Page 26 of Witches Be Damned

Cole was silent for a beat. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It is what it is.” If I had superpowers to bring my dad back, I would.

He glanced out the window at Vancor and ground his jaw. “My mom’s in here because she got too close to the fire investigating Guild traitors.”

The word traitors vibrated in my spine, and I wondered if her investigation was connected to conspirators Vartros had Knoxe investigate. Something told me that whatever we found on Mads’ USB drive was about to break the whole thing wide open.

“So are we,” I shared with Cole, hoping he might reciprocate an exchange of information.

Cole hunched over the contraption to lower his voice, probably from the cameras. “You serious?”

I crossed my arm over my chest in a vow of truth. “Like a vampire stake to the armpit.” Right through their heart.

He pretended to tap the side of the new part to disguise his next words. “Your friendhelped us trail a lead on the Brotherhood trafficking rings.” Friend, meaning Raze. “That’s when we were ambushed by vamps, and he was taken.”

I glued my eyes to the warden for the moment he ended his phone call, and we had to shut down our conversation soon. “Both Astra andour friendtaken at separate locations. What are the odds, huh?”

“Significant.” Cole lifted the skeleton and pretended to admire his handiwork. “I never thought to mention this before, but Luna had a visit from your warden after they sent Astra to the Guardians. Vartros, I think his name was.”

The plot fucking thickened. “You met Vartros?”

“Yeah.” Cole removed a small screw to attach new circuits on the metal shell. “He told us he needs Astra’s help, but wouldn’t say why, and that if we tried to appeal her case, he’d deny it.”

“What the fuck?” I wheeled backward and circled the room to let off steam.

This all connected somehow. The ache sinking deeper in my bones screamed it. I had to figure out the how and the why. I tapped my forehead, going over the evidence, hoping to muster the answer.

Raze told us some crazy story when infected with Lycan venom and on his deathbed about convening with Jaz’s spirit from beyond the grave. We didn’t believe it at first, but now it started to make sense with this new information. Jaz claimed he got us imprisoned here to protect us from the Brotherhood of Serpents who sent assassins after us to kill us for intercepting and arresting a dealer trafficking water sprites. Apparently, our dead brother hid evidence to clear our names in a box somewhere near Nightfire Academy, intending to reveal it once the heat died down. Unfortunately, Styx killed that plan, but Jaz managed to pass on the message to Raze.

I had no clue if Cole knew about this, but I took a stab in the dark anyway. “Did Raze find the box he was looking for?”

“No.” Cole ran his fingers along the device, giving no sign that we discussed controversial topics. “Your enemies got to it before he did.”

“Just our luck.” Onto the next puzzle piece.

Vartros brought Astra into the prison for his “special investigation.” Betrayal flared an ache in my heart. Was she a mole and kept this from us? Did she agree to this mission to free us? Fuck. Did she even love us? I had to push aside the darkness crowding my mind and heart to fit the rest together.

Vartros got pulled from active warden duty for looking into people he shouldn’t, just like Cole’s Mom. With the help of Sentry Ben, he snuck into the prison to give Knoxe a USB with information about a conspiracy he needed our help to investigate. He believed someone within his ranks supplied the vampires with Guardian weapons and fed them information to assist them from evading capture at our team’s hands. And what do you know, we finally arrest the bastards, and they siphon the prison’s magick, break out of their cells and the prison, helping fifty prisoners escape with them.

Someone had a hand in this, all right. Someone coordinated the whole damn fiasco. Paid guards bribes. Informed the vampires how to siphon energy from the prison’s magick wards to give them the strength to get out once an insider cut the power to their cells. Aided and sheltered the fugitive prisoners somewhere.

All that cost money, and lots of it, which pointed to a wealthy patron or someone in high places. My money was on Eduardo and Devon’s family as they were Guild elite and came from wealth. Time would confirm the identity of that person, and I suspected Mads’ USB drive contained the answers we needed, and the proof to arrest the traitors. We just had to squeeze in time to review the device in between mission prep to detain the fugitives and question the arrested vamps. No pressure.

I glanced out the window as Vancor stabbed his phone screen, pocketed his device, and scrubbed his jaw. The sinking feeling in my gut said he was connected. He sent me out on missions on unsteady legs, and Pascal without his magick to defend himself, weakening the team and our chances of survival. That asshole wanted us dead. The fierce beating in my chest said he had Astra kidnapped by the vampires to kill her. Vancor wouldn’t stop until everyone with knowledge of what his syndicate was up to were all eliminated, Vartros included. We just had to prove the incidents connected.

I wheeled back to Cole as Vancor marched inside, pretending to talk about sports and social issues.

“Have you got everything you need, Mr. Mathieson?” The warden twitched with agitation at each word, clearly annoyed about something. “Do you need more materials or tools?”

“I’m good, sir,” Cole replied, lifting the metal to study it up close.

“You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve got some calls to make,” the warden advised. “I’ll leave you with a guard. You’re free to visit your mother when you’re done. Then I’ll see you out.”

“Thanks, sir.” Cole carried the skeleton over to the bench by the lockers, and I went with him. Once the warden vanished, he said, “He asked me that same question on arrival.”

“Twitchy, much?” I stroked my thumb beneath my lip.

“I noticed that too.” Cole tapped his hand on the exoskeleton. “Let’s pretend to test this out.”

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