“Oh. True. Damn it. For a second I’d hoped this would be easy.”
“Nothing so important is ever terribly easy,” he said. “Though I wish it were.”
“It’s true. Our relationship, for instance, has not exactly been smooth sailing from the start. Unless you count being assigned to kill the person who will ultimately become your lover an easy task.”
Lumen laughed and kissed her forehead. “Thank God you chose not to follow through,” he said.
“And thank God you broke into my place and hid my weapons, you mad stalker. Come,” she replied, “let’s head inside and see if we can get some further information. There’s got to be a St. Pancras fanatic in there somewhere.”
They wandered in, eyes searching out anyone who looked as though they might know something of the station’s history.
Inside they located an information booth against a far wall. Neko’s eyes immediately landed on a young man and an older woman behind the counter and stopped, grabbing hold of Lumen’s arm.
“Go speak to the woman,” she said. “I’ll wait for you.”
“You think she might know something?”
“I don’t know. But I do know that you have this amazing capacity to extract information out of people—not that it should be difficult at something labelled an information booth. Plus, chatting with you might make her day. If I were sixty and working in this place, I’d spend all my time hoping someone who looked like you might walk over and chat me up.”
“Why, Neko—are you actually giving me a compliment? Here, in a public place?”
“If you insist, then yes. I am. You’re a sexy man, and I’m rendering a service to a fellow woman by letting her gaze upon your gloriousness. Now go do my bidding, Dragon.”
“Right, then. I shall do as you command.”
Neko watched from a distance as Lumen moved towards the counter, leaning his palms against it, his large torso easing forward while he engaged the woman in conversation.
“Excuse me,” he said, his smile lighting up his handsome face, “I was wondering if you’d be able to tell me something about Saint Pancras.”
The woman’s face began to glow as soon as she looked at him. Apparently Neko was right, and she’d been waiting years for a gorgeous, tall man with eyes like mountain lakes to ask her such a question. “Of course. What is it you’d like to know about the poor fellow?”
“It will sound odd, but I’m looking for something in London to do with him—something involving a sentinel.”
“A sentinel, you say? Sentinel, sentinel…well, that sounds like the Queen’s guard, or some such. Of course, they have nothing to do with him, so it doesn’t make much sense…”
“In all likelihood what I’m looking for is a location—and quite an old one—does that ring any bells?”
“Well, there’s the hospital. It was built in 1809, I believe.”
“Hmm,” Lumen said, offering a dejected look—one that no woman could possibly resist. “I think what I need must be older than that.”
“Well,” said the woman, searching her mind for memories, “there are churches—the New Church, by Euston Station. And then there’s…” Her face broke out in a broad smile as the realization hit. “Of course. Stupid me. There’s the one just north of here on Pancras Road. I’m an idiot—we always just refer to it as the ‘Old Church.’ I’d forgotten that it has his bloody name on it.”
“That sounds promising. And just how old is it?”
“Oh, ancient. Some say it’s been around since the fourth century. The oldest place of Christian worship in this country, as I understand it. You don’t get much more antiquated than that.”
“Fantastic. That sounds exactly right. And it’s just up the road, you say?” said Lumen.
“Yes. Follow Pancras Road north.”
“Thank you so much, dear lady.” He flashed her another grin, eliciting a prompt and thorough blush on her part.
From her vantage point, Neko let out a quiet laugh. She’d been right—Lumen had just made that woman’s day, not to mention giving her fodder for about a thousand sexual fantasies in future.
As the Hunter watched him make his way back to her, another dizzy spell hit, and she slouched against the wall, allowing her body to droop down, legs bending under her.
“You all right?” he asked, crouching in front of her.
“Yeah. Just a little more dizziness. It’ll be okay. The spells are getting shorter and less intense.”
“Are you able to walk a little with me? We don’t have far to go.”
Neko raised her head and nodded at him.
“Good—there’s a church—”
“Just up the road. Yes, I heard.”
Lumen turned to look back towards the booth, where the woman’s eyes were still fixed on him. She waved and smiled as an excited young child might do.
“Wait,” he said, turning back to Neko. “You’re telling me that you heard my conversation from all the way over here?”
Neko looked back towards the woman and realized that she must have been a good thirty feet from their current location. Hundreds of people were running about the station, many of them immersed in conversation. How the hell had she heard Lumen’s voice over the din?
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she said. “I really didn’t. It was almost like my ears gravitated to your voice and I picked it up over all the clutter of sounds in here.”
The Dragon shifter smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “That’s quite all right; I’m not irritated in the least. I’m just very impressed. I don’t think that even I could have accomplished such a thing. With your ears and eyes, and my wings…”
“We should be invincible.”
“Should, yes.”
Neko drew herself up to a standing position.
“Okay. Feeling better, and it may not last long, so let’s go find this mysterious church while we’re feeling so powerful, shall we?”
The Old Church
The woman at the information desk hadn’t lied. The church was mere steps away, lying almost in the shadow of the enormous Gothic form of Saint Pancras Station.
