“Do you trust me with the future of our people?” I pressed.
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
“Then you have nothing to fear from Rowe,” I said, and briskly walked out of the room and closed the door behind me, ending any further discussion. Regardless of what feelings I had for Rowe, my devotion to Cynnia and our people ran deeper. I knew that at some point our visions for the future of the naturi would diverge, but for now Cynnia and I were on the same path. We would deal with the future when the time came.
Twenty
Calling up a brisk wind, Rowe and I flew easily to the top of the plain two-story office building that was home to the Daylight Coalition. The tan stone structure looked more like a fortress, with narrow slit windows coated in a black film so no one could see inside. I sensed at least a dozen humans, which was confirmed by the scattering of cars that filled the large parking lot.
I rubbed my eyes against the bright sunlight after I landed on the rooftop and pulled in my wings. I had become accustomed to sleeping during the day, and this job was wearing me more than a little thin. Rowe and I had taken turns sleeping, while Barrett drove the car. During the last half hour, the lycanthrope told us what little he knew of the building we were attempting to infiltrate. In his one and only communication with the Savannah pack, Daniel had been able to reveal that the first floor was filled with offices and there was a receptionist in front. A set of stairs at the far western part of the building led both to an underground basement and to the second floor. Daniel was unsure what was on either of the other two floors, but he hoped to infiltrate one of the two during the next few days. Barrett feared that the detective had succeeded in doing just that, and now we were there to rescue him.
“There’s two lycans inside,” Rowe murmured as he also drew in his wings and came to stand beside me. I nodded, a frown pulling at the corners of my mouth. I had sensed the same thing. It meant that our traitor or traitors were likely inside, but also that they could potentially sense Barrett sitting in his car a short distance off, waiting for us to signal him with the walkie-talkie attached to my belt. We needed to move fast before someone came out of the building to look into the matter of the unexpected lycanthrope in the parking lot.
Rowe stood on the roof and looked around the area with his hands propped on his hips. “Do you know how to take down the security system to the building?”
“Not a clue. I am assuming we can just rip out some of the wires sticking out of the building in the box over there. That should knock the power out, right?” I replied, pointing toward a large metal box with several thick wires running from it to power lines farther out in the parking lot.
Rowe shook his head and smiled at me. “You really haven’t spent much time in this world. Your suggestion is a good way to get yourself killed and potentially set off some alarms. How about a sudden spring thunderstorm?”
I gave a sweeping bow and threw out both arms to him. “I concede to your greater experience regarding the workings of human security systems and their destruction.”
Rowe said nothing as he stretched his arms toward the sky while his power filled the immediate area. I also tapped into the powers of the earth swirling about me and reached toward the clouds that were starting to churn. Adding my own powers to the mix, it took only a moment for black clouds to gather directly overhead. Lighting crackled as it jumped from dark cloud to dark cloud, followed by a deep rumble of thunder.
My companion lowered his arms long enough to physically move me away from the metal boxes and to the far end of the roof, while I remained concentrated on the storm we were creating. With one hand still resting on my shoulder, Rowe reached up with his free hand and called down a thick string of lightning. It pounded into the rooftop and caused the metal box holding wiring that led into the building to explode in a shower of sparks. A second lightning bolt slammed into the pole holding up some wires. The wooden pole split down the center in an explosion of shards of wood and sparks from the snapping wires. Standing on the rooftop, I could see the lights going out in the surrounding area as we succeeded in knocking out the power for many businesses and homes. It was a good start.
“Should we contact Barrett now?” Rowe asked, squinting at me as the rain finally broke in a heavy sheet, clinging to his eyelashes and running down his nose.
“Let’s get inside first and clean out some of the humans,” I suggested, and started to raise my hand to end the storm.
“Leave it,” he said, capturing my hand before I lifted it above my head. “It will act as a good cover when we enter and leave.”
“How do you want to enter?”
“Through the roof. We’ll work our way down, killing humans as we go,” Rowe said with a wicked grin.
“How will we know if we run into Daniel?” I asked. “We need to call Barrett so he can identify him.”
“And let the lycan give us away the second we enter the building? Not a chance!” Rowe paused long enough to wipe more rain out of his eye and slick back his hair so it wasn’t obscuring his vision. “We’ll just take our time and read their thoughts as we go. Anyone named Daniel gets to live for now. We’ll contact Barrett when we have the first and second floors under control. I’ve got a feeling that the basement level is where all the fun is going to be.”
I frowned. I had not hunted humans in a long time and wasn’t sure how I felt about it. When I had returned to Earth after my entrapment, I’d been indifferent about their existence. My main focus was on protecting Cynnia’s safety, and killing nightwalkers as I went.
Rowe grabbed my left shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze. “Stop thinking about them as helpless little animals. They are going to hunt us eventually. Let’s stop them before they get the chance. It’s just one more speed bump on the road to Cynnia’s vision for a peaceful existence.”
“Nicely put,” I muttered under my breath. I didn’t think he actually believed a word of what he said. He enjoyed killing humans.
Raising my hand toward the sky again, I called down a large bolt of lightning to slam down on the opposite end of the roof. The building trembled beneath our feet. I called down a second and a third bolt before I could see a hole finally appear in the concrete. The air smelled of burned ozone and smoke, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the rain that continued to come down in buckets.
With a knife in either hand, I paused at the hole in the roof to look over my shoulder at Rowe, who was holding a short blade and a knife. His gaze was narrowed on the opening into the building. Energy flowed around us both as we cloaked ourselves against the view of any humans. The room below me was pitch-black, but I could see that there was nothing below me but open floor. I jumped into the hole and landed silently in a crouched position, waiting. I didn’t expect anyone to attack, as I didn’t sense any creatures on the second floor, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.
When I was confident we were alone, I moved away from the opening and stepped deeper into the room, allowing Rowe to jump down. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, and I could make out massive piles of boxes lining the walls. The coalition seemed to be using the second floor of the building as storage. I walked over to one of the open boxes and pulled out a thick stack of pamphlets that decried a plague of nightwalkers and other dark creatures lurking in the shadows. They espoused the coalition’s ideology and included quotes from religious scripts in an effort to strengthen their argument.
“What is it?” Rowe whispered, looking over my shoulder.
“Leaflets and pamphlets for their cause,” I murmured, dropping them back into the box. “This floor seems empty to me.”