Chapter Thirty-two
Aaliyah
“ W hy are there so many of you?” I groan, sinking my dagger into the side of one of the guard’s heads before pulling it out, attempting to ignore the brain matter that’s still attached.
Shaking off the dagger, I frown when it doesn’t come off. Listening, I don’t hear any other guards nearing, so I lean over and wipe the blade on the dead guard’s shirt. Much better.
I’ve made it to the second floor of the building, but I feel like I’ve killed close to a hundred guards. I’m sure it’s less than that, but damn. I’m not here to dispatch their entire legion of guards. I’m here to kill my parents. I just have to find them first.
I located the lab on my sweep of the first floor, using the comms to let Archer and Naomi know before moving on. Neither of my parents had been in the room, so it wasn’t anything I needed to concern myself with once I told them where to find it. So I’d continued my mission to find them—which isn’t going great.
I thought it would be easy, but obviously, I was wrong. I hope the others are finding their tasks to be easier than mine, but then again, we knew mine would be the hardest.
I don’t know why I thought it would be easier. Maybe it was just that I was hoping it would be. I want to get it done and over with. Who can really blame me for that?
Hearing the sound of boots coming down the hallway ahead, I roll my eyes. Of course, other guards heard me taking down these ones. I’m not sure if any of them have supernatural hearing or if it’s just the damn gunshot one of them got off. Either way, it looks like I’m not going to be finding my parents any time soon.
I wonder if I should begin to refer to them by their names because really, they’ve never been parents to me. I call them mother and father, but that feels too respectful. Rashid and Nadia, it shall be.
The first guard steps around the corner as I throw up an illusion to hide me. His gun is pointed right at me, but he doesn’t know that as his brows draw down and his face screws up in confusion.
“There’s no one here,” he calls over his shoulder, eyes moving over the area as he moves to the closest body. “Harris is dead. Looks like Rameriez too, but let me double check.”
Taking a step back, I allow him to check the pulse of the guy I just took down as three other men step around the corner.
“No pulse,” the first guy says as he pushes to his feet. “There don’t seem to be any injuries to them. I’m not sure how they were killed.”
“Didn’t the boss say one of the intruders had a poisonous touch?” another asks as I step up behind the first man, laying my hand on his bare neck.
He crumbles as the poison takes root, but I hold him up as I drop the illusion, laughing. “I’m sure he did, and I do, in case you were wondering.”
There’s only a moment of hesitation before the three of them start shooting, which is why I held onto the corpse of the man. I keep myself behind the body, ducking my head. I can survive being shot, but it’s bloody and hurts like hell. I’d much rather avoid it if possible.
When their guns click, revealing their clips are empty, I drop the corpse and call up my illusions once more. By the time they’ve reloaded, I’m behind two of them. I lay a hand on one of their bare necks and stab a poisoned dagger into the other.
Shots ring out, and I duck, rolling to the side. The remaining man has no idea where I am, so his shots are wild as I attempt to get near him. Shaking my head as I finally get behind him and lay my hand on his neck, I sigh. This is entirely too easy. I’m sure these men are well trained to go against humans and maybe some supes, but they’ve got nothing on a demigod.
Pushing the last body over, I head down the hallway they’d exited. I keep my illusions wrapped around me as I push open door after door.
Where the hell are they?
There aren’t too many more rooms for me to search. I know there’s a basement, but that’s where Tyson and Hayes were headed. It’s the most likely spot for them to be keeping prisoners, and none of us thought it likely that Rashid and Nadid —look at me already calling them by their names—would be down there as well.
Now, I’m beginning to doubt that logic as worry pumps through me. What if I sent Hayes and Tyson straight into the arms of the enemy? If that’s the case, they’re likely already dead, and I don’t know if I can live with that.
Pushing away the grief already trying to rise inside of me, I focus on the last hallway.
Only five doors left. Surely, my parents are behind one of them. I check the two doors on each side of the hallway, all of them empty.
Now, it’s down to the final door. If they’re not behind that door, I don’t know what I’ll do. What we’ll do. It’s possible they figured we’d track them to this location, and they could’ve relocated. If they did, it’ll be a waiting game once more.
I don’t want to wait any longer.
Squaring my shoulders, I push open the door to find a large room. No one appears to be in the part of the room I can see, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t further into the room.
“Are you planning on standing outside the door all day, or are you going to come in and say hello?” The voice is one I’d recognize anywhere, even after all this time.
Dropping my illusions, knowing they’ll do no good, I step into the room. Turning until I locate Rashid on the far side, lounging in an ugly armchair with a glass of what I’m sure is some kind of liquor in his hand.
“Hello, daughter. It has been a long time. You look well.”
I scoff. “You’ve never been a father to me, Rashid, so don’t try to act like one now.”
Objectively, I know he’s an attractive man, but even if I wasn’t related to him, I couldn’t find him attractive. His exterior might be beautiful, but the vileness inside of him seeps out of him like a bad smell.
“Fine, Aaliyah. We can do things your way if we must. I just thought it might be nice to catch up while we wait for your mother to join us.” Rashid sets the drink on a side table, indicating for me to join him.
I wrinkle my nose, not wanting to be anywhere near him unless it’s to kill him, but I hadn’t seen Nadia while searching the building. If I kill Rashid now, I might lose Nadia, and that can’t happen.
Shaking my head, I walk over and sit on the couch across from him. My back is rigid as I hover on the edge of my seat, ready to jump up if I need to. “What is it you’d like to catch up on, Rashid? Do you want to talk about the men and women I’ve killed over the years? The good people I’ve watched die over the years due to your or Nadia’s actions? Maybe you’d like to hear about how I was trapped in the underworld for a hundred years?”
“Oh, I know all of that,” he says with a wave of his hand. “What I want to know is why you’re killing all of my associates and why you’re here today? You don’t think that you and the weak supernaturals you have wrapped around your finger can do anything to stop us, do you? Surely, that can’t be the reason for your visit.”
I keep my mouth shut, teeth grinding as I stare back at him. So they do know I’ve been the one doing the killings, and they knew we were here—possibly even knew we were coming. I don’t want to reveal anything they don’t already know, so I just let him do all the talking.
“While I can appreciate how easily you kill, proof of the training your mother and I gave you, I don’t appreciate the number of guards you’ve killed today. Or every other person to do with Dragon’s Fire. The guards are easy enough to replace, but it costs more when they find out that an entire security firm was wiped out in one go. Finding others to fill in the parts of our business is harder.”
He glares as he considers me. “Nothing to say?”
“Not really. I didn’t really come here to talk,” I say with a shrug.
“Then why are you here?” He leans forward as if he’s actually interested in what I have to say.
A smirk paints my lips. “To kill you and Nadia, obviously.”