Page 65 of Midnight Coven

He recognized it.

It was one of his vampire fighting trophies.

He knew it was his.

He’d thought he lost it in the fire that burned down his apartment.

Nick turned it over in his hands.

He could still smell the smoke on it. It was singed on one edge.

Without thought, Nick stuck the trophy into the pocket of his coat. He was about to walk away, but before he did, something else caught his eye on the same shelf. Behind where the statue had been positioned, blocked by the granite-looking base, a small depiction of a mythical creature stood on four triangular legs.

It was made out of paper. Paper, and what looked like metal foil.

Origami.

A unicorn. Made of metallic silver and white paper.

A smear of blood decorated one side.

Nick stared at it, unblinking.

Then he reached out, slowly at first, then fast at the end.

He scooped the paper and foil unicorn up in his hand. He disappeared that one into a different pocket, one on the other side of the long coat. He didn’t second-guess what he’d done. He didn’t even think about why he’d done it, not at first.

He was just glad he’d thought to grab the armored coat out of the police equipment room before he came out meet Morley in the parking garage.

He’d just stolen evidence.

When Nick finally did think about that, reallythinkabout it, for the first few seconds, he couldn’t make sense of why he’d done it.

No, that wasn’t right. He knew why.

The statue was his.

The origami had been left for him.

Both objects belonged to Nick. The message behind them was meant for him.

Nick knew both of those things for absolute certain. He just didn’t understand how he knew, or why he was so sure. He didn’t know why he felt entitled to take them simply because the killer left them specifically for him to take.

But Nick was sure. Hedidfeel entitled to take them.

The unicorn was his as much as the statue.

It wasn’t only the blood.

When he’d been young,Blade Runnerhad been Nick’s absolute favorite movie. He probably watched it fifty times in high school and college, both alone and with friends. He’d even made his family watch it once. In that movie, at the very end, there had been an origami unicorn that meant something to Nick, both then and now.

He felt his jaw harden slowly as he fingered the origami in his pocket.

He didn’t look back to see if Morley saw what he’d done.

Frankly, he didn’t want to know.

CHAPTER15

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