by Jamie Davis
While she listened for footsteps, the haze flashed red one last time and disappeared. Quinn touched the amulet with her right hand, finding that it was no longer cold.
Quinn filed that piece of information. Her amulet had limitations. It looked like this particular skill only lasted about twenty minutes at a time. It was probably intended to cover a hunter’s escape or approach.
Keeping this in mind, Quinn wondered how long the amulet needed to recharge before she could activate the skill again. She tried to turn it on once more, but nothing happened. The amulet didn’t change temperature, and she didn’t see the hazy covering over her body either.
Quinn realized she was stuck in this room for a little while, so she settled in to wait until the coast was clear. She worried about Taylor and what might happen to her if they managed to finish the prep for whatever demonic rite they had planned. She had to get her friend free.
Opening the door a crack, she could just see the edge of the window into the nearby room. Every now and then for the next half-hour, a figure would pass it.
Eventually, someone came to the door of the other room and pulled it open. Quinn let the closet door close as she listened.
“It looks like you have this in hand,” Audrey said. “I’m heading back upstairs. I’ll see you later this evening at the ceremony. This should be a good batch for our purposes.”
“Will the gem be up to transforming so many in one batch?” a male voice asked.
“Myles seems to think so. If not, they’ll keep until the energy recharges. We have enough acolytes in attendance to provide the blood needed to complete the charging process.”
“True. Very well, I’ll transport the last one down to the caverns. See you at the rites later.”
The clack of Audrey’s heels on the floor passed the room where Quinn hid and disappeared into the distance.
Quinn decided her best option was to attempt to overpower the robed man before he took the final comatose candidate down to the caverns, wherever that was.
She was about to make her move when the chime sounded from the elevator down the hall. Quinn tamped down her frustration and closed the door again, leaving it open just enough to see a thin sliver of the hallway outside.
A pair of black-robed figures passed, heading toward the preparation room. Quinn picked up the murmur of voices as they entered the room that had held her friend, but she couldn’t make out what they said.
Taking a chance, she stuck her head out far enough to see into the prep room. She was just in time to see all three men moving through the door on the opposite side of the room. Each wheeled a table with a naked figure on it down a hall on the other side and then out of sight. The door closed behind them.
Since the other door in the preparation room opened with a keycard, Quinn needed another plan to get Taylor out now.
Even if she made it through the locked door, she’d never be able to take on all three of them without raising an alarm of some sort. Plus, there was no guarantee she’d be able to remove the spell on Taylor and the others.
She was in over her head. Quinn ducked back into the closet and took off the belt and sheathed Bowie, tucking them into her gym bag for later, then headed back to the stairwell. She moved fast to get out of sight before anyone else saw her.
Quinn decided to try to get out of the building to her Jeep. Once she’d left the property, she could contact Clark. Her only chance was to convince him to help her make the rescue.
Chapter Sixteen
Quinn returned to the main floor without encountering anyone. A few of the other candidates came out as well. They must have been working late on something with their monitors. There were three in all, two women and a guy. She wasn’t sure of their names, so she just smiled and nodded at them as she joined them. They all headed for the parking lot.
Quinn made a beeline to her Jeep. She unlocked it and climbed in, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly to calm herself. Every muscle in her body hummed with tension as if ready to spring into combat. She’d never felt like this before.
She needed to get out of here and gather her thoughts while she reached out to Clark for assistance. She didn’t know how, but she had to convince him to help her get Taylor free.
Starting the Jeep, Quinn pulled out of her parking spot and drove toward the main gate. When she got there, there were several cars in line, waiting to leave. A pair of armed guards stood by the gate, talking to the driver of the lead vehicle beneath the overhead lamp by the guard shack.
They kept pointing back toward the main building and parking area. Quinn didn’t like the look of it when one of the guards proceeded to walk up the line of cars, stopping to talk to each of the drivers.
She wound her window down and leaned out as the guard finally approached her Jeep. “Is the gate broken or something? I need to get home.”
“You’ll have to go back and park, miss. We have the premises on lockdown. I’m not sure what the issue is, but you’ll need to return inside with the others and get permission from your direct supervisor before we can allow you to leave.”
Quinn shook her head. “I am already late for something else. Isn’t there some way you can let me slide? You can search my Jeep if you want. I swear I haven’t stolen anything.”
Quinn smiled, but the guard didn’t return it. He lifted his right hand and rested it on the butt of his pistol in its holster.
“Miss, like I said, you’ll have to go back and park. If you want to leave, you’ll need your supervisor to call out here and give us specific permission. Until we hear from them, everyone stays put.”
For a few seconds, Quinn considered trying to steer around the others and ram through the metal gate, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to break through. Plus, if she did that, she wouldn’t be able to come back and help Taylor.
