Roaring Blood (Demon-Hearted Book 2) (29 page)

THIRTY-FIVE

No, I didn't run straight to downtown Detroit and attempt to save the day.

I would have liked to, but for once, I decided to follow the rules.

Sort of.

I showed up bright and early at Veiled Order HQ, strolling into the main lobby and waving to the attendant. The place was bustling. Commandos were rushing around in preparation, and dudes in suits were popping in and out of meetings. Compared to all of this chaos, spending a day in the isolation room sounded pleasant.

The attendant paged Kubo, and within a few minutes the Chief came out to see me. He was wearing a thin cast on his arm. The break in his elbow must have been really severe if the medics hadn't been able to heal him up on the spot. “Well, well,” he said, cracking a grin. “Never thought I'd see you here on time! Imagine that. Come along, Lucy. We'll get you squared away.”

I followed him down the hall. “So,” I began, “how are things going? Do you guys have a plan?”

Kubo nodded. “We have some of our guys moonlighting as National Guardsmen. Agamemnon might be in there somewhere, but we won't know until we actually storm the place. We're holding off on doing so, simply because we want to get all of our ducks in a row. If we barged in, we'd be putting hostages in harm's way... and we can't do that. The eyes of the world are on us. Right now they still believe this is some Middle Eastern plot, but if the news helicopters capture the wrong thing, the jig will be up. We've contacted our friends in the military and think we'll be able to pull off a media blackout. Cell towers will be going down intermittently and news helicopters will be grounded for miles around. Once that's been accomplished, we'll move in. Trouble is... it might take a while to get that done.”

“It'll be too late by then,” I said. “Agamemnon has everything he needs to bring this city to its knees. If you don't strike now, before moonrise, you're basically handing the fight over to him.”

Kubo led me down to the isolation room. It's a concrete bunker in the basement of the Veiled Order complex, and is inscribed, floor to ceiling, with complicated seals that are meant to shut down my powers. As we walked towards the heavy, metal door, I had to grit my teeth to keep from screaming. The Veiled Order was making a big mistake. Kubo's excuse? “I don't make the rules, Lucy.”

Down in the basement, I caught sight of Percy. He was hanging out near the isolation room, arms crossed. Waiting for us, apparently.

The Chief handed me off to him, cranking open the door to the isolation room. “Percy here is going to do the honors. I've got a meeting to attend. Percy, once you've locked him up, make sure to come back upstairs. We have a lot of preparations to make this morning. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” replied Percy, grabbing me under the arm and leading me into the cold, concrete room like a felon.

Kubo disappeared down the hall and stomped back up the stairs.

Percy guided me towards the center of the room, where the enchanted manacles awaited. No sooner had I walked in did I feel my powers waning. The magic circles all around us sapped my strength and left me feeling more human than I'd felt in a long time. The beating of my heart was steady, the turbid thoughts in my head were temporarily calmed.

In a lot of ways, this isolation of mine would have been a relaxing getaway if so much weren't hanging in the balance.

Percy pulled me into position and brought the manacles to my wrists. “Thanks for not resisting,” he said as he closed the shackles.

I smirked. “It's not often that Kubo lets someone else do this. I think the bastard enjoys chaining me up. Deep down, he's probably a sicko.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I asked him to let me do this,” replied Percy.

I frowned. “What, you get off on tying me down like this, too? Couldn't beat me on the battlefield, so you'll take a win wherever you can get it, eh?”

Percy shook his head. “It's not like that.” Once both of the shackles were on and I was stuck in the center of the room, he stroked at his bearded cheek and offered what I took to be a polite smile. “I just wanted a chance to thank you.”

“Wait, what?” I arched a brow. “You want to thank me?”

Percy crossed his arms. “I don't want you thinking I'm a fan of your kind or anything, but you've done a lot of good work. I admit that Kanta and I may have misjudged you. If you hadn't stepped up at the armory we wouldn't have gotten the sword. Joe told us all about it, about what happened back there. I don't blame you for wanting to fight tonight.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, rattling my chains.

