Chapter 45
I’d never once seen joy like this on Patrick’s face since I’d met him. But his mouth had a cruel twist to it, like some sort of deranged clown. That alone had a chill wracking through me.
But there was a giddiness to him. An almost child-like glee. And that set me on edge even more.
“Want to see my prized workshop, Leighton?”
Patrick asked the question as if he were inviting me to go to the Taj Mahal.
My instinct was to refuse. But the word see stopped me. If I was going to witness whatever awful thing Patrick was up to, he’d have to take me out of this cell. If I was free of it, I had a chance to escape.
I nodded slowly.
Patrick clapped his hands together. “Wonderful.” He turned to the brown-haired guard. “Brendan, the cuff.”
The man pulled a thick gold bracelet out of his back pocket and moved toward the cell.
“Wait, what is that?” I protested.
Patrick rolled his eyes. “Relax. It simply blocks your magic so you don’t try to cause any trouble. It won’t hurt.”
I eyed Brendan suspiciously as he punched in a code to the cell and moved inside. He stalked toward me with that same cruelty in his eyes as Patrick. He grabbed my wrist roughly and shoved the bracelet on, locking it into place.
I bit the inside of my cheek at the flash of pain but refused to show any reaction. I got the sense Brendan would’ve enjoyed that.
“Move,” he grunted.
I headed for the cell’s door, and the second I passed through it, I felt relief. One step closer to freedom. Except that I was flanked by Brendan and Niall as Patrick led the way out of the dungeon.
I’d been right. All of the cells were empty. At least there weren’t others suffering right along with me.
We climbed a few steps out of the prison area, then I found myself in a sterile hallway with fluorescent lights. We hadn’t climbed far enough to be above ground, so I had to assume we were still in some sort of basement.
Patrick’s boots thumped along the polished cement floor, and I hurried to catch up. The two guards matched me step for step. I kept my head focused straight ahead, but my eyes were searching for any escape.
All I saw was door after door. Nothing that seemed like it led to a staircase.
Patrick led us farther into the building—it seemed like at least one hundred yards from the dungeon.
How big was this place?
My steps faltered as we passed an elevator, but my heart plummeted as I saw a woman swipe a key card over something before she hit a button. I’d need some sort of badge to get out of here.
Patrick’s pace slowed as he approached two massive double doors that looked more like they belonged in a hospital. He pressed his palm to a keypad, and there was a series of beeps. A second later, he pulled open one of the doors.
He led us into a massive room. As I stepped inside, I took in everything around me, trying to make sense of it the best I could. But it didn’t compute.
This space, too, was filled with cells, only these were different.
They were made of glass or a clear plastic, and every single one was full.
Men and women. Most looked to be in their twenties.
Some paced their spaces. Some lay on their cots, looking sick.
And one pounded on the glass, foam or drool dripping from the side of his mouth.
In the center of the room were desks and lab tables. People in white coats milled about. The whole thing gave off a mad scientist vibe.
“What do you think?” Patrick asked proudly.
“What is it?” I croaked.
He grinned. “We’re developing a new kind of super soldier.”
“Super soldier…” I parroted, unsure of what else to say. From the looks of the people in the cages, it didn’t seem like it was going very well.
Patrick rubbed his hands together, glancing around the room. “We’ve already had some promising successes. We’re just working on making our injections more stable.”
I glanced at the guard, Niall, out of the corner of my eye. His face was a completely blank mask. But Brendan wore a grin a mile wide.
“Your Majesty,” a woman in a lab coat said, with a quick dip of her head. “You’re just in time. We’re about to try the latest version.”
“Wonderful, Lucia,” Patrick crooned.
Lucia motioned us to a gurney where a young man sat. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-one. He had a cocky grin, but when he saw Patrick, he bowed his head. “Your Highness.”
“Thank you for your service,” Patrick said. But I noticed he didn’t use the man’s name. Probably because he didn’t know it.
“It’s my honor. I know we have many battles ahead, and I’m ready to be the strongest I can be,” the man said, his cocky grin back in place.
“This will get you there,” Lucia said confidently. “We’ve tweaked the formulation. The goal is to have fewer side effects.”
The man in one of the cells to our left pounded on the glass, spittle flying, as if to punctuate her point.
Lucia scowled in that direction but then turned back to her patient. “There is some pain with the injection, but it shouldn’t last long.”
The man nodded. “I can handle it.”
Lucia pulled on gloves and swiped an alcohol wipe over his bicep. Then she lifted a needle.
I stared at the injection. A dark liquid swirled inside, something about it familiar.
Lucia slid the needle into the young man’s arm and pressed the plunger.
He winced but then grinned. “That wasn’t bad.”
A second later, his body jerked, and I stumbled back into Niall, who steadied me.
The young man twisted, falling back onto the gurney.
“He’s seizing!” Lucia cried as other personnel ran over. Some injected him with other things. Some simply held his body to keep him from falling off the bed.
A thick, black substance began leaking from his eyes and pouring out of his mouth.
Horror swept through me, but I couldn’t look away. “What did they inject him with?”
I wasn’t expecting an answer, but Niall gave me one anyway. “Shadow demon venom.”