“No, we don’t,” Ava agreed. “Which means we have to move fast. The key is in a vault in the middle of the bank.”
“You’re sure we won’t trigger the alarms?” Chancey asked.
“We shouldn’t, but just case any alarmsaretriggered, Kallie has worked with tech before in her assassin days,” Ava said. “She’ll be on stand-by to disable the alarms if needed. As for magical alarms, Marcus can break those wards. However, that’s going to alert the supernatural authorities, so we want to avoid resorting to that if at all possible.”
“And if we trigger a fail-safe like Eddie talked about?” Chancey asked, before mimicking the sound of an explosion.
“We won’t,” I stated simply. “The Elvish Associates wanted to pull off a clean job, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
What’s my job?Oberi asked impatiently.
“Oberi will accompany Charlie inside the bank,” Ava continued. “Charlie will be posing as a security guard, and Oberi will be his police dog. Charlie’s job is to step in if any bank employees don’t want to play nice. We’ll all have earpieces sothat Charlie can direct us. Once we have the vampire key, we’ll quietly head back to our vehicles and portal home.”
“Can Kallie portal two vehicles without being spotted?” Ivy wondered.
“We’ve already got an alleyway near the bank staked out, and it should be safe to portal there without being spotted,” I said. “I’m bringing a pocket mirror, just in case we need to use one to leave quickly.”
“And all of us will have our guns on us at all times,” Kallie said. “Just in case things go south.”
My pistol was holstered to the side of my body, underneath my suit jacket. The others were all hiding their weapons in similar places, just in case we needed them.
Ava unfurled a large piece of paper over the coffee table. “I’ve got blueprints of the bank. Listen carefully, because we can’t mess this up.”
We went over our plan one more time. I was confident we could pull this off.
“Charlie and I are going to put illusions on everyone, to disguise our features,” Kallie said. “Together, our magic should be enough to hold once we enter the ward perimeter. That way even if we get caught, people aren’t going to recognize us.”
Kallie and I used simultension to combine our illusion magic. The two different types of power melded together and settled over the entire group like a blanket of dust, save for Marcus, who needed to be himself in order for the transformation potion he was taking to work. I didn’t notice much of a difference, except my skin itched.
“Can’t recognize any of you,” Chancey said. “You all look different.”
“That’s the point.” Ava checked the clock. “Time to go.”
I snagged a pocket mirror from our room, and then waited by the door. “Come on, Alistair,” I murmured. It was past the timewe’d planned to pull off the distraction. Eddie would be coming this way any moment, and other guards constantly patrolled the palace at all hours. Alistair needed to hurry up.
A loudboomsounded, and the quake of a room exploding several floors down shook the entire palace. I heard the stomping boots of guards as they rushed down to investigate, and I smiled. Alistair had volunteered to create a distraction so we could slip out, as he was more than willing to experiment with the newest spell he’d created. It was a curse that caused multiple geysers to open up in the floor, spewing poison every time they erupted. Whoever touched the poison would get insatiable munchies, and all they’d become obsessed with was finding snacks… which would be a problem, because all the snacks were in the kitchen. The geysers would continue opening up, making everyone in the palace very hungry and not at all willing to work on solving the problem until they’d been fed.
That should keep them busy for a while,I thought, before gesturing to the team to follow me.
The halls were now devoid of guards, and we snuck down to the royal parking garage. I knew we had to move, because the second people noticed I was missing, the royal guard would start looking for me.
Ava, Oberi, and I got into her car, while the others piled into a van. The vehicles roared to life. I rested my elbow on the open window, and the air shifted as Kallie’s portal bloomed in front of us.
Ava revved the engine. “Ready to rob a bank?”
A wide smile spread across my face, and I leaned over to kiss her neck. “Love, I was born ready.”
Ava shifted into drive, and the tires squealed as we took off. My heart surged in excitement. The adrenaline rush felt so familiar, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the thrill of breaking the law.
The temperature dropped a few degrees as we passed through the portal, and the sounds of Paris filled the air. Birds chirped, and voices from the street drifted in through the open window. I smelled fresh bread, and the sounds of conversation hovered over the space. In the distance, someone played an accordion. The morning sun touched my skin, and it was warm and refreshing.
Tires crunched through the alleyway behind us, and I knew the van had made it through. The portal closed, and Ava pulled out onto the street. She gave a gleeful laugh as she revved the engine.
“Hey now,” I warned. “Let’s not attract any more attention than we need to.”
Ava snickered. “Why not make an entrance?”
It’d been a long time since I’d seen her this excited. To think, all we needed to do was rob a bank to make her happy. I was enjoying every second of this.
