Chapter 66

 

Now I was in awe, pure simple awe. The cells were nothing like I thought they’d be. I had pictured old bars and cement walls, you know, cells. This was way more than that. It was high-tech heaven for starters and just plain cool.

It was underground, so there were no windows anywhere and the security would make the Royal Mint weep with joy if they had anything close to the system here. If you didn’t have the right handprint, not just thumb or finger the whole hand, you went nowhere.

Most of the area’s I’d seen when we first arrived were clear walled rooms, like Plexiglas. There was only one door, which I had to assume was a bathroom for the unfortunate ones being held in the cell. Each cell had cameras aimed at it from all angles, it seemed redundant considering the cells were completely transparent, but then again, I just caught criminals I didn’t study them.

Michael took great pleasure in walking me through and explaining things to me. Each prisoner had a wide red cuff like bracelet on and it stopped any extra abilities from being used. I mentally labeled those the magic jammers. They could only be taken off by a handheld scanner, locked up in a safe that only opened for the right handprints. High-tech indeed.

A few wore a second bracelet that was blue. Those ones prevented any close contact from anyone. I didn’t ask what the offenders had done that wore them, it didn’t take a great leap of genius to figure they were the ultra-dangerous ones.

My little tour concluded when we reached a door. Michael paused and looked like he wanted to say something, but then shook his head and pressed his hand against the panel on the door. “The ones we sent back are in here.”

I looked behind me at the row of clear cells and wondered just how big this place was. As soon as we stepped through the door, he motioned me into a room right inside it. Stepping in there, I smiled to see most of the brothers gathered in front of some monitors.

Chase turned and smiled at me. “Impressed, kitten?”

I shrugged slightly. “A little.”

He chuckled and motioned for me to come over.

I did.

On the monitors were the group we sent back home, I recognized a few that had tried to take me out of all worlds. Moving closer, I spotted the woman with that had tried to break me in half with her bat. She stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed staring at the camera.

Victor came in and closed the door. “We’re not getting very far.”

Arius leaned back against the wall looking bored. “Why are you doing it the hard way?” He lifted his chin toward Troy. “We could go in and come out with everything you need.”

Victor sighed. “That would be breaking about ten laws.”

Quinton cursed under his breath. “After what they were trying to do, why should we give a shit?”

I had to agree with him there. I looked back at the woman. “What about the human ones? Have they said anything?”

Victor shook his head and pointed to the one I’d looked at. “She refuses to talk until she sees her boyfriend.” He sighed. “She won’t tell us who that is, so complying it rather difficult.”

I looked at the screens, trying to spot him. “Quinton, where’s the big guy you and Raf double teamed and I scanned?”

“That’s her boyfriend?” Rafael leaned closed and looked at the monitors.

I squinted at one of the men on screen, trying to picture him in the dark. “Well it was after I scanned him that she went ape shit and tried to relocate my shoulder to Denver with a freakin baseball bat.”

Chase leaned around me. “That’s what happened to your shoulder?”

I glanced at him briefly and then nodded before I looked some more.

“Daxx, why didn’t you say that? I thought it was a fall that did that.” He sounded really annoyed.

Turning I gave him a confused look. “What difference does it make?”

Chase looked over at Troy, a look passed between them before he turned back to look at me. “There could be damage to the bone, I thought it was just flesh bruising.”

“What’s he talking about?” Quinton was now crowding me.

Glaring at Chase for a second, hoping he picked up on the thanks-for-nothing vibes, I sighed and looked up at the concerned brown eyes. “My shoulder was a little banged up, it’s not bad now.”

No one was looking at the monitors or plotting how to gain information, instead all eight brothers were looking at me. Rolling my head to the side, I sent Chase a look of annoyance, he had the good sense to look repentant for opening his big mouth.

“Guys, I’m fine.” I lifted my arm, it only hurt a little bit compared to how it had. Putting it back down, I rolled my shoulders. There was an ache, but again not as bad as it had been.

“You should get it x-rayed.” Rafael said in a tone that made the other men look more concerned.

“I’m fine.” I looked up at Quinton. “Chase gave me some blood, it will be good as new in a few hours.”

A surprised look appeared on Quinton’s face, but he didn’t voice why. “Let me take a look.”

Glancing around at the men, I rubbed my hands over my face. There was no way I was going to take my shirt off with all of them standing there staring at me. Dropping my hands, I sighed again. “Its fine, Quinton, really.” He didn’t budge. I looked around at the faces watching me, hoping for some back up but not one of them were going to side with me on this.

With my hands on my hips, I glared up at Quinton. “Are you serious?”

He nodded, the determined look still on his face still.

“Unbelievable!” I threw my hands up in defeat and moved out of the group of them toward the corner of the room. Turning my back, I reached for the hem of my shirt but then stopped when I heard movement coming in my direction. Chase was suddenly standing in front of me, pulling me into his body.

“Just pull your arm out.” He said quietly as he pulled the material out away from my skin.

I pulled my arm free and then angled my body into his so the only part that would be seen was a small amount of my back and one shoulder. I looked up at him, wanting to silently thank him, but he was sending out the look of death to all of his siblings. Why he hadn’t spoken up before now, I didn’t know.

Looking over my shoulder, I scanned over the faces in the room. A few pairs of eyes were on the protective man in front of me, the expressions were of shock and surprise. Troy’s eyes were on my back, but flicked more than once to look at his twin, a pained look on his face. I didn’t know what that was about and decided I didn’t want to either.

Quinton came over and gently touched my shoulder. “Did it look this bad before you helped?” He asked Chase.

Chase leaned over me, pulling me tighter into his chest and looked. “It was ten times worse than that.”

Quinton made some sort of noise, which I chose to ignore and just focused on the warmth of the body against mine to distract me from spitting at the audience behind me.

“You really have the tattoo.” Rafael said with wonder.

Lifting my head away from Chase, I looked over at him.

Troy shook his head, and then cuffed Raf in the back of his. “You had doubts?”

Rafael shrugged. “Well, no, but knowing and seeing are two different things.”

“Are we done examining me?” I didn’t try to hide the annoyance in my voice. Without waiting for an answer, Chase helped me get the shirt back on and pulled down. He ran his hands slowly down my back and looked at me, his apology was very plain to make out in his expression. I rubbed my hands over his chest in a forgiving motion and then turned around. “Now, can we find the slugger’s man so I can go tell her he’s just dandy?”

Arius turned from the screen. “You’re going in?”

I grinned. “Oh yeah.”

Chase chuckled. “The raptor stays on this side of the walls, kitten.”

I shrugged. “Fine with me.”