“You don't really know me too well,” began Percy. “We kind of got off on the wrong foot, you and I. See, I spent years on the road with my old man, hunting monsters. That's what my line has done for ages now. My dad, his dad-- all hunters. And damn good ones, too. Demons, werewolves; you name it, we kill it. But he taught me a lot more than just how to kill things. See, my dad taught me when to stand down... when to listen to the orders of my superiors and obey them, even when I don't want to. That's what you've gotta do here, Lucy. I know you're worried about this fight, about the city, but I think you'll see very soon now that the Chief is right. Bringing you along is too dangerous. Still, we're going to pull through tonight, even though you can't come with us. You'll be with us in spirit. When we win against the necromancer, it'll be a win for all of us, and it wouldn't have been possible without your help.”

“You know, I've never thought of it that way before,” I said in reply to his half-baked, overly-sentimental anecdote. I pursed my lips a minute to keep from puking on him.
Leave that shit on the Hallmark Channel where it belongs,
is what I wanted to say. “Good luck tonight.” I reached out and shook his hand.

With that, Percy started for the door and began to close it. “Man,” he said, looking back at me one last time. “I don't know how you can possibly wear that big, bulky sweatshirt on a day like today. I'd be melting!”

“Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking!” I said, chuckling.

“See you tomorrow, Lucy.”

No,
I thought.
You'll be seeing me much sooner than that.

The door closed. Soon thereafter, the lock was engaged.

I took a deep breath and enjoyed the silence of the isolation chamber for a time, trying to decide just how long I should wait before busting out.

THIRTY-SIX

Once, when I was a kid, I watched this awesome TV show. There was this mysterious magician, and he spent time revealing the secrets to all of the biggest tricks in contemporary magic. Maybe I was just a nerdy kid, but I always loved that shit.

Never let it be said that all of that time spent in front of the TV was useless, either.

For today's trick, I employed something brutally simple. Percy had locked the shackles around my wrists, but I'd come in wearing something special. See, before leaving the house, I'd thrown on several sets of knitted wristbands and a baggy sweatshirt. It was definitely too damn hot out to dress this way, but thankfully, Kubo hadn't batted an eye at my choice of outfit.

Pulling out of the enchanted manacles was as easy as slipping off the sleeves of the sweatshirt and the wristbands beneath. By artificially widening my wrists, I'd given myself just enough space to bring my actual wrists through the metal loops, once they were free of the cloth trappings.

The chains hit the floor and I paced about the center of the room, a free man.

And, you know, I may have uttered “
Presto-Change-o
” in a dramatic tone of voice for my own amusement.

I felt pretty devious, busting out of my cuffs in this fashion. I hadn't had to rely on flashy magic or brute force for once. Nope, I'd found a way out using a trick I'd learned as a twelve year old.

Still, I wasn't completely out of the woods. There was the matter of the thick, metal door yet ahead of me, and by the looks of it, this was the mother of all doors. Maybe, if I'd had access to my demonic powers in this room I could have slowly punched my way through it. But with all of these magical seals at work, I was rendered an ordinary human.

I'd have to find some other way out.

I was about to walk over and inspect the locking mechanism on the door when I heard something drop onto the stone floor from up above. Then came the low chuckle. “Not bad, kid. Not bad.” The new presence in the room spoke in a thick Jersey accent.

“Fuck...” I turned to find Germaine dashing across the floor towards me. “They posted
you
in here to watch over me?”

“Damn straight they did!” replied the spider, stopping before my feet and looking up at me. “Kubo wanted me to alert the staff if you tried to escape. Been perched on the ceiling up there this entire time. You didn't even know I was there, did ya?”

I scoffed. “Sure didn't. But it would be a shame if something happened to you in this room, huh? Like, what if you had an accident and I just randomly
stepped
on you? Wouldn't that be a tragic way to go? And all because you insisted on standing in my way.”

A spider's eyes are incapable of rolling, but I got the distinct impression that Germaine intended just that gesture. “Yeah, OK, tough guy. But you've got me all wrong. See, I'm on your side in all of this. I agree with you-- the Veiled Order's plan stinks. They're waiting till they've got their media blackout in place to wage an attack, but they're playing a dangerous game. Wasting precious time. The necromancer's all set to ruin this city and they're just giving him more time to arrange his pieces on the board. Well, you know how many frigging pieces he's got? Thousands of 'em, kid. That angel sword won't be worth squat if we don't get in there and kill him quick. Daylight's burning, and daylight's the best time to handle this.”