Hiding her disappointment behind another smile, Quinn shrugged. “Okay. you’re just doing your job. I understand. I’ll go get permission and be back in a few minutes.”
Quinn looked over her shoulder as she backed the Jeep out of the driveway. She was able to turn around once the road widened, and she drove back to the main parking lot.
After parking in the nearly empty lot, this time much closer to the building, Quinn walked back into the building. As she crossed the lobby, she spotted Velma coming through the double doors leading into the VR test wing. “Quinn, I thought you’d already left.”
“I got hung up because I forgot something in the locker room. Now I can’t leave for some reason. What’s going on? I thought we were done for the day.”
Velma shook her head. “There’s been some sort of security breach. Everyone needs to stay put until we figure out what happened.”
“What sort of security breach? You mean, like someone hacked into the system?”
“I’m not going to share details with you. It’s not something you need to worry about.” Velma turned to address the other three candidates who’d been stopped at the gate with Quinn. “Come on back into the training wing. We are setting up places there for you to stay until we get this figured out.”
Quinn started to follow Velma toward the hallway leading back to the testing area. “How long do you plan on keeping us here? The way you said that makes it sound like we’ll be here overnight.”
Velma glanced over her shoulder. “We’ve got cots laid out and food being prepared for you. You’ll be comfortable enough. Besides, you’re all getting paid overtime to stay and sleep here, so what do you care?”
Quinn followed Velma with the others. They turned down a hallway just past the locker rooms. Quinn was unfamiliar with this area and tried to see where they were going. Velma led them down the hall to an open room laid out like a small dining area with several tables and chairs.
Six folding cots had been rolled into the room and stood by the door. Velma turned to the group of candidates and said, “Move the tables and chairs out of the way so you have room to open the cots.”
Qui
nn pointed to the cots. “There are six of them. Are we expecting two more people?”
Velma shook her head. “No. They weren’t sure how many of you were still here. Just push them off to the side with the tables. Get settled in, and get some sleep. I don’t think we’ll get this sorted out before morning. We’ll have someone come by with food for you.”
The candidates started sliding the furniture to the side. Quinn helped a girl with bright orange hair stack the chairs to make more room for the cots.
Once they had the center of the room cleared, Quinn and the others unfolded four of the cots. Inside were a set of white sheets, a thin gray blanket, and a pillow.
She made her bed, unsure of what else to do in this situation. Velma stood nearby, watching Quinn and the others at work.
Once the cot was set up, Quinn sat down, trying to decide what she should do next. She decided to pull out her phone and reach out to Clark on the number she’d called earlier. Maybe he’d have ideas she could use to get out of here. She texted because she couldn’t talk in front of everyone.
She’d tapped in the first few numbers of Clark’s contact when Velma pointed to Quinn. “Put that away.”
“I was just…”
“All of you, turn off your phones completely, not just silenced. Turn them off and put them away.”
The other candidates did as they were asked without hesitation or complaint. Quinn realized this was a residual effect of the compulsion and control spells they used on the candidates. She had to play along or she’d get caught.
Velma’s eyes narrowed as she stared at her.
Hiding a sigh, Quinn switched off her phone and dropped it into an outer pocket on her gym bag.
Velma left the room, flipping off the overhead lights as she did. She did leave the door ajar, so a little light filtered in from outside.
The others took the hint and began to settle in and get ready for bed. They were strangely complacent and didn’t say much to each other as they got ready to sleep. They followed Velma’s orders without resistance. Once again, she silently thanked her amulet for eventually breaking through her control spells while she was in VR earlier.
Stuck for the night, Quinn realized she was going to have to figure a way out of this herself. First on the list, she had to find a way to free Taylor from whatever they had in store for her in the area below.
Quinn didn’t know what that might be, other than not liking the mention of a cavern, a ceremony, and blood-letting to recharge some magic gem. Part of Quinn still didn’t believe in demons, but she’d seen magic at work now, so she had to assume demons were real, too.
As the other candidates laid down and settled in to sleep, Quinn did the same. It wouldn’t do for her to not appear compliant with orders if Velma came back.
She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then closed her eyes.
Quinn’s mind raced as she tried to figure out some way to get out of here. If only she could get away and call Clark.
Chapter Seventeen
Clark glanced at his watch for what seemed like the tenth time in as many minutes.
“She’ll call,” Miranda said. “Don’t worry.”
Clark shook his head as he paced around the small apartment where he and Miranda sat waiting. “It’s been hours since we got back. She should’ve returned and been able to leave by now.”
“You still haven’t explained to me exactly how she showed up like she did and then returned to that corporate complex north of the city so quickly.”
Clark shrugged. “I’m not sure I understand it either. My best guess is it’s probably a hybrid mixture of technology and magic that have somehow been combined to defeat standard protection magic. That was how they got past your wards and found you. You hadn’t warded against technology, just magical detection. I seem to remember several of the clans’ best mages were working on something similar in theory before the purge. These bastards must’ve had a breakthrough to transport the candidates inside this virtual reality game they’ve created. If the little information Quinn gave me was true, the system can send them directly to targets they’re tracking.”
