Page 64 of The Shade of Things
Her eyes burned with hate, but she nodded reluctantly.
“How do we get out of here? An emergency exit? A staff-only passageway?”
“There are only two doors for staff.” Blood beaded her brow like sweat but her legs were already cauterizing. “Start and finish lines. They won’t open until the timer runs out and the game ends. No emergency way out.”
“How much longer till the end?”
She turned up her wrist where a digital countdown had been implanted. Fourteen hours left.
I debated whether to spring my most pressing question or keep going with smaller ones to lull her into getting used to answering me. It was a technique lawyers at my old firm had used, and I’d been surprised how effective it was.
“Was the game more of a city before?”
The vamp pulled a bloody hand away from one of her stumpy legs, her body shuddering in a full-body exhale. “Yes.”
I steeled my shoulders against any compassion that could weaken me and snapped my fingers. “Why change it?”
“They originally took over an abandoned demon space. A few years ago…” She was starting to slur.
Emmett squatted down and smacked her cheek. “No bye-bye yet.”
“Demon wanted it back.” She wheezed in a wet breath. “Made parts unstable. Unusable.”
Nav was going to lose his shit when he heard this had gone down. Did he know there were vacant demon lots that Ohrists were squatting on, never mind that those demon owners would show up later and screw with the property to get the unwanted tenants out.
“Did they kill the demon?” I said.
She nodded again. Damn. No getting answers that way.
“Who’s behind this?” I demanded.
“I don’t know,” she said sullenly.
Delilah slammed the scythe through the vamp’s hand, and the brunette screamed, the tendons in her neck standing out.
“Boooosss,” Emmett enthused.
I stood over the vamp in a straddle. “Try again.”
“I don’t know,” she wheezed. “But Jason Maxwell, an Ohrist, runs the gambling end.”
Finally, a name.
Crazed laughter from the parking garage sent goosebumps along my skin.
“Hyenas,” Emmett said.
Now for the million-dollar question. Please, lawyer technique, live up to your promise.
“You’re instructed to keep the players constantly scared,” I said. “Why?”
She shrugged stonily, but her eyes had flickered to me when I’d mentioned the constant scaring. Aha. My hypothesis was correct, but I needed an explanation. This elusive piece was the most important part of the puzzle.
The vamp cradled her injured hand, blood seeping onto her shirt. “No clue.” Delilah raised the scythe, and the bloodsucker flinched. “I really don’t know! Can’t you just let me heal in peace?”
It was entirely plausible the Consortium wouldn’t share their reasons with their grunts, but she had to have picked up something.
I jerked my chin at Delilah, who straddled the vampire. “Any little detail,” I said grimly. “Share it. Now.”
