“Where’s Gabe?” I pushed Arthur’s arms out of the way, looking around the room for the vampire man. I didn’t want to waste time on pleasantries; I needed to know he was okay.
Arthur’s white eyebrows lifted. “Gabe? Is that the name of the vampire man who blew up our medical wing that we found half frozen outside?”
My heart jolted, then skipped a beat, as if it stopped entirely for a second. Gabe couldn’t have detonated the bomb, could he? My brain said no, but my heart had other assumptions. Could he have been convinced to do it in order to save me? “Where is he?”
Arthur held up one knobbly finger. “First things first. I need to know what you found when you followed the homing device we extracted from the Dog’s head.”
Jude cleared his throat before summarizing the events in the town and laboratory. He told Arthur that half the Dogs were temporarily disabled, and to reset them all, they needed to find the secondary deactivation site. Thankfully, he left out any mention of the unsettling clones of me—a detail I was grateful for.
Arthur shook his head with a snarl pulling at his upper lip. “I knew Salvatore had something to do with those damn Dogs. There’s no way he couldn’t have.”
“Not just the Dogs.” My voice was shaking. “He brought about this whole apocalypse.”
“And how do you feel about that?” His voice rose in pitch, the inflection hinting at a genuine interest in my response.
I lifted my head and locked eyes with the leader of the humans. “It’s completely irredeemable. When I first got here, Ithought humans were the enemy, but now I know you’re just like me—forced to be locked away by my father, hoping for one day to be free.” Arthur lingered on me for a few moments. I wasn’t sure if it was disbelief or if he was scanning me for verification. All night, I’d been thinking about what I was going to do next. The thought of returning to Elysium and pretending everything was fine was unbearable, but I also couldn’t stay in Silvertown living in shambles for the rest of my life. There was one thing I knew: I needed to end my father’s reign. “You have my complete cooperation to bring him down.”
“How will you do that? Do you want to see his end at your own hand?”
I shook my head. “I’d like to be clear: taking him down will not involve his death. I-I can’t let him die. We need to take away his power, that’s a fate worse than death in his eyes, and I know exactly how to do it.”
“I trust you.” Arthur clasped his fingers together. “I’ll leave you to handle your father, but in exchange, I need to get into his vault. We suspect the code for creating vampires is inside, along with blueprints for the Dogs. I want both of those secrets.”
“Deal.” I nodded. I knew if any of the humans got hold of my father, the likelihood of his survival would decrease. So I needed to do it myself.
“My goal is to bring vampires and humans together and rebuild a new world. I’m excited to start this new chapter with you and our mutual respect for one another.” Arthur put a reassuring arm across my shoulder. “Did you find a file showing where the second location is?”
Jude shrugged and shook his head. “There was no indication where, just a video stating there was another that is managed by his partner, Dante.”
“Ah, yes.” Arthur snapped his fingers and gestured to me. “When we first met, you asked if I knew anything about thisDante character. I discovered through my father’s old journals that sixty-five years ago, he was banished from Elysium and found his way underground, where we were living at the time. He assisted us in siphoning electricity from the vampires, which gained him trust from our leaders.”
I was hanging on every word Arthur was telling me. What happened to Dante? If he were still alive, he’d likely be just as dangerous as my dad.
“He helped create the Silvertown you see today, he aided us in harvesting crops, developing medicine, and assited in stealing technology from the vampires for our own use. As time went on, his own hubris was his downfall. He thought he could overthrow our democracy and, like Elysium, was dismissed from Silvertown as well. Any mention of him was removed from texts due to his mutinous attempt.”
“Did your father write where he went after his banishment?” The story didn’t surprise me. Dante also turned his back on my dad, which led to their falling out.
Arthur shook his head. “There has been no word from him since, and considering his age, it’s safe to assume he passed away many years ago. Nevertheless, his laboratory must still be operational, and we need to find a way to disable the Dogs to take down your father.”
I knew what I had to do and exhaled a long breath of air. “I can find out, just tell me where Gabe is.”
A flash crossed Arthur’s pupils, and he paused. He opened his mouth to answer several times, but then paused, a thoughtful frown etching itself onto his face as he reconsidered his response. Moments passed before his deep voice echoed off the walls. “Guards, please enter.”
The two guards, stiff in their identical uniforms, pivoted inward. Almost in perfect unison, they walked toward Arthurand crossed their chests dutifully with guns before stopping, their backs taut.
“I need you to bring Vincent to our most recent prisoner, who is being housed in a cell downstairs.”
Jude clasped my hand in his. “I’m going with him.”
Arthur placed his arm between us, severing the space we shared. “You are not. We have much more to discuss.”
“But Dad…”
“I will not hear anymore.” Arthur’s voice went stern. “If Vincent can find out where this laboratory is through the vampire man, let him do it alone.” With a flourish of his hand, he dismissed the guards, still locked on Jude.
As I stepped out the door, I turned my head back to see Jude staring at me. His face was etched with worry, as if he wanted to rush to my side and hold me forever. To put him at ease, I offered a reassuring smile. I can do this.
The two soldiers led me down a seemingly endless series of dimly lit hallways and echoing staircases, each step taking us deeper into the bowels of the mall. The familiar string lights hanging from the cracked walls cast a warm glow, reminding me of my first visit. Following the downward curve of the steps, we were deposited at the bottom, where a massive metal door stood, barring the way into the jail.
