A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)(13)

“I do,” he said, pointing up above his head. “They let the inmates from above out once in a while, for ten minutes. He came by to see me. He’d heard me scream when they first brought me down here, begging to be reformed, not jailed. I wasn’t that lucky…”

Merin’s attention span was downright dismal.

“Where are they keeping him?” I persisted.

“Up on the third level,” he conceded. “Cell number twenty, he told me. As if I could do anything with that information while I’m stuck down here…”

“Well, turns out you just did something with it right now.” I wished he could see me smile. “Thank you, Merin, you’ve been really helpful. I promise I’ll speak to the Correction Officers in charge and see if we can get your sentence reduced or something.”

I was being honest. Of course, I wouldn’t tell them about how he helped me get to Demios, since I was going to break Arrah’s brother out of jail. But I was definitely going to speak to Lord Kifo about it… Maybe make up a little story about how he provided important information regarding last night’s daemon attack. Whatever worked.

“Thank you,” Merin replied, tears glazing his eyes as he pressed his lips tightly together.

“Hang in there,” I whispered, then left him and snuck up the metal stairs leading to the cellblocks above.

I walked past a Correction Officer, then checked the top side of the cells as I moved forward. Number five… ten… fifteen… twenty.

There was a young Iman lying in his scruffy single bed, staring at the ceiling. His facial features were the only thing he had in common with Arrah. His eyes were dark brown, and his hair was long and black as a crow’s feather. I found the striking difference between Demios and his sister quite odd; Arrah had a beautiful pair of pale green eyes and light brown hair.

I fumbled through my pockets for my lock-picking tool. It was a simple metal object resembling a very slim nail file. I couldn’t see what I was doing, but this wasn’t my first lock—nor was it going to be my last. My fingers worked on instinct until I heard the much-needed click, and I slowly pushed the cell door open.

Demios shot up into a seated position, his eyes wide with fear. Since he couldn’t see me yet, I could only imagine the horror going through his head, as he probably expected to get his soul eaten or something.

“Please don’t scream or anything,” I whispered, and pulled the cell door shut behind me, careful not to make any unnecessary noise. “I’m not a daemon. I’m not here to hurt you, I promise.”

He raised his eyebrows and gave me a brief nod. I realized then that he was looking right at me. I glanced down and noticed the invisibility spell fading away, revealing me.

“I can see that now… That you’re not a daemon, I mean,” Demios replied. “They’re ugly, scary beasts…”

“You’ve seen them, too?” I felt my jaw drop.

“Only in books.” He shrugged and moved to the side of his bed. His pupils were also dilated, but he seemed much calmer, more composed than Merin. A better sight than the Imen in the other cages, too. “I heard them last night, but… I couldn’t see them. Only white lights leaving the cages…”

“Oh… you witnessed the whole soul-eating part, then,” I said, then flipped back into my state of urgency. It was only a matter of time before a Correction Officer passed by Demios’s cell. I listened carefully to the footsteps, which were currently on the other side of the block. “Demios, I’m here to help you.”

“Help me how?”

He’s as blank as the other one…

“I’m going to get you out of here and take you to your sister,” I replied, and took my little jar of invisibility paste out of my backpack, holding it out for him to see. “Eat half of this, and we’ll be out of here in minutes.”

“Wait… Wait… Hold on.” Demios frowned, then shook his head. “I’m in prison. I committed a crime. I belong here.”

“Are you sure about that?” I raised an eyebrow, somehow sensing exactly how deleted his brain was. Once more, Heron’s accounts of extreme mind-bending came to mind, and Demios looked and sounded like an excellent example. His movements were slow, his responses even slower—not to mention the blank look on his face, the mild slur in his speech, and his dilated pupils, all signs of Mara intervention. He nodded, his lips parting as if his jaw couldn’t keep up with the rest of his head. “Okay, why are you in prison, then?”

“I… I committed a crime…”

“What crime?”

“I… I… I think I…”

I could almost hear his train of thought derailing and crashing into a dark abyss. He had no idea why he’d been jailed in the first place. His brow furrowed as he scratched the back of his head, struggling to remember.

“That’s what I thought,” I muttered. “You’ve been mind-bent, Demios. You don’t belong here. Your sister sent me. She knows you’re innocent.”

“You know my sister?”

“Yes, and I promised her I would help. Do you want to see Arrah again?” I asked. He nodded in response, so I gave him the jar. He took it with trembling fingers and stared at the shimmering paste inside for a moment, before he gave me a questioning look. “Eat half of that. It will make you invisible, like I was just now. I’ll need the other half. Once we vanish, we’ll be able to move freely and quietly get out of this place. They won’t even know what happened to you.”