Lumen laid a hand on Neko’s back as they walked. “How’s the dizziness?” he asked.
“It’s all right. It’s funny; it seems as though every time it comes, I end up with a heightened sense of some sort. I’ve just started smelling things very acutely. It’s the oddest thing.”
“Acutely? Tell me what that means in your case.”
Neko chuckled. “Yes, I suppose you’re used to it. It’s just—instead of the usual smell of London, I seem able to pick out individual scents. A woman’s perfume, miles away. A flower bed in someone’s garden. A croissant, fresh out of the oven. That sort of thing. Occasionally there’s a scent that I don’t even recognize—as though my sense of smell has never been powerful enough to pick it up.”
“It must be disconcerting.”
“It was at first, just like all of the changes are. I feel as though I’m slowly getting used to them, though. The good news is that you smell even more strongly to me,” she said, inhaling the scent that had so aroused her on their first meeting. “Though it makes me want to throw you to the ground and strip you naked, so that I can sit on you and do terrible things to your body again.”
“I vote for that option,” Lumen half-whispered, leaning towards her. “Shall we do it here, or…?”
Neko let out a laugh. “Not just now. Let’s finish this little quest of ours up, you randy thing.” They turned into the church yard, her eyes moving to the building and beyond. “Lumen, there’s something I was wondering about.”
“Mmmm?” His light eyes, too, were sizing up the church as they approached. It lay some distance in from the street itself. Clearly the building was old, though the structure certainly looked like it had been built some time after the fourth century.
Neko stopped and turned his way, putting a hand on his arm. “The Lapsed last night—I was…disconcerted by their pres
ence. But it’s occurred to me more than once how odd it is that we’re not seeing them when we’re out and about. There’s no way Umbra’s just given up on you—on us. How could they not be stalking us?”
He turned to her, his eyes alert but kind. “You’re worried that somehow they can see us now.”
Neko nodded. “A little. Don’t get me wrong—I have no doubt that you and I can take on any number of threats. It just seems strange. I don’t know what he’s planning, and it freaks me out. I’m used to cut and dried takedowns of my enemies—not surprise attacks on their part.”
“I’ve had the same fear,” he said, inserting a finger into the opening of her jacket to briefly reveal her assortment of blades. “That’s why I wanted you to bring these, remember?” Letting the jacket close up, he turned once again towards the church. “The good news, my beautiful Neko, is that when they do come, you will likely scent them and hear them long before they’re upon us. And so will I. Don’t forget that we have the advantage—particularly now.”
“All right. Fair enough,” she said, managing a withering smile. She still wasn’t convinced. One of the scents that she’d picked up earlier was troubling her, though she didn’t begin to know why. It wasn’t that of a Lapsed, or a shifter. It was something almost pleasant. Unfamiliar and familiar at once.
“Now, let’s have a look inside this place.” Lumen took her hand and led her up the few steps towards the church’s entrance.
Inside, though, all they saw was a largeish white box of a space, with dark beams supporting the ceiling. The church was surprisingly sparsely decorated, a few artifacts hanging on the plain walls. There were no pews, but rather uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs for the congregation to sit in. All told, it looked as though the oldest version of the structure no longer stood, but its remnants had been salvaged and hung on display in this more modern building.
“I don’t see anything that looks like a sentinel, do you?” whispered Neko, leaning in towards Lumen. Although there was no one around, it somehow seemed inappropriate to speak at full volume.
He shook his head. “No. I suspect that we’d do better to look outside.”
They headed back out to tour the area, which turned out to be more promising, and much more interesting than most church grounds.
“Look over here,” said Neko, guiding him to a large tree at one end of the property, protected by a short black iron fence. Underneath it were dozens of ancient, mossy gravestones, leaning in tight rows against one another like stacked dominoes. Somehow, the tree’s trunk had managed to grow around some of them in a sort of eternal, possessive embrace.
“This is a bit odd, don’t you think?” she asked. “Why would anyone put headstones in such a place?”
“This is known as the Hardy Tree,” said a gruff voice coming from behind them.
The two companions spun around, each letting out a brief exhale as they saw that the speaker was harmless, not to mention ancient.
Neko had noticed the old man when they’d first stepped onto the grounds; no doubt he was a gardener or groundskeeper. He didn’t smell of threat, and nor did he look as though he could wield a weapon larger than a trowel.
“The Hardy Tree—what is it?” she asked.
“At first, nothing more than a simple Ash tree. But many years ago, when the Midland Railway was built, the graveyard had to be moved, the corpses exhumed, headstones shifted. The novelist Thomas Hardy was among those who helped to move them to this location.”
“But…why are they still here?”
“A fine question. The tree began to grow up against them, and this became their permanent home.”
“How awful. No one can read half the names on them.”
“No. But I suppose the tree is their keeper now. He watches over them.”
Like a sentinel. Neko turned her eyes to Lumen, who could see—or hear—what she was thinking. But he shook his head.
“I thought of that too. But the verse says east-facing, remember?” he whispered. “Trees face in all directions.”
