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Because stretched across the cavern floor, lying on high-tech hospital beds, are row upon row of unconscious demons. Dozens and dozens of them. They’re hooked up to cords with fancy monitor screens next to each. Staff in suits like ours walk among them, just a handful to the hundred or so bodies I can see.
“Dear goddess,” I murmur.
Ryder looks down at me, his face furrowed. He has a swirl of emotions on his face: anger, sorrow, panic. “We’ve stumbled into something much bigger than I anticipated, little witch.”
“You and me both.”
At that moment, one of the staff walks up to us. “You two must be the afternoon shift,” she says.
I can tell from the aura coming off her that she’s a witch. From what I can see of her through the window in her suit, she’s got pale skin and blonde hair. She looks like a perfectly ordinary person, not an evil genius.
“Yes,” Ryder says. “Yes, we are.”
“You can start on the back row over there.” She points to the far side of the cavern. “You know the drill—if anyone has a reading of 200 or greater, or their monitor is blinking red, give them a shot of neutralizer.”
We turn to do as instructed, but she reaches out and grabs Ryder’s arm. “Actually, I need you to refill supplies first. Head back up to the supply room and get three cases of neutralizer, and two cases of syringes.”
Ryder darts his eyes over to me but does as he’s told. My heart races in my chest. I can survive a few minutes alone. The elevator door closes behind him and I walk to the back of the cavern. It’s so sweltering that I’m already sweating profusely, even with my suit on. I don’t know how anyone that’s not a demon can stand being down here for long.
But the way bigger question is: what on earth is going on here?
When I’d first seen the effects of drix in the nightclub, I hadn’t been able to wrap my head around why someone would want to turn people into demons. But seeing this place…it’s so beyond anything I could have imagined. Adrenaline pulses through my veins as I walk past all the rows of hospital beds, all the comatose demons.
I reach the final row and I turn and begin to walk along it. I’m not looking at the monitors as the blonde witch told me. I’m wondering how I’m going to find Luciana. I know she wouldn’t have willingly taken drix. Is she even here at this facility at all, or have I been fooling myself? This is not the kind of operation someone can stumble upon and live to tell the tale. What if my friend has been dead this whole time, her body in a ditch because she saw something she shouldn’t have?
The bodies I’m passing all used to be normal people, too. Someone else’s friend or family member. How many people are out looking for their Luciana like I am? I shiver at the horror of it. The demons here have no human features remaining. Their skin is red or purple or leathery. They have horns and tusks and wings and claws. Some have snouts like a pig or beaks like a bird. None of them are recognizable as ever having been human at all.
My knees buckle for a moment as a wave of defeat moves through me. How can we possibly win here?
I reach the end of the row and turn back. My mind goes through options as I begin to actually check monitors this time. They stand on metal poles to the left of each bed, next to a tray table with medicine and syringes. Might as well do something while I wait for Ryder to return. I find a monitor that reads 202 and notice that the color is dark orange, close to red. With hands that tremble a little, I lift the vial of medicine and the syringe on the tray table next to the bed. How much am I supposed to give? And where do I inject it?
The number on the monitor jumps to 210 and begins to blink red. Shit! I stab the needle into the rubber cover of the bottle and draw up a whole syringe of liquid. Why can’t they just keep this stuff on an IV drip if it’s so important? I stare at the demon, trying to figure out where to inject it.
It’s at that moment the demon sits bolt upright and lunges for my throat.
