Magic Redeemed

I popped to my feet and hitched my pants up as I felt a whisper of a breeze behind me.

“Inelegant, but effective enough I suppose,” Killian said.

“Yep. Two thumbs up for my new clothes, though!” I showed Killian my thumbs as I twirled around to face him. “It moves with me really well and offers a little more protection than my workout clothes!”

“I am glad you are so satisfied,” Killian dryly said. “And I can see, now, why it’s necessary if you plan to so artfully scale many more walls.”

I shrugged. “You’re just butthurt I got up here by myself.”

“I’m what?” Killian hissed.

“I beg your pardon, Your Eminence, but might I interrupt?” Josh called in his droll, quiet voice. He was seated at a desk across the room, his face eerily lit a bright blue by the glowing computer screen positioned in front of him. “I need to speak to Hazel.”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Might you remind me what your lockbox number is?” Josh asked as Celestina peered over his shoulder.

“It’s in Block 45, lockbox number 45228.” I drifted toward Josh and the computer as more vampires slipped in through the window.

Josh banged away on the keyboard, clicking through screens so quickly I couldn’t even tell what I was seeing. “Found it,” he said. “Looks like Block 45 is currently parked in the Sapphire Docking Bay.”

“Let’s go find it then, shall we?” Killian smirked and sauntered for the door—where Celestina was working on the office security system.

“Almost done.” She had the flashlight of her cellphone turned on and had spread a dusty substance over the number pad of the system, then typed something into her cellphone.

I stood on my tiptoes to view her phone screen. “You’re googling the security system? In the middle of a break in?”

“We didn’t know for certain what the office security system is, and I need to know how many numbers are in the combo,” Celestina said.

I turned to Killian, but he only shrugged. “Some things must be dealt with on the fly. Such is the life of a criminal.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You sound awfully sure about that. Speaking from experience, are you?”

“Definitely not.” Killian gave me his most innocent smile—which was more wolfish than angelic. “I am an honorable and upright politician. What do I know about breaking and entering?”

“Got it,” Celestina said before I could respond. She typed away on the keypad, which made a little musical noise. “And we’re in.” She opened the door and slipped through first.

Josh flicked off the computer screen and went in after her. I poked my head into the darkened hallway—which was pitch black—and barely managed to hold in a yelp when Killian scooped me up.

“You’re night blind—it will be faster this way.” He soundlessly slunk down the hallway.

“You could have warned me,” I hissed in his ear.

“And spared myself any amusement at your expense? No.”

I rolled my eyes as I slung my arm around his shoulder and tried to peer behind him. I could hear the faint footsteps of the rest of the Drake vampires trailing behind us, but I couldn’t see anything in the pervasive darkness.

Reflexively, I hunched closer to Killian.

“You are like carrying a furnace,” he grumbled.

“I’m stressed,” I said. “I’m hotter when stressed.”

“That’s a new excuse.” Killian swept through a doorway. Based on the way it echoed, and its faint smell of concrete, I was guessing this was a stairway.

My suspicions were confirmed when Killian started descending—which is a pretty jarring sensation when you can’t see anything and you’re being carried.

I was stoked when Killian reached the first floor and slipped out of the stairway and into Tutu’s ground floor.

A dim light was on in the lobby, so I could finally see my own hands—but the stairway popped us out behind some fancy iron gates that blocked the lobby from the loading station—where we were.

Tutu’s wasn’t like a normal bank. It didn’t have stationary vaults or lockboxes. Instead, vaults and lockboxes were organized in blocks. Each block moved around Tutu’s various docking bays, and when a client came in the block was summoned to a viewing area—which was located behind the massive doors Celestina and Josh were working on with their high-tech gadgets.

The client was then led to the loading station—where we were. From there clients were taken to the viewing area, but how they were taken there varied in each branch building, and changed several times a year. Like I said, dragon shifters were both paranoid and ruthless in their protection.

In our planning and strategy meetings, Killian had explained that after lobby hours closed, the system for calling the blocks into the viewing areas also closed. The blocks still moved around—which is why Josh had to look up its location ahead of time—but they were sealed off in the docking bays.

“Done,” Josh said. “The system has been disabled.”

