Rafa and I hang back about fifteen feet, while Collin presses his cheek against the corporate-gray laminate.
“So… is she in there?” I whisper.
“Yes!” he says, beaming. “Emma is here and very much alive. With my help and Rafa’s picks, you should be able to get through the lock of the cell holding her in under twenty minutes, and we’ve easily got an hour of sunlight left!”
“Any vamps?”
Another big smile. “Nope!”
Rafa can’t hear the Avatar’s responses, but he’s close enough to hear my questions, so he adds, “How about human guards? Any weapons?”
Collin’s voice sounds a lot more glib than before, and his eyes aren’t 100% focused. It’s like he’s straining a bit. The book might still be affecting him.
“Really concentrate,” I say to him under my breath.
He glances over to me with a bright expression just ashe’s about to open his mouth to answer Rafa’s question. My urgent glare stops him. He nods, sobering, and after a steadying breath, he bites his lower lip with concentration and brings his ear to the door. Then his eyes snap open.
“Jaysus!”
“What?” I mutter, trying my best to subvocalize.
“She’snotalone. There are others.”
“Guards?” I ask.
Collin gives his head a shake. “I’m not sure… They’re human. No gunpowder, but they all smell tense… Multiple heartbeats, pulse rates are elevated… At least half a dozen…”
Crap. We’ve been going back and forth out here, and whoever’s on the other side could have easily heard. I lean in quickly to Rafa and hiss out, “The book is still messing with them. They say no vamps or guns, but there are others, and the spirits can’t rule out their being human guards. Could be six or more.”
I don’t need to tell Rafa how compromised we might be and he wastes no time. He holsters his shotgun and smoothly removes his Taser from his belt. Then he flicks a gesture at me to open the door for him. As soon as my hand is on the handle, he’s crouched and ready to spring inside.
He gives me a sharp nod. I turn the handle and whip the door open as fast as I can.
He takes a step forward, then freezes in place. “Christ.”
Both the Monster Hunter and the room are blocked by the door—I just see his feet under the gap—so I quickly poke my head over the edge.
It’s more than twice as large as the break room at thetop of the hall. The floor is bare concrete, as are the walls and the ceiling slab. Two high-backed wooden chairs are in the center. Several cramped cells line the sides of the room, secured to all visible surfaces with heavy steel plating. Their thick iron bars immediately make me think of a dungeon.
Emma is in the cell opposite us, her solid form curled up on a dirty cot, her back against the wall, her knees wrapped with her arms. Just as Collin said, she’s alive—and awake. Her wide eyes blink at us with fear.
But she’s not alone. There are at least a dozen other kids here, also terrified.
And all are locked in separate cages.
24
They’reall teens—eight boys and five girls, including Emma. Magic doesn’t start to show in humans until puberty, and the younger they are, the easier it would be to manipulate them. Almost half look middle-school aged, and all look rough. Their skin is dirty, with lots of cuts and scrapes. Clothing torn and soiled. There are angry purple bruises on their necks.
Vampire bites. They’ve been fed on.
Several of them come up to the bars of their cells with eyes like saucers, whites shining red in the beam of Rafa’s flashlight. Their faces are etched with fear and desolation, their breath hitching.
The room stinks of stale urine.
I glance over at Rafa, who just stares, the color drained from his face, lips parted. But he still doesn’t look as horrified as Collin.
“I-I’m sorry, Alvin,” he mumbles out, squeezing the tips of his own fingers white in front of his stomach. “When we were planning this, I didn’t think to— I mean, it didn’t occur to me that, eh?—!”
