The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) (21 page)

Nightshade launched from behind the beast, the collar opened wide and slammed into its back, snapping it closed around the Gremlin’s neck. A roar caught in its throat and its eyes took on a dull grey tone as its shoulders slumped and it stared off into nothingness. My whip fell from its hands as it fell back on his haunches completely still.

“Now what?” Jess asked her hand still clutching her Skeleton Key tightly as she eyed the beast with wary eyes.

 I stepped beside her and slipped my arm around her waist letting her lean her weight on my shoulder.

“The last beast wasn’t fully controlled, this one will be.” Nightshade stepped forward and turned the knobs on the collar. “Now we see if I got what I paid for.”

 A clicking noise sounded ever so slightly as the dials turned on their own. The studs on the collar flipped open and thin lines of filament wire slid out and attached to the Gremlin’s neck. The studs snapped closed once more and the filaments glowed with electricity. The Gremlin shook for a moment from the shock, and then its eyes cleared and it looked around the room as if for the first time.

“Well now that that’s over.” Jess’ voice faded with each word and she fell against me going limp. I threw my free arm around her holding her up.

Nightshade was next to us in a second and we both slid her to rest on the ground. My hands raced over her searching for any wounds that might not be visible. Her clothes were covered in blood, but whose blood? Her shirt was sliced up and down her arms and across her torso and as I eased the shredded pieces away I found several claw wounds.

I accessed my pocket dimension and slipped my hand in feeling around until my fingers found the handle for my Polymorph case. I pulled it out and flipped it open quickly. I went to work taking out potions and salves that Gavin had taught me about. I’d rather have known some of Rosalita’s secrets, but she had been missing in action for some time now. I would work with what I had.

“I see you’ve embraced what you are.” Nightshade nodded toward the Polymorph case. He and I hadn’t ever really talked about the fact that we were both Polymorphs.

“If it’ll help Jess, I wouldn’t care if I was a two-headed elephant right now.” I covered her wounds with salve, since she wasn’t a Polymorph it wouldn’t have the same affect it would on me. It would heal her more quickly but not have any lingering affects like it does with me, leaving me with increased healing and ability to take damage.

Nightshade reached over and pulled a small blue bottle out of the case. He popped the cork and smelled it, wrinkling his nose. “You might want to add this; it’ll counter the Gremlin venom”

“You sure?” I asked suspicious of just how much he knew about the creatures and why he’d brought that damn collar.

“I wouldn’t put Jess at risk, Masters.”

“Fine,” I said feeling I had no choice and wanting to believe him. "Go see what’s taking the others so long while I finish up here.”

“You got it, boss.” He smirked as he stood up, and I flashed my best death stare his way and returned to working on Jess’ wounds.

Nightshade walked off and the Gremlin remained as still as a statue a few feet away from us. I finished removing the rest of Jess’ outfit. I wondered how upset she would be over the loss. She’d always been the most beautiful girl I knew and perfectly coifed. Now all I could think of was her covered in blood after fighting like a demon from the ninth ring of hell. I slid my fingers along her arms and felt that scars had already formed over her wounds. The potion I used had healed her injuries but it had left her with a stark reminder of what had happened. I could only hope that she was going to be okay with that.

“There was a cave in where I fought the Gremlin. They’re working on it from the other side. It should be just a few minutes,” Nightshade called out to me.

“Good, do what you can to help.”

Jess’ eyes fluttered open and I smiled down at her and brushed the hair away from her face.

“So I survived?” She coughed slightly and pushed herself up on her elbows.

“Yes.” I held out my spare set of clothes and she looked down at herself and took a deep breath as she turned her eyes away. Her toned body that had left men panting was covered in scars. She sat up taking the clothes from me without saying a word.

She pulled on the pants and sneakers and finally asked, “Nightshade?”

 “Helping clear a path out of here for us.” I pointed down the hallway.

 Jess’ eyes followed my finger but stopped when she caught sight of the rigid Gremlin. “Is Nightshade controlling it?”

“It would seem, the thing hasn’t moved since he put the collar on.”

