I tear my gaze away from the overly enthusiastic smile and fix it on the guard beyond the barrier. He’s dressed in a suit, proper security detail like. My senses tell me he’s not human. I can taste the power radiating off him…and also the sweat. Dude, take a fucking shower. Yuk.
“This way” He leads us stiffly toward a door as if yesterday’s workout session is weighing heavily on his muscles.
We pass through into a corridor that holds nothing but a lift.
Stiff guard stands still for a long beat.
“Um…hello?” I want to prod him.
Finally, almost reluctantly, he presses his palm to the panel beside the lift and the doors open with a ping.
“Say…Say hi to Ursula from me,” he says. His voice sounds raspy and strange. Almost as if he isn’t used to speaking.
“Um, okay…”
Hunter steps into the box and as he passes the guard’s hand shoots out to grip his wrist.
Hunter’s dark brows snap together, and he looks at the guard’s hand. “Do we have a problem?”
The guard peels his fingers from Hunters wrist and steps back. Are all Magiguard this weird?
“Say hi from me,” he repeats
I join Hunter in the lift and turn to the guard. “And who is me?”
“Trent. Tell her Trent said Hi.” There is a look of almost-relief on his face.
He obviously has a thing for hot Ursula, but before I can tease him about it, the lift doors close, and a blinding light takes us away.
* * *
The light dies suddenly, and I’m face to face with Hunter. How the fuck did that happen?
“That was odd,” Hunter says. “I didn’t like it.”
“Yeah, it was like jumping but nothing like jumping.”
He gives me a look that says, you’re strange, and then the doors to our left slide open.
A female guard greets us this time. High ponytail, pert…assets. Yeah, I tend to notice that stuff. I slide a glance Hunter’s way to check if he’s noticing, but his gaze is fixed on the woman striding up the corridor behind the ponytailed Magiguard.
Ursula looks tired, bothered, and pissed. “This way.” She stops and jerks her head, turns on her heel, and heads back the way she came.
We follow her down the carpeted corridor. Magnolia and light brown seem to be the décor here. Fake potted plants line the way and obscure landscapes hang on the walls.
This is the Magiguard headquarters?
Got to say, I’m kinda disappointed. I expected a little pizazz. I mean, these witches are supposed to be elite warriors, but this place looks like a private hospital not kick-ass central.
We get to another door, and Ursula turns to face us. Her attention falls on Hunter. “We don’t, as a rule, allow Loup into the inner sanctum, but due to the unprecedented circumstances I’ve obtained dispensation to do so.”
“In a day?” I give her a go-girl look.
She smiles, and it’s a genuinely warm action that reaches her eyes. “I can be very persuasive when I wish to be.” Her gaze flicks back to Hunter. “Please don’t touch anything. Miasma is strong beyond these doors, and I can’t predict how it will react to a non-witch presence.”
There was no choice but to bring Hunter. The Magiguard have mystical surveillance all over the city. I know what Cain looks like, and Hunter has a direct line to Grayson and the pack, which has been split into teams. The plan is to scope out the city from surveillance central and dispatch units of Loup and Magiguard once I spot our man.
Simple plan.
So why is my gut squirming?
Ursula swipes a card and opens the door. The smell hits me first—dewy and sweet, like early morning in a meadow—and power fizzes over my skin. Hunter makes a strange sound, part sigh, part growl, before we’re drawn into the room by a magnetic force. A latent buzz fills my head. A low-grade humming.
Miasma.
It’s all around us.
The hairs on my body stand to attention and a tingle runs up my spine. “Wow, this place is charged.”
Hunter’s jaw ticks. He feels it too, and he doesn’t like it. He stares ahead and for a moment his eyes look empty and hollow, a trick of the light, because, no, his eyes are fine.
“You’ll acclimatize,” Ursula says, drawing my attention back to the room.
But it’s not a room, it’s a cylindrical structure that goes up for several floors and down for several more. The gold and cream color scheme gives it a pure, clean feel, and the world beyond is a glittering darkness. It’s as if this chamber, this strange core, exists in a cosmic vacuum. We’re on a balcony and there’s a walkway leading to a huge transparent pillar that sits in the center of the whole structure. Golden fluid churns and bubbles inside the pillar, as if desperate to be free.
“What is that?” Hunter asks.
“The miasma core,” Ursula replies. “It attracts miasma and amplifies it. Most of the covens in the city feed off the power it generates.
Interesting. “And this is the only core?”
“No, there are others in other cities. This one feeds Necro.”
She leads us away from the core and along the balcony to a set of steps that bring us onto the lower floor. The glittering darkness presses in on us here, and the only halo of light sits in the center of the room where several recliners are placed in a row. Each houses a Magiguard wearing a silver band on their forehead. The air crackles with energy and purpose, and aside from the four Magiguard in the seats, there are no other witches. The room is dark, and there’s no way to know how large it is, but I sense an abyss.
“What are they doing?” Hunter asks.
“Viewing,” Ursula says. “After the incident with the wards being activated and our inability to stop the humans being taken, the high council has decided to return to the old ways. Viewing is highly specialised, and only a handful have the ability. The bands connect them to oculus brands placed all around the city. It allows them to keep active watch.”
