Page 16

I CAN SEE FOR MILES AND MILES

ELIAS

It’s been a long time since I’ve been free to move like this and I don’t intend to spoil it by getting involved with nonsense. The vampire and the mage are clearly hiding something, the bear and the demon are in love with the girl, and the girl is completely oblivious because she’s harboring some deep trauma. This bullshit is a recipe for a disaster that I want no part of.

I do want to win the fucking thing so I’m not locked up like a serial killer, though.

My eyes rove over the contestants and our handler as the elevator shoots up higher than I’ve been in years. The dragon inside rejoices in the change in altitude, but he yearns to be free to fly. I haven’t stretched my wings in the sky since I was caught in the Second Sweep while defending my people’s compound in the Pacific. I saved many sea dragons from being sent to these wretched prisons, but the sacrifice cost me mightily. I’m sure they’ve been looking for me, but the human government moves the strongest supes around often so they can’t be located and freed.

You’d think the larger populations in the sectors would notice, but they don’t.

They’ve been told we’re all dangerous criminals who will harm them and it’s easier to accept it at face value when their lives are hard enough without feeling sorry for ‘lockdown losers’. I don’t have resentment about it; if any of them had enough power to free me or the others locked down, they’d be in chains themselves. It would be a futile effort and end in deaths that are for nothing. I see no reason to kill any more of the supernatural population than the humans already have.

“What’s your problem, smokestack?”

Blinking, I look at the girl glaring at me curiously. She wasn’t thrilled when I said she has too much humanity, but that irritation seemed to fade when we piled back into the tin can to head up to our rooms. “I don’t have one; do you?”

“Hell no.” She crosses her arms over her chest, but the air around her changes and I can taste the fear she’s emanating in the form of a light sheen of perspiration on her lip. Sydney shifts from foot to foot, watching me like I’m going to do something, but she has no idea how wrong she is.

“I see.”

I’d call her out on her lie, but for some reason, I don’t want to. The discomfort is going unnoticed by her two guardians and she obviously wants it to continue to stay under their radar. It means this issue is one no one knows about, and I find myself feeling pleased by that. When that thought goes through my head, I frown.

Who cares what the hell she’s afraid of? This is ridiculous.

“Being on the uppermost floors is a very good sign, you know,” Krista says and I flick my gaze to the human. Even Sydney could kill this woman with her bare hands, so we’ll have to be careful about the flaring tempers should anything bad happen. “You’re on the second highest floor, so the testing must have been quite favorable.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Sebastian says from his corner. “No one but you was dumb enough to miss that this is an over-the-top mix.”

Sydney furrows her brow, looking over her shoulder at the bloodsucker. “Speak for yourself. I’ve spent the past four years hearing how useless I am and you idiots haven’t dispelled that notion.”

“That’s bullshit, sweet pea. You have untapped potential.”

I snort, and everyone looks at me. “He can’t be trusted; he’s a demon.”

I have nothing against demons, of course, but talking about a secret weapon in front of a human is stupid.

“And he has the hots for her.” The mage smirks, puffing his chest up. “Not that he has a chance in Hell, even if he is from there.”

“She’s not interested in anyone.” The bear looks indignant and I have to school my features. These two have no ability to mask anything and that’s going to be an enormous problem.

The elevator car shakes when the woman in question stomps her foot hard, her expression full of fury. “ She is standing right here and you all need to shut the fuck up about her before she guts you .”

“Syd…”

“Sweet pea…”

“Shut. It.” Her voice is a hiss, even to the males she seems to be closest to. “We will discuss your participation later, dick heads.”

Good on her.

“Maybe it would be best if we all stay on topic. We have much to discuss about the—” Krista’s interrupted by the doors to the elevator opening into a plush hallway. There’s only one door at each end and she gestures toward the one at the south end. “Let’s go to your quarters.”

“I confess, I’m interested to see what this place looks like,” Rory mutters as we all follow the blond human. “The amount of magic needed to do all of this under cover is staggering. They must have?—”

Reaching out, I smack him in the back of the head. “Be quiet, spell caster. That, too, is a discussion for later.”

“Jeez, you big scaly shithead. Take it easy,” he mutters as he moves out of my reach. “You’re stronger than you think, you know.”

“No, I’m not.” I grin toothily at him, making sure he knows I put just enough strength behind it to make it hurt. “You’re weaker than you think.”

Doesn’t hurt to make him a bit worried, either.

Krista stops at the door, raising a keypad next to it. “You each need to place a thumb on this pad to key it to you. No one but your team will be able to enter this space unless they’re cleared by the officials—this will include trainers, stylists, coaches, and the like. But that will only be at specific times and by specific permissions. You must keep the space photo-ready at any time, should PR or Marketing officials choose to visit. There are no cameras in your private space, but this is the only place where that is true.”

I arch a brow, looking at my teammates. They grimace back at me and I know they understand we will not take that as truth until we verify it for ourselves. “I’ll go first then.”

Hopefully, that doesn’t come back to bite me.

Our ‘chaperone’ finally leaves ten minutes after we enter our room. It took quite a bit of ignoring her attempts to get us to engage before she finally gave up, saying the alarms would sound for breakfast in the morning. As for tonight, we’ve been left with a fucking menu to select food from for our dinner. Apparently, all we have to do is call downstairs and place the order to get it brought up. That statement made everyone but the vampire look like a landed walleye, though Krista didn’t seem shocked in the slightest.

