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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. “ All in 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.

“Three,” was all Aidan told her as he turned back, heading in the direction he’d heard footsteps approaching. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed Rae had her back to him, the gun aimed and ready, covering them from behind.

Stepping into the line of fire wasn’t ideal. It would take more than a few bullets to take him out. A well-aimed shot could see him out of action for several hours, but everything about this operation so far had been sloppy, and he highly doubted the approaching guards were well-trained.

The first of them came closer, and Aidan slammed the Fae’s hand against the wall.

His weapon fell to the floor as Aidan’s fist connected with his face.

The guard went down, and Aidan snatched up the gun, rounded the corner, and pulled the trigger, releasing a bullet into each of the two guards before they could get any rounds out.

Shots fired behind him, but Aidan didn’t have time to check on Rae.

Three more guards rushed into the corridor, and he picked them off one by one.

He dropped his weapon to replace it with another as more footsteps sounded up ahead.

More humans, and Aidan pulled back to the bend in the corridor as he fired at them, some retreating the moment they set eyes on him.

A wise decision, but they wouldn’t get far.

A bullet grazed his arm; the guard who’d been about to fire at him slumped to the floor. Aidan turned to see Rae, two hands on her weapon, the case still tucked under her arm, head cocked to one side like she was bored. Aidan pushed past her, taking in the bodies spread out before him.

Headshots, every single one.

He glanced at the wound on his arm and back to her. The human hadn’t so much as broken a sweat.

Rae shrugged, the corner of her mouth twitching. “The case slipped.” She grabbed a gun from the nearest corpse, checking the safety and the magazine before sliding it into the back of her waistband.

Aidan shook his head and gestured for her to lead the way. “Ladies first.”

She swiped a wayward strand of hair from her face. “Age before beauty.”

“How old are you, Farren?”

“For asking, Vale, you can guess.”

He glanced down at her as they stood on either side of the door the guards had entered through.

Her pale cheeks were flushed pink, but for the most part, the human almost seemed like she was enjoying herself.

She held herself like a dancer, and though she’d spelled her eyes, there was something in them that told him Rae had seen more than most had in Demesia.

“Twenty-seven.” There was no sound from the next room, but he waited for her answer.

“Damn,” Rae said under her breath. “Is that some weird Vampire trick I don’t know about?

Twenty-eight.” She toed her boot against a metal grate on the floor.

“You? Humans like to make up stories. The oldest I heard was eight hundred.” The human grinned at him, her face lighting up, a blue curl falling over one of her eyes.

Aidan opened the door, glancing left and right. Metal gurneys, medical equipment, cabinets, the same filthy walls, no windows. Two doors on the opposite side of the room. “One hundred and eighty-seven. Which door?”

“A baby Vamp.” Rae blew out a breath. “Did not expect that. Left. He was in the next room if they haven’t moved him.”

“Friend of yours?”

“No one’s a friend in Demesia.”

Wasn’t that the truth. But that was good. It would make what came next a whole lot faster if she wasn’t begging for someone else’s life, a life he had no intention of sparing.

Aidan paused by the door Rae had indicated, one hand resting on the metal as he listened. Only one heartbeat sounded within and the door was locked. He jerked his chin at the door, waiting for Rae to unlock it with her spell.

“Not even a please?” Her lip was bleeding again, the harsh lights above them reflecting on the bead forming on her full bottom lip.

As if she’d tracked his attention, she licked it away.

For a second, he wondered what she looked like under all the eye makeup, what her true eye colour was, her hair, but he disregarded the thoughts just as quickly as they came.

“Let’s just get this over with,” he told her in a tone he usually reserved for his council members.

“I hope you’ll at least have the decency to thank me five minutes from now.” Rae shook her head, her hand over the lock, muttering the spell under her breath.

Aidan wondered if she knew how fragile the human mind was. How easily it could break. She’d led him to the Witch; he didn’t need her anymore, but then the door clicked open, and she stood aside to let him in first.

The single occupant shot to his feet the moment Aidan entered. “Please, don’t hurt me.”

“Calder?” Rae asked, slipping past Aidan into the prisoner’s room.

He’d been afforded more comforts than most: a bed with blankets, a partitioned area for a toilet, a sink, and a narrow shelf of books above the bed.

But the door had been locked, the room had no windows, and the air was stale. A prison was a prison.

Calder nodded, his lips pressed tightly together.

The Witch ran a shaky hand through his blond curls, his eyes darting back and forth between them.

Witches were the most secretive of the Orders; an imprisoned Witch had Torrin’s name all over it.

Any opportunity to imitate the Vampires’ reign.

Witches had abilities of their own that Vampires had been abusing for years; it was only a matter of time before the Fae did too.

“How does this work?” Aidan asked, circling Calder, his eyes on Rae.

“As far as I know, either he breaks the syphon willingly, or it breaks upon death.” Her attention was on Calder, eyes roving over the mess the Witch was in.

His clothes were dishevelled and dirty, his face was gaunt, hair greasy.

Something seemed to wash over Rae’s expression for a moment—sympathy, Aidan thought—but then she shut it down.

He stopped circling. “Will you give it freely?” he asked the Witch.

Calder swallowed. “I… I can’t.”

Aidan made a point of glancing around the room. “No one is holding a gun to your head, Witch.”

“Please,” Calder whispered. He clutched a hand to his chest, fingers tightening into his shirt.

Aidan’s attention fell to the string of a necklace peeking out of Calder’s tunic, the pendant under the Witch’s fingers.

It was said Witches could call power from objects, and though Aidan wanted to test that rumour, he was out of patience.

His fingers closed around Calder’s throat and the Witch gasped for breath, even as Rae screamed at Aidan to stop.

The prisoner had made his decision. And he’d chosen wrong.

Rae yanked at Aidan’s arm, but he only squeezed tighter.

A second more, and the Witch stopped struggling, Aidan’s Provident abilities slamming back into him with the ferocity of a breaking wave.

He shoved the dead Witch away and flexed his powers over the facility, feeling out for every mind within it.

“You’re everything they say you are,” Rae breathed quietly beside him.

He turned to face her and took in her furrowed expression as she stared at Calder.

Aidan followed her gaze to the dead Witch at their feet, hand still clutched around the pendant at his chest. “He was complicit.”

“I’m sure you don’t need any more of my help to make your way out of here.

” Rae threw him the case. “Come find me at Silver Star Customs when you know what those are and you’re ready to make good on your end of our bargain.

Western Quarter.” She didn’t wait for his response, taking one last look at the dead Witch, and then slipped out of the door.

Find her, she’d said, because she knew how to get his missing magic back.

His other magic. Or so she claimed. Aidan considered invading her mind, taking everything he needed, and ending this right there and then, but she had got him this far, and ending her life now felt too much like something his uncle might have done.

Rae had taken out at least half a dozen Orders and humans since Rush, so why the life of a single Witch mattered to her, Aidan couldn’t be certain.

He unlatched the case, opening it carefully.

Four glass vials, two different colours that she’d carried through the entire facility so that they could get some answers.

I’ll need your money, your resources… we both want to get to the bottom of this. I stand to lose as much as you do.

Aidan sealed the case, an unpleasant feeling in his chest. He reached out with his Provident abilities, clearing a path for Rae out of the facility, though he knew she didn’t need it.

With a shake of his head, he tucked the case under his arm and made good on his earlier decision.

First, he was going to get some answers, and then he was going to kill every last living thing in this damn place.