“Why did you stop this practice?” Hunter asks. “It sounds much more efficient than just wards.”
“Burn out,” Ursula says. “The practice reduced the life expectancy of the viewer by decades. The brave souls in those seats have accepted this price and agreed to put on the mantle for the greater good.”
Decades? These witches would die before their time to protect humans from outlier threats.
“I don’t understand….” I lock gazes with her. “Why?”
“Why what?” Ursula asks.
“Why do it? Why do witches protect humans? I mean, the Loup will protect a human if they come across one in danger, but they don’t make it their life mission.” I glance at Hunter. “No judgement.”
His lips twitch. “None taken.”
“Why do witches give a shit? I mean humans did some pretty awful things to witches back in the day.”
Ursula’s smile is wry. “I don’t know. It’s been that way since as long as anyone recalls. We protect humanity, and we keep the existence of the outliers safe to preserve the balance of power.”
I can’t help but be curious—to want to know more and understand this world I’m meant to be a part of. Not that I plan on joining a coven any time soon. However, knowledge is power. Still, we aren’t here for a history lesson. We’re here to find Cain.
“How does this help us find Cain?” Hunter asks, getting straight to the point. “Cora needs to see what your Magiguard see.”
“And she will,” Ursula says.
She walks off into the darkness and then light blooms ahead of us and a multitude of images appear; streets, gardens, parks, alleyways and warehouse parking lots. My brain struggles to keep up with what my eyes are seeing, and then it slows down and settles into a carousel of images—four rows, one above the other.
“You can view what they view,” Ursula says. “And if you see Cain, let me know.”
“This could take hours,” Hunter says.
“It could take days,” Ursula adds. �
�I’ll get some seats sent up and beverages to sustain you.”
My gaze snags on the image of a red door with a Magiguard posted in front of it. “What’s that?” I point at the image before it slides out of view.
“Our beta site in upper Necro, on the outskirts of what you call Rising Pack territory.”
“I’ve never seen it,” Hunter says. “I know every inch of this city.” He sounds suspicious.
Ursula shrugs. “Not every inch is visible. Our beta sites are heavily cloaked, visible only to essential personnel. This one is on the corner of Geraldine street, a minor nexus, which allows for heavy cloaking. It’s where we’re holding the modified vamps we picked up from the ouroboros group.”
“Have you figured out what the ouroboros were up to?” Hunter asks.
“No,” Ursula says. “The scientist you brought back has limited knowledge about their grand plan, but he was able to give us details on the composition of the drug and instructions on how to synthesize an antidote. The condition is, thankfully reversible.”
“But why?” Hunter’s like a Loup with a bone. “Why do all this? We need to know what they were planning and who they worked for?”
Ursula looks like she agrees. “It’s been escalated, but the government claims to have no clue, even though we discovered government encrypted files at the location.”
“A secret cell,” Hunter says.
I have no clue what he’s talking about.
Ursula nods sagely. “I think so.”
I look from Ursula to Hunter. “Yeah, a secret cell.” I nod slowly. “And what the fuck is one of those?”
Ursula is quick to reply. “Secret government operations set up to conduct morally ambiguous experiments or take off-the-book action. If they’re discovered the government can claim they had no idea.”
“Fuck.”
“Yes,” Ursula says. “The only thing we can deduce is that the unique biochemical make-up on the vamps allows them to carry viruses and disease without becoming sick themselves. There was cold storage found on the premises, but any viruses held were gone.”
Oh, crap. The evil plan takes form in my mind. “You think the government wants to use the vamps to make people sick?”
“We don’t know anything for sure.” Ursula jerks her chin at the images scrolling in front of us. “Get to work. Let’s find this guy and contain him. Then we can focus on the ouroboros.”
I fix my attention on the images as Ursula moves away, but something occurs to me.
“Hey, Ursula, the Magiguard downstairs—Trent—said to say hi.”
The red door appears again but the guard is gone. Instead a familiar face flashes on the screen, looking right at me with a smirk. The image goes dark.
Cain.
“What did you say?” Ursula asks.
“Cain! He’s at the beta site. What the fuck.”
“Cora!” Hunter grabs my arm and forces me to look at Ursula.
Her face is pale. “What did you say about Trent?”
“Um…he said to say hi?”
Ursula leaps across the room into the darkness and then alarms blare shrill and urgent.
“What the fuck is going on?” I make a grab for her as she returns but she shoves me out of the way and grabs hold of Hunter’s head.
Hunter goes still and his eyes go blank, before his lips curve in a smile. “I have no quarrel with your kind.”
The voice is eerie, Hunter but not Hunter, because the cadence and the inflection is all wrong for him. But I have an excellent ear, and I know that voice. Cain.
“You have something I need, and I am about to retrieve it. Do not stand in my way. If you do, you will fall.”
Hunter blinks and then frowns down at Ursula. “Why are your touching me?”
The alarms have stopped ringing, but Ursula is positively vibrating with indignation, and as I put together the pieces, I see why.
