Audra didn’t have any time to waste. She put her mouth over Darius’s and inhaled, pulling the smoke from his lungs with the help of her magic. It didn’t feel great, but her body quickly cleansed the particles from the air, expelling it out cleanly in a single cough. It only took a few repetitions before he was breathing clean again. The reverse mouth-to-mouth wasn’t at all erotic, although she couldn’t help but notice that he had nice lips, full and warm.

He’d need more medical attention, but not from humans. They’d quickly notice that he wasn’t normal. That would cause more problems than it solved. But he seemed stable for now; she’d bought them some time to deal with the fire department. The alarm system would have auto-called them the minute it went off, so they’d be here any moment now. She had to work fast, and that meant leaving Darius, even though she hated to do it.

She checked on him one last time before she hurried up the stairs, closing the door behind her. It blended seamlessly into the wall, and she’d bet her upcoming vacation with Beef that not even the most observant detective would be able to find it. Uncle Grey had spared no expense in making sure that no one would stumble upon the dangerous storage room.

The magic seeded into the walls had kept the fire from spreading, but it still smelled bad upstairs. Bad enough that no one would believe this had been just a simple microwave fire. As she hurried through the building, she employed every ounce of magic she could. Earth magic to pull the particles of smoke from the air. Water magic to clean any soot that had settled on tile or glass countertops. Air to dry the water. Then she threw a bag of popcorn into the microwave and lit it with fire magic. She hit it hard enough that the inside of the microwave scorched, filling the air with the scent of burning plastic as well as corn. That would justify the alarm. Hopefully the excuse would hold.

Mere moments after she finished these simple preparations, she heard a voice at the back door. “Fire department! Anybody in there?”

“Yes!” she shouted back, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the wall and dousing the microwave thoroughly. She should have thought of it before, but hopefully the fireman couldn’t hear. “I just put it out. Should I unplug it?”

“Don’t touch anything, ma’am. Where are you?”

The deep voice grew closer as he talked, and Audra stepped out into the hallway to meet him. She tried to project an air of sheepish relief, like someone who had accidentally nearly burned down her place of business and was sorry to have troubled the fine men of the Las Vegas Fire Department. She still held the depleted extinguisher cradled in her arm like a baby. After a moment of sheepish realization, she put it down.

“You should get out of there,” said the fireman in front. He was flanked by two more firefighters in full gear and face masks. One of them took her by the elbow.

“Let’s get you outside until we’re sure it’s safe,” they said.

Audra knew that it was plenty safe for an elemental mage like her, but she couldn’t exactly say that. Instead, she let them lead her out toward the back door.

“I’m sorry to be a trouble,” she said, trying to sound sheepish. “I was working late and nodding off, so I thought I’d have a snack to wake me up. I put the popcorn in, and then I must have fallen asleep. I woke up to the alarm, and the microwave was on fire, so I sprayed the crap out of it with the extinguisher.”

“It happens,” said the firefighter. “But really, if you’re that tired, it’s better to go to sleep and finish the work in the morning. You could have lost your pawn shop over this, ma’am.”

“No kidding,” said Audra, shaking her head. “You can bet I won’t be doing that again.”

As the fireman led her out of the building, Audra cast a single glance at the secret door, which was still safely closed. Darius had given her his cell number. She’d drop him a text so he knew what was up. Hopefully he would respond so she knew he was okay.

 

It took almost an hour before the last fire truck pulled out into the street. At least Darius had responded to her texts, because if he hadn’t, Audra might have been tempted to open the secret door and check on him. But he’d reassured her that he was okay. He claimed that his accelerated shifter healing had already taken care of most of the damage, and he preferred to wait than risk normal humans finding out about the storage room. He’d understood what the room contained without her having to explain it, although she’d be willing to bet that he didn’t grasp exactly how she stored things.

She put her hand to the back of her head as she went to open the door and let him out, wishing she had a little of that accelerated healing ability herself. The bloody spot at the back of her skull throbbed. She hadn’t noticed the injury until one of the EMTs pointed it out, and she’d had to make up a flimsy story on the spot to justify it. Based on his expression, the EMT hadn’t bought it, but he couldn’t do anything about that. He strongly suggested that she get evaluated for a concussion, and she promised to do so at some unspecified time in the future. Then he offered to give her a ride right then and there, and she refused. He wasn’t happy about it, but what could he do? It was the end of the conversation, and she only hoped it wouldn’t bite her in the butt someday. They left, anyway. She thought it was about time.

