Chapter 10

An hour later I stood in a hallway with Bethany. We both looked at our phones looking at the diagram of halls Crissy had sent us.

“If I open this and someone jumps out at us, I’m going to scream.” Alona’s voice came through the earpiece.

“I’ll stab them.” Daxx said dryly.

Beth looked at me and grinned.

“Can’t be worse than me opening the door on those maids, they bowed to me.” Paisley’s voice whispered. “Too bad I can’t pipe some music through the phones as we look.”

“Then I’d want to dance.” Crissy answered. “What’s behind the door, Alona?”

There was a sigh. “It’s a storage closet.” She answered sounding relieved.

“Okay.” Crissy sounded excited. “What about you and Autumn, Beth? What’s behind your doors?”

Beth looked at the two doors on either side of the hall. “Pick one.” She told me.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped to the one on my left and then looked at her. “Should I knock?”

She nodded. “I think we should start doing that from now on.”

I nodded. “Okay.” I raised my hand to knock and the door opened. Michael stood in the doorway.

He looked at me, then to Beth, and raised an eyebrow. “Were you looking for me?”

I shook my head. “No. Just wondered what was behind this door.”

“My room.” He gave Bethany a curious look.

She held her hand against the earpiece. “Left is Michael’s room.”

“Well there goes my theory that he lives in a cave.” Daxx said.

I grinned.

Bethany pointed to the other door and looked at Michael. “What’s this room?”

He frowned, “Rafael’s room.” Stepping closer he grasped my hand lightly and turned my phone so he could see the screen.

“One to the right is Rafael’s” Beth said, still smirking.

“You’re mapping the halls?” He looked at me.

I nodded. “Crissy is, we’re just doing the legwork.”

He glanced at the phone again. “The hotline?”

I looked at the little icon at the top of the screen for the group call thing Daxx had set up and shrugged.

Beth laughed, “you have the connection with your brothers, we had to cheat.”

He glanced at her, then back to me, his gaze moving over my face. “The last thing I need are my brothers’ voices in my ear non-stop.”

There were a few chuckles through the earpiece.

“I hit a dead end, Crissy.” Paisley said.

“Okay. Go back to that other hall.” Crissy sounded distracted.

Michael just continued to stand there and look at me. He hadn’t released my hand yet, either. I watched his blue eyes darken as he looked at my mouth. He leaned closer.

I held my breath when I could feel his breath against my cheek.

“Meeting in Victor’s office in a half hour, ladies.” He whispered in a rough tone. Straightening, he looked at me again for a second, then let go of my hand and turned on his heel and went down the hallway.

“Jeeze, scare the crap out of me.” Daxx said.

“Sent a shiver up my spine,” Alona said with a chuckle.

Beth hissed out a breath. “I thought Autumn was going to fry a chip in her earpiece the way they were looking at each other.”

I dragged my gaze from the man walking down the hall and looked at her. “He has that being intense thing mastered.”

Someone snorted.

“Another family trait.” Daxx said in a quiet tone.

“What’s the meeting about?” Crissy asked.

“No idea.” Paisley answered first, “Arius hasn’t been very communicative today.”

“That’s never good for us.” Alona said.

“Yeah. We better get to Victor’s.” Daxx mumbled. “Good time to try out this map.”

“Another day or so and I’ll have it done.” Crissy said, sounding like she was running. “Then I’ll have to do Chase’s side.”

“Don’t bother.” Alona said. “All the action is over here. We don’t even use the dining room over there—actually I’m not sure we even have one.”

Beth moved the picture around on her screen, then looked the direction Michael had gone and motioned with her head. “We’re going to go in the direction Michael went—it’s not mapped, but I guess it turns somewhere to lead us back to Victor and his office.”

“I don’t know that hall at all.” Crissy said quietly. “Try to remember where it turns, so I can mark it down.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been trying to do this alone.” Daxx said.

“Yeah,” Paisley said, “I would have gotten lost so many times.”

“I have it all in my head.” Crissy whispered, sounding distracted again, “it’s just that drawing it out is hard to do.”

“No doubt.” I hissed out a breath. “I can get to the practice room, and that’s about all my head remembers.”

