Dark Before Dawn (The Protector Guild Book 7), page 34
There was no time to find out.
“Don’t—” I bit my lip and shook my head once, “don’t make me regret this.”
I wrapped my arms around my vampire and pulled him through space with me, clinging to him as we dissolved and reformed alongside each other, my body alive with the closeness of him.
He was right. I was stronger with them around me.
It only took a few separate shifts before we landed outside of a familiar, dilapidated hovel.
My chest pinched at the memory of fixing this spot up for Ralph, at the realization that Ro had spent days here, alone, with nothing but his grief and the biting cold.
Darius twined his hand through mine as a long, shrill alarm rang around us.
It was the same one that sounded during the ambush a few months ago.
“What the hell?” Darius glanced around, searching for a threat. “Did we set off an alarm trigger somehow? What’s happening?”
I took a deep steadying breath and grinned into the night. “Izzy.”
23
DARIUS
Before I could form my question, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me through space.
It was easier and less disorienting than it had been—and would continue to get easier as our bond strengthened. But that didn’t mean I didn’t still feel it.
I swallowed back the nausea, only for another wave of it to hit me hard in the stomach when I caught sight of our new surroundings.
“The labs.” The word tasted like bile on my tongue as I came face-to-face with the walls that had drained my life away for four fucking years.
A hot, hollow rage simmered in my bones as I breathed in the familiar scent. Bleach, cleaning equipment, and various tinctures that only went so far in covering the blanket of blood, gore, and misery that truly built these halls.
Max squeezed my hand, her head tilting to the side in question.
I nodded. “I’m okay.” And I was. Because while we were standing in the belly of the place that tortured me for years, it was also the place that brought me her. Still, it was surprisingly empty. Especially given all we knew about what had been going on down here lately. “Where is everyone?”
Max grinned, her eyes dark and wild as they found mine. “I dream-walked to Izzy. That's why I didn’t leave immediately after everyone went to sleep.”
Izzy. It took me a minute to place the familiar-sounding name in my memory.
Max’s friend. The one who’d threatened to murder me.
“I like her,” I said, a wistful smile tugging at my lips. She had Max’s fire, her fearlessness.
Max pulled me further down the hall, towards the light emanating from the cells. “Told her to create a diversion and then evacuate as many people as she could, gave her directions to Charlie’s place, just in case, and told her to bring only those she could trust.” She smiled. “I imagine she has most of the teams scattered all over the place chasing invisible monsters.”
Smart girl. I beamed with pride at her quick thinking. Perhaps this rescue mission wouldn’t be as haphazard as I’d feared.
There was a plan, and one filled with all kinds of fuckery meant to mess with The Guild.
I liked it.
That smile melted off my face as Max abruptly stopped, her gasp of horror echoing around the sterile room.
The cells were crammed full of demons—both living, breathing demons, and the remnants of those that weren’t. Whether they were killed by the so-called researchers here or from fighting each other, I wasn’t sure.
It took a lot to turn my stomach—I literally survived on blood—but even I found this hard to look at.
There were piles of bodies in the rooms, discarded like expired meat. Pieces and fragments of body parts and organs I didn’t want to examine too closely littered the ground and walls over every overcrowded room.
Several of the demons who were still alive looked practically catatonic, hooked up on IVs that drained them.
“What the hell? How is this even worse than last time I was down here—I didn’t think it was possible.” Max pressed her small hands to the window of one cell, where a girl no older than fifteen huddled in a small corner with one arm, the wound where her other had been festering and rotting as a feral wolf prowled around her.
They were pitting them against each other, trying to weed out the weak.
Why? This didn’t make any sense. The stronger demons were the bigger threats to them.
A shiver rippled down my spine.
I never had a good feeling when I was down in the labs, but something had shifted here, revealed itself—become even more nefarious and twisted than I could have ever imagined.
The thought of Max getting stuck in one of these cages made my blood go cold.
“Let’s go.” I tugged her back against my chest, her solidness leaning into me enough to ground me, to remind me of my purpose. It was her. Her happiness, her survival. That was all I cared about. And both were compromised the longer we stayed down here. “We can’t save them all. Where’s our wolf?”
She shook her head, eyes wide and lips quivering as she tried to pull away from the sight in the cell. With a deep, steadying breath, she tugged us once more, until we dropped on the other side of a different cell.
We were in a hall I wasn’t familiar with. The rooms here were less violent, the smell of blood and death better disguised.
Max turned, scanning the wall of windows. “They’re draining their blood.”
I narrowed my eyes, focusing on one man in front of me. He looked around my age, though I couldn’t quite tell what kind of demon he was. His veins were black around the needle, the blood leaking into the bag tinted with something strange.
“It’s not just their blood,” I whispered, stepping closer to get a better look. There was a shimmer in the liquid, the shade of red darker than it should’ve been. Was that—
“Shadow magic,” Max whispered, following the line of liquid with her eyes like she could feel it flowing through the tube. “They’ve found a way to isolate and pull it from the demons.” Panic cannibalized her expression as her eyes started to flutter. “Atlas. We need to find him. Now.”
