She casually leaned forward to block Nick’s view. “Well, what is it?”

Licking my lips, I tugged the opening wider and peered down, deciding it was a figurine. I gingerly touched it, finding it cold. More confident, I drew it out and set it on the table between us. Staring at it, I wiped my hands off on my jeans.

“That is…really ugly,” Ivy said. “I think it’s ugly.” Her brown eyes flicked to me. “Is it ugly, or just weird?”

Goose bumps rose, and I stifled a shiver. “I don’t know.”

The statue was a yellowish color with stained striations running through it. Bone, I guessed. Very old bone; it had left the cold feeling on my hands that bone does. It stood about four inches high and was about as deep. And it felt alive, like a tree or a plate of moldy cheese.

I furrowed my brow as I tried to figure out what it was a statue of. Touching only the base, I turned it with two fingers. A noise of disgust slipped from me; the other side had a long muzzle twisted as if in pain. “Is it a head?” I guessed.

Ivy put her elbow on the table. “I think so. But the teeth…Those are teeth, right?”

I shivered, feeling like someone had walked over my grave. “Oh,” I whispered, realizing what it reminded me of. “It looks like Pam when she was in the middle of Wereing.”

Ivy flicked her eyes to mine and back to the statue. As I watched, her face went paler and her eyes went frightened. “Damn,” she muttered. “I think I know what it is. Cover it up. We are in deep shit.”

Twenty

I jerked when Nick suddenly appeared at the table. His long face was flushed, angry and frightened all at the same time—a dangerous mix. “What are you doing?” he hissed at Ivy, snatching the statue up and holding it close. “You brought it here? I sent it to her so no one would find it. I thought she was dead. They couldn’t make me tell who had it if I sent it to a dead woman, and you brought it here? You damned fool vampire!”

“Sit,” Ivy said, her jaw clenched and her eyes shifting to black. “Give it to me.”

“No.” Nick’s grip tensed to a white-knuckled strength. “Save the aura shit for someone it works on. I’m not afraid of you.”

He was, and Ivy’s hand trembled. “Nicholas. I’m hungry. I’m tired. I don’t give a crap about your stupid ass. My partner is in deep shit because of you. Give it to me.”

Adrenaline pulsed, hurting my head. Nick was near panic. The karaoke machine started up with something sad and melancholy. Jenks was watching us, but the rest of the bar hadn’t a clue that Ivy was about ready to lose it, pushed to the edge from stress and being far from home.

“Nick,” I soothed. “It’ll be okay. Give it to me. I’ll put it away.”