Prison of Hope (24 page)

CHAPTER
24

I
found Tommy downstairs, waiting for me in the hotel’s foyer. He was unshaven and looked tired. A werewolf’s metabolism was a scary thing to behold, but even werewolves needed sleep after spending time in one of their other forms.

“You okay?” I asked him as we made our way toward the hotel’s exit. “Where’s Kasey?”

“She’s with some of her friends. That kid Donna and a few others. I don’t want to leave her alone right now, but on the other hand”—he paused and glanced back at the children who were running around the hotel—“I’m surprised that only the witches left.”

“The teachers did a good job of keeping people calm.”

“Yeah, they did. But while they’re doing that, it means I can do my part: finding the bastards responsible.” He took another step and stopped. “Oh, and I’m fine. Just tired and irritable. So punching someone in the face will probably do me a world of good.”

I patted Tommy on the shoulder, and we walked out into the crisp daylight to meet the rest of our hunting party. Sky was still in jeans and a dark-purple hoodie, with comfortable trainers, pretty much mimicking my own look apart from the color of the hoodie; mine was black. Tommy didn’t even bother with a hoodie, despite the cold morning. When about to go into a fight, the less clothing a werewolf has to remove, the better.

“Yeah, we’re meeting Petra and Kurt just outside the forest to the south,” Sky said. “They’ve got whatever we need.”

We all climbed into Sky’s 4X4 Land Rover, and she took us the short distance to a secluded spot where a second Land Rover—this one blue to Sky’s black—waited for us, along with Petra and Kurt. Both wore combat trousers, big boots, and body armor, and carried SCAR-H MK17 rifles.

“We invading a country?” I asked as I exited the car.

“You mock,” Kurt said, “but the last time we went to a confrontation with you unprepared, we got blown up.”

Kurt moved aside, showing the additional sets of body armor and guns in the rear of their Land Rover.

“You’re a werebear,” I said, catching one of the sets of armor as he tossed it to me. “You healed.”

“It still hurt. Don’t fancy doing that again.”

“We go in there, all magic and teeth, and we might set off some runes,” Petra said. “I’d rather not have a house fall on us again.”

“Technically, I
stopped
that from happening,” I said as I buckled up the armor. “Do I get a SCAR too?”

“We’ve got one of these,” Kurt said and passed me an MP5 and some ammo. I immediately loaded and slung the gun over my shoulder.

The MP5 was a good gun. Actually, it was an excellent gun and something I was very happy to be using when dealing with people inside an enclosed property.

“I assume we’re on foot to the house?” Sky asked as she loaded shotgun cartridges into the Benelli M4 Super 90 she’d been given, an identical weapon to the one Tommy held.

“That’s the plan,” Tommy said. “It’s a half-hour jog, but I
figure
it’ll be better than driving and triggering any runes. If these guys are Vanguard, they’re military trained to a very high degree and will have ways to try to ensure we can’t track them. I found three in the woods last night; one was sitting up a tree with a rifle, a hundred yards from the house.”

“How’d you know about the wards?” I asked.

“Saw some woman preparing them. These guys aren’t slouches. It’s not going to be an easy morning.”

“Tell me again why Hades isn’t helping?” I asked Sky.

“My parents are in Tartarus, dealing with the fallout of
Cronus’s
escape.”

“I think we got the better deal,” Petra said.

“From now on, if we have to talk, it’s done over these,” Kurt said, and he passed around some small headsets, which we all immediately put on. They only covered one ear and had a thin microphone that sat close to one’s mouth.

Without another word, Kurt and Tommy set off at a jog toward the same tree line I’d gone into only a few hours earlier, with the other three of us following close behind. We even passed by the site where I’d killed the krampus. I slowed noticeably for a moment when I realized that the body was gone, along with any blood, although evidence of the battle that had taken place still littered the area; the gouges in the ground and trees would take longer to disappear.

Tommy stopped moving just as the house that contained our targets came into view through the thick trees. It was a huge log cabin, with several trucks and 4X4 vehicles parked outside.

“Blood,” Tommy whispered through his headset, and Petra immediately sniffed the air, followed quickly by Kurt, both of whom nodded their agreement.

