Page 38

F oxx sat there on the floor in their hotel room with Harlow and Gavin, all of them staring at Gavin’s laptop, which was laid flat on the floor. On the screen was a slowly turning, 3D version of a tall, rectangular office building. A building that was not only smack dab in the middle of the city of Torney Bends, but also practically pressed against the businesses on either side of it. As in, barely an inch between. Oh, and if all that wasn’t horrible enough, the lower office space was apparently a 24-hour clinic.

“How in the fuck are we going to do this quietly?” Foxx groaned, before asking Gavin, “Are you sure that clinic has nothing to do with the lab?”

The dragon sighed. “Yep, completely unrelated and fully legal.”

“Well, they are keeping paranormals in the building, so there has to be soundproofing somewhere,” Harlow pointed out.

The dragon nodded. “No doubt about that, but records show they only bought enough to cover two of the five floors they own.”

Foxx rubbed his temples, trying to will away the headache that was forming. “So, it’s likely only been installed on the floor they use to experiment on the paranormals, and the one they keep them imprisoned on.”

“Pretty much. But that isn’t going to be our only problem. I’ve been monitoring this specific place as we got closer, and noticed a pattern.”

Gavin tapped the screen and quickly brought up some shitty black and white camera feed that showed six different rooms, which were clearly cells.

In those cells…were paranormals, who were basically losing their shit, to put it mildly. Three were vampires, their faces each twisted in snarls. Spittle was flying from their mouths, and they were tearing into everything they could get their hands on, including themselves. He could see jagged cuts on their arms and legs, having shredded through their clothes to claw at their skin.

The other three were werewolves, who were also violently destroying everything. Though it was harder to tell if they were hurting themselves due to their fur, and the fact the videos were pixelated trash.

Harlow clucked his tongue. “We knew they were drugging them. How are these six different? Or a better question is, I guess, how long have they been like that?”

“Since I started watching. I don’t know what they gave them, but I can tell you now, these six will not come willingly, or quietly. I don’t think they will be mentally there enough to realize we are trying to help them. To add on, while whatever drug they’ve been given hasn’t killed them yet, half the time they look sick. They are either being violent or violently throwing up.”

Foxx took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Let me see if I have this straight. We have to quickly kill all of the humans on floors two through six, with the hope they don’t try to inject us with who knows what. Their numbers come in at around one hundred and thirty to a hundred and forty people. Followed by us rescuing every paranormal, whose numbers sat at thirty-eight, at last check, while also attempting to restrain or put down anyone infected, if we can’t.

“After which, we have to get the, hopefully still living, thirty-plus paranormals out of the building without notice. Which may all be doable if it wasn’t for the fact that we have to do it without alerting anyone outside, or in the bloody fucking 24-hour clinic that makes up the first and ground floor of the building. A building, mind you, that we need to set on fire, but possibly can’t, as there is a whole ass clinic full of people in the way, on top of the buildings nearby basically trying to kiss each other with how bloody close they are! ”

“Yep, that pretty much sums up how fucked we are,” Gavin said with a hum.

Harlow sighed. “Foxx, I get that you want to save the paranormals, but…”

“We are saving the paranormals! At least, all that we can. If they fight us, we restrain them. There is a Guild in the next city over. It’s only about fifteen minutes away, so we can drop their asses off there.”

“Not that I don’t love the idea of dropping in and pissing in Day Lancaster’s Coco Puffs, answer me this, Foxx. How the fuck are we going to get extremely hostile paranormal creatures out of a building, surrounded by other buildings, without being noticed, hm? Even worse, what if whatever they have is contagious? And back to the trying not to be noticed thing… It really will be hard to sneak out with the building on fire, you know, after we blow it up?”

Foxx huffed. “First of all, why do you want to piss in the local Guild Director’s Coco Puffs? Second, we will figure it out! Third, that is a risk we are going to have to take. And fourth, perhaps blowing it up was a bad idea. The other buildings are really close…and there's people…”

“Do you have a better way to get rid of over a hundred bodies, along with all the blood and evidence that will be left behind on those five floors?” Harlow asked with a brow raised.

“No, but?—”

“At this point, we are likely going to have to sneak in, and one by one, as silently as possible, murder everyone on the floors without soundproofing. That’s three floors, with so many chances that someone will notice something and end up alerting the people below.” Harlow grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting go. “Foxx, I know you want to save everyone you can, but we’re already taking a lot of risks here, and we really don’t need to add more.”