“Eh? What’s that?” asked the groundskeeper, his old ears failing to pick up Lumen’s words.
The Dragon shifter addressed him. “Is there anything on the church’s grounds that would conjure the word ‘sentinel’ for you?”
“Oh, yes, I suppose there is. Head over to the sundial,” the man said without hesitation. “You may find what you’re looking for there.”
He pointed into the distance, to a sort of ornate structure, housed behind another low iron fence. A tribute, perhaps, from family members to a deceased loved one.
“Thank you,” said Lumen.
The man grunted an acknowledgment and turned away to go back to work.
As Neko and the Dragon shifter wandered towards the strange monument, its details came into view.
Standing on top of multiple layers of stone was a sort of miniature gothic tower, ornamented with architectural details that gave it the appearance of a church’s spire. On its sides were round, white faces; intricate, black iron designs embedded over top of them, with diagonal lines jutting over their surfaces. They reminded Neko of the round room under the Park, with its abundance of doors leading to various parts of London.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Like a diminutive clock tower.”
“Yes, quite,” Lumen replied. “There are sundials on each side. Ancient timepieces.”
Neko walked up, studying one of the elegantly constructed works of art. Her eyes were drawn up to its face. Around the circle that made up the timepiece were Roman numerals denoting times of day, and at its top was a series of words, written in capital letters.
“There’s a quotation of some sort up there,” she said. “In Latin. But I’m afraid mine is rusty.”
“Tempus edax rerum,” Lumen murmured.
“What does it mean?”
“Time, that devours all things.”
“Except, apparently, for ancient Dragons,” said Neko, letting out a quiet chuckle. “This clock never met with your ilk.”
A moment later the smile left her face. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes studying his features. “You look as though you just saw a ghost.”
“I’ve heard the saying before. But not for many years.”
“It’s innocent enough, isn’t it?” she asked. But a sense of foreboding was clouding the air between them. Neko could feel his mood, the darkness flooding through his insides. “Isn’t it?” she said again.
“Probably,” he offered, attempting a smile. “Yes, probably.”
“Lumen, tell me what’s got you spooked. I hate seeing you in this state.”
He took her right hand and drew it to his lips, planting a soft kiss on her skin. “There are creatures in this world who haven’t been seen in centuries. And with any stroke of good fortune we’ll never encounter their ilk again. I was simply reminded of their existence. But it’s fine.”
“This all sounds very ominous. You’re sending shivers up my spine,” said Neko, turning back to the clock. “But if you say it’s fine, I have no choice but to believe you. So, do you think this is what we’ve been looking for?”
“I probably would—if not for the conveniently located sentinels, standing in the corners of this plot.”
Neko swivelled and looked at the space around them. He was right: four stone lions were guarding the area, each occupying one corner of the fenced off square of grass.
“Well, damn. For all my improved senses, I didn’t even spot those.”
“You’re still getting used to your abilities,” said Lumen. He looked towards the sky for a moment, assessing the sun’s location, before stepping towards the lion farthest from where he stood. “This one,” he said. “He’s east-facing.”
“So what do we do with him?” asked Neko, following him to its location. “It’s not as though we brought a shovel with us.”
Lumen crouched down and looked at the statue for a moment before pressing a hand to its head.
&n
bsp; “You can’t lift it,” said Neko. “It must weigh hundreds of…”
But a moment later the lion shifted backwards as though it were made of nothing heavier than hollow plastic. In the earth below it, a deep square opening showed itself.
“Well, I underestimate you at every turn, don’t I?” Neko asked.
“You do, I’m afraid. At any rate, I shouldn’t chastise you for it—chances are that this creature is surrounded by the same magic that allows us entry into our favourite places.”
“Is there anything down there?” Neko asked. Lumen’s body was forming a large barrier between her eyes and the hiding place, concealing any contents from view.
“Yes,” he replied, reaching down. A moment later he extracted a metal box—copper, by the looks of it, green with age and abuse from the elements.
Laying it on the ground before them, he turned his gaze to meet Neko’s. She’d been holding her breath, she realized, uncertain of what to expect.
“If this is the quarter circle, our task will be finished,” said Lumen. “It’ll be up to the others to find the remaining three quarters.”
“And Umbra?”
“Umbra will have no further reason to pursue us, once our Relic is in the hands of the Guild of Dragons.”
“Open it,” said Neko, a hand moving to his shoulder to stabilize her. If this was what they were looking for, then their lives would calm. They could spend weeks together in bed, forgetting all that troubled them for a time. But if not…
He pried the box open with his fingertips, swinging the top upwards.
“It is a stone piece,” he said, extracting the container’s contents. “But it’s rectangular. Hardly a quarter-circle.”
Neko examined the piece, which looked like something an ancient stone mason had once gotten his hands on. Verses were carved on its surface, deeply embedded words meant for their very eyes, apparently.
Slowly and quietly, Lumen read:
The Relic has moved
To the Saint’s watchtower
Hidden from those who seek blood
Dragon Hunter Box Set: A Dragon Shifter Serial Page 17
