Page 133 of Coerced

The interrogation room was gray, too, and divided by a glass wall. A long table with chairs sat on either side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gigi take Travis’ hand. They both looked so nervous, I wondered who was comforting who.

Ms. Chapman stayed in the hallway. She agreed to let us handle the interview, but said she was willing to step in if needed. I kinda wondered if that meant she was worried she’d have to stop me from killing this guy and was curious how she thought she was gonna do that.

Then I remembered she was a naturalist - and I was a mile underground on a frozen island in the middle of an ocean.

Yikes.

On the other side of the glass, a door opened and Reilly Argaud came in. His arms and legs were shackled and chained so he had to move in a slow shuffle. His blond hair was a lank wave over his eyes and he looked a little paler than he had at the trial.

A coupla months underground will do that to a person, I guess.

“Well, well, well. Kosta’s lady, my little thrall, and the demon taint.” His grin wasn’t nice, but his words brought my attention back to where it needed to be. “And why would you come see me?”

“Reginald Hubler. He your stepfather?” I got right to the point.

“He is.”

“What does he want with us?”

“Nothing as far as I know.” He shrugged. “Why would he want you three?”

Dummy!I growled at myself.Use direct questions that he can’t dance around.

“Nephs in general.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Consuming nephilim blood keeps him from aging,” he said.

“No, it doesn’t.” Travis came closer to the glass. “Our blood does nothing to humans. Why does he think this?”

“You can’t argue with crazy,” Gigi murmured.

“Push up your sleeves and show me your arms.” I lifted my chin.

Given a direct command, he couldn’t fight the power in the room. I could tell he didn’t want to, but he shoved up the sleeves on his jumpsuit so we could see his scarred skin.

“How did that happen, Reilly?” Gigi put her hands over her mouth.

“Consuming nephilim blood keeps him from aging,” he repeated, meeting her eyes.

I leaned down to her ear.

“Consuming means eating, right?”

“Yeah,” she whispered back. “Although Hubler probably either drinks it or has it injected. Like through a needle or IV.”

I thought about it for a moment, then turned back to Argaud.

“How many does he kill each year?”

“He doesn’t kill his blood donors. Well, not intentionally. Why would he cut off a ready supply? Finding, capturing, and suppressing nephilim is no easy task. But yeah, I guess some die.”

“So he must have a prison for them.” I narrowed my eyes in thought. “And a place where he draws and stores their blood. Where is it?”

“Thinking about challenging him?” He snorted. “Better men than you have tried to take him down and failed.”

“I’m not looking to take him down. I just need to know where he keeps his blood donors.”

“He take someone you know?”

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