Beth pointed to the hall Michael had turned down. “Making a left turn.”

“That won’t lead to the offices.” Crissy said, “unless it doubles back some where I don’t know about.”

Beth stopped walking. “Should we turn around?”

I looked at the phone waiting for an answer.

“I say go for it, see where it goes. These guys having the advantage all the time gets on my nerves.” Daxx said.

“I agree with her.” Alona said.

Beth shrugged and looked at me then started walking again.

“It’s a dead end with only a door.” I informed them.

“Door to another hall maybe?” Paisley asked.

“Could be.” Crissy said. “I don’t know about it though.”

“It is possible there is one thing you don’t know.” Daxx teased her.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t know.” Crissy laughed softly. “I need to read more books.”

“Yeah, okay Miss knows-more-than-the-internet.” Daxx said in a monotone voice.

We stopped at the door and looked at each other.

“So, we’re guessing door to another hallway?” Beth clarified.

“Sure.” Daxx answered.

“I vote hallway too.” Paisley said.

“I’ll vote after you open it and look.” Alona said with a chuckle.

I nodded to Beth. “Behind door number one is…”

She opened it and we both leaned to look. “Not a hall.” She whispered.

It was a small room, almost like a reception office with a few other doors. There were a few men standing there and one woman, they all turned to look at the door and none of their eyes were normal human eyes. I didn’t pause to count the different glowing colors.

Beth started to pull the door closed when one of the doors opened and Rafael came out grinning down at a small petite woman with black hair. He glanced at us then paused.

A second later another door opened and Michael stepped out. His eyes were red.

Beth pulled the door closed and gave me a nudge to get moving, we started jogging back down the hall. “Um, guys I think we found their—diner.”

“Their what?” Daxx asked.

“You found the dialup fast food pizzeria?” Alona whispered.

“Uh, yeah, we’ll go with that.” Beth said glancing up from her phone and pointing for me to turn down the hall. “Raf and Michael were there.”

“What did they do?” Paisley asked.

Beth pointed to another hall, we kept jogging. “We didn’t stick around to see.”

“Your men go there to feed or whatever?” I asked, still not sure what I’d just seen.

“Troy doesn’t anymore.” Daxx said, now she sounded like she was running.

“Arius either.” Paisley said then hissed out a breath. “How can I be lost with a map in my hand?”

“Victor doesn’t use others anymore either,” Crissy said, “he says I’m all he needs.”

“How sweet. Chase is exasperating, but he can’t possibly feed from others after the amount he does from me.” Alona said quickly. “He’d be fat.” She chuckled.

Beth pointed to the next hall. “Leone says other essence tastes like ass now, so I know he doesn’t.”

“How many eye colors are there?” I asked keeping my pace slow to keep up with Beth.

We went around the corner to see Alona, Daxx and Crissy running toward us.

Paisley came from the other hall then slid to a stop.

We all looked at each other, then down the hall to see Rafael and Michael striding toward us.

Daxx held out her hand. “Port to Victor’s office?”

The others nodded and touched her arm. I glanced at Michael and decided this wasn’t a discussion I was equipped to have right now. I grasped her arm.

When my stomach cramped, I let go and looked around. We were in a large office with a table in the middle. Troy and Chase both straightened from the desk and turned to look at us. Victor stood up from behind the desk and glanced at Crissy.

“How’s the mapping going?”

She nodded. “Good.”

Alona pulled the earpiece out of her ear and tucked it in her pocket.

The rest of us realized we didn’t need to be on the phone with each other and took out ours.

“They look guilty.” Chase said, glancing to his twin.

“Seems so, of what, is my concern.” Troy replied tucking his hands in his pockets, his gaze moving over Daxx.

She grinned. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things we’ve seen when opening closed doors.”

Chase smirked and looked at Alona, “anything I should go see?”

She blushed and shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

The door opened, and Quinton walked in, his phone to his ear. “They’re all here.” He said then smirked and looked at Daxx. He nodded and hung up the phone.

Arius and Leone walked in behind him.

Leone smiled and went over and wrapped his arms around Bethany. “Get the map done?”

