I chuckle softly, tucking my hand into his arm. “Not exactly. But she’s said we’re welcome to come and look in her storeroom to see if there might be anything we could tweak or that might work.”
“Then lead the way,” he says. “Having the shield up all the time is taking it out of you, isn’t it, love?” The endearment seems to slip out without him meaning it to, if the way his eyebrows shoot up is anything to go by.
I nod and squeeze his fingers. “Yeah, it’s exhausting.”
“I’m sorry.” He pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me for a moment. A hug is exactly what I need right now. Dante holds me until Zeph lets out a disgruntled grumble and I snort, pulling away.
“Sorry you’ve been burning through your energy to shield the two of us,” Dante adds.
I shrug. “I’m used to working by myself, so it’s been nice to have company.” Even with the tension between the two of them, it has felt good to not have to do everything alone.
“And to force the two of us together, eh?” Dante says softly, like he knows my game.
That earns another, slightly sheepish shrug from me. What can I say? I need the two of them to get along, and the only way that’s going to happen is if they get to know each other. And sure, maybe shoving them into a dusty corner and expecting them to get along is a big ask. But we don’t know how much time we have left before the vamps strike again and I don’t want to waste that time with them at each other's throats.
It’s about a ten-minute walk before we reach what looks like the quintessential magical supply store. The air inside smells strongly of herbs and incense, enough to make my nose twitch. The ceiling also seems lower than it ought to be and there is an assortment of twigs hanging down, along with far too many shelves for the small space. I bet Luna would love this place.
Zeph lets out a displeased rumble as he awkwardly makes his way along, narrowly avoiding knocking jars and boxes to the floor as he goes, and I try not to laugh at his discomfort.
The shop owner then pulls me aside and shows the entrance to the storeroom, and reiterates that everything is for sale. “For the right price.”
She winks and pats me on the back. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t this friendly the last time I saw her, but then again, I wasn’t offering a bunch of cash back then. Sometimes money is all you need for people to stop acting like a rude asshole. Which tells you everything you need to know about them.
We head through a doorway that’s obscured from view by a pile of boxes. The three of us then head down into the room that lies beneath the store. It’s just as cluttered down here, a mess of boxes and crates and yet more shelves covered in jars.
Zeph gives an unimpressed grunt. “How the hell are we going to find anything useful down here?”
“She said we might find something to the right of the staircase by the wall. Apparently a lot of this is items she couldn’tshift and then some of it’s stuff you have to make a special request for which people never bothered to pick up.”
“Huh.” He starts to sift through the boxes that lie to the right of the stairs while Dante presses a kiss to the top of my head and joins the search.
“There’s a bunch of shit here,” Zeph comments, pulling things out of boxes and stacking them on a nearby shelf. “Look, they have journals with protective wards, a bunch of pre-mixed potions, and those weird enchanted glow sticks I remember from when I was a kid. No idea how any of this might be useful, though.”
Dante’s busy sorting through some more of the nearby boxes. “Looks like there’s also a bunch of enchanted glasses in here. Maybe they’ll help us read faster?”
“Need reading glasses, old man?” Zeph snarks and my vamp chuckles under his breath. The three of us then rummage around quietly for a few minutes, every so often pulling out anything that might be useful.
“How about this?” Zeph asks, holding a bright pink box in his hands. “You reckon one of the twins would like this Pretty Princess jewelry set?”
“Cute.” I step forward and grin at the box before cocking my head to one side with a thoughtful hum. “It says on here you can imbibe one amulet with a spell and the others will mimic it, ‘so you and all your friends can match!’”
“You already look pretty enough, Silver,” he grunts.
I roll my eyes, feeling my cheeks heat. “Thanks, sugar bear. I wasn’t thinking of using it for that, though.”
“Are you thinking it might absorb the shielding magic?” Dante asks. “That would mean all of us could be protected from Ember’s snooping.”
“It’s not exactly an anti-telepathy hat, but it could be close.”
“And it would mean you wouldn’t be stuck with the two of us all the time.”
“Would mean that we could explain what we’re doing to Ro, too. At least that’d make him quit asking about it. He’s been driving me crazy all week,” Zeph grumbles.
I grin and start grabbing everything that looks even semi-useful, piling them into my arms.
“Let’s take the pre-mixed potions and enchanted glasses, too. You never know what might come in handy.”
