21. Torture Chambers & Fireballs
Chapter twenty-one
Torture Chambers & Fireballs
SHASTA
W e pull up down the street from the hardware store and a shiver wracks my body. My mates and I are about to go into a very dangerous situation. Looking at both of them, I see expressions of steel on their faces. They’re used to this kind of thing. I’m a bookstore owner. Granted, I am a powerful witch, but it isn’t often I’ve had to go full on crazy with my powers. So much is at stake here that I can’t see things being any other way this time.
Now, we get to add in my demigod powers. That, in and of itself, is uncharted territory. I wish I had more time to figure these powers out before I got thrown into this, but I have to get my dad out of there. We can worry about the rest later.
Joaquin makes a motion with his hand after we all exit the SUV’s and everyone gets into formation. Ethan and Kadi are at the front and the others in echelon formation. The V shape gives everyone the view they need and also enables them to protect Ethan and Kadi quickly if necessary.
I move to the front and Ethan grabs my arm. “Absolutely not. You are not going in first. What if they’re waiting to grab you?”
“I have to get the barrier down. In order to do that I have to go first. I get that you want to try to protect me, but there are some things only I can do and they can’t be done from behind you,” I say gently. Now that he has gotten over the feelings he had about having a witch mate, he’s becoming quite protective. It makes my belly clench a little in desire, but this is not the time.
Kadi is a golden retriever but also has the touch her and die vibe. Ethan on the other hand? Growly and possessive, but in a way that is so damn sexy. They couldn’t be more similar but also so very different. I’m a very lucky girl.
I put my arms out and close my eyes. There is a barrier, a very complicated one. It’s going to take me a minute to bring it down. Reaching into the new well of power I have, I sift through until I pick up that I can throw a glamour over the top of us. It won’t make us invisible, but it will keep people from noticing us. A look away spell if you will.
“Be as still as you can, I’m putting a glamour up while I work on this barrier. There are several layers I have to bring down so that it doesn’t set anything off, but I think I can manage it,” I say quietly. They all nod. The vampires and the Fae go the most still.
It’s fucking creepy how they can do that.
Turning back to the building, I begin working to pull down the layers. The first comes down pretty easy. Creasing my brow, I realize that this may not take me very long at all with these new powers I have. The next layer is a little more of a challenge but it also comes down much quicker than I had anticipated.
Kadi notices that I’m confused and whispers, “What’s wrong, Shas?”
“They are coming down much quicker than I thought. It could be one of two things. Either my new powers are making this much easier than it normally would be, or this is a trap and they purposely made them easy. When I scanned it, this seemed very complicated though. There are many years and layers of barriers here that have been constantly kept up, so it doesn’t make sense that they would come down this easily. Be on your guard.”
The guys shift nervously behind me but I feel their resolve through the bond. They do not like that I’m in the front right now. The minute I get this barrier down they are not letting me go in first. I resign myself to the high handedness and continue working.
It’s down in less than a minute. What the fuck? I look down at my hands. They have a faint glow that dissipates as I watch. Maybe it is my new powers. Just as I suspected, Ethan shoves me behind him and then boots the door open.
“I could have opened that lock if you had given me a second,” I stage whisper to him.
He chuckles low. “I like to make a statement.”
I’ll just bet he does. Okay, so, my mates are fucking badasses. I mean I already knew that but seeing them in action is a whole other level. Kadi looks more like a panther than a lion as he stalks in after Ethan, the other guys are all behind me.
It’s dark and quiet in the store. We head towards the back of the store and the only door we see is the one leading to the alley where the deliveries come in. There has to be a secret door we don’t know about. My guess is it’s in the office.
I point toward it and Ethan nods. We walk over and before he can kick this one, I flick my wrist and the lock clicks open. Kadi laughs quietly. Joaquin pokes me in the back and I turn around and see him grinning like a fool. They are having a good time watching me keep Ethan in check I guess.
I really love the friendship these guys have. It reminds me of Emmett and I. They are like a well oiled machine too. Everyone has a job and they stick to it.
