time.

“Luna,” Crowley crooned. He put the hat on his head, and that was how she knew she was in real trouble. He’d never ruin hair like that if he didn’t have to. “What did I tell you when I sent you out to find that damned diamond?”

“Just that you wanted the diamond in your hand because I took another from you.” She resisted the urge to spit at his feet. “Come on, you can’t assume I’d remember our conversation from a month ago.”

A muscle in her back flexed. The diamond still didn’t have a single word to say, and that wasn’t sitting right with her.

“Luna, I told you that bad things would happen if you lied to me. Or if you tried to take anything from me again. Now, you made me get up. You made me put down a hard earned drink. I need to know what you have in your pockets.”

The expression on his face was too hungry. But that was Crowley, wasn’t it? He’d always thought the world owed him more than what it wanted to give, and no matter what it took, he would steal and scrimp and murder until he got his due. Unfortunately, he thought everything was his due.

“Why aren’t you talking?” she muttered.

“What do you mean?” Crowley snapped. “I’m talking to you right here, you brat. If you think you can confuse me and get out of this, you’re sorely wrong. I only have so much patience, Luna Winchester.”

She wasn’t talking to the idiot in front of her, but he didn’t need to know that. As far as she was aware, Crowley didn’t even know what her powers were. He only knew that her mother was a witch and that she’d come from the Church. Maybe he’d even been to one of the shows her sisters and she had put on. People with money liked to watch little girls get exorcised back then.

Finally, she heard it. The faintest whisper in her mind of the diamond who quaked in fear. “He wants to cut me up into tiny pieces. He’s going to take me away from you and no one is going to see me until I’m a thousand fragments of what I once was.”

Oh no.

She should have thought of that, damn it. Crowley didn’t want a single diamond. He could shatter this giant piece of rock and he’d make ten times the coin. And it would be so much less suspicious than trying to sell a diamond the size of someone’s fist.

She was the idiot. Not him.

Why hadn’t she realized this was his plan all along? She couldn’t give him the diamond if he was going to ruin it. But that was the only way he could sell it without getting caught.

Heart beating hard, she ran her tongue over her teeth and plotted how to get out of this situation. There was a line of laundry over quite a few of the goons. If she could get that to come down on their heads, then she might be able to run fast enough to lose them in the streets.

“Listen, Crowley. Here’s the situation. I don’t think you told me the entire truth, you hear me?” She cocked her head to the side and watched his reactions. “In fact, I think you’ve been lying to me from the start and I don’t like being lied to, either. This is a partnership and we’ve got to at least be honest with each other.”

“A partnership?” he spat. “Luna, you don’t understand what I’m getting at here, and I suppose I should have guessed you wouldn’t. Never trust a thief.”

Everyone burst into action, and she didn’t have the time she needed. Luna thought she could grab onto that rope fast enough. But, true to Crowley form, the men he’d hired were far stronger than she’d given them credit for. They might look dumb, but damn, they could move.

One of them grabbed a fistful of her hair and tossed her away from the rope. She struck the barrels hard, going down on her hands and knees with a horrible wheeze as the air in her lungs disappeared. Trying desperately to suck in another breath, she grabbed onto a barrel and flung it in the direction of the men.

But the biggest of them let it hit his chest without flinching. The wood shattered around him and damn it, he was still coming.

She had only a moment to throw her forearms in front of her face, so his punch connected with them. Her left arm made a horrible creaking noise, and then the blistering pain sent her stumbling back. Had he broken her arm? No, not broken. Just nerve endings that decided she didn’t need to feel the limb for a while.

Numbness trailed up the limb and her left arm hung dead at her side. Staggering away from them, she tried her best to control the situation, even as the goons followed her down the street. “Crowley, I already have what you want. But I want to know what you’re doing with the diamond after I give it to you.”

“Why does it matter? You’ll be paid for stealing it. I get what I want. We’re all happy.” He held his arms out at his sides, safe behind the wall of man meat he’d hired. “Did you suddenly get a conscience while you were gone? That’s why I always liked you, Luna. You stole whatever anyone wanted and it didn’t matter who you were taking it from.”

But it did. It mattered, and it ripped at her soul every time.

Another punch flew, and she tried to deflect it with her working arm. He was too big. The force was too great. He slapped her arm away and punched her square in the mouth. Her nose spurted, the spray of metallic blood filled her mouth. All she could taste was her own blood, and all she could feel was the pain rocking through her form.

Had she fallen?

Her butt hit the ground and yes, she had fallen. Staring up at the starry sky, Luna feared the worst. She’d never been caught like this. By anyone. And sure, she was a big woman, but they could easily cut her throat and steal the diamond.

She should have known this was the plan. Crowley couldn’t be trusted. Ever.

His voice drifted over the breeze. “I’m going to cut your fingers off first, and I need you to be awake for that Miss Winchester. This is the appropriate way to punish thieves, after all.”

How badly would that hurt? She didn’t want to know. Luna resolved herself to passing out and that this would be the last time she ever opened her eyes.

Until she heard the howl of a wolf and knew she wasn’t alone anymore.