Page 35 of Luna

I’m still staring at it when Kim arrives. He knocks but enters at the same time and stands in the doorway with an expression on his face I can’t quite read.

“Well?”

He clocks the camera feed of the bookshop and nods at it. “Were you watching me the whole time, or…?”

“I was not watching you. I had more important things to do.”

Kim flops down into the armchair opposite my desk, and folds one leg over the other. He’s holding a reusable take out coffee cup with a black silicon lid. The combination of the coffee and the silicon assaults my nose; two smells I can’t stand.

Ignoring the look of displeasure on my face, but clearly understanding it has something to do with the coffee, Kim takes a leisurely sip and fixes his gaze on mine.

“What did you find at the bookshop?”

“Nothing.” Kim shrugs. “It felt creepy as fuck in there. A lot of demonic energy floating about. But you did murder three vampires there, so...”

“Four,” I mutter.

“Right. Four. Sorry, I lost count of the body parts.”

“Did you retrieve the box?”

“No box.”

I frown at him, and he holds up his palm as if he knows I think he’s lying. “There was no box, Lucien. Lots of blood. Lots of gore. Lots of powerful juju in the air, but no box and no dancing shadows.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Can you be serious for a moment and tell me what you really think?”

“You care what I think?”

“You hunt demons for a living, boy. You have hunter blood. So, yes, I care what you think about the demonic energy in my shop.”

“Your shop?” Kim’s mouth drops open a little. “I knew it... you own that place?”

I ignore the question.

Kim sighs and leans forward onto his knees. “Okay. Seriously? It’s strong. That’s all I can tell you. Not bad, not dark, not good, not light. Just strong. But it’s just an essence. Like whatever the powerful thing was is gone now.”

“I see.” I glance back at the screen and steeple my fingers together.

“You said you had another job for me?” Kim sits back in his chair.

“I need you to board up a window.” I reply absentmindedly, drumming my fingernails on the desk.

“Board up a window?” Kim uncrosses his legs and shakes his head, so his curls move across his eyes. When he swipes them away, he stands up and moves toward the door.

“I’m not a fucking handyman,” he says. He’s wearing a white shirt and slacks. He still looks like someone who works a respectable office job. An accountant or someone who works in insurance. But his aura is different these days. Since he decided to embrace his destiny as a demon hunter, he’s carried himself differently. He’s talked to me differently.

I respect him for it.

But I don’t like it.

“We have an agreement,” I remind him.

Kim braces a hand on the door frame. His back stiffens as he holds his breath in his chest then sighs. When he turns to face me, he leans against the wall and crosses his arms in front of his stomach. “Fine,” he says. “Fix a window. Why and where?”