Of Witches and Warlocks: The Complete Series

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Leaving the closet cautiously, we peered in both directions before proceeding to the right as Damien was now instructing us in our ear sets.

"Okay, end of this hallway," Vance said tersely.

"Turn to your left, and follow the next to the end," Damien's voice spoke clearly in my head. "There will be a door there, step inside it."

Vance and I moved down the hall while Damien continued to speak.

"The room you'll enter is Wellington's artifact office. You'll see several bookshelves. There's one, however, that'll house a bunch of journals. These are his field notes, and this cabinet is actually a secret doorway to a private vault. The hidden spring mechanism is behind the third book on the third shelf from the top."

"Okay," Vance acknowledge as we reached the door and entered. We glanced around the tailored space, quickly noting the bookshelf Damien spoke of. Vance activated the mechanism, and the shelf rolled to the side about two feet, revealing a hallway. "We're through," Vance added.

"All right. The vault is directly ahead of you. There's a keypad entry code to deactivate the door. The code is nine, zero, six, three, seven, four. Vance, you need to punch the code. Wellington is a fire demon, as are his guards also. The keypad is set to their touch, which will be a bit warmer like yours. Punch the code in and hold the enter button until it beeps," Damien instructed. "When you open the door, you'll find a guard stationed just inside. Vance, it's imperative you take him out before he sees you. Do not walk into the room because the rest of the space is armed with a laser sensor. Portia will need to pop over to the glass case with the torches in it. It'll be directly in the center of the room. This is where it'll get tricky. Vance, once you take out the guard you need to leave and make your way back here immediately. Portia, shut yourself into the room, being careful not to leave the area of the door. I'll tell you when Vance gets out, and then you can go to get the torches. You'll set off the alarms, so open the case and pop back to the hotel. Then return back into the ladies room here so there will be no question of your whereabouts when everything is locked down."

"I really don't like this," Vance grumbled underneath his breath. "I don't feel comfortable separating."

"So sorry, but this is the way it has to go," Damien replied wryly.

We reached the end of the hall.

"You ready?" Vance asked me, turning to squeeze my hand reassuringly.

"As ready as I'm going to be. Please be careful," I admonished him.

"I will. You too," he said, placing a kiss on my cheek, and he turned to punch in the code. As soon as it beeped, he opened the door quickly, catching the guard with his back to him. He grabbed his neck and twisted, taking him down with ease. I would've felt bad except for the fact he was a demon, so it didn't break my heart too much.

"See you in a couple of minutes," Vance said, grasping my hand one more time, before turning to head back in the direction we'd come. I watched him until he was out of sight and then closed the door behind me.

The minutes stretched in front of me like hours while I waited for Damien to give the all clear, and I almost sagged with relief when he finally spoke.

"Vance is here. It's all yours," he whispered. "Wellington!" he called out in a jovial voice. I realized he was situating himself with our host, so when the alarms went off he and Vance would have a cover.

Taking a deep breath, I centered my thoughts and popped over to the case. The alarms sounded right when I rematerialized, causing me to jump. I waved my hand over the case, lifting the glass with magic and letting it clatter to the floor with a crash. Grabbing the short set of torches, I immediately wished to be in our suite at the hotel. The vault dissolved around me and was immediately replaced by our hotel suite. I rushed into Damien's bedroom to stow them in the safe, finding it open and waiting for me. I slipped them inside and shut the door, turning the lock.