Chapter 16 #2
The tendril of power tightened around my ankle, and the feeling flooding me was no longer just panic. It was mother-fucking terror.
I sent dark magic spiraling toward the power around my ankle, attempting to sever it.
Instead, it tugged.
I stumbled forward, one step.
Two.
Three.
I couldn't stop myself before I collided with the bars of the prison.
Dante was roaring in my head again, but I couldn't think about him. Not at the moment.
Because Reaper's hands were through the bars.
Around my throat.
Yet another flaw in my prison.
It would be pretty ironic to be killed by a prisoner I was technically holding captive.
Reaper cut off my airway with ease. My wings vanished. My terror heightened, and memories flashed through my mind.
Awful, painful memories.
"If we kill the angel who built it, does the prison fall?" Reaper asked, his dark eyes calculating and his lips curving upward cruelly.
I couldn't breathe, but Reaper wasn't the first male to hurt me.
I wasn't powerless anymore.
I was fallen.
My magic was more dangerous than any man who wanted me dead.
My power reserve wasn't high, but I didn't need much. I sent dozens of the dark, deadly threads of power I had, straight into the wrists of the man holding my throat.
His eyes blazed with pain, and his grip loosened just a little.
It was enough.
I yanked myself away and took off down the hallway at a run, checking the prisoners in the cells as I went.
There was no way in hell I could leave without the people I'd come for. Not when Reaper was actively tearing down the prison's framework.
I looked at every one of their faces.
Not innocent.
Not innocent.
Not innocent.
Not innocent.
Not—
Innocent.
I skidded to a stop at the end of the hallway and grabbed the bars of the cell to regain my balance. Reaper was snarling and yelling down the hall, but I could see where his magic had stopped.
He couldn't reach me with his power anymore, and he hadn't torn down the magic enough to actually escape his cell.
The innocent, somewhat familiar man stared at me. His fists were wrapped around the bars like Reaper's had been. The power around his cell was still intact, and he didn't try to hurt me.
Just stared.
He had tan skin, and was almost entirely black, blue, green, and purple from the bruises that covered every visible inch of him. With his jumpsuit tied around his waist, there was plenty visible.
Something had to have gone horrifically wrong for him to look like that. I didn't have time to ask or linger, though.
It only took the tiniest blip of magic to unlock the cell, and I yanked the door open. "We're getting everyone who doesn't belong here out," I said, trying to sound authoritative despite my terror and the wild pounding of my heart. "Come on."
After a beat of hesitation, he surged through the door.
"Are you the one who built this place?" he asked, as we jogged down the stairs and into the next hallway.
"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't know it was being used like this."
"Fuck," the guy breathed.
"If you try to kill me, no one's making it out of here," I warned. "The elevator won't work if I'm dead."
That much was true.
There was a ladder you could get to through the roof of the elevator, though. The construction crew had required it. I'd blocked access to it with a hell of a lot of magic, but it was there. Probably fucked up thanks to Reaper, but there.
If I died, it would be easy for the prisoners to reach the ladder, but no one knew that.
"Then you just earned a personal guard," the guy told me.
If I wasn't still freaking out, I would've at least tried to smile.
But my heart still beat wildly. The pounding in my ears was almost as loud as the shouted insults, pleas, curses, and demands that filled the air around me as I ran past the people who were locked in my prison. I only stopped when I found another innocent.
"Update me now," Dante commanded, as I released the second prisoner. The fury I could feel radiating from my vampire was reduced, thanks to the magic of the prison, but it was still enough to add to my panic.
"Reaper tried to kill me, but I'm fine. He's stuck in his cell. Gathering the innocent prisoners now. I think it's going to take a few hours, but I should be out before the cells unlock."
He said nothing.
His swell of rage and fear said enough for him. My knees knocked together at the feel of it.
No fighting broke out as me and my temporary crew made our way through, unlocking cells. There was still plenty of yelling, but the more people I collected, the easier it was to deal with.
A few of the guys and the one woman I recognized as being high ranked in River's gang kept everyone in line. The guy I'd found on Reaper's floor was still acting as my guard, too.
No one made a move against me, though plenty of them looked like they wanted to.
Almost all of them were extensively bruised, but I still didn't have the time or energy to focus on that.
Eventually, we made it through the final hallway.
