by Raven Steele
Briar picked up one of Oz’s guns and turned it over in her hands. “At the college keeping an eye on things.” She set it back down.
The front door opened and Mateo and Angel walked in. Mateo locked eyes with me, but stayed near the door. Angel stuttered when he saw Briar, then headed straight for her. “Are you well? You look sick. Are you sleeping?”
Luke stepped between them. “She’s fine.”
Briar gently nudged him to the side and was about to say something, but Luke’s phone buzzed just then. He glanced down at the screen, frowned, then quickly walked away typing a response back to whoever had texted him.
“He’s easily distracted,” Angel said. “I wouldn’t be.”
“What’s the plan?” Mateo interrupted. He moved closer to me.
“Let’s start with—” Oz began.
At the same time, Briar said, “We need to—”
The both looked at each other.
“I’m super smart,” Oz said. “I think I should head this up.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “And I have the power of the first supernatural in me.”
Oz held up one of his weapons. “I have this.”
Briar held up her hand. A second later, five razor-sharp claws snapped out of her fingertips, making Oz jump.
He frowned and sat down. “Point taken.”
Briar eyed our small group. “What we’re about to do shouldn’t be too difficult. We’ve done our research, and the Silver Claws are already there making sure we won’t have any surprises. They will also be our backup, if we need it. So will you guys.” Her gaze flickered to Angel, Mateo, and Luke, who kept glancing between his phone and Briar. “Eddie, Samira, and I will go with Oz into the building. Any more than that and it might look suspicious. Once we find the boxes or whatever it is Korin is hiding in there, we’ll destroy them or remove them. We can decide once we know what we’re dealing with. Any questions?”
When no one said anything, she clapped her hands. “Good. Let’s go destroy some shit!”
We took two vehicles. I rode with Mateo and Angel while Eddie, Briar, Oz, and Luke drove in Briar’s. We said very little on the way over, although halfway there, Mateo had slid his hand over to mine. I could feel his pulse in his palm and within seconds, the beat of my heart matched his.
Mateo parked next to Briar’s car, and we all exited the vehicle. As we drew closer to the center of the college, the place they called the quad, a pulsing deep bass filled the air.
“What is that?” I asked.
Briar exhaled a frustrated breath. “Apparently there’s a battle of the bands going on tonight. I didn’t know about it until ten minutes ago. None of us thought to check the event board.”
“Battle of the bands?” Mateo asked, coming up next to me.
“I don’t know what it is either.”
From behind us, Oz said, “It’s a huge concert where several local bands play. They’re super lit. Maybe when we’re done, we can stick around for it. I haven’t been to a good party in months.”
Luke had stopped in front of us to stare down at another message on his phone. Briar nearly ran into him. She glanced down at it, but he quickly pocketed it.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I have to go.”
“Go?” She wrinkled her nose. “Where?”
“I shouldn’t be long.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Sorry, pup.”
He jogged away.
“What the hell?” she called after him, throwing her hands into the air.
“It’s fine,” I said, forcing her to turn away. If I didn’t, I’d also get mad at Luke. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Briar continued forward, but glanced back into the shadows Luke had just disappeared into. “He’s been acting so weird lately. I can’t believe he just left.”
Angel appeared next to her, walking silently in support, hands stuffed in pockets. She sighed, but smiled at him. He winked at her in return.
We turned the corner and walked along the border of the quad. It was a large grassy area broken up by sidewalks and surrounded by several brick buildings. At least a few hundred people filled the space. A stage had been built on the other side, and on its top, a man bellowed into a microphone while three others played guitars and drums behind him.
Oz whistled low. “This is a lot of people.”
“Where’s the lab?” I asked him.
He pointed through a crowd of people to the other side of the expansive lawn. “In plain view of everyone.”
“The plan doesn’t change,” Briar said. “No one’s going to pay attention to us.”
Mateo and Angel kept a healthy distance away while the rest of us approached the Simon Lancaster building on the north side. We stopped at the door and covered for Oz while he fiddled with the student ID security pad at the entrance. Out of all of us, Oz looked like he fit in with the college crowd the most. He wore baggy jeans and a loose-fitting blue t-shirt. Eddie stood erect, muscles tense, next to Oz, watching him carefully. I didn’t think he could try to look like anything other than a club bouncer. I glanced at Briar and then down at myself. I looked like a burglar in my all-black outfit, and Briar, a large knife sheathed on a her hip for all to see, could’ve been mistaken for an escaped convict.
The door popped open and Oz ushered us inside to a large open area with desks and dividers gridding the room. At least two dozen students occupied the desks, their noses buried in books.
“What is this place again?” I asked.
“This is where students come to study.” Oz glanced around, his eyes pausing on a camera on the ceiling.
I frowned. “But it’s almost nine o-clock at night.”
Briar leaned into me and whispered, “It’s for the super nerds who like to study on a Friday night. The real brainy types. Had they had colleges when you were their age, you would’ve been just like them.”
“I actually have seven degrees.”
She glanced at me sideways. “Of course you do.”
Eddie walked past us. “Let’s hurry. I want to get this over with.”
