Chapter 208

Chapter 208: Chapter 208

Heather

"Special Agent Ramirez here."

A sigh of relief escaped me before I could stop it. "Hi. It’s Heather Jones."

"Heather." He drew out my name, his voice a degree—or ten—colder than our last meeting. "I’ve been expecting your call."

"Well, I’m calling." I cleared my throat. "I’m at the fine police offices of Santa Fe."

"What a coincidence. I just got off a plane in in Santa Fe. I thought we discussed you calling me before the fact?"

I winced at his annoyed tone. "We didn’t know what we’d find here. Now that we did find something, I’m calling."

"Next time, you call me first."

"I’m sorry. Next time, I promise I’ll call first." Maybe. If I could.

"Good thing I’ve already been appraised of the situation and why you’re being held or else I’d be really annoyed."

I never thought I’d ever be in a position where the FBI would be pissed at me. Yet here I was. Special Agent Ramirez was definitely ticked off. "The thing is... I need to get out of here. Luciana is going to do something very bad, and if we’re not there to stop her, well, it’s going to be worse than what she did last time. Much, much worse. A little help would be very appreciated. If there’s anything you can do to speed this along?"

Officer Yeats cleared her throat and tapped her watch.

I nodded. Time was almost up.

"You’re going to have to sit tight. I’ll see what I can do once I’m there, but they’re officially holding you for questioning. They could keep you there for up to twenty-four hours. Unless they get a judge to sign off for more time."

No. That wasn’t going to happen. Even twenty-four hours was way too freaking long. We needed to get out of here like yesterday.

"But I’m sure I can do something about it once I get there, provided you fill me in on what’s going on."

"Absolutely." I looked at the clock on the wall. "How far away are you?"

"I’ll be there in less than an hour."

That put him here after midnight. Much too late.

The line went dead before I could argue with him. I handed the phone back to Officer Yeats. "Thanks."

He seemed pissed, Brent said through the bond.

I know, right? It feels like no matter how hard I try, I’m messing it up. My knee bounced as I thought.

Hey. You’re doing a good job.

But even you disagreed with me about going with the cops, and—

And I was wrong.

I tried to take solace in that, but as I sat there, listening to seconds tick by on the clock, it was hard not to question my decisions.

We had to get out of here. Soon.

I was sitting with my eyes closed, waiting for the Special Agent Ramirez to make his appearance, when magic brushed along my skin. It felt dirtier than the cell and motel room put together. My chest tightened as I slowly sat up.

"Claudia?"

"I feel it, too," she whispered.

Luciana’s magic. It had a certain flavor of disgusting that I’d become familiar with.

I glanced at the clock. Ramirez should be here any minute, but it wasn’t going to be soon enough. Not anymore.

It was starting, and the humans were so not equipped to handle anything like this. The Weres in the room were tense, barely hanging on to their human forms, and the twins had turned a shade of green.

I started pacing the room. It was another fifteen minutes before I heard faint gunshots in the distance.

"Do you hear that?" Serena asked.

I nodded.

"What do you think Luciana’s doing?"

"I don’t know, but magic’s crackling along my skin." I cracked my knuckles. "We might have to break out of here."

"Midnight seems too early for this much black magic," Raphael said. "It would be much stronger after three. Why would she jump the gun?"

"Maybe timing doesn’t matter as much if you have two covens worth of magic." Now she had enough power to open her portal and then some.

My anxiety level went through the roof. My skin itched to change, but I kept pacing. Hoping that the movement would help maintain my form.

This was it. Luciana’s endgame was starting. Everything I feared could come true...

We were trying to be good little werewolves, but if Ramirez didn’t show soon, we were going to have to make a run for it.

If a hell portal opened and no one stopped it, none of us would have to worry about the long-term anyway.

Footsteps thundered down the hallway, stopping at our door. Special Agents Ramirez and Morgan stepped into the room.

Morgan scanned the room before fixing her gaze on me. "What’s going on out there?"

Brent rose from his chair, but I grabbed him before he could move. Stay calm. "I can’t say that I know what you’re talking about."

"Officers were called to a church. The neighbors reported weird chanting and something that smelled like a broken sewer line." Ramirez looked pale.

"Demons."

Special Agent Morgan nodded. "These little raccoon-sized monsters are spewing out of the church, and the police are doing everything they can to stop them—but apparently bullets only slow them down a little. Shotgun shells work okay, but they’re having some serious trouble containing the problem."

"Raccoon-sized?" That was new kind of demon to me. Even the minor ones were much bigger than that. But the fact that shotguns were working on them was seriously good news.

"You have to let us help you," Donovan said. "Luciana Alvarez is very dangerous. She’s not going to stop with these little demons. The minor and major demons that we’ve seen... Even if you slow them, they can’t be killed by human weapons. They have to be decapitated or burned to ash with potions or magic."

"Jesus," Officer Yeats said. "It’s not like we go around carrying swords these days."

"I have a sword," Cosette said. She conjured it for a second to make her point clear.

"And we have potions," I added. "And wolves with fangs and claws who are much stronger and faster than humans. Please. Let us out, and we’ll take care of these monsters." The fact that there were so many had hands shaking, but I shoved them in my pockets.

A call came through Officer Yeats’ radio. I couldn’t understand anything that was being said—it was all static and yelling and some sort of code.

"Wilson’s out there," Officer Yeats said. "He’s the one in charge. I don’t have the authority to let you go. I don’t—"

"You can release them into my custody," Ramirez said with a smile. He touched Officer Yeats’ shoulder. "I’ll take care of the rest. You’ll get the paperwork you need, and I promise, you won’t get in any trouble."

I held my breath as she considered. After a long second, Officer Yeats gave a sharp nod. "I’ll get your things."

She came back with my messenger bag, as well as Shane, Raphael, and Claudia’s stuff—including Raphael’s bat. I slung my bag over my shoulder and started toward the exit.

Agent Morgan jangled some car keys. "I grabbed these from Yeats. She said it’s the second on the right." She turned to us. "I didn’t realize there were going to be so many of you."

We piled into a van with an SFPD emblem on the side.

"Do you know where you’re going?" I asked.

"I think I can get us there." She flicked the sirens and peeled out of the parking lot.

I slammed into Brent as he took a corner. "Jeeze," I yelled over the siren. "Do all agents drive like this or is it just you?"

"All agents," Ramirez said. "It’s practically a job requirement."

Gunfire rang out through still the night, and we quieted down. The streets were clear. Not a soul in sight. And I hoped there wouldn’t be.