When she opened the secret door, she shouted, “It’s me!” down the stairs. When he didn’t answer, she started to descend them and added, “The coast is clear.”

Darius appeared at the bottom of the long staircase, looking no worse for wear and only a little sooty. She gave him a critical once over.

“You sure you’re okay?” she said. “I still think we should get you to a shifter friendly doctor.”

He shook his head. “Nah,” he responded, his voice only a little gravelly. “That would be a big waste of money for them to tell me I’ll heal on my own. But…” He trailed off in embarrassment, looking up toward her with a sheepish expression that she found incredibly endearing after Chad’s constant cockiness.

“What?” she asked, concerned.

“I’m starving. I dropped my dinner outside when I realized the place was on fire, and healing uses up a lot of calories. Do you have anything to eat before I keel over? Sorry to be a trouble.”

“No! That’s no trouble at all. There’s a taco truck in the parking lot next door. How about I get us some?” she said.

“I can come with you.”

“Actually, I was hoping you’d stay here, since our back door is off the hinges. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” she asked, meeting his eyes. “I had to do some quick on the spot lying to excuse it.”

She wasn’t trying to give him a hard time; the question was an honest one. After he and Rebecca had left, her memory got a little spotty, and the pieces didn’t add up. But she’d knocked her head pretty hard, so that didn’t seem all that strange. The one thing she did know was that he’d risked life and limb to save her, so she felt pretty good about leaving the shop in his hands. Besides, it would only be for a moment.

“That was me,” he said. “I smelled the smoke. I thought you might be in danger. Sorry about the door, though. I can fix it for you. I broke it, so it’s my responsibility.”

The story added up with the timeline and the state of the door, as well as the bag of chicken nuggets the police had found in the parking lot. That was reassuring, although she still had a ton of questions. They were probably best answered over a snack, though, because now that he’d brought it up, she realized how long it had been since she’d had a meal.

“Let me get some food, and we can talk it all over,” she said.

He sagged against the scorched stairwell in relief or calorie-deprived weakness. “That sounds great,” he said.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, gesturing for her to follow him. She went to the office where she’d stored her purse. “You don’t have any food allergies or taco preferences, do you?”

“No allergies. And I don’t care what kind of tacos as long as you get a lot of them.” He began to reach for his back pocket. “I can cover it.”

“Nah, you just saved my life. I think I can buy you dinner.” As she reached the doorway, she turned back. “Oh, and if the cops happen to come back while I’m gone, I told them you could park your truck here while you went clubbing. So you must have just gotten back.”

“Clubbing. Right,” he said with a little smile.

“It was the best I could think of on short notice! Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”

The taco truck was parked at the gas station next door, and it didn’t take long to get the food even though she tripled her usual order. Pilar, the owner, was clearly curious about all of the emergency vehicles that had been at the shop, but she seemed to accept Audra’s flimsy explanations. The whole thing took less than ten minutes, but by the time she returned, Darius was standing in front of the broken back door with a tape measurer and a clipboard, taking down the dimensions.

“You don’t take directions very well, do you?” she asked, smiling to take the edge off the question.

“What?” he replied, wearing what was beginning to become a very familiar expression of apology.

“I told you to sit tight. You’re supposed to be recuperating, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine. Besides, we can’t leave your business open overnight. If it’s okay with you, I’ll board it up tonight and be here first thing in the morning with a new door. This is a standard size, so I can pick one up no problem.”

She laughed. “That sounds good, but if we don’t go inside and eat these, I might snarf yours down too. And maybe the chicken nuggets that were left on the pavement too. I’m starving.”

He needed no other urging. Soon, they were sitting at the break room table, and the smell of salsa and warm tortillas filled the air. For a while, the room was silent except for the sound of chewing, but it was a strangely comfortable silence.

Finally, Darius came up for air. He’d put down a half dozen tacos in a very short amount of time, followed by two cans of Coke, before he even began to slow down. But as he selected another carne asada taco from the pile and began to unwrap it, he said, “So what happened?”

Audra shook her head gently, trying not to make it hurt any worse than it already did.

