The job went tits up sometime after Mel grabbed the flash drive from the vault. And vault was a highly overrated term for that sorry excuse for an executive safe. This whole thing should have been much harder. From what she could tell, the company was run by a bunch of scientists without a thought in their heads for real security.

All the better for her.

Even better still, the laughable security made it a one man – or woman -- job. More money for her, and fewer people liable to fuck something up. Just as she liked it. While she was sprinting down the final corridor of the building, she didn't let herself think about how Krista and Bob might have made it a bit easier for her. She was perfectly capable of working alone, and had been for a while.

The barking of the dogs preceded the clomping footsteps of the security guards. Mel could outrun the guards, no problem. The dogs were another issue. She hoped they didn't catch up. She had sharper fangs and much nastier claws, but violence against the innocent had never been her go to. She'd do it if necessary, but the animals didn't deserve it.

What the hell had tripped that damn alarm?

She slammed through the double doors, barely feeling the impact before she sprinted through the parking lot, the only light coming from the feeble streetlights. Mel would have been kicking herself if she could spare the energy. Her car was nearly a mile away. There was no reason she should have needed to sprint the distance. She was sure she hadn't tripped any alarms.

And yet here she was, running her ass off to flee the scene.

But, fine, she'd do it. The only other choice was to be captured by idiot humans and their pets. Or to kill them all. Neither option appealed, so the sprint it was. She cleared the parking lot and made it to the grass of the small woodland bordering the office. This park claimed to integrate itself seamlessly into nature to provide a healthier habitat for the employees. Mel had yet to see a corporate building successfully blend in with nature, and this research facility was no different.

Crickets chirped and nocturnal creatures dove for cover as she passed them. They would have done so if she were just a regular person, but adding to their confusion was her scent which must have scared them all the more. The half-moon hung high overhead, giving her more than enough dappled light to navigate through the copse of trees.

While she could see clearly, the security guards couldn't. She could still hear them, but their running had slowed. And so had the dogs. Good.

After she ran a few more yards silence engulfed her. The woods looked the same, but all sound vanished. Mel looked behind her and saw the faintest shimmering of the air. She lifted up her hand slowly and pushed out. The air resisted.

A ward.

She could have pushed all the way through; this wasn't meant to keep her prisoner. But her curiosity got the better of her. "Show yourself, witch." She let the menace lace her voice. It wasn't quite a snarl.

A woman stepped out of the shadows. "Is that really how you're going to address me, Mellie?" She looked somewhere around forty, though Mel had never learned her exact age. Anyone with magic could cast a glamor and appear however old they wanted. Looks meant nothing when a person might be thirty or three hundred. The woman wore black pants and a dark gray top, all the better to fit in so late at night. Her only jewelry was a pair of simple diamond earrings nearly obscured by dark brown hair that hung past her shoulders.

And now some things fell into place. "Hello, Tina. Did you trip the alarm?" She was surprised at her own scorn, she'd long been used to Tina's antics.

Tina laughed, a full-throated affair that would have echoed through the woods if not for the ward. "Perhaps you're just getting sloppy."

Mel bit back the reply she desperately wanted to make. "If I'm sloppy, then why are you offering me a job?"

Tina put a hand to her chest and her mouth dropped open - she looked the picture of innocence. "I'm hurt, my dear. Perhaps I just wanted to talk."

"In the middle of a forest with guards chasing me?" Mel leaned back against one of the sturdy oaks, acquiescing. "Fine Let's talk."

Tina tossed her hair back behind her shoulders and planted her hands on her waist. "The Scarlet Emerald."

If Mel had been holding anything she would have dropped it. As it was, she barely kept her expression neutral. "What makes you think I'm not insulted by that suggestion?" The Scarlet Emerald was legendary among shapeshifters.

Tina scoffed. "Please, you'd do anything if the price is right."

That little remark made Mel want to turn this whole thing down flat. Who the hell did Tina think she was? Some two-bit thief who couldn't cut it as a witch. Not a powerful one, anyway. But Mel wasn't ready to burn that bridge. Not now. "There are maybe – maybe – three people who could pull it off. And this is all off the top of my head." She held up a finger, "Cyn got nicked by vampires two years ago, she's out for the count. Ice Queen wouldn't even try it. That leaves me. And once I'm discovered, there will be a bounty on my head big enough to buy Kansas. Not interested."

"Are you afraid of that kitty cat?" Disdain dripped from the older woman's voice. "Torres, despite his castle, couldn't keep you out if he tried."

Lucio Torres, alpha of a small clan of cats, was the current owner of the Scarlet Emerald. Everyone knew that. Without research, Mel didn't know much more. Obviously he could take anything in a fight, and his security had to be top notch. But she could beat it.

Though she wasn't going to. That mark had a death sentence attached.

"You don't even want to know the price?" Tina quirked a brow. With a flash of her hands, she dangled a pure diamond suspended on a platinum pendent. "For your trouble."

Unconsciously Mel reached for it, heart pounding. But Tina snatched it away again. "Is that Ava's?" Mel asked. Hate bubbled in her throat and she could feel her claws tear beneath her skin, ready to rip out at the right moment.

Tina smiled, "Yes. Scry worthy."

Taking the job would be suicide. She'd get herself, and probably her team, killed. "What's the timeline?" She was just getting the facts, no obligation.

"Three weeks."

Double suicide. She'd have no time to prepare before she had to pull it off. "Just let me hold the gem for a minute."

Tina tossed it, and Mel easily plucked it from the air. It was a long slender diamond, set in platinum that twisted around the top. The chain was long enough to wear between a woman's breasts and the gem was nearly clear. Mel curled her hand around it. She could picture Ava wearing it, a drop of blood clinging to the tip.

The diamond gave her hand a little resistance. Mel let it go and watched it zoom back to Tina, who said "tell Krista I said hi." She smiled and left, not waiting for Mel to confirm that she'd take the job.

They'd both known she would the minute she touched the stone.

There were worse ways to die.