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“Colleague?”

“My cell mate.”

The Fae paled.

“Someone put a syphon on him. Who?”

Ezekias swallowed. “Calder.”

“Show me.” Rae flicked her chin at the monitors, just as Aidan slipped into the room.

Ezekias began to shake, fingers slipping over keys. “Here.”

The screens changed, one with a split camera view of a lab and another with a blueprint of the facility. “Good boy,” Rae said,tapping his shoulder with the tip of her blade. “Have a glass of visk waiting for me, won’t you?”

Vale stalked closer.

“This one lives,” she said, patting a hand against his thick bicep.

She moved to the second rack, the one with red cases, swapping out two of the vials for the ones she’d taken from one of the black cases before fastening it again and sliding it under her arm. “After you, Vampire.”

Chapter six

Aidan followed the human deeper into the facility, leading them through doors like she knew the place intimately. Another empty corridor, with dark walls stained by water damage and exposed wires trailing above their heads connecting each harsh light. Since the alarm had ceased a few minutes before, no more guards had reached them, but Aidan knew that was about to change.

Rae had quietly explained they were looking for a prisoner, Calder, but they both knew Aidan had heard every damn word she’d shared with the Fae before they’d left him trembling in his chair.

“Been here before?” he muttered as Rae slipped through another doorway.

There were no signs, the walls bare save for the grime adorning them and the occasional vent and metal panel. “I saw the floor plan.” She paused by a door, waiting for him to listen beyond it, he presumed.

He gave a nod to indicate the way was clear. “And memorised it?”

Rae moved the case from one arm to the other, the switchblade changing hands at the same time. “Are you surrounded by that many idiots you’re surprised when someone remembers a handful of directions?”

“Most Vampires tend to be severely lacking in decent qualities,” he told her.

A quiet huff of air. “Allin my experience. Present company included.”

Another spark of irritation danced along his spine. He should end this now. Kill every last living thing in this damn place and leave. Though it would be satisfying, it wouldn’t get him the answers he sought. And though Rae’s deal had loopholes, their agreement was still of interest to him. Her knowledge was of interest to him. “Are you always so quick to judge?” he asked, but before she had a chance to reply, movement ahead drew Aidan’s attention and he raised a hand.

“Copy that,” someone said quietly into an earpiece beyond the next corner, followed by the click of a safety lever.

“They’re armed,” he murmured. Rae nodded and leaned back against the wall like she was waiting outside a coffee shop in the Western Quarter instead of trying to escape with her life. Either she had faith in his desire to protect her, which was widely misplaced, or she had a death wish. Judging by the marks on her wrists he didn’t for one minute believe a lover had given her, he was going with the latter.

Footsteps came closer, and Aidan waited, eyes fixed on Rae. She was playing silently with the switchblade, snapping it in and out, in and out. He snatched it from her fingers, turned as the guard rounded the corner, and with a flick of his wrist, it was flying through the air, hitting its target before the guard even had the chance to register what it was.

Aidan might have been without his Provident abilities, but those would have only sped this up. He was no stranger to weapons, and though guns were another human invention, he’d made sure he knew how to use them, training with various types in the range he’d had installed at his manor. It was as he’d told Rae: knowledge was power.

In a few short strides, he was crouching over the corpse, unhooking the earpiece and tossing it to Rae. He took the gun and handed her that too, waiting for her to secure the earpiece first. “Safety’s off. Just point and shoot.”

“I know how to use a gun, Vale.”

He didn’t ask how. It was widely known some humans had begun carrying them, but there were few places you could access in Demesia with a firearm, so keeping one was difficult.

“Section B. They’re coming this way,” Rae said as conversation carried from the earpiece. She still held the case tucked under one arm, two hands around the grip of the gun, muzzle pointed up to the flickering lights above them. At least she wasn’t actively trying to shoot him. Yet.

They held their position at the corner, backs pressed against the wall. Though it wasn’t ideal, he’d hear anyone coming from either direction. Rae didn’t seem too concerned.