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Chapter 31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ORION

T he stairwell entrance rumbled shut behind us.

What a toxic stink. It never let up, and the heat increased the deeper we went down the endless stairwell. I relied on the eyesight of the wolves, taking it slow.

"Easy now," James said, my guide in the darkness.

At the bottom of the stairs, a series of weak strip lights struggled to life.

"Gross," Paige whispered.

I gagged and winced, the anemic light revealing piles of badly rotted bodies wearing white lab coats in the left corner of a square room.

Wonderful.

I examined the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of metal grating. An open door led into more hot darkness, the silence beyond it thick and full of terrifying mystery.

From what I could see, there were pipes and wires behind the grating, a faint hum running through them.

"Can you see anything useful?" Miko asked his beta.

"A light switch," James answered, flipping the button by the door.

More lights revealed a long metal corridor, two slowies breaking out of their stasis to amble toward us.

Dawn still powered some of its children, then?

What a shame.

"Allow me." Paige took care of them with her curved dagger. "Clear."

James moved up, Miko and his replicas following, Cate and I close behind.

"All good," Paige said, facing the left turn in the corridor.

We followed it to a door resembling an airlock on a spaceship, passing more corpses in lab coats, Paige and James taking out a few more slowies.

Where was Dawn? Why wasn't it moving to stop us? Had it really done itself a disservice by showing off and having its children guzzle fae blood?

Hmmm.

"Locked tight," James said, examining a panel beside the door. "Needs a keycard."

"Can you bypass it?" Miko asked.

"Not easily. But I'll try."

"Excellent. The rest of you search these bodies for a keycard. Be careful."

Many of the dead wore name badges with their details and photographs printed onto the plastic surface. James tested them on the panel one by one, getting an angry honk for his efforts and the flashing of bright red lights.

"Strange," he said, playing with the rim of his cap. "Why have this door but no access for these people? Is there a guard or something among the bodies?"

We all checked, finding nothing.

"Weird. Unless there was someone on the other side of the door who let people in."

"Can we blow it open?" Cate wondered.

"With what?"

She pulled oval-shaped explosives from her bag.

"Whoa…" James responded. "It really is a bag of wonders."

"Well? What do you think?"

The beta's brows pinched together. "Could be a disaster." He stroked the panel. "I get the sense it's heavily fortified, possibly with counterattack contingences. Of course, that might just be my imagination. But I don't want to risk it." He tapped the panel. "Sealed shut. No screws, no join to pry open."

An airlock in more than appearance, then. What were we going to do?

I carried on searching the bodies, getting used to the stink and the heat. I went back over the poor people I'd already inspected, checking every single pocket, every fold.

Where are you, keycard?

Something under the grated floor caught my eye. A brief flash of shiny plastic. I crouched to get a better look, wishing for a flashlight.

"Look at this," I said.

Miko crouched beside me—the real one—placing his hand on my lower back.

"Can you see that?" I asked.

"Yeah." He curled his fingers into the grating and pulled it hard. It popped up at one end, some screws pinging free. It gave him enough space to slide his hand in to fish the object out.

Miko held the small, white fob between thumb and forefinger. "Interesting. James?"

The beta took it from him, looking it over. "This might be it."

Pretty please, I thought.

James pressed the fob to the panel. The lights turned green, a speaker crackling.

"Welcome to the Wilkins Facility," a robotic, female voice spoke. "Your name is Henry Hayes. May I please have your password? Please say, ‘My answer is' and state the correct password."

Miko touched the back of my neck, making me quiver. "Henry Hayes. He's the guy who made the deal with my parents."

"Any ideas on potential passwords?" James asked.

Miko folded his arms. "No. Shit."

I didn't remember seeing a Henry Hayes amongst the dead. I checked again with Paige, not trusting my memory.

We found no sign of a Henry.

"What do you remember about him?" James asked.

"Other than being a prick? Nothing that jumps out other than him running away from this place with my dad." He paused for half a beat, sorrow passing over his features. "What about Project Dawn?"

James tried it.

"Negative," the voice answered. "Please try again. You have two more attempts before the required reset of the fob."

"Of course we do," Cate groaned.

James tapped his chin with his middle finger, as if in thought and flipping the door off at the same time.

"There's always his name," Paige offered. "The most obvious choice is always the last one, you know?"

James nodded. "Maybe."

"I reckon back to front—Hayes, Henry," she added.

"Or maybe it's a numerical code," James said. "The letters of his name correspond to their place in the alphabet. A being one, Z being twenty-six. What do you think?"

"I think you need to be sure," Cate answered.

"We can't be sure, darling heart."

"I know," she answered sadly. "I'll keep looking for clues."

"I'm convinced it's his name, surname first," Paige said. "Got a feeling."

James nodded, lines creasing his forehead. "If only we had five chances."

"Go with Paige's theory," Miko ordered.

Paige possessed a handy skill of reading faces, making her a great judge of character. Did that spill over into her other hunches being correct?

I guess we'd find out.

"Noted," James said. "If it fails, I'll try the numerical code." He cleared his throat. "My answer is Hayes, Henry."

"Confirmed," the voice answered. "Thank you, Henry Hayes. Please enter the facility. This door will close in sixty seconds."

James gave Paige the thumbs up. "Always knew you were a genius."

"Oh, stop." She giggled.

Using your name as a password into a hidden facility seemed risky. But wasn't that the point, to divert nefarious assbugs down more complicated routes?

The next corridor's lights were brighter, the metal grating replaced by smooth steel. Well, blood-stained steel from the sea of carnage everywhere.

