by Sonia Harper
Erik sighed and sat back down in his chair, gathering his papers and placing them back into the file. "Well, that was less information than I was hoping to get tonight," he angrily stacked the papers into an even pile.
"Why were you hoping to use me for information?" Adelyn asked. He hadn't come right out and admitted it, but it was obvious that this was his plan all along. That was why he pressed Kate to get her to take the job. "You delivered the redhead's," her heart started pounding as she almost called Pytho by name, "food. That must mean that you have some sort of contact with them?"
He gave a short bark of laughter. "Yeah, that opportunity landed right into my lap," he smiled and laughed again. "It was just too perfect. I was standing at the takeout counter of that stupid Chinese restaurant that Kate loves so much. The idiots had gotten her take-out order wrong again, so I was waiting at the counter for them to fix it. Then this redhead walks in and nearly throws a fit because his take-out order wasn't ready yet. I sympathized with the guy and told him why I was standing there. I mean, seriously," he went off on a tangent. "They get the order wrong every time we order from there. How does that place stay in business?"
Adelyn fought the urge to reach over and slap the rest of the story out of Erik. Instead, she bit the inside of her lip and nodded in agreement. "Who knows?" She shrugged. "I never liked that place anyway," she lied, trying not to think about poor Jenny at the counter, overworked and trying to keep her family's business afloat while raising three children.
"So he tells me he doesn't have time to stand there and wait," Erik continued. "He asks me to wait for his food and then bring it to his place - like I'm some kind of sucker," he laughed derisively. "But right as I'm about to tell the guy to piss off, he pulls out his wallet and starts taking large bills out. I counted them out as he pressed them into my hand. 'One should cover the order' he tells me. 'The other two are for you'," he paused for a moment to let that sink in for Adelyn. "Then he told me that he'd give me another one when I delivered the food."
She had to admit; it was a lot of money for Pytho to be throwing around. Then again, they were paying her a ridiculous amount of money to do the work of a secretary. Clearly, they had more money than was just in the business accounts she managed.
"Now, you know me," Erik leaned back in his chair. "I'm nobody's lackey, but shit, that much money to drive somebody's food to them?" He shrugged. "So, I did. I had no idea the address was the old Manor. I had no idea anybody was actually living there. I felt it, though," his eyes grew distant. "The minute I passed those gates, I felt something was off about that place."
She nodded. She had felt that exact same feeling when she drove up to the Manor.
"I gave the redhead my number and told him I'd be happy to deliver his food whenever he wanted. I needed another opportunity to check the place out. There was definitely something going on out there. It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally realized that I had stumbled upon their den. After a few months of delivering food, he asked me if I knew anybody that would like to work for them. I tried to get him to tell me what kind of job it was for, but he wouldn't bite. He just gave a vague description and handed me a business card to pass on," his eyes focused once more as they slid over Adelyn's face. "I thought of you immediately. Kate was talking non-stop about how worried she was about you and how you couldn't find a job," he trailed off.
"I saw this as the perfect opportunity," he leaned in once more, arms folding on the desk as he whispered conspiratorially. "I've watched you over the past two years, Adelyn. I can't stand any of Kate's friends," he spat angrily. "They're vapid, they're arrogant, they're selfish, they're manipulative-,"
Looked in a mirror lately? Adelyn thought to herself.
"But you're different," he tried to lean closer, but he was already pressed against the desk. "You're loyal. You could have turned in your boss for blackmailing you and then turning it against you, but you didn't. Not even after you quit."
Something in his eyes scared her. He was becoming more and more excited as he spoke.
"You're smart," he continued. "I can actually hold a conversation with you. I figured you were strong as well," his eyes flickered over her nose and forehead. "I knew you could handle being there, and I was right. You made it out of there alive. I was hoping for more information to use against them, but that doesn't matter now."
"Why?" She asked, leaning as far back into her chair and away from him as she could. Was he going to kill her after all?
"I think you're ready to join us," he slowly nodded, his finger running across his bottom lip as he inspected her from head to toe. She felt her skin crawl in response.
"What do you mean?" She asked, her mouth suddenly dry.
"There's been an opening on the Council," he leaned back until he was once again fully seated in his chair. "Well, there will be soon enough," he gave her a slow, nefarious grin, and the Erik she knew was suddenly gone, replaced with the unpredictable and dangerous man sitting in front of her. "I want you to join us," he picked up his pen and started playing with it again. "I think you'll be perfect for us."
Adelyn's mouth dropped open slightly. This was definitely something she had not expected. Her brain scrambled frantically the longer he sat and stared at her. Was he expecting an answer? What was she supposed to say?
She lowered her arm and surreptitiously checked her watch. Only seven hours had passed since she left the Manor.
One day. Twenty four hours.
She had to buy more time and find out as much information as possible. She blinked once her mind made the connection. Erik was practically handing her the means to do both on a silver platter.
