by Ciara Graves
The walk back to our room was too damned long. Once we were inside and the door closed, I yanked the amulet from my neck and threw it on the bed. “Wesley. Damn it, that was Wesley,” I muttered, messing up my hair and tugging hard on the zipper at my back. I hated this dress. I hated being here. “They’re making them fight to the death.”
“I know, I saw.” Rafael gently turned me around and undid the zipper enough for me to get changed. He turned his back as I wiggled furiously out of the dress, somehow managing not to rip it, and put on my pants and t-shirt.
“You can turn around.” I was seething, digging through his bag, searching for my gun.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you think? I can’t let this go on. I won’t. Wesley shouldn’t be here, none of them should be.” I cursed and slammed the bag down on the floor when I couldn’t find the gun. “Where is it?”
He crossed his arms and planted his feet. “You can’t charge in there. They have guards, more than just those two shifters at the door.”
“I don’t care. I’m in the mood to beat the shit out of something.”
“What happened down there?” He still hadn’t told me where my gun was.
I started tearing through my bag next, thinking he tucked it away.
“Mercy? You were watching the fight then you went pale. There was fear in your eyes.”
I swallowed hard and chucked my bag aside next. “Shuval.”
“What about her?”
“She’s here, she was on that damned stage, and she was staring at me.”
He pulled me around so fast I was surprised I didn’t get whiplash. “Why the hell didn’t you say something? You have to leave Sector 13, now.”
“I’m not leaving without Gigi.”
“I think Gigi will understand. If Shuval knows you’re here, she’s going to come after you.”
“I don’t know for certain. She could’ve just been staring at me as this witch. We’re disguised, remember?”
“And she’s damned strong. How do we know she didn’t see through these?” He held up his amulet then took it off and laid it on the table. “If she knows you’re here, you have to go. I’ll find Gigi and bring her home.”
“I’m not leaving without her or Wesley, and you can’t get them both free without me.”
“Mercy,” he pleaded.
I shook my head. “If she knew who we were, why hasn’t she come for us yet? The magic works against her. But Wesley doesn’t have much time. I’m going back to the basement to find him.”
“Not tonight you’re not.” He sat me down on the edge of the bed and crouched in front of me. “Just stop for five seconds, alright? You’re not thinking clearly. I get it, you’re pissed, but charging in there without any idea of what you’re walking into or with a freaking plan is going to get you killed. We will figure out a way to save Wesley and Gigi, but we need to think this through.”
I blew out a breath, holding my face in my hands. Why was it when I really needed backup, everyone I knew was gone on some mission halfway across the country? “Can you call in the Feds?” I asked, hopeful.
Rafael’s brow arched.
“What? Fair question.”
“I’ll call Nor again, but I’m not about to bring the Feds into this mess. The second they hear Feds are coming, the cage, all those paranormals, they’ll disappear, so will the black market. They’ve been doing this for years. They’ll have contingencies.”
“I hate when you’re right.”
“Doesn’t happen often,” he teased, but I wasn’t in the mood to joke. “Try Damian again. Maybe Bowen’s back, too. But promise me you will not leave this room and go after them right now.”
Ensuring my fingers were out of sight, I crossed them and I said, “I promise. I’ll wait ‘til we have a plan.”
“Good. I’m going to change then we can start coming up with a plan that won’t get us all killed.”
We’d come up with a plan, but it wouldn’t do us any good unless we could see where Wesley and the others were being held.
“Sorry, Rafael,” I whispered to the closed door, already figuring out how I was going to sneak out of the room once he fell asleep. “You’ll thank me later.”
Chapter 8
Mercy
I held a dagger at the ready as the elevator doors opened on the basement level. It was five in the morning, and the hotel was quiet. Rafael had taken forever to fall asleep. As soon as he was out, I’d put my amulet back on and snuck out the door. I braced for the shifter guards to attack, but there was no one there. Cautiously, I exited and pushed on the doors, expecting them to be locked.
“Uh, either very trusting or stupid.”
The door swung inward, and I entered the underground arena. The cage created an ominous atmosphere that made me want to turn around and run. But I came down here for a reason. Wesley was here, somewhere, locked in a cage. There was a chance Gigi was down here with him.
My boots made little noise as I hurried through the stadium seating to another set of doors where a caged tunnel linked them to the main cage. That was where Wesley and the shifter entered. When I neared the stage, a weird lightheadedness rushed over me, and I fell into the cage bars, waiting for it to pass. So many hybrids in one area were leaving their mark.
Another flicker of those dragon eyes urged me to get a move on, and I spotted another door next to the tunnel. This one was locked. I was tempted to shoot the thing but still didn’t have my gun. Kicking the door in was out of the question too. I carefully used the tip of the dagger and worked on jimmying the lock. After a couple of minutes of cursing and sweating, waiting to be caught, the lock clicked, and I opened the door.
“Holy shit,” I mumbled as soon as I was through. I’d seen some messed up crap in my life, but this was the worst.
