AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They can’t be persuaded to join us?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Not a chance. They’re in the deep with the Night Guild.”
I frown. “There are two of them, right?”
She confirms with a nod.
It’s a good thing I’d brushed up on my battle magic a few months back when Rowan and I were dealing with the witch hunter. It’d come in handy with the hell hounds, too. “You get their attention. I’ll take care of the rest.”
We replace the head pieces of our suits and I pull the lower part up enough to not give me away, but I leave it unsnapped. Then I follow Tamsin as she leads the way back out of the elevator. I stop not far from the door and pretend to check on one of the demons. She walks a ways away from me, then suddenly screams for help. The other two come running, and I shimmy my arms out of my suit and pick them off easily with a quick sleeping spell. She gives me a thumbs up, then gestures for me to follow her.
We walk to the end of the first row of beds, and Tamsin stops at the last one. Her eyes tell me everything I need to know.
“Luciana?” I whisper.
Her skin is a deep orange color. Her lovely blonde hair is gone, replaced by a head covered in tiny spikes. Claws protrude from her fingertips, and though her eyes are closed, I catch flashes of them as they move rapidly beneath her eyelids. They’re a bright yellow.
Tamsin takes a deep breath, and a calm resolve washes over her. She’s about the most cool and collected person I’ve ever met. Makes sense for a doctor. “We can’t wheel all four beds, so we’ll need two people to a bed. These are the other three that I might still be able to save.” She points to the beds nearest to Luciana. Then her eyes rove over the other rows beyond us. “I wish I’d gotten here in time to save the others.”
“You did the best you could,” I say, resting a hand on her shoulder.
Tamsin gives all four a dose of neutralizer, then we unhook all of the monitor wires and lift Luciana onto the bed next to hers. We do the same with the other two, and each of us wheels a bed toward the elevator. Tamsin then fills a satchel with as many vials of the neutralizer meds as she can, and several capped syringes, and slings it over her shoulder. I stare at the elevator. Where is Ryder? It’s been at least fifteen minutes. He should have been back by now.
“Something’s wrong,” Tamsin says with a frown, as if reading my thoughts. “It shouldn’t have taken him this long.”
I worry my lower lip between my teeth, conflict raging through me. Every moment we spend here increases the chances that we’ll be caught. Especially now that Tamsin’s collar is broken, I’ve bespelled two of the staff, and we’re standing here with several patients outside the elevator.
Then the elevator makes a ding and begins to rise. Someone’s called it from the other side. I let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, he’s coming. Tell me what you know about the layout of this place. How do we get to the lifts that go down to the cove?”
“It’s at the opposite end of the hall above us,” Tamsin says, pointing her finger skyward. “The control room is right by the lifts. If we can just make it down that long hall without being seen…”
She drifts off, since we both know what happens if we’re seen.
I never would have imagined six months ago when I came to Costa Rica that I’d be busting my roommate-turned-demon out of a secret evil lab in the rainforest. And to think that I’d come here to get away from it all. Life really knows how to throw a good sucker punch. I take a deep breath and try to channel some of Tamsin’s calm.
The elevator stops at the bottom of the shaft, the light above the doors turns green, and the doors slide open. Ryder’s going to be in for a big surprise. A lot has happened during his trip to the supply room.
Except it’s not Ryder.
It’s two burly-looking wolf-men and a demon who I immediately recognize. Dante’s men.
They look just as surprised to see us standing right by the doors as we are to see them. I don’t ask questions. I just start firing balls of magic.
The wolf closest to me takes a hit to the shoulder and goes down like a baby. I’m aiming to stun, not kill, so he’s just taking a bit of a nap. Next to me, Tamsin shoves the two hospital beds out of the melee. Then she shimmers and disappears. I don’t have time to wonder where she went, I just keep firing.
A moment later the demon goes up in smoke as my vanquishing spell sends him on a little staycation back to Hell. That just leaves the final werewolf. Who is enormous. He’s seven feet tall at least, with a waist like a tree trunk and massive shoulders. My magic bounces off him like its nothing. He advances on me with a growl, and lifts one gigantic paw to rip off my head…
The air next to him shivers, and his onslaught comes to a sudden halt. His eyes cross and he stares at something in between them. A needle. I look behind me and see Tamsin standing a dozen feet away at one of the supply cabinets, hands out of her suit and outstretched. A shimmer of her magic hangs in the air between us.
The werewolf falls backward with a crash that shakes the ground.
“Bullseye,” I say with a smile. Why I’m smiling when I was nearly decapitated is just a strange side effect of my crazy new life.
Something falls out of the werewolf’s hand and makes a metallic ping sound as it hits the floor of the cavern. It bounces a couple times and then falls over. I walk over and pick it up. It’s a collar, just like Tamsin’s. A wave of nausea moves over me.
“They had one ready for me, too,” I whisper.
Tamsin shakes her head. “Let’s just get out of this nightmare.” A quiver runs over her, and she frowns. Then she grabs a few more needles pre-loaded with the coma-inducing neutralizer and sticks them in the pocket of her suit. “Ready?”