She leaned forward eagerly. "I would love to help you," she said breathlessly. "If it means getting back at those bastards, I'll do anything," she vowed, staring him firmly in the eyes.
A slow, easy grin spread across Erik's face. "Excellent," he breathed. "Between the two of us, we should be able to get some traction on the Council." He stood and collected his file. "It seems all they do lately is sit around and twiddle their thumbs. We need more people who will take action against these monsters."
Adelyn nodded and stood from her chair as well. "Tell me everything," she demanded. "I want to know what you have going on here."
His eyes jumped up to meet her gaze, and she kept herself very still as he considered her demand. She was starting to worry that he had figured out her plan to collect information about the guardians when he slowly smiled.
“Follow me,” he gave her an appreciative grin that made her stomach curl into a tight, uncomfortable ball.
Chapter Fourteen
Adelyn followed Erik as he opened the door and walked into the hallway. The guardian was still stationed at the door, and its eyes narrowed as it watched her walk out of the room.
"Go downstairs and make sure Riley isn't screwing up the meeting with the Council," Erik ordered the guardian. "The idiot couldn't work a computer if his life depended on it. Tell him I'll be late." He threw over his shoulder as they continued walking down the empty hallway.
"Where are we going?" She asked, making sure to move her wrist to capture the hallway. She had twelve hours of footage on the watch, and she wanted to make sure to capture as much useful information as she could.
"I'm going to introduce you to our troops," he explained as she walked beside him. "But first, I'm going to show you something that will give you nightmares for years to come."
Frowning, she glanced up at him in confusion. He was smirking, so she wasn't sure if it was a joke or not.
"Here," he said once they had reached the end of the hallway. His hand slapped against the door's push bar, and it opened to reveal a stairwell. "Our guardians can't be seen out in public for obvious reasons," Erik explained as they descended down the stairs. "Even though they fight to protect us, their appearances would most likely cause a huge disturbance. I wouldn't put it past people to mistake them for monsters and turn against them."
; "They are pretty frightening up close," Adelyn admitted, trying to figure out what floor the office was on. There were no signs on the walls indicating the floor level, but she had glanced around to see that there was a large chip in the paint on the door. If she needed to, she would have to find her way back with only that indicator.
"We don't allow them to go anywhere during the daylight hours," his voice echoed in the stairwell as they came to a landing. He passed by the door and instead continued down the stairs. She glanced at the door but had to catch up to Erik quickly.
"We've managed to create a nice little home for them in the warehouse stock room," Erik explained. "After removing a few walls, we were able to create one room that they could all live in together. They sleep there, have their meals there, train there," he listed off their activities. "The second floor, the one we just passed, is the only other area where they're allowed, and that's only after receiving special permission."
"What's on the second floor?" Adelyn asked as they reached the landing of the ground floor.
"It's where they can receive...medical treatment," he explained. "Before they go out to hunt demons, we give them a special injection that was created specifically for them. It contains a serum that increases their healing time," he reached for the door handle. "It's amazing. It makes them practically invincible."
Adelyn nodded, knowing exactly how fast their healing abilities worked.
"Are you ready?" He raised an eyebrow and grinned excitedly.
"Yes," she answered in a tone that was much more confident than she actually felt.
With a flick of his wrist, he opened the door and strode in. Adelyn followed, eyes and wrist darting everywhere all at once, taking it in. The intense wave of heat hit her all at once, and she felt the air leave her lungs.
"Oh god," she exclaimed, fanning her face with her hand.
"We have to keep it hot in here. I'll show you why in a minute," Erik gestured for her to keep up.
She could see that she was on the factory floor level, but couldn't see the entire room because a large steam boiler immediately to her left blocked her view.
"We have four of these," Erik waved a hand at it as they passed. "They came with the factory. Excellent for our purposes," he smiled at her. "Really, I'm so glad you wrote that article. You have no idea how perfect it is. It's so far away from the city, and nobody lives out here anymore. We were able to buy out the few remaining stragglers that lived in the old town. They were more than happy to relocate to a much bigger house inside the city."
Nodding her head, she carefully eyed the boiler as she passed, praying it had been inspected recently. The factory shut down nearly twenty years ago, and the boiler looked as if it was older than that. She had written a piece about the dangers of these types of steam boilers long before she had written the article about the factory closing, but the information stuck with her. These boilers, if not properly maintained and operated, were essentially ticking time bombs.
As she walked cautiously around the boiler, her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her.
Thousands.
Thousands of giant, oval-shaped glass containers pressed up against each other. Each one was glowing slightly under the dim lights of the factory floor. They were nearly six feet tall, she thought as she stared up at them. She turned her head to glance at Erik. He had an excited look on his face, and she could tell he was up to something.
"Go on," he pressed. "Take a closer look."
She frowned as she walked past him, closing in on the nearest container. They were all packed so tightly together that she couldn't see anything in between them. She could, however, see miles of cords lying on the floor, curling in between the sturdy bases of each container.