“I know it’s risky. But…maybe if we…” He trailed off, biting his lip as he tried to think over the best plan of action. “Maybe if we start a fire on the top floor after we kill everyone, it could be enough to get the people in the clinic out, and cause evacuations of anyone in the nearby buildings. ”

“That could work,” Gavin mused. “A fire would be enough to get people out, and if we make it strong enough to be noticed, the other buildings would evacuate like you said.”

“The keyword being noticed , which doesn’t help us get the paranormals out. Because we would need the people in the clinic out of the way to do it, but the fire would cause all sorts of eyes to turn our way. To be honest, our chances wouldn’t be good.” Harlow pursed his lips. “However, after we’ve managed to kill everyone, instead of setting the building on fire right away, we could just have Gavin destroy the bodies and evidence first. And then try to quietly take the rescued paranormals out by the fire escape at the back.”

Foxx eyed the fire escape stairwell at the back of the building when Gavin brought it back up. “It…could work.”

The dhampir grimaced. “It…could, but the risks are still there, and are pretty high. Because on top of how loud we’d be, and how hard it would be to move people that are possibly struggling and violent, along with those that are injured, out and down the metal stairs, there is also the issue of others coming around the building and spotting us. Most would likely come around to look because of the noise.

“Not to mention, once we have everyone out, we then need to move them…again, without being noticed. But let’s say we managed to do that, and then Gavin finally sets the main fire, as he does need to do that before we leave. The next task would be trying to get the paranormals somewhere safe before the fire trucks came, or again, anyone notices us.

“To make matters worse, unlike the last four buildings we burned down, it’s going to be harder to explain why those five floors were void of people. Especially as those in the clinic below likely saw the workers come in before the fire even happened…”

Gavin stretched and sighed. “Yeah, unless someone can convince those workers that no one came into the offices above them tonight…the aftermath is going to make the papers. And they will likely test shit for remains, so… I mean, they won’t be able to prove anything, at least?”

Harlow shrugged. “True enough. It’ll bring a media storm, but we’d still likely never get caught. ”

“You and I could try to mind control them all. Replacing the memories they had of people coming in to work, while also instructing them to leave?”

Though, while Harlow could get those resistant to Foxx’s ability, he wasn’t sure how well it would hold. Harlow was just too inexperienced. Simple mind control was one thing, but changing or rather erasing memories was something else entirely, and usually required more skill to make it last.

The dhampir’s brow rose at that. “As inexperienced as I am, even I know that won’t be as easy as thinking a thought at someone.”

“You aren’t wrong. It likely wouldn’t stick for you. Or if it did, it wouldn’t last for long. Regardless, there is no getting past how risky everything would be. All it would take is one single minuscule thing messing up for the whole plan to collapse.” He wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, if we could just manage to get in and out without being seen or heard…”

Foxx trailed off, his eyes going wide as he realized something. “Maverick took Iggy without ever being seen or heard by Oceana, his vampire partner, who was standing mere feet away!”

Harlow snorted. “That would be one way to do it…”

“Are you two suggesting we find a…witch?” Gavin asked. “Don’t your kind usually hate them? Well, at least, Foxx’s kind.”

Foxx smiled as the idea formed more firmly in his head. It was just perfect! And a witch would likely know how to solve the whole clinic issue, along with the people remembering that the office above hadn’t been empty.

“I don’t hate them all! I even have a witch friend, who I am cultivating budding friendships with coven-wise. We have witchy baking fun time together!” He winced. “I mean, I’ve only made it one time. The first time I was invited, I ended up being kidnapped. And then, the time I did make it, I was interrupted by a case. Then after that, I couldn’t go because of Harlow’s change, and all the people trying to murder us, but eventually, I’ll go to another one and stay the whole time!”

“How exactly is Sephira going to help us here?” Harlow drawled, sounding way too amused to him, even if his face was blank .

“Well, unlike you, she has friends, and can likely direct me to someone in the area that can help us without asking questions.”

The dhampir rolled his eyes as Gavin snickered. Ignoring the two men, he pulled out his phone and called Sephira.

She answered on the first ring. “ How are you holding up, my friend ?”

He pursed his lips into a pout, and sniffling, he said with a sigh, “I’m okay.”

“ Aww, I’m sorry, hun. My heart breaks for you. Know this…even in my many years, the only thing I’ve found that helps heal the pain of loss is time…and sometimes a little bloodshed. Which I believe is why you are calling .” The last part was spoken differently, as if it was known rather than a question.

“Well…about that…”