Malcolm and Molly Mitchell had names faker than Molly’s neon pink hair. Malcolm ogled Sera’s chest long enough to make the case for siblings, at least until he glanced at Molly and raised both eyebrows.
“Too big,” was Molly’s cryptic response, “unless you want me to give up bow hunting altogether.” She shook her head and pinned Julio with a fierce look. “You’re not going to buy her a bow, are you?”
He blinked. “I was thinking more along the lines of a pistol. Something semiautomatic, reliable and silent.”
“The McNamara special.” Malcolm grinned and walked from behind the counter. The building Patrick had directed them to looked like a basic enough hunting supply store, but Malcolm gestured for them to follow him through a beaded wooden curtain.
As soon as he crossed the flimsy barrier between the rooms, magic sliced through him like a frigid wind, chilling him from the inside. He reached for Sera’s hand and wrapped his fingers around hers.
The walls were lined with weapons, everything from assault rifles to swords to what looked like gnarled staffs of burned wood. “Impressive stock. Is it all enchanted?”
“To varying degrees.” He glanced over his shoulder and studied Sera again. Not a man looking at a woman this time, but a salesman judging his mark’s net worth. His gaze jumped to Julio, and he didn’t seem embarrassed to have been caught. “How rich are you, wolf? Because even McNamara can’t afford the really good stuff.”
“Pretty damn rich.” Having your evil uncle transfer all his wealth to you had its upsides.
“Something easily hidden too. I want her to be able to carry it without alarming anyone.”
Malcolm rubbed his hands together and turned toward a display of various-sized pistols.
“Molly, I need the athame, an enchanted holster and two kits. Invisibility and binding.”
Molly’s grunted assent drifted through the curtain as Malcolm selected a compact Beretta from the shelf. “This baby has all the standard features. Silent, with untraceable ballistics. It can take our whole range of enchanted ammo, from the bullets that’ll disintegrate an hour after being fired to the ones that’ll fire true, even through walls.”
Sera held out a hand. “May I?”
He handed it over, and she inspected it with a growing familiarity that meant Anna and Jackson had been doing a good job teaching her how to handle firearms. Julio watched as Molly delivered the requested items. “Do you have any rounds specifically designed to take down shapeshifters?”
“Sure, sure.” Malcolm retrieved a cardboard box of ammunition and nodded toward a door on the far side of the room. “Why don’t the two of you take this out back and let her fire off a few rounds while I set up the ritual? Make sure the gun feels right, because there ain’t no quick second chances with this sort of magic. I’ll be tapped out for a few days.”
Julio carried the box, and Molly led them not outside, but to a cavernous warehouse sectioned off into firing lanes. An indoor range, no doubt one fortified to contain and neutralize the magic released inside.
He hoped.
Molly pointed out the various features to Sera, then retreated the way she’d come. Sera stood studying the target for a long time before she sighed. “You’re going to spend more money than I’ve ever seen in my life on this gun. Tell me you’re doing it because of the dominoes, okay? Make me feel better.”
“Wouldn’t you, if Wesley Dade showed up preaching doom and gloom?” There was no ear protection on the surface before them, but he supposed they didn’t need it. “What do you want to try first? Something that goes boom?”
“Sure.” She slid the magazine free and studied the ammo. “Anna hasn’t said anything else to me about Josh, only that I shouldn’t worry. Does that mean she found him, or she’s pretty sure he can’t get to me while I’m with you?”
“She found him.” And she planned to stay on top of him, just in case he got any bright ideas about returning to New Orleans—or worse, tracking Sera down.
The tension in Sera’s shoulders eased. “That’s my big fear, you know. A wolf’s power isn’t the same. It’s close enough most of the time that I don’t feel all that different, but the dominance doesn’t hit me the same way. I still have a choice.”
Every time she mentioned Josh overriding her will, it made Julio sorry he’d fought to keep him alive. “Yeah, you have a choice.”
Sera began to load the magazine with careful, deliberate movements. “If he lays hands on me again, I’ll shoot him. I don’t care if it breaks my coyote. I’m not following the rest of my species down the road to crazy feral town.”
The urge to assure her she wouldn’t have to protect herself rose, turning him into the worst sort of hypocrite. He squashed his instinctive reaction and watched her load the gun. “I hope you don’t have to shoot anyone.”
She smiled. “Me too. I’m a little mixed up, huh?”
“Nope. I’d worry if you were chomping at the bit to spray some lead.” He shook his head.
“Most people want to be left alone. Live in peace.”
“So much for that.” She slid the magazine home and raised both eyebrows. “You want to try first, or should I? Honestly, I’m better with rifles than pistols.”
“A bona fide country girl, huh?” He took a step back. “It’s all yours, sweetheart. I’m kind of shitty with guns, full stop.”
“Anna doesn’t approve of being shitty with guns.” Sera turned and set herself in a careful shooting stance, then squinted at the distant target and fired.
The pistol was silent, but it wasn’t subtle. Magic punched out from her in a jagged circle as the trigger clicked. At the other end of the range, the bullet tore through the outer edge of the target and broke apart before piercing a secondary target in four places.
Julio whistled. The kind of magic wound into the gun and the ammunition wasn’t easy, so he doubted the man had been exaggerating about being down for the count after casting his spells. “No wonder this stuff is so pricey.”
“It’s quiet, even when it pretty much explodes.” Sera adjusted her aim and managed to put a second bullet closer to the center. “The noise always makes me jump, whether I’m wearing ear protection or not. Apparently that’s doubly bad when you’ve got shapeshifter reflexes.”
“It can’t be good for your aim,” he agreed.
“A magical gun.” She fired again, and actually smiled. “I’m only letting you buy this for me because the fate of the world is on the line. And because I’m hoping to get laid.”
He ran his fingers over the delicious line of skin exposed by her shirt riding up. “Badass chicks are hot.”
“Mmm.” Another shot, and the target shredded into pieces when she nailed it through the bulls-eye. “See? Now I’m all inspired.”
“Want to try something else?”
“Sure.”
He retrieved another small box of rounds and peered at the scribbled writing on the side.
“This one either turns people into frogs, or is particularly effective against them. Can’t tell which.”
Sera laughed and bumped her hip against him. “The first time I met Mahalia, I asked her if she could turn people into frogs.”
“Oh yeah? What’d she tell you?”
“That she only did it to people who really pissed her off. Usually she’d just give them warts.”
She plucked the box out of his hand. “One more round, then we need to go in and get this ritual over with. We’re probably both going to leave here bleeding.”
“At least we heal fast.” And it was a damn sight better than bleeding a hell of a lot more later.
Sera loaded the new ammunition and held up the gun. “I bet I can hit closer to the bulls-eye than you can.”
Her victory came to him on a flash, right down to the cute little dance he was sure was last popular in the nineties. “Sucker bet, sunshine. Never wager with a precog.”