Page 25 of Rescued

The inside of the house looked even more like a castle. There was a huge vaulted entryway, paneled and hung with artwork. The floor was knotty pine, the boards at least a foot wide, and the soaring ceiling was crisscrossed with wooden beams.

Sometimes Jackson used to get the girls into private parties instead of just clubs, and this was as amazing as any mansion Breanna had ever seen. She would have felt more confident if she were wearing something better than oversized army sweats, though.

Hopefully the boss wasn’t really that scary.

They walked straight to the other end of the entrance hall, into a wood-paneled elevator. Sugar pushed a button. The elevator went down.

And down. And down. There were no number indicators, but it seemed to be a hell of a long way.

She looked uneasily at Switch.

He shrugged. “I told you.” But he moved a little closer to her, so their shoulders were touching. Just that tiny contact made her feel better.

The elevator opened onto a long dim hallway with no doors or windows, except a huge pair of wooden doors right at the end that were polished to such a high gloss you could see your reflection in them. Breanna didn’t look at hers—knowing how awful she looked would sap the rest of her confidence.

The doors opened silently, all on their own, and they walked into a large, high-ceilinged room.

It reminded Breanna of a throne room in a fantasy movie. Most of the room had no furniture, just stone pillars, except for a wide table across the far end with a big chair behind it, and a floor lamp.

The lamp came on when they were halfway down the room, shining right in their eyes, and Breanna instinctively flinched away. Switch kept her moving forward, and when she could see again, there was a man seated in the big chair.

He wore a robe with a hood, like a medieval monk, and his face was completely in shadow.

Switch hadn’t been kidding at all.

This whole compound was absolutely, hands down, the weirdest place she had ever been.

Switch still wasn’t intimidated, even though the robe probably covered some kind of beast monster. Or a vampire? Did they exist?

“Hey,” Switch said, sauntering up to the table, which was on a dais set a little above floor level. “Can we get some chairs down here?”

The shadowed hood gazed silently at them. Then a gravelly voice said, “I find that people concentrate better while standing.”

Said the monster who was sitting down.

Switch said, “Nice for you. Look, we’re tired, okay? Especially Breanna. It was a late night, and she’s not used to people trying to kill her.”

“While you are well accustomed to it, no doubt.” His tone seemed to imply that practically everyone wanted to kill Switch.

“Whatever. There’s plenty of chairs in this mausoleum. Send the minions for some—or we can just come back later.”

Breanna didn’t want to do that. If this person—creature—could be persuaded to help her, then she didn’t want to make him mad. “I really would appreciate it,” she said softly. To the hood.

She heard a hoarse, Darth Vader-like sigh, and then he waved a hand negligently. “Azúcar, find some chairs, if you please.”

He must have meant Sugar, because the blond man disappeared into the shadows behind the dais, and she heard a door open. Switch called out, “Bring one for Gunn, too. And a table.”

He looked at Thanatos. “We’re going to need someplace to put the snacks.”

During the next few minutes, Breanna didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Gunn arrived with the promised coffee and snacks—to Thanatos’s obvious annoyance—just as the table and chairs were arriving. Thanatos waited with badly-concealed impatience as they got settled.

Breanna took half a plain bagel and swiped a little cream cheese across it. Between that and the coffee, she immediately started to feel better.

Switch took a thick ham and cheese sandwich and poured himself some coffee.

“If you all are finally ready?” Thanatos said caustically.

“I think so,” Gunn said.