Page 24

“Then there'll be others they need to silence,” Sean finished. He tossed me something, a knife sheath, complete with a silver blade. “First lesson in vampire hunting: always bring backup. Both kinds.”

I caught the sheath, noting the quality of the workmanship. This wasn't some mass-produced weapon, this was custom, expensive. “You're trusting me with this?”

“Trust has nothing to do with it.” Sean checked his gun, the movement smooth and practiced. “I just prefer my temporary allies armed and breathing. Makes things less complicated.”

6

THE UNDERGROUND

The door Sean led me through looked unremarkable at first glance. But the moment it locked behind us with a series of clicks that suggested multiple high-end security measures, I knew this wasn't just some hunter's safehouse.

I'd spent months tracking this particular faction of hunters across the city, ones operating outside the networks I'd grown up familiar with. Despite my childhood exposure to the hunting world, these were different, more ruthless, more extreme in their methods. Most operated from temporary locations, motels, abandoned buildings, the occasional warehouse. Nothing permanent, nothing that couldn't be abandoned in minutes. My secret case files were filled with surveillance photos and incident reports the agency would deny even existed. The supernatural world was something I kept compartmentalized from my CITD work, a division necessary with colleagues who saw the world only through the lens of what science could explain.

Even with my background and my best friend's connections to the hunting community, these particular operatives remained enigmatic. I'd mapped their hunting grounds, cataloged their weapons of choice, even identified a few of their supply chains.But this was something my research had never uncovered. Sean wasn't operating like the hunters I'd known growing up or the rogue elements I'd been tracking. He was something else entirely, with resources and methods that made him leagues beyond the others.

A stairwell plunged downward, descending far deeper than any city planning document would account for. The air grew cooler with each step, carrying the weight of age and secrets. The walls transformed gradually from industrial concrete to something else entirely, smooth, dark stone that seemed to absorb light, interrupted by veins of faintly glowing symbols carved into the surface.

I reached out, tracing one of the symbols with my fingertips. A pulse of energy thrummed beneath my touch, like touching a live wire but gentler. Ancient protection wards, if I had to guess, though not like any I'd seen in CITD's classified archives.

“This place isn't just a hideout,” I said, glancing at Sean's back as he led the way down.

Sean didn't break stride or look back. “You think I'd operate out of a place the wrong kind of people could just walk into? This isn't amateur hour, fed.”

The stairwell finally opened into something that made me stop short. The underground facility was a sharp contrast to the ancient descent, a vast, high-tech command center that would make most government agencies jealous. Large screens covered one wall, displaying everything from city surveillance feeds to what looked like real-time supernatural activity tracking. Workstations hummed with the kind of computing power that definitely wasn't available to the public.

Another weapons rack that stretched along another wall, more extensive than the one upstairs. Silver-tipped crossbow bolts shared space with modified modern firearms, blessedblades, and things I couldn't even identify. Every piece looked custom, professional-grade, and absolutely lethal.

At a sleek black desk dominated by multiple monitors, a figure in an oversized hoodie spun lazily in their chair. Combat boots propped on the desk, multiple piercings catching the blue light of the screens, they were typing one-handed while drinking from a mug labeled “Trust No One” with the other. The very picture of casual competence.

They turned at our approach, dark eyes scanning me with the kind of focused intensity that suggested they were cataloging every detail for future reference.

“Well, well. The infamous CITD agent in my humble lair.” Their voice carried an Irish lilt, softer than Sean's but no less sharp. “You're taller than I expected. Shame.”

Sean rolled his eyes with the weariness of someone who'd long since given up trying to maintain professional decorum.

“Cade, meet Skye. Skye, don't harass the agent.”

“I'd never.” Skye's smirk widened, revealing an intelligence that bordered on predatory. “Pronouns are they/them, in case you were about to embarrass yourself.”

I raised an eyebrow, meeting their gaze directly. “I was about to say you seem competent, but sure, let's go with that.”

Skye let out a low whistle, spinning their chair to face us fully. “Oh, he's got claws. Sean, you actually found someone interesting for once.”

Sean ignored them, turning to me. “Skye runs intel. If something's happening in the supernatural underworld, they'll know about it.”

“Or I'll know someone who knows someone who knows about it,” Skye added, fingers never stopping their dance across the keyboard. “Speaking of which, your Phoenix problem? Just got more complicated.” They pulled up a series of files on the main screen. “Your perp had been busy. Three more employeesaccessed restricted files in the last hour. All from different secure terminals, all using Dr. Chen's credentials.”

“After her death?” I moved closer to the screen, studying the timestamps. “That's not possible.”

“Welcome to the wonderful world of corporate espionage meets supernatural fuckery,” Skye said cheerfully. “Want to see something really interesting?”

They pulled up another window, thermal imaging of the Phoenix building. Red and orange heat signatures moved through the corridors like normal, but there were other signatures, shown in blue, moving in patterns that didn't match the building's layout.

“They're in the walls,” Sean muttered, his expression darkening. “Using maintenance tunnels or...”

“Or something else entirely,” Skye finished. “These readings don't match any known species in our database. Not vampire, not werewolf, not anything we've cataloged.”

I watched the blue signatures move, something nagging at the back of my mind. “Can you overlay the building's original blueprints?”