Page 54 of The Shade of Things
13
We hidin an office tower at the edge of the city while Laurent went ahead to scout since he was the only one who could move safely about in the open.
The building was crudely made, a cookie-cutter steel and black glass tower identical to all the others. There was a working elevator but none of the floors were finished. They were giant open spaces, bare of furniture, and their only distinguishing quality was whether the lights were on.
Emmett stayed with Teresa, while Eli and I went to search the rest of the building. There were no stairs so the hum of the elevator would alert him to anyone incoming.
We were checking the eighteenth floor, but like all the others, it was an open, empty space. While we were the only ones in this building, the dark windows of the neighboring towers were impenetrable.
“They could house an army of vampires and we’d never know,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” Eli said. “This game lasts a week so there has to be off-limits zones where the humans can rest, otherwise none of them would make it out. This Consortium must want a winner because it would be far too easy to just let everyone be slaughtered.”
“Inside buildings or houses are out of bounds. That makes sense. The vamps must not be allowed to use compulsion either. Otherwise, they’d have compelled everyone to stand there and be killed.” I paused. “That doesn’t mean they won’t use it on us.” I was immune, but the rest of my team wasn’t. “Why do you think they’re dangling the prize at the start of the game now?” I hit the elevator call button.
“You don’t know what it’s like to suddenly see magic,” Eli said. “Trying to reconcile the impossible with what you’re seeing in front of you? The adrenaline, the shock…” He shook his head. “The terror.”
I lay my hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. I really tried to make you see magic before Laurent slashed you with his claws.”
We stepped inside the car, and I pressed two.
“I’m not saying it to make you feel guilty. My point is that as soon as the perception filter broke, you and Laurent did what you could to defuse the situation and keep me calm.” Eli laughed wryly. “As much as you could with the cops beating down the door. But these people were abducted, which is traumatic enough, then they were dumped somewhere unfamiliar and told about a game they’re forced to play. It would have sounded crazy, especially the part about immortality.”
“I agree. Why do it then?”
“Because the next thing they know there are vampires and shifters after them. At some point, the ones that weren’t killed on the spot must have found shelter and food. They had downtime with their thoughts.”
“Right, since they’re here for a week. Okay, immortality is the carrot to keep going when their reality had been thrown for a loop. Why not promise a huge pile of cash, especially since they stiffed them in the end? Something less outlandish?” I watched the floor numbers descend. “Unless the prize was simply intended as a psychological motivator. What if the point of the game is a sustained terror campaign?”
“It’s not just about winning, but having the winner in a specific state of being?” Eli leaned against the elevator wall, his head tipped back. “It makes more sense than anything else right now, though it doesn’t help with the why.”
His voice was as strained as his neck and shoulders. He’d come home many nights from a crime scene the same way, pushed past the limits of what anyone should have to endure.
“How are you doing?” I said softly.
“I’ve never been so happy that our daughter has absolutely no athletic ability and is too young to be trained in any other kind of useful survival skill.” He rubbed his forehead. “You have no idea how badly I wanted those eagle shifters to get within shooting range.”
“Killing is a last resort,” I said.
“Because it’ll expose us. I know.”
“Yes, but not just that. I don’t want you to live with something like that on your conscience. I remember the torture you went through the one other time you took a life, and that was in self-defense.”
Eli was quiet for a bit. “I’m not sure I’d regret killing anyone working for the game. Does that make me a terrible person?”
“I’m not the right one to ask. Not anymore.”
He draped an arm around my shoulder. “I keep questioning whether my foray into magic has made good and evil less black-and-white or more.”
“Let me know when you have an answer.”
The elevator doors opened and we exited the car.
“Everything quiet here?” I said.
“The wolf’s back.” Emmett stretched out on the ground with a yawn, using my pack as a pillow. “Went to shift.”
I busied myself getting a drink of water, telling myself that my fluttering heart was due to dehydration.