Celestina tapped her finger on the door. “The plans said there are guards behind these doors.” She slipped her sidearm out of its holster. “Deadly force, Your Eminence?”

“No.” Killian’s breath tickled my cheek with his reply. “That will only irritate Tutu—which I’d like to avoid.”

Celestina slipped her gun back in its holster and rolled up her pant legs to grab a giant syringe. “Very well. We’ll use tranquilizers.”

She nodded to Gavino. He stalked up to the door and grabbed it from the bottom, his muscles bulging as he pulled up on it.

I squirmed in Killian’s grasp, trying to get down and lift my legs out of his grip. I only managed to make his hand slip closer to my butt which was not the direction I wanted to head in. This made me grumble, and I elbowed him as I tried to forcibly peel his fingers off my leg.

Killian tipped his head back to avoid my forehead smacking his jaw. “Stop wriggling.”

“I can see now, and I need to be ready for a fight.” I kicked my legs a little when Killian didn’t let me go.

“No kicking.” Killian tried to pry me from his neck, but I didn’t want to let him drop me in a heap, so I clung to his shoulders.

“Then let me go.”

“Stop clinging to me like a koala and I will!”

“You’re going to drop me in a pile on purpose!”

One of the vampires near us snorted in amusement. I wasn’t entirely sure who it was—it sounded like Celestina, but she had her back to us, and no one in a ten-foot radius was even looking at us.

The noise distracted Killian long enough that I was able to climb down him, reaching the floor just when Gavino-the-beefcake wrenched the door so it rolled up into the ceiling.

Waiting on the other side of the door were four giant werebears in their bear forms. They snarled with a ferocity I felt in my bones, but before they could even swat a paw, Celestina, Josh, and two other vampires were on them.

One vampire headbutted his target, another punched hers. I couldn’t see what Josh did—I was too distracted by Celestina literally slinging her werebear over her shoulder, slamming its head to the ground in a wrestling move.

The werebear instantly stilled, falling unconscious as the other vampires similarly knocked out their targets.

“I thought you were going to use tranquilizers?” I trotted through the open door and peered down at the nearest, unconscious werebear.

“We are, now.” Celestina parted the werebear’s fur and stabbed the syringe into muscle. “Tranquilizers take time to set in—at least fifteen minutes. Our initial strike will only knock them out for a few minutes. The tranquilizer contains a muscle relaxant, so even if they wake up, they won’t be able to call for help before it entirely sets in and makes them sleep again.”

“Oh,” I said. “So much for movie accuracy.”

Killian brushed past us, moving deeper into the room—which looked similar to a giant car garage with an immense track cutting right down the center. “Keep pace, Wizard.”

“There are no traps ahead,” announced one of the vampires.

I frowned as I scurried after Killian. “That seems weird, considering—”

Something clicked, and I heard the roar of distant fire.

The vampires leaped back, but I lunged forward, reaching for magic as I thrust my arms out in front of me.

My face heated with my wizard mark, and I threw my shield—forged of pure magic—up just in time to block a rushing river of fire.

Flames blazed around me. My shield flickered, but held steady as I reached out with my senses.

The floral taste of magic told me the fire came from a fae-enchanted object. I followed the magic back to the source—a crystal of some sort—then held my shield in place as I loosened a bolt of blue-hued lightning at it.

My shield actually cracked due to my split attention, but my lightning bolt was accurate and powerful, blasting the crystal to smithereens so the fire sputtered out.

“Excellent reaction time.” Celestina strode forward to stand just a little in front of me. “However, I am not a fan of this.” She pointed to the crack in my shield.

“It’s hard to keep it strengthened and use other magic,” I admitted.

She pursed her lips. “It’s something to work on. Perhaps you ought to start fighting two vampires at a time.”

“A worthy idea.” Josh joined Celestina at inspecting my fractured shield. “To ease her into it I could shoot at her while she fights.”

“That’s not easing me in at all,” I squawked. “You’re practically a sharp shooter!”

“Your reaction time is getting better.” Killian sauntered forward to add to the party. “Well done.”

“You knew the trap was there?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I was prepared to toss you if necessary. But let’s not forget the task at hand. Shall we?” He motioned to the metal track, which disappeared into darkness.