by Raven Steele
Lowering my gaze, the others had all joined me and were also staring upward in awe. Heat tickled my skin as the sun bore down on me. I wanted to rip all my clothes off and dance in the heat of the day. Happy gasps bubbled up through my throat and I threw my arms out, my head thrown back, facing the sun.
It was amazing… indescribable… transcendent. I never wanted to leave this enchanted moment.
Mateo came to my side. Without saying a word, pulled me close and crashed his lips into mine. Moaning, I clasped my hands to his face as his hands roamed my back, loving the way the intensity of the sun made the heat in my stomach turn into a flaming torch. Our lips explored each other’s until our mouths parted, tongues probing. God, I just wanted to feel every inch of him, bask in the glory of his devotion to me in the flaring heat. See what his body, strong and sexy, looked like in the light of day.
He released a moan, deep, low, and sexy, that turned my insides into liquid. The clanging sound of the metal man hole closing reminded me of what we were here for. Someone cleared their throat and Mateo reluctantly let me go.
“Are you two finished?” Angel asked. The rest of them were staring, too. My cheeks flamed.
“Sorry,” Mateo said, his grin unapologetic. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
I wiped at my mouth, smiling shyly. I’d never been one for public displays of affection, but ever since I’d given up the Kiss, my emotions were all over the place. Plus, the moment was too perfect to pass up.
“Where are we supposed to meet Briar and the others?” Aris asked. He studied the cathedral, taking everything in.
Teddy reached for a nearby flower. I quickly swatted his hands away. “Treat everything out here like security.” I looked at Aris. “Around the back.”
“Where is everyone?” Mateo asked.
“Last time I came here, they were all inside. I don’t know if they’ll have the same numbers during the day.”
Angel glanced back at me. “How do we know they aren’t watching us now?”
“We don’t.” I set my jaw, growing serious again, and kept walking. “This was the risk we all agreed to.”
Granted, they couldn’t truly know what they were getting themselves into without seeing it, but Briar and I had tried to warn them. “Let’s just hurry.”
At this, we picked up our pace and began to jog. Aris let me pass so I could lead the way, but when we reached the meeting point at the back side door, the others weren’t there.
“Where are they?” Angel asked, his voice laced in urgency. “I can feel Briar. She’s close.”
I turned toward the wooden door, thinking hard. My pulse raced, and a cold sweat broke on my brow. My gut instincts were telling me something was wrong.
Aris also stared at the door. “Would they have gone in without us?”
“No,” both Angel and I said at the same time.
“Maybe they turned back?” Teddy offered.
I rubbed at my temple. “Briar doesn’t know how to do that.”
“Can we text them?”
“Phones were to be shut off. We didn’t want one going off accidentally and giving away our location.” Mateo and I shared a worried glance, both of us thinking the same thing. They were captured.
“We’re going in,” I said.
Aris rested his hand on the door handle. He glanced back at us. “This might work to our advantage.”
“How’s that?” Angel snarled, his muscles coiled tight.
“Because maybe they tripped some kind of security alarm, which left us to sneak in behind them. We may go unnoticed.”
Angel motioned his head, urging Aris to open the door. “Then let’s go save them. Now.”
Aris opened the door and quietly slipped inside. None of us made a sound as we hurried after him. I quickly took the lead, remembering the way to the odd barn-like structure. I sniffed the air, immediately catching Briar and Lynx’s faint odor. They’d been taken this way also. That was a good thing. It meant they were probably being held in the same place as the others.
I could feel Angel close on my back, as if he wanted to pass me. I resisted the urge to elbow him.
“We’re almost there,” I hissed at him.
The place looked the same as the last time I was here. The paintings lined the wall ceiling to floor and mirrors reflected back at us. There was no evidence of my earlier destruction to the place, despite the fact I’d run my blade through dozens of them. Also, like last time, the halls were eerily quiet, but in the distance I heard voices talking.
As I approached the double doors leading to the prison, I looked back at the others and motioned them to be still. I crept forward and peered through the crack. I could see the side of a person and could hear two people talking.
“How do you think they got in here?” the one I could see asked. A woman, judging by her long red hair.
“I don’t know, but the Phoenix will get it out of them. Too bad the process will kill them. I think they’d make great additions to our army.”
The two continued to talk, but had moved on from their new captives. Instead, they discussed expanding the prison for future recruits. I didn’t hear anyone else, but that didn’t mean they were alone.
I returned to the men. “They’re in there. Two people, maybe Hydes, but I can’t tell at this point, are guarding them. There could be more.”
“What do you suggest?” Mateo asked.
“Whatever we do, it has to be quiet. We have no idea how many Hydes are lurking these halls.” I glanced down an empty one to my right.
“We won’t know what we’re getting into until we go through those doors.” Aris met my gaze. “Let’s just go in as quickly as we can and save who we can. That’s really our only play, right? We can’t take on a whole army.”
“Aris is right,” Angel said as Mateo nodded.
I turned to find Teddy standing at one of the paintings drilling a hole through it with a nail. He began to do the same to another. Not out of boredom but from anger. I could see it in his dark eyes, the rage and fury etching every tight line in his face. He wanted to hurt Korin.
