Sweat dripped from every part of my body. Both Evie and I wore helmets and bulletproof vests— at Samael’s insistence. Evie crouched next to me as we both took in the long, gray building.
“I can barely move in this thing,” she griped.
“Same. But a bullet in the head or heart would really fuck up our dinner plans.”
“Ha. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone there.”
“Yeah. If we’d found it a little sooner, we might’ve been in luck. But they realized we were onto them and cleared out.”
Evie hauled herself up to her feet.
My lips twitched and she smirked back at me. “You look just as stupid.”
On the other side of Evie, Bael sighed. “Whole lotta nothin’ out here.”
I refused to let everyone else’s piss-poor moods rub off on me. This was it. We were finally going to get some answers.
I sent Bael a sunny smile. “Aren’t you glad you guys have us to bring you along on all our fun adventures?”
He sent me a sour look. “Nothing fun about it. There’s nothing living in there, which means I don’t get to kill anyone.”
Okay then.
Vas winked at me from where he leaned against the vans we’d taken from the small airfield nearby. As always, he looked completely relaxed, his dreamy eyes at half-mast while he basked in the sun like a cat.
The tiny diamonds glinted in my sister’s ears as she moved her head. She caught me looking.
“You’re wearing them,” I murmured.
She nodded. “I was wearing them the night of the fire too. They were annoying me. Itching, burning. I’d half-convinced myself I was having an allergic reaction. Then I started thinking about Mom. I was so pissed off, I decided Liam would be a great distraction.”
She smiled slightly at the look on my face. “Yeah. I think they might’ve helped save my life.”
We were both silent for a while, a few of Samael’s demons surrounded us, talking shit— demon style.
Finally, Samael returned, giving us a nod.
“I sense no signs of life.”
I sighed. “Let’s see what we find anyway.”
The entrance reminded me of the morgue, with its long counter and seating area. But instead of swinging doors, there was just one locked door with a keypad next to it.
Steve stepped forward with some kind of scanner. He worked his magic on the keypad and, a few minutes later, the door swung open.
More papers fluttering on the ground. Samael nodded at one of the demons and he turned, ordering some of the others to collect everything they could.
“We scared them enough that they fled like little bitches,” Evie murmured. “I guess I should take some comfort in that.”
“That’s the spirit.”
I shivered as we stepped into the corridor. Concrete walls caged us in on either side, and the first door was open. I peered inside and went still.
Measuring about six by six, it was a stone box. On the right and left wall, rings were attached every two feet or so. One of them had a chain dangling from it, the metal rusty with blood. Some kind of holding cell.
Evie stepped up next to me, staring around at the small space. She looked half-sick, but she turned, her footsteps echoing as she walked further down the corridor.
I glanced over my shoulder at Samael.
