He was rewarded with another kiss, slow and sweet.
“Come to my maker’s ball on this Midwinter’s Eve,” Nicolo said. “As my date.”
He sucked in a deep breath, excited and nervous. A vampire ball in the Bloodclan Tower? How could he resist?
“I’d love to,” Camden breathed out, touched.
“I must warn you, Priscilla has a flair for the dramatic. It will not be boring.”
“I’m intrigued. I can’t wait to go.”
Camden
Achilles and Nicolostayed at the shop for his entire shift, talking in the break room for hours. Camden even got to show Nicolo around the shop, giving him a tour of the more unique items, like an enchanted troll skull that forecasted the weather, a crimson dragonscale brooch that created a shield for its wearer, and a pair of wedding rings that let the wearers know the emotional state of their partner.
Nicolo was especially interested in the weapons section of the shop, lingering over the display case that took up a generous section of one of the walls, full of axes, maces, a spear, and many swords and daggers from regions and eras all over the world.
Camden was delighted by Nicolo, the vampire having buckled the gifted sword to his hip, one hand on the pommel in a gesture of long habit, and he navigated the shop with elegant ease, moving as if the sword was an extension of his body. The scabbard and belt were part of the gift, as enchanted as the sword to ignore the ravages of time and use, the leather and bronze as pristine as the day they were tooled into existence.
The shop got busy near the end of his shift, and he was occupied with customers when Achilles and Nicolo both headed for the front doors, alert and wary.
“Camden, get the customers into the storage room,” Achilles said loudly, and Camden blinked at him in surprise before hiseyes registered a cluster of people outside the glass doors, and his ears heard the dull thuds of a sledgehammer on the glass. There was the roar of an engine, and he saw the shadow of a large vehicle backing up onto the sidewalk and heading right for the doors.
It was a robbery attempt. Camden hurried to the nearest POS station and reached under the counter, hitting the silent alarm before running out from behind the counter and heading right for his two customers.
“Oh Goddess, come with me right now.” Camden gathered the two customers with him, thankful nothing was out of the cases unprotected, and herded the customers into the storage room. The storage room was the safest room in the building, equipped with a layer of spells that acted as a panic room in cases just like this—he urged the two customers to sit in a pair of antique chairs from 16th-century France. “Please stay here, it’s safe.”
“What’s going on?”
“Robbery attempt. I hit the silent alarm, the police are coming. Stay in this room.” Camden jogged out of the storage room, shutting the door behind him, and he activated the security spells with a slap to the wall by the door and a surge of energy. Shields rose over the walls and doors as the wards activated. Only Achilles or Camden or another employee could take them down. It would take a serious amount of power and time for the shields to be broken by sheer force, and most robbers didn’t have that kind of time or power.
Camden hurried to the front of the shop, the sound of the sledgehammers growing stronger, sending vibrations through the soles of his shoes. The rear of what appeared to be a truck was pushing into the doors, two men with hammers on either side of the truck bed attacking the doors as well.
Achilles and Nicolo turned as he joined them, Darrell standing in front of the doors, his gun out and pointed at the floor, ready.
“Camden, go back to the storage room, you’ll be safe in there,” Achilles ordered him, shaking his head.
Camden glared fiercely at his friend and Achilles blinked in surprise. “No. I’m not abandoning any of you. I hit the silent alarm, the police are coming.”
“No time for arguments,” Nicolo drew his sword, his grip steady and sure, gaze returning to the glass doors. “They’ve got some kind of magic helping them. The wards are about to fail on the doors.”
“Shit,” Achilles swore, and he gently pushed Camden back from the doors. “Shield yourself, now.”
Camden didn’t argue, hands up, a shield forming around him in a rush of emerald green energy. Thankfully, the entrance to the shop was free of display cases and he was able to raise a substantial shield around himself without any gaps or inclusions.
“How long until the police arrive?” Nicolo asked, the cacophony of bangs growing louder as the exterior doors began to cave in, glass and metal cracking and warping. Sparks from the ward spells misfiring and failing illuminated the figures of the dark-clad robbers wielding the hammers.
“Sir, they should be here by now,” Darrell said without taking his gaze from the robbers breaking their way inside the shop. “Something’s wrong.”
Achilles whipped out his smartphone and checked it, fingers flying over the screen. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“What?” Camden asked, even more alarmed. He’d never seen Achilles so frazzled.
“They must have a jammer. I’ve got no signal, no way to check the shop’s security app. The wi-fi is gone, too. I thinkthey jammed everything. I don’t think the alarm worked; the cops would be here by now if it had. They’ve got a four-minute response time.”
“Shit,” Camden breathed out. He was suddenly terrified.
“Tesoro,” Nicolo gave him a soft smile as he looked over his shoulder, sword at the ready. “Breathe. We three will protect you, I promise.”
