“He hid behind his Magic Council shield,” Sera told her.

Naomi glanced back at the group of mages. “He’s on the Magic Council?”

“Yes,” Sera grumbled.

“You look like you’re regretting saving them.”

“Yes.”

The manager in the blue blouse stepped in front of them. Her neat bun had come undone, and her pantyhose were torn. She looked like she’d just survived a night of hell. Maybe the centaurs and the vampires had been too much for her.

“You don’t usually get monster attacks here, do you?” Naomi asked, her smile sympathetic.

The woman brushed down her expensive skirt and made a solid attempt at standing tall. Her messy clothes and broken heels somewhat diminished the effect.

“This is not a fighting pit,” she said stiffly, sweeping her hand across the trashed store. “Who is going to pay for all this?”

Sera pointed at the mages. “Talk to those guys. They have jurisdiction.”

The manager hustled off to the mages. She actually looked relieved. Sera hoped Mr. Silverhead wasn’t nasty to the poor woman. She wanted to hear how they were going to fix her store, not eloquent speeches about ‘serving the Magic Council’.

“First centaurs, then vampires,” Naomi said as they stepped outside. “What do you think this was all about? And why do monsters always attack wherever you are?”

Kai had told Sera magic was a monster-attracting beacon, but she wasn’t going to take the blame for this one.

“The vampires were after those mages. No, that one mage. Mr. Jurisdiction,” she said. “We were just in the wrong place at the right time.”

“Or the right time to save their asses.”

“Yes.”

“And the centaurs?”

Sera shrugged. “Bad luck. I don’t think they have anything to do with the vampires.”

“Those vampires were acting weird,” Naomi said. “Well, the four armored ones, anyway. The others were just common vampires caught up in bloodlust.”

“They were the distraction so the other four could take out Silverhead. No, not just the distraction. The cover. Someone was controlling the vampires. I bet you a tub of double chocolate ice cream that they wanted to make that mage’s death look like a random casualty.”

“I’m not taking that bet,” Naomi said. “This whole thing is as fishy as a Wizard House Pizza Seafood Special. It’s too bad the mages wouldn’t let you take a piece of that magic-proof armor. It might be able to lead us to whoever is behind this.”

Sera pulled a knob out of her pocket. “I might have swiped a piece of armor.”

Naomi’s eyebrow twitched. “You stole it from right under Mr. Snooty’s nose?”

“Sure. And if he hadn’t been so busy waxing poetic on the joys of serving the Magic Council, he would have noticed too.” Sera rolled the knob between her fingers. With the magic-nullifying effect of the armor broken, it smelled an awful lot like burning plastic. “I need to get this to Kai.”

“Why?”

“Because I think the armor is from Drachenburg Industries.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Trove

SERA GAVE HER closet a wary look. The shopping trip had been a bust, which left her back at square one. Sure, she’d insisted to Kai that she had plenty of clothes that wouldn’t get her turned away from Trove, but she’d also been totally lying. She actually was having trouble finding something that wasn’t denim, dirty, leather, torn, bloody, full of monster gore, or designed for military warfare. What did the magical elite have against denim anyway? Even Kai wore jeans, and he was practically perched at the top of their silly hierarchy.

“Maybe I’ll just wear my running suit,” she muttered as she pushed all her jeans to one side of the closet.

Her stomach growled in response. Lunch with Riley and Kai felt like weeks ago. Probably because in the last few hours, she’d fought through centaurs, vampires, and Cutler. And she’d had to put up with a mage from the Magic Council. Stupid Mr. Snooty Pants. She’d rather have fought more monsters.

After the ill-fated shopping trip, she’d gone back to the hotel for a nap. She probably should have gone to Kai right away and shown him the armor piece, but she was too tired to deal with him right now.

Her stomach rumbled again. Apparently, the sandwich she’d snarfed down after showering hadn’t been enough to satisfy it. Well, it would just have to wait its turn.

Sera wished Alex were here to help her pick out something to wear—or at least mock Trove’s snooty clientele with her. She would have settled for Riley, except her brother was off exploring the city tonight. Maybe he’d meet a nice girl, one with zero drama. And with no monsters in her closet.

Sera sighed and returned her attention to her own closet’s paltry offerings. Right now, she would have killed for a monster or two in her closet. Anything to get her out of this latest assignment. Trove. Bah. A midnight fight at the pier was suddenly looking really appealing.

Sera’s phone dinged, telling her she had five minutes to get her butt in gear and leave the hotel. She grabbed a skin-tight red shirt and a pair of even tighter black pants, a little outfit Naomi had picked out for her from the hotel store. Sera had been avoiding the outfit because she knew it would make her look like a streetwalker, but it was the only thing she had that might satisfy Trove’s stupid dress code. Staring into her closet for the next five minutes wouldn’t change that.