Page 24 of Even Vampires Bleed
So only eight people were needed, which means two people are left out.
Me and Léandre.
And now I see exactly what Pierre did.
He wanted us to feel useless while everyone else was working to get the prisoners out.
Jokes on you Pierre.
There isn’t a single lock that has ever stopped me before. I don’t see why one would keep me out, either.
“We’re going to start from the other side,” I tell no one in particular when I see that they start setting the virtual keys in front of the locks at the back of the dungeons.
Léandre looks at me with a questioning look, but doesn’t ask anything.
I think he came to the same conclusion as I did about making us feel useless, so he just follows me to what? Maybe to entertain me.
“What bright idea do you have this time, Little Luciole?” he asks, and it occurs to me that there isn’t a hint of teasing in his question.
He didn’t follow just to say as I asked. No, he followed because he knew I had an idea and that we weren’t going to be left aside for this mission.
I keep a little knowing smile on my face—that might look a bit tense as I look in each of the cells in search of my dad—and wait until we reach the door leading to the upper level to answer him.
“Hold the lock. I’ll show you,” I tell him quietly, and maybe a bit cockily, too.
He complies without even asking any questions. There is a light shining in his beautiful hazel eyes, and while he might be covered in mud, he’s never been more beautiful than when he smiles at me with trust in his eyes.
I shift my foot to bat size.
Why my foot?
Because bats don’t really have hands. The closest we have to hands are our feet. There is no front limb. Only small legs and wings.
So yeah, I shift my right foot to bat size.
I’ve always hated how small I was in my shifted form—smaller than the average bat. But there is one thing it’s useful for and this is it.
It looks ugly. Very very ugly, because my leg shrinks from normal size to barely a centimeter wide in just the length of my calf and it’s very weird to look at, but I’m used to it now.
Léandre isn’t, though, and I see him pale a bit at the gruesome look of my leg. Still, he doesn’t comment and steels himself as he keeps holding the lock.
I hold myself up with a hand on Léandre’s shoulder, and I slip my foot inside the lock.
Léandre must be holding his breath because the only thing I can hear beyond our heart beats and the clicks inside the lock are the sounds coming from the rest of the team.
It takes me three turns and a few seconds for the lock to open.
Inside, there is a drugged man that I recognize to be one of Elhyor’s warriors. We go to the second cell and then the third.
Léandre helps me as we walk from one cell to the other because I don’t bother shifting my leg, and it makes it look like I only have half a leg.
All the occupants are in the same state, and I understand why it was so easy for the guards to leave their position—they don’t really have to worry about escaping prisoners if they’re all either asleep or drugged.
By the time we reached the ninth cell, the rest of the team has joined us, and I shift back completely to my human form.
“How many cells do we still need to open?” One of the guys from the team asks.
“None,” I answer him.
