Chapter Three

Kierse blinked. He was asking her what she was? On what plane of existence did that even make sense? He was the one who had moved across the room at lightning speed. She'd jumped out a window, and he'd hauled her back through it with one hand. He'd incapacitated her with ease.

"Tell me," he snarled.

"Name's Kierse McKenna," she said with lifted chin. "And I don't want to be fed off of. Now, get your hand off me."

He released her in a rush as if she'd burned him. She adjusted her stance, bending at the knees just in time to prevent herself from sprawling backward. She stood her ground, watching and waiting for some kind of explanation.

"You think me a vampire?" he asked with disgust, a flash of confusion on his lips.

Well, if he wasn't, then what the hell was he?

"You only gave me your name," he continued. "Explain the rest. Explain what you are."

"You haven't explained what you are," she shot back.

"We're talking in circles. It would be much easier if you'd give me a straight answer." He looked down at his hand, the one that had encircled her neck, as if he couldn't understand what had happened. "But you're not giving me a straight answer."

"I've answered all your questions. Just like you said. Are you going to let me go now?"

"No," he said at once. "I have more questions."

"Then ask them."

"How did you take the wards down?"

"Wards?" she asked slowly.

He ground his teeth. "Did the people you're working for take them down for you? Did they help you get inside?"

"I have literally no idea what you're talking about. I let myself in."

He assessed her again, as if looking for something—guile or malice, most likely—but there was none. She really had no idea what he was talking about. She'd heard the word "ward" in fairy tales before, but that couldn't be what he was referring to. Monsters not magic was the motto of the entire monster movement. Wards seemed to fit very clearly in the magic section. So, there had to be some other definition.

She was a thief—a very good thief—but just a thief, nonetheless. She knew how to take down security systems. She'd been taught how to break into any number of buildings. She could crack a six-pin lock in a matter of seconds. She'd even broken into a bank vault for Jason just to prove that she could do it and not get caught. She was damn good at her job, but she had no clue what kind of lock a ward was.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about," he said finally.

"You're quick on the uptake."

He took another step back, contemplative. "You truly believe you were sent here by Gregory Amberdash."

"He's paying me."

"And you know nothing else?"

"I know that you have the thing I'm supposed to bring him so that I can be paid."

He held his hand out then. "Give it here."

"You have it," she reminded him.

"Take it out of your pocket and give it to me." She hesitated, and he snapped, "Now."

She huffed and removed the giant ring from where she'd concealed it. She'd pilfered it off of him when he'd gotten close to her. She thought he'd been distracted with examining her neck like a crazed vampire, and she'd gotten to work.

Thieving rules numbers three and four: distraction and sleight of hand.

She dropped it back into his palm. "Worth a try."

He shook his head. "You're just a common thief. They insult me."

She straightened to her full height. "Excuse me?"

"I can't believe this is the level they're stooping to." He stuffed the ring away again. She barely caught a glimpse of where it disappeared this time. "I'll have to test it. Something they weren't prepared for."

"What are you testing?"

He turned away without answering. "Here we are."

He set a small, intricately carved wooden box down on the table. She recognized some of the whorls on it. The same holly design around the library doors. A language that buzzed just at her periphery shimmered in the vines but disappeared on closer inspection.

"Open it," he commanded.

She raised a brow. "Is this interrogation to go on much longer?"

He narrowed his eyes in warning. She sighed, tipping the lid of the box open. There was nothing inside. Even less interesting than the two-pin lock she'd picked earlier.

"Wow," she drawled. "I can open boxes."

Despite her nonchalance, he did seem impressed... and quickly it was replaced with what looked like scheming. "You appear to have interesting talents, Miss McKenna. The real question is... how have you been left unaware of them?"

"I am not unaware," she told him, tilting her chin up.

But there was something in his eyes. Something swirling and depthless that caught her interest. Something trancelike that spoke deep into her soul. That said... maybe he was right. Maybe there was more to her. Maybe she'd always known. It shuddered through her for an instant and then was gone.

Graves slowly closed the box again. "There are legends in our world," Graves began, slow and sure, his voice as thick as molasses and just as sweet. "Tales of beasts and beauties. Creatures and stories that would keep you up at night. Of monsters born."

She swallowed at the sensuous way the words fell off of his lips. "I know all about what goes bump in the night."