Rows and rows of cages filled a room the half the size of a football field. Every single one was occupied with a shifter, vampire, fae, mage, goblin, ghoul. There were even some witches and warlocks.
An entire row was dedicated to demons, and I was glad Rafael had not come with me. Most were asleep, but a few watched me curiously as I weaved through the cages. Many were bloodied and bruised from their fights in the cage. A cluster of cages toward my right were empty, probably from the fights tonight. The deeper into the room I moved, the more prisoners woke up and whispered to each other about what I was doing there. How could we possibly get them all out? I told Rafael I wasn’t leaving without Wesley or Gigi, but how could we call ourselves the good guys if we let this go on? And once the conference ended, they would be taken away, possibly forever.
I turned around and came face to face with a cage that made my heart leap into my throat and my stomach plummet to the floor.
Kids.
There were kids in that cage. Most of them were fae, from the look of it, but a few shifters. They clung to each other as I approached, the fear on their faces slashing through me like a knife.
The cages behind them were filled with humans.
Furious tears burned in my eyes, but I wiped them away. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. I nearly promised them I’d get them out, but there was a good chance I was going to get myself killed in the next few days, so I kept my mouth shut and stuck to why I’d come down here. Find Wesley, then go from there. I jogged down another row of cages and finally spotted the old gryphon sitting in a meditative position in a large, circular cage.
“I thought I saw you out there,” he said as soon as I approached. “Never figured I’d see you here.”
“Wesley.” I stuck my hand through the bar, or tried to, but pulled it back with a gasp of pain. A blue shimmer surrounded the cage. “It’s shielded?”
“They all are.”
“That’s why the doors weren’t locked. No chance of you all escaping.”
“None indeed.” He finally turned to face me, those blind eyes seeing me without any trouble at all, though I wore the magical amulet to disguise myself.
&
nbsp; What it would’ve been like to see him in his prime. He certainly wouldn’t have been captured and thrown in a cage.
“I thought I told you to run that night,” he said.
“I was thrown out a window.”
“And the demon with you?”
“A friend. We came here looking for Gigi but found you instead. All of you,” I added quietly, glancing around me once more. “Is this where you’ve been this whole time?”
“No. She tortured me first. Don’t feel guilty,” he said quickly when I hung my head. “I’ve suffered through much worse than what that bitch could throw at me.”
“And when you didn’t speak, she brought you here?”
“Sold me to her new friends, yes. That’s who most of us are. Her enemies, or those she deems she can no longer trust.”
“Why is she holding kids?” I whispered.
“Why do you think? They’re parents are probably not following her orders as well as she likes. She kidnaps their children to keep them in line. Feeds them to those who have lost their humanity if the parents act out.”
I gagged, but held myself together. “I have to get you out of here.”
“You shouldn’t worry about an old man like me.”
“Wesley, we need you, alright? There’s no time explain, but I know everything, about Shuval. And what Damian is to me. And all of that.”
“Yes, I figured as much since you didn’t question who was torturing me. I’m sure Damian loves your being involved.” He smiled as he said it.
“Yeah, you could say that. We need you. We figured out what she’s planning.”
“Aside from allying herself with the dark covens?”
“Ley lines,” I breathed.
He stiffened.
I continued, “She’s charging them with artifacts and sacrifices.”
“Blood Moon,” he sighed. “She’s finally figured it out then.”
“Guess so.” I walked around his cage once, testing the magic every few steps. “It’s going to take a damned strong blast to break open this cage.” And the rest of them. I was not leaving them behind. I needed more firepower, a lot more. Who was I going to possibly call? Wasn’t like I had a handy coven of mages lazing around somewhere. But I did know someone who idolized my dad and might be willing to go out on a limb for me. “Sycamore.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Maybe there was someone we could call for help after all. I did not trust the Gathered, but Joseph Sycamore had proven to be a mage of his word. He was nearly killed alongside me and the agents fighting the dragonborn hybrid. “Is there another way out of this basement?”
“We were brought in through a tunnel that exists beneath Sector 13. I’m not sure where it starts, but there were many places it branched off.”
“You let me worry about that.”
“You should go. They do nightly patrols,” Wesley warned.
I didn’t want to leave him but had to see if Gigi was down here then I could return to my room. “I’ll be back, and I’ll get you out, all of you,” I added quietly.
“It’s good to see you,” he replied and smiled.
There was true relief in his eyes, and I wanted so badly to reach through and take hold of his withered hand. But the magic wouldn’t let me.
“Try along the eastern side of the room. I heard a commotion there not too long ago, one of the voices shouting sounded familiar.”
Had Wesley ever met Gigi? I supposed at some point she might’ve. Then again, there were many things about Wesley I didn’t know. I backed away from his cage then took off at a sprint, searching for Gigi’s face amongst those now watching me closely. The anger in their eyes for the predicament they were in told me they wouldn’t tell the guards about a lone witch being near the cages.
I slipped as I darted down another row and dropped to my knees.