I followed after him and joined Oz at the only door with a security pad next to it.
“Do your thing, whiz kid,” Briar said to Oz.
He set to work again while Briar and I attempted to casually block him from anyone’s view. Eddie stood nearby, reading notices pinned on a bulletin board.
“Could you go to college if you wanted?” I asked him.
“Probably not. I’d need permission from the King and Queen to do something that human.”
“They wouldn’t give it?”
He shook his head. “They are afraid if our people participate too much in the human world, our fae blood line will become too diluted. It’s important we protect that.”
“Hey,” Briar hissed. “Someone’s coming.”
I looked to my left just as Oz stepped away from the door. The keypad giving access into the next room was off its brackets, revealing a dozen or so wires beneath. I hoped no one noticed.
Two male students walked toward us, their expressions serious.
The tallest one stopped in front of Briar. “What are you guys doing?”
She smiled seductively. “Just trying to decide who in this room would be the best at tutoring me. You see, I have a big test in sex ed 101 tomorrow—”
Oz groaned and mumbled, “Not a class.”
“—and could really use some help.”
The two men didn’t smile or have any reddening of the faces. In fact, they didn’t react at all, which was strange in and of itself. Briar always elicited a reaction.
The shorter one motioned to Oz. “What’s he doing?”
Briar ran her fingers up his chest. “Why don’t you worry about what I’m doing?”
Again, there was no reaction.
My turn.
I stepped in front of both of them. “Look at me.”
They both did as I asked, and I began to compel them. “You will turn around and walk away
. We are college scientists trying to get into the basement. Go have fun at the party outside.”
Their pupils flexed, fluttered, then returned to normal. I frowned and tried again, repeating the same words. They blinked. I looked over at Briar. “Something’s wro—”
The human lunged forward, a glint of silver in his hand. Before I could react, a dagger slid deep into my stomach
Chapter 15
Oz yelped and covered his mouth as the human removed a shiny blade from my stomach. Crippling pain racked my body.
Briar reacted swiftly and shoved the human who had just stabbed a knife into my stomach away from me. The shorter human reached into his jacket and also produced a weapon. He swung the blade at me, but I caught it in one hand and punched him in the face with the other, knocking him out cold.
“What the hell was that?” Oz asked, his face pale. He had opened his phone and was typing something into it. “I’m getting the guys.”
I glanced down at the wound, flinching in pain. He’d sliced my liver. I could feel the bite of it deep inside me. I stumbled back into the wall.
“Are you okay?” Eddie asked me.
I sucked in several shallow breaths. “Need time.”
Briar stepped in front of me, looking outward. “We have a problem.”
I looked up. All the humans in the room had come to their feet and were staring at us.
“They’ve been compelled,” Oz whispered. “All of them.”
Mateo kicked down the door from the courtyard and rushed towards us followed by Angel. Mateo’s eyes dropped to my stomach. “What happened?”
“A human stabbed me,” I answered, my voice stronger. I was healing.
Eyes blazing, Mateo whirled around and glared at the two humans who had recently come to their feet. They watched us closely. The one who had stabbed me still held the bloodied knife in his hand. Mateo blinked behind him and snapped his neck.
“No!” Briar, Oz and I all shouted at the same time. The human fell to the ground dead. My heart thundered in my chest while the Kiss danced to the beat.
Mateo stared at us incredulously. “He stabbed Samira.”
“He was compelled, Mateo!” I said. “They all are!”
For the first time since entering the building, he looked around.
“How is this possible?” Angel whispered. He drew closer to Briar.
The humans still stood, staring at us in silent aggression as if waiting for a command.
I pushed away from the wall, the pain almost gone from my stomach. “The humans approached us when they saw us trying to get past this door. I tried to compel them to ignore us and that’s when I was stabbed.”
Mateo turned to me. “Your compulsion didn’t work?”
I shook my head.
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “That means it wasn’t just any vampire who compelled them. It had to have been someone old and powerful.”
I growled. “Korin.”
Mateo scanned the room again. “Did he compel everyone? What about the people outside?”
“We have no way of knowing,” Briar said. “But we still need to complete the mission.”
Oz huffed. “How? We can’t fight these humans. They’re innocent.”
Eddie rubbed his hands together. “Maybe they’ll leave us alone. It’s not like they’re doing anything now. Just staring.”
Briar turned to Oz. “How close are you to getting that door open?”
“Super close. Maybe another two minutes.”
“Do it. We’ll watch your back.”
“Okay,” Oz stuttered. He returned to the security pad and began to mess with the wires. Angel looked over his shoulder, assisting as needed.
The three closest humans began to walk toward us. I glanced at Mateo. “It’s not working.”
“Any ideas, Eddie?” Briar said quickly.
He stepped forward, his hands fisted at his side. “Give me thirty seconds.” He lowered his head and closed his eyes tight as he mumbled a string of words in the fae language.
“I don’t know if we have that.” The three humans had all drawn knives from behind their backs. They were all the same, which made me think someone had given them out en masse.
One of them, a girl, surprised us all by expertly throwing her knife directly at Oz. Briar caught it just before it reached Oz’s head.