“I don’t really know. I can’t remember much. I was working in the vault where I store all of the dangerous stuff. I remember starting to work the magic to seal up the lamp. It’s very complex, and I have to block everything out in order to work it. And then…I think I fell. I remember a sensation of falling, and pain. Maybe I hit my head on one of the shelves or something. I must have lit the fire myself as I lost consciousness. I haven’t lost control like that in ages, but if I was knocked senseless, it could happen.”

“Let me see your head.”

Darius stood up and came around the table. His hands were surprisingly gentle as he probed at her skull. They felt surprisingly smooth and warm, and huge. He could have palmed her entire head in one hand like a basketball. For some reason, that thought amused her. Maybe that was the head injury at work.

“If anyone needs medical attention, it’s you,” he said. “You probably have a concussion.”

“That’s what the EMT told me,” she grumbled. “I’ll see a doctor soon, but I’m not happy about it. I strongly think that Vegas needs some kind of magical healer person.”

“I’m sorry?” He sounded amused.

“You know, a healer. Some hippie looking chick in a long flowing gown who makes vague statements about peace on earth and puts her hands on you, and then whatever is wrong with you magically fixes itself. Like in just about every 80s fantasy film. But you’re probably not a weird movie buff like me.”

“Oh, I love movies.”

“Me too.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, and Audra began to think with dawning horror that he might be about to ask her out. The most horrific thing about that thought was that she wasn’t sure what she’d say. She’d sworn off dating, after all, and it would be really pitiful of her not to be able to keep that vow for a full 24 hours. But maybe, just maybe Darius was better than the lowlifes she’d picked in the past. What if she turned him down, and then it turned out that she lost the only opportunity she’d get to be with a decent guy for once?

Then he said, “Is the lamp okay?”

It wasn’t what she expected at all, and she closed her mouth with an audible click, biting off whatever she’d been about to say. She wasn’t entirely sure.

“I don’t know. I suppose I should check.”

“Okay.”

He began to put sour cream on his taco, like he expected her to just get on with things while he was sitting there. Normally, Audra preferred silence and solitude when she worked her magic, and she almost asked him to leave until she thought of what had happened in the storage room. No, it would be better for him to stay. He’d probably been thinking of protecting her all along. Even if she had to be protected from her own klutziness. She wasn’t usually that careless, but then again, she’d had a rough day. Being a little distracted seemed reasonable given the circumstances.

She stood up and stepped back from the table. Strangely, she found herself narrating to him as she began to draw on her magic. It made her feel better, knowing he was there.

“So I use void magic to store the most dangerous artifacts. You can think of it as opening a pocket dimension and putting the artifact safely inside. The only way to get to them is through a tether that attaches the dimension to this world. I tether all of my artifacts to myself and to the storage room. My uncle did the same thing, so that when he died, I was still able to access all of the things he hid away via the storage room.”

“That’s smart,” murmured Darius.

Audra closed her eyes, feeling for the tethers. On a normal day, she wasn’t aware of them at all. They had no weight to speak of, nothing to stimulate her magical senses. They were, after all, made of nothingness. That was the essence of void magic. But if she focused her senses, she could feel them as ribbons of nothingness in her thoughts, like balloons tied to her wrists. And Uncle Grey had taught her to mark each one with a trickle of energy to help figure out what artifacts were where. Sometimes she had to look into the pocket dimension to be sure, especially with things she hadn’t stored herself, but usually it was enough.

This time, she could sense the balloons, but it felt like they floated just out of reach. Her head hurt badly, and she couldn’t concentrate. Maybe she’d completed the process and the lamp was safely out there, but she just couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wilting with exhaustion. “I just can’t tell. Too much magic slinging, and my head is killing me. I need to rest before I can look. But really, it should be fine. If it’s not in the storage room, then of course it’s in the void.”

“Well, then,” he replied briskly. “I guess you’ll have to check in the morning when I get here to fix the door. We’ll board it up now and get you to bed.” She began to open her mouth, but he cut her off. “No excuses. I know you’re capable, but right now you’re injured and I’m not. You need to rest, and I don’t. Let me do this for you. Please.”

After a moment, she nodded. Letting Darius take care of her didn’t break her vow not to get involved with the man. She would still keep him at arm’s length. Besides, it felt good to have him there. She wasn’t willing to examine her feelings on the matter any further. It wasn’t like she was going to act on them, even if she had any. Which she didn’t.

Honest.