She hugged him, “not quite, had to pause for this meeting.”

Arius’ gaze didn’t move from Paisley. “Caught an accelerated energy level,” he smirked, “you are not planning another dance are you?”

I frowned and looked at Alona.

She waved it off. “Through their bond.” She went over and leaned against Chase, “the men monitor our every move.”

Chase put his arm around her. “That makes us sound like stalkers, we only do it for your safety.”

Leone nodded. “Like when those creeps got into Alona’s apartment.”

Beth gave him a quick look. “Yes, a good reason for monitoring emotions.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“I guess you don’t pick up anything from Michael through the blood bond.” Paisley asked glancing up from her phone.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Either he’s void of emotion or the iceman.”

Daxx snorted. “They are able to hide their emotions, unlike us poor, meek women-folk.”

Troy grinned. “Yes, because that description fits,” he glanced at Chase for a moment, “none of the women in this room.”

Arius crossed his arms and looked at Paisley. “That didn’t answer my question.”

Paisley lowered her phone and rolled her eyes. “Put the beast away. I jogged back to meet them and got lost while doing it.”

He frowned. “You had a map in your hand.”

“It’s not updated yet.” Crissy said, then nodded and went and sat in the corner by Victor’s desk.

Daxx shrugged and looked at Beth briefly. “Why are we meeting? Do we have a target?” She gave Troy a hopeful look. “Do I get to kick some ass today?”

I couldn’t help grinning.

“Not that I know of.” He motioned to me with the movement of his chin. “We need to set up who is where tomorrow. Because we won’t have a location until the last minute…”

“And keeping in mind that if any of Hubert’s men or women are present, the temple will have their hands full cloaking our real identities…” Chase looked back to Troy.

“So, we will go in light, just us and Emil.” Troy nodded.

Daxx went over and sat at the table. “Emil is coming?”

Chase nodded. “Yes, we need to keep him actively involved right now before he goes out hunting on his own.”

Alona kissed Chase, then went to the table. “I can’t blame him. We had to kick him out of the apartment. Abraham is staying with Rena for a few days.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, the moment feeling heavy. I’d seen so many victims in my life, but still never knew quite what to do or say.

“What about Ellis?” Arius turned to Troy.

Troy motioned to Victor. “We have him going through the files. After recruiting him once, we need to keep him out of sight.”

“Your—nephew was with those people that took me?” My heart sped up.

Quinton nodded. “He got out as soon as he realized they were up to a lot more than they’re telling the lower-ranked members of their movement.”

“What do you mean? I thought they were taking women and…”

“They are, but that’s a sideline to their main plan.” He went over and sat down.

“Which is?” I looked from him to Daxx.

“Trying to bring down the barrier.” She said glancing to Quinton.

“What barrier?” I paced, feeling like I needed to move.

“The barrier between the realms.” Alona told me, a worried expression on her face.

“Is that possible?”

Quinton shook his head. “Not currently, but any attempts or breach would…”

“Be catastrophic to both realms.” Bethany said leaning closer to Leone.

Rafael walked in the door, then Michael behind him.

His eyes immediately connected with mine.

Behind them another man walked in, he looked a lot like Arius, only with shorter hair.

He stopped, glanced around at the others and then his gaze stopped on me. “I had to go to the cells and see it with my own eyes.”

I stood still, not comfortable with the way he was appraising me.

He straightened up then inclined his head. “I’m a big fan of your work.”

I smirked. “Thanks. I didn’t spend as much time on it as I would have liked.”

He smiled.

“Autumn,” Daxx motioned to him. “Emil.”

Giving me an abrupt nod, he turned to Chase. “What is the plan?”

Chase motioned to a chair. “We were just about to come up with one.”

Several of the others sat down. I decided to stay on my feet. Victor, Michael and Troy did as well.

Everyone turned and looked at me. I glanced to Michael.

“We need to know protocol, and your habits the day of your fights so we don’t tip them off.” Michael said crossing his arms and looking at me.

“Oh, right.” I nodded. “Okay. I’m with Joe until he gets the location—he grabs a couple of the guys from the gym,” I shrugged, “to keep the admirers from crowding me, or getting on the platform. They’re with me until after the fight.”