“Fresh?” I asked as I crept up beside them.

Tommy nodded. “Up there.” He pointed to a massive tree a hundred feet away. “He’s not there anymore.”

I made my way over to the tree and quickly scaled the trunk, using air magic to hold on as I climbed. When I reached the carefully hidden platform thirty feet above the ground, it was easy to see why Tommy had smelled blood. The man’s throat had been slit from ear to ear while he was still lying prone on the platform. Someone had stood over him and done this without him ever moving. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, as I couldn’t imagine how a spotter would have missed seeing someone who stood over him. Even if it had been someone he trusted, he must have been suspicious when the person climbed the tree. There was only room for one up here.

I returned to the rest of them and told them what I’d found.

“There are two more bodies in the bushes over there,” Kurt said. “I went to have a look.”

“Everyone wait,” Sky whispered and took a deep breath before closing her eyes. “Eight souls are out here, all of them recent deaths. I can’t tell about the house; the wards stop me from finding out.”

“How’d the two in the bushes die?” I asked Kurt before we all set off toward the house.

“One had a puncture wound at the back of the neck that looks like it went up into the brain; the second had a hole in his forehead. I’m guessing a blade of some description.”

The five of us made our way toward the front of the house, careful to keep low and avoid open areas as much as possible. I paused by some runes drawn onto the doorframe.

“You know what they are?” Sky asked.

I shook my head.

“There’s no one inside that room,” Petra said. “I can smell death, though. Recent death too.”

“I smell it too,” Tommy said. He readied the shotgun and tried the door handle, which moved easily, eventually clicking softly before he pushed the door open.

The next few seconds passed in silence. Kurt took point, and all five of us moved into the house, guns ready to remove whatever resistance faced us. The reception room was obviously empty, and Petra and Kurt elected to stay behind in case anyone decided to try to catch us by surprise while we were clearing out the rest of the house.

Tommy, Sky, and I remained silent, relying on one another to do our jobs and watch each other’s back. Each room we came to was searched in the same way; Sky stood watch at the entrance while Tommy and I entered the room and did a sweep. If we discovered it was clear, we each pressed the button on our headset, creating a clicking noise. Once all three of us had clicked, Tommy would come over and tap me on the arm, then Sky, and we’d follow him to the next room. We continued this exact same pattern of movement for the first three rooms, which were empty of anything but furniture, but as we got closer to the rear of the building, the smell of death that Petra and Tommy had noticed became all too apparent. At the rear of the one-story house, we found bodies. Lots of them.

We ignored the dead around our feet and continued to check every hiding place we could; getting surprised by someone when your guard is down because you didn’t check the building properly is a very good way to end up dead.

Tommy clicked clear, followed by me as I closed a large
cabinet
at the end of the room, and then Sky, who was
searching
behind long flowing curtains that could have easily hidden a grand piano, let alone a man or woman.

I counted five dead, all male, all wearing guns, although few had been drawn. The attack had been fast and accurate, giving little time to retaliate or escape.

“Someone fired through these windows,” Sky said, and Tommy and I found ourselves looking at the holes that
perforated
the glass.

“Five smashed windows,” Tommy said. “Someone’s a
good shot.”

The trajectory of the bullets coordinated with where three of the bodies lay. Two more had obviously figured out what was happening and tried to flee, but hadn’t made it
out of t
he room.

I pushed aside one of the curtains and looked out at the forest a hundred feet behind the house and then at the bullet holes in the glass. “They were in those trees,” I said.

“Kurt,” Tommy said into his microphone, “the trees at the south of the house. Can you and Petra check for a sniper position?”

“Will do. You sure there’s no one in the house?” Kurt asked.

“This house is clean. If anyone was going to pop out, they’d have done it by now.”

“I assume whoever took the shots is long gone now,” Sky said. “I would have felt them if they were still there.”

“Any ideas about how long these guys have been dead?” Tommy asked.

Sky was quiet for a second. “Fifteen minutes before we arrived. Maybe thirty. Not longer. And that one isn’t dead, although he might be wishing he was.” She pointed toward a couch that had several bullet holes in it; the stuffing tumbled out where it had been torn into.

