Hell’s Key: Siblings of the Underworld, Book 1

by Baxter, Linzi

  Outside the interrogation room stood another guard. Talia didn’t remember his name, but she knew he was one of the council’s top guards. He stood with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Talia’s stomach turned with uneasiness again. Instead of opening the door to the room with the suspect, the guard nodded to the next door. Talia grasped the handle and pulled.

  Over the years, Talia had sent many supernaturals to life in prison and few to their deaths. Two years before, she’d observed a father murdering his family because he wanted to start over. The screams of his daughter as he stabbed her had stuck with Talia. She shook off the thought of the evil man she’d helped put away forever.

  “Kael,” she muttered as she entered the room. Gideon had always annoyed her, and his powers vibrated around the room, but Kael’s power seemed beyond anyone’s thoughts. Some days, her fingers itched to touch him and find out what he really hid under his perfect blank face. Talia believed he worked hard to cover who he really was, unlike Gideon, who let his powers out constantly. She didn’t understand how Gideon didn’t see Kael’s power.

  “Talia, we need your help on a case.” Kael gestured toward the two-way mirror. “The knife is the key to putting the girl away.” A long serrated kitchen knife wrapped in a white linen cloth sat on the silver metal cart, but that wasn’t what caught Talia’s attention in the four-by-four-foot interrogation room. No, it was the little girl sitting there, all of eight years old. Tears streaked down the girl’s face, but it was the vacancy in her eyes that made Talia want to help her. The young girl stared down at her hands until her head jerked up and her eyes focused directly in Talia’s direction. There was no way the girl could be aware of her on the other side of the glass, but she looked as if she was asking for help with her eyes before she glanced down at her blood-covered hands.

  “What does the girl have to do with this?” Talia asked. There was no way that young girl had done anything wrong.

  Kael crossed his arms. “She used the knife to murder Jalil and Maya Meadows.”

  “I have never met Jalil or Maya Meadows. Who are they?”

  “They’re both members of the council. Alida”—he nodded to the girl—”is their only child.”

  She couldn’t hold back the frown. “So I’m here to prove the young girl killed her parents?” Why would the little girl kill her parents, and since both of her parents are gifted, why would she use a knife and not her powers? The whole thing was strange. She couldn’t understand how a eight-year-old girl could overpower two council members.

  “We need you to confirm what we think happened, and then we can put her on trial.”

  “What did the girl say?” Talia asked.

  “She hasn’t spoken.”

  “Why do you think she killed her parents if she hasn’t spoken?”

  Kael crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not here to ask questions. We brought you in for one job.”

  “Don’t snap at me. I will get you your answers. You said her name is Alida?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I only need you to get a read of the knife.”

  “If you only wanted me to read the knife, you should have taken it out of the room.” Talia didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut sometimes.

  Kael cocked his head. “Yes, Alida is her name. Now, do what we pay you for.”

  Overgrown hotheaded council members were one of the other reasons Talia hated her job. She turned on her heel and left the observation room. The overgrown bodyguard opened the door to the interrogation room. She couldn’t wait to get a read on the knife and prove the asshole in the observation room wrong.

  Talia shivered as she entered the interrogation room. Someone had cranked the AC to a freezing temperature. Talia glanced at the two-way mirror. She knew Kael was watching her every move, and she couldn’t help but mumble, “Asshole.” It didn’t surprise Talia to see her breath in the cold room. Talia was pretty sure Kael would be mad if she interacted with the girl and didn’t just read the knife. But if they’d only wanted Talia to touch the knife, they should have taken it out of the room.

  The metal chair screeched against the cement floor as Talia pulled it back from the table. The little girl gazed up from her bloody hands. Her blond locks had fallen out of her ponytail. Tears continued to stream down her face, but it was the blank look that crushed Talia’s heart.

  “Hi, Alida. My name is Talia.”

  The little girl didn’t look up from her hands. She had to be in shock.

  Talia didn’t understand why the council had left the poor girl in the same room as the knife. Blood streaked down the side, and it looked menacing. This was the part of the job she hated. Normally, the reward for the pain she endured was knowing she would put a scumbag away. The thought of this young girl going to jail for this crime made her stomach churn.

  Talia was staring at the knife on the cart for a couple of minutes when a loud knock sounded on the mirror. She jumped at the noise, but the young girl continued to stare numbly at her hands. Talia moved her hands toward the knife. She hated this part. When she touched an object, she wasn’t just an observer—she could feel the pain and emotions of everyone in the room. If the scene was too bad, the vision would drain her body of its energy, and she would need to lie down.

  The council had a room for her. She’d only had to use it a few times. The last time was when a wolf went rogue and killed an entire pack. The pain she’d felt when he killed the women and kids was enough to knock her out for three days.

  After taking a few deep breaths, Talia reached for the knife. Her fingers locked around the black handle. The thing was heavy for a kitchen knife. This handle was the spot that should tell her who the killer was, since he or she would have held the weapon.

  Images of death and destruction assaulted Talia as she gripped the knife. The copper smell of blood choked her, but it wasn’t the scent that made it hard to concentrate on the vision—emotions were extremely strong in the room. She arrived in what she assumed was the kitchen of the little girl. They were all in the room together… Jalil, Maya, and Alida. The anger and sadness were so strong they caused blurriness around the edges and somewhat in the center. Then she saw the little girl standing over her dead parents, holding the knife.

  Talia glanced at Alida in the vision. The little girl stared into her eyes. “I didn’t do it.”

