LAILAH
SEVENTEEN
Jay decided right away that he wanted to meet us there and wanted us to wait for him, but I had other plans. "You cannot tell me we are actually going to sit here while they could be attaching a demon to her, are you?"
The guys all looked at each other, then undid their seatbelts. Having mine already off, I tossed open my door and jumped out of the car, taking a look around the oddly empty parking lot.
"It's a Monday afternoon, there's no holiday, so why aren't there more cars parked out here? There wasn't even someone at the guard shack," I mused.
Parker came to stand next to me. "I told you, no one would check out here if they didn't have to. We ended up taking a service road in, so it's off the beaten path."
"Let's go you two," Micah ordered as he marched off towards the office building.
"Look, if we’re going to do this, we should be smart about it," Brayden cautioned.
"Let's take a look around the outside to make sure there isn't another employee parking area.
What if this is a whole mix up and the phone got stolen by someone who works here?
It could have fallen out of her pocket for all we know. "
I understood where Brayden was coming from, but it was a little too late to be getting cold feet about this. "Fine, we'll scope out the outside then we’re going in."
The building was in two sections, the front was a low office building that had the company name on it.
My guess is it was used for meetings and the paper-pushers of the production.
The real work though, was in a massive brick building four stories high with five giant stacks out front.
There wasn't any smoke coming out of them and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
Once we made it behind the actual station, there was a massive field of electrical towers holding lines going in every direction.
You could feel the hum of the energy coming off them and an occasional snap as power leapt across the lines.
This told me that even if the stacks weren't smoking, there was still power flowing from the station itself.
"I don't see anything useful out here, let's head inside," Micah decided as he walked up to the closest door.
When he tried to open it, it didn't budge.
There were two more doors for us to try but all were locked tight.
Micah pressed a hand against the set of double doors and I watched as steam started to rise and the door turned cherry red under his touch.
Pulling his hand back, he kicked the same spot and the doors burst inward, giving us our way in.
"Okay that was badass," I said, following Micah into the building.
Now I understood why they based horror movies out of places like this, because they are legit creepy as all hell.
The lights were off but for the soft warm glow of security lighting along the concrete corridor, with pipes and wires running all along the ceiling.
I could tell we were walking up an incline and the hallway was wide enough that three of us could walk side by side.
I could imagine machinery of some kind being driven around moving things or bringing in supplies, it was a long walk to wherever we were going.
We reached a point where we could go left or we could keep going straight.
Our choice was made for us when the door to the left was locked and the one ahead was not.
Micah went through first, pulling the door open enough to see what was on the other side then looked back at us, motioning us to be quiet.
He slipped through, then a moment later waved us to follow him with another warning to be quiet.
The room we entered was the main production area if I had to guess.
Metal walkways in a gridlock pattern filled the room giving us the opportunity to look down and see the massive coils and mechanical parts that generated the electricity.
Turbines churned, pulling water from the lake to help keep them cool as they labored.
If I wasn't so worried about getting caught and or killed, this would have been a super cool experience to appreciate.
At the moment, I was just praying nothing jumped out at us since there was nowhere to hide.
Then I heard what had Micah so cautious— voices.
"What do you mean you only brought one?" a man growled. "You had a whole fucking theme park to pick from!"
"Look, I'm not the only one working that area, alright," this coming from a woman.
"I did my part getting the newly dosed person out of the park without getting caught.
She was with someone and they called security, I couldn't risk them searching the back where we keep them until the end of the day. "
They were talking about Phoebe! This also means that she was given the serum.
"Then you better get back there before they notice you took too long of a lunch break. We were short on our quota for last week. We can't come up short again, do you hear me?" the man growled.
"You know what? Fuck you, old man. The only reason you’re even in charge of this place is because you got picked by a Higher Demon," the woman snapped.
An odd hissing snarl echoed in the room below us as we crept closer.
"That's right little human, don't make me rip your pathetic low level demon out of you and send your rotting corpse to your loved ones.
I can just as easily replace you with the woman you brought me.
She will be used for a higher purpose, I can tell.
Her soul is tainted and will draw the darkness to her. "
"Go rot in hell, I'm over this shit. I was promised power and a place in the new dark world that would destroy this shit stain of an existence that we live in now. Yet all I've been doing is collecting bodies for other people—like a slave!"
"That's because you are a slave," the man's voice had now completely changed to sound like a snake with the hissing S's. "Or at least you were."
"No."
The sound of a scuffle, followed by a sickening slam of something against the concrete floor made me ill. I could only guess what just happened and was so extremely grateful that I didn't have to witness it.
"At least she brought me you," the slithering voice crooned. "Come, come let's find you a master. This will make them happy, yesss, yesss, indeed."
I gave a pleading look to the guys, this was our chance.
We could totally take the one demon. We'd dealt with far worse than a measly Higher Demon before, Ubel was a Greater Demon one of the Dark Lord's court.
Brayden gave me a sharp shake of the head no and pointed back the way we came.
I knew they would want to talk this to death, and I knew it was the right choice, seeing how things went the last time I went off on my own.
Once we made it back to the hallway, we gathered in the corner that would allow us to be hidden if someone opened the locked door on the left.
"Please tell me we’re not going to let them use her as a puppet for a demon," I demanded. "You saw what that can do to a person."
