‘Now everyone will clear out and we can have a proper look.’
‘And if theydon’t?’
‘Do you have a better idea?’
‘Yeah, the wait-until-we-know-what-we’re-working-with idea.’
‘I’ve always admired your habit of scowling and thinking yourself into a knot. However, we’ve been waiting for six months, it’s time to get a move on.’
Kyan smothered more words as they waited for the rooms to clear out. Thankfully, those inside headed through the corridor that veered to the left. Techs, people in lab coats. But no prisoners.
‘What do you feel, Luca?’ Kyan asked.
‘There are more rooms beyond the guarded door. Not lit. Cold. Likely cells.’ His eyes were unfocused and white-blue.
Kyan couldn’t hear anything in there, which meant it was soundproofed.
‘But that one is the lab.’ Luca pointed to the right, confirming Callum’s glance.
‘All right, just keep your eyes down.’
Callum shoved open the heavy door and strode inside.
Kyan hadn’t wanted to believe it until they came inside, but the guard waiting at the end of the hallway was an Empyreal.
He’d hoped this operation was a corruption that wouldn’t sully the Empyrean desire to protect, or the cleaner line of morality their powers offered. But this – this wasn’t moral. He couldn’t think of a single goddamn way this didn’t go against everything an Empyreal stood for.
The guard didn’t seem surprised to see two other Empyreals walking a supernatural up.
‘What’s with the damn noise? There a fire?’ Callum asked. He jerked a thumb at Luca. ‘What are we to do with this one? Put him with the others?’
It was a risk, asking a question like that. One that had Kyan’s stomach tightening, even if he kept his pulse calm and his breathing steady.
The guard had a strange air about him: cool and mildly suspicious, but also a little dead in the eyes.
Kyan felt the shift as Callum approached the other Empyreal. The sheer power radiating off his friend was near ageless, intense. He kept it locked away and used his charm to make him seem like less of a threat. But it was always there.
Kyan had never seen Callum completely unleashed, not in years of training, not in years of hunts. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what would unleash him.
‘Any moment you see us, you’ll forget us immediately,’Callum began. His tone wasn’t just lower and smoother, it hummed with lazy power. Only the most powerful Empyreals could Influence other Empyreals. If this hadn’t been in their arsenal, Kyan wasn’t sure they’d have made it into this corridor. ‘We aren’t threats, and if anyone asks, no one was down here.Are there any prisoners?’
The Empyreal’s eyes had completely glazed over. ‘Yes, several.’
‘All mutated?’
‘I don’t know the extent of their procedures.’
Fuck. It was real. There wasmore.
‘How long do we have until someone comes to investigate?’
‘Ten minutes, maybe.’
‘If anyone tries to come in, stop them. There’s a fire in the lab.’
The Empyreal nodded.
‘Let’s go,’ Callum ordered Kyan.
