Drop Dead Demons by A Kirk, E

get him a non-supernatural related cardboard plaything later.
    “Let’s see what we can get out of this,” I said. 
    Logan knelt and opened the box. Inside was an antique, weathered wooden trunk trimmed with straps of black metal and worn leather.
    Blake grinned. “A treasure chest?”
    Logan pointed to the stylistic letter M burned into the top. “The Mandatum symbol. This can’t be good.”
    When was it ever?
    With a nervous look around, he opened the squeaky, hinged lid.
    No gems or gold, just a mess of files and paperwork.
    Logan plucked out a folder and read, “ Flint ?”
    “ Nathan Flint?” Ayden snatched it and swore under his breath.
    “The European duke who built our high school?” I flinched under their intense looks. “What? I  do  pay attention in History.”
    Ayden knocked Logan aside and dug into the contents. “This can’t be them. No! Not the Flint files. Logan , call Matthias.”
    Logan walked toward the house and pulled out his phone. 
    Something banged in the garage then silence finally blessed the dawn. Until M started yelling at my dad.
    Blake raised his brows. “What exactly is your aunt up to in there?”
    “Some surprise present we can’t see yet.” I started to pick out a folder from the box, but Ayden pushed me away.
    “Blake, get this out of here.” Ayden slapped his folder back into the chest. “Now!”
    “Why are we scared of a file?” I said.
    Ayden hauled the box up with a grunt and dumped it in Blake’s arms. “The less you know, the better. Trust me.”
    “I do.” I put a hand on the box and gave Blake a warning look. “But since it’s my life on the line, let’s take this to my bedroom.”
    “That’s exactly what you said in my dreams last night.”
    “Shut up , Blake.” Ayden shoved him toward the street. “Put them in my car.”
    “Wait.” I slammed a hand into Blake’s abs — ow—and glared at Ayden. “When has you keeping secrets not ended in a huge miscommunication where I wind up chased and nearly killed by demons?”
    Ayden clenched his jaw. “My meeting with Bancroft last night had to do with the Flint files, these files.”
    He slapped a hand on the box and flames erupted, scorching the cardboard and startling Blake into dropping the package which dumped out the trunk and spilled a mess of paperwork onto the lawn. Van Helsing immediately dived into action, pouncing on papers with kitten-like glee.
    “Blake!” Ayden looked stricken and knelt on one knee, dumping aside Helsing, who let out a meow of protest, and gathering papers at a frantic pace.
    Blake started to help. “That’s your fault, dude.  Lately you light up at any little thing. What is with you? ”
    “Nothing!” Ayden snapped, then paused and leaned a forearm on his knee. “Well, right now what’s wrong is that these files were stolen from Sophina Cacciatori and by giving them to us, Rose just put us in her crosshairs.”
     

Chapter Seventeen
     
    I jumped back from the box like it was grenade and we’d just pulled the pin. 
    “Blake, get them out of here!” I ran around to pick up papers blown away by the wind. Wrestled a few from Helsing. They wilted, already damp and flimsy from the dew on the grass. “Why is Cacciatori interested in the long dead Flint ?”
    “Because he was Mandatum.” Ayden flipped one file closed and shoved it in the trunk.
    I handed him more papers, noticing some of the ink was smudging, causing words to run together. “A hunter?”
    “Yes and no.” Ayden’s lips thinned. “He was a mechanic.”
    I gasped. “An assassin? Like the guy in the movie?”
    Ayden sighed. “No, a Mandatum mechanic has the ability to invent and put together mechanical…contraptions. And in Flint ’s case he could create machines way beyond what was available in the late 1800s.”
    Blake squished more papers into the box. “His old house — the high school — is rigged with all sorts of hidden doors and secret passageways. And some weird gizmos that