“Teddy?” I asked.
His gaze found mine. “I’m all in for whatever.”
I exhaled a breath. “We’re in agreement then.”
Not giving myself a chance to question my next move, I pressed open the door slightly, giving me a bigger view to the space on the other side. The two humans, though they may be more, had their backs to me, looking over paperwork in their hands. I scanned the rest of the room. Rows and rows of cages filled with straw and water bins, but even worse was how many humans filled them. Some of them held over a dozen, and they crowded together, huddling close. Others pushed, trying to create space between them and the rest of the group, while others sat in a daze. Probably with Scorpion’s Breath in their system. The rank smell of body odor and urine perfumed the air, making me gag.
I didn’t see Briar or the others, nor could I smell her in this place. There were too many other smells to mask hers if she was here. My gaze flickered back to the two guards. There had to be more of them. There was no way only a couple of them could’ve taken Briar and the others. Not only was Briar incredibly strong, but Lynx could’ve used magic to get them out of a tough situation. My heart beat painfully. Something bad must’ve happened.
I opened the door further and quietly stepped into the room, still going unnoticed. I sensed Mateo and the others coming in behind me.
As if they’d heard our soundless movements, the two guards turned at the same time and stared at us. Neither of them made a sound, but their faces began to contort and shift into something human-like but far from any type of humanity. Their bodies also began to change. Bones elongating, muscles expanding. The process only lasted seconds but looked incredibly painful.
I moved to attack them, but a gust of air past me gave me pause. Angel appeared in front of them and snapped the man’s neck. It twisted to the left, a direction the body part was never supposed to g
o. Normal humans would’ve fallen over dead, but this guard—clearly a Hyde—only stumbled. This gave Angel enough time to stab a dagger directly through his ear. This time, the man dropped to the ground for good.
The other guard, fully transformed into a Hyde, lunged for him, but Aris stopped her with his blade through the back of her head. She joined the man on the floor. Chests heaving, Aris and Angel looked around for more.
“Let’s free as many as we can,” I said to Mateo, then glanced at Angel. “Find Briar and Lynx.” I figured with the connection he had with her, he’d be able to find her faster than I could. Angel ran for the door, Aris on his heels.
Rushing to the closest cages, I slashed my sword down on every lock I found. Mateo and Teddy followed behind me. I made sure to only open cages where humans still looked human and supernaturals still looked … normal scary. I still didn’t know what to do about the humans and supernaturals who had already been given doses of Scorpion’s Breath, the precursor to Korin’s altered and much stronger version of the drug. I wished I could help them, but we simply didn’t have the means.
At first the prisoners, all who looked like they hadn’t eaten in several days, didn’t know how to react. They remained lying in their dirty clothes watching us with suspicious eyes. It probably didn’t help that we were all wearing masks.
“Get out now,” I ordered them. “This is your only chance. Help those who need it.”
This got them moving.
“Straight down the hall and to your left,” Mateo added. “You’ll find the front doors there. Just run until you see something you recognize.”
One by one, the prisoners began to step out. When they realized we weren’t going to hurt them, they picked up their pace, fleeing quickly.
I continued to smash open the doors, eyeing each prisoner carefully. I was looking for two people specifically. Rocky and Oz, but I saw neither. What I did see, however, were dozens of witches, vampires, shifters and fae all mixed in with even more humans. I wonder if the humans knew what had been caged with them. By the looks of their sunken faces, they wouldn’t have cared.
Mateo slashed open another barred door. Teddy was there to usher them out and point them in the direction of the exit. For those who couldn’t walk, and there were many, Teddy would grab one of the stronger prisoners and order them to take someone with them. Most of the stronger ones were some kind of supernatural. Had all our lives not been in peril, I would’ve taken the time to marvel at the sight. Supernaturals and humans working and caring for each other.
After a few minutes, the mood in the room changed from shock of being rescued to sheer panic, and they madly rushed towards the door. Voices cried out, hands reaching through the bars, begging to be set free. Others hushed them, and some supernaturals even began helping us open more cages. People tripped in their rush to escape, easily becoming trampled in the madness. Teddy zipped through the hall, helping some off the floor, scolding others for being so selfish, and encouraging everyone to calm down.
“Do you see Oz?” Mateo called over to me just as his sword broke another lock.
“Not yet!” I returned to the task at hand, breaking lock after lock. We could’ve easily have freed one hundred people by now and could still do just as many more. Yet at the back of my mind, I remembered Detrand’s warning. We didn’t have much time.
“Samira?” a gravelly voice said.
I spun around. In the next cage over, Rocky gripped the metal bars tightly, his face tightened with raw anger. It bled into every part of him, making his knuckles white and eyes blazing. I bet that had been his demeanor the second he’d been captured.
Hurrying over to him, I broke open the lock of his cage and swung the door open wide. The six others who were in there with him all sprinted free.
Rocky stepped into the entrance, staring at me. For a second, I thought he was going to embrace me, but instead he growled, “Give me a weapon.”
“How did you know it was me under this mask?” I handed him the dagger from my hip.