Stepping into the office, I look around. Mahogany desk, chair, shelf, huge rug in the middle. It’s pretty bare in here other than that. I walk around feeling on the walls and Kadi checks the shelf for latches and pulls it a bit to see if it opens. Nothing.
Examining the rug, I see that it’s slightly crooked. “Grab that desk please,” I say, pointing to it. Joaquin walks over and lifts the desk easily. Freaking vamp strength. That desk probably weighs several hundred pounds.
I pull the rug back. Bingo . Hidden door. Ethan shoves me behind him and Kadi lifts the door. I feel Ethan stiffen. This must be the same type of door and stairs into the floor that his parents had. I rub his back a little in solidarity.
It’s pitch black going down the stairs, so I grab onto Ethan as we head down. They have shifter vision so they can see better than I can. I don’t want to risk using witch light. We don’t know what or who might be down there.
It’s so very quiet. I can hear little drops of water every now and then as we descend the stairs. It’s a dank dark cellar. My father has been down here for who knows how long. Just the dampness alone is enough to do someone in after years of captivity down here. He probably lives in a constant state of pneumonia. I make a mental note to tell Jessa that when we get him to her. If we get him to her.
We finally reached the bottom. There is a faint light coming from the large room ahead of us but I still can’t see anything. I hear Kadi gag ahead of us. As we make it to where he is, I understand why. It smells. A horrible awful smell. Blood, excrement, and…body parts maybe? It’s like the smell of dead flesh. Gods, how many people have they tortured and killed down here?
I feel the despair coming from it and it makes my stomach flip with fear for my dad. I push past Ethan. He tries to grab me but I shake him off. I desperately look around and don’t see a cell.
What the fuck? Where is it?
I start to panic. My breaths are short and sweat starts to drip down my spine. Kadi comes up to me and grabs my arms, facing me towards him. “Breathe, Little Lioness. He’s here. I can smell him in that direction.” He points to the right wall.
I take a deep breath and reach out my powers. Another barrier spell. This one, a full blocking spell. With traps. Yep, these are going to be the ones to tip them off when they come down.
I close my eyes and concentrate again. The magic barrier is a mash of black, ugly sigils. They are layered in so deeply I don’t know how I’m going to get through them all without tripping something. Alaric is still outside guarding the door to let us know if someone is coming.
Fuck it. I’m just going to blast through them. The sense of urgency I feel to get him out of there is so intense it’s taking everything in me not to just rip through them. I need to set up a protective barrier around all of us first.
I wave my hands and set up a barrier more powerful than I ever have before. Holy shit . Normally I have to pay attention to how much magic I’m using so I don’t drain myself. The barrier outside should have taken quite a bit of my well of power, but it barely used a drop.
“ Shasta .”
Shiva’s voice interrupts my train of thought and I startle.
He sends me a spell that I recognize well, but with a twist.
“ Use this. It will come down without alerting them.”
“But how?” I ask him. “I’ve used that spell before to take barriers down but it always trips the traps.”
Joaquin grins to the side of me and motions the guys that everything is fine. I see him mouth the word ‘Shiva’ and they step back.
“ Just trust me. Your ancestors have modified it a bit. It basically just erases the spells as if they never were. I am a very powerful being, you know. You do have my blood coursing through your veins. You’ll get used to it eventually.”
I feel a small caress on my cheek and then he leaves again. This is going to get weird fast if he keeps popping in whenever he wants to.
I raise my arms again and do as he said. As I wave each of my hands over the sigils, they just…disappear. Or evaporate? I’m not sure which fits better. After a moment, I see a cell door and rush forward, the guys right on my heels.
Peering in, I see a form huddled in the corner, their breathing ragged.
“Dad,” I whisper.
He looks up from the corner. “Shasta? It can’t be. No, you have to get out of here. They will be back any time.” He starts sobbing immediately.
