Chapter 16 #2
“Did you not read the badge?” I snapped at him as Dimitri and I walked on in.
“Thought you were new scientists…”
The guard didn’t stop us.
Inside, the air was warmer but reeked of chemical-based disinfectants that were clearly trying to hide the scent of blood. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, and the lobby and corridors were too white and too reflective.
Many humans walked around in lab coats and utility uniforms. Some nodded politely as we walked in, but most ignored us. No one smiled. It was as unwelcoming as I’d expected.
Humans in places like this always carried tension.
“Take the left corridor,” Katie guided us, and we listened. “Security checkpoint ahead. Slater is looping the door log so it reads as maintenance. Once past, you’ll be in administrative access. It leads to the main cell stairwell.”
“Copy,” I murmured.
Dimitri leaned close as we turned the corner, voice low enough that only I could hear. “How are you doing?”
I kept my gaze forward, scanning for cameras and exits. “Fine.”
“That’s not true,” he murmured. “I feel your discomfort through the bond.”
I exhaled sharply. “I hate being in places like this, and for the record, your bond isn’t exactly comfy right now either.”
His hand brushed my wrist, thumb stroking once. “I know. Because I’m worried about you.”
The matebond between us warmed.
“Okay, love vamp-snakes,” Slater cut in with a small chuckle. “Get it? Like lovebirds but more in tune to you?”
My lips curved in amusement before I smoothed my expression.
“Get to the point,” Dimitri whispered.
“Our mate thinks I’m funny, but you’re right. There’s a sensor ahead tuned to body heat. Dimitri, you’re naturally colder than a human’s temp. Rune, you are, too. Use your venom or something. Then, hold hands to share the heat.”
I choked on a laugh. “Are you telling me to hold Dimitri’s hand in a human facility?”
“Yes,” Slater said instantly. “I’d say because I love when you’re showing love to your mates, mostly me, but this is for professional reasons.”
Zuko hummed. “He just wants you pressed against your vampire.”
“It is sexy,” Slater admitted.
Dimitri rolled his eyes and brushed his fingers over mine. “Do it.”
I licked my bottom lip, dosing myself as I dosed Dimitri with a venom that increased body heat.
Sweat beaded at his temples as we walked past the sensor.
It didn’t alert.
“Good,” Slater said smugly. “See? Tactical hand-holding.”
“We only brushed fingers,” I muttered, but my cheeks were warm from more than just my venom. The small effects only lasted ten seconds for me.
My venom wore off Dimitri just one minute later, when we reached the administrative checkpoint.
A keycard panel set beside a heavy door.
“Your badge should open it. If not, Slater can override it,” Katie told us.
“Aren’t I so helpful, venom baby?” Slater gloated.
“Very, Havoc baby,” I mused.
Dimitri swiped his badge.
The panel blinked green, and the door clicked open.
Beyond it, the air changed.
It was less sterile, and that underlying odor of blood was the primary scent now.
A stairwell descended deeper into the fucked up facility.
My instincts coiled tight.
“Cell block’s below,” Katie informed us, voice tight. “Multiple captives. Thirty-one on record…but Slater’s seeing heat signatures that suggest more.”
Slater’s tone turned cold. “There are thirteen extra bodies not logged.”
Dimitri’s jaw clenched. “Let’s go.”
The deeper we walked, the more the facility smelled like blood. My stomach twisted at the familiar scent.
We reached the bottom and stepped into the cell corridor.
It was narrower with concrete walls and metal doors with small windows, where I knew supernaturals were being kept. The lights flickered ahead where a line of pipes ran along the ceiling, hissing faintly.
“You found them,” Slater murmured. “I’m hacking door controls, but they’re biometric. Human thumbprint and retinal scan on the master release, if you wish to speed things up.”
Dimitri’s gaze swept the corridor. “Then, we take a human.”
“Non-lethal if possible,” Eleanor reminded in a polite warning through the comms.
Zuko laughed softly. “Non-lethal is such an ugly phrase. Besides, Jarvins gave us permission to eliminate.”
“We’ll do our best,” I placated her through clenched teeth.
A door at the far end opened, and a human scientist stepped out, clipboard in hand, muttering to himself. He didn’t even notice us.
Dimitri moved in a blur, standing over him. I felt the compulsion magic just as the scientist’s eyes bulged as he noticed him.
“You will go and open all cell doors,” he ordered.
The scientist nodded and moved toward the master release panel within the office he’d just walked out of.
We followed behind him.
Slater’s voice tightened. “You’ve got ninety seconds before patrol rotation comes down. Shit.”
The man did his thumb print before leaning in and letting the controls scan his eye.
It lit up green before a low mechanical whir vibrated through the room.