Her hands shook as she moved from cell to cell, the quiet calm and confidence from before now abandoned. When she came upon the cell at the end, a soft “oh,” escaped from her lips as she fell to her knees—hands pressed against the glass as she stifled a sob.
Pain pulsed through her, so strong and harrowing that I felt it mirrored in my body.
When the occupants of the cell came into sight, I understood why.
There were three people in there—Sarah, Atlas, and someone I didn’t know.
None of them were touching, none of them even visibly moving.
Instead, they were each huddled in a corner of the small room, naked and trembling—Atlas and Sarah covered in a sheen of sweat, their veins a sickly grayish-black and visible through their skin.
The third figure looked much better off, his body half there, half billowing black shadows that crept towards the other two. His eyes were pure black, bent in concentration.
Every few seconds, his body would break down more, until he was dissolved almost entirely into black shadow. The waves of black rammed into the wall, like he was trying and failing to escape. There was a thick, dark band around his ankle—the lower half of that leg the only part of him that seemed unable to fully change into his shadow form. A dark bag attached to a needle in his foot filled with a steady drip. They were siphoning from him too.
Druden were incredibly strong, their power almost entirely stemming from shadow magic. He was likely their prized prisoner.
Max rammed her hands against the glass, her eyes wild and wide as she called to the wolf.
He either couldn’t hear her or didn’t have enough strength to respond, to react.
Her panicked expression turned towards me and I felt my chest crack in half at the sight of her. She felt others’ pain so acutely. It was like watching her break over her father’s body all over again.
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks as I bent down next to her to wipe them. I scanned the hall looking for a tool, for something to break down the wall, but I knew that it was futile. The Guild was run by assholes but, for the most part, they were competent assholes.
She closed her eyes tight, face scrunched in focus as her hands tightened into fists. “I can’t—” a sob pulled through her chest, “I can’t teleport inside.”
I nodded, swallowing down the unexpected emotion rising in my throat. Witnessing her pain hurt me more than my own.
My teeth clashed together, jaw muscles twitching as I studied the drude. “They’ve found a way to block that kind of magic. The drude can’t escape either. I don’t think,” I narrowed my eyes, noticing the bleak, empty expression on the demon’s face, “I don’t think he’s pulling from them by choice. The Guild is siphoning his power, siphoning what he’s pulling from them.”
He was the siphon.
Was this how they’d learned how to isolate and draw out shadow magic so easily? Wolves didn’t have much, it wasn’t the foundation of their magic, but he was using their power to amplify his own, converting it.
I ran a hand over my hair, feeling helpless as I tried to comfort her. Fuck, this was messed up. We’d come this far. We had to find a way to help them.
Hell, I didn’t even particularly like the wolf, but I wouldn’t wish the fate of these cells, of these fucking piranhas, on anyone.
Fire flared from Max’s hands as she pressed them into the unbreakable glass, heating it to unspeakable temperatures.
Still, it did nothing.
“You can’t go in there,” a soft voice sounded behind me and I jumped—frustration and panic flooding my system at the surprise.
I should have heard her, should have been keeping watch, but I was distracted by Max’s pain, by my helplessness. She deserved better than me falling apart because I couldn’t control my own emotions.
We both craned our necks to see who’d intruded into the otherwise silent hall.
A tall, white woman with blond hair and biting blue eyes stood a few feet away from us. Her face was all sharp angles, her posture rigid as her stare locked onto Max.
Max stiffened. “Reza?”
The girl arched a perfectly-plucked brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Figured it was you—that Izzy and the others were acting on your orders. Always ready and willing to follow your lead.”
Her voice was arch, and I kept my focus between her and Max, trying to decipher if this was a girl I was allowed to eat and kill.
She nodded to the window, eyes darkening when they landed on the three miserable figures in there. “You can’t go in there.”
“Reza, please,” Max stood, so I did too, trying to edge myself between them in case the girl was more dangerous than she looked. I knew better than to underestimate The Guild. Never again. “We need to get him out, he’s going to die.”
The girl studied Max for a long moment, then nodded, her body relaxing slightly. “I know. I’ve been waiting for you, expected that you’d come for him a hell of a lot sooner than you did.” Her lips curled in disgust. “You can’t get in there. But I can.”
Max took a step back, surprise etched in plain lettering across her face. She tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowed as she watched the girl. “You’re—you’re going to help me?”
The girl, Reza apparently, clenched her jaw, her nostrils flaring slightly as she scanned the empty hall. When she turned back to face us, she’d deflated slightly, her harsh edges and attitude softening into disappointment, into fear.
“I didn’t know.” Her voice cracked, but she shook her head slightly and took a deep breath. “What they’re doing down here—it’s not right. I’ll help you get to him if you promise you can get him out of here, away from them.”
The two women stared each other down, an understanding passing between them.
I wasn’t sure what their history was, but I could tell in the lines of tension in Max’s body that it was a complicated one. Fraught, even.
Max straightened her posture, turned to me briefly with a nod, then met Reza’s eyes again. “Deal.”
