The keypad sparked, flickered, then cycled through codes so fast it turned into a flurry of green lights. The rune-lock waveredas the symbols rearranged themselves. The lock thunked, and the heavy door slid inward a few inches, freezing on a layer of ice that had crept into the track.
“Doors open. You’ve got a three-minute window before the system recognizes that the door has been opened,” Slater explained.
“Allow me,” Kyle said dryly from behind us and shoved the door the rest of the way open with little effort.
Jesse caught the edge with both hands, keeping it from slamming into the interior wall. “Be fucking careful.”
“Sorry.” Kyle ducked his head like he was embarrassed.
Sterile air rushed out, reeking of cold metal, antiseptic, and sharp undertones of fear.
We funneled inside.
Immediately, the facility lookedveryhuman and very much the same as the one I’d been locked up in. Long corridors were lined with glass observation windows and metal doors. Bright overhead lights buzzed faintly with electricity. The walls were painted bright white. Security cameras were perched in every corner.
“Primary squads split here,” Jesper ordered, voice tight. “Enforcers need to focus on level one and two: control the fight and keep their attention topside. Spies and magical specialists, come with me to the sublevel. Torture experts and healers float where needed. Everyone else, you know your assignments.”
Thiswas the part where the squads split.
The rest of the graduates and the new fourth-years assumed their roles and followed his orders. Squad A, our squad, and other spies and magical specialists followed him.
I stuck close to Jesper as we moved deeper, Dimitri, Zuko, and Koa at my back, Cassie and Bradley behind us. Kane, Drecken, and Sylver flanked our rear, their magic and toolsalready crackling, ready to suppress and counter anything the humans threw at us.
A sliding wall panel hissed open ahead, and a team of humans spilled out. Rifle fire flashed, spells popped, and the air filled with the metallic tang of projectiles and the eerie distortion of tech-augmented magic.
“Get down!”Jesper snapped.
Koa, Tibby, and Jesse’s phoenix flames surged up in front of us, forming a shield that sparked as bullets hit and melted before dripping onto the ground.
I slipped flat against the corridor wall and moved along it. A bullet whined past my ear, and Dimitri caught it before throwing it back and hitting a human square in the forehead.
Cassie’s and Bradley’s pheromones hit the air at the same time in a warm, dizzying wave that shoved confusion and desire into every human’s chest. Their aims faltered, eyes going glassy as they turned toward the demons, half against their will, attraction and panic warring behind their irises.
“Let’s not waste time with them.” Drecken sighed, snapping his fingers.
Every single human turned to nothing, their armor and equipment dropping to the floor with thuds.
“I forgot that we have a supercharged warlock with us,” Tibby muttered under his breath.
Drecken started walking, and Jesper moved with him.
We followed.
“Left corridor is cleared,” Lysa informed us. “Heads up: they’re panicking upstairs. I’m seeing security protocols going into action. The containment ward is holding, though.”
“Good,” I muttered, stepping over a human’s armor. “Let them panic.”
The architecture changed as we descended. Less glass, more concrete. The walls grew rougher, and the lighting turned harsher. It felt less like a hospital and more like a prison.
“Sublevel coming up,” Lysa directed. “You’re close to the holding block. I’m seeing live vital feeds on at least thirty-eight supernaturals. Mostly sedated. Tourmalyke saturation is dangerously high in some cells.”
Rage made my vision pulse red.
“Lysa, route all available squads to extraction priority,” Jesper ordered. “Everyone else shifts to evacuation and cover.”
“Copy that,” she said.
We turned another corner into the cell block.
