“I’ll kill her,” I warned, and I pushed the barrel of the gun against Ava’s temple. She let out a pitiful whimper.
“Go ahead,” he sneered. “She means nothing to me.”
There was another explosion from outside. It boomed over the ceiling and shook the building. People screamed, and I became paralyzed as I felt magic wash off of me like sludge.
I realized that the illusions disguising our identities had fallen. The Union must’ve cast a spell around the bank to wash away all traces of magical influence. The magic was so strong it destroyed even the effects of my grandfather’s potion.
If the spell was that powerful, only another demigod could cast it. That meant Esther was nearby, if her whole team wasn’t here already. The hostages gasped as they recognized Ava’s face from the wanted posters lining the wall. The ruse was up.
Ava knew how to fall safely. I pretended to shove her aside, and she made a show of collapsing dramatically while I kicked the vampire in the stomach. He let out a grunt, and I growled, “I don’t think you realize I’m not fucking around. We’re not leaving until we get what we came for, so we can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”
“I can’t get into this fucking vault!” Kallie screamed through the com. “The combination isn’t taking!”
Screw this.The whole plan was taking way too long. We needed to get into that vaultnow.
“You think I haven’t done worse than this little game you’re playing? You’re not as tough as you think you are,” the vampire sneered, and he rose to his feet. Around me, the guards began to approach.
“Freeze! Nobody move!” Marcus bellowed. He fired off more shots, and a few people screamed. I heard a couple of spells being blasted toward me, and I had to duck as a fireball singed my shoulder.
The vampire I’d been speaking to took his chance to deliver a punch to my face that nearly knocked me out. It wasn’t as strong as I was expecting— probably because the noxite doors around the bank were weakening people’s magic. I fell over, landing heavily on my side. I pulled myself together and siphoned his strength so I could remain conscious. I got to my feet and faced him. He went to hit me again, but I shoved him downward as roughly as I could, knocking his feet out from under him.
The guards had gotten bold, and we couldn’t have that, so I decided they needed to learn a lesson. Once I got the vampire off of me, I immediately siphoned the shifter powers of the dragon that I’d shot earlier, and I began to morph. Scales formed on my skin. My body began to grow, filling up the lobby. I was gigantic, and I couldn’t see where I was going, so I was smashing countertops, furniture and registers trying to turn within the lobby.
Cries of terror could be heard all throughout the bank. Spells that guards fired bounced off my sides, and I heard the vampire that had been below me seconds earlier give a loud scream. I didn’t even have to think about it before I lunged my fangs out.
His terrified yells were instantly cut off as I crunched him in my jaws. His body separated, and I let the two pieces of his deformed, mangled corpse fall to the floor. Wails shook the walls, and I heard the other guards fall over and crawl backward as they desperately tried to get away from me.
I shifted back. My chest heaved as I yelled, “Did you see what I did to him?! Do you want to join him?”
A few of the bank patrons began sobbing. Then I felt something strange and foreign…
Ava’s slight disgust.
But I barely registered it, because there were so many other powerful emotions coursing through me. Soft steps moved forward, and a woman said, “We’ll do it. My coworker and I. We’ll get you into the vault. Just don’t hurt anyone else.”
I smirked. “Good decision. Let’s go.”
I reached forward to grab her, then pushed her in the direction of the vault, jamming the pistol into her back. Marcus walked forward to control the other employee, while Ava hoisted herself back into her chair.
“We’re taking these hostages!” I yelled. “As some of you have already found out, we’ve put a shield around the bank, and not a damn one of you is strong enough to break our magic. Anybody who tries isn’t walking away from this!”
Nobody dared to reply.
Once we were back in the hallway and out of sight of the lobby, I couldn’t help it. I ripped off my facemask, leaned down and kissed Ava as roughly as I could. This wassucha fucking thrill.
“Charlie.” Ava laughed, pushing me away.
“You were a beautiful little actress,” I hushed, and I kissed her hair.
“As long as you liked my performance,” she murmured, and kissed me back.
The employees we’d taken hostage didn’t say anything. They knew we’d played them, but they were under our control now, so there wasn’t anything they could do that could help them except comply with our orders.
“About damn time you showed up,” Kallie complained as we approached the vault. “Can we hurry up and get out of here?”
I nudged the pistol into the spine of the woman in front of me. “Go ahead. Just open up the vault, so we can get what we came for. Then my friends, myself and my sweetheart will be on our way.”
The woman walked forward slowly. She and her co-worker approached the vault. I heard some technical noises before the spinning mechanism on the vault’s door audibly opened.