  Talia had never before experienced anyone talking to her in a vision. This girl had powers beyond anyone’s belief. There was no way she would have killed her parents with a knife. Talia could feel the little girl’s powers vibrating through the room. She strained to see around the blurriness of the vision, but all she could hear was the little girl sob, “I didn’t do it.” Talia didn’t know if Alida’s powers or the emotions in the room were affecting her vision. She closed her eyes for a second to focus. She needed to find something to prove the girl’s innocence. When she looked to the side, she saw a black figure.

  Something pulled her out of her vision, and her body was transported back to the room. Exhaustion overtook her, but she needed to fight through it. If she hadn’t already been sitting on the chair, she would have collapsed to the ground. The vision had taken an extreme amount of energy, but being pulled out of it had caused her stomach to turn. She looked around the room to find Arrow standing next to her with the knife in his hand.

  “Why did you pull me out?” she asked.

  “Your eyes rolled back, and you chanted a language nobody had ever heard.”

  “You had no right to pull me out.” If she’d had more energy, she would have stood and gone toe to toe with the overgrown enforcer. But Arrow would never admit he’d done something wrong. Talia took her eyes away from the enforcer and studied Alida. “What are her powers?” she asked without taking her eyes off the little girl.

  Arrow shook his head. “Her parents told the council she had no powers. Gideon can’t sense any powers in her. It doesn’t matter. She used the knife to kill her parents. Is that what you saw?”


  Talia didn’t know how to explain the vision. If she admitted the girl could talk to her during it, Alida might be put in further danger. This was the first time she wouldn’t tell the council her true vision—and technically, she hadn’t seen the little girl kill anyone.

  “She didn’t kill her parents.”

  “I find that hard to believe. When the enforcers showed up to the house, they found her with a knife over her parents.”

  “How was the council notified so quickly about the murder?”

  Arrow shrugged. “Someone called in an anonymous tip.”

  “You’re telling me someone called in a tip, and the council sent someone, and they got there fast enough to find her”—Talia pointed to the girl at the table—”with a knife in her hands, standing over her parents. Are you even listening to yourself?”

  “Well, then, tell us who to look for.”

  “I’m telling you she didn’t do it. If you are so convinced she did it, why am I here?”

  “The council has protocols, and we need to follow them. We need a living witness to tell us what happened so we can prosecute her.”

  Talia leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The council members did everything to cover their own asses. Maybe if Talia touched the knife again, she would get another vision.

  This time, she would touch the knife where Alida had been holding it. Another section might give her a better vision of the true killer. Talia’s instinct told her the girl was innocent. But when she reached for the knife in Arrow’s hand, he stepped back and glared at her.

  “Why do you need touch the knife again?”

  Fuck. He is questioning my vision. She needed a reason to touch the knife a second time. Before she had time to answer, the door to the interrogation room slammed opened, and Gideon entered.

  Gideon wore his long dark council robe and had his hands tucked in the sleeves, which made her incredibly wary. Talia had never disobeyed the council and always came running when they needed her, but since she’d received the call to come to the warehouse, everything had felt wrong. Her conscience wouldn’t let her see an innocent child convicted of something she hadn’t done. And if Talia went against the council, she would spend the rest of her life in jail down below, or they would kill her. She’d seen the council’s ways.

  “Talia, we need to talk,” Gideon began in a low voice. She could tell he was struggling to control his anger. He didn’t even try to hide his disapproval. She waited to hear the worst.

  Dragon’s Psychic

  White Hat Security Series

  Hacker Exposed

  Royal Hacker

  Misunderstood Hacker

  Undercover Hacker

  Hacker Revelation

  Hacker Christmas

  Hacker Salvation

  Nova Satellite Security Series

  (White Hat Security Spin Off)

  Pursuing Phoenix - Sept 1, 2019

  Immortal Dragon

  The Dragon’s Psychic - July 9, 2019

  The Dragon’s Human - Oct 2019

  Montana Gold (Brotherhood Kindle World)

  Grayson’s Angel

  Noah’s Love

  Bryson’s Treasure - Nov 2019

  A Flipping Love Story (Badge of Honor World)

  Unlocking Dreams

  Unlocking Hope - Sept 10, 2019

  Siblings of the Underworld

  Hell’s Key

  Hell’s Future - Aug 20, 2019

  Visit linzibaxter.com for more information and release dates.

  Join Linzi Baxter Newsletter at Newsletter

  Please leave a review!

  If you enjoyed this book, I would appreciate your help so others can enjoy it too.

  Review it. Please tell other readers why you liked this book by reviewing it on Amazon.com. Thank you!

  Recommend it. Please help other readers find this book by recommending it to friends, readers’ groups, and discussion board.

  LINZI BAXTER’S VIP CLUB

  Sign up for Linzi Baxter’s VIP Club for the latest news, giveaways, experts, and more.

  It’s completely free to sign up, and I will never spam you. It’s easy to opt out at any time.

  Click here to sign up!

  Click here to like Linzi Baxter Facebook Page!

  About Author

  Linzi Baxter lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband and lazy basset hound. She started writing when voices inside her head wouldn’t stop talking until the story was told. When not at work as an IT Manager, Linzi enjoys writing action-packed romances that will take you to the edge of your seat.

  She enjoys engaging her readers with strong, interesting characters that have complex and stimulating stories to tell. If you enjoy a little (or maybe a whole lot) of steam and spice, don’t miss checking out White Hat Security series.

  When not writing, Linzi enjoys reading, watching college sports (GO UCF Knights), and traveling to Europe. She loves hearing from her readers and can’t wait to hear from you!