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"Take him out back and see if Chase is here yet. Tel him this man is a high-security-risk prisoner for the Supe Community. He'l need to be treated and then locked up. Get your ass back here as soon as you can."
Vanzir tossed the coyote shifter over his shoulder and took off, backtracking the way we'd come.
I motioned to everybody else. "How are you? Tril ian, you going to be okay?"
Tril ian was rubbing his head but looked steady enough on his feet. "Yeah, got one hel of a headache, but I'l be fine."
"Then let's do this. Our Weres are in there, along with more guards." I headed toward the doors. No use giving the enemy more time to prepare than they already had.
"Should we wait for Vanzir?" Camil e asked.
"No, he'l catch up." I wasn't in the mood to take any more time with these bozos than we'd already spent.
We came to the double doors, and I stood back, motioning to Menol y. She grinned and with one massive blow, broke through both, slamming them open with a thunderous noise.
The room was massive, and I wasn't sure just what it had been used for, but giant meat hooks that lined the ceiling gave us a good clue. I stared at them, feeling slightly queasy as I noticed the dried blood dappling the rusty hooks.
There were hundreds, in lines, on what appeared to be some mechanized pul ey system. And then I saw something dangling from one of them a little ways down the line. It was a body, skinned from head to toe. Sucking in a deep breath, I turned, wanting to give myself another moment before I took a closer look . . . before I saw that it might be Saz or Doug or . . . even Amber.
The chamber was fil ed with old stainless steel carts and sinks and . . . near the back, cages. From where I was standing, I could see that at least three of the cages were occupied. And in front of those cages stood four more guards, waiting. We could take them out--even if they had their magical stun guns, we'd push through and exterminate them.
"You know, we can make this a lot simpler," Menol y said. "You guys head over there, away from the door and away from the cages." And within a blink, she was gone. We'd barely complied with her orders when she returned, carrying the box of--oh fucking hel .
"What are you doing with that?" I pointed to the dynamite.
"Making use of their stupidity. It appears to be stable, but they don't have to know that, and they don't have to know that I don't have the blasting caps."
She removed a stick, fiddled with it for a second, then started to walk toward the guards, the stick held clearly out in front of her so that they could see it.
"You've got til I get within throwing range to put down your weapons and move to the side. I'm a vampire--one stick of dynamite might tickle, but it's not going to destroy me. But you guys are a little more vulnerable. Think wisely; you only get one chance."
Her voice was so commanding, so clear and resolute, that I found myself backing up. I wasn't sure she actual y hadn't found a blasting cap. In fact, I noticed that Roz, Camil e, and Tril ian took a good step back, too.
The guards bought it hook, line, and sinker. Which was good for us. They dropped their bats--thank gods that only one of those stun guns had been around, and it probably cost a pretty penny--and backed away from the cages, hands up.
As Menol y hustled them into a group, she cal ed over her shoulder, "Go get Chase and some handcuffs. He can take this lot in, too."
Vanzir sped off, while Smoky went to help Menol y keep guard. Roz steeled himself and began to climb a nearby freestanding ladder up to the body on the hook. The rest of us headed over to the cages. Three were occupied. Two men, one woman--Amber. And she did, indeed, have a spirit seal around her neck. I found the keys and unlocked her cage, but she stopped me before I could open the other two.
"They're crazed. They aren't in their right minds, and they'd attack." She rubbed her arms as I unlocked the manacles around her wrists and ankles.
"Thank you. I'm Amber--"
"You're Luke's sister. We know. We've been searching for you. And ten to one, those two are hyped up on steroids?"
Amber nodded. "I thought that's what they might be giving them, but I don't know why. Only that . . ." Her voice cracked, and she glanced up at the body that Roz and Vanzir were wrestling down from the meat hook. "Oh, Great Wepwawet. I couldn't see what they were doing to him from my position in the cage. That's why he kept screaming and screaming."
A stricken look washed across her face, and she hung her head. "He was nice to me. He was one of them, but he was nice to me, and they caught him trying to loosen my manacles so that it wouldn't hurt so much. They beat him in front of me and dragged him off, laughing. An hour or so later, I heard him start to scream. Another hour . . . and nothing."
That answered my question. The two men stil caged were sure to be Doug and Saz. Paulo had been tortured and murdered. And if Amber was right, then we knew they treated their own just as badly as they treated their enemies. Which would seem to lead to dissent, unless the fear of repercussions won out.
Chase cal ed in his team, and they set about trying to deal with the drug-crazed werewolves and the flayed body. I told him we'd take Amber over to headquarters to get checked out and give her statement. He glanced at the pendant around her neck but said nothing, just nodded.
As we gathered our things--Roz picked up the magical stun gun and stowed it in his belt--and left the building, part of me wanted to see it blow sky high.
I had a fleeting desire to come back after everyone was gone and set off the dynamite, to put this place of misery and torture out of commission, but I knew that was better off left a fantasy. I wasn't a barbarian--yet. But I was rapidly learning just how far the enemy could push in order for me to turn into one.
CHAPTER 20