"There's much worse than the monsters you know of in this world," he said as if reading her thoughts. "All those stories you've heard. All the tales and legends come from a kernel of truth."

"Like what?"

"Like me," he said evenly. Then he tilted his head sideways. "And you."

"Me?" she blurted out. "I'm human."

"Are you?"

She snorted in disbelief. "Yes. Obviously. How could I be worse than a monster? Let alone a vampire? They feed on human blood." She made a disgusted face at him.

"Vampires are pathetic bottom feeders. We allowed them to live on the surface while we remained in the shadows so that they stayed out of our way with their pesky wars. You... are something altogether different." She swallowed and waited for him to say more. "If you're to be believed, you can take down my wards with no outside interference."

"You keep talking about wards, but I don't even know what they are. Or at least they can't be what I think they are."

He sighed heavily as if her ignorance affected him personally. "Wards are magical barriers."

"Okay," she said, disbelieving. "That is what I think they are. But... magic?" The word came out derisive.

"Yes, magic. Wards are the reason there's no standard mechanical security system necessary on my house. They keep out intruders and alert me to any interference." He slid his hands into his pockets. "You shouldn't have been able to get within five feet of my home without me knowing. Not without help or wardbreakers or some serious powers yourself."

Kierse stared at him blankly. Then a giggle burst out of her. Until she was laughing so hard, she couldn't keep it together. It had been a while since someone had brought her nearly to the point of tears. Ethan always tried, but it was usually Gen's dry wit that worked.

"What precisely is so funny?" he asked, cutting through her laughter.

"Magic isn't real."

He arched an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Monsters not magic," she said like a mantra. "That's what the monsters touted when they appeared. It's practically their motto—monsters not magic. They have supernatural abilities—strength, speed, agility—but they can't, like... move things with their minds. Or whatever wardbreaking is."

"And you believe them?"

She shot him a skeptical look. "Wouldn't I have seen magic being used before? Wouldn't someone have talked about it?"

"It's in every fairy tale in every culture in the entire world," he said. "There are reasons for our tales. It is a rare talent and usually snuffed out of children long before it can develop into something more useful. So no, I doubt you would have met someone who could do much of anything before."

"I just... don't believe you. Why would I believe you?"

He looked her over as if she were the most insufferable thing on the planet. "I'm not in the business of performing."

"Well, if you're not going to do magic," she said, putting air quotes around the word, "how else can I believe you?"

He inhaled sharply and then released it. Then he tipped the lid of the box back open and offered it to her. She looked inside and saw a thick gold coin the size of a silver dollar. He flipped it to her, and she caught it out of midair.

"So, you're a magician." She said the word sardonically as she dropped the coin back on the table. "I've seen a few of them on the streets. Good sleight of hand, though."

He scowled as he snapped the empty box closed again. "I'm not here to convince you, but why would I lie?"

"I can think of about a hundred reasons."

"Open the box," he snarled.

She took it from his hands. This time she popped it open with flair, tossing the lid back and smirking at him. And as she did so, hundreds of coins spilled out of the box. Her eyes widened in alarm. She lifted the box into her hands as more and more of the coins rained down to the floor. Once they slowed, she checked the box for a false bottom.

"What's the trick?" she asked. From every angle, the box appeared perfectly intact. And she had seen it empty. "It was..."

"Empty?" he finished for her. "What would be the point of warding an empty box?"

She gasped softly and tossed the box away from her like it could burn her. "What the fuck? Magic?"

He shot her an imperious look. "I told you."

Magic.

Holy fuck... magic.

All those years with monsters. They'd come out of the dark, killing humans and other monsters alike. Those days had been bleak. If she hadn't turned to thieving before the war, she would have been dead with all the others once it started.

In some way, Jason had saved her life by throwing her into his own dark world. Not that she hadn't suffered considerably at his hands over and over again. But even in all those years of death and destruction, she'd always known that it was monsters not magic. Monsters... not magic. And yet...

"Now do you believe me?" he asked.

She opened and closed her mouth. "Why are you telling me this?"

Nothing ever came for free. Not in her world. Not with all she had gone through. If magic was a rare and precious thing that had been hidden from the public even when monsters had come out of hiding and somehow, against all odds, she had some sort of the gift in her wretched veins, then what was the price of it all?

"Because I want to offer you a job."