We carried on, taking down more slowies, coming to a quadrant with four open-plan offices attached to it. Paperwork was strewn across the floor, along with some USB sticks, a couple of laptops, and even a box of rotten cupcakes.

I picked up a couple of the USBs, just in case they might be useful later.

A corridor curved to the right, a sign indicating the direction of elevators and stairs.

Cate bent to pick up a file. "Look at this." She brushed dust from the top, peeling back the pink cardboard cover. "It's about Dawn."

"What does it say?" Miko asked, commanding his replicas to form a circle and watch.

They saluted as they obeyed.

I pushed aside an absolutely filthy idea of a multi-Miko gangbang with me at the center of the action.

"Seems to be a diary documenting Dawn's progress." She turned through the pages. "Says it's going well, that it's almost ready. They're concerned about the godly essence of Ammit."

Real Miko moved closer. "Who is Ammit?"

"Ancient Egyptian goddess," Paige answered. "Or Devourer of the Dead, as she was also known. Said to be feared rather than worshipped." She looked at me and winked. "I know some Ancient Egyptian mythology."

"Oh."

"Her essence was used to make Dawn?" Miko wondered. "Is that even possible?"

"Would explain Dawn's control over the dead somewhat," James offered.

Cate read on for a few minutes. "‘Ammit might not have been the best choice,'" she quoted. "‘I advised Henry and his team to flood Lab 8 with the dilutant we made with the fae blood. It's not the antidote we hoped for, but it can suppress the entity's greater quantities.'"

So, my blood wasn't a cure, but a resistant? That answered many questions while snatching any hope of aiding humanity's return in the process. After the display on the Woolwich Ferry, part of me hoped we could restore some of the humans, heal their crumbling bodies without Dawn inside them.

How utterly heartbreaking.

Cate continued to read. "‘Using the essence of a goddess is a danger. I have always resisted this discovery. I wanted to lock them all away—especially after the results had the entity favoring human blood. Those tests were dangerous. Thank goodness supernaturals display some resistance for the time being.'"

That explained why Dawn went for humans.

Shit.

"‘Blending any of the deity essences is an exercise in chaos,'" Cate added, quoting another sentence.

"Any of them?" I asked. "There's more godly blood?"

"Apparently so." Cate read on a bit more. "Here we go. Says here that Dawn is now ready after the sleeper blood. It was designed to be a tool of great destruction and great healing. They were convinced it could also eradicate death, even bring the dead back to life."

"Just like Dawn told me," I said.

"But this person says they're still concerned." She checked the front cover. "There's no name on the file."

Paige sighed. "What a nasty twist. Thought they were so clever, literally played God with a goddess, and it ended up destroying human life. That's insanity." She shook her head.

Why did those in positions of power pull this crap? Why did they have to dominate, to come up with a weapon to control the world with cures and threats? I failed to comprehend such crazy notions. Did they wake up one morning and decide there wasn't enough drama in the world already, or that they needed a bigger piece of some pie? I'd never know. And I didn't want to. The cleanup began now, the genie about to be shoved back in the bottle.

"‘Maybe it's time to shut this project down and start again,'" Cate said, reading from the book. "There's nothing else after that."

After a brief silence, Miko ordered us to the elevator and stairs. A sign indicated twenty floors, counting up in numerical order as it moved down the floors.

This place certainly went deep.

Level twenty: Labs. It was the only part of this list of black lettering colored red. Being the lowest level, the heart of Dawn must be there.

Stars. My nerves were barbed wire.

Miko checked the stairs, opening the door a tiny crack. More heat wafted through the gap. He pressed a finger to his lips, sticking his head in deeper.

A replica brushed against me, paying me no mind, his studious gaze on his amazing leader.

That naughty idea flared again.

For goodness' sake!

Slowly, my mate pulled back, closing the door gently. "Shit load of biters in there."

"Elevator it is," James said.

The beta pressed the fob to a panel on the right side of the elevator doors.

That same robot voice spoke again. "Hello, Henry Hayes. Please re-confirm your password within the next five seconds."

"My answer is Hayes, Henry," James said quickly and clearly.

The elevator doors slid open with a ping.

Two speedies launched themselves at James. He roared, uppercutting the first one. The dead man flew back into the elevator.

Cate drove her dagger into the eye socket of the other.

"Bloody hell!" James seethed, finishing off his attacker. "Poxy biters."

I rubbed my chest, the surprise throwing me off guard.

Miko kissed my cheek. "Alright?"

"Jumpy." I kissed him back, claiming some sweetness in this hard, horrible place.

He touched the back of my neck again, stirring every hair. "Shall we?"

Without being asked, one of the replicas dragged the speedie from the elevator, standing aside for us to enter.

James went first, inspecting a screen with glowing green numbers on it.

"Please make your floor selection," the voice said. "You have, full access."

Generic instrumental music piped from tiny speakers in the ceiling, creating a false sense of shopping center.

Cate rolled her eyes.

The blood-splattered elevator was big enough to hold all of us with plenty of room for more.

"Ready?" Miko asked once we were all inside.

We were ready.

James pressed the button for floor twenty.

"You have selected, floor twenty," the voice responded.

The doors closed, the elevator beginning its descent.

I held Real Miko's hand, resting my head on his shoulder. This might be the last pleasant moment for a while. But not the last one ever. No, no, no. With six other Mikos in play, he would be getting out of this alive. No ifs, buts, or negativity.

So why did my doubt return, a noose around my neck waiting to hang me?

Ugh. Why did it have to be so mean?

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