Reaching up and wiping a rolling bead of sweat off of her temple, she approached the container and peered inside, frowning at the creamy substance inside. It looked like it was filled with watered-down milk. Glancing back at Erik, she saw that he was encouraging her to look closer.
Turning back around, she pressed her nose to the glass and tried to see further in.
And promptly let out a blood-curdling scream.
Erik burst into laughter as she scrambled away from the container as fast as she could, tripping over cords in her frantic attempt to get as far away from the container as she could.
"What is that?" She shrieked hysterically, pointing at the container. She felt goosebumps break out all over her body, and her heart was pounding. Her hand started to shake as she remembered the flash of horror that had appeared out of the milky solution for a moment before bobbing slowly away from the edge of the container and disappearing once more into the cloud of the milky liquid.
"That," Erik stepped forward and slapped his palm against the side of the container. "Is a bouncing baby boy," he announced, running his hand up and down the side of the container as the grotesque mass of flesh bobbed closer to the edge of the glass once more.
"It's a what?" She demanded, holding her hand over her mouth.
"It's one of our guardians," he smiled proudly, tapping the container and cooing at the hideous creature inside. "I'd say this one is about ten months along. They take longer to gestate than humans," he leaned over to the adjacent container and peered inside. "Oh, this one's only three months. It's barely started to form yet." He turned around and grinned. "You picked a good one to look at."
"Very funny," she snapped angrily, tearing her eyes away from the containers as a few more creatures floated near the edge of their containers. "Are these eggs?" She asked, glancing over the tops of the containers. They weren't glass at all, she realized.
"Yes," he replied, walking back over to her. "When they first arrive, they're obviously not nearly as big as they are now. Once they've reached two feet and formed the protective outer shell, we move them into this room here to incubate," he reached down and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt as the heat started to get to him.
"How long before they hatch?" She asked, shuddering slightly at the idea of any one of these eggs hatching while they were in the room.
"They usually start to break out around twelve months or so," he sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "It's a shame they take so long to grow. Luckily, when they do come out, they're fully formed," he pointed to an egg near the end of the line. "That one there is about to come out any day now. When it does, it will be walking, eating, and ready to go hunting for demons," he smiled proudly at the egg. “It takes a while to teach them how to talk, but they seem to have their own, innate language that they use to communicate with each other.”
Adelyn nodded and pretended to look in the direction he pointed, but she just couldn't bear to look again. She made sure that she was recording the entire room with her wrist, but she just couldn't look again with her own eyes.
"Now I'll take you to introduce you to our guardians," he reached out and slid an arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward the other side of the factory. "Some of them had...apprehensions about you. They believed that you might have been corrupted by the demons, but we'll put those fears to rest," he smiled reassuringly at her.
"Sir!" A voice called out to them from behind.
Adelyn turned and saw that a man had jogged from another area on the factory floor, clearly out of breath. His brown hair was cut short, and he was wearing a dark suit. As he jogged closer to them, she could see he was very young, barely out of his teens.
"Sir, the Council," he gasped as he tried to catch his breath in the sweltering room. "They want to speak to you immediately."
"Did you tell them I was busy?" Erik demanded, eyes narrowing at the boy.
"I did, but they insisted, sir," the young man glanced at Adelyn but offered no introduction.
"What the hell do they want now?" Erik groaned and tossed his head back in frustration.
"I think they aren't happy about the raid you sent our Guardians on last night, sir," the other man explained, having finally recovered from his frantic arrival. "They ex
pected more than just fourteen, sir."
"I told them I was sending them in to gather information," Erik ground out the words, growing angry.
"They were under the impression you were going to release all our guardians, sir, to wipe them out entirely."
Erik sighed, turning to Adelyn and shaking his head. "This is what I'm talking about. The Council is short-sighted and useless."
"They are, sir," the young man eagerly agreed, clearly trying to impress Erik.
"They can't see further than their own damn noses. Why should we rid the world of five demons when we can use them to exterminate their entire race?" Erik angrily ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, but I have to deal with this. Here," he reached into his pocket and handed her a set of keys. "Use this to get back into the hallway upstairs. The doors to the staircase lock automatically. Go back to the office and wait for me. I'll be there shortly, and we can talk more about your time in the Manor. Perhaps there was something useful you might have seen but didn't realize at the time. I'll introduce you to the guardians later."
Adelyn nodded and clutched the cold metal keys in the sweaty palm of her hand. She watched as Erik and his assistant crossed the factory floor, heading in the opposite direction of the stairwell.
Once they were out of sight, she immediately ran to the door as fast as she could, opening it and throwing her body into the stairwell, desperate to get as far away from those eggs as possible. Shuddering, she pressed her back against the cool metal of the door, relieved that the temperature in the stairwell was much cooler than the factory floor.
Wiping a hand across her forehead, she raced up the stairs, trying to think of her next move. She glanced at the watch again.
Nearly eight hours now.
Daunted by the idea of having to stay in that factory for another sixteen hours, she suddenly came to a stop just before the second level.
Wait.