41. Chapter 41
41
“ W e’ll portal in through the Forks gate,” Gavin said, leaning forward over the map on the coffee table in his sitting room. He pointed to the Washington town that had been made famous by a fictional story about sparkling vampires.
Little did the people of Forks—or the rest of the world, for that matter—know that beautiful, immortal, blood-drinking creatures were real, and regardless of an undead vampire’s morals or ethics, these immortals absolutely could not survive on animal blood. Only mortal human blood—or a vampire queen’s blood—would keep an undead vampire alive.
“That one won’t work,” Bastian said, and I twisted in my seat to see the lone shifter in my harem standing behind my armchair, his forearms crossed over his broad chest. “We— they— know about the Forks gate. The Sun Watch monitors it. They’ll know the second we step out of the portal.”
“Hmmm,” Gavin murmured, drawing my attention back to him and the map on the low table. He sat in the armchair at the opposite end of the coffee table, with Ash seated on the sofa arranged along the length of the table. Gavin stared at the pin stuck through the map and into the table, marking the location of the Sun Keep in the northern part of a massive rainforest on the Olympic peninsula.
According to Bastian, the Sun Keep was a mostly underground facility, which was why human hikers never stumbled across it, and apparently why Gavin and the rest of my people could not launch a successful assault on the stronghold.
“What about Sequim?” Ash suggested, pointing to the peninsula’s northern coast.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Bastian shaking his head.
“Aberdeen?” Gavin asked, and I was still looking at Bastian when he again shook his head.
“Olympia?” Ash said, only to receive another head shake. The names of a few more western Washington towns were offered, all met with a headshake.
“Then we’re looking at Eastern Washington or Oregon. That’s six hours in a car, minimum,” Gavin said, lifting his stare from the map to glance at me. “I don’t like the idea of having Sophie out in the open and unwarded for so long.”
“Well, if that’s our primary concern, why don’t we portal straight into the gate in the Sun Keep?” Bastian suggested.
I turned in my chair, pulling one leg up onto the seat.
“That’s suicide,” Ash grumbled.
“Assuming you’re still holding Silas alive , you can get the ward code for the gate from him,” Bastian said.
A dip of Gavin’s chin confirmed that Silas, whoever that was, was still alive.
“We’ll still have to deal with the guards at the gate,” Bastian continued, “but at least we won’t be incinerated by the ward when we pass through the portal.”
I frowned, considering his words. Silas had to be the shifter who had just made it through the portal to the Moon Sanctuary right before the magical gateway closed.
“Why would he give us the ward code?” I asked, looking from Bastian to Gavin to Ash, then back at Bastian. “Torture?”
“No, Soph,” Bastian said, uncrossing his arms and gripping the corners of my chairback, his lips curving into a slow, wolfish grin. “Silas will give up the ward code because you are going to make him.”
I blinked, then widened my eyes, my lips parting. “Oh,” I said, realizing what he meant. He was talking about me using my will on Silas. “I don’t know how.” I shook my head. “What if I can’t do it?”
“You can,” Bastian assured me. “You used your will on me.” He looked past me to Gavin. “And on him.”
“Yeah, but I was mad at you,” I countered, glancing at Gavin. “At both of you. It just sort of happened .”
“Well, then,” Bastian started. When I looked at him again, there was a wicked glint in his eyes. “I guess we’ll have to get you riled up.”
I scoffed, turning back toward Gavin and the map, planting both feet on the floor and crossing my arms over my chest. I hated being the linchpin in a plan. “And then what?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “I’m assuming you have some way to incapacitate the guards once we’re through the portal?” Maybe we could toss grenades through ahead of us or something like that.
Gavin nodded once.
“Okay, so we get through the portal and into the Sun Keep, then we take out the guards,” I said. “What’s next?”
“There are four dungeons down in the deepest level of the keep, one at each cardinal direction and each only accessible from the top level,” Gavin explained, his focus shifting past me to confirm his intel with Bastian. “According to your shifter, the Sun Watch keeps all of their prisoners in one dungeon. They rotate which dungeon is in use every month for ward maintenance and as an added protection measure. The new dungeon is chosen at random. The rotation would have happened yesterday, which means Silas won’t know where the prisoners are being held.” He paused, letting that info sink in. “We need you to guide us to the correct dungeon.”