There, lying unconscious at the bottom of a cage too small for a normal person to stand upright in was Gigi. Her hands and ankles were bound with chain, and there was tape over her mouth. All of it hummed with power. They didn’t want her being able to use magic at all it seemed.
“Gigi,” I whispered, crouching near the cage. “Gigi, wake up.”
Her eyes fluttered, and she grunted but didn’t move.
I was ready to start shaking the cage when a door slammed open and voices echoed around the room. Male voices.
“Quick,” a vampire in a nearby cage hissed at me. “Hide under the cage.”
There was barely enough room for me to squeeze in, but I did and stayed perfectly still, watching for approaching shoes. Any of these prisoners could warn the guards there was an intruder.
I held my breath as the steps came closer and closer.
The voices weren’t familiar, but the power they gave off was. Hybrids. Three sets of feet eventually came into view as I squirmed against their magic pressing in around me.
My scar seared my flesh, and to keep from crying out, I bit the inside of my cheek so hard blood filled my mouth. I gagged on it and the steps stilled.
Then the vampire in the cage above me snarled and lashed out at the bars, covering up any sounds I made.
“Oh, piss off. Perhaps you’d like to fight tomorrow, eh?” one of the hybrids snapped as the other two cackled. “Mark him down.”
The steps moved on, and another door slammed shut.
I waited until the count of sixty then wiggled my way out from under the cage.
The vampire stood at the bars. “Thanks,” I said then frowned when I noticed he was staring at me, eyes filled with hope and recognition. “What?”
“You’re her,” he whispered. “The bounty hunter.”
“What?” I slapped my hand to my face then glanced down. I wore the amulet, but the hybrids’ intense magic must’ve made it give way. Slowly, I spun around.
Every prisoner who could see me. All of them were staring.
“Yeah,” I finally said, “I am.”
“Why are you here?”
I should’ve lied, but there was no denying what I was planning on doing now. “Saving you all.”
“How?”
“You let me worry about that.” I held up the amulet and shut my eyes, cleared my mind, and prayed it to keep working. “Do I look different?” I asked after a few seconds.
“Yes, you look like one of them.”
“Good. I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to be back for all of you.” I started to walk away then stopped. “The tunnel you came in through, where does it start?”
The vampire hissed as he glared in the direction of a massive set of double doors, big enough for the cages to fit through. “Beneath the reapers’ mansion, though the newer additions were brought down from above.”
That was not what I wanted to hear. We couldn’t escape that way then, not a chance in hell. The tunnels might have other passages branching off, but there wasn’t time to see where they all led.
“You better go before they come back.”
Gigi was still unconscious, but I hoped she’d know I was here. I told the vampire if she woke up to let her know help was coming, then I was off. I sprinted all the way back to the elevator, waiting to be caught, but there were no more signs of a patrol. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I hit the button for the sixth floor and kicked the wall, denting it. Kids, there was a cage filled with kids to be disposed of if their parents didn’t do what Shuval wanted. So many innocents were down there. We had to get them out. Sycamore was our only chance for backup. As soon as I was back in the room, I’d give him a call.
I paced around and around the cramped space, cursing when the elevator dinged on the third floor.
The doors opened, and a shaky witch jumped to find someone already in there.
“Oh, hi,” she said, her voice high-pitched as she stepped inside.
“Heading up?”
She pressed the button for the highest floor. “Yeah, I uh, couldn’t sleep. Someone said there was a pool up top, so that
’s where I’m headed.” She was dressed like all the others, but her hands shook the entire time, and she kept mumbling under her breath. She was maybe a couple years younger than me, and looked a wreck.
“Are you alright?” I shouldn’t have asked. I had enough problems to deal with, but I’d been around enough messed up people to know when someone’s in trouble.
“Uh? Oh, yeah I’m fine.”
“You sure?” We were on my floor, and the doors opened, but I didn’t get out.
“Is this you?”
“It is, but I want to make sure you’re okay.” I let the doors close and rode higher with her. “You can tell me, you know. Won’t say anything.”
She tugged hard on a lock of hair. “First conference. My boyfriend dragged me along.”
“You didn’t want to come?”
“No, not really. We met at college and everything. I thought he was a white warlock, but turns out he’s not.” She let out a breath and tears shimmered in her eyes. “He wants me to leave my coven and join his, but I’m a white witch. I can’t do it.”
“Did you tell him this?”
“I did, but he won’t let me leave.” The doors opened on the top floor, and I stepped out with her. “He’s changed since we’ve been here. He’s scaring me. I want to leave, but I’m worried what he’ll do.” The tears came then, falling down her cheeks as she held her face.
I really didn’t have time for this, but kicking some warlock’s ass for being a d-bag sounded like a great way to vent some of my pent-up anger. “What’s your name?” I asked as I put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Val.”
“Val, I’m Maggie. I want you to come to me if he threatens you again, alright?”
“What? No, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Trust me, he won’t hurt me, but he can’t keep you here. You find me.” I gave her my room number and hugged her again. “Go for a swim and clear your head, but don’t let him push you around. You’re stronger than you think.”
