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“What’s happening?” North asks.
I feel the glass. “There must be a spell that prevents me from phasing through,” I answer. Shit. We didn’t know about this before, we didn’t learn about it when we were scoping it out earlier.
Fuck.
CHAPTER16
“Okay, new plan.” My mind is scrambling. “We’re going to go up to the roof instead.”
There will be protection spells up there to prevent people landing, but Cain can dispel them. We land nicely, and I swivel my head, searching for the roof access door.
When I spot it, I grin.Okay, time for some lock picks.
Heading over to the door, I kneel down and get to work. These lockpicks are slightly modified, I had someone cast a spell on them a few years ago that means when I undo the regular door lock, I also undo any magical enchantments that have been put on the door so that it’s two birds with one stone.
“Impressive,” Cain says.
North is grinning at me proudly. I grin back at all three of them, even as my stomach flips with nerves. We didn’t know about the phase-proof windows, even though we did all that reconnaissance. What else might we not know about?
I hold my breath as the lock clicks and the door slides open, but there’s no alarm that goes off. Unless there’s a silent one.
Don’t worry about that,I tell myself. No use thinking about things I don’t know about and can’t control.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Let’s go.”
I get up and we all head down the stairs for a few flights until we reach the floor that’s supposed to be for supernaturals. “Okay. Here we are.”
“You can do it,” Cain whispers.
Once again, I have to find the door and pick open the lock. I swear I don’t breathe the entire time. I can feel the presence of the men at my back, reassuring, believing in me. I don’t want to let them down, but I’m also glad that they’re here. It’s nice not having to do this alone.
The door’s hidden, but if we do a revealing spell, I’m sure an alarm will be tripped, so I have to feel for it the old fashioned way. Then I have to find the lock on it and pick it the right way.
I’ve done this before, though. I can do it again.
I work carefully, and I don’t let my nerves make me hesitate or move too quickly. Smooth and steady, that’s how you do it. When I feel the lock click into place, and the door swing open, my hands start shaking with adrenaline and relief.
There’s no alarm that goes off, thank fuck. I can feel the men releasing the breath they were holding.
“Let’s get into position,” North whispers.
We all slide into the room, closing the door behind us. Time to get into position.
The lights are all off, but I can just make out the outlines of the various vaults and stations for the supernatural items. It’s kind of like a museum, with items in glass cases on top of pedestals. Some even seem to have plaques that explain what the item is. Except I don’t think anyone’s ever allowed in here just to look around for fun. It’s more to keep anyone who needs to come in here informed and to make sure that nothing’s mislabeled because you know. That might go poorly.
The main entrance is across the room from us, so we take up positions. Raven and North get on either side of the door so they can close it and jump him. Cain and I hide behind some larger cases that have a large cloth covering over them, almost like what you would put over a birdcage at night to help your bird go to sleep.
But I’m guessing that Donovan’s going to want to go after something in the big vault that’s against the wall. I could maybe break into that thing if you gave me an hour and time for research beforehand. But even if it wasn’t magically defended, just all those feet of steel would be a problem. To this day, even with all of our magic and our technology, just a solid vault or safe made out of steel is the best way to hide valuables.
The door opens, and Donovan enters. He grins down at the Immortal Key in his hand, and I have to unclench my jaw as I realize that I’m grinding my teeth. I know that giving him the key was the choice that the men made to help me and that they don’t regret it, but Donovan took that key and then turned me in to Roanac. He didn’t fight fair. So why should he get to keep the damn key that’s so important to my men, that was once their insurance policy?
He looks up and over at the vault, his eyes gleaming unnatural and red in the darkness. There’s no doubt about his vampiric nature right now, with the way his eyes are glowing.
North slowly reaches across behind Donovan’s back to get a grip on the door handle and close it behind him. But before he or Donovan can do anything, an alarm blares.
The foghorn noise fills the room, and I wince. A lot of burglar alarms are silent ones that alert law enforcement, but others are loud and obnoxious so that the burglar will get scared and upset and run off in a panic, or be too disoriented to do anything.
But shit, what set off the alarm? It can’t have been the Immortal Key. The whole point of it is that it doesn’t set off alarms, it just unlocks anything you want it to. Unless…
