Chapter 71
Xander
The Devi pack remain in the tree line while Savage and I sprint to the far warehouse, following the translucent, astral form of Raquel. Scythe and Lyle make for the central warehouse that Ghoul is presently using to host his standoff with Aurelia. I have a nasty suspicion as to how the wolf anim ended up here, but we’ll need to analyse that later.
I have to tell myself that Aurelia will be okay, because the urge to fly up there and tear out the throat of that scaled monster is far too strong. We can tell they are telepathing to each other, but whether they are taunts or flirtations, we may never know. Minnie promised me she will intervene if something goes untoward in the battle, and I fully believe she has the power to throw the bastard off the roof if she wants. This is the only thing that allows me to have patience as we infiltrate warehouse one.
“Cameras?”Savage chimes in my head.
“Down.”I’d already sent the electronics scrambling the moment the dome had dissolved. Mace has spent a lot of blood money on this place, and expensive warehouses rely on electronics. Blow those out, and they revert to backup generators. Blow the backup generators, and they revert tothe tertiary generators. Blow out the tertiary generators, and everything reverts to manual, as they do now. The fire doors slam open of their own accord, and Raquel frantically gestures us inside. I turn the power back on to avoid suspicion, leaving only the cameras scrambled. Whoever is inside will chalk it up to the fighting basilisks.
“This better not be a trap,”I mutter to them both. “There better not be some serpent wolf hybrid experiment in here or something.”
Raquel runs on ahead of us, passing right through me as they do—an uncomfortable, shivering sensation—before they slow down.“Keep quiet!”
Savage glances over his shoulder to make a confused face as we stride after the wolf anim into the dark corridor. We take one flight of metal stairs and then another, coming out into a well-lit corridor lined with glass. Raquel presses a finger to their lips and points into the first window. Multiple voices sound from below us, one of them familiar. Raquel crouches down and proceeds to crawl on all fours. Savage and I copy them, crawling under the windows to peek through to the warehouse below.
Charlotte fucking Naga stands with a baseball cap and a whistle in the centre of a row of firm blue gym mats while children run around her with very real military-grade rifles. I swear under my breath.
“Is this a school?” Savage whispers.
“They’re running d-drills,” Raquel replies. “They have real g-guns. But look o-over to the side.” I follow Raquel’s tattooed, transparent finger to the far right of the gym where a smaller group of teenagers, barely of mating mark age, hold dark, translucent serpents in their hands.
“Why do they have tiny snakes?” Savage asks. But my magical eyes see they’re not physical snakes at all. If I were a religious beast, I would have crossed myself.
“This can’t be happening,” I mutter. “How did they even learn to do this?”
Raquel’s wide-eyed look confirms it to be true. “I thought that t-type of thing was a m-myth.”
“It’s the darkest sort of magic,” I say. “Of course they’d be using it now. But for children?—”
“These arehatchlings,” Savage whispers. “We can’t kill them.”
Raquel presses a finger to their lips before gesturing for us to head back down. Dutifully, we follow. I want to get out of this place straight away, and so does Savage. Mace is using child soldiers. I shouldn’t be surprised but I fucking am. There are supposed to be rules in warfare, but I guess anything goes in Serpent Court now.
Savage can’t hold it together any longer, and when we get back down to the dark corridor that leads outside, he turns around to Raquel. “Why didn’t you fly back to us?” he asks, clutching at his hair. “We were so worried, Raquel!”
Raquel rubs their arm uncharacteristically. “A-about that…” A deep rumbling growl sounds from further up the corridor. Four wolves prowl out, teeth bared, saliva dripping down open maws. “T-turns out,” Raquel says awkwardly, “I’m regus of the pack that guards this p-place. The Silver T-tails. And they’re…attached to me now.”
I grab Savage around the waist and run.
Chapter 72
Aurelia
The basilisk lord leaps right off the warehouse roof, jaws wide open, fangs angled at me. Excited that he’s taken my bait, I release the shadows over my eyes, letting loose the blue lasers. My power hums through the air once again, hitting Ghoul square in the face. His head snaps back before he veers away, rolling off to the side, his landing making the very ground shake.
The serpents watching us from nearby flee in their vehicles, shouting into their comm devices, tires screeching. I cover my eyes once again as Ghoul recovers and rears up. We circle each other on the concrete, the harsh floodlights showing me every centimetre of burned flesh on that mighty snout.
“Does it hurt?” I ask. “When your mate wounds you?”
He doesn’t take his eyes off me, the faint red glow focused behind the shadows.“I would say you’re the expert on that. Must be a record. Four of the beasts you call mates tried to hurt you.”
I watch his every muscle as we continue our circle. “You really hate them?”
His tongue tastes the air, big and forked. I remember how it had licked me in Club Venom.“How could I not? They did nothing to deserve you.”
My mind reels in pure shock. Shadows shoot out from his body, and not expecting this movement, I fly to the side and they simply follow me. Bands of shadow wrap around my body, trapping my muscles. I writhe against them as Ghoul advances, the red of his eyes powering up.
