Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,128

a shimmering blue color that emitted a soft, illuminating glow. It looked similar to the water within the landscape I’d slipped into just this morning. A shiver rushed through me, and I turned, staring at Lucian with the knowledge of where I’d been today.

“It wasn’t Lucifer?” I whispered, and his lips jerked up into a mischievous smile. I blinked slowly, turning at the sound of feet crunching over the glass. “This conversation isn’t over, Lucian.”

“I’m sure it isn’t, little girl. It is for now. Move your pretty ass,” he ordered, even though I’d already started in after Synthia.

The first few rooms we entered were covered in charred bodies. It looked like someone had placed a furnace within the guild, trying to turn it into a crematorium instead of an institute of enforcers. Ristan bent down beside one, grabbing something from a deceased’s hand.

“The demons had the key to unlocking the runes. Someone from inside had to have given it to them,” he grunted, handing the blackened piece of leather to Synthia. “They’re the only things burned.”

I gazed around the guild, noting his correct assumption. The bodies were charred and barbecued. It reeked of sulfur and brimstone from the moment we’d stepped through the shattered windows. The tang of copper was still present, but the deeper in we got, the less tangible it was in the air.

We walked past the wards, and the walls slowly began humming in a warning. Synthia placed a hand against the surface, and the alarms turned off.

I scanned the wall, watching as runes ignited. The entire place was covered in protective markings. So how had something or someone gotten past them to gain access? Then the answer came to me.

“They were inside when the wards were activated.” I nodded to where the charred remains had begun smoldering again, like they were trying to resume burning. “Look at the corpses.”

“I guess the runes worked, but didn’t continue working once whoever was inside had turned them off,” Synthia announced. Her gaze slid over the smoke wafting up from the bodies with a smile. “I think something with knowledge of the guild was within because how else would they know to send in others to absorb the damage? These deaths may be intentional.”

I had to agree with Synthia. There were several corpses on the floor, and more littered the hallway through which we were passing. There were even more human remains and creatures in each room that had ventured into the guild with the wards and runes active.

The men snorted their agreement of her assessment, but it was Ristan who kneeled beside a crumbled, blackened form and ripped the arm off of it. Standing, he held the arm out in front of Synthia, who exhaled slowly through her mouth.

“Shifter would be my guess,” she concluded while taking in the inhuman nails protruding from the hand. “It could be Adrik Stanislav’s people. He was bringing them in a few weeks ago.”

“Adrik was on the list to be watched, wasn’t he?” Ryder asked, his arms pulsing with black and gold brands that matched his stare.

“From what we learned, he was removed from the list.” Synthia nodded to where another corpse sat, with bones that had once been wings. The entire outline beneath the body was a wingspan, but the only thing left were grimy bones broken in several places. “That’s an angel, isn’t it?” she inquired, grunting as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Indeed, it is,” Lucian confirmed. “Shifters, angels, and whatever the fuck that is, came here for a reason.” Lucian nodded toward something that was at a minimum of nine feet tall, judging by the bones left behind. “We need to figure out why and if those below are alive. I can still hear the faint beating of hearts, but it’s almost as if they’re moving away from us.”

“The question is, are they running from us or away from whatever else is in this tomb?” Vlad asked, tilting his head to the side.

Scraping sounded deeper in the guild, causing all of our attention to move toward the noise. My hackles rose even as I lifted my hands, knowing that it could be anything inside these tunnels.

All of us crept forward, weapons at the ready, while the men covered our asses. I swallowed down my worry that Alden may be on the ground, in the mess of remains that filled the pathway.

Rounding the corner, we all peered down the staircase that led to the guild’s lower level. The catacombs