Miranda nodded. She glanced down and tapped the phone in her hand, checking for messages.
Clark pointed to the phone. “Any word?”
Miranda looked up with a pained expression on her face. She had tears welling in her eyes. “I still haven’t heard from them. They must be dead, or they would’ve checked in by now.”
Clark shook his head. He didn’t want to say anything yet, but he’d had several text reports from his police contacts. They reported unexplained murders in the city around that area. He had no confirmation that it was her people, so he kept it to himself.
He forced a smile. “Let’s continue to hope for the best. You got away. Maybe some of them got away safely, too.”
“I only escaped because the hunter chasing me changed her mind. This girl, Quinn…who is she to you? What’s the connection?” Miranda asked.
Clark shrugged. “I’m not really sure. She might be related to me, a distant cousin or possibly closer. One thing I’m sure of—she’s definitely the child of a hunter family. At least one of her parents was from a hunter clan.”
“I thought it was rare for your people to marry outside the community.”
“It was, but it was not unheard of. At the end, just before the purges started, things started relaxing more and more as the elders tried to bring fresh blood into the clans to rejuvenate our powers to what they used to be. That might be how Quinn’s parents escaped the purge, at least initially. They may not have been living close to the others in the community. Maybe they lived with the mundane side of their family.”
“One thing is for sure, Clark. When she does get back in touch with you, you have to get her out of that place, whatever it takes. The magic needed to do what you think they’re doing has to be significant. My coven had detected a surge of netherworld power recently. It was sporadic, but when we picked up on it, it displayed as a huge spike all at once. Based on what you’ve told me and what we discovered before they attacked us, there’s no way an untrained girl with no understanding of the power she has at her disposal can hold her own in there.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. I didn’t want her going back, but given that she somehow found you in time to save you, I guess that was a good thing. Of course, now she needs to get herself out.”
“Do you know where the office complex is?”
“She told me the name of the company. I looked it up and did some research, so I know the address. I can’t tell who owns it, though. The organization is hidden under several shell companies. There’s no way to nail down exactly who’s in charge. That leads me to believe it is probably owned by our adversaries.”
Miranda stood. “Perhaps we should think about going up there and checking the place out for ourselves, then. We could at least drive by and see if I can detect anything about what’s going on inside. There’s no way they can completely shield that much power.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking. I keep hoping Quinn will call and tell me she’s out. She has the number of a friend of mine. They’ve forwarded that line directly to me, so I’ll get the call. I’m afraid she’s pigheaded enough to stay if she can’t convince her friend to leave before it’s too late.”
“She not only seems to have been born a hunter, but she also carries the values of one. You’d never leave a friend behind either, am I right?”
Clark shot her a glance, wondering if she knew something about his past. Realizing it was a harmless comment, he said, “So it would seem. None of that will help her if she gets into a difficult situation, though. She has no training or knowledge of what her inherent abilities are. There’s so much she should have learned growing up. I gave her clues to that ability to hide in the shadow, but it won’t save her by itself.”
“We all come into our skills and strengths in due time. When I first discovered I was a witch, I was young. I hid
my ability from those around me because I was embarrassed. I learned to do many things on my own before I received anything approaching formal training. Perhaps she is stronger and more capable than you know.”
“I hope so. There is so much I could teach her, given a few weeks to do it.”
“Like what?”
“The abilities are inherent in her genes, but without proper training, she can’t possibly make the most of them. The amulet will help her activate some things, but others require intense training and meditation to unlock. My limited understanding from those who used to study the science behind such things is to think of it as a sort of recessive gene that needs to be switched on. That is done in different ways, depending on the skill and the individual. Some are activated magically, and others through specific situations and training. That is what I plan to do once she gets out of there. It won’t take me long to understand the scope of her potential.”
“Perhaps the situation she’s in now will do that for her.”
Clarks considered, then picked up his keys from the table. “Let’s go. We’ll swing by VirSync like you suggested. I don’t want to leave you here unattended and unprotected. We won’t get too close, but at least we can drive by and see what the place looks like.”
Miranda nodded and picked up her purse and slung the bag’s long strap over her head and across her chest so it hung at her waist.
From its size, Clark guessed it held components for some of her spells. Maybe she’d have something to offer to get Quinn out if she came along.
He went to the apartment door, checked the hallway outside for any danger, and then held it for Miranda. “After you.”
Miranda nodded as she passed him. Clark fell in behind her as they headed down the steps to the street.
It took them almost a half-hour to reach the industrial park north of the city where VirSync was located. As they drove past it, Clark noticed the tall stone and iron fence surrounding the building and grounds.