The furry little bastard was winning me over. “It looks like it's just a boy and his spider against the whole world then, eh?”

Germaine laughed. “You could say that.”

I turned to the door. “That door's going to be a problem, though. I can't break through it. I'm just a normal human being now, with all of these seals in place. The demon in me is being subdued. If I could destroy the carvings I'd get my demon strength back. But... I use this room during every new moon. I probably shouldn't wreck it. Just getting through the door in some way is my focus.”

“Say no more,” offered Germaine, walking up to the door and scaling it. The locking mechanism was large, like what you might find on a jail cell, except it'd been reinforced enough to keep a full-grown gorilla at bay. There was a keyhole, and inside that keyhole was a latching mechanism. My fingers were too big to fit in there, and even if I'd thought to bring a hairpin or something, I'm not nearly experienced enough in lock-picking to figure out a lock like that one.

Germaine, though, had a couple of advantages.

Stuffing a few spidery limbs into the keyhole, he grunted and fussed with the mechanism until there was a loud “pop”. I could hardly believe my ears. “Did you really just unlock that door?”

Germaine landed upon the floor and breathed a great sigh. “Sure did. Not too many things have gotten
easier
for me since becoming a spider, but lock-picking is no trouble at all for me these days.” He held up his forelimbs for my inspection. “The instruments I've got to work with now are far more delicate than any pick you could ask for.”

I could have hugged that freaking spider.

But I didn't. Let's face it: That would be disgusting.

I gave him a bob of my head, though, and tested the door. Sure enough, it was open. Closing it back up, I paced around the isolation room, grinning from ear to ear.

“You want to leave now, kid?” asked Germaine, hopping up onto my shoulder.

“No, not yet.” Time was of the essence, but if I was too conspicuous in my escape, I risked being found out by Kubo or the others. Waiting a little while, giving them time to leave the building or get caught up in meetings, would be wiser. I'd bide my time and flee the building when the moment was right.

And when I left, the RenCen would be my first stop.

“We're gonna wait until Kubo and the others are busy,” I said. “Better yet... I might be able to blend in with the crowd.” Another idea was forming in my mind. “Germaine, I need you to leave the room for a minute. Can you crawl around out there and find out where the Veiled Order commandos keep their gear? If I can suit up like the rest of those guys, I can ride along with them straight to the RenCen without Kubo knowing.”

Germaine agreed. “Leave it to me. Crack the door and I'll find out where they keep the goods.”

I eased the door open a little, giving Germaine just enough room to escape, and then shut it. “Just make sure Kubo doesn't find you,” I warned.

From the outside of the door, I heard his grating whisper in reply. “Thing about Germaine Fox, kid, is that he's real discrete. They don't know Germaine's in the house until it's too late.”

The spider wandered off and I sat down on the floor, awaiting his return.

***

I didn't have to wait long.

Germaine came up to the door and whispered to me about twenty minutes later. “Searched the whole basement and found a room full of that black tactical shit you want,” he said. “I can lead you straight to it.”

Seeing as how I couldn't feasibly have a spider drag an entire suit of Kevlar body armor to the isolation room, the only option was for me to follow him. “Is there anyone out there right now? If someone sees me exiting the room, I'm toast. They'll sound the alarm.”

“Nah, coast is clear,” came the reply. “But you'd better hurry up.”

I cast off my sweatshirt entirely and stepped out into the hall, easing the door shut behind me. I glanced up and down the hallway, finding it empty. Overhead I could hear quite the commotion, however there didn't appear to be a whole lot going on at this level of the complex.
Perfect
.

Germaine broke into as fast a sprint as his small limbs would allow and I followed, doing my best to stay quiet. All it would take would be a single commando wandering down to make his rounds, or the Chief deciding to check up on me, and it would all be over. I could still break out of this joint, even if I was discovered, but I'd catch a lot more hell for it. Doing it
my
way, subtly, was a much better idea.