I opened my mouth to respond but closed it again without saying anything. I had demanded to be involved in the rescue mission after all. No backing out now.
“How many shifters are stationed in the keep at any given time?” Gavin asked Bastian.
“And are there families?” I asked, glancing back at Bastian. “Or is it just warriors?”
Bastian shrugged one shoulder. “Two hundred . . . ish. All warriors, no kids,” he said. “The gate is on level one—that’s the first underground level. Most of the Sun Watch will be stationed up there since the only way to the lower levels is through them. The next most occupied level is three—the barracks. It’s going to be hard to get through level one on the way in, but it’s going to be nearly impossible to get back to the gate on the way out.”
Gavin smirked. “We’re not portaling out.”
Bastian narrowed his eyes, angling his head to the side. “Then how . . .?”
Gavin sat back in his chair, carefully placing his forearms on the armrests. “Why did they build the Sun Keep there ? Why that location? And why underground?”
Tired of twisting around and craning my neck to follow the conversation, I stood and moved to stand closer to the fireplace so I could see all three of my immortals.
“Something about the minerals in the earth.” Bastian shook his head. “I don’t know all the details.”
“Manganese,” Gavin said. “It amplifies shifter power and reduces the effects of the curse.”
“They used to mine manganese around there,” Bastian said, nodding slowly like Gavin’s info dredged up some old knowledge. “Some of the tunnels run beneath the keep, but they’re flooded—on purpose—and rigged to flood the dungeons if needed. Mostly the Sun Watch just uses controlled flooding to clean the cells between rotations.” Bastian glanced at me, then down at the chair in front of him, his fingers digging into the padding as his shame rang loud and clear through our bond. “But they’ve been known to use the floodwaters to threaten or punish prisoners as well.”
Gavin let out a harrumph, looking like he wasn’t remotely surprised.
Bastian cleared his throat and straightened. “The old mine shafts are sealed and warded, both at the surface and down where they run under the dungeons.”
“The surface seals won’t be a problem,” Gavin said. “I hired a human mining company years ago to dig nearby. A few months back, they connected with the old mine shafts and were able to map those out. Once we’re out of the dungeon, we’ll easily be able to find our way to the new tunnels and up to the surface, far away from anywhere the Sun Watch knows to look.”
Bastian’s brows rose as Gavin spoke. “Okay. But the only way into the tunnels would be through the flood hatches, and if you open those . . .” The dungeon will flood , hung unsaid in the room. “I don’t know how to reseal the hatches,” Bastian added, sounding defeated. “There must be a lever or . . .” Again, he shook his head.
“It shouldn’t matter,” Ash said. “Once we get everyone out of the dungeon, why not let the whole place flood? That’ll keep the bastards distracted.”
I raised my hand, and one by one, the immortals turned their attention to me. “So, are we bringing scuba gear?” I asked, voicing my main concern with the plan. The undead vampires breathed so infrequently they could hold their breath for hours, and Bastian could shift into a water creature. But I would drown. “Because I can’t breathe underwater,” I reminded them. “And neither can the other queens.”
“We have a device for you,” Gavin said. “A tankless breathing mask. You’ll be fine until we reach the surface.”
“But—” I stalled, shaking my head. “What if the queens can’t swim? I mean, Javier was in rough shape in my dream, and the queens didn’t look much better.”
“Fresh immortal blood should give them the temporary boost they need to make it out.” Gavin exchanged a look with Ash, who nodded, silently acquiescing to donate some of his precious immortal blood as well. Gavin returned his attention to me. “The queens won’t be a problem.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “Okay, but why don’t we just go in that way?”
“The hatches can’t be opened from the outside,” Bastian explained. “You’d have to blow them up, but then you’d risk killing everyone in the dungeon above.”
My brow furrowed. “Oh, well then . . .” I licked my lips. “I guess you guys’ve thought of everything.” And here I had been hoping to delay with a few more hours of planning. I looked at each of them, settling on Gavin. “When do we leave?”
Gavin stood. “As soon as we get the ward code from Silas and prep the team.” He gestured toward the door to the hallway. “Whenever you’re ready, Sophie.”
Taking a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders. The time for talk was over. It was time to actually do something. My stomach twisted as I headed for the door, mentally preparing myself to use my powers of coercion on purpose for the first time ever.