“You will stay here and call nobody,” Dimitri told him before patting his shoulder and locking him in the office.
Locks of the cell doors disengaged one by one.
The doors hissed open, but the sound that followed was a collective, broken exhale.
It took several seconds before a couple of supernaturals stumbled out barefoot, bruised, wrists raw from restraints, eyes glassy with sedation.
Some were too weak to stand, let alone leave their cells. Some clutched each other.
A werewolf swayed as if he didn’t know where the floor was, while a witch’s hands trembled as she tried to summon her magic but only managed a faint flicker.
Tourmalyke clung to their blood.
Koa’s voice came in steadily. “I’m moving in. Ivy, Solon, breach on my count.”
Ivy’s response was immediate. “Copy.”
Solon growled, “Doors?”
“External breach point is clear. The west service exit is unlocked. I’m forcing it open now,” Slater told him.
Metal groaned somewhere above.
“Move the captives,” Katie urged. “They’re going to realize they’re escaping.”
Dimitri grabbed a stumbling vampire by the arm, hauling him upright with surprising gentleness. “Can you walk?”
The vampire nodded weakly.
I turned to the nearest group of three. “Listen to me. You’re going to move. Quietly. Follow the hall lights. Kill any humans you have to. We’re getting you out.”
A fear demon looked over at me with hollow eyes. “Are you…real?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, remembering the hollowed look of the real supernaturals the humans fucked with. “I’m real, and you’re going home.”
The fear demon’s eyes filled with tears.
Before I could think about it, Slater’s voice softened in my ear. “Venom baby, keep moving.”
Zuko’s voice came like a purr. “Save me the lead scientist, pretty little poison.”
“As if I would deprive you of your torture subject, toxin.” I scoffed.
Footsteps thundered down the stairwell.
“Incoming security,” Slater snapped.
“Extraction team, move faster,” Solon barked through the comms.
The doors slammed open into the corridor, and human guards rounded the corner.
Their rifles lifted.
Dimitri and I were the only line of defense to protect the captives.
Dimitri shoved the captives behind us with a snarl. “Get down!”
I moved on instinct, launching forward. My hand struck the first human’s exposed neck, and my venom flooded into his veins.
He dropped without a sound.
The next human swung his rifle up to take a shot, but he was too slow. I caught the barrel and drove my knee into his ribs. His rib cage shattered.
He wheezed, and I touched his jaw to finish the job.
Just as another group of humans rushed in, Ivy and Solon breached through an exterior access door at the end of the hall with Koa in tow. Phoenix fire flashed around Ivy’s fists, and Solon immediately started punching humans, knocking them out.
Koa moved behind them, hands glowing faintly with blue healing flames, his breath steady.
He dropped to a captive troll immediately, pressing his palm to their chest. His healing power healed the worst of the troll’s injuries enough for them to stand.
“Breathe,” he murmured to the troll. “Stay with me.”
Zuko appeared at the edge of the hall, already dragging a struggling scientist by the collar. “I found the lead scientist trying to escape,” he announced cheerfully through the comms, over the chaos of the fight. “He’s going to tell me everything.”
“No! Get away from me!” the scientist screamed.
Zuko kicked him in the gut, and the scream turned into a choking wheeze.
“Non-lethal,” Eleanor reminded us, her voice strained.
“Too late for that,” I mumbled guiltily.
Zuko sighed. “I’ve kept him mostly intact.”
A human lunged at Dimitri from behind with a syringe, the silver needle catching the fluorescent light.
I shoved Dimitri aside and took the needle to my shoulder. The needle pierced deep, and cold liquid flooded under my skin.
For half a second, the human’s face twisted in triumph, but then he saw my smile.
I grabbed his throat with my free hand and let a fatal venom out.
His eyes went wide before he collapsed dead at my feet.
Dimitri’s head snapped toward me, fury blazing through the matebond. “Rune.”
“I can take that hit better than you can.” I yanked the syringe out of my shoulder and tossed it aside. “It’s tourmalyke.”
His jaw clenched so hard I heard his fangs click under the glamour.
“You have got to stop taking hits for me,” he snarled, grabbing my arm.
I bared my teeth at him. “You want to lecture me now?”
“Yes,” he snapped. “I want you alive and unharmed.”
“I’m immune,” I shot back. “It didn’t even sting.”
“You don’t get to decide you’re expendable just because you can survive more than the rest of us.”
For one heartbeat, the bond between us flared. It was possessive, furious, and terrified.
Then, a human swung a baton at my head from behind.
Dimitri moved in a blur again and caught the baton mid-air, crushing it in his fist, and drove his elbow into the human’s temple.
The man dropped.