Page 130 of Sin

With one last look of hesitation, London activated his flamethrowers and grabbed a couple of folded throw blankets off a chaise in the hall and formed a circle around himself with the burning blankets. Then he laid down.

The fire kept crawling bugs or snakes from getting to him, and I just hoped he found them quick.

Within a minute, just as the flames started to ebb and I had to work harder to keep the creatures away from his unconscious body, London jerked to a seated position. He sucked in breath, quickly taking stock of his form and making sure he wasn’t covered in bugs, he met my gaze. “There’s a basement.”

I frowned, smacking a chihuahua in the face. “That wasn’t in the blueprints.”

London’s jaw ticked as he tried to stand. “I’m fucking aware.”

A sickening thwump sounded behind London, and he whirled finding Mr. Radley there, the top half of his body now on the floor while his bottom remained where it was. The most putrid smell hit me, making me gag. Because the inside of his body had rotted away, maggots and all sorts of creatures wiggling in his flesh.

Lewis stood behind him, strings of nanobots writhing behind him. One of the strings shook off something slimy onto the wall.

He grinned at London. “You’re welcome.”

London rolled his eyes, but he staggered to the side. “Keith’s in the basement.”

“What basement?”

Groaning and smacking into the wall, London gripped his forehead. “There’s a basement.”

“But you that wasn’t in —”

“The house blueprints?” London scowled at him. “I’m aware.”

Blade arrived beside London, snickering at some sloppy beetles who were attempting to climb over his boots.

Lewis knocked my shoulder. “So where’s this basement?”

“Basement?” Blade asked, just making London groan again.

“If you guys are done, some help over here would be appreciated,” Jinx shouted, and we looked over to find both him and Mare fighting off a hoard of cats. A pretty calico was clinging to his head, claws piercing into his skin, and biting at his fingers as he tried to pry it off. Mare was shaking her legs, looking absolutely ridiculous as multiple cats clung to her shins and ankles.

London and Blade started for them, but just as Lewis and I were about to follow, the walls shook on either side of us as something detonated from somewhere nearby. Lewis and I were knocked to the floor as the walls burst and the ceiling in the hallway fell. Lewis’s nanobots helped provide some cover from the blast, but several loose pieces of plaster smacked into me.

There was a ringing in my ears, and I blinked sluggishly as Lewis’s concerned face came into view. His mouth was moving, but he sounded muffled. He yanked me to my feet, glancing behind us, and I realized slowly that we were blocked off from the others.

The ringing slowly stopped, and I started to be able to hear again. Lewis was talking to himself as he yanked door after door open in the hall. “Where is it?” he was asking, peering into what looked to be a bathroom.

He moved onto the next one, and I realized he was searching for the basement.

Together, we scouted the hall, but it wasn’t until we reached the kitchen at the end of the hallway that we finally found it.

The door had a keypad keeping it locked, and I waited, antsy as I watched his back for any sign of attack from Keith’s puppets. But either Keith was too tired to keep going because no such attacks came.

The door opened with a loud beep once Lewis managed to crack the lock. He shot me a wink and surged down the stairs with me on his heels.

There were a couple more explosions as we descended, and I wondered how likely it was that we wouldn’t be buried under this house if things continued to detonate.

When we reached the bottom of the steps, I realized that the basement wasn’t really a basement after all. No, at the bottom of several flights of stairs, Lewis and I reached another locked door. This one was different than the first though, mainly the fact that it was made out of what appeared to be reinforced steel. There was a pull handle, but when Lewis reached to grab it, his hand met an invisible barrier.

He met my gaze, and he chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I’ll have to disable these wards.”

“Okay?”

“It’s going to take the last bit of my power to do it. I don’t think I’ll have any power left after.”

I nodded. “Hopefully, we won’t need them.”

---