"Angel, we are not going to abandon her if we can do something to help. All I ask is that we go about this with some kind of plan," Brayden explained.
Micah scratched his chin as he thought. "We need to find out how many demons are in here or if that is the only one.
From what they were saying, this is a drop off point for people they've given the serum to.
Wherever they took Phoebe, there could be others.
Wouldn't you rather have the chance to save more if we can? "
"Of course I would," I scowled at Micah. "How exactly do you propose we scope out the area?"
"Two by two," Parker stated. "If we go as a group of four we won’t cover as much ground and be easier to spot. I'll go with Lailah and you go with Brayden."
"I think the fuck not!" Micah snarled.
Parker sighed. "Think about it man. You and I are the strongest fighters out of the four of us. Do you agree?"
"So?"
"Why would it be smart to put two strong people together?
You and I don't work well together, but you and Brayden are a dynamic duo, always have been.
Lailah only has up close or defensive weapons to fight with, I have long range which means I can keep her protected," Parker argued.
"Put aside your personal feelings and think like Jay. "
Micah just glared at him for a few seconds before he nodded. "Fine, but know that if anything happens to her, I will kill you with my bare hands."
"I would expect nothing less, and if I let it happen, I would absolutely deserve it," Parker agreed. "Now, do our cells work here?"
We all grabbed ours and looked at the screen but there was no signal. "Has to be all the concrete, it might get better out of this hallway," Brayden reasoned.
"We will search for twenty minutes and if we don't find anything, make your way back here.
It's the best we can do unless we have cell service, so try to text before heading back here," Parker suggested, surprising us all with his logic.
"If I can find a computer I'm gonna see if they have blueprints of the place I can access to make it easier. "
"Seems you aren't a complete idiot after all," Micah muttered, as he headed for the doors back out to the generator room. "We'll go right, you wait a few minutes then you guys go left."
Seeing that Parker wanted to argue, I placed my hand on his arm drawing his attention. "Don't let him get inside your head, this team doesn't work without all of us."
"Thanks, Trouble," Parker said, giving me a tight smile, brushing his knuckles along my cheek. "Come on, let's go find Phoebe."
Back in the generator room, we stayed low as we made our way along the gangplank.
It was slotted so I could see the various parts and pieces working as we moved, but I didn't see any signs of workers in the room with us.
The noise of the motors working covered our steps, but even still, we moved as silently as we could not taking a chance.
We reached the end of our walkway and there was a door with a glass window cut into it, so we could see into the next space.
It looked like a control room filled with all kinds of buttons, knobs, dials, and computers—exactly what Parker had been hoping to find.
"The door is unlocked," Parker whispered as he opened it.
The room was far larger than we could see from the narrow window in the door, which is why we missed the man who was working at one of the computers. I'd entered first and when I spotted him, I closed the door behind me, keeping Parker out and hidden.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" an older man with graying hair that stuck out in all directions under his hard hat demanded.
"Look, how many times do I have to keep telling you idiots that the control room isn't a place to fuck around in?
You hit the wrong button and you'll turn off the power for the next fifty miles in all directions.
We can't afford to get noticed like that. "
He thinks I'm one of the demon helpers I realized, forcing myself to hold back a grin, thankful for the first time ever for what I went through. I probably gave off the same energy as the other dosed people.
"I'm sorry, I'm new to all this and I can't find anyone," I explained playing dumb. "I had a problem with one of the people that got dosed and I need to inform someone but not sure who or where they are?"
The old guy sighed and picked up a walkie-talkie. "Control room to harvest area one, do you copy? I have a lost puppet that needs to talk to Mozog."
"This is harvest area one, Mozog is busy, send them our way and we'll deal with it."
"Will do," the controller said, turning to us.
"Alright you're gonna have to take a left out of here and take the stairs to the lower part of the generator room.
There is a set of double doors under this office that leads to a hallway, follow it all the way to the end until you get to the red door.
It says, emergency exit only. The alarm will sound but that's just to keep people out, on the other side is harvest room one.
That's where all the empty puppets go to get their masters.
" He paused and looked at me closely for the first time, squinting his eyes at me.
"Why don't I feel the presence of your master? "
Quickly, I ran through everything I'd learned from the Elementi on different types of demons and their classifications. "Yeah, well you'd have to have a master that gave off any power, I got picked by a simple low level messenger."
"Ah, explains how simple you are and how you fucked up on your first job," he harrumphed. "Now get out, I've got important work to do."
Backing out of the door, Parker all but grabbed me and dragged me down the walkway before he slammed me up against the concrete wall.
"What the actual fuck, Lailah. How could you do something so reckless after everything that's happened to you?
! I should have been the one to go in first, I could have taken him out without you having to put yourself in danger! "
"I didn't think the whole thing through alright, but it turned out better than either of us could have planned.
He thought I was one of them, the puppets, and he told me where they are keeping the people they take," I reasoned.
"You have every right to be upset, but I suggest we go back in there and deal with him.
I will back you up and stay out of the way, letting you handle things.
He had a walkie-talkie that he used to communicate with the harvest room and I think we're going to need it. "
Parker's expression was still full of anger and fear, but he let me go.
"Don't think this is the end of this, just wait until Jay and Micah find out about that shit.
You'll be handcuffed to one of them at all times for a month.
" He rubbed his hands over his face and growled. "Let's go get the walkie-talkie."