The vampire leapt to his feet and turned in a circle. “I smell it now too.” His nose was still better than us girls.
Daniel turned back to the door and started slamming his body against it. Over and over again. Shaking the whole dang place, but it didn't break.
Deva rushed to it, touched the door, and shook her head. "Someone magicked the darn thing!"
It took me another thirty seconds or so before I smelled the smoke too. About the time Deva yelled that she smelled it, too. And as much as I'd hoped it had nothing to do with us, I was pretty sure someone had lit the building on fire.
"How do we get out?" Beth asked, her voice small and frightened.
Suddenly, we heard some squeaking. Beth's gaze shot up, and she stared at something on a box. "There's a mouse. He said he has a way out, but as big as we are, there's only one way for us." She pointed across the room. "Somewhere over there."
"There's a room!" Daniel said, gesturing toward the other end of the warehouse.
"Thank you!" Beth said with a wave. "Now, get out of here, before the fire!"
A few squeaks, and the mouse was gone.
The room, however, proved to lead to big bay doors that, I guessed, led to the outside. Bryan ran for the bay doors, but even with his added strength, they didn’t budge. At the same time, Daniel alternated with him, slamming into the door with his massive frame, then trying the handle. But no matter how hard he tried to, it wouldn't come open.
And now, smoke was beginning to fill the warehouse.
"It's okay," I said, almost to myself, but then spoke more loudly as my gaze ran over the building. "This place is made of medal. We'll be okay. The fire will burn out, and then we'll find a way out."
And that was the sum total of my abilities to calm everyone down. Beth shook her head, her eyes wide. “The problem won’t be the fire, Emma. It’ll be the smoke.”
The room, as tall as the ceilings were, really was starting to reek. And the ceiling was almost completely obscured by the smoke now. “Yeah,” I said lamely. “That may be true.”
“Come over here,” Bryan yelled, pointing to the bay doors. “We might be able to break through, but I think we can bend this metal if we work together, especially if there's a spell on the doors that prevents us from breaking them.”
"Genius!" Carol exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
We all hurried back to the bay doors, and between Daniel and Bryan, the two of them they managed to fold up a corner of the door. A corner just big enough to squeeze us all through.
I hoped.
We climbed out of the little hole one at a time, Bryan coming through last, then Daniel. As Daniel got back to his feet, he grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting too old for this.”
I laughed, staring at the burning building. I was pretty sureeveryonewas too old for this.
TWENTY-THREE
Emma
“What are you all doing here?”Bryan said once we’d all caught our breath. “Howare you here?”
“We’ve been investigating the death of Quillan,” I explained as Carol clutched Bryan’s arm. "Vance asked for help from the beginning, but then it got personal when they took you. I don't let anyone hurt my friends, not if I can help it."
She nodded and pecked a quick kiss on his cheek. “While we were looking into that, a vampire named Jeffrey picked a fight right in front of us. Daniel here scared him spitless and he confessed he knew your whereabouts.”
“I was doing the same thing,” he said. “When I was taken. Investigating Quill’s death. I hated that SOB, but I didn’t want to be blamed for killing him, either. The best way to avoid blame was finding the real killer.”
We moved toward the car, the four of us ladies piling into the back seat again so Bryan could sit up front. Carol probably would’ve rather sat in his lap, but that might’ve gotten us pulled over, so I didn’t suggest it.
“Did you find anything?” Deva asked as Daniel pulled us onto the highway toward town.
“Yeah.” Bryan turned to face us in the back. “Dreven took out a huge life insurance policy through his uncle.”
That didn’t exactly sound right. “Why would he take out a policy like that? Vampires don’t die.”