Cain was here. In the building. He was in the smile of the receptionist and in the jerky movements of the guard who led us to the lift. Cain was in his touch on Hunter’s arm. Trent asking me to say hi to Ursula must have been a code of some kind.
Fuck. And now Cain is after the vamps.
I grab Hunter’s hand. “We have to stop him.”
“I’ll send units,” Ursula says.
I make the jump.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cora
We materialize on the corner of Geraldine Street, and there’s the red door, plain as fucking day. It seems Cain has deactivated the cloaking. A guard lies crumpled on the ground. Luckily, we’re hidden from view by a huge white van—otherwise, a dead person would attract attention.
I walk around the guy and pause as a thunk resonates behind me. But there’s nothing there.
Hunter is quick to haul the guy over his shoulder as I approach the entrance. A tingle sweeps over me like a thousand little pinpricks, and then I shove open the door and we’re inside the Magiguard beta site. Red lights flash and glass crunches beneath my boots with every step. We’re in an entrance hall, and another door and another guard greets us—the guard dead like the first.
Hunter drops his cargo on the ground and takes the lead through the next door. Cain is still here. I feel his presence as a crackling tension in the air.
I grab hold of Hunter’s arm and mouth for him to be careful.
He nods and we venture forth.
A corridor stretches before us. It smells like something was recently burned. The fumes sting the back of my nose and make me want to sneeze. I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth to supress the urge and push forward into the flashing red light. Hunter’s broad back is like a shield, blocking whatever may come at us from view, but I’m barely a step behind him, ready to grab him and jump if needed.
The burning smell gets stronger and it’s no longer paper. It smells off, like…like… Bacon.
Hunter stops and puts out an arm to warn me to stay back. I can tell from the fresh tension rippling through him that whatever lies up ahead is bad.
He makes a strange sound. A gag?
Oh crap…the smell. “Hunter?”
“Don’t look,” he says.
It’s sweet that he wants to shield me, but fuck that. “I’m a big girl.” I push past him. “I can take—”
Oh fuck.
Black charred bodies are heaped together beside an open door. Red oozes from various spots and it’s impossible to tell where one person begins and another ends.
Cain did this.
Hunter grabs my arm and squeezes slightly. I nod. I get it, proceed with caution. The door leads to a section of the building that looks like a hospital. I peer into a room to my left to see a figure laying on the bed hooked up to a drip.
The next room is the same and the one after that. There’s no carnage here. Cain’s obviously not interested in these people. Vamps being administered with the antidote maybe?
To the left, there’s a lab with toppled over stools and a cold storage unit, its doors wide open, displaying the emptiness inside. Next there’s a small break room with a coffee machine, sink, and an open tin of biscuits on the table surrounded by several cups of coffee.
Hunter touches one of the mugs. “Still warm,“ he whispers.
“The people outside maybe?”
He nods.
Cain came through here, killed a bunch of people and left the recuperating vamps. But he is still in the building. I can feel it.
Hunter strides across the room and taps a poster on the wall. A map of the facility. I join him, scanning the schematic. Three levels, a First and two sublevels. The first sublevel has an area labeled holding bay.
I stab at it with my finger. “Here.”
“Agreed.”
I look up at him. “Cain’s stupidly powerful. We don’t have to go head to head. We can wait until back-up arrives.”
“I know,” Hunter says. “But waiting isn’t an option. If he gets what he wants, he’s a step closer to whatever fucked-up plan he’
s got up his sleeve. We may not be able to go head to head with him, but we can stall him.”
I grin up at him. “I like the way you think.”
He smiles back at me and holds out his hand. “Shall we?”
I grip his wrist. “Let’s.”
I jump to sublevel.
* * *
An armored door, blown open and hanging off its thick hinges greets us. The lights flicker eerily, making me feel like we’ve stepped into a fucking horror movie. Voices drift toward us as we creep through the door into the room beyond. There’s a short accessway, featuring another charred body, and then a cell block lined with metal doors. All the small sliding panels in the doors are open. Crimson eyes peer out of each, fixed on a man standing in the center of it all with his back to us. Dark hair spills down his spine.
I’d know those luscious locks anywhere.
Cain.
His shoulders rise and fall in a sigh as he turns to face us. “Why is it that no one heeds my warnings?” He fixes his gray eyes, so much like Fee’s that it’s uncanny, on me. “I don’t jest. Often.”
“I know.” I hold up my hands. “I’m not here to stop you.”
He arches a brow. “You’re not?”
“No. I just want to talk.”
“Talk? I’m not much of talker, and as you’ve probably surmized, I have urgent business to attend to.”
The vamps in the holding cells growl and yip, eager to be released. My gaze drops to his hand. There’s a pouch in one and a remote control in the other.
I have no doubt what that control will do.
“Why are you doing this?” Hunter asks.
Cain blinks slowly then turns his attention to Hunter. “Because I can.”
That’s no answer. “Cain, we can’t allow innocent people to be hurt. I know what happened to you was awful, being locked up like that for centuries, but the humans of this city aren’t to blame.”
His smile is wry. “I never said they were.”
Reaper Unleashed: Deadside Reapers: Book 7 Page 13