“Nope, no way. I’m not leaving you here,” I say, using my magic to blast the hinges of the door as Laken steps forward to move it out of the way. Ethan goes in ahead of me to help my father stand.
He is an emaciated mass of bruises. His cheek bones stark against the pallid skin covering his face. I feel tears falling and I reach toward him, clasping him to me tightly. He whimpers and I let go. “Sorry, I’m sorry. We are taking you to a healer. I can get you somewhat patched up but we are taking you to Supe Gen to my friend Jessa.”
“Shasta, you have to leave me here. It’s the only thing keeping them from going after you.”
“They already tried. Logan showed up at my place last night and tried to snatch me right in front of the guys. I’m getting you out of here, now let’s go,” I say, nodding to Ethan. He bends and grabs my dad under his knees in a bridal carry, being as gentle as he can. I bet he doesn't even weigh a hundred pounds.
Stifling a sob, I follow them out of the cell. I turn and look at the room one more time before I go. I want to burn this into my memory that way when we fight them, I can take every single atrocity out on them, one at a time. I gag a little. Anger rises in me and I feel the air crackle around me. Joaquin looks at me, eyes red. Laken too. I shiver a little. Vampires are fucking scary when they are pissed off. They are the strongest of all of us too. I may be powerful magic-wise, but when it comes to brute strength, the vampires have all of us beat, hands down.
I don’t ever want to be on the receiving end of those red-eyed gazes. They both nod and we follow Ethan and my father up the stairs. We make it almost to the front door before I hear Alaric in my head. I can only assume he is speaking to all of us at the same time because we all stop as a group.
Someone just pulled up in a black SUV with the windows blacked out.
Ethan rushes toward the back door and kicks the door open. We follow close behind. Hearing a shout, I turn to see a woman with white hair and a dark haired older man with gray at his temples. These must be Logan’s parents.
I hang back, Joaquin and Laken flanking me, Kadi right behind me. Ethan continues out the door with my dad. I can only assume he is going to get him to Desmond, the other vamp from the Club that came with us so that he can run my dad to Jessa.
I square off with Logan’s parents in the hallway. His dad sneers. I see where Logan got his genes from. He looks like a carbon copy of his father. “Logan told us you’d be coming around.”
“Yeah, we told him we would. No secret there. But you won’t be getting my dad back and you're sure as Hell not getting me either,” I say as I raise my hands. The biggest fireball I have ever made flies from my hands and I gasp in surprise.
They both fly backward. Logan’s mother isn’t moving but his dad slowly stands. He dusts his suit off and smiles a sick, twisted smile at me. “You'll find I’m not that easy to take out, Shasta. Now be a good girl and come with me before I kill your friends.”
I snort. “You’ll not be killing them or taking me today. Your little trick you tried to pull with the letter didn’t work asshole. My grams already got the spider out of me.” I blast him again.
He stands again, but this time, he’s a little shakier. “We’ll get you one way or the other, Shasta. Just like we have gotten every other one of your family members over the years. It’s inevitable. Just come quietly. We only need you to do one little spell for us,” he says.
Gods, he sounds so sure of himself.
“Yeah, no thank you. I’d prefer to not do a spell that not only gives you all immortality but also kills me in the process. Your days, the Society’s days, are very numbered,” I growl at him.
He raises his arms and a black oily hand reaches for me. Kadi jumps in front of me at the last second and it hits him with a thump. He falls to the ground in front of me, convulsing.
“Kadi!” I scream and drop to my knees.
Laken and Joaquin rush at Logan’s dad and grab his arms, holding him tightly. He is cursing them and screaming, but they don’t loosen their grip. I look down at Kadi and run my hands over his chest where the hand hit him. It tore a hole in his shirt and I watch as a black greasy spot tries to burrow into his skin. Oh, not today you little fucker. I’ve had it with these spiders of theirs.
“Kadi I’m going to burn this fucker. It’s going to hurt but I’ll heal you after,” I grind out. He nods, breathing shallow and ragged. I flick a finger and the spider lights up with purple flames. Purple? What the fuck?
