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Two levels of guns, blades, and weapons I didn’t even have a word for, along with every type of armor imaginable. There were even cannons and rocket launchers behind a thick steel gate locked with a top-of-the-line keypad, and I was sure it was encrypted with magic, too.
My fingers itched to break that lock, but I wasn’t a thief anymore.
Besides, Adam would likely give me the code if I asked, which kinda took the fun out of the breaking-in fantasy.
“You’ve been holding out on me,” I accused Thane.
His smirk sent shivers down my spine, though the sheer sexiness of all those deadly blades and bullets might have added to the effect. “I need to keep some secrets to impress you.”
Lena stepped farther inside, turning around and craning her neck like Belle in the castle library, taking it all in. “I’ve died and gone to Dazhbog’s hearth, haven’t I?” She held up a hand before anyone answered. “No need to agree. Just leave me in my happy place.”
Laughing, I browsed my way over to some racks of wooden supplies I’d noticed as soon as we walked in, Thane close behind me. I stopped at the row of custom wrist bows that would launch tiny stakes at their targets. I’d worn a similar one during a previous encounter with vampires.
“Did Kit make all those?” I asked, pointing.
Thane grinned. “She sold the design to the DEA after word got out about the one you used.”
“That girl was doing charity work helping me out with my jobs.” I shook my head, slipped one off the rack, and held it to my wrist. “I always knew she could make plenty of money from her ideas.”
“It’s not the first design Adam’s purchased from her,” he said as he helped me secure the straps. His mere touch spread warmth through my limbs, relaxing my nervous energy, always grounding me.
Along with the bow, I added a few sharpened stakes and a gun that had been custom retrofitted to shoot wooden bullets. Perusing the bottom shelf, which mainly contained shoes and boots, I gasped. I pulled out a pair of ankle-high, black leather boots with two chunky metal buckles and held them up.
Flicking a button on the heels, small wooden points jutted out from the toes. A simple heel tap on the buckles would activate these bad boys.
“A Kit original,” Thane said, seeing the awe on my face.
I scowled at him. “You’ve both been holding out on me.”
Besides the weaponry and my shiny new pair of boots, we added metal cuffs around our necks and major arteries. Except for Thane, who could now activate his dragon scales at will.
There was no way to protect our entire phoenix bodies against a vampire’s bite, not without a chain mail bodysuit, which I was not wearing. Talk about uncomfortable. Still, not immediately bleeding out would be a bonus, even if we could resurrect.
Coming back to life sounded cool, but it could be such a hassle, mainly because we resurrected as Mother Mokosh made us—buck naked.
When we finished adding everything we could think of (plus a few extras for fun), we left the armory. Lena cast a forlorn look behind her shoulder before the steel wall slammed shut, trapping us inside the tiny room again. The lock engaged with a resounding click.
I laughed. “I’m sure we can come back and play another day.”
Her face lit up. “Promise?”
* * *
Xavier had requested a meeting at noon, so Thane and I realm walked to Brickell City Centre’s underground parking garage at precisely 12:00. That was a huge benefit to realm walking—no more late arrivals.
Although, it also meant no more fashionably late arrivals unless I did it on purpose, which I definitely enjoyed doing when wearing couture.
Ivan and Lena had shifted into falcon form a few minutes before we arrived and hid among the piping lining the ceiling. They stayed far enough away not to attract attention, yet close enough to provide backup.
They would inch closer once the bloodsucker showed up, but I’d made it very clear I wanted the kill.
Pouty Veronica was not a pretty sight.
Because we were in downtown Miami on a weekday, cars filled just about every parking spot. We had no way of knowing how Xavier would arrive, so we stood in a corner with our backs to the windowless walls. Usually, that would sound like a recipe for disaster—cornered with a Master Vampire—but not with Thane’s instant teleportation ability.
If only I’d gained his ability through our soul link.
I wasn’t sure if realm walking was a genetic trait, but I would keep my fingers crossed our kids would inherit it. Butterflies danced in my stomach—our kids.
