“It’s easier to find vampires while they’re active,” Zora explained. “Keep in mind, guys, that we’ve seen increased vampiric activity over the last four weeks, so we’re using extra caution. No messing around, Darren and Cameron.”

The van rolled to a stop and Darren shifted into park. We exited the vehicle into an unremarkable back alley, the narrow stretch of pavement surrounded by skyscrapers. We were in the heart of downtown.

As the others followed Zora to the van’s rear, I eyed their dark leather clothing, assorted weapons, and magical artifacts. In comparison, I felt ridiculously out of place in my regular winter coat, blue jeans, and sneakers.

Zora opened the van’s rear doors and handed out armfuls of shiny fabric. She tossed me a bundle. “Smallest size we have.”

I unfolded it, my innards tightening with apprehension. The waterproof overalls were smudged with dirt and the legs ended in attached rubber boots. The rest of the team were stepping into theirs, so I gulped down my pounding heart and donned my pair. My shoes fit inside the rubber boots with room left over, and even tightening the straps as short as possible, the overalls sagged down to my waist.

Zora helped me crisscross the straps to use up a bit more length, then passed out yellow hard hats with built-in lights. When I set mine on my head, it rocked around loosely and I nervously tightened the chin strap.

Pulling a rectangular device out of the van, Zora switched it on. The front lit up with a loud beep. “Who wants to carry the gas meter?”

“I’ll do it,” Cameron volunteered. He clipped it onto the shoulder of his overalls.

“Gas meter?” I whispered fearfully, but no one heard me.

Zora passed a pair of metal hooks to Darren. I watched in confusion as he stepped over to a weathered grate embedded in the center of the alley and used the hooks to heave it up. He dragged it aside, then tossed the hooks back to Zora. She returned them to the van and started to shut the doors.

“Wait.” She reached inside again. “Almost forgot. Phone, keys, and wallets over here, guys.”

As she held out a plastic tote, everyone dug their valuables out of their pockets and set them in the plastic bin. With no choice, I added mine to the collection, wondering what madness I’d volunteered for.

As Zora put the tote in the van and locked the vehicle, Cameron descended feet first into the black hole. Rushing water echoed beneath the pavement. Darren started after him, his shoulders almost too wide to fit.

“We …” I cleared my throat. “We’re going into a sewer?”

“It’s a storm drain,” Zora corrected. “It won’t smell great, but there’s no raw waste down there, just rainwater.” She glanced at my face, and I imagined I was paler than usual. “Um. I should’ve asked—you’re not claustrophobic, are you?”

Not normally, but I was seriously reconsidering my stance on confined spaces.

“We’ll be following large tunnels,” she assured me. “It’s dark and wet, but it’ll be fine, you’ll see.”

“There are vampires down there?”

“We’ll find out. I once helped exterminate a nest of thirteen in these tunnels. Biggest one I’ve ever seen.”

As Laetitia followed Drew into the hole, I struggled to calm down. I could do this. We were scouting. Just scouting. We wouldn’t be fighting any vampires down in the wet darkness.

Zora nudged me forward. My heels dug in, my gaze darting from the hole to the grate and back.

“What if someone puts that cover back on?” My voice sharpened in a panicky way. “Will we be trapped?”

“We can push the grate off from the inside, and there’s an exit like this every block. Trust me, Robin. I’ve been down here dozens of times.” She peered into my face and her expression softened with sympathy. “You don’t have to come. The tunnels aren’t for everyone.”

Crap. I was ruining my reputation as a badass, demon-slaying, vampire-exterminating contractor.

I forced myself to laugh. “No, I’m good. I just wasn’t expecting this, that’s all.”

“If you’d rather—”

“I’m fine,” I said brightly, striding toward the square hole. I groped at the light on my hard hat and clicked it on, shining its beam into the narrow chute. Steel rungs stuck out of the concrete, leading downward, and a steady trickle of water spilled off the asphalt and splashed into the drainage system below.

I crouched at the hole’s edge, turned, and felt for the first rung with my oversized rubber boot. The chute’s sides scraped at my elbows as I fumbled my way down the ladder. The cramped confines opened into a wider tunnel, and I felt around with my foot, searching for the next rung.

“You’re on the last step.” Drew appeared beside me, his headlamp glaring. “Here.”

The telekinetic lifted me down the final four feet. My boots splashed into knee-deep water. It rushed past, pressing coldly against my waterproof overalls. The air was disgustingly humid and reeked of rot. Zora’s boots appeared on the ladder rungs above my head and I waded out of the way.

The team stood a few yards down, waiting calmly. The tunnel was six feet high and almost as wide, and only Darren and Cameron had to duck their heads.

“Okay!” Zora called above the black water’s deafening echo. “We’re heading northwest from here. Blood trackers out!”

Each mythic pulled out a wand with a red stone on the end. They spoke the incantation, their words lost in the splashing clamor, and the end of each artifact lit with a faint glow. Was I supposed to have one of those?

Zora answered my unspoken question by holding out a spare, the end already lit with magic. “Gotcha covered, Robin. Cameron, you have the gas meter, so take the lead.”

Cameron grinned at his team and splashed away from the chute. My chest constricted as I fell into step beside Zora, last in line.

What on earth was I, a bookworm who didn’t practice magic, doing down here?

We followed the tunnel, water pushing on the backs of our legs. I was here because Amalia and I needed to find out why vampires were searching for Uncle Jack. While I tackled the “bloodsucking monsters” angle, she was searching for her father the old-fashioned way—by asking everyone who knew him for information. I wished we could switch jobs.

“So,” Darren began, raising his voice above the water’s clamor. He glanced back at me. “How many vampires have you tagged, Robin?”

“Three.”

He hesitated. He’d probably expected me to say none. “I suppose it isn’t difficult for a contractor. All you have to do is stand there while your demon does all the work.”

Darren had no idea how right he was.

“Vampire hunting is a bit different when you have to get your hands dirty. Ever been bitten, Robin?”

“No.” I glanced at Zora. “Wouldn’t I turn into a vampire?”

“A bite increases the risk of infection,” she said. “As long as you get to a healer fast enough, the infection rate is less than one percent.”

“Assuming you survive long enough to reach a healer,” Darren called back. “A bite will put you down like a shot of horse tranquilizer. Once a vamp starts sucking on you, you can’t do a damn thing to stop it.”