Darker (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #6)(22)

“Oh, shit.” Jez’s two words summed it up perfectly.

The interrogation room we came upon was like nothing I could have imagined. The morgue was child’s play compared to what we saw through the window in the large double doors. My jaw dropped.

Steel chairs lined the room in neat rows of five or six. Most of them were currently empty. Torture devices, sharp and wicked, lay on a tray close to a man in a white lab coat. A green-tinted light cast the large room in a sickly glow. Two agents flanked him, their backs to us. One of them I recognized as Agent Asshole, the prick that had come with Juliet to The Wicked Kiss for Kale and me.

They had a woman shackled to a chair. Her dark hair was plastered to her forehead with blood and sweat. Her head hung limply.

Agent Asshole leaned in close to her, slapping her face. “The sooner you tell us what you know, the sooner this will all be over. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“The tests all reveal that she’s human.” The doctor concluded after a look at the computer in the corner. “Maybe she doesn’t know anything. If she were just a victim, he would have no reason to share anything of importance with her. Leaving her alive may have been a mistake on his part.”

It was difficult to get a good look at the woman with the men blocking her, but I was sure I caught a glimpse of a vampire bite decorating her pale neck. The sinister energy that had been hovering pressed closer, forcing itself on me like an unwelcome lover. I pushed back, refusing to bend to its will. I was not going to be its bitch; I was stronger than that.

The agent shook his head. Snatching a scalpel from the tray, he pressed it to her throat and snarled into her face.

“I happen to know Arys Knight doesn’t leave his victims alive. I want to hear anything and everything you know about him. Start talking, or I’ll send you back to your family in pieces.”

Fear shone in her eyes as she rolled them up toward him. “I told you already. I don’t know a damn thing about him. I didn’t even know his name.”

I cringed. My heart dropped into my stomach with a painful thump. They were interrogating one of Arys’s victims. That I had not seen coming.

“Is there anything you can remember? Any names he may have said? Anyone else present? A blonde perhaps?” Agent Asshole was aggressive. The scalpel bit into the woman’s flesh, and she shrieked.

Jez and I exchanged a look. So, the dirtbag wanted me, did he? He was about to get lucky.

Anger burned in my gut. The malevolent entity preyed upon it, and I found myself wanting to give in to the wicked urge to spill human blood. I’d start with the agent. Even as I thought it, I knew I was slipping into that dark place with no way back until the hunger had its fill.

“No,” the woman sobbed. “There was nobody else there. I told you. Please. I just want to go home.”

Agent Asshole glowered. It looked strikingly similar to a pout. “There’s got to be a way to get a lead on those two,” he snarled to the others, “before Briggs does. I want that promotion to Captain.”

The doctor shuffled about, gathering papers and tidying their instruments of terror. “Briggs is busy chasing demons. You probably won’t have to worry about him much longer. The dumb bastard will get himself killed.”

“Let’s hope so.”

I held my breath. The scent of blood was stripping away what was left of my composure.

“You should go,” I whispered to Willow. “Get Jez out of here. Find Kale. Or try.”

“We can’t just leave you here.” His green eyes were filled with curiosity. “Are you alright? Your eyes are a really messed up blue.”

Solemnly, I shook my head. “Don’t worry about me. If you can’t find Kale, just get out. I don’t want them to catch you guys here.”

Willow didn’t question my decision the way my lovers would have. He trusted that I could take care of myself. Jez gave my arm a quick squeeze before the two of them disappeared into the dark.

Agent Asshole was getting impatient. His cheeks were red, and his breath came fast. He was full on shouting at the quaking woman.

“This is your last chance to give me something I can work with.”

I burst through the double doors, my hands blazing with power, but I had only a second to enjoy the shock on each man’s face.

“Can you work with this, ass**le?”

Chapter Six

“What the f**k?” The doctor muttered.

Both agents reached for their weapons. I didn’t think twice before unleashing the power I held. The nameless agent flew backwards, crashing into a table laden with saws and scalpels of varying sizes. His gun skittered across the floor, stopping when it hit my foot.

I didn’t give the ass**le agent a chance to use his. With careful focus, I tore it from his hands with little more than a thought. Satisfaction thrilled through me.

“Did you come to save her or to keep her from talking?” Agent Asshole smirked. He appeared a little too happy to see me.

“Neither. I’m here for someone else.”

“Well, then I guess I have no further questions.” With a vicious cackle, he slashed the scalpel across her throat.

Blood gushed from the fatal wound. It poured down her chest, dripping to the floor where a puddle quickly formed. Every breath I took stripped away what little remained of my self-control. The basement’s unholy occupant encouraged my dark side to reign.