I glanced behind and found Robert Ellis, one of the men who had attacked me outside Petra and Kurt’s restaurant and the man who had claimed to have killed the krampus with a bullet. He coughed slightly and brought up blood. He’d been hit once in the stomach, creating an awful smell as the small piece of metal had torn his insides open. He’d die—no two ways about it—but it wasn’t going to be quick.

“You look like shit,” I said and tapped him with my foot to make sure he realized I wasn’t an hallucination caused
by w
hat I was sure was an incredible amount of pain he was going through.

He coughed again and focused on me. “I fought you.”

“You did,” I told him.

“You were tough.”

“That’s what people tell me. Who did this?”

He coughed and spluttered some more, probably causing more pain to wrack his body, but he didn’t appear to want to answer the question.

“Why did you break Cronus out of Tartarus?”

“Told to. I’m Vanguard; we do as we’re told. Can I get s
ome water?”

“No,” I said. “You were told to help free Cronus?

Robert nodded, although the movement was weak and appeared to cause him discomfort. “We were sent to work with Sarah. It was her plan. All of this—her plan.”

“Who is Sarah Hamilton? Who does she work for?”

He coughed and choked again, gasping in pain once he’d finished. “Go fuck yourself.”

I didn’t have time to make him talk. Besides, I doubted he’d live even long enough to sit him up. “Fine. Why attack me?”

“Sarah knew you’d be here. Knew she’d need to remove you from the picture.” When he spoke, he sounded weaker; his words appeared to be harder to get out.

“Why?”

“She was working for someone. Kept calling them. Don’t know who.”

“Do you know how Cronus escaped from the compound?”

“Witches. All I know is witches were involved.”

“You sure?”

He tried to nod. “One of them brought Cronus here last night. She said she wouldn’t be missed because everyone was out looking for that girl we stuck with the krampus.”

“Sarah created it, didn’t she?”

Robert nodded again and coughed more blood onto the floor. “Before I got here. She said we needed it, could use it as a scapegoat. It grabs the kid and everyone searches, letting Cronus get to us without problems.”

“Why hunt it and pretend to kill it?”

“It broke free of the cave, ran through town. Had to get it back and have everyone think it was dead. Worked out well, as we needed to be seen around town without suspicion.”

“Someone made the townspeople think you were the right choice to do this; someone soothed the townspeople’s emotions.”

“Empath.” Robert’s head pointed to one of his dead friends. “Clive was a good soldier.”

“How’d you know the krampus wouldn’t kill Chloe?”
Tommy asked.

“Sarah said it couldn’t without her say-so, unless it was attacked.” He started coughing again, and for a second I thought the pain was going to end him. “She said the girl was safe so long as she was quiet and didn’t bother the krampus.”

“She was a young girl, you fucking asshole!” I almost shouted and barely resisted kicking him in the bullet wound.

“I didn’t like that part of the plan. Using young girls just to smuggle Cronus out was too much.” He said it as if holding on
to jus
t one part he found distasteful would redeem him.

“Were all the witches involved?”

“The witches knew—some, all—I don’t know. But those who were involved knew about using the girl.”

“Do you know who killed you?” Sky asked.

“The witches have an enforcer,” he said. “Never met him . . . but he did it. We were set up after Sarah died.”

“Sarah is dead?” I asked. “Where’s Cronus?”

“Cronus killed Sarah with some dagger she carried and ran for it.”

“Where’s her body?”

“Cellar.”

“The enforcer was cleaning up your mess,” Sky said.

Robert nodded, which caused him pain. “Proud to die for the cause.”

“You died for nothing,” I snapped. “I promise you that.”

Robert was silent for a moment as his breathing became
shallower
. “Cellar outside.”

Tommy and Sky had heard all they needed to, and they made their way toward the room’s exit. I stepped past Robert, who reached out and grabbed me by the ankle. “Don’t leave me like this,” he pleaded.

I glanced down at the dying man. His face was pale, and blood saturated the floor beneath him. He didn’t have long left. I walked over to his friend, Clive, and removed the Glock from his belt before dropping it on Robert’s chest, making him wince. “You use that to take a shot at me, and I promise I’ll keep you alive only long enough for you to regret it.”