Chapter 24 #2
Rows and rows of metal doors with small square windows, each one glowing faintly with dim light.
I peeked into a room, and my heart dropped at the inhumane conditions.
It was much worse than where I’d been held.
No beds or furniture. Just concrete, a thin blood-stained blanket in one corner, and the hulking shape of machinery bolted to the wall beside each door with liquid tourmalyke inside it.
The thick, viscous fluid was in clear canisters, glowing faintly.
Tubes ran from the canisters through wall ports into the cells, feeding directly into the supernatural’s veins as they lay on the blanket.
My chest tightened.
Morgan and Koa both let out soft, strangled sounds behind me.
“Slater,” Jesper said, voice low with contained fury. “Can you unlock the cell doors?”
“I’m on the locks,” Slater said, fingers clacking over the keys.
“But they’ve got triple protections and firewalls on the doors tied to the tourmalyke regulators.
If I brute-force the doors, or if it’s opened with magic, every supernatural hooked to an IV will be flooded with enough tourmalyke to kill them. ”
“So don’t use brute-force or magic,” Jesper snapped.
I was already moving down the corridor, eyes flicking from window to window. Inside, paler faces stirred. Some blinked slowly, their minds hazy through the fog of sedation. Others lay still, with only the faintest rise and fall of their chests proving they were alive.
“We have shifters, witches, a couple of sirens, a young demon—” I reported, voice tight as I forced myself to keep walking. “A couple of kids. Teenagers.”
Rage flared white-hot in my chest.
“They’re all getting out,” Jesper assured me. “Every single one.”
I passed in front of one cell with three bodies tossed in a corner. They were not breathing. “Not all of them are alive.”
“Got it,” Corin said, voice tight. “I’ve isolated the tourmalyke machines from the door system. Slater, you’re clear to open.”
The locks clanged in a cascading series down the hall. Doors groaned as bolts retracted.
Drecken added his own power, magic pushing outward to help un-stick hinges.
One by one, the doors swung all the way open.
The first to step out was a witch, IV marks dotting her arms and eyes rimmed red.
She swayed, then caught herself on the frame, squinting at us in disbelief.
“We are agents from the Supernatural Council,” Jesper said, stepping forward, hands open, voice steady and grounded. “You’re safe. We’re getting you out.”
Her knees buckled, and Morgan was at her side, catching her before she hit the floor. Her fingers dug into the witch’s wrist to check her pulse, and she cursed slightly before using her healing magic on her.
No human came running to us.
Shifters staggered out a few doors down from the witch. A siren clung to her cell wall, humming without her magic threaded into her voice.
Sylver glided over to her, voice matching that hum, leading her gently into the hall.
April and Kyle darted down one row, their vampiric speed a blur as they scooped weakened prisoners into their arms and vanished with them toward the exit.
Tobias and Jesse moved in opposite directions, their flames flaring in controlled bursts.
“Rune, Dimitri, Zuko, and Koa, with me.” Jesper gestured for us. “It’s time to find the Whettlocks and take this operation down completely.”
“And me?” Drecken raised a brow at Jesper. “My authority outweighs yours, Jesper.”
“I know,” he agreed. “But it would be best to have you stay and help get all the supernaturals to safety. Plus, if any humans come, you can wipe them out easily.”
Drecken nodded before walking over and kissing my forehead. “If you need me, I’ll be there.”
“I know.” I kissed his lips quickly. “Save them, okay?”
“Anything for you, viperling.”
“I’m on camera tracking for this part,” Slater cut in. “I’ll guide you to their command hub. It’s buried, since these assholes hid themselves inside a safe room. Cowards.”
“Lead the way, Havoc baby,” I purred with deadly excitement.
I couldn’t wait to see Allison again.
Dimitri’s hand brushed mine briefly, fingers curling around my own and giving a quick squeeze before letting go.
“You sure you’re good for this?” Jesper checked on me.
I nodded. “I need to do this.”
We slipped away from the chaos of the cell block into a side corridor lit by harsher, whiter lights.
Behind us, the sound of the abducted supernaturals’ rescue filled the halls with voices, sobs, and shouted orders.
Ahead, silence was the only thing that waited.
“Take the right at the end of the hall,” Slater directed. “At the service stairwell, go down to the last level. Security is thin there.”
We moved fast but carefully. Even though this facility was nothing compared to the last, it was still a maze of blind corners and hidden panels.
The temperature shifted as we descended the last level.
“Junction ahead,” Slater murmured. “A cluster of camera feeds are glitching… Clearly, they’re trying to hide something. Give me a sec. Snakey, let’s go say hi.”
Chaos magic briefly crackled on the comms before stopping.
“That door on your left,” he said suddenly, tone sharpening. “The feed there just did a hard flicker. It’s the safe room that they’re hiding in.”
The door itself looked unremarkable, with flat matte metal and no label. Without Slater, I wasn’t sure I’d have recognized it as a safe room at all.
Zuko grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You still feeling okay, pretty little poison?”
“More than okay,” I told him honestly, pulling my dagger out.
“Let’s approach,” Jesper guided us, but before we even reached for the handle, two large metal slabs slotted down in the hall, blocking us in from two sides as we stood in front of the door. The rumble of machinery above us reverberated with an annoying hiss.
“Oh, shit,” Slater breathed. “Jesper, they just activated a secondary security protocol from that room. Tourmalyke dispersion, and it’s gas, not liquid. The vents—”
A mist seeped from the ceiling vents.
This dose differed from the one they used at the formal. It was heavier and more concentrated.
My mates’ bonds flared with pain, dizziness, and a sudden lurching weakness.
The gas rolled down like fog over a river, but I didn’t feel any difference. Tourmalyke slid into my lungs as harmless as air. My immunity held firm.
“Not again.” Dimitri staggered beside me, one knee hitting the ground, eyes flaring with rage as his body tried to fight the toxin.
Jesper swayed, meeting my gaze as he braced himself against the wall. “Go, honey drop. We’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that!” I shook my head. “I can’t leave you.”
Zuko’s trembling hand circled around my wrist. “Rune, go kick their asses.”
Two thuds hit the ground.
Koa and Dimitri.
I felt rage coil up my spine like a living thing.
Zuko hit the ground, his hand falling from my wrist, followed by Jesper.
All four of their matebonds muted.
“Fates, Rune, they’re coming out,” Slater hissed over the comms. “You are the only ones affected by the gas right now. I’ve told Drecken, but—”
“He can’t come,” I hissed at him. “He needs to teleport us all out of here after this. I can handle it.”
“I know you can. I told him that. He agreed.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m hacking into the controls to stop the gas now. Hang in there, do you understand me?”
“Perfectly.”
The door in front of us swung open, and Allison Whettlock stood in the frame, backlit by the lighting from the security feeds behind her.