“You learn security systems really quickly when you’re a vigilante assassin,” Kallie said proudly. The lock clicked, and the door swung open. “We’re in.”
We hurried inside, and Oberi slipped through the door behind us. A keypad beeped as Kallie hacked it to disable the alarm system before it could notify the owners.
“Done,” she announced. “Come on. The pharmacy is this way.”
Kallie led me down the hall, and the air expanded to a huge room, like the grocery stores back home. She picked another lock and disabled the alarm system again. I entered some sort of storage area. I reached out and felt shelves, all lined with bottles.
“You and Oberi find the meds,” Kallie said. “I’ll cover the apothecary and get the ingredients on Marcus’ list, and get you your birth control. We’ll meet back at the exit in three minutes.”
“Got it,” I agreed.
Kallie fled the room, and I heard her footsteps racing down the hall. Oberi was already sniffing around, searching the shelves for the medications we needed. In husky form, he was particularly sensitive to smell, and he didn’t need to read the labels to know which meds Ava and Marcus usually took.
Here’s the lithium,Oberi said, nudging his nose at a bottle on the shelf. I felt for it and gathered several in my arms. He hurried down the aisle and found the antidepressants, along with painkillers.
The bottles were big, at least a quart each. I wanted to take as many as possible, so we didn’t run out. Whatever we didn’t need, I could sell for real cash, so I could make sure my family had whatever they needed. I’d given up drug dealing a long time ago, but I’d do it again if I had to.
That should be it,Oberi said.Let’s go.
I left the storage room, but two bottles slipped out of my arms. I knelt to pick them up, and another one slipped.
Screw this. I went to create a backpack so I could carry them that way.
An alarm squealed overhead, and my heart lurched. Everything happened so fast I couldn’t quite process it. The magic concealing my features disappeared. Oberi barked once, then came the sound of her phoenix cry.
Something’s wrong!Oberi screamed in my mind.
I felt her shift again, and Fire blazed across the bond as she became a Fire unicorn. Shelves knocked over as her form grew, and the smoothness of Water magic filled the bond. Her horn poked me, and I jumped out of the way before I could be impaled by her narwhal horn.
“Oberi, what’s happening?!” I screamed.
I can’t control it!she cried.
The bond shifted again, becoming masculine. I heard the unfurl of leather wings as he shifted. Oberi grew so large that his wyvern scales squashed me against the wall. The ceiling shook overhead, and dust rained down on me. Shelves crushed under his weight. Oberi barely fit inside the store.
The alarm came to a sudden stop. Although the room had gone silent, I could still hear the heavy pulse of my panicked heartbeat in my ears. Oberi shifted again, shrinking to the size of a husky.
“What the hell happened?” I demanded.
Some sort of magic,Oberi said.
“Yeah, I figured that,” I growled. I slung the backpack over my shoulder, the medications rattling around inside of it. “Let’s go, before it happens again.”
I started for the hall to find Kallie, but the sound of a male voice stopped me.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he sneered. He spoke in a Malovian accent, so he had to be some kind of shifter. “Hands in the air, or your girlfriend dies!”
Kallie let out a pained cry, as if the shifter had her by the hair.
I went to cast a battle spell, but Oberi barked.He’s got a dagger to her neck!
“Charlie!” Kallie cried, causing me to hesitate. She knew all too well what I’d do to this guy if given the chance. “If wekill him, we’ll attract attention from the whole supernatural community!”
“The glamour’s gone,” I seethed. “Better to leave no witnesses.”
“Kill me, and she dies with me,” the shifter threatened.
Kallie could kill him in a heartbeat, but she was right. If we left a trail of bodies, other supernaturals would come after us. We had to get out of this clean, and without anyone on our tail.
