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“What’s the score?” Ivan asked, an eager gleam in his eyes.
Lena scowled at him. “No betting.”
Holding up his hands, Ivan managed a perfectly innocent look, complete with puppy dog eyes. “Who? Me?”
They could bicker for days if no one stopped them. As luck would have it, Brandon interrupted with a groan and rubbed an already fading bruise on his arm. “Five to one, in her favor.”
As Lena and Ivan congratulated Angela and teased Brandon, Thane turned toward me with a curious look. “I thought you’d be with Kit while she opens the portals.”
“I thought so too until I got this.” I handed him the letter. “It’s from Xavier.”
Shock widened his eyes, and his expression darkened as he read it. “Are you sure it’s him?”
“I can feel it in my gut.”
“Feel what? Gas bubbles?” Lena asked by my side.
I nearly jumped out of my shoes. That was the second time she’d snuck on me. Maybe my nerves were permanently frayed.
Catching my reaction, Ivan snickered.
“That Xavier’s alive,” I said, glaring at Lena for the scare.
Thane sighed. “There’s no talking you out of this, is there?”
I wrapped my arms around his middle, hugging him tight. “Nope.”
His chuckle rumbled through me pleasantly. “Then let’s meet with a Master Vampire who’s escaped death for too long. To the armory we go.”
This man got me.
“Brandon, can you keep working with Angela while I’m gone?” he asked as the rest of us joined hands.
The reaper grimaced and nodded. “I might regret it tomorrow, but I’ll stay on my feet as long as possible.”
We left them to it, and Thane jumped us into the DEA’s armory. The check-in foyer was a closet-sized room with just enough space for our small group to squeeze inside.
Behind a bullet-proof window, a grim reaper stood from his chair and logged our names and identities, requiring us to place our hands in a biometric hand reader. Once finished, he pushed a button on his computer, and the massive steel door—missing any kind of handle, keyhole, or keypad, I noted—on our left slid open, revealing an even tinier room barely the size of a standard elevator car.
“Head on in,” he said, gesturing us through the opening. “Mr. Munro, you know the drill.”
Intrigued at the level of security required and imagining what sorts of goodies we’d find in the armory, I followed Thane with a bounce in my step. To make room for our group, I wrapped my arms around his middle and cuddled in close.
Ivan’s grin proved he was as excited as I was, but Lena’s scowling face scoured the steel walls as she pressed in. Her grip on her sword’s hilt tightened.
With the four of us squished inside the second room, the opening we’d entered slid shut and clicked with a somewhat ominous sound. Add in the lack of other doors or exits, and I was glad I wasn’t claustrophobic.
“I don’t like this,” Lena muttered, a sheen of sweat covering her forehead.
Thane grinned. “Not a fan of small spaces?”
Her gaze flicked toward me. “With this woman in here, too? Not a chance.”
A loud clanking sound came from the handleless wall before the entire thing swung open, and Thane ushered us into the armory. Only one step in, Ivan, Lena, and I stopped and stood with our mouths hanging open.
If Lena thought my penthouse’s hidden cabinet full of weaponry was impressive, it had nothing on this place.
The armory was beyond enormous, much larger than I’d expected for such a peace-loving organization. An expansive warehouse sprawled out before us, complete with an upper level running around the perimeter, much like the DEA’s training facility.
