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By the tiot to the last two layers of the co unidentifiable The roof was entirelywas sooty and blackened The smell was horrible: ash and smoke compounded by the smell of mold and rot I did my best to breathe out of ht had died in these last few roo Conleth escaped were two "scientists," although I wondered what kind of doctor would participate in this sort of experi one, courtesy of their lab rat Besides the two nurses killed in their break room, another two had died in front of the room in which Conleth had been kept Just like the other two nurses, these were also bulky and unpleasant andcatheters or IVs

"Conleth’shis nurses and doctors is obvious; they were his keepers, his torturers, his enemies And we see from where some of the bodies were found--the scientist holed up in the john, the nurses in their station--that he went looking for the with the janitor and the parking lot security guard"

I stared down at the pictures Ryu held in his hand I could understand why Conleth would blast his way out of the place that had held hie I hadn’t shed any tears when Ryu told ladly have added Ryu and eance so strong as to send Conleth out of his way to kill soet to, despite the fact that he wasn’t yet free himself… that I couldn’t understand

We continued, entering a final, blasted doorway It stood at the very back of the compound and here Ryu and the others believed Conleth had actually been held But it was so blackened that I couldn’tof the layout All I could see was e

"We keep finding people too late; they get linked to the investigation because they’re already dead Which makes them useless to question, obviously We can’t link this lab to anyone or anything bigger, even though it had to have a network of funding, etcetera It’s like this place didn’t exist Hell, I would doubt its reality if eren’t standing here in theat all?" I asked

Ryu grunted "We’ve only got one real lead There’d been a head scientist in charge of everything, a Dr Silver, who signed all the bills and had been in charge froit He’d gotten fired about two years ago, though, for reasons unknown Luckily for us, Silver was on vacation when the attack occurred HeHe hasn’t been seen or heard fro across Europe, but we promptly lost him before we could mobilize an extraction unit He’s been MIA ever since For all we know, Conleth has already gotten to hi in a mo down at the photos in his hand as if he’d like to tear the to coh I was, admittedly, still a little pissed I put a hand on the small of his back

"You’ll find him, Ryu," I said "I know you will"

"Thanks, baby" Hesitantly, he leaned forward to kiss er when I didn’t pull away "I’lad you’re here I shouldn’t be, but I ahtly under his breath, and then closed and tucked the file under his ar to me, Ryu put his hands on an "I know it’s selfish, but Iyou here, it’s like--"

But before he could conclude his speech, the stinking air around us began to swirl Froe roo into action They all moved in toward us as Ca him with her body, even as Julian joined Daoud and Caleb to flank Ryu in front of me

Two dark shapes swooped overhead, veiled by the shadows thrown off the city-lit night sky, as powerful wings sent dirt and grih the air into our faces Ryu and I threw up our shields, but not before I got an eyeful of grit Blinkingeyes, I watched as the dark shapes ainst blackened concrete as two sets of brown-and-gray-ot quite an eyeful Fros’ skin was the scaly texture of bird’s legs, but the strange gray-brown flesh morphed into a normal human hue that covered the rest of their bodies Except for their ars covered in feathers that shaded froray at the tips They wore no clothes, but they were so slender as to be al told me they were female From above their small, sharp noses, two sets of eerie, jet-black eyes peered with the concentration of raptors searching for prey I shivered as their beady gaze raked over ment "To what do e this honor?"

"Your own ineptitude, Investigator," said a cold voice from behindthe bird wo our backs

Before us stood a tiny woman--as short as me--with olive skin and a bald pate If she hadn’t been dressed in black leather and carrying dozens of visible weapons, she would have looked like a child in a coe eyes were shadowed, but they stared at Ryu with a cold intensity thather curious stillness and the power that, even now, I could feel crackling around her

She stepped forward from where she was partially concealed in the blasted doorway, followed by two e, towering well above Caleb, his gray skin covering muscles so massive they would have o ho But otherwise he had exactly the sauarded Conleth; he radiated stupidity, viciousness, and cruelty in equal , however, surprised antly muscled limbs were topped off by a perfectly sy of cherubic and e blue eyes blinked in the darkness, brushed by the soft golden curls that crowned his perfect features Ryu’s hand envelopedover Ca her with his eyes, and then turned to ainstInstead of that heady mixture of lust and the promise of pleasure that I was so used to froic pro based on pain, on cruelty, on bodies being taken to the edge of control and then thrown over that edge I shivered as beautiful blue eyes latched onto ht Quite the combination…

"Phaedra" Ryu said the word as if he were spitting "You’re keeping interesting company these days I hadn’t realized you’d been released, Graeaze away from my breasts to meet Ryu’s cold stare with a s ile huirl and I certainly didn’t do anything to her she didn’t ask for" The incubus’s eyes found ed"

I blanched as I finally put together one plus one regarding Grae that he must have been one of the Alfar’s exceptions to execution Which meant he was protected by someone powerful

"And the others?" Ryu asked, his voice furious

"What others?" the incubus replied, his voice as light and innocent as whipped creaed with a proh," the Alfar, Phaedra, announced, putting an end to Ryu and the rapist incubus’s pissing contest "You’ve gone back to the beginning, Ryu, which means you are lost Still, ation And yet, here you are, at the beginning"

The s weaponry She skirted our little group to join the two bird woan followed

"Harpies," Daoud leaned over to whisper in my ear My eyes widened; they weren’t what I would have expected "Kaya and Kaori The spriggan is Fugwat; he’s a brute Avoid Graeme at all costs--"

"Quiet, djinn," Phaedra coranted permission to do so"