Chapter 15 Garrick
Garrick
Iknew she was going to be trouble. I just knew it. As soon as Nineteen told me that she wasn’t in her room last night I knew we’d caught the killer. She is the exact type to try and take out the competition.
Her reaction to the cuffs cemented it even further.
Somehow, she recognised that they would block any magic.
And as soon as I saw her slight fear when I pulled them out, I realised we’d caught more than the killer, we’d caught the Angels spy.
I’d suspected that they were one in the same but her eyes had confirmed it.
I’d bet my tail that she has been using magic to consort with them.
Maybe they’ve been helping her out, assisting in small ways, like helping her get the card she must’ve stolen from Tarron to gain access to the Guards’ quarters–for I’m certain all three crimes were committed by the same person.
Even with nearly one hundred criminals inside the compound walls, it just adds up.
My team had confirmed through the CCTV footage that a female was the one to break into the offices.
Although the camera angle hadn’t gotten a clear shot of their face, there was no mistaking the feminine stature as she crept up to the door and swiped a pass to gain entry.
All the evidence was stacking up against the woman.
Hopefully, whilst those cuffs remained on her wrists, her communication lines to the Heaven Realm were cut off. We simply needed to figure out the exact methods they were using, and infiltrate them to draw out the rest of them.
Staring at the screen displaying the feed from the camera in her cell, I watch on.
We’ve got a secondary monitoring room solely for these cameras.
The small line of holding cells runs along the line of the underground corridor between the main building and the Guards’ quarters.
It’s deep underground and a convenient location for the officers to keep an eye on anyone we need to isolate.
The monitoring room is set up at one end.
Ninety-Eight is sat against the far wall, facing the door, head leant back against the concrete wall. Her knees are pulled up, feet slightly parted, and her cuffed wrists are draped over them. The expression on her face leaves no mistaking her current mood, she’s pissed off.
As soon as we were out of the contestants’ gym her verbal protesting turned more physical, but I’d already had her in handcuffs by that point.
Her struggles were stronger than I anticipated for a woman–she’s damn strong–but without her arms, I overpowered her easily.
Her anger had turned even more irate when we finally managed to get her to the cells because I refused to remove the cuffs.
My focus flicks to Thirty-Nine, he’s pacing his own cell, two down from where I placed Ninety-Eight.
Each one is completely soundproof, even to supernatural hearing, but I wasn’t risking any of their trickery, so I made sure there was an empty cell left between them.
I’ve not written him off as an assistant to our spy yet.
Sucking in a deep breath, I leave the monitoring room and walk to the door holding Tacita.
I’d sent the other guards back to their duties once we had both of them captured.
With everyone pulling double-time, I wanted them to be able to finish on time today.
We needed to start catching up on the hours of time off we now owe most of the team.
Unlocking the door with my fingerprint and a physical key, I step inside and brace for round two with the feisty female inside.
It’s such a shame she came here under false pretences, she would’ve fit in well in Hell.
I can’t deny it. Her energy and her temper alone would see her thrive.
However, disobeying Hades, and killing two contestants, has only earned her a one-way trip across the Styx.
She probably won’t even be allowed the choice to reincarnate should she wish.
And that’s after the time she’s earned in my domain, Tartarus.
For the first time in my career, an icy feeling opens in my gut at the thought of sending someone to the torture chambers that make up the prison for this realm. I’m sure it’s simply because I see her potential, now wasted because the Angels got to her first.
Of course, she’d denied the murders. Her vitriol on the walk down here contained all sorts of bullshit. She even demanded I call Hades in, like that would save her.
“Finally,” she says as I step into the room and close the door behind me.
“Ready to tell me the truth?” I ask.
“I told you to call Hades. Or remove these cuffs and I’ll show you.”
“You’re not in a position to be making demands, Ninety-Eight.” I fold my arms across my chest, looking down at her.
She scrambles up to her feet and leans back against the wall like we’re having a casual chat in a bar, not determining the future of her soul. “If I tell you, you’ll just call me a liar, again.”
“Try me.”
“You promise won’t fly off the handle?”