“Your sword. I’ve never seen one like it.” Without any order given, he joined us in breaking open the cages. By how easily he opened the locks with a single smash to the locks with the butt of the dagger, one would never know how weak he had to be.
We were about halfway done when I heard voices shouting in the distance. Familiar voices. I focused on them, a difficult task with all the commotion going on around me, until I distantly heard Aris yell, “Run!”
Time’s up.
My heart thundered against my rib cage as I spun on my heel, yanking Rocky with me. “We have to go!”
“But there’s still so many!”
“We’ll come back! Just go now!”
A moment later, I heard his footsteps pounding after mine. Mateo and Teddy fell in line behind us. Both of them carried a human in their arms. Guilt immediately stabbed my heart. My hands were empty. I could’ve saved someone.
Just before we exited the stench-filled place, movement to my right caught my eye. Aris was sprinting toward me, holding Lynx in his arms. I recognized the red hair spilling out the bottom of the mask. My heart skipped a beat when I realized she was unconscious. Loxley and Briar ran behind him while Angel, Luke, and Gerald took up the rear. I didn’t take the time to see who was chasing them.
“Stop staring and run!” Briar yelled at us.
Rocky shoved me through the doors. I sprinted but kept glancing over my shoulder to make sure the others were coming, too. I hoped whatever had happened to Lynx wasn’t serious, but there just wasn’t time to find out for sure. The halls were full of recently freed prisoners also running for the front doors. I encouraged them forward, helping who I could without also slowing down.
Sudden screams echoed in the hall in front of us, followed by sickening thuds. Something was happening at the entrance. More terrified screams hurt my ears, making me slow. The sound of gunfire further ignited my fear. I glanced back. Not only was my crew barreling down on me, but all the prisoners, too.
There was only one way to go—forward.
Chapter 8
I darted quickly past everyone to get an idea what we’d face at the grand entrance, but the second my eyes took in the scene, I backpedaled and darted behind the corner, gasping for air, horrified. I suddenly felt so weak, so apprehensive, so… human.
Dozens of Hydes attacked the weak prisoners as they tried to escape. They didn’t bother trying to capture them again. They were aiming to kill. Several had already been tossed up and impaled on the spindly iron chandelier. Mouths open, blood dripping to the floor. I might’ve rushed out and fought them at once, but most held guns, all which probably had been equipped with silver bullets or wooden bullets dipped in metal.
Rocky moved to pass me just then, his face pale at the sounds of the dying, but I held him back. “Don’t go out there!”
The others jogged up to me and also stopped, their eyes wide as they stared ahead. They had no idea what was around the corner, but they didn’t need to see the carnage. They could hear it.
“They have guns,” I blurted. “The bad kind.” My gaze dropped to Lynx lying helplessly in Aris’s arms. “Is she okay?”
“She will be if we can get her out of here.” He stared down at her with agony in his eyes.
Mateo peeked around the corner, the blood draining from his face at the sight. “We need to get everyone out of here.” He glanced back the way we came, sorrow etching his eyes. “I didn’t find Oz.”
Aris looked up from Lynx. “Let’s go back and look some more.”
“No! Right now, we need to get out of here. Besides, if you haven’t found him by now, it’s likely he’s not here.” I stared each of them in the eyes. “We will find Oz later, I promise.”
Angel took hold of Mateo’s shoulder. “We must fight together if any of us are to get out of here alive.”
“I’m in.” Briar made a fist, revealing her blaster. “Use these first on the ones with weapons. Kill fast and accurately.�
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I turned to Rocky who had just finished punching a wall. “Will you carry Lynx out of here and guide the rest of the prisoners out while we distract them?”
He looked toward the fight anxiously, then at all the chaos. “Fine, but kick their asses for me.”
Aris reluctantly handed Lynx to him, his fingers lingering against her. “She has a blaster on her hand. You can use it.”
Rocky nodded as he took her carefully into his arms. Teddy helped him to remove the blaster from around her hand then strap it onto Rocky’s.
Each of us looked at each other, taking a quick and silent moment to acknowledge what we were about to do. My gaze shifted from Gerald and Loxley to Luke, Angel next, then Mateo and finally Briar.
She nodded her head at me. “We got this.”
That was all we needed.
We turned at the same time, running into the chaos. Humans and weaker supernaturals crowded the front door, trying to escape. A Hyde fired his gun, one after another in their direction. One by one, humans fell, creating a pile of bodies blocking the exit.
Heart pounding, I darted over to that Hyde first. I drew my sword, dodging bullets and flying bodies. The marbled floor was slippery with the blood of those impaled above us. My mask made it harder to see. But I screamed out, flying towards him.
Eyes narrowed, he pointed the weapon at me. I kicked up my vampire speed, swiping my blade through the air. His head fell from his body, but I didn’t waste a second to gloat. I turned to the next Hyde, this time electrifying him with a blaster. He dropped to the ground shaking uncontrollably. I killed him before he could recover.
All around me, terrified screams and the sounds of weapons firing polluted the air. Rocky blasted his way to the front door with Lynx slung over his massive shoulder. Teddy protected his back, making sure they got out safely. I sucked in a quick breath of relief when they disappeared outside.