For someone who’s been in a cage more than half the time over the past few years… that’s swank as fuck.

Rory is the first one to speak as we look around the ridiculously nice suite. “Am I the only one getting a hardcore ‘for those who are about to die’ feeling about all this… sudden kindness?”

“Duh,” Sydney says as she strides over to yank open all the doors on the outer edge of the living area. When she’s exposed all six bedrooms and a bathroom, she huffs and stomps back to us. “They’re buttering us up for the kill.”

The demon pats her shoulder, then stands in the middle of the room, lifting his hands in the air. “First, I’m gonna make sure they’re not lyin’ about the camera thing, folks. We shouldn’t have conversations until we know for sure.”

“True.” The others look at me and I shrug. “If he can figure it out, it will save a lot of bullshit scurrying around later.”

“His power is fear . What the hell is he going to do?” The vampire rolls his eyes and leans against the door frame of the first room. “Scare the cameras out of hiding?”

Huck whips his head around, his dark eyes glowing red as black tendrils of magic emanate from his body. He tilts his head, then whisper-hisses, “Seek.”

Okay, it’s a little intimidating and I can definitely feel the amount of power he’s exuding; it’s not trivial.

“Huck is more than a simple fear demon,” Thaddeus says as he shrugs. “He apprenticed under a Prince of Hell before he came up here.”

“Why don’t I know that?” Sydney looks angry as she pokes the bear—literally—and he looks sheepish.

“I wasn’t supposed to talk about it, but since we’re all going to have to share and sing Kumbaya to work together…”

The demon tenses for a moment, his magic pausing as Sydney frowns at him.

Grumbling under my breath, I shake my head. The jailors in my sectors have always cautioned us that we cannot trust the other supes—if we do, they will sell us out in an instant. Seems it’s possible they were right in spirit, if not in their assessment of intent. I doubt the grizzly told us for a nefarious purpose, but his loose lips could get his demon friend in a lot of trouble if the wrong person finds out. Demons with that much power and influence are usually locked up as I have been.

“Stop talking until he’s done,” I order them with a loud growl. “There are things not meant for the possible watchers, shifter.”

The girl nods, wandering over to the demon as his magical tendrils waft through the air, extending into other rooms. “Make us safe, Huck. We’ll talk later, okay?”

They’ve distracted me, and I have to get my shit back together. It’s good to know the demon has more magic than I assumed, but what about the rest of them?

Sebastian is certainly full of himself enough to be hiding bonus talents—vampires are a dime a dozen and their powers aren’t particularly versatile. The bear can’t hide shit with his earnest look and eager devotion, so we’ll have to work on it. My eyes move to the unusually quiet mage as he comes out of the bedroom he must be claiming. He’s not babbling or flirting; something he’s been doing since he walked into the room with our new team members.

“What’s with you?” I ask as I tilt my head. “Run out of material so soon?”

The blond saunters across the floor, sidestepping the demon without blinking an eye. “Worried about me, Salty Seaballs? I’m touched.”

“No, but I trust no one until they give me a reason, and you disappear.”

His grin widens as he approaches me. “I’m an open book, baby. Ask me anything and I’ll answer you true.”

No one says that when they’re being honest; he protests too much.

“Did you miss where he yelled at everyone for talking about shit until Huck’s done? Hello!” Sydney rolls her eyes, moving away from the demon to flop on the big ass couch. Her eyes pop wide open as she sinks into it, and her entire body goes stiff.

“Syd, are you?—”

She waves the bear off, the shocked expression still on her face as she relaxes one limb at a time. “I’m fine… I… “ The rest of us wait for her to continue, waiting anxiously as she gathers her thoughts. Her face turns bright red and I swear, she gets even angrier when she figures it out. “It’s nothing. Leave me alone.”

Thaddeus looks confused, the demon snorts, and I watch her carefully. But the mage is the one who walks over, lowering himself to the cushion next to her carefully. Rory doesn’t touch her, he just gives her a sad smile that I don’t quite understand. They look at one another for a moment before he finally speaks.

“It’s the most comfortable thing you’ve sat on in years, right?”

“Shut up,” she mutters as she tosses her braid over her shoulder. “This sector isn’t ritzy like the ones you and the overgrown mosquito probably come from. Tempest Seven is pretty chintzy.”

Thad snorts. “That’s being kind.”

I arch a brow. “Try living in a cage and not being able to use your wings or fully shift for four years.”

Sebastian scoffs, pushing off the wall to walk over to one of the chairs. “I don’t think it will help anyone to have a misery pissing contest. We just need the demon to finish so we can order the damn food, swap info, eat, and fuck off to our own spaces for the night.”

Her eyes narrow and Sydney whips her head over to sniff at him. “Maybe you’ll have to fuck off because no one likes traitors, but some of us might actually end up hanging out for a bit.”

“What?”

She caught the bear unawares with that one, so it tells me social interaction is not normal for her, either. I find myself unable to avoid jumping in to help though I have no obligation to do so. “We might, indeed, little rebel.”

I might even look forward to it, even if I can never truly integrate with any of them because my only goal is getting the fuck out of this prison.