“Good,” she said as she yanked a shirt over her chest and pulled her blood-caked hair back into a ponytail.

“You going to be okay?” I asked.

“I have no damn idea, Cuz,” she sighed. “Let’s just finish what we came here to do and go home.”

“Agreed.”

“It’s almost clear.” Nightshade appeared around the corner wiping the dust from his hands. He nodded in Jess’ direction and she returned it, letting him know she was okay.

“That’s not hurting the beast, is it?” Jess jerked her thumb toward the Gremlin.

  I scratched my head at how she could still have compassion for the creature after what she’d been through.

“Are you asking if I’m being nice to the beast who just tried to kill us?” Nightshade scratched his temple.

“No, I simply want to know what we’re dealing with.”

 Jess had a tone to her voice that made me cringe. It was one I knew well; it lacked emotion. It was the consequence of someone who’d seen and had to deal with bad things and kept going anyway. The same tone I had for years now.

“It’s not hurting the thing, okay?” Nightshade shook his head and turned back to the creature. “Stand up,” he commanded firmly and the Gremlin stood and stared at Nightshade waiting for the next command like a dog ready to obey its master.

“Will it only listen to you or can anyone command it?” I asked worried about what would happen if the First Kind could turn it loose on us.

“It will only follow my command. Gremlin Collars are hard to come by and control. They usually only last a day or so, I’d suggest we hurry up.”

“Agreed.” I didn’t wait for them to follow; I started making my way back to the others. We crossed over the rubble to find Slade and Declan waiting at the end of the hall.

“What the hell is that?” Slade backed up swinging his wrench as he saw us approach, the Gremlin lumbering behind us.

 Declan lifted his Silver Star and I reached out sliding my hand over his and pushing it down. He turned his glance away from the beast and looked down at my hand, and then at me. I quickly pulled it away.

“We have it under control, Nightshade brought along a Gremlin Collar,” I said.

“He did?” Slade returned his wrench to the sheath on his back and rushed forward reaching out and inspecting the collar. “Wonderful craftsmanship,” he said as he admired it.

 I shook my head... boys and their toys.

“I only go for the best,” Nightshade said jokingly.

 Slade’s fingers halted on the collar as his eyes caught sight of Jess dressed in my backup clothes and still covered with a healthy amount of blood. “What happened?”

 “Don’t ask,” she said as she walked past him.

  I shook my head at Slade and he backed off.

“Is the way clear?” I asked.

“There are Gremlin nests everywhere but most seem to be empty along the corridor that takes us to the Entrance Room, but it has two guards,” Declan answered.

I smiled. “We’ll have to do something about that.”

Status: Who keeps things in a tower, seriously?

The Entrance Room was the size of a football field. The sides of the room were floor to ceiling windows looking out on a bleak landscape and at the far end of the room was a ramp leading up to a portal device. Two men dressed in trench coats and fedoras stood on either side of the device. Beside each of them was a long lever that connected into the ramp with the sides covered in a series gears. The portal was active with a silver pool of light, shimmering like a reflecting pool in the circular device. Except it was no pool, it was the entrance into Storm Reach Prison. There were no guards visible on the other side, which I considered a blessing, though you never know, we still would have to be cautious.

“How does the portal work?” I asked Declan.

“Both guards need to use their levers to open the portal into the prison.”

“Are there any alarms?”

“Yes, on the entrance itself, behind each guard is an alarm. If they reach that the entire prison will be on alert.”

“The plan?” Nightshade asked as we stood in the alcove before the Entrance Room.

“We walk right in,” I grinned and pointed to Declan, who cricked his neck in confusion.

“What?” Declan asked as if he hadn’t heard me correctly.

“You’re going to walk me, Jess, and Slade in as prisoners. They’re HVO so you should at least be able to get us across the room before they realize that something is amiss and do something stupid. We just need to keep them away from the alarms.”

“And get them to open the portal,” Slade said.

“I can open one of the levers, so we only really need one of the guards for the other level,” Declan said lifting his Silver Star and crafting a set of glowing manacles that he attached to each of our wrists.