“Follow me.” Reza led us through a maze of halls and rooms that I’d never been in before. She had a keycard with a photo of a woman who looked a lot like her, but wasn’t. She was older, more severe looking in the image, with cropped hair and a sharp jaw.
Some doors required her to prick her thumb on a blade she kept on her thigh.
I nodded, impressed that she didn’t seem to grimace or fawn away from the pain.
“Once I heard the commotion, I checked on the cameras to verify that you were down here, then I did what I could to clear the way,” she said, brows arched, clearly pleased with herself. “It won’t buy you much time, but hopefully enough.” She turned back to Max, a flash of panic halting her step. “You can still do that teleporting thing right? This whole plan is hitched on the premise that you can—that you can take him with you. Quickly, before they throw him back in his cell. Whatever Izzy’s done to sound the alarms, it won’t clear these halls for long.”
Max nodded.
The girl’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Good. Okay. Then let’s do this.”
“And you?” Max asked, as we ran after her. “Your mother—the others—they’re going to know that you helped us.”
There wasn’t accusation in her voice, only curiosity.
Reza’s jaw clenched tightly, her hands balled into fists at her sides. “I don’t care what they find out. As long as you get him out of here. They’re going to kill him.” She shook her head. “It won’t be the end of the world for me. They’ll punish me. Badly, probably. But they won’t kill me. And my mother will do what she can to soften whatever blow the council gives.” Then, with a note of bitterness, she added, “she won’t let her precious legacy disappear or be tarnished if she can help it.”
With a final shove of a heavy, solid metal door, she led us into a room, stopping short. A short, stocky man that I was all too familiar with stood in the center of it.
“Good, you’re still here.” Reza pushed further into the room.
Max stiffened, fingers flexing on the handle of her blade when she saw the man. “Sal?”
I clenched my jaw at the sight of the man—he’d been the primary instrument of my torture during my time here.
“You.” His lips curled in disgust, a flash of recognition in his eyes when they landed on me. His finger hovered over a button, beady eyes darting for a weapon or alarm to sound, no doubt.
Max spun on Reza, hand lighting with hellfire. “You set us up?”
Reza rolled her eyes and pulled out her dagger. “We need his blood and mine,” she shrugged, “well my mother’s line anyway,” to open his cell. Precautions have tightened since you’ve proven particularly adept at breaking people out of this place.”
“Reza!” Sal’s face drained of what little color it had, spittle flying from his lips as his eyes darted between us. “You can’t betray your kind.” His lips curled as he shook his head at her. “Your mother will be disgusted that you’ve let them in here.” He took two wide steps, his arm lifting towards a lever that I was all too familiar with. He was going to sound an alarm—alert the others that we were here. “You—”
In a flash, I closed the distance between us and snapped his neck, the loud crack echoing in the control room. They’d given this place quite a few upgrades since my stay.
Reza’s eyes widened, her face contorting in rage. “What the fuck have you done? I didn’t bring you here to fucking kill him.”
“This man is—” I paused, shifting his body more comfortably in my arms, “was a fucking monster. A sadist—and the nonconsensual kind, to be clear. I’m all for those who rock that lifestyle with permission.” I blinked, refocusing at the flash of confusion on the girl’s face. “He lived his entire adult life torturing people for pleasure down here. He won’t be missed.”
When my gaze met Max’s, she simply nodded, any look of disappointment I’d expected to see reflected in her eyes replaced by an unfazed acceptance.
“He’s right.” She turned to Reza. “And we don’t have time for this. Anyone who gets in our way will meet the same fate. Open Atlas’s cage. Now.”
Reza took a deep breath and, for a long moment, I thought she might abandon us here. Instead, she shook her head and rushed over to a complicated panel, filled with small reservoirs and buttons—each one labeled with a number.
“He’s in cell 47. Only five people have access cards to get this room. So from here, the protocol is a little more lax. Sal and I have to drop our blood in the coordinating reservoir at the same time, then push the button. It needs to be fresh from the vein.” She turned to me, judgment and disgust practically licking against my skin. “So we’ll need to be quick and hope that the fact that he’s dead won’t matter. Then, the cell will open for exactly thirty seconds. If you don’t get him out before then, it will close and we won’t be able to open it again for two hours without a council member present to override it. When it opens,” her eyes cut to Max’s, “everyone with clearance will be alerted that there’s a breach. You’ll need to leave immediately. Take him, go, and never come back.”
Is that what she considered fucking lax? Gods, protectors were fucking paranoid.
Then again, I supposed we’d given them plenty of reason to prove that paranoia valid. We were, in fact, breaking in—and out.
Max considered her for a long moment. “Why are you doing this? You won’t see him again. And you love him.”
Her jaw locked in response as she glanced from Sal’s corpse, back to Max. “That’s why I’m doing this.” Her expression hardened, posture straightening as she unsheathed her blade. “And before you say it, yes I know that he doesn’t love me—I know that it’s always going to be you. But I deserve to be more than someone’s second choice.” She reopened the cut on her thumb and walked over to me. “I don’t want him to die, and I don’t want to be forever tied to someone who spends every ounce of his energy wanting someone else.” She cut Max with a dark look. “For months, the only word he’s spoken is your name.”
