Chapter 95
RYDEN
Those assholes Alec paid to kill the faceless guy and his men were humans. They fell for the money Alec offered, and they couldn’t tell a shit about the man they were meeting with.
Amelia and Dane were beyond furious. Dane punctured every tire of the vehicle left working.
“No. They go by foot to the borders,” Amelia grunted as she set the vehicles on fire. Then she went to the terrified men. “Next time, choose your employer wisely. Haven’t even occurred to all of you why did you get a job with suspicious big cash, Assholes?”
“Wait. We can’t walk to the border.” The guy with a busted face riding the first car that went off the road raised his hand. “We’re gonna die of dehydration.”
“Not my problem.” Amelia walked away.
“You’re worried about dehydration than getting shredded by wild wolves?” Theia snorted.
“Who are you people?” While this guy talked, the rest just sat there.
“You don’t wanna know unless you tell us something,” I tried tricking them. Desperation was always the people’s weakness. “I might be able to help you.”
“How are you gonna go back to the States?” The guy asked. “I supposed you’re heading back, right?”
“We go by the clouds or unicorns.” Theia rolled her eyes. “Talk or walk, dickhead.”
“We met at the warehouse in Phoenix.”
The blond guy elbowed him. “Shut up.”
“Ren, you know what to do.”
“Wait!” The blond called, panicking. “Yes, Mr. Webster owned a warehouse in Phoenix. We all worked there. He offered us extra cash for a one-time job.”
“How did you pass the border with guns?”
“I don’t know. The checkpoint barely checked us,” said the busted face. “He said no questions, just follow his order. We were shocked when his right hand just handed us rifles and taught us how to use them. We’re from Phoenix, of course, we know how to use guns, but what he has, are military rifles.”
“Have you noticed something weird?”
“Dude.” The blond looked at Amelia, and he just called her dude. “Everything is weird. He sometimes talked to himself.”
Amelia removed her ring and put it on before these assholes faces. “They’re cleaned.”
“What’s that?” the third guy spoke. The other five hadn’t said a word.
“Have you heard of any deaths that died mysteriously?”
“You mean, busted veins, hollowed eyes? Yes. We even talked about how the government may have undergone experiments or private labs. I don’t know. No one explained. The hospital and cops corroborated it as severe anaphylactic shock, and that was what the news reported. Just like the black virus all over again.” So they’d heard of it.
“Take a photo of every one of them,” I ordered Amelia. “If any of you talk about what happened here, I know your faces, I have your pictures. I’m sure you’re all active on social media. If cops come to my house and ask about this incident, I will find you, and I will make sure your body will never be found, then I will come to your family next.”
“Man, you don’t have to threaten us. We might as well—”
“Might? You just killed those men in cold blood. You’re all murderers.”
“We just followed orders, sir,” the third guy said.
“You’re not soldiers to just follow orders.”
“Then what are you, guys?” Good questions.
“You don’t wanna know,” Amelia said and looked at Theia and gave her sidearm to her. “Watch them for a while. If one of them moves, even a finger, shoot them.”
We walked away enough for human ears not to hear.
“What are you gonna do with them? We can’t just leave them here and walk back until they die. These are humans and desperate for quick cash,” Amelia spoke.
“Well, you burned their way back, so?” Ren said.
“Yeah. I was angry that that asshole got away again.” She huffed out.
“We’re too focused on finding that bastard, maybe we should change strategies this time.” The blood already dried on Dane’s body.
“Babe, we’re working on something,” Kailin told her mate.
“Good. We should find the witch or Nora and use her.”
When Amelia looked at me, I shrugged. “Are you expecting me to disagree? I’ll do anything to find them, even if it means using his only daughter.”
“What about them?” Amelia asked, tipping her head at the humans. “We should go check that warehouse.”
“Could be a trap,” Ren hinted. “Everywhere we go has always been a trap. He clearly knows how we think and move.”
“Then from now on, we do something unexpected, Ren. We do reckless and random. Let’s be spontaneous.” I looked at them, and even Dane seemed to have agreed with the plan.
“Call Zarah.”
Amelia raised her phone. “Why I don’t get service here?”
“I’ll do it,” Dane volunteered. His phone had access to the council.
“Don’t.” I stopped him. “Don’t use your phone. I don’t trust Victor. I’m sorry, Dane, but it seems that he’d rather let you die out here than let us help you. You too, Amelia. Don’t use your phone anymore.”
“You’re right. I’ll have a word with him once we get back,” Dane agreed.
“You can use mine.” Theia offered her phone.
“No. Ren, do it.” Amelia turned to Ren.
“Okay.” He stepped away from us.
“What is he doing?” I asked Amelia as I watched Ren walk a few steps away and sit Indian-style in the middle of the road and do his thing.
“Remember the number we picked during our final test?”
“Yes. Why did you ask?”
“He can randomly appear in astral projection, but can’t touch anything.”
“What?” Kailin and Dane asked in unison.
“This stays between us, okay?” Ren came back. “Done. She agreed but without yelling at me about my power. Extra power.”
“I like yours better than her.” I joked, which got me a punch on the arm from Amelia. I went back to the assholes. “We’ll take you back to the warehouse. What’s in there?”
“Construction supplies,” said the busted face.
“If you tell a soul of what you see here, I will find you.” The portal just appeared before them and then ran back in shock. “Do you wanna go home or what?”
“We should have a magic memory eraser.” Theia chuckled.
“Yeah, I agree.” Kailin held her mate’s hand. “Let’s go, babe.”
“Are— are you sure it’s safe?” the blond asked.
“Only one way to find out, but you go first. I wanna make sure there’s no demon waiting for us here.” Amelia pushed the blond into the portal. “Next?”
Once they were all gone through, we followed them. We ended up outside the warehouse. Surprisingly, they were telling the truth.
“What was that?” the busted face asked me.
“Magical portal. Now show us what’s inside the warehouse.”
“Thank goodness it’s Sunday. And thank you, sir.” He certainly knew the way in the area. It was indeed a construction material warehouse.
“Take me to the office. Are you the manager?”
“No, sir. We’re construction workers. The office is locked.”
“No worries. I can unlock it. After this, you can report a B&E. Up to you.”
“Let me unlock it. I’m wearing gloves,” Dane suggested. “Are there any cameras around?”
“Just the front door.” That was good since we came from the exit door.
“Mr. Webster was here for hours. Maybe you can find something that you’re looking for.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for. What’s your name?”
“Mike Henry.”
There were papers, maps, and blueprints on the table.
“That’s the latest job we have. It’s done. He’s very interested in that building. In fact, he said, he wanted to name it after his wife.”
“He owned this building?”
“His company, yes.”
“Why in Phoenix?”
“He’s very interested in caves,” Mike said. “He mentioned it many times.”
“Any in particular?”
“Lava River.”