“Okay, so if we don’t get them to open the portal, we need to keep one of them alive to help us open the portal,” I confirmed and then turned to Nightshade. “You hang back until we call you and your pet.” I waved toward the panting Gremlin sitting on his haunches behind us.

“You got it, boss lady.” He winked and I shot him a nasty look.

 But inside I found myself almost laughing. It was something like he used to say to me. And as much as I kept telling myself the man I loved was gone... I kept looking for him in all the little things that he did, hoping he’d come back to me

“Ready?”

 Declan snapped me out of my wandering thoughts and I looked up at his smiling face. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. Hell, maybe I could get out of this alive and have a life.

“Let’s do it,” I said and we all walked with confidence or just plain bravado into the Entrance Room. The guards snapped to attention when they saw us enter. One leaned over and spoke to the other as we approached.

“I caught these out on the perimeter,” Declan called out as we got closer.

“Identify yourself!” One of the guards commanded.

“DI Declan Hardcastle.”

“Who do you serve DI?” The guard shouted back.

“The HVO,” he replied and it was obviously the wrong answer since one of the guards swung his Silver Star up to attack and the other spun and went for the alarm.

Declan’s manacles vanished from our arms as he lifted his own Star to shield us. Jess was quicker than the rest of us and had her Skeleton Key out and let loose a bolt of energy that hit the guard, going for the alarm, in the shoulder and spun him around knocking him off the ramp.

“Get the other one!” I shouted and Jess moved like lightning, snapping off three quick shots, and the DI blocking each of them.

 He began backing up toward the alarm, and Slade yanked his wrench off his back swinging it forward and letting it fly. It flew right past the guard and slammed into the panel next to the alarm, shattering it. The alarm button popped off the wall and dropped to the floor spinning in circles until it rolled to a stop in between us and the DI.

“You’re beat brother,” Declan called out. “Stop now before we have to hurt you.”

“I don’t think so,” he called back shifting his Silver Star away from us and pointing it at the lever. With one blast the handle snapped and flew across the room. The guard’s power surged and took aim again, ready to send another more damaging blast that would definitely close off the entrance to the prison.

Jess and I acted in concert as we cut loose and hit him with a wave of power that knocked him end over end and sent him flying backwards.

Slade rushed forward and skidded to a stop beside the device. He jumped up and grabbed his wrench and spun around kicking at what was left of the lever. It gave way quickly and Slade slapped the wrench in its place, the muscles in his arms straining as he held it firm.

“He broke it. I can only hold this together for a few minutes at most. We need to get through before it is completely destroyed,” Slade said through clenched teeth. Every muscle in his arms strained under the pressure and I knew we didn’t have much time.

“We need two DIs” Declan reminded us.

“Grab the other lever.” I pointed to it and Declan did as I instructed. Standing beside Slade, I reached out sliding my hand around the edge of his wrench. His arms were already covered in sweat and I could feel the surge of Impossible Engineer power hidden just under the service of his wrench.

I concentrated and I could feel everyone’s powers swirl around me like an intoxicating scent carried on the wind; the Engineer, the Guilder, the DI and... Nightshade. I saw him approach from across the room. His scent was so familiar and comforting. The power he emanated almost matched mine. How had I not realized he was a Polymorph? I’d never know, but now it seemed so obvious to me.

I closed my eyes reluctantly pushing thoughts of Nightshade away. I needed to concentrate on the HVO. I pictured the Silver Star in my head and imagined it opening for me. I dug deeply and found the flow of the HVO power in the universe. I reached out to it, taking it in my hand and transforming it, directing it to my will. I pushed it down through my arm and into Slade’s wrench, it hesitated but did as I asked and slid through his vessel and into the portal. I felt the connection fall into place with a click, and then pulled Slade’s wrench and it moved forward effortlessly.

The portal rippled like water when a stone is dropped in and I knew it had opened. Declan laughed and stepped away from the lever he had worked.

“You did it,” he said.

“That was the easy part.” I pointed to the portal. Once we crossed through into Storm Reach, all bets were off. Some of us might not make it back, and I was determined to end the threat of the First Kind once and for all.