Page 124 of Brushed By Moonlight

“Ready?” Roux hissed.

So, so ready.

“Ready,” I called.

The rope moved, and the pulley squeaked as the dumbwaiter started its downward journey. I peered down the shaft, watching it fade into darkness. I heard it thump into place, then a bump and a scrape as Roux extracted the artworks.

“What the…?” he muttered.

“Just send the dumbwaiter back up,” I called.

I glanced back at the door to the library, and that was my undoing, because I remembered the inlaid box that had caught Henrik’s fancy — and the bargain we’d struck. I’d promised to get the box for him, and he’d sworn not to double-cross us to Baumann. He’d even upped the ante with a second clause, making me swear not to open it, which I’d agreed to in exchange for a favor to be called in sometime in the future.

So, whew. A vampire whisperer, I was not, but I had succeeded in driving a hard bargain. One I hoped the vampire would keep his word on.

My word is my bond,Henrik had assured me.

I had my doubts, but hey. It might turn out to be a useful insurance policy.

The problem was, the box was back in the library, and so was the sentry.

Alarms sounded through the building. A cue to save my skin, or my chance to sneak back in while the guard was distracted?

Save my skinwas tempting, but I found myself shadow-walking back into the library instead. Maybe that was a side effect of unlocking a new power, like a genie refusing to squeeze back into the bottle. Maybe it was pure hubris, like a kid racing around town on a freshly issued driver’s license. Or worse — maybe Henrik had managed to cast a thrall over me, ensuring that I didn’t abandon his treasure.

Either way, I padded into the library a second time, right under the nose of the sentry. But Henrik’s box was halfway across the room, not just a step or two into one corner. My heart pounded as I moved quietly toward it. My head pounded too, because maintaining the illusion of a second me, even out of sight in the office, took a hell of a mental effort.

“Unit three, unit three. Position untenable,” the uneasy sentry called into his mic.

Boy, I could relate.

I tiptoed all the way over to Henrik’s box and gingerly lifted it. It was the size of a cigar box, but surprisingly heavy.

Do not open it,Henrik had growled over and over.

Ha. As if I were even tempted.

I started slinking back quietly, then lost my nerve and rushed toward the office. Somehow, my shadow held, and the sentry didn’t notice.

“Quick! Get the paintings and the carvings!” Dobrov barked from somewhere down the far hallway.

I slid around the office door and shut it behind me. I stood there for ten terrifying seconds, listening. Sweating, too, I was that nervous — and because the fire outside was now licking over the windows. The whole room heated and grew stuffy.

I rushed to the dumbwaiter. Roux should have had plenty of time to grab the paintings and send the dumbwaiter back up. But it wasn’t moving.

My stomach dropped. Had he grabbed the paintings and left me?

“Roux!” I cried as loudly as I dared.

The dumbwaiter rattled, and Roux called urgently.

“Let go of the rope.”

“I’m not holding it,” I whisper-yelled back.

Flames crackled, and I jerked around to see them creeping over the roof, toward the library.

“Quick! Get the paintings!” Dobrov barked on the library side of the door.