My well of magic was running damn near empty, but I had enough left to get the elevator back up to the surface.
I tried to jog back to the elevator with everyone else, but exhaustion made my jog more of a slow walk.
The bruised guy silently slipped an arm around my shoulders, taking most of my weight.
"You still with Inferno?" he muttered, as we jogged. I glanced up at the clock in the cafeteria when we passed it.
Not much time left before the cells unlocked.
Shit.
"Yeah. Mated now," I said.
He didn't need to know that we'd only mated because we didn't have any other choice.
"Don't let him kill me for touching you," my guard warned.
I managed a tiny smile. "If he kills one of us for tonight, it's going to be me."
As we jogged down the hallway to the elevator, something occurred to me.
Something bad.
Something very, very bad.
We wouldn't all fit up in one trip.
I let out a shaky breath and reached out to the only real backup I had.
"Dante?" I asked.
"What?" He was still completely and utterly furious. Which I probably deserved.
"I fucked up."
"What happened?"
"I didn't plan for how many times I'd have to send the elevator up. I've only been thinking about one. I might have enough magic for two trips, but I have a hundred people. I can't fit fifty in that thing."
There was a moment of silence.
"Alright. What are our options?" He sounded like he was trying to keep himself calm, which I appreciated.
And the way he said our made me feel slightly less alone.
Me and my guard reached the wagon first. I started passing out the plates, hoping it would take a while, but other people took over immediately as I called out, "Don't break those, or you're staying here."
"I could do one trip, and make a wall between me and the innocent prisoners who won't make it in. I'd have to leave them here and come back later. But all of these people are in awful shape; there must be some kind of gang war going on or something."
"Not ideal. What else?"
"I could tell them the situation and let them choose. I think it'll turn into a blood bath if I do that, though."
"It would."
"There's not much time, but if I started unweaving some less essential part of the prison's magic, I might be able to get enough magic out of it to get everyone up.
I won't finish before the cells unlock, though.
The solitary confinement magic would give me the best results, and if there's a war going on… "
"Reaper will come to you as soon as the cells unlock. Can he break through a wall if you create that?"
"I think so, but it would probably take him some time."
Dante let out an audible breath. "Alright. Send the first batch up. I'm coming down with the elevator afterward. We'll get everyone to the surface, even if I have to deal with Reaper myself."
"Dante…" My protest was weak.
"That wasn't a question, Ophelia. Load the elevator as fast as possible. I'll take charge when I'm down there, so you can focus."
The order would've made me warm, if I hadn't been in the fucked up situation I was in.
I used my magic to get the elevator's doors open, quickly.
"Pile in," I called out. "As many people as we can safely fit. If an alarm goes off, the last person in steps out. Anyone who pushes, shoves, or otherwise fights stays down here. I'll be here until you're all up there, so there's no rush."
"We're running out of time before the cells unlock," someone called out, toward the back of the group.
"I know. There's a plan."
"How sure are you that the plan will work?" someone else yelled.
"They're ready in the elevator," someone called out.
"Just… wait," I shouted to the person who'd asked me if my plan would work, and stepped up to the edge of the elevator.
Unhappy murmurs echoed behind me. They didn't trust me, obviously. Why would they?
"All of you need to break your plates, one at a time. Start here. Count to twenty before you follow. Raise your hand when you're done," I ordered the fifteen men and two women who had crowded into the elevator.
The first guy did, and I had the magic bound to him before the next guy raised his hand.
"Count to fifteen," I corrected, hands in the air as I wove the magic rapidly.
It wasn't fast, but it was as smooth as it could've been. A few minutes later, the elevator doors slid shut.
It felt like everyone around me took a breath in, waiting for the sound of the box rising.
A small amount of relief had me breathing out as it did.
"Holy fuck," someone whispered behind me. "We might actually get out of here."
Questions burst to life behind me. People shouting. Demanding things. Asking to trade places in line.
My hands were shaking, my magic pool already running low, and my adrenaline rush nearly gone.
Getting the elevator back down and open wasn't going to be easy. Not even a little. But when I did, Dante would be in it, which would make everything easier.
"Can you keep them all away from me for a minute?" I asked my bruised guard.
He jerked his head, turning back to the crowd and puffing up his very bruised chest.
I stepped closer to the elevator, waiting until it stopped.