I simply narrow my eyes and wait for whatever story she’s concocted to make herself look like a victim. I’m sure she’s about to blame whichever Angels she’s working with. As long as I get names, however, I’m not sure I really care.
“You know the Death Bringer?”
“This should be good. What does Hades’s Assassin have to do with your betrayal?” I have no idea how she knows of the killing machine in Hades’s inner circle but I roll with it.
“I am her.”
I can’t stop the laugh that splutters from my chest. “Sure, Ninety-Eight. And I’m really the Lord of the Underworld.”
She runs her tongue across her upper lip. It’s a move made of anger, of her holding back whatever verbal garbage she wants to spit back at me. “I’m not joking. I came into the games, undercover, to help Hades figure out the Angels’ plot to destroy them again.”
This woman is delusional. It boils my blood that she’d lie to this extent.
Flying at her, I grab her by the throat and slam her back into the wall. “Stop bullshitting, you’ve been discovered, your ruse is up. Why not come clean and maybe I’ll not subject you to the worst Tartarus has to offer.”
“You’re such an asshole,” she spits, trying to use her shoulder to shove me backwards.
I’m a few inches taller, and probably at least a hundred pounds heavier so her attempt to move me doesn’t falter me one bit. I step further into her space, tightening my fingers around her throat, my claws begging to come out and slice into her beautifully untarnished skin.
We stare each other down, her rich chocolate eyes are liquid fire as she squirms in my grip.
It would be so easy to overpower her properly, knock her out or strike her.
I hate her for what she’s trying to do, for trying to take down this whole process, when all it’s doing is giving those that can prove themselves, the opportunity of a lifetime.
I hate how each brush of her body leaves a hot streak across my skin, even with the fabric of my uniform protecting me.
“Give up. You failed, may as well tell me who you’re working for,” I growl at her.
“Hades. I work for fucking Hades,” she snarls back.
I’m about to pull her forward by her neck, to take her to the interrogation room, when she manages to twist her bound hands, clamping one around my junk.
Even through the tough fabric of the combat trousers, her grip is iron-like around my balls.
I try to step back, even shove her using her neck, but she doesn’t let go.
The wince from me is too strong to hide, and I have to put conscious effort into extinguishing the shot of electricity, and the afterwave of pleasure, before it manifests into a physical reaction.
She steps into my space this time, a feral grin spreading over her lips and her eyes lighting up in mirth. “That seems to have shut you up. You males are too easy when you have such a weakness hanging right between your legs.”
“It’s a cheap shot,” I heave out, fighting the blood in my veins harder as it rushes south.
I can’t help that her bratty behaviour is turning me on.
It’s pure biology for me. Plus, her hand isn’t really harming my balls.
For whatever reason she’s got them in a vice-like grip but she’s not squeezing the testicles, simply pinning me in place with curling her fingers around the sac.
I can’t pull back so I lean into her once more.
Putting my hands on her waist before slamming her body to me, trapping her hands between us.
Letting my feline canines descend, I dip my head and nuzzle into her neck to place them to the skin, right near her jugular.
That has her springing back, releasing my jewels and gasping in horror.
“Tell me you fucking didn’t.” She brings her hands to the skin I just had between my teeth and visibly relaxes as her fingers come away clean.
“Don’t want me tasting your blood?” I overenunciate, the long teeth almost like fangs in my human jaw.
“No. I don’t need you tracking me down after this is done.”
“You’ve been doing your homework.” I have to admit, her knowing the more intricate details of my species, like how if we taste the blood of something we can track it across the entire realm, falters my confidence a tad.
We’ve not taught the contestants the basics only at this stage, and as far as I’m aware the Angels wouldn’t know about my species' particular power.
I adjust my dick as I shift my teeth back, and subtly feel how tender she’s left my nuts. The thought slams into me.
“Wait, how do you know what I am?” I’ve not shifted in front of the contestants yet. None of them should know that I’m a panther shifter. Whilst some of the guards have revealed their true nature, whether during the first task or during their teaching, I haven’t yet.
Before Ninety-Eight can answer, the door opens behind me. Spinning in place my confusion gets overwritten by shock as Hades walks in.
“Fucking finally!” Ninety-Eight exclaims.