And her aunt was wrong. I was going to prevent this. Whatever her words meant.
Eddie greeted us inside the main doors of the palace. “Sir, your team has completed the first phase. When would you like to speak with them?”
“Now,” I stated.
“I’m coming with,” Ava added.
Eddie led us down a maze of hallways, and we came to a meeting room. Chatter filled the air. It sounded like Chancey, Ivy and Alistair were there, along with Kallie and Marcus, though the two of them sat at opposite ends of the table. The Elvish Associates spoke amongst themselves, but the chatter died when we entered the room. Eddie guided me to sit at the head of a large table, and Ava wheeled her chair up beside me. Oberi sat near my feet.
I crossed my hands in front of myself. “What have we learned?”
Chancey cleared his throat. “I met with Professor Amber. Since I was in your vision, we figured we might learn something from my past life. I was able to confirm through my past-life regression that I was the vampire you saw in your vision. I remember being chased, but I made it out of the crash that killed you guys. I went to Paris and got the key into a vault at theBanque Surnaturelle de Paris, but I was killed almost right after.”
Max— our tech expert— spoke up. “We hacked into the bank’s security system to confirm whether the key was still there, or if it had been moved. According to bank records, the vault Frank Coffrey placed the key into hasn’t been accessed since the day he made his deposit over a hundred years ago. There have been no security breaches, either. The key is still there. It’s the only thing inside this particular vault.”
“Excellent,” I said. “Let’s blow the roof off this place and get us a key.”
“It’s not that simple, master,” Eddie told me. “Gavyn has already surveyed the premises, and he found that the bank isn’t secured only by human technology. It’s protected by powerful wards. This bank is used exclusively by supernaturals, and themagic surrounding it is designed to protect the vault from supernatural attacks from all races.”
I shrugged. “We’re demigods. I bet their ward won’t hold against Marcus’ powers. He can break it.”
“There’s more,” Gavyn stated. “Esther and her gang of demigods have been spotted in Paris.”
“What?!” Ava demanded. “How can they possibly know where to look? The Warden has been searching for this key forever, and suddenlynowhe knows where to look?”
“We must have a mole in the castle,” Marcus panicked.
“I had a feeling somebody was spying on us,” Alistair said slyly.
“Relax,” Ivy insisted. “You know who else has info about vampire doings? My father. And Erasmus was working for him— the same guy the Warden’s men hunted down for slaughter. Erasmus knew enough about the keys to give up intel, whether he wanted to or not. Even if he didn’t know exactly where the key was, he’d know enough to give the Warden a place to start. I’m sure the Warden has been hunting the key down for months, and their clues led them to the same place ours have.”
“Regardless of how they got their intel, they’re in Paris looking for the key,” Gavyn said. “As far as we can tell, they don’t know exactly where the key is hidden. They haven’t approached the bank yet. If we go in guns blazing, we’ll alert the other demigods to our presence, and they won’t hesitate to kill us to get that key. We need to run a clean job, so that we don’t alert our enemies.”
I leaned back in my chair. “How do we do that?”
Max spoke up again, and papers rustled as she spread them across the table. “Along with bank records, we also hacked into bank surveillance. We’ve been mapping out bank processes, schedules, routines— everything we can possibly get our handson. Security is intense on both the tech side and the magic side. We’re going to have to be very strategic.”
“We’ve been discussing an undercover operation,” Eddie said. “Gavyn will be our undercover agent and get into the vault. Asa and Ares will pose as security guards in case anything goes wrong. Max will run tech surveillance from the van, while Elyx surveys from above. He’ll set up his rifles from three buildings over. If Esther and her gang show up, they’ll be dead before they can make it in the building.”
“A bullet’s not going to kill them. They’re demigods,” Marcus pointed out.
Elyx chuckled. “Mybullets will slow them down, I assure you.”
“Great,” I said. “When do we leave?”
“We still have details to work out,” Eddie replied. “We need to arrange fake IDs and disguises.”
“Kallie can do that no problem,” I stated. “Her illusion magic is powerful enough to disguise us as anyone. Plus, she can copy an ID like it’s nothing.”
“There are wards around the bank protecting it from magic like that,” Eddie pointed out.
I shrugged. “Their wards have nothing against demigods if we use simultension. Our magic just has to be stronger than theirs.”
“We can’t be sure of that,” Eddie replied. “No one’s ever done it before.”
I leaned back in my chair. “That’s because no one’s haduson their team. Get all four of us demigods in the bank, and we’ll get that key no problem.”
Eddie paused for a beat. “Um, my prince, you’re not going with the team.”