Oz slowly turned around and stared at Briar’s hand still holding the blade. “Holy shit.”
“Work faster,” she said.
Before the closest human could reach us, Mateo darted out and punched her. The crack of his fist against her cheekbone was so loud, the violent motion had to have killed her.
I stared on in horror, frozen in place. I should’ve stopped him, but a large part of me believed he was doing the right thing. He was, wasn’t he? What else could we do?
Briar answered my internal question. She raced to stop him just before he killed another one. She shoved him away from the next human girl but, with her back turned, one of the college students slashed the knife across her side. The wound was deep and blood appeared instantly. Angel caught her before she hit the ground and carried her back behind Eddie.
Briar grimaced. “I’m okay, I think.” She tried to stand but her legs gave out. She leaned into Angel.
Angered further, Mateo didn’t hesitate in killing the other two humans, but his actions only caused the others in the room to also move toward us, knives drawn.
“Enough, Mateo,” Angel yelled.
Mateo glanced back, fire in his eyes. “I won’t let them harm us. Compelled or not.”
“How much longer Oz?” I called. I was afraid Mateo might kill everyone in the room, but I was even more afraid I wouldn’t care if he did. Ultimately, we were trying to save humans, weren’t we? If we let these college students stop us, Korin would use his drugs inside here to hurt a lot more humans. Was it worth killing a few to save the many?
Eddie’s words grew louder and the temperature in the room dropped significantly. The hairs on my arms rose.
Two male students ran toward us with weapons drawn, but just before they reached us, they stopped abruptly and frowned. Mateo stood only five feet in front of them, ready to kill them should they come any further, but the men weren’t even looking at him. Or us for that matter. Their eyes scanned past us in confusion.
Eddie stepped back. “Done. They won’t be able to see or hear us.”
One of the humans walked forward, looking all around. He stopped just in front of me, but was still unaware of my presence. Mateo drew close, eyeing him threateningly.
“How long will it last for?” Angel asked. He had removed his shirt and had the material pressed against Briar’s lower back.
“Thirty minutes. Maybe.”
“Then we better work quickly,” Mateo said. He looked over at Oz, along with the rest of us.
Oz’s wide eyes stared in horror at the dead humans lying on the floor. “You killed them.” He looked up at Mateo, his expression pained. “Why?”
Briar, who was beginning to heal, limped toward me with an accusatory glare in her eye. “And you didn’t stop him!”
I stumbled back a step, struggling to find the right words to say, but none filled my mouth.
“They hurt both of you!” Mateo looked from me to Briar in frustration. “What was I supposed to do?”
Briar whirled on him. “How about taking two fucking seconds to realize what was going on? Those humans are being used as pawns in our war! They don’t deserve to die.”
“He removed a threat,” Angel defended him.
“Stay out of this,” Briar snapped.
“Why the hell didn’t you just knock them out?” Oz demanded.
Mateo’s gaze lowered to the dead, his brows drawn together. “I didn’t think about it.”
Oz stormed over to him and drilled his finger into Mateo’s chest. A brave move for someone so much smaller than Mateo. “Then think about it, dip shit.”
Mateo towered o
ver him, his nostrils flaring.
“Mateo,” I warned, afraid he might do something to Oz.
“Now you care?” Briar scoffed.
My eyes shot to her. “Back off.”
“Enough!” Eddie said. “We don’t have time for this. Get that damn door open!”
Angel turned to Eddie. “No one can see us?”
“Not right now.”
Angel took two steps and kicked the door. It shattered open. “Let’s hurry.”
We didn’t waste a second. Eddie stayed behind to look out for anyone who might wander into the building, while the rest of us hurried past the door and down a long flight of stairs. When we reached the basement door and Briar flung it open, I sucked in a breath at the sight. I expected a typical lab with long counters, beakers, and microscopes, but instead there were four large, metal vats. Smoke rose from all of them and was sucked into wide vents on the high ceiling. The room smelled similar to a meth lab. It stung my nose and made my eyes water. And even though it was uncomfortable, raw excitement flowed through my veins. We’d hit the mother load.
Mateo reached into his pocket and handed me a handkerchief. “Use it to cover your mouth and nose.”
I tied it around my face, knotting it in the back. Four humans were down here, two of them managing long tubing of clear liquid coming out the bottom. They ensured the liquid inside filled several long conveyor belts full of small vials, the same I’d seen used for Scorpion’s Breath. The other two humans stood upon a walkway circling one of the large vats. At the sound of our voices, they stopped what they were doing and slowly turned toward us. Their eyes glazed over, then turned deadly.
Briar glanced back at Mateo and me. “This is how it’s done.” She looked at Angel. “Want to help?”
He nodded and together they raced around the room, choking out the humans until they fell unconscious. When they were finished, Briar swiped her hands together back and forth and looked at me. “See how easy that was? No one had to die.”
I was too busy taking in Korin’s stock to bother responding to her.
“There it is,” Oz said and rushed by Briar toward a computer he spotted in an office on the other side of the room. His main goal in coming was to find something useful for us about Korin or the Phoenix’s operations.