I’m going to send you out of here. Thanks for talking to me.” I didn’t need to say anymore. The two witches came in and lifted the inmate to his feet, unsecured him—
I wasn’t ready for what happened next.
He reached out, breaking out of their hold, his chained hands outstretched. Before I realized what was happening, he was over the table. I tried to get out of my chair and put some distance between us, ending up on my stomach on the concrete floor. The chain between his wrists was on my neck, and he started pulling, cutting off my air. On the ground, I reached for my thigh dagger. He seemed to possess inhuman strength, and it was a futile exercise to try to stop him from choking me out by going for the chain.
Once I had my dagger, I stabbed back, hitting something. He grunted, but nothing changed.
“GET HIM!” Raphael roared, muffled by the glass. The guards near me jumped into action, trying to pull him off me. Black spots danced in my vision as I stabbed backward relentlessly. Warm liquid was hitting my back and ass now. The chain yanked on my throat as the witch was being pulled away.
One of them finally realized what they were doing and lowered the inmate just enough for me to get out of the chain and roll away. I gasped for air, blinking several times as I saw them pull the blank-eyed witch away—not dead, just not all there.
He’d been a mild-mannered inmate doing his time. Now, he was a cold-blooded, unfeeling killer.
Raphael burst into the room as I got my feet.
“You sure you don’t need me in there? I thought you could protect yourself,” he snarled at me, invading my personal space.
“He came…too fast,” I said softly, rubbing my neck. “Without warning. There was nothing to indicate he would attack.” I tried to steady my breathing. “Nothing at all. He was nervous, which is expected considering our roles. He’s a criminal, I kill criminals, but he didn’t seem uncooperative or dangerous…” I knew magic was involved, but saying that now was a stupid thing to do.
Cael came in after Raphael, but I had missed him until Raphael started to stomp around the room, not looking at me anymore.
“Is there anything we can do?” the fae asked, his eyes wide. “He’s normally very good…I thought he would be a good start because he had been well behaved during the breach…” The fae seemed lost for words.
“There’s nothing,” I said, eyeing him. Was it an act? “Just leave me alone for a minute with my partner.”
Cael nodded and walked out of the room but left the door open. I looked at Raphael, hoping he understood what I was thinking, hoping he was able to put the pieces together.
Someone had spelled the inmate to attack me. Someone had asked Nakul, then manipulated his memory. Wesley was spelled to track and attack me. There were dangerous criminals on the loose with the idea that killing me would get them a new life and identity.
This was an ugly situation the moment the explosion happened and only getting uglier by the hour.
17
Chapter Seventeen
An hour later and I hadn’t gotten anywhere with the inmates. After the first one, no chances were taken. I left the room as the inmates were switched, waiting for the new one to be secured before I walked back in for another short conversation.
With the time I wasted going nowhere with the southern cell block inmates, I was able to think about other things.
Keep putting the pieces together. Keep finding the connections. That’s how you find answers. Exhaust every possibility.
I drummed my fingers on the table as the most recent inmate pleaded about his innocence. He knew nothing. My phone buzzed in my pocket, making me sigh. The only positive of my phone going off was the prison had their communications back up.
“We’re done here,” I finally said. “Take him back to his cell.” I stood up and walked out of the room before the guards got to the inmate. The door auto locked once it closed behind me, and I stood in the hall, sighing heavily. This was tedious work, but it gave me time to think.
The prison doesn’t allow visitors, yet there has obviously been someone visiting. Someone asked Nakul to kill me, someone was messing with the inmates. The prison didn’t come with something as simple as a sign-in sheet or anything because of normal protocol, which was definitely