“Let’s take pictures of it all so we can decode it at home. We don’t want them to know we were here so we can’t take the paper,” I say.
Anna pulls out her phone and uses her vampire speed to quickly take the pictures.
“Got it all,” Anna whispers, tucking her phone away. “Let’s go.”
I glance down at the documents once more before carefully returning them to their hiding place. With a soft click, the safe locks, sealing away the information we’ve just unearthed.
“Stay close,” Blaze orders, his voice strained as he listens for any signs of trouble. “We need to get out of here without drawing attention.”
“Agreed,” I say, feeling the weight of our discovery pressing down on me.
I follow Blaze’s lead as we navigate the maze of hallways and doors.
We hear footsteps pounding towards us down the hallway and freeze. We must have triggered some silent alarm.
“What do we do?” Anna asks, voice shaking.
Blaze pushes open the office next to us and heads straight for the window.
“We are fifteen floors up!” Anna whisper shouts.
“You and I can make the jump. Griffyn will use his wings. Let’s go.” Blaze doesn’t wait before breaking the glass and jumping.
I don’t let Anna hesitate, her fear is clear in our bond.
“Sorry, Vixen.” I toss her out the window and then follow.
The cold night air bites at my skin as we fall. My wings catch the air and I land next to both of them.
Anna smacks my arm so hard I know it will bruise. “You could have brought me down with your wings!”
“You need to get over that fear and know what you’re capable of.”
We make the trek away from the building and home.
Anna and Blaze tread carefully beside me, their faces etched with tension and determination. The journey back is a silent one, each of us lost in our thoughts, mulling over the implications of what we’ve discovered.
As we approach the house, Felix steps out onto the porch, his hazel-green eyes flicking between us with concern. “You made it back,” he breathes, relief washing over his features. “What went wrong?”
“Security but we handled it just fine,” Anna replies, her voice strained. “We found something. We need to show everyone.”
“Let’s head inside,” Rion suggests, holding the door open for us as Aksel joins him in the doorway.
Settling around the dining table, Anna pulls out her phone and starts to display the pictures we took. A hush falls over the room as each man leans in, studying the images intently.
“We need to break the code,” Aksel quickly determines.
Like that wasn’t obvious but of course, the Akshole is going to take credit for the idea.
“Agreed,” I say. “We need to decode this information, find out who else is involved, and we should have what we need to end them.”
“Let’s start by looking for patterns,” Rion suggests, his green eyes scanning the images. “There has to be a system to it all.”
We pore over the photographs for hours, our eyes growing bleary as we search for any hint of a code or pattern. Every so often, someone offers a suggestion or asks a question, but nothing comes of it.
As dawn approaches, I can feel the frustration mounting. We’ve been at this for hours, and yet, we’re no closer to deciphering the documents.
The room feels heavy with the weight of our shared frustration. I run my fingers through my hair which still looks perfect thanks to my incubus nature.