“Do they go back to the gym with you?” Troy asked.

I shrugged. “Depends on the condition I’m in. If I can still walk, sometimes I walk or jog back if it’s not too far.” I looked at Michael. “To keep my muscles from stiffening.”

Michael turned and looked at Troy.

“What do you mean if you can still walk?” Alona asked, then raised her hand. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

Troy watched Michael for a moment, then looked back at me. “Michael and I will replace the two men that escort you.”

I frowned. “And how are you making sure they don’t recognize you?”

“Oh.” Bethany leaned forward in her chair. “Clairee’s coven can use a glamor spell so anyone without royal blood in their system will see someone else.” She grinned. “I had blonde hair last time.”

With my eyebrows raised, I looked around. “But I’ll know to see you?”

“You have royal blood in your system.” Michael said in a gruff manner.

Troy gave Michael a quick look and then turned back to me. “What are the crowds like?”

I shrugged. “Couple hundred max, sometimes less. Mine generate all the gawkers though.”

“I’m part of your team,” Daxx said, “I’ll hold your water bottle, I don’t care.” She gave Troy a look daring him to object. “I want to be up front so I can see.”

I smirked. “Hopefully you see me win.”

“Do you lose?” Emil asked.

I shook my head. “Not often enough to keep track.”

He gave me an abrupt nod. “Then you’ll win.” He motioned around the table. “I want to be near the back, so I can be free to move if needed.”

I grinned. “The plan is to win.” I looked to see Michael’s expression was stony. Dragging my gaze from his, I looked over at Troy. “How can you tell if they are—” I motioned in the air, “are from here, my opponents?”

“Opponents? I thought this was one fight?” Michael scowled.

“Joe would have had to promise two, because we had to cancel the last one.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Have you ever fought two in a row?” Leone looked concerned.

“Yeah, a few times. Usually when I’ve had to postpone a match because of injuries.”

Michael made an exasperated sound in the back of his throat and paced to the other side of the room.

“Hey,” his blue eyes snapped back to me, “I have to do this. Then I’ll take a break, so they don’t go after Joe.”

“We’ll know if they’re from our side.” Arius said quietly while Michael and I stared each other down.

“What if I were to help?” Paisley asked quietly.

I turned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

Biting her lip, she looked at Arius for a second. “I could hold the other guys’ feet still or,” she shrugged, “something.”

I shook my head. “You mean cheat? No.” I looked at Michael, then to Troy. “I win this on the up and up or not at all.” I tapped my chest. “I don’t have much in my life but my integrity. I won’t sink to another level.” I looked back to Michael; his eyes darkened as he looked at me. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Paisley. “But, thank you for the offer.”

She nodded and sat back.

“Before this gets sidetracked,” Troy motioned to Victor, “let’s get our placement figured out.”

Victor nodded. “As we won’t know the location until the last moment, this will be a general plan. Who is on watch, inside and outside.” He looked to Daxx, then to Bethany and Crissy last. “You ladies will have to map out a route for Autumn to take after the. Ensuring we have everyone in place.”

They nodded.

“I volunteer myself to be on—overwatch or whatever it’s called.” Alona said. “I don’t think I can, even with Chase’s help, be in a crowd of so many that came to watch fights.”

Chase nodded. “I agree.”

Victor looked over to Crissy. “Cristy and Alona will be on watch.”

Crissy nodded. “I will find the best place to watch from, after we know where.”

Alona sighed. “I’m going to need climbing boots.”

I studied everyone for a moment. “I’ll have to go to the gym early tomorrow, so Joe knows I’m fit for the matches, other than that, there’s not much else I can do with the planning.” I motioned to the door. “I need to go workout for a bit, keep things limber.”

Troy lifted his hand. “Of course, go do what you require.”

“Thanks.” I started for the door; Michael stepped in the way.

His eyes searched mine. “I’ve had a padded pole and bag placed in the practice room.”

My jaw dropped. “Seriously?” I grinned. “Thanks. I’ll go break them in right now.”

The intensity of his look lightened slightly. “Just don’t break anything on you.”

I snorted. “Not in the plans.”