I watch, entranced as, not only does it kill the spider, it heals the wounds behind it. Well, that’s a handy new trick. I really need to figure out these new powers I have. They seem especially geared towards fighting the effects of black magic and the Society in general.
He grunts and stands.
“Bring him with us. We are going to put him in the basement at Winnie’s. Shasta, can you do something to bind her?” He points to Logan’s mom, still lying motionless on the ground. I walk over and feel her neck.
“No need. She’s already dead.” I should feel remorse right?
This is the first time I’ve killed someone. But I think back to how my father looked when I opened the cell door and I don’t feel a bit of pity for her. Stepping over her, I lift my chin and head to the front of the store, Joaquin and Laken on my heels carrying Logan’s father between them. He’s fighting them with everything he’s got but they will not budge. I see Kadi give me a look, but I ignore it for now. We’ll just have to talk about it later.
Stepping out into the night we see Ethan coming back down the street toward us. “I’ve got one of the other guys on the way here. Alaric called some backup when he saw them pull up.”
Wow, these guys are really good. You have to appreciate a criminal group that knows what they’re doing when it comes to operations. Ethan rushes over to Kadi and I, looking us over. He notes the spot that's torn on Kadi’s shirt and looks at us in curiosity.
“Product of my new powers. Apparently it likes to eat the spiders and then clean up after itself,” I say and shrug my shoulders. “Also, we don’t need the backup. Logan’s mom is dead. Just leave her there.”
I feel him press the bond as if searching for something but Kadi shoots him a look and very subtly shakes his head.
I saw that.
Guess we are going to have a talk later, for sure. I don’t care though. They can say what they want. I don’t feel bad for killing her and I’m not going to apologize for my weird ass new powers. To be fair, I’m sure they don’t give a shit that she’s dead, just that I’m being so blasé about it.
Hank, one of the wolf shifters, and driver of the getaway vehicle, rolls down the passenger side window. “Uber is ready,” he calls out.
Ethan shakes his head but opens the backdoor for Kadi and I to get in. Once I slide across the seat, Kadi gets in beside me. Ethan climbs in the passenger seat. Joaquin leans around the still open door and says, “Hey Shasta, you want to do the thing you did to Ethan the other day?”
I lean across Kadi and flick a finger at Logan’s father and he goes out like a light.
“Perfect,” Joaquin says and he and Laken climb in, putting Logan’s father in between them. We drive to Grams’ in silence. Everyone is trapped in their own thoughts over what we saw there.
Grams is on the porch when we get there, my mother is nowhere to be seen. Her eyes find mine as I step out of the vehicle. I see grief there, not for what I did, but that I had to do it in the first place. I don’t think she likes what she sees in my face though, because she presses her lips together.
She gestures everyone inside and Joaquin goes first, now carrying Logan’s father by himself since he’s currently unconscious. As I pass her, she grabs ahold of my shirt and whispers, “We will have a talk, Shasta. If the looks on your mates faces are any indication, I think it will be a conversation between all of us.”
I just nod and pass her, following the guys downstairs. Figures she knows what happened without even having to ask. Sometimes she amazes me with all the things she always knows. You’d think after all these years I wouldn’t be surprised but I continue to always be in awe of her powers. There’s a reason she’s the head of the Coven.
Once we get down to the basement, Joaquin and Laken get Logan’s dad locked into the chair. We really need to find out his name so I don’t have to keep calling him ‘Logan’s dad’ in my head.
Joaquin looks over at Kadi, Ethan, and I. “You three head to Supe Gen. We’ve got this. Once he wakes up, we can find out what we need to know. I’ll let you know if anything crazy comes up. Oh, and tell Jessa I’ll be seeing her soon.” He has a wicked glint in his eye on that last part and he and Laken share another look that I can’t interpret. I’m gonna have to pull her to the side once my dad is settled.
Ethan puts a hand on my lower back and leads me toward the stairs. Grams’ pulls up a chair and has a seat with Laken and Joaquin.