NITA WALKED the familiar road from the station to Adair’s pawnshop. The sidewalk pavement was a bit cracked, and all the buildings looked like they’d seen better days. It wasn’t truly a sketchy area—she’d been in far more uncomfortable places, but the pawnshop certainly wasn’t located in the nicest part of town.

It suited Adair perfectly, not just the aesthetic of it—slightly sketchy and a little uncomfortable—but because it was close to the water. Kelpies like Adair were semiaquatic, and needed places underwater to hide the rotting human corpses they ate. Though she supposed he could also hide the bodies in his murder basement.

Nita approached the front door. The sign was turned to CLOSED, but the light was on inside, and she could see shadows moving around.

She took a deep breath. She hadn’t left this shop last time on the best circumstances. Adair had betrayed her, she’d tried to murder him, and in the end, Diana, his ghoul assistant, had interfered and they’d called a truce.

Adair said he didn’t do vengeance. It was bad for business. And Nita believed him. Mostly. If she was wrong, he’d drag her into the underground pool in his basement and drown her and then eat her rotting corpse.

But she had to try. She didn’t know anyone else as knowledgeable and well connected in the black market who actively wanted the Dangerous Unnaturals List gone. And she thought he might be willing to overlook their feud and help her with it.

She knocked on the front door and waited. Silence. She knocked again.

Diana’s voice rang out from the other side. “We’re closed!”

“It’s me,” Nita called back.

“Then we’re definitely closed.”

“I need to talk to Adair.”

The door opened, and Diana stood there, her long dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail, her eyes tired. Her light brown skin looked gray with exhaustion and poor lighting. She reminded Nita a little of Mirella, Nita’s fellow captive in Death Market and the first person Nita had heard Kovit torture.

Nita shoved her mind away from that thought.

“Go away, Nita. Adair doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Have you asked him?” Nita countered.

She sighed. “I don’t need to. He’s furious, injured, and not in a great mood. If you go in there, he’s going to kill you.”

Nita crossed her arms and smiled with a confidence she didn’t feel. “Well, he can try. But we know who won the last fight, don’t we?”

Diana’s eyes narrowed. “Because you ambushed him. He won’t be tricked like that again.”

Nita blew out a breath. “Look, I just want to talk. Let me in, I’ll say my piece and leave.”

Diana gave her a